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Artist Album Format Label & Cat. Number Year Price (incl. 19% VAT)  
ZEITKRATZER Zeitkratzer performs Songs from the Albums 'Kraftwerk 2' And 'Kraftwerk' LP Karlrecords KR069 2019 €18.00

"albums" entries in albums descriptions

Artist Album Format Description Year Price (incl. 19% VAT)  
AGLAIA Naked Movements CD second of the trilogy of new albums by AGLAIA on the ALIO DIE-label 2009 €14.00
  Reverberant Skies CD third of the trilogy of new albums by AGLAIA on the ALIO DIE-label 2009 €14.00
ALIO DIE Seamlessly Bliss CD second new A.D. studio album in 2016, three long tracks feat AGLAIA and LINGUA FUNGI; this must be one of the most smooth & delicate ambient albums ever, with wafts of ebbing and drifting bell sounds.. 2016 €15.00
ALIO DIE & ZEIT Sunja CD the first collaboration release between ZEIT & ALIO DIE belongs to the most harmonic & relaxing albums we know from STEFANO MUSSO, very warm and dreamy, esoteric ambience at its best! Comes with hand-collaged front-cover, BACK IN STOCK! 2003 €14.00
ANDERSSON, PETER Timewaves CD a collection of six tracks that show a different side of the RAISON D'ETRE-master: all pieces are 'serious works' for Swedish museums or exhibitions and use lots of field- or object recordings, a nice supplement to his oeuvre... "the music is a bit darker, more industrial and experimental than previous exhibition albums from Peter Andersson, but still enigmatic." ed. of only 300 copies 2018 €13.00
ARTIFICIAL MEMORY TRACE (AMT) Paradox of Paradox / Interception I do-CDR re-issue of two deleted albums from 2004, mysterious "organic" soundscapes and daring collages (mainly based on processed field recordings but you often know exactly), this is real "unconscious" music deranging the rational mind; "lots of beauty, poetic beauty actually, like the somewhat cryptic notes on the cover. Long in duration, massive in beauty" [FdW] 2012 €12.50
ATAVIST II:Ruined do-LP known from the NADJA split albums, "epic suicidal sludge doom metal".. lim. 500 gatefold cover 2009 €16.00
B.E.F. Music for Stowaways LP \"Music To Kill Your Parents By\" - originally released as cassette-only by VIRGIN in 1981, now one of the 50 Greatest Lost Albums of All Time - list (Uncut mag:) - - *Groundbreaking early recordings made by HEAVEN 17\'s Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh (The British Electric Foundation) after their departure from THE HUMAN LEAGUE in 1980, feat. ADI NEWTON (CLOCK DVA) on one track..* 2023 €23.50
BAKER, AIDAN Half Lives do-CD two seperate albums that shows AIDAN BAKER as singer and songwriter, loosely based on improvisations but from then formed into constructed pieces => wonderful airy and most ethereal Jazz influenced songs, super slow and melancholic smooth post-rock, often sounding hazy and dreamy, almost wavering, with AIDAN's soft voice above = a wonderful album ! 2015 €16.50
BECUZZI, GIANLUCA & FABIO ORSI Dust Tears and Clouds do-CD two collab albums from 2007 by the hyper-active Italian composers combined on one release, showing their more experimental skills: 'Dust Tears and Skinny Legs Poets' (unreleased so far, from 2007) + 'Please don't count the Clouds' (re-issue of rare 3 x mCDR release plus fourth bonus tracks); lim. 300 with oversized cover 2013 €16.00
BEKAERT, JACQUES Jacques Bekaert LP re-issue of much sought-after self-titled album from 1981 (IGLOO), by this Belgian composer who released only two albums in total, three pieces (one is a soundtrack to a film by Akiko Iimura), very long playtime.. => electronics, field recordings and instrumental sounds interact in a most unique and surrealistic way, players were, amongst others: MAGGY PAYNE, DAVID ROSENBOOM, BLUE GENE TYRANNY, one can listen to this over and over as there are so many details.. lim. 500 2022 €24.00
BIANCHI, MAURIZIO (M.B.) Mectpyo Bakterium LP re-issue of the much sought-after LP from 1982 released on DYS (the label run by THE MNEMONISTS), recorded August-October 1981, one of the "calmer" albums of the early MB phase, comes with reproduction of the original cover, lim. 275 on coloured /marbled (grey / black / white) vinyl, with inlay... "The icy opression, the hallucinative electronic wounds, are a precious and singular fact in a technological society brought to limit" [M.B.] 2013 €22.00
BIOSPHERE Shortwave Memories do-LP a more rhythmic / old school 'minimal wave' album by the Norwegian project, spreading a slow and almost elegant "cold" melancholia based on vintage synths, sequencers and beat box.. "Shortwave Memories is an album inspired by the post-punk electronic music of the late 70's and early 80's, especially the productions of figures like Martin Hannett and Daniel Miller...The last few Biosphere albums have all been made using samples and software, but Shortwave Memories is a return to vintage analog hardware.." 2022 €29.50
BLEGVAD, PETER / JOHN GREAVES Kew. Rhone CD re-issue of LP from 1977 by the two ex HENRY COW members (+ LISA HERMAN and others) - one of the true classic albums of the progressive / art-rock / 'RIO - Rock in Opposition' movement... "Completely and utterly unlike any other album you're likely to come across. Ever." [Andy Gill NME] 2015 €14.00
BOKANOWSKI, MICHELE La Plague LP (one-sided) a so far unpublished piece composed 1991 for the short film "La Plague" by PATRICK BOKANOWSKI, by the French electro acoustic createur who studied with ELIANE RADIGUE and is known for some phantastic albums; this one-sided mini LP comes in four different editions w. embossed cover and insert, lim. 300 - "...It is pure liquid abstraction in sounds. It is one of those rare compositions really out of time and space..." 2019 €16.00
BROTHER AH Divine Music 3 x CD three unreleased albums (1978-1985) plus rare interview from this French horn player and "spiritual jazz visionary", who also founded the MUSICAL SOUND AWARENESS ENSEMBLE and performed with the SUN RA AKRESTRA, often operating on the border to meditative or cinematic ambience, he is compared to ALICE COLTRANE, TERRY RILEY, BRIAN ENO and POPOL VUH... 2017 €35.00
CABARET VOLTAIRE The Original Sound Of Sheffield '78 / '82. Best Of CD a collection of 14 tracks from the probably best period of the CABS, taken from various 12"es, 7", and albums from their early "industrial" days.. - special priced now 2013 €10.00
CARVED IMAGE OF EMPTINESS / ZINC ROOM Lie, Illusions, Mystifications / Zinc 99,99 CD split release (or 'two full albums') by two projects from Ekaterinburg, Russia: early material by the archaic industrial droner ZINC ROOM, and more martial / neo-classic / industrial / black metal sound from CARVED IMAGE OF EMPTINESS, a swan song for modern human culture.... 2007 €10.00
CASPAR BRÖTZMANN MASSAKER Home do-LP with "Home" (1994), a collection of live recordings, the circle of vinyl re-issues of C.B.M albums by Southern Lord ends = simply one of the most raw and violent, ecstatic and experimental rock industrial bands that has ever existed... and there are rumours they are recording again! "Schwere Gitarren, Feedback-Wogen, ausufernde Strukturen, wuchtig bollerndes Schlagzeug, ein Noise-Sperrfeuer, aber in Blues grundiert - eine Musik, die kaum eindeutiger in den 1980er Jahren zu verorten wäre."[Andreas Schnell] 2020 €24.00
CHAMELEONS Script of the Bridge - 25th Anniversary Edition do-CD re-issue of the debut album from 1983, comes with bonus CD feat. unreleased versions and a live-recording made in Bremen 1983, and a lyrics-booklet w. many photos! Anniversary re-issue of one of the best "melancholic / atmospheric / wall-of-sound guitar-wave" albums ever! 2008 €18.50
CINDYTALK In this World CD re-issue of the two different albums with same title from 1988 2007 €14.00
CLOAMA Embargoed CD exciting new album by this Finnish ambient / doom industrial act (active now since about 20 years), combining rather concrete field recordings with monumental drones, ranging from wall-of-sound guitar drones to more collagic material.. "...impressive gloomy post-industrial soundscapes from wide variation of sound sources. Eventually tracks move closer to two past albums, including eerie guitar-drone and synth oscillations as well" 2018 €12.00
COIL The Ape of Naples 3 x LP set expanded, remastered re-issue of the praised last studio album with JOHN BALANCE from 2005, comes with 9 bonus tracks from DANNY HYDE's archives... - "in many ways the band's ultimate swan song, it is now considered one of the go-to albums for introducing new listeners to the unparalleled magick of Coil." - BLACK vinyl ed., restored design from the original box set, TRIPLE GATEFOLD cover 2022 €46.00
The Ape of Naples (White) 3 x LP set expanded, remastered re-issue of the praised last studio album with JOHN BALANCE from 2005, comes with 9 bonus tracks from DANNY HYDE's archives... - "in many ways the band's ultimate swan song, it is now considered one of the go-to albums for introducing new listeners to the unparalleled magick of Coil." - WHITE vinyl ed., restored design from the original box set, TRIPLE GATEFOLD cover 2022 €48.50
  The Ape of Naples do-CD expanded, remastered re-issue of the praised last studio album with JOHN BALANCE from 2005, comes with 9 bonus tracks from DANNY HYDE's archives; "in many ways the band's ultimate swan song, it is now considered one of the go-to albums for introducing new listeners to the unparalleled magick of Coil." - the CD version comes in a 6 panel digipak with booklet & mini poster, and in two cover variants: APE art (orignal CD cover) or VINYL art, please choose 2022 €23.00
CORTINI, ALESSANDRO & MERZBOW same do-LP after the highly successfull "modular synth" albums A. CORTINI collaborates with MERZBOW, both performing on a vintage EMS Synth, a British machine from the early 70's; "The result is a retching, sputtering beast of a record wresting jittery animations of white noise and spooling oscillators into chaotic briar patch of pure analog synthesis making the machine wail, buckle and cough up its least salubrious secrets in four extended parts." [Boomkat] black vinyl ed. 2017 €32.00
DAVID [TIBET] Ferelith LP first ever solo-album of DAVID TIBET from CURRENT 93 - this is also the first in a series of 5 albums from him, so far issued only as very limited editions a year ago - comes in art-cover and on brown-grey marbled vinyl, with printed insert and all are signed... => two side-long pieces of transcendental ambience, mysterious and harmonic underneath.. 2021 €36.50
Fontelautus LP second in the series of five solo albums from DAVID TIBET, so far issued only as very limited editions a year ago - comes in art-cover and on dark marbled vinyl, with printed insert, all are signed... => two side-long pieces of sacral, probably choir based ambience, mysterious and harmonic underneath, with lots of psychedelic effects.. 2021 €36.50
Ferelith CD first ever solo-album of DAVID TIBET from CURRENT 93 - this is also the first in a series of 5 albums from him => two side-long pieces of transcendental ambience, mysterious and harmonic underneath (did someone say "sounds like MAEROR TRI or early TROUM?") ... ; the CD version comes in a mini LP sleeve with 'Japanese style' transparent paper insert. 2021 €16.00
  Fontelautus CD second in the series of five solo albums from DAVID TIBET, so far issued only as very limited editions a year ago => two side-long pieces of sacral, probably choir based ambience, mysterious and harmonic underneath, with lots of psychedelic effects... the CD version comes in a mini LP sleeve with 'Japanese style' transparent paper insert 2021 €16.00
DE FABRIEK & P.FUNK Music for Hippies CD this is a remixed re-issue of a cassette from 1988 (C-90, released by DE FABRIEK themselves), with an ironic title, showing them in collaboration with P. FUNK (another collective closely linked) in a very ambient - atmospheric - psychedelic / cosmic / weird modus, hypnotic - flowing synth and guitar washes far away from their more "industrial" sounding albums, but with a nice experimental edge and, yes, Funk tunes... lim. 75 copies only, very colourful oversized cardboardcover 2022 €14.00
DEUTSCH NEPAL Vol. 1 6 x LP - BOX the first five albums on vinyl, plus the bonus LP "Dystopian Selection" with rare material - comes in sturdy box with three postcards, certificate, each LP in own sleeve...- *All of them seem to be the evolution of an early idea, a baby that grows old, getting monstrous and divine while doing so..* - ed. of 435 copies (standard ed.) 2023 €123.00
DUPLANT, BRUNO Zone Habitable CD French underground composer BRUNO DUPLANT loves to collaborate with others, there are only few full solo albums - \"Zone Habitable\" is a notion for EXOPLANETS with friendly conditions for humans, this 48 min one-tracker is a beautiful drone piece expansion, subtle and humming, with various (micro) sounds in the mix, from instrumental sources, field recordings and electric devices.. - lim. 100 a must for micro / drone world explorers !! 2022 €12.00
EARZUMBA Florece Escondido / Hermeso Movimento CD C.D. [DR-63] proofs his versatility here with his project EARZUMBA, much different from the drone EP, 19 pieces, two albums on one CD with samples from south-american music, ultra-deep drones, djungle-noises, and very nice harmonic spheres at the end.. 2004 €10.00
EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN Alles in Allem LP the first new regular studio-album after 12 years forms a very lyrical and song-oriented, critical and nostalgic "homage" to their hometown Berlin, and sounds (again) like none of the albums before.. "Alles in Allem is a more pleasant listen than one would typically associate with the Neubauten brand. Within that refined accessibility, however, they remain playful and manically experimental." [The Quietus] - vinyl version with 4 page 12" booklet 2020 €22.50
EMERGE Narcoses CD drops and rays of deep bass sounds and morphed frequencies build sluggish cascades of an eerie nature, only gradually structures appear which could form some kind of ultra slow motion rhythms, but the brain can hardly recognize this...one of the best EMERGE albums so far, a different kind of bleak ambience, any LUSTMORD fan should test this out! Lim. 100 only 2017 €8.00
ENCOMIAST / THE COPPER THIEVES 139 Nevada do-CDR-box based on recordings made in a "haunted" Theatre in Central City, Colorado; one full disc by ENCOMIAST, the other by COPPER THIEVES feat. ENCOMIAST & members of MANDIBLE CHATTER (known from the DR-35 EP and some great albums); comes in textured box with two postcards, professional duplicated; lim. 200 2010 €16.00
EYELESS IN GAZA Orange Ice & Wax Crayon CD re-issue of the LP from 1992, which was a compilation of outtakes, rejected and unreleased tracks rec. 1981-1985, thus going back to the very early experimental (post-punk and raw atmospheric) beginnings of the band, but also showing their poppier evolution... great collection for the fans, none of these tracks ever appeared on the regular albums 2012 €13.00
FENN O'BERG (FENNESZ / O'ROURKE / REHBERG) Magic & Return do-CD re-mastered re-issues of the two albums by this project consisting of CHRISTIAN FENNESZ, JIM O'ROURKE & PETER REHBERG (from 1999 & 2002); contains two bonus tracks and comes with extra cardboard-sleeve 2009 €18.00
FENNESZ Agora LP more than 4 years after the last albums "Becs" and "Mahler Remix" FENNESZ is back with 5 tracks recorded in a much reduced way, without a studio and in his bedroom with simple equipment; wonderfully drifting ambient-scapes and glimpses of melodies, endless melancholy and elevation combined... "At times it is ethereally forlorn and at others defiantly joyful delivering some of the most uplifting pieces of music this year." [Drowned In Sound] - lim. vinyl version 2019 €22.50
FIRST HUMAN FERRO Heterodox CD the main project of OLEGH KOLYADA from Ukraine, known for some nice F.H.F. albums of nostalgy-filled ambience, with harmonies as coming from a long forgotten past (he was also member of IN MEDITARIUM who had a great 7" on Drone Rec. (DR-75) ... 'Heterodox' combines wide and at times bombastic cosmic synth ambience with ethnic field recordings (flutes, throat singing, percussion, nature-sounds), all processed into mesmerizing, choral-like drone-clouds... lim. 200 2016 €13.00
FIVE ELEMENTS MUSIC Pictures from Sand: Boiling Line CD-R two mini-albums combined on one CDR, using the sounds of sand and boiling water; ultra-minimal & contemplative archaic hiss-drones and concrete micro-sounds for a higher awareness listening.... 2008 €9.00
GALERIE SCHALLSCHUTZ ZOON-LOGON-ECHON LP / CD / MC - BOX "LET US BLAST OUT OUR OLD FORMS, OUR IGNORANCE, OUR WEAKNESS AND OUR MORTALITY" - the always ambitious North German 'ambient industrial" project with a tryptich of three dark immersive albums on three different formats, released for the 20th year of existence, dealing "with the definition and meaning of being human".. ; lim. 350 copies in box with inlay, logo patch, DL code 2020 €79.00
GEINS'T NAIT & L. PETITGAND Make Dogs Sing do-LP after three successful albums since 2011, the two French electronic / experimental pioneers release this collection with so far unreleased and rare material..."... taking in woozy waltzes and shimmering keys on the one hand, and a palette of pebbledashed electronics and mutant voices on the other, the group’s contemporary sound hints at some French analog to the film music of Wim Wenders or the eerier styles of mid-latter phase Coil.. " [Boomkat] 2018 €25.00
GENOCIDE ORGAN Mind Control CD first ever CD re-issue of one of the most sought-after albums in the history of apocalyptic industrial, G.O.'s third album appeared originally as vinyl-only release in 1995 => eerie analogue synths, layers of spoken voice material, sluggish beats and pulses plus powerful noise loops and alienated vocals form a swan song on human mankind; one outtake from the original sessions (too long for the vinyl version) is issued here for the first time! comes w. embossed digipak 2018 €14.00
GIANNICO, FRANCESCO L'Immagine Di Me Lontano CD described as atmospheric sounds from "a 43-year father in a midlife-crisis", this is the first album for the Italian melancho-droner who has albums out already on Boring Machines, Time Released Sound, and Dronarivm; to discover !...- "an album of sonic soundscapes that feel like a wordless, imageless movie; one full of neo-noir scenery and shady characters....Giannico attempts to recreate the memory of childhood by colliding disparate elements together...." - lim. 200 copies 2023 €12.00
HYBRYDS Soundtrack for the Antwerp Zoo Aquarium CD re-issue of one of the best HYBRYDS-albums (originally released 1995), a soundtrack for the 150th anniversary of the Antwerp Zoo; a great underwater-dronescape using many sounds of ocean-creatures like dolphins, wales, etc.. 2011 €12.00
Mistrust Authority / Tectonic Overload do-CD re-issue of two HYBRYDS vinyl albums from 1996 and1998 when the project turned into more bumping rhythmic "cybernetic" industrial areas, creating a quite unique, almost obsure sound with alienated female vocals and ethnic samples.. as all Zoharum re-issues before, this comes with previously unreleased bonus-material, new artwork, and lim. to 500 copies 2018 €15.00
  Dreamscapes from a Dark Side / Voices without a Sound do-CD the re-issue series of the pioneering post-industrial shamanists from Belgium continues with these two lesser known albums: "Dreamscapes From a Dark Side" (1996) - a trance-inducing "journey into the dephts of your subsconscious mind" with lots of highly suggestive material; + "Voices without a Sound" - the only album that was released under the moniker NA-DHA (2001) contains ritualistic live improvisations with poetic and short movie voice quotes...a very rewarding re-release! ed. of 500 double digipack 2019 €15.00
IKEDA, KEN Kosame CD interesting new work by this Japanese artist (known from two TOUCH albums years ago) about the "Yuragi" (fluctuation), using a hand-made rubber instrument and nature sounds to "set sounds free from pre-existing frames" 2010 €16.00
ILLUSION OF SAFETY More Violence and Geography CD re-release of first IOS LP from 1988 - a milestone of the North-American (post) Industrial, eerie and massive!! - "The 11 tracks display a much rawer and more 'industrial' feel with the use of harsh found sounds and voices, compared to recent works. Featuring new artwork by Dan Burke perfectly matching the albums title the CD also includes an unreleased live track (approx. 11 min. long) from the early 90's that didn't appear on the original album" - BACK IN STOCK, full colour cardboard cover 2002 €13.00
IN MEDITARIUM [IN MEDITARIVM] Plexus / Uterus do-CD Ukraine's IN MEDITARIVM was the project of SERGEY SVISTELNIK, who died in January 2018, and OLEGH KOLYADA (FIRST HUMAN FERRO, etc.); in 2005 they released a wonderful 7" EP on Drone Records (DR-75); this is now the remastered re-issue of the two albums "Les Fleurs Du Mal" (Soulworm 2002) and "Uterus" (OMS Rec. 2004), with three exlusive bonus tracks, a great last statement of their "Esoteric / industrialized / martial mother-womb drones" Muzak; lim. 500, special price 2019 €13.00
KAMMERFLIMMER KOLLEKTIEF There are Actions which we have neglected and which never cease to call us LP "After 20 years of Kammerflimmer Kollektief, with 10 albums thus far, the time has come to take a trip. The Karlsruhe combo guide us through seven stations in an unfathomable Terra Incognita, where a listening space emerges at the intersection of improvisation and composition, a space where certitude slips out of reach, jouncing incessantly between precision and freedom..." black vinyl, comes with CD of the same album 2018 €20.00
KENNEY, JESSIKA Atria LP known for the beautiful albums with EYVIND KANG, this seems to be JESSIKA KENNEYs first full solo-album, performing seven of her own compositions (written between 2007-2013) with traditional Eastern (Persian?) folk influences together with various Gamelan ensembles, always guided by her great voice... lim. 300 copies, comes with an oversized 12 page booklet containing compositional notes and drawings.... 2016 €30.00
KIRKEGAARD, JACOB 40 Days of Silence LP soundtrack to a film from SAODAT ISMAILOVA (Uzbekistan) by the always fascinating composer from Denmark who released several albums on TOUCH before....very minimal drone expanses with a special touch... 'a journey into silence and its possible inner variations' 2014 €18.00
KLEISTWAHR This World is not my Home do-LP limited vinyl re-issue of two albums ("Over your Head Forever", 2016; and "This World.., 2014) by GARY MUNDY's (RAMLEH) legendary solo project (starting once with a cassette on Broken Flag in 1983!).. - "..ranging from harmonic guitar distortion drones to overwhelming noise, with occasional vocals (both sung & spoken) and percussive elements, all very blurred & and drowned in heavy emotions & distortion.." [Drone Rec. info] 2020 €23.00
KSHATRIY Mushrooms and Kshatriy CD-R "GROWING - FLYING - CURIOUS - CRYING - ANGRY - PSYCHOACTIVE - WALKING -MAGIC - DYING.. MUSHROOMS" - re-issue of the 2nd KSHATRIY album from 2006, a tribute to (magic) mushrooms, more experimental and raw than his later albums, psychedelic & flickering sounds in a thick cosmic mass of analoge synths.. lim. 77 copies 2015 €10.00
LASWELL, BILL & PETE NAMLOOK Outland 6 x CD BOX re-issue of the five albums released 1994 - 2007 in the OUTLAND series, plus a new "bass space drone" LASWELL album, all in a sturdy box! - " 'Outland' became a fusion of their individual musical sensibilities that resulted in a unique set of releases. At the heart of the series is an exploration of sound as a vehicle for emotion and contemplation, with Laswell's signature basslines and experimental soundscapes interweaving seamlessly with Namlook's ethereal textures and intricate sonic layering." 2023 €47.50
LEGENDARY PINK DOTS (LPD) Chemical Playschool 11, 12, 13 3 x CD BOX back in stock this nice box with three albums in the almost mythical C.P. series, which usually shows LPD in their most visionary, experimental, hallucinogenic mood... no track indexes included as this should be listened as an "audio adventure" in one go....comes with 12 page booklet in big cardboard box, each CD with own jewel-case & cover 2001 €42.00
Angel in the Detail CD CD version of new album (incl. booklet), two years in the making, the "Dots" are now a trio with EDWARD KA-SPEL, SILVERMAN and ERIK DROST (on guitar!), the band-sound is changing again.. "A good mood; A playful mood; A dark mood. Angel In The Detail is, like many of LPDs previous albums, a somber indulgence. But like many dark acts offers cathartic release. With LPD delivering this through an almost perfect sound design.." [Soundscape] 2019 €16.50
Island of Jewels CD re-issue of one of the most successful LPD albums, originally released 1986 - now re-mastered and re-issued with bonus tracks - "Focusing more on songwriting than on studio wizardry or sonic experiments, interesting industrial sounds and memorable melodies abound.." 2021 €16.00
  The Maria Dimension - Complete Recordings 3 x CD re-issue of one of LPDs "landmark" albums (from 1991), now with the complete additional material recorded at the same sessions (first released on the 5 LP set in 2015) : "In addition to the original album, remastered by Edward Ka-Spel, two additional CDs of material from the same recordings sessions are presented here. It’s all packed into an eight-panel digipak with a 12 page booklet with lyrics and notes about the recordings. Over three hours of music in one package!" - lim. 499 copies 2022 €43.00
LILES, ANDREW Muldjewangk, Morgawr & other Monsters CD TIME TO MEET THE MONSTER AGAIN! Another part of the monster-series, using much spoken word & choral material by different language speakers in a surrealistic way....weird "Alice in Wonderland" atmo... amazing, almost uncategorizable stuff... one of his best albums as yet !! lim. 500 2011 €12.00
  Mother Goose's Melody or Sonnets for the Cradle do-LP vinyl re-issue of one of LILES best albums (originally a CD from 2005), where human language and weird found sounds play the main role, building a kind of "bad fairy tale" journey with elements from plunderphonics, dark ambient and earplay; lim. 160 copies only! Very last copies back in stock !! 2015 €29.50
LUNDVALL, TOR There must be Someone 5 x CD BOX limited boxset that compiles two early out of print albums (incl. the rare debut "Passing Through Alone" (1997) and 3 vinyl albums, along with several bonus tracks; comes with 20 page booklet - " "Spanning 33 years, the collection showcases the subtle but striking evolution of Lundvall's sound, from brisk autumnal synth-pop to desolate dark place devotionals to fragile winter moon meditations and beyond." - each CD with own sleeve 2023 €32.50
M.B. (MAURIZIO BIANCHI) Weltanschauung LP material from 1981 recorded for COME Org. and released as LEIBSTANDARTE SS MM in 1982 (one of the most requested M.B. albums ever), now with one replaced different track, re-mastered by CHRISTIAN RENOU (BRUME)....brown vinyl edition, lim. 333, luxurious cover 2013 €23.00
MASONNA Frequency L.S.D. LP first vinyl re-issue of CD from 1998 (Alien8), one of the last albums.. - "The main attraction of this release is the use of 60's psychedelia in the warped textures of sound laid out in each track. Instead of being treated to a barrage of uncontrolled, harsh, and maddening noise, we are treated to lengthy explorations into the joys of warped synthesizer repetition and digitally altered radio frequency loops... the best noise release put out by any artist [Chronicles Of Chaos] - ed. 400 copies black vinyl 2021 €25.00
MODERN INSTITUTE Stairs (Domestic Landscapes # 2) 12inch this short-lived project of MAURO TEHO TEARDO (soundartist and activist from Italy who collaborated with NWW, RAMLEH, LYDIA LUNCH and lately on two albums with BLIXA BARGELD!) and cellist MARTINA BERTONI had only two releases during its existence, this cinematic 12" combines electronica-sounds with chamber music (strings) and female spoken voice, atmospheric and poetic... 2002 €10.00
MOHR (aka MØHR) Eine Form abstrakter Eleganz CD-R one of the now hard to find albums of Drone Records artist MOHR (DR-02), noisy staccato-dronescapes with fast pumping loops & strange effects, very powerful, desolated, machine-like! If you like VIVENZA or TAM QUAM TABULA RASA, this is a must! Lim. 250 in white box! 1999 €9.00
MONOCUBE The Rituals CD 2nd proper album by the Ukrainian project => unreal, haunting desert guitar drones collide with eerie, rumbling winds, pulses and strange organic entities as coming from another dimension...9 pieces that apear like 9 different ritual spheres.. "While too many dark ambient albums sounds like echoed wind noises with an occasional bell ring, The Rituals offers something else: a full journey in the desolate wastelands of darkness. Perfection." [Heathen Harvest] 2016 €13.00
MULTER Basisrealität/Armutsgewöhnungszuschlag/Wolkenkuckucksheim 3 x LP MULTER from Dortmund (see Drone Records DR-50) are back and what an epic and special release it is! => their first studio material in 10 years, spread on 3 albums with their own titles: minimal electronic structures, very personal spoken words, smooth / meditative feedbacking guitar drones, field recordings, object noises, deep philosophical / existential insights into the own strange reality, dreams, perceptions, addiction, depression... - lim. 100 copies only, incl. inlay with lyrics in german/english 2021 €46.50
MUSLIMGAUZE Mazar-I-Sharif CD 2nd edition of album originally released in 1998, one of the more extreme MG albums with completely overdriven beats... 2009 €14.00
Muhammadunize do-LP this album was first issued in 1996 as part of the rare "Fatah Guerilla" 3 CD set, and is comparable to other 'ambient techno' albums like "Mullah Said" and "Gun Aramaic" - awesome design, comes w. gatefold sleeve and spot varnish, DL code, 4 page booklet / inlay 2022 €32.00
  Farouk Enjineer do-LP first vinyl re-issue of the praised album from 1997 (Soleilmoon), lim. 600 copies on black vinyl - " This is MUSLIMGAUZE at their peak! This is one of the absolute best albums Byrn made, superb all around. Amazing high and low tech sounds circling and coliding together, to make one remarkable album. It sounds like you may have sand in your speakers. Unmistakable Gauze!" [SAW] 2021 €30.00
MYTRIP Circle of Loss MC cassette mini-album by the favoured Bulgarian drone-act, most dark & ethereal & powerful, this EP reminds us on the great albums of Canadians AUN for example.. lim. 37 copies only !! 2017 €6.00
MZ.412 In Nomine Dei Nostri Satanas Luciferi Excelsi CD re-mastered re-issue of this album recorded 1994 (first in a series of 5 re-issues), released by Cold Meat Industry in 1995 - one of the genre-defying albums of "black industrial" combining occult & ritualistic dark ambient with black metal and noise ! 2010 €13.00
N [XX] (HELLMUT NEIDHARDT) Anklam [N43] LP ANKLAM is the 43th release by N (counting everything released, also split albums and single tracks), and contains three tracks where the use of distortion, chorus and hissing goes to the extreme, the wonderful first track 'Daemmerung' operates completely on the border between yearningful guitar polyharmonies, noise and silence, and creates an atmosphere which is pretty unique... all is recorded direct to two-track via guitar & amp, evolving naturally.. lim. 100 2016 €27.50
NADJA Thaumogenesis CD another re-press of one of NADJAs best albums (originally released 2007), containing one long epic track (61+ min) of heavy but somehow dreamy doom drone.... 'like some Frankensteinian collage of Godflesh, Jesu, Sunn O))) and old Swans' [Aquarius Rec.] 2012 €12.00
NECKS, THE The Necks Box 8 x CD BOX collectible 8 CD box with the main albums by the Australian 'post-jazz, post-rock, post-everything sonic experience', active since 1980: RELEASE DATE 30.03.2015 (this is now the un-numbered ed, black box!) 2015 €60.00
NEW RISEN THRONE New Risen Throne 4 x CD set a complete collection of all rare early CDR albums & bonus material from this Italian "classic" dark ambient project, that has often been compared with RAISON D'ETRE or LUSTMORD: 'Prophet' CDR (2002), 'Flowing Ashes' CDR (2003), 'Along endless Paths of Emptiness' CDR (2004) and many more rare compilations tracks or material from split releases... lim. 400 copies, 4-disc digibook 2016 €45.00
NO FESTIVAL OF LIGHT Divide et Impera do-CD compilation of two albums and rare material by the hardly known Swedish minimal/ritual ambient industrial project: "Divide Et Impera" (CD from 1994), "Tape 1" (MC from 1996, Slaughter Prod.), + various compilation tracks and unpublished live material - "For the lovers of early Cold Meat Industry and Slaughter Productions era, projects like Morthound, Ordo Equilibrio or Kranivm." lim. 300 copies, gloss-laminated double digipak 2018 €18.00
NOCTURNE Working Ecstasy do-CD epic work from the French cold ambient Industrial project.. -"Two albums full of analogue sounds, droning noises, rumours as building collapsing while bombing, sensations like driving in an endless tunnel, far alarms, electricity, S/M & B/T/K feelings, cold and freezing voids mutating into hot layers of concrete, far sampled voices. and much more." 2010 €15.00
NURSE WITH WOUND The Sylvie and Babs High-Thigh Companion pic-LP limited re-issue of this classic NWW album from 1985 (originally entitled "The S & B Hi-Fi Companion") feat. the "MURRAY FONTANA ORCHESTRA" with DAVID JACKMAN, E. KA-SPEL, JOHN BALANCE, ROBERT HAIGH, WILLIAM BENNETT....- comes with new artwork from Babs Santini! - "Sylvie and Babs is one of the most memorable, playful, and fascinating albums in the NWW oeuvre." [Antony D'Amico] - 2021 €33.00
Salt Marie Celeste - Salt do-CD re-issue of one of the most important and beautiful NWW albums ('a drone-ambient masterpiece : one hour one-tracker filled with oceanic despair & sadness...' [DroneRec]), first released in 2003, which comes now as an expanded version with the original SALT source material, recorded for the "The Horse Hospital" exhibition in London in 2002 (so far only release as lim. LP), along with new artwork (six panel digipack) 2022 €17.00
  Little Dipper Minus Two Plus (Echo Poeme Sequences) LP rare vinyl version (300 copies on green marbled vinyl) with two newly formed pieces / remixes of a concert CD-R from 2005, one of the more beautiful and sublime NWW albums, layered and echoed female vocalizations and slow electronic pulses merge, so psychedelic and dreamy... - comes with full colour insert 2023 €32.50
O YUKI CONJUGATE A Tension of Opposites Vol.3 & 4 MC the second part of new "solo" material from both OYC members, "two albums in one", limited C-86 tape with 16 tracks & nice cardboard design! Mastering: COLIN POTTER - *Hulme's pieces have a fair share of rhythm, just as Horberry's music is highly atmospherical. Hulme's pieces are, perhaps, more a collage of various sounds and textures, generally mixed in a free-floating manner, whereas Horberry's are kept together and have a song-like structure.* [FdW / Vital Weekly] 2023 €12.00
OM Conference of the Birds CD second album by the ex-SLEEP - "This is one of the most immaculate, hypnotic and powerful albums I have heard for many many many years." [David Tibet, Current 93] 2006 €14.50
OÖPHOI (OOPHOI) Hymns to a silent sky CD evocative space-music dedicated to the sky and its movements & mysteries; one of the best OÖPHOI-albums back in stock ! 2005 €13.00
PHELIOS Human Stasis Habitat CD after two well received album on Malignant Rec. this German dark ambient project is back with a CD on LOKI, further refining his visionary drone ambience, sounding less synthetic but more like cello, wind and thunderstorms from another planet, with most subtle pattern shifts and pulsations,this is "Spheric Drone" in the truest sense... "this is one of the best space ambient albums I've heard" [Terra Relicta] 2016 €13.00
PHURPA Ya Tog Rid Pa'i Gyer do-CD after the successful CHÖD albumshere's already another epic double CD with two long tracks of deep throat spiritual vocal emanations.. "the exploration of various techniques and discovering new inspirations in eastern culture makes Phurpa musicians more and more eager to use traditional instruments in addition to their distinctive 'rgyud-skad' singing, thus enriching the already familiar formula" lim. 500 2017 €16.00
PSYCHIC TV Pagan Day LP mythic PTV album from 1984 with early song demos and sketches of ALEX FERGUSSON and GENESIS P.ORRIDGE, recorded on a simple 4-track cassette machine and originally not intended to be released as "finished" material; feat. "We Kiss" and "Cold Steel", one of the most intimate PTV albums - appeared first as TOPY 003 on 23rd Dec. 1984 as lim. picture disc. only available in the shops for one hour! we have copies on red vinyl in stock, after they're gone we sell the black vinyl ed. 2017 €20.00
  Pagan Day CD mythic PTV album from 1984 with early song demos and sketches of ALEX FERGUSSON and GENESIS P.ORRIDGE, recorded on a simple 4-track cassette machine and originally not intended to be released as "finished" material; feat. "We Kiss" and "Cold Steel", one of the most intimate PTV albums - appeared first as TOPY 003 on 23rd Dec. 1984 as lim. picture disc. only available in the shops for one hour! 2017 €13.00
RAISON D'ETRE When the Earth Dissolves in Ashes CD 75 min. unique material collected from different live-performances 2010-2011 (Zürich, Wuppertal, Rotterdam, Cologne, Leipzig-WGT, etc..), mostly based on sources used for "In Sadness, Silences & Solitude" & "Metamorphyses" albums 2012 €14.00
  Anima Caelum do-CD 23 live tracks collected from various venues and places 2013-2017, from single tracks to complete live sets, including the remarkable "Cold Meat Industry - 30 Years" festival in Stockholm where RAISON D'ETRE performed each one track from all existing R.D. albums; other live moments contained: Bolkow Castle Party (Poland), Cleveland (Radio Show), Jerusalem, Montreal, Poznan, and Miami; "This is apocalyptic music that can bring life to heaven!" 2019 €18.00
RAPOON Fall of Drums CD new material in the "classic" middle-eastern RAPOON style with a really elevating hypnotic mood, based mainly on 'ethnic' percussion & vocal material immersed in hallucinogenic echo, delay & reverb effects... definitely one of our favourite new RAPOON albums of the past years !! 2014 €13.00
Ghosts from a Machine 3 x CD finally the CD-version of the VOD-box from 2010, feat. rare alternative versions of pieces from the classic early albums like "Raising Earthly Spirits", "Fallen Gods", Vernal Crossing", and others, all recorded between 1994-1998 during RAPOONs genre-defining phase.. ed. of 500 copies in nice / thick 8 panel digipak 2020 €20.00
Ten Four: Centred Horizons (lim. blue vinyl) LP "The ghost line between sea and sky - Falling sideways" - one of the 30th anniversary albums (RAPOON started in 1992 with "Dream Circle"), with four exactly 10 minutes long tracks, this is the special edition released in a beautiful sleeve and on BLUE vinyl, handnumbered to 100 copies 2022 €28.50
  Ten Four: Centred Horizons CD "The ghost line between sea and sky - Falling sideways" - one of the 30th anniversary albums (RAPOON started in 1992 with "Dream Circle"), with four exactly 10 minutes long tracks, very subtle and beautiful material.. CD version lim. 300 2022 €14.00
RE-DRUM / B°TONG Hush! / Ascending in the Light of an alien Sun CD two albums on one CD (each 30 min.) - RE-DRUM excites again with somber but very lush & mellow drone ambient, B°TONG sounds here extremely unwieldy and eerie and more electro-acoustic, as usual excellent.. ; comes in mini-LP sleeve lim. 400 2014 €12.00
RESIDENTS Mole Box 6 x CD BOX the complete MOLE-trilogy, expanded: three studio albums released between 1981-1985 (Mark of the Mole, The Tunes of Two Cities, The Big Bubble) plus a full live album and 20 unreleased tracks (almost three hours of unreleased material!)..." LIVE-IN-THE-STUDIO PERFORMANCES, DEMOS, UNISSUED TRACKS, REHEARSAL ROOM RECORDINGS... = all known recordings related to the ‘Mole’ saga" + 24 page booklet with extensive liner notes 2019 €45.00
RITUALISTIC SCHOOL OF ERRORS Sweat stained fancy Heaps for first rate Ladies CD-R second album by this weird avantgarde performance group from Chicago around painter GREGORY JACOBSON; feat. members of CHEER ACCIDENT => one of the weirdest, dadaistic, unllistenable albums we ever came across: vocal noises, screams, laughter, croaking, chorals, plus instrumental sounds and samples / collages full of madness... develops its own strange beauty after a while... extreme / lovely cover paintings + professional cover & replication; BACK IN STOCK 2009 €12.00
ROSE, JON / CHRIS ABRAHAMS Peggy CD CHRIS ABRAHAMS (THE NECKS), known also for some fabulous solo-albums such as "Memory Night", in first-time collaboration with JON ROSE; non-entertaining improvisations on (diverse) violins and piano, using non-standard tunings and strange noises of the instruments... "piano and violin are typecast as ‘classical’ but here they sound more electronic and industrial. Probably not for everybody, but the real innovators seldom are..." 2018 €13.00
SAINT PETERS CROSS / KRABATH / JOAN MIRO The Wrath / Arum Rapasopis / Artist CD-R three mini albums from Ukrainian post-industrial / noise projects on one CD; very good eerie industrial noise collages from ST. PETERS CROSS, strange surrealistic ambience & filmic noise by KRABATH, and harsh power electronics attacks from JOAN MIRO, mixed with obscure low fi voice experiments and more bleak silent dark rooms, very versatile and hard to pin down..=> great release for discoverving the Ukrainian industrial underground ! 2013 €10.00
SAKELLARIOU, YIORGIS In Aulis CD after albums for POGUS Prod. and Cronica, this is the second CD in the Unfathomless-series for the prolific Greek composer, also known as MECHA/ORGA: "In Aulis" leads us to the Ancient Greek Temple of Artemis, where he used Aeolian Harps, recording the aura & psychogeography of this mysterious place... a one-track composition of 42+ minutes; lim. 200 full colour cardboard cover + extra art card 2018 €14.00
SAND His first Steps LP recorded 1972-1973 as a "forerunner" to GOLEM with early/different versions, just after the split up of P.O.T. (Part of Time); 5th in the series of SAND albums on Rotorelief, lim. 700 coloured vinyl, luxurius oversize cover 2016 €25.00
His first Steps CD recorded 1972-1973 as a "forerunner" to GOLEM with early/different versions, just after the split up of P.O.T. (Part of Time); 5th in the series of SAND albums on Rotorelief.."seduced by the unique and innovative combination of acoustic guitars, synthesisers, sound generators, short-wave radios, factory noises, hammers from the shipyards, agricultural machines, whirls of sand and eerie atmospheres, the listener discovers and lives the story of Sand and his Golem" 2016 €14.00
  Desert Navigation (clear) LP unreleased album (first in a series of four unheard SAND albums on Rotorelief!) by the legendary Krautrock-band, composed during the period of "Golem"... - 'Desert Navigation is the link with the earth, in its primal sense' - re-press on CLEAR vinyl, 300 copies, numbered ed. 2017 €25.00
SCHEICH IN CHINA IV LP already the fourth LP by this Hamburg-based project (all records and tracks and albums have no real title) with his pure and dry analogue minimal drone muzak, here especially subtle, pulsative, static, circling like a helicopter... just sound, no messages! 2016 €16.00
SCHNITZLER, CONRAD & PHARMAKUSTIK Kontraktion LP so far unreleased recordings from 1986/1987, based on two sessions recorded at SCHNITZLER's studio in Berlin; in 2014 SIEGMAR FRICKE edited and restructured these sessions into five pieces... the result sounds similar to SCHNITZLERs first three albums 'Schwarz' 'Rot' 'Blau' and early CLUSTER material; lim. 400 black vinyl 2016 €22.00
SEIROM Mesmerized CD third album by dutch MAURICE DE JONG's "heavenly ether-ambience" project, seven shimmering tracks that appear even more melodic and melancholic (almost shoegazing) than on the first two albums, think of early 4AD or PROJEKT Records artists, or LOVESLIESCRUSHING ... completely elevating.. 2015 €13.00
SHINKIRO Archive: Volumes I-III do-CD three early unreleased, re-worked albums (2003-2007) by the Japanese dark ambient project => "...captures the darkest and most beautiful moments of Shinkiro’s music: low-key synth textures merged with rhythmic cadences and slight distortions gradually unfolding roaming melodies, magnetic and cold undercurrents, ethereal epiphanies and ever present longing for the unattainable abyss...Dissolve in the myriad of mysterious emanations towards colossal eschatological pleroma"; lim. 250 copies 2018 €15.00
SIEBEN Each Divine Spark LP one of the best albums by SIEBEN aka MATT HOWDEN now in stock, the excellent British singer and violinist, often using violin loops as a basis, feat. diverse guest musicians => dreamy & hypnotic songs full of melancholy and emotions.. comes in gatefold cover, ed. of 250 copies in total... "Samengevat : een zeer sterk album van Sieben, misschien wel zijn sterkste tot op heden..." [Peek-a-Boo mag] 2014 €19.50
SKALPELL Nothing important to tell so far CD the last overlooked album from this underrated Swiss duo, known for albums on DEAFBORN and ART KONKRET, blending electronic ambient drones and (found) sounds and samples, dark harmonic and boiling underneath, with more noisy & rhythmic / tribal influences... pretty eerie and opressive, well produced and designed, very recommended + now for special price ! 2010 €7.00
SKIN AREA Rothko Field CD the Swedish project around MARTIN BLADH (IRM), known from two COLD MEAT INDUSTRY albums, now on Malignant! Great spheric & visionary post-industrial with influences from noise-rock (think of SWANS) and power electronics. Very intense stuff creating often an unreal atmosphere... mastered by PETER ANDERSSON (RAISON D'ETRE) 2012 €12.00
SKODVIN, ERIK K Flame CD second part of the two 'nocturnal Americana' inspired solo-albums by the man behind SVARTE GREINER, DEAF CENTER, and the MIASMAH label) => "evocative composition stitching singed acoustic instruments to burnt drums, spectral vocals and gloaming, minimalist atmospheres" [Boomkat] first ed. lim. 450 handmade book-style cover . 2014 €21.00
SONIC YOUTH EVOL LP the third S.Y. album from 1986, where they moved more into the noise-rock / song format, while still creating strong experimental / minimal / droning material with mesmerizing trance effects... forever in our personal "Top Ten of [Avant] Rock albums" ;) .- "the cornerstone [of] the Sonic Youth sound..., ground zero for the combination of chiming guitars and atonal skronk... [and] muggy delirium" - "EVOL slithers into the unconscious" - 2022 re-press, w. DL code 2022 €26.00
STRAFE F.R. (STRAFE FÜR REBELLION) Octagon Sphere LP stunning album by the German electronic avantgarde veterans ("Burn the Electronic Music Machines"), who released their first album back in 1983 on Düsseldorfs PURE FREUDE (at that time also a record shop), a comeback of the female voices of the early albums!: "The work features heavily treated female vocals and includes rhythmic patterns and electronic sounds contributed by Detlef Klepsch...The overall atmosphere is tense and moody, both dark and uplifting at the same time..." - lim. 300 2023 €18.50
TAZARTES, GHEDALIA Les Danseurs de la Pluie mini-CD the bonus EP with material from the "Une Eclipse totale de Soleil" (1977) sessions and two newer tracks from 2005, so far only released inside the 4 CD boxset, collecting the four first albums (also on Alga Marghen)... "Yet again, Ghedalia provides us with some of the most compelling, weirdly life-affirming music we've heard in ages." [Boomkat] 2006 €12.00
TEAR GARDEN, THE The Brown Acid Caveat do-LP the perfect "pop"-album by the long going project of EDWARD KA-SPEL and KEVIN CEY, reminding on their early albums on NETTWERK, the title being inspired by 'bad acid' spread at the first Woodstock festival in August 1969; "Psychedelic electronic melancholia, fearless experimentation & improvisation combine to take the intrepid listener on a mesmerizing voyage of the mind. Feel the Love." gatefold cover, coloured vinyl, download code 2017 €34.00
THE ROOTSMAN MEETS MUSLIMGAUZE City of Djinn do-LP first ever vinyl issue of this CD collab from 1997 (their second), 23 rhythmic tracks - *For this album the original The Rootsman material from his albums Into The Light and 52 Days to Timbuktu was remixed and deconstructed by Muslimgauze....We hear distorted dub rhythms, sawn-off loops, traditional music, male and female voices and then distorted rhythms again.* - lim. 750 copies, with 12\" insert 2022 €30.00
THISQUIETARMY Phantom Limbs CD CD-version / re-issue of rare cassette from 2012 with recordings going back to 2009 + 2010 - four movements of dreamy and dark, sometimes more noisy guitar drone, full of dynamics and changes... created similar like the early AIDAN BAKER albums with dozens of loop pedals and loops, but this is more raw and experimental... 2016 €13.00
THROBBING GRISTLE 20 Jazz Funk Greats do-CD re-issue of the third TG-LP from 1979 (Industrial Records IR0008), their "electronic/rhythmic" album that influenced generations of techno-artists; re-mastered by CHRIS CARTER ; third in a series of five TG-albums to be released this winter, comes with bonus-CD with a selection of live recordings from the TG24 archive, and the DISCIPLINE 12" 2011 €18.50
TIETCHENS, ASMUS In die Nacht CD fourth part in the rerelease-series of all early vinyl albums by Asmus Tietchens on CD. This is the third of the SKY albums from 1982 incl. three bonus tracks of unreleased material not included on the original LP. Comes with a poster booklet feat. the original cover artwork. 2004 €15.00
  Notturno CD one of the very early (originally 1987) TIETCHENS albums from the experimental (somehow post "industrial") phase, re-issued in the DIE STADT CD series, back in stock! - "..eine ganze eigene, verstörende "Alien"-Atmosphäre, recht schroff & konkret mit viel verfremdeten Klaviermaterial und wieder bemerkenswerten Titeln wie "Halbe Tanzmusik" - wie auch "Formen letzter Hausmusik" eines der frühen Meisterwerke auf denen sich der hier schon unverkennbare TIETCHENS-Stil deutlich niederschlug." 2007 €15.00
TIETCHENS, ASMUS / PEINEMANN Harvesterhude do-CD two collaboration albums with MARTIN PEINEMANN from the 90's and 2005 that see the day of light only now, reflecting the different phases in TIETCHENS oeuvre, showming him working on unusual source material.. "both CD's in this package are, no matter how different they turn out to be, quite beautiful. This is a must for every Tietchens fan." [Fdw/Vital Weekly] 2016 €18.00
TUNNELS OF ĀH (TUNNELS OF AH) Charnel Transmissions CD along with SHE SPREAD SORROW, TUNNELS OF AH is another dark project that is heavily promoted by the legendary British industrial label, presenting already the 4th album, and this could be the strongest, a powerful and eerie trip into otherworlds, earthquake-drones and strange tones and voices appear, everything seems electrified and spiraling you downwards into the abyss.. one of the most sinister and eerie albums we know!! 2018 €12.00
UN DRAME MUSICALE INSTANTANE Rideau! CD the French avantgarde & experimental scene from the early 80's impressed with many incredible albums, "Rideau!" is one of those almost unlistenable examples, combining free jazz and improvisation with all kinds of noises, electdronics and "new music" influences; this was the second album of the trio and this is the first ever re-issue, containing diverse bonus tracks (full length 76 min.) 2017 €14.50
V.A. (VARIOUS ARTISTS) (COMPILATIONS) Tal Mont de Lune CD label compilation by this interesting & long going Italian label with a mixture dark wave/goth, ambient, post industrial and neo-folk artists: three projects feat. JOHN MURPHY(KNIFELADDER, SHINING VRIL..), MANIFESTO (known for his albums on SILKEN TOFU and REVERSE ALIGNMENT), WE WAIT FOR THE SNOW, ALL MY FAITH LOST, ARGINE, CAMERATE MEDIOLANENSE, etc..etc.. special offer ! 2006 €7.00
  Speech after the Removal of the Larynx LP very curious record from 1964 (Folkways) with examples of people who try to vocalize after the removal of the larynx (Kehlkopf), often through cancer-operation; this record show techniques to re-establish understanding, such as 'Buccal speech', 'Parabuccal speech', Glosso-Pharyngeal speech, the Larynxophone, etc.. - recorded by physisican HARM DROST at the University of Leiden, Netherlands, lim. 500 - "... definitely one of the strangest albums ever given a commercial release!" 2019 €20.00
VIDNA OBMANA The Trilogy 3 x CD the three albums of Vidna Obmana from the early 90's that defined "Ambient" at that time: "Passage in Beauty" (1991, the first CD on DIRK SERRIES own label Decade Collection), "Shadowing in Sorrow" (1992) , and "Ending Mirage" (1993, on the legendary ND label) => timeless non-rhythmic ambient-drones, enlightening and elevating everything around you; for us, true ambience classics ! Lim. 400, re-mastered by the artist himself 2018 €20.00
The Surreal Sanctuary / The Contemporary Nocturne do-CD this do-CD collects two strong albums belonging together, from the later phase of VIDNA OBMANA, published both in the year 2000 on the US label HPYNOS => JIM COLE, JORIS DE BACKER and STEVE ROACH are present as guests on both release, providing bass & guitar, overtune singing and tambura; re-mastered in 2018 by DIRK SERRIES himself, 400 copies, 8 panel digipak; "...diving into a deep sonic ocean made of endless corridors and unsolvable mysteries" [SideLine] 2018 €16.00
Memories Compiled : Three Tapes 3 x CD three cassette only albums from the earliest V.O. drone-ambient phase: "Gathering in Frozen Beauty" (1989), "Near the Flogging Landscape" (1990), and "Refined on Gentle Clouds" (1991, released on the legendary Welsh label DIRECTION MUSIC) => all of them of highest quality and for the first time re-issed on any physical format ! Comes w. thick 8-panel triple-pack, lim. 400 copies 2022 €20.00
  Dante Trilogy 3 x CD the three Relapse / Release Ent. albums (2001-2003) marked a new impressive and daring direction for V.O., being more percussive + experimenal, with contributions from STEVEN WILSON and STEVE VON TILL (NEUROSIS), and focused on DANTEs *Inferno* poetry,.. guitars, electronic rhythms, strong ethno influences (flutes), spoken word passages.. - "das ist post-industrieller, abgründiger dark ambient mit überraschenden Stilmerkmalen.." [Drone Rec. info] - lim. 300, 8 panel digipak 2023 €20.00
VIKTOR, KNUD Ambiances / Images do-LP official re-issues of the only two albums from 1972, now rare collectors items, by this Danish ambient sound artist, who also was a painter & filmmaker (1924-2013), using lots of self recorded nature sources ; "Light became sound. The most fascinating aspect of Knud Viktor’s world is perhaps that there is a universal coalescence of all things: of artistic expressions and natural science, of painting, sculpture and installation. A paintbrush becomes a microphone. Music becomes sound." 2017 €32.00
VON HAUSSWOLFF, ANNA Live at Montreux Jazz Festival CD live recordings made at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2018, feat. a full band (bass, guitar, drums, synths, organ) and her sister MARIA VON HAUSSWOLFF on vocals, performing pieces from the two albums "The Miraculous" and "Dead Magic" - "The distinctive music comes to life, shifting from hypnotic and mantra-like moods to thunderous drama, dissonance and cacophony. The musicians master playful dynamics and wield immense power..." 2022 €13.00
WARDROBE MEMORIES Early Years 2 x MC do-MC re-issue of the first two CDR albums by WARDROBE MEMORIES from 1999, which appeared on the DIY label SCHNEETREIBEN in very limited editions => dreamy drone ambient with a strong 'cosmic" touch & experimental edge, travelling far away from earth...this is the 13th tape on the great German tape label, always using coloured MC bodies & oversized art-covers (21x21cm), comes with button & postcard 2014 €12.00
WIESE, KLAUS Perfume CD one of the last albums of the ex POPOL VUH member who died in 2009, 12 tracks of synth-based, highly meditative ethno-ambience using subtle instrumental sources... back in stock! 2006 €13.00
ZEITKRATZER Zeitkratzer performs Songs from 'Kraftwerk' and 'Kraftwerk 2' LP the Berlin based ensemble interpretes songs from the early KRAFTWERK-area (1970-1972 - before they went completely electronic): Ruckzuck, Spule 4, Strom, Atem, Klingklang, Megaherz; performed with 10 players on flute, clarinet, french horn, trombone, harmonium, piano, guitar, drums, 2 x violins, violoncelle and double bass, this gives new emphasis on the first two KRAFTWERK albums that have never been re-issued... rec. live May 2016 in Marseille, lim. 500 2017 €18.00
ZIMIAMVIAN NIGHT Zimiamvian Night 3 do-CD this mysterious experimental drone ambience project from the U.S. produced only three albums in 14 years - here's the third one based on 'dead / lost files' of piano phrases and foggy, evolving hiss drones and evolving pulses, very minimal and contemplative... the second CD is only available "physically" with this editon, with luxus gatefold-cover, 300 copies 2018 €17.50
15 DEGREES BELOW ZERO Open Doors CD 15 Degrees Below Zero is Mark Wilson, Daniel Blomquist, &Michael Addison Mersereau. The first release by this project was in 2000, so 21 years later we get to see how the project has progressed. Despite this album being started over 10 years ago it fully expresses a great maturity and beautiful diversity of styles. This is a truly epic album and I'm proud to present it to the world along with the members of the project. Mastered by Thomas Dimuzio for full effect as well. https://oxidation.bandcamp.com/album/open-doors "For those unfamiliar with this project, 15 Degrees Below Zero is the work of Daniel Blomquist, Michael Addison Mersereau, and Mark Wilson (who also performs under the name Conure). This project began after the demise of Imperial Floral Assault Unit, and the structured improvisations that they have become known for would continue for the next 20 years. This album has been 10 years in the making. To give you a sense of how long it has been, a live version of "Horizon, Skyline" originally appeared on the Conure/15DBZ split cassette that was released on Danvers State Recordings in 2012. Still, this album still holds up as if it were recorded yesterday. I have often enjoyed 15 Degrees Below Zero’s music because of its cinematic qualities. In previous reviews I've compared it to In The Nursery’s Optical Music series. One of the things that is consistent in 15 Degrees Below Zero is, ironically, their inconsistency. One album kind of reminded me of The Durutti Column with a little bit more of an edge to it. Others have a cinematic quality that sounds like it’s straight out of a soundtrack (they have often referred to their music as “cinematic isolationism”). This one is a slight departure in that the soundtrack would be for a very unhappy post-apocalyptic film where there is no happy ending. If you want a microcosm of this album, you can look no further than the first track Horizon, Skyline. This track begins with lush drone combined with a beautiful harmony. However, just beneath the surface is a wall of static that continually threatens to overrun the track. Toward the end we’ve achieved a kind of uneasy equilibrium with equal parts rumbling static and drone. 15 Degrees Below Zero enjoys messing with the listener and giving us what we don't expect. Just when you think they are moving back into beautiful soundscape territory, we find ourselves being slowly dragged back into a sea of squalling feedback and static. Sometimes the static comes completely to the forefront, as in “The Dead Sea.” In this track, we have high pitched squeal and harsh noise that would be right at home on any noise album. This is unsurprising, as I saw both Mark Wilson’s solo project Conure and Daniel Bloomquist’s solo project at this year’s Northern California Noise Festival. This album is the best of all possible worlds in experimental music. In some ways, there is something for everyone. If you have a friend that wishes that bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor would let loose and be more experimental and chaotic, hand them this disk. This is what that would sound like. Do you know someone who is not really into harsh noise because they think it all sounds the same, or they simply want something more to it? Hand them this disk. There is all of the noise, but also all of the beauty. That is precisely what makes 15 Degrees Below Zero such an engaging act. You never quite know what you are going to get but you know it's always going to be worth getting. Highly recommended." [Eskaton, Chain D.L.K.] "Eine offene Tür ist ein ausgesprochen vielgestaltiges Symbol, und das erstrecht, wenn es sich gleich um mehrere handelt. Sie zeigen unmissverständlich, dass der vor ihnen stehende weder ein- noch ausgesperrt ist und dass jede Wand, jede Grenze durch sie passierbar ist. Dem Auge jedoch offenbart sich in einer offenen Tür nur ein rahmenhafter Ausschnitt, der meist mehr versteckt als offenbart. Und mit dem, was man durch die Tür zu sehen vermag, steht und fällt jede Hoffnung, die ihre Offenheit suggeriert. Das Ausschnitthafte, Unbestimmte, mitunter Mysteriöse offener Türen ist beinahe ein perfektes Motto für die musikalische Erkundungsreise, die das Drone- und Noise-Trio 15 Degrees Below Zero auf ihrem vor einigen Monaten erschienenen Album „Open Doors“ unternehmen. 15 Degrees Below Zero ist das Projekt der drei Kalifornier Mark Wilson (besser bekannt als Conure), Daniel Blomquist und Michael Addison Mersereau, die in den 90ern bereits unter dem Namen Imperial Floral Assault Unit zusammenarbeiteten, und machte vor allem in den Nullerjahren von sich reden. Nach Wilsons Umzug nach Berlin und der Konzentration der Musiker auf andere Projekte wurden die Aktivitäten irgendwann seltener, und so brauchte es beinahe ein Jahrzehnt, bis „Open Doors“ fertig gestellt wurde. Wenn es einen roten Faden auf „Open Doors“ gibt, dann dass die in den einzelnen Stücken entworfenen, meist düsteren Settings nie klar definiert bleiben, sondern immer wieder ihre Gestalt durch subtile Überblendungen und Verästelungen modifizieren. „Horizon, Skyline“ – der Opener und gleich längste Track des Albums – startet mit verunsichernden Rumpel- und Kratzgeräuschen, eingehüllt in eine mysteriöse Wolke aus dichtem Rauschen. Doch von titelgebenden Horizont dringt bald ein tief erdendes Ambientdröhnen ins Zentrum des Geschehens, intensiviert sich und verdrängt alle Kantigkeit, um am Ende Platz für weitere, perkussive Details zu schaffen, und so entpuppt sich jeder Moment, in dem man verweilen möchte, als vergänglicher Übergang zu weiteren, unbestimmten Orten. Die abgeklärte Desolatheit, die sich bereits hier erahnen lässt, scheint in den folgenden Tracks deutlicher hervor: Im „The 5:15“ betitelten Stück breiten sich rauschende Wellen wie schwerer Atem über monotones Saitenspiel aus und mutieren zu etwas, das an gequälte Stimmen erinnert – alles scheint sich hier auf eine Eskalation zuzubewegen, während das Gitarrenmotiv stoisch unverändert bleibt, bis perkussives Klopfen für etwas Erleichterung sorgt. In manchen Stücken scheint es in emotionaler, atmosphärischer Hinsicht am Ende doch so etwas wie ein kleines Fazit zu geben. Noch weitaus unbestimmter und wechselhafter offenbart sich der Titeltrack, der sich zunächst als knarriger Ambietdowner in die Gehörgänge bohrt. Hat man sich erst einmal eingelebt in seiner resignativen Statik, so sorgen allerhand kleine feine Bewegungen für Erleichterung: Helle Sounds bimmeln wie abstrahierte Glöckchen durch den Raum, doch das wiederum ist nur die Ankündigung für einen durch donnernde Detonationen eingeleiteten Sturm, der viel ungehörtes aufwirbelt. Interessant ist dass all diese gegensätzlich wirkenden Bestandteile der Kompositionen sich nie gegenseitig in Frage stellen, sondern in all ihrer Ambiguität zu koexistieren verstehen – vielleicht ist dies am deutlichsten spürbar in “White Sands”, dessen treibende Dynamik aus dem Hintergrund wirkt und die anrührende Melodie im Vordergrund nie antastet. es ist eines der kraftvollsten Stücke des Albums. So haben letztlich alle Stücke ihre eigene kleine innere Dramatik, ihre eigenen Brüche und Richtungswechsel, und natürlich auch ihre Schwerpunkte. Lässt der nach dem Roten Meer benannte Track eine wuchtige Ambientwelle eine fast meditative Unbewegtheit in dem mit Klappern erfüllten Raum entstehen, so offenbart sein am Ende des Albums verortetes Pendant “The Dead Sea ” die größte Ambiguität zwischen Ruhe und Unruhe, zwischen getriebener Bewegung, schönen Synthie-Soundscapes und einem rabiaten Noise, der von etwas, das an Schreie erinnert, durchzuckt ist. “Open Doors” ist ein ungemein reichhaltiges Album und jedes enthaltene Stück würde den Stoff für einen kongenialen Filmscore abgeben. Wenn die so untermalten Stoffe – mehrere Kollegen schrieben zurecht über postapokalyptische Dystopien – durch zahlreiche Ereignisse und zugleich durch eine nie zu eindeutige Stimmung auffallen würden, wären sie der Musik am ehesten angemessen." [U.S./African Paper] 2021 €13.00
3/4HADBEENELIMINATED Theology CD Die Band mit STEFANO PILIA & CLAUDIO ROCCHETTI, filed under: seltsame atmosphärisch-melancholische Improvisationen im (entfernten) Post-Rock-Gewand [mit späterer effektvoller Nachbearbeitung im Studio ohne das improvisatorische Feeling zu zerstören]; zwei lange Stücke füllen THEOLOGY, schwebend und unfokussiert aber stets im Wandel, unter Einsatz von vielen "echten" Instrumenten (Gesang, Drums, Gitarren, Piano), mitunter blitzen Ähnlichkeiten gar mit A SILVER MT. ZION auf... die ist der "Schwester-Release" zur LP "Religious Experience". "Soleilmoon Recordings is proud to announce the simultaneous release of 3/4HadBeenEliminated’s new CD and LP, titled “Theology” and “The Religious Experience”, respectively. 3/4HadBeenEliminated was founded in 2002 in Bologna, Italy as a trio, with Stefano Pilia, Claudio Rocchetti and Valerio Tricoli. An eponymous album was released in 2003 by Bowindo. In 2004 the group welcomed Tony Arrabito and became a quartet. The next year Hapna put out their second album “A Year of the Aural Gauge Operation”, and in 2006 the band self-released a 7 inch single “DimethylAtonalCalcine”. The group straddles the line between live improvisation and studio experimentation, blending and shaping raw sounds into living pieces, then gently dissecting the delicately structured songs into disruptive sonic excursions more evocative of moving shadows and swirling leaves than recognizable tunes. Stasis and stability are nowhere to be found here. Instead, an ever-changing dialogue between structure and chaos shifts from one performer to the next, never resting long before launching again into shuddering flight. Accoustic instruments and vocals form a familiar reference point, but studio treatments take the music into psychedelic and cinematic realms. In their words , “Improvisation is a way to experiment without thinking. When our improvisations ‘work’, the music just happens on its own. It reveals itself as if guided by its own logic, its own desire. In fact we don’t even feel like we are actually playing the music. It’s more like a stream that moves and changes autonomously. With composition (editing, overdubs, etc. etc.) we then remodel this stream, trying to make it more complex, ‘forever lasting, forever changing’, in the sense that every hearing will reveal a new perspective of the music. As a live band, we improvise 100%, and it's really risky, but when it ‘happens’, it’s the greatest satisfaction.” “Theology” is presented in a wooden box with a hinged cover decorated with layers of hand-painted tracing paper, and is limited to 450 copies on CD. The companion vinyl LP “The Religious Experience” is a reinterpretation of the recordings made for the CD. The LP is limited to 225 copies. The two albums – and their music – should be considered as mirror opposites. Where theology is a completely artificial system of belief, a religious experience is the immediate experience of the thing itself. Likewise, the music on “Theology” is complex and elaborate, while “The Religious Experience” is much simpler, going directly to the heart of the material comprising “Theology”. Thus, the two works are independent, yet relate to each other as mother and daughter." [press release] "....and with some imagination you could say that they are a rock band. Well, an expanded rock band that crosses many lines: post rock, singer songwriter, improvisation and above all musique concrete collage techniques. Maybe the stage isn't their place but they should be safely stuck in the studio, where they can freely experiment with sound. Each member plays a wide variety of instruments, except Arrabito, who is just credited for drums. Inside the studio they find a safe place to improvise their music, but not as an end, but as a start. Recordings are separated, deconstructed and rebuilt into something. These two new releases, both lavishly packed with all sorts of nice paper, are best heard together, as mirrors of each other. The CD (limited to 450 copies) and the LP (limited to 225 copies) have however their differences, but the provide a nice view in the kitchen of 3/4HadBeenEliminated. The CD is perhaps more complex in approach. We hear lots of processed guitars, percussive sounds, organ like drones but also contact microphones scratching the surface alongside humming vocals. Not really rock by any rock standard, even when things seems to hint that way. Seemingly things move from atmosphere to atmosphere, gradually, slow, but without doubt moving.." [FdW / Vital Weekly] "...you'll know to expect fractured and mysterious soundscapes, a densely textured drone-zone constructed from field recordings, record crackle, improvised acoustic instruments, radio static, fragments of piano melody, electronic treatments, whispered Italian voices, turntable scratchings, reel-to-reel tape manipulation, synthesizer sinewaves, scattered percussion, and more. That's a zone we LOVE to visit. There's two long tracks, lots to explore, all manner of curious creakings and cracklings, shifting rhythms and rumblings abounding within 3/4hadbeeneliminated's carefully crafted and/or improvised music. At times quiet and meditative, at others noisier and distorted, but always (to our ears) utterly gorgeous and compelling. Aligns quite nicely with the likes of the Jewelled Antler collective, the Finnish forest foraging of Kemialliset Ystavat, and of course others in the experimental underground Italian scene of which the members of 3/4hadbeeneliminated are a part." [Aquarius Records review] www.soleilmoon.com 2007 €19.50
400 LONELY THINGS Mother Moon CD The new album from 400 LONELY THINGS, produced by WILLIAM BASINSKI, is a dark ambient, sample-based séance to the Banning Mill - a real-life decaying \"mansion\" and haven for artists, freaks and misfits in the backwoods of the American Deep South in the 1970s-1990s - and an extraordinary piece of art that lived there. An archaeological excursion in found sound - wandering through the art and memory of a real place, \"Mother Moon\" is an origin story for 400 Lonely Things. In the 1990\'s, Craig Varian was fortunate enough to frequent the Mill in the years before it closed. It was here that he was exposed to the artwork of Richard Scott Hill. The impact is hard to overstate. Built on the Snake River in the early 1800\'s as a textile mill, it operated until the late 1960\'s and when its doors closed on that era, and reopened on another. In 1971, the Mill was purchased by a young wealthy \"eccentric\" (to use the vernacular of the time). He was openly gay in the deeply bigoted Old South, a collector of fantastic and surreal art, a drug enthusiast, an owner of at least one mental illness, and a self-described entrepreneur with a vision. In the years that followed, he turned this sprawling, mildewed structure into a private hippie art collective, music venue and refuge for Southern misfits - gays and gender-benders, visual artists, musicians, mystics, ghost-hunters, wizards, pagans, intellectuals, poets, nerds and psychedelic explorers by the dozens drifted in and out, creating their own alternate universe in its hundreds of rooms. One of these artists was Richard Scott Hill. Hill\'s work stood apart from everything else at the Mill. It was all black and white or hand-coloured photography - typically stark portraits of people - almost always wearing masks. These photos were disturbing and disarming, hilarious and crazed, unsettling and aggressively surreal in their confrontational simplicity. His work both captured and fed into the Mill\'s sinister yet playful undercurrents of mania and depression. By the conservative 1980\'s, the Mill became a very different place. A dark and quiet ectoplasmic hangover haunted its rooms with just a handful of tenants, remaining so until its doors closed for good in the late 90\'s. Varian had friends that lived there, and after hearing quiet legends of the Banning Mill since the late 80\'s, was finally able to visit. While the Mill itself was transformative enough, turning down a disused hallway, Varian encountered the image on the cover of this album and quite simply became a different person. A lifetime spent as a Southern misfit had led to fruitless artistic, philosophical, spiritual and psychedelic pursuits as relief. At this time, an obsession with visual collage and audio sampling had been brewing and upon seeing this image, boiled over. He realized that the sounds and images he\'d been seeking had been sought by many others and that for a time, these seekers had lived here in the secret winding halls of Banning Mill in the wilds of the Deep South. In particular, this nude cow-faced woman was the Minotauress who sat at the heart of that maze. Since the days of the Mill (and Varian\'s subsequent purchase of Hill\'s \"Minotauress\" shortly before the Mill closed), Varian, along with best friend and musical partner Jonathan McCall, found a thread of music they\'d been consistently making yet had previously failed to notice - melancholic instrumentals with weathered sampling at its core - going back to their earliest recordings in the late 1980\'s. Eventually, this music was called 400 Lonely Things, and eventually an album would be attempted to honor both the Mill and Richard\'s \"Minotauress\". The Mill has been closed for about 25 years now and all that remains of it is a gutted skeleton covered in yellow caution tape. After a dozen albums, Jonathan McCall has since passed on to the next realm. But this album, born out of that first visit to the Mill, is finally here - an imaginary soundtrack to the many years of solitude the Minotauress spent hanging in that musty hallway. For this album, Varian reached out to Mr. Hill and a friendship and artistic relationship has developed. Richard - now in his 80\'s and an established figure in the established art world - still creates fantastically bizarre works daily from his home studio, just a mile from the remains of the Mill. He says that the music of 400 Lonely Things is from another dimension and he hopes you enjoy it and his previously unpublished art gracing the cover. Presented in a 6-panel spot-varnished digipak. credits released April 11, 2023 Produced by William Basinski Additional Mixing and Mastering by Preston Wendel Covert art by Richard Scott Hill \"Mother Moon is a cypher that saves an important hidden fragment of cultural history from erasure.\" Ben Ponton, Zoviet France. \"Mother Moon is darkness calling. It will take you to the outer limits and leave you there. Guaranteed to twist your mind.\" Andrew Hulme, O Yuki Conjugate. \"A wistful, burrowing, beautiful nightmare.\" Daniel Kraus, NY Times Best Selling Author of The Living Dead with George A. Romero, and The Shape Of Water with Guillermo Del Toro. https://coldspring.bandcamp.com/album/mother-moon-csr319cd "It's one of those weeks... Being a former ginger/redhead, I have problems handling the moist 25-30 Celcius) heat in the Netherlands. So I hardly get to do anything, and I get distracted all the time, like work and such. So I have been trying to start a review of "Mother Moon" by 400 Lonely Things several times, and each time I end up just listening and floating away, Drifting on the waves ... And I didn't even feel bad about listening to it over and over and over ... Produced by William Basinski, 400 Lonely Things is a project by Craig Varian inspired by recordings around, based in, or related to an old mill. A beautiful PDF was sent to us, and it might well be part of the Bandcamp download, but how you get your hands on it when you get the CD: I don't know. The 400 Lonely Things concept focuses on the arrangement of lost and found sounds, and the melancholia is certainly audible in the release. Also, the journey aspect is very well set in this release, the journey being the descriptive part of environments through sound as a medium. So in many areas where the boxes should be ticked to make a release interesting, those boxes are actually ticked. Musicwise, "Mother Moon" is an absolute beauty. Almost 80 minutes, with deep drones, minimal melodic lines, scarce structural sounds (no rhythms), ambience and, on occasion, a mesmerizing voice preaching solitude and melancholia. And here and there, an ever so slight 'touch of Coil' (for example, in "In Darkness"). So at this point, I would say: Get the album and don't worry too much about everything else. But the booklet and combined conceptual approach is a bit of a downer for me, as it turns out. I mean: Concepts make many releases I know/heard/have enjoyable, and I know all about it as an artist myself. But in a weird way the conceptual approach is so elaborate and massive that it almost forces me to think about it. And all I want to do is just enjoy the flow, as a psychonaut, ride the waves and not be bothered too much with all that mumbo jumbo. But that's just me. I think... I hope... Other than that: Go Flow, Go Dream, Go Listen, Just 'Be' ..." [BW / Vital Weekly] 2023 €15.00
A SILVER MOUNT ZION 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons CD Die derzeitige Vorzeigeband des Montrealer Labels (da es GODSPEED nicht mehr zu geben scheint) klingt auf "13 BLUES" noch weitaus wütender, aggressiver, rockiger & lauter als man es gewohnt war. Geblieben ist das verzweifelte Pathos und die ausschweifende bis mitreissende Psychedelik, die immer wieder zu wunderschönen Instrumental-Passagen führt, denn noch immer sind diverse Streicher im Kollektiv dabei. "Nachdem sich die komplette Band hinter Silver Mount Zion über die letzten drei Jahre etwas rar gemacht hat, kommen sie nun umso eindringlicher um die Ecke. Doch der Reihe nach; denn unsichbar waren sie beileibe nicht. Als Silver Mountain Reveries oder The Silver Maountain Elegies Play War Radio suchten sie diverse Clubs in wecshelnden Bestzungen heim, zuweilen unterstützt durch Hangedup, oder als abgespeckte "Kammer"-Version. Und dann natürlich nicht zuletzt als Backing Band des famosen Vic Chesnutt auf seiner kürzlich absolvierten Tour. Das alles jedoch konnte nicht den Hunger der Fans nach einem neuen Album des Montrealer Künstlerkollektivs stillen. Und hier ist es nun: das neue Album. Nie zuvor waren SMZ eindringlicher, nie zorniger und nie mächtiger. Die Basis dieses Albums ist mehr als je zuvor: DAS Riff! Vom Blues, den es im Titel trägt bis hin zu zornigem Noise und wieder zurück zu ausufernden Klangkaskaden - zwei Gitarren, zwei Violinen, Cello, Kontrabass und Drums können nicht irren! "13 Blues..." ist Donnerhall und Sturmwarnung zugleich - es ist laut und doch fein arrangiert. Kurz: es ist absolut zwingend!" [thee unknown reviewer] "The music of the full band (two guitars, two violins, cello, contrebasse and drums) has grown louder, looser, full of spittle and tears. On 13 Blues For Thirteen Moons, riffs are the backbone more than ever. Anchored by new drummer Eric Craven (ex-Hangedup), the band works its slow build and burn with newfound patience, sinuousness and ferocity. Whether methodically framing walls of sound over the four-on-the-floor punk dirge of "1,000,000 Died To Make This Sound" or exploding in sheets of free noise and melody on "Black Waters Blowed", the band has never rocked harder and has never sounded more determined, desperate and driven. A stuttered blues riff is the foundation for the album's title track, making its appearance after a blisteringly minimalist intro. "Engine Broke Blues" features a gorgeous set of chords that build inexorably from multiple guitar, string and organ lines." [press release] Constellation Records: www.cstrecords.com 2008 €13.00
A.G. (AGHIS GIANNOULIS) Colours in Black & White : 2017-2018 DVD Colours In Black & White (DVD / HD AV), consists of five parts, is the new audiovisual artwork by A.G created from 2017 to 2018. This project is an approach of - Digital Visual Music - in linear process, intersecting the aesthetics of new media art and post-minimal composition, as well as experimenting with the bounds of static and moving imagery next to the music in slow motion. The visuals were developed by the transformation and multiplication of a single video signal through digital post-production, resulting into an abstract black & white video synthesis. Titles : Colours In Black & White I : 2017 (Duration 25:00) Colours In Black & White II : 2017 (Duration 30:15) Colours In Black & White III : 2018 (Duration 25:33) Colours In Black & White IV : 2018 (Duration 28:15) Colours In Black & White V : 2018 (Duration 18:50) __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ A.G is a media artist based in Athens & Paris. He has released studio albums and audiovisual works under the names of ANIKA and A.G. In 2015 he reinterpreted three compositions of Erik Satie in the 3CD compilation ERIK SATIE ET LES NOUVEAUX JEUNES 2 (incl. Max Richter, Peter Broderick, Sylvain Chauveau, Rachel Grimes & Dustin O'Halloran), released by french label Arbouse Recordings. He has participated in various collective exhibitions where he presented audiovisual artworks and has collaborated with Free103Point9 Transmission Arts organization for Noise!2009 Festival (Ontological Hysteric Theater) in New York. A.G Works : 2005 ANIKA:A:0304 (MLP) 2008 ANIKA:A:0507 (LP/CD) 2009 ANIKA: 33 RECORDING SESSIONS, NOT INCLUDED IN A:0507 (CD-R) 2010 A.G:POLYGON:08 (CD) 2014 A.G:VIDEOS:2003-2013 (DVD-R) 2015 ERIK SATIE ET LES NOUVEAUX JEUNES 2 (3CD Compilation) 2018 A.G:COLOURS IN BLACK AND WHITE:2017-2018 (DVD-R) Videos : Colours In Black & White I (25:00) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhf0LEUunfU Colours In Black & White II (30:15) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8DK3WZgGts Colours In Black & White III (25:33) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs6VaQjEL0k Colours In Black & White IV (28:15) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25dV70HXzJY Colours In Black & White V (18:50) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztCprALWI3Q&t=336s Links : A.G:POLYGON:08 http://agpolygon08.blogspot.com ANIKA:A:0507 http://anika-a0507.blogspot.com A.G:VIDEOS:2003-2013 http://ag-videos2003-2013.blogspot.com A.G:LIVE AT FENAILLE MUSEUM. RODEZ:20.05.17 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLRD4yPV0J4 FREE 103 POINT 9 / TRANSMISSION ARTS https://wavefarm.org/ta/artists/xnc29y RE:VOIR http://re-voir.com/shop/en/film-revoir-experiemental-film-dvd/786-ag-videos-2003-2013.html _ 2018 €12.00
ADORAN Children of Mars CD "Adoran is back! After the acclaimed 2013 album, Aidan Baker (Nadja, B/B/S, Whisper Room, Caudal, …) and Dorian Williamson (Northumbria, Holoscene), follow up with their sophomore album “Children of Mars” on Consouling Sounds. The albums picks up where the self-titled debut album left off: drawing largely on improvisational soundscaping with Baker relentlessly pounding the drums and Williamson conjuring a wall of sound on his bass. They might be just a duo, but they fill up the sound beyond belief. Their exploration of both atmospheric and heavy sounds takes the listener to all kinds of places. From doom and drone over ambient and sludge, even touching with experimental and avant-garde, you’re in for an epically dark ride." [label info] www.consouling.be 2015 €12.00
  same CD "An impressive project featuring Aidan Baker (Nadja, Whisper Room...) and Dorian Williamson (Northumbria, Holoscene). Spanning nearly an hour, the tracks of this album explore Aidan's and Dorian's sludgy doom-side in a whole different way: atmospheric as ever, yet heavily relying on rhythmic patterns. Aidan's drums sound bone-crushing, and are really the pulse of ADORAN's music. Straightforward drumming or playing around with syncopations, it makes the odd sludgy sounds Dorian produces come vibrantly alive. In light of these gentlemen's oeuvre, this albums sounds both familiar and at the same time excitingly fresh." [label info] www.consouling.be 2013 €12.00
AGLAIA Intangible Opacity CD "Aglaia is a great project from Italy, but probably still not appreciated as much as it deserves. The artist releases his albums in Stefano Musso’s Hic Sunt Leones, and it seems that his work remains in Alio Die’s shadow. Aglaia could be even bigger, but I think that Gino Fioravanti, sometimes aided by Gianluigi Toso, doesn’t really care about worldwide recognition – I figure he’s fine with his current position. By all means however, Aglaia isn’t an Alio Die clone. Although the points of convergence can be easily noticed, Aglaia sounds less organic and prefers to focus on electroacoustics and the creation of an atmosphere by the use of more or less sophisticated electronics. This is no different in the case of “Intangible Opacity”, one of the two Aglaia albums recently published by Hic Sunt Leones. On “Intangible Opacity” Gino Fioravanti dares to visit the place where the Earth’s atmosphere ends and the infinity of space begins, following the physical and chemical processes that occur in the ionosphere. The sound is based on warm but at the same time somehow distanced synthetic textures, and classical “el-music” as we used to say in Poland. I suspect that Fioravanti didn’t use any other instruments or field recordings on the album. Synths only. Despite the strict nature of the music, it has a soul. Composed of zeros and ones, enchanted in the tiny box filled with chips and integrated circuits, but not allowing for the treatment of “Intangible Opacity” as only a virtually emotional, but in fact dry and mathematical record of the aforementioned processes that continually start, progress and end tens of thousands of kilometers above our heads. There’s no blackness, the sound is painted with thousands of hues, the blue and green of the earth being the parent colors. The title composition, the second to last, probably contains the most decent amount of space; the horizon seems to stretch widely, though all the tracks remain on a relatively equal level. After several listens, I conclude that there are earlier Aglaia releases which I cherish more and will come back to more often in the future. I miss some element raging on the surface of Mother Earth. A wind shaking the barley, or wild fires. A thimble of organic sound appears in “Protonosfera”, the last one: Gino Fioravanti, at least for a while, gets back to where you can breathe fresh air, as if in spite of the title. It’s still worth buying a ticket to the place from where there’s still a possibility to return. Aglaia still holds the fashion." [Stark / Santa Sangre] aliodie.bandcamp.com/album/intangible-opacity 2014 €15.00
AIDAN BAKER & IDKLANG In the Red Room LP "Format: LP (180gr, silk-screened sleeve, download code, 300 items) Release date: june 5th 2015 AIDAN BAKER (NADJA, B/B/S/) joins forces with IDKLANG aka MARKUS STEINKELLNER for two epic instrumentals, melting ambient, drone and krautrock into a psychedelic trip of pure beauty. For years now AIDAN BAKER has proved himself one of the most productive and versatile artists when it’s about postrock, drone or ambient. Since his beginnings in the early millennium, the guitarist has released numerous albums with his duo NADJA, CAUDAL, B/B/S/, solo and in various collaborations with artists like TIM HECKER, THISQUIETARMY or TROUM, documented on labels such as ALIEN8, IMPORTANT or MIASMAH. “In The Red Room” presents BAKER, currently living in Berlin, in a duo constellation with IDKLANG aka MARKUS STEINKELLNER (guitar), member of JAKUZI’S ATTEMPT and ARKTIS/AIR, who in the past has besides his own projects worked with ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE, AVA MENDOZA or EUGENE S. ROBINSON (OXBOW). With their guitars and effects the two create a gentle, yet uncanny ambience that unfolds in two epic pieces, each clocking in at around 20 minutes. As often with BAKER’s music, “In The Red Room” transgresses genres and instead melts their diverse elements into one: ambient’s detailed sound design is paired with drone’s experimental guitar approach and krautrock’s repetition for a psychedelic excursion of pure beauty. 180gr LP incl. download code, housed in a silk-screened sleeve, in a limited edition of 300 copies. … something really new in Baker’s extensive output … pure improvisation, inspiration out of the moment. A fascinating LP. Unruhr.de " [label info] www.karlrecords.net 2015 €16.00
AKATOMBO False Positives CD + DVD-R "Is it or isn’t it? Have I or haven’t I? Aaah, the joys of a false positive. Hence the title for this, the 3rd full-length album from Hiroshima-based, ex-pat Scotsman, Paul Thomsen Kirk’s AKATOMBO audio/visual extravaganza. Dark and brooding – or – mellifluously uplifting ? “False Positives” carries on the recurrent, underlying theme of urban & cultural alienation in a media-connected, (controlled?), Japanese metropolitan environment, previously presented on the critically acclaimed AKATOMBO albums, “Trace Elements” (SWIM ~ Records) & “Unconfirmed Reports” (Hand-Held Recordings). From skimming the surface, to trawling the dank underbelly: the daily minutiae of life in a large, concrete/glass/steel Japanese metropolis is duly presented in all its garish hues and faded glories. Accessing all areas, and hopefully dispelling some Japanese urban myths along the way, “False Positives”, allows you, the willfully willing participant, the perfect opportunity to immerse yourself completely in a thoroughly enticing, mesmeric, 360-degree sonic adventure." [label info] 2012 €13.00
AKITA, MASAMI Wattle pic-LP Elevator Bath's series of picture disc LPs (each record being adorned with full-color artwork by the recording artist) comes to its conclusion with a top-notch new release from the great Masami Akita. Wattle is a new, two-part composition featuring Akita's traditional soup of unidentifiable metallic clanging, crushing feedback, jagged white noise, and various effects. It does not disappoint. There are no drums, no guitars, no vocals; just scorching electronic mayhem of the highest quality. The colorful images here are based on photographs shot and subtly manipulated by Masami Akita, who sends the following message: "Turkey is beautiful animal and do not eat them." Agreed. Masami Akita is, of course, the artist behind the seminal, vegan, straight edge, noise project, Merzbow. He lives in Tokyo. This picture disc LP has been released in an edition of 270 copies. Every copy purchased directly from Elevator Bath will include a download code for high quality files of the entire audio content of this LP. www.elevatorbath.com "Masami Akita (aka Merzbow) dedicates this album to the turkey, following numerous explosive noise albums in homage to various animals. While frogs, fish, and dolphins have appeared throughout the Merzbow menagerie, birds in particular seem to the object of fancy for Akita, and here he offers the following: "Turkey is beautiful animal and do not eat them." How his vegan beliefs co-exist with the feral electric screams that is the Merzbow / Akita aesthetic has long been a mystery to us; but that does not diminish the psychedelic intensity and kaleidoscopic overload heard here. Akita is focused (or appears to focus) on the analog systems of closed-circuit noise construction that dominated his work up through the mid-'90s. Wattle squiggles and noodles with an electronic squawking that could be Akita's mimicking of the titular bird, with these sounds (un)settled above a scorching roar of jet-engine tumult and clattering demon-pulse frenzy. Limited edition picture discs of just 270 copies!" [Aquarius Records] 2016 €20.00
ALDINUCCI, GIULIO Disappearing in a Mirror CD talian sound artist GIULIO ALDINUCCI drops his 2nd album on Karl: “Disappearing In A Mirror” is again a truly masterfully composed and sound-designed ambient masterpiece and a more than worthy follow-up to the critically acclaimed “Borders And Ruins” which made it onto several year’s best lists for 2017. Over the course of four solo albums on labels like DRONARIVM plus EPs and collaborative albums (a.o. with IAN HAWGOOD), GIULIO ALDINUCCI successively has been refining his skills as composer and sound designer. His elegant style which blends ambient and field recordings came to full impact on his 2017 album “Borders And Ruins” which gained the Italian sound artist a lot of critical praise and made it onto several year’s best lists, a.o. Acloserlisten.com. ALDINUCCI’s latest effort is again not only a musical masterpiece of sublime beauty and sacral majesty, it also deals with philosophical concerns. Where “Borders …” was a reflection on the instability of borders - borders as an extreme attempt to discriminate and rationalize that turns into a source of chaos and cultural ruins on both sides - and their impact on the relationship between people and territory, “Disappearing In A Mirror” raises the very personal question of identity. In the words of ALDINUCCI himself: “ ‘Disappearing In A Mirror’ focuses on the fluidity of the identity concept, highlighting the harmonious coexistence of contradictory elements and the transitional features that characterize every transformation. It is a reflection on the current situation of change and disruption and at the same time it is a gaze into the human timeless soul and its inner soundscapes.” https://karlrecords.bandcamp.com/album/disappearing-in-a-mirror "Apart from his various collaboration and split releases, Disappearing In A Mirror is Giulio Aldinucci's follow-up to 2017’s Borders and Ruins, and it is his second release for Karl Records. If you thought Borders And Ruins depicted a rather dark view on the state of the world, you’d better be ready for this new album. “Where [Borders and Ruins] was a reflection on the instability of borders and their impact on the relationship between people and territory, 'Disappearing In A Mirror' raises the very personal question of identity." Aldinucci manages to create a sonic version of a hall of mirrors, where you can get completely disoriented from the images of yourself trying to find a way out. In a striking combination of gritty distorted sounds and distant orchestral and choral arrangements that sound like a stretched Beethoven symphony, the first two tracks present a frightening dystopic view. But from there, Aldinucci [somewhat] restores the balance with 'Notturno Toscano', as if he doesn’t want to scare the listener too much. But even in this track the intensity slowly increases again. There’s no way out of the mirror maze, it seems… "Disappearing In A Mirror focuses on the fluidity of the identity concept, highlighting the harmonious coexistence of contradictory elements and the transitional features that characterize every transformation. It is a reflection on the current situation of change and disruption and at the same time it is a gaze into the human timeless soul and its inner soundscapes." If the sweat in the palms of my hand is an indicator of emotional intensity, this album definitely belongs on the top the list!" [Headphone Commute] 2018 €13.00
Shards of Distant Times CD "Italian sound artist GIULIO ALDINUCCI returns with his 3rd album on KARL: “Shards Of Distant Times” is again a truly masterfully composed and sound-designed ambient masterpiece and a more than worthy follow-up to the critically acclaimed “Borders And Ruins” (2017) and “Disappearing In A Mirror” (2018) which both made it onto several year’s best lists. Over the course of six solo albums on labels like DRONARIVM plus EPs and collaborative albums (a.o. with IAN HAWGOOD), GIULIO ALDINUCCI successively has been refining his skills as composer and sound designer. His elegant style which blends ambient and field recordings came to full impact on his previous KARL albums “Borders And Ruins” and “Disappearing In A Mirror” which gained the Italian sound artist a lot of critical praise and made it onto several year’s best lists, a.o. Acloserlisten.com. ALDINUCCI’s latest effort is again not only a musical masterpiece of sublime beauty and sacral majesty, it also deals with philosophical concerns. Where “Borders …” was a reflection on the instability of borders and “Disappearing In A Mirror” raised the very personal question of identity, “Shards Of Distant Times explores the liminal areas of the contemporary soundscape that are characterized by the presence of human voice coming from old and timeworn recordings. Like in the auditory pareidolia, the psychological phenomenon in which the mind hears indistinct voices in random noise where none exist, voices and music emerge from the everyday soundscape through the omnipresent internet connected devices, creating glitches between time and space” (ALDINUCCI)." https://karlrecords.bandcamp.com/album/shards-of-distant-times 2020 €13.50
  Shards of Distant Times LP Italian sound artist GIULIO ALDINUCCI returns with his 3rd album on KARL: “Shards Of Distant Times” is again a truly masterfully composed and sound-designed ambient masterpiece and a more than worthy follow-up to the critically acclaimed “Borders And Ruins” (2017) and “Disappearing In A Mirror” (2018) which both made it onto several year’s best lists. Over the course of six solo albums on labels like DRONARIVM plus EPs and collaborative albums (a.o. with IAN HAWGOOD), GIULIO ALDINUCCI successively has been refining his skills as composer and sound designer. His elegant style which blends ambient and field recordings came to full impact on his previous KARL albums “Borders And Ruins” and “Disappearing In A Mirror” which gained the Italian sound artist a lot of critical praise and made it onto several year’s best lists, a.o. Acloserlisten.com. ALDINUCCI’s latest effort is again not only a musical masterpiece of sublime beauty and sacral majesty, it also deals with philosophical concerns. Where “Borders …” was a reflection on the instability of borders and “Disappearing In A Mirror” raised the very personal question of identity, “Shards Of Distant Times explores the liminal areas of the contemporary soundscape that are characterized by the presence of human voice coming from old and timeworn recordings. Like in the auditory pareidolia, the psychological phenomenon in which the mind hears indistinct voices in random noise where none exist, voices and music emerge from the everyday soundscape through the omnipresent internet connected devices, creating glitches between time and space” (ALDINUCCI). https://karlrecords.bandcamp.com/album/shards-of-distant-times 2020 €19.00
ALGOL All these Worlds are yours CD A fifth full-length album by _Algol_ brings to you digital and analog sounds combined with some soothing guitar tunes. A conceptual and contemplating album for virtual cosmic journeys. Enjoy! Instruments and mastering by Daniil Kazantsev. Album Design SeasofBlack & Kati Astraeir (inner layout) Released by Ksenza Records www.infinitefog.ru _Algol_ is a project name belonging to Siberian soundscaper (scientist, traveler, photographer...) Daniil Kazantsev, who is currently based in the UK. "All These Worlds Are Yours" album is out since the middle of June 2016 as a collaborative release between Russian labels Ksenza Records and Infinite Fog Productions. My attention was immediately caught by a catchy 4-panel digipak featuring splendid artwork by Italian artist Michele Carnielli working under his moniker of Seals Of Blackening (also a vocalist and guitarist with doom metal band Kröwnn) and by our kindred soul from the Sonoran Desert, Kati Astraeir, who is credited for additional inner layout. Nice work, guys!!! 4 and a half minutes long "Accelerated Descent" reveals the journey with slightly balladic, nearly medieval-like tides, where persistently spiraling patterns commingle with aeonianly emerging, droning and evanescing, intangibly rawer vistas. "Under The Starlit Sky", clocking to 7 minutes, glides gracefully towards nocturnally fascinating realms, masterfully bridging ethereally enrapturing dronescapes with quietly permeating transcendental glimpses. "Hidden Behind The Light" is invaded by monochromatically immense expanses, intricately guarded by clandestinely sneaking ambiguous siren calls. Breathtakingly infinite sceneries fully unfold here! "Frozen Plateux" safely remains on the path of utterly enveloping amorphousness, splendorously diving into the deepest ends of atmospheric tranquility, meticulously reinforced by occasional cyber-tech breaths. Exquisitely monumental magmas, jaw-droppingly flatlined, are insistently counterpointed by warmly undulating mirages, while intriguing desolate dissonances percolate here and there. A stunningly immersing 10-minute composition, one of the pinnacles!!! The next piece, "The Sands Of Tatooine", dives into enigmatically labyrinthine domains, merging calmly enveloping panoramic quietudes with sinuously twisted reverberating vestiges. A deep space voyaging at its most engrossing continues! "The Windswept Terrain", with 11:33 the longest piece, attracts wit its mysterious dronesculpting, where static surroundings commingle with intenser nuances, displaying evocatively enveloping passages, slightly disruptive hissing undercurrents and euphorically climaxing epic magnitudes. A very good one! 8-minute closer "The Dune Sea" delves deeply into unfathomable depths, superbly amalgamating majestically droning monochromatism with spellbindingly growling and buzzing traceries and thrillingly mind-bending meridians. Enter now the gates to abyssal nothingness!!! Obviously a grand finale! "All These Worlds Are Yours" CD, which is limited to 333 copies, is certainly a very strong debut by _Algol_ on a glass mastered format, so don't hesitate to grab your own copy, I guarantee you won't be disappointed!!! And the digital version includes 7-minute bonus track "A Fading Planet". If I am right, discography of _Algol_ features another 5 digital albums, one of them "Heaven Debris" (2011) was released also on a CDr format via Snowy Tension Pole label from Poland, but I believe this one is sold out already. And one of the digital albums, "Goldilocks Zone" was released on earthMantra. Not to forget, Daniil Kazantsev is also the mastermind behind dark ambient project Stuzha with two acclaimed albums, "Siberian Sketches" and "Butugichag". The first one was released as a CDr by Snowy Tension Pole during 2011 and now, few days ago, reshaped and reissued on CD format in a 4-panel digipak on Ksenza Records. Limited collector's wooden box is available as well. On the same label is available also "Butugichag" CD album (2015), which elaborately deals with Kolyma Gulag labor camp theme. If you are a connoisseur of venturous dark ambient explorations, don't miss these two powerful works!!! And to make the story complete, Daniil has most recently released via earthMantra his newest digital album entitled "67P" under his newest moniker Black Wanderer. A batch of exciting releases awaits to be carefully examined! Richard Gürtler (Nov 01, 2016, Bratislava, Slovakia) 2016 €12.00
ALIO DIE Hora Aurea 10inch Zwei neue ALIO DIE – Stücke auf dieser 10”, wie sie entrückt meditativer kaum sein könnten... ganz sanft und doch mit vielen interessanten Sounds gespickt, breiten sich magische Drones repetitiv aus, betäubend wie schweres Perfüm... “SmallVoices proudly presents the new ALIO DIE work entitled "AUREA HORA". Two exclusive tracks of evocative magmatic soundscapes in the typical atemporal Alio Die aim. The two completely new recordings (with drones, loops, zither and integrated radionoises from an old Valvular model) are similar to early Alio Die experiments or one of his best albums "Sol Niger". Catching atmospheres will bring you in Stefano's magic world, which is an oneiric, dreaming journey to the inner self satisfaction...” [label description] 2006 €12.50
Hidden Spring CD "HIC SUNT LEONES presents Winter Solstice’s Spores. A reprint of two classic albums ! Two milestones of Alio Die's discography are available again after a long hiatus. This new edition offers two superb collectible digipaks printed in black on silver, in collaboration with the American graphic artist Joseph Uccello. This combination of music and artwork is an ideal celebration of this time of the year, as the Sol Niger approaches. “In the course of life we encounter a kind of special state of consciousness – a moment at the threshold of a deep spiritual experience. At the border of the conscious mind (and perhaps with an initial feeling of disorientation), emerges a strong attraction toward a newly encountered state of being: a state that we feel is crucial in some way, and toward which we subconsciously strive, over the protests of normal rationality. On the other side of this threshold, beyond that apprehension, there is a sedimental layer of inner preparation which makes us ready for that moment. The energy evoked during artistic creation has always held similar qualities to this process; and listening again to these early works, it becomes clear to me just how vital to my music’s flow is this process of transformation and awakening. I feel that this same process informs the art of Joseph Uccello, which elegantly accompanies the music of these two re-releases. Sit Tibi Terra Levis/ Introspective and The Hidden Spring satisfied completely this desire of immediate expression; truth calls for realization, and the feeling of 'spring water' contained in these albums has for me still something magic after such a long , long time.” Alio Die, December 2008" [label info] www.aliodie.com 2009 €15.00
  Tripudium Naturae CD "After 20 years of activity Alio Die present his 15° solo album. Tripudium Naturae display in 10 new tracks with a celebrative feeling, that lead into some intimate, illuminating and deep atmospheres. Sometime close to his first albums, sometime reminds the recent "Castles Sonorisation's Series", employing the usual loop-technique and the electro-acoustic's sounds-magma into new forms and atmospherics explorations. A kind of classic Alio Die's album." [label info] www.aliodie.com 2010 €15.00
ALIO DIE & AGLAIA Private History of the Clouds CD Dies dürfte die erste echte Zusammenarbeit der italienischen Projekte sein, scheinbar geht es hier um Vertonungen des Himmels, genauer: verschiedener Wolkenformationen (CIRRUS = reine Eiswolke in großer Höhe / auch Federwolke genannt; PERLUCIDUS = "durchsichtige" Fleckenwolke; NIMBUS = Regenwolke; RADIATUS = Wolken die parallele Bänder aufweisen; STRATUS = niedere Schichtwolke; CUMULS CONGESTUS = mächtige Quellwolke). Entsprechend "luftig" und ätherisch sind diese hellen Drones geraten, in die sanfte Field Recordings (Wasser, Insekten) sowie die typischen Zither-Klänge von ALIO DIE gemischt wurden... das ist "Ambient" pur, hat klanglich vielleicht nicht das allergrösste Innovationspotenzial, aber wer ALIO DIE & AGLAIA bereits kennt wie meisterhaft & einmalig sie organische Klang-Meditationen umsetzen können... Musik wie Wellenreflektionen. "Infraction Records curates this new entry to the already considerable body of collaborations involving Alio Die. There have already been communings with the likes of Robert Rich, Mathias Grassow, and Vidna Obmana. Here, though, Stefano Musso's fellow-travellers are lesser known but closer to home. Aglaia is an Italian duo with a trio of albums on his Hic Sunt Leones label; Gino Fioravanti and Gianluigi Toso come trailing credentials in therapy, writing, painting, and teaching, to say nothing of alchemy and ortho-bionomy. In contrast with Musso, who has fully two decades of musical endeavors behind him, they're comparative novices. But you wouldn't have thought it. Theirs is a music whose apparent stasis enfolds within it endless subtle micro-variations. They bring with them from previous HSL releases an appealing aquatic/amniotic sound dimension, characterized by a combination of electronic sounds (analogies as the sleeve notes would have it) and processed acoustica moving as if in virtual circular breathing. Slow waves of soundflow suggestive of psycho-acoustic energy (if you're a believer, otherwise just go with the flow) come with peripheral fragments of sonorities, carried on the wind, drifting as if at the edges of sleep, recalling the way echo plays in open landscapes. That's part of the method of this animist collective's historical unfolding of its subjects' textures and trajectories, yielding a series of luminous aerated tracts. Animists see a spiritual force residing in every element of the physical world. Nature is believed to be alive, imputing an inner life to leaves, lakes and the like. Dwelling on Private History Of The Clouds brings this to mind before even entering its audio world, particularly in light of Alio Die's predilection for 'passion, nature and awakening' and Aglaia's for worlds of feeling ('mondi sensibili,' as a previous album was called). But, lest this kind of talk scare off those averse to nature-hugging, note that the musical Grace inspiring this project is more a familiar of Pandit Prath Nan and Brian Eno than of Wyndham Hill and Hearts of Space." [label info] www.infractionrecords.com 2009 €14.50
ALIO DIE & DIRK SERRIES The Chapters of the Eclipse CD THE CHAPTERS OF THE ECLIPSE reveals layers of eternity in each phase like a moon bath vitalizing luminous patches in expanded and contemplative dronescapes. The meditative and minimalist electronic ambient sky is suspended at the interval for liberation from the shadows of becoming: life in its most essential orientation. THE CHAPTERS OF THE ECLIPSE is the new musical union of Italy’s Alio Die (Stefano Musso) and Belgium’s Dirk Serries (vidnaObmana) which, more than twenty years after their previous collaboration (ECHO PASSAGE, Projekt 1999), contains three compositions in a suspended airy, majestic succession. These liquid soundscapes create an elegy of pure sonic beauty. “It offers no possibility of interpretation,” writes Musso, “because the involvement is complete, and immersion presupposes nothing more than being immediately part of the floating of the cosmos in the glow of its impersonal nature. Eight years in the making, this new creation radiates the wave that accompanies the explored space; it’s a telescope on eternity in a contemplative offering which is an impulse towards the very essence of the inner light.” THE CHAPTERS OF THE ECLIPSE imparts passage to a realm of transcendence, a reflection on life while absorbing the beautiful harmonics of these essential dronescapes originating from electric guitar, zither and processing. BIO Alio Die is the name of Stefano Musso’s shimmering, expansive dronescaping solo-project. Musso began work under the name in 1989 and has released over 70 albums including fruitful collaborations with artists such as Robert Rich, Vidna Obmana, and Amelia Cuni. His personal musical signature is a hybrid between sonorous soundscapes and acoustic mysticism: a shadowy, cavernous, intensely detailed fusion of acoustical elements, sample treatments, sparse, echoing percussion, and deep, atmospheric sound design. Dirk Serries is an experimentalist and foremost guitarist active since 1984, known for his vidnaObmana project and now extremely prolific in the free improvisation/free jazz scene with his own label and many different collaborations. The comings and goings of the sounds embrace and involve rather than describe; it develops sensations which we no longer hold back, while the sound textures flow continuously in the sensitive moments. https://projektrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-chapters-of-the-eclipse 2022 €15.00
ALIO DIE & LORENZO MONTANA The Threshold of Beauty CD "On their second collaboration, these cult Italian musicians create an hour of meditative dream-infused soundscapes and beatless mystical textures. Following their 2015 Projekt album Holographic Codex, Alio Die (with 65 releases) and Lorenzo Montanà (with 17 releases) come together for six tracks of deep ambient soundscaping, intersecting a potent alchemical brew of pure organic sounds. The threshold of beauty is a transcendental vision of beauty as an integral part of the cosmos. The connections of the music with nature and human spirituality are mixed in an ineffable picture that create a contemplative frame of mind. The recordings started with Alio Die performing on a psaltery (an ancient medieval instrument like a dulcimer but played by plucking the strings) augmented with real time electronic improvisations & processing by Lorenzo. The tracks were then edited by Alio Die adding layers, additional effects and loops to complete the expansive ritualistic tapestry. Undeniably calming and moving, the breathing slows, the mind quiets and opens. As the introspective ambience washes over the listener, a naturalistic dronescape unfolds with alluring aural scenarios of evolving, intimate sounds. * Alio Die has over 65 releases, 7 on America’s Projekt Records and others on his own Hic Sunt Leones label. Montanà recorded 5 collaborations with Pete Namlook on Pete’s German FAX label, plus released 12 solo albums with various European imprints. Limited edition of 500, May 31 2019" https://projektrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-threshold-of-beauty 2019 €15.00
ALONE Fossilized In Concrete (1995-2006) LP 12-inch LP, crystal clear vinyl - with cartoon-insert - lim. edition of 318 hand-numbered copies Created as an attempt to document an alternative history (or shall we say another dimension) of popular electronic music, ALONE from Belgrade have been active both as a performing and recording project since 1994 and already have to their credit numerous tape and CDR releases, including 5 full-length albums. Their style, eluding any pre-conceived categorisation, is a unique brand of high-tech electro-wave, allying the pathos and weirdness of KIRCHOHMFELD, the complexity and killing beat-programming of LASSIGUE BENDTHAUS and the unpredictability of PIERRE NORMAL. TREUE UM TREUE is very proud to present ALONE’s first ever vinyl release, a selection of 9 tracks spanning a period of almost 12 years, from the first demos down to the latest album. Definitely pop but never easy, futurist and neo-romantic at times, ALONE’s music remains through the years as unfamiliar and utterly compelling as the post-apocalyptic landscapes it tells us about. Like a voice from the outer world, ALONE takes us to the nexus in time and space where each may find their Golden Path. http://www.tutrur.com/tutrur_html/tut012.html 2009 €8.00
ALVA NOTO Xerrox Vol. 4 do-LP "Alva Noto returns to his much awaited Xerrox project with Vol. 4, the fourth installment of the five-piece intended series based on the concept of digital replication of source material. Using the process of copying as a basis, the Xerrox series deals with the manipulation of data by means of endless reproduction. Due to the inherent fallacy of the procedure involving the making of copies made from other copies, everyday’s sounds become so altered that they can be hardly associated with the source material. As a result, entirely new sounds are created: copies of originals become originals themselves. Following Xerrox Vol. 1 (2007), Vol. 2 (2009), Vol. 3 (2015), Carsten Nicolai continues the pentalogy eluding the accuracy and precise sound design for which he’s renowned, and turning to a more harmony-driven composition technique. Unlike the previous Xerrox albums, whose starting point is a set of samples extracted from external sources and fragments of recordings, Vol. 4 compounds under a unified cinematic soundscape, warm chords, thrumming digital ambiences, liquified electronics, drones, and noise sustained by floods of strings. The tension between the organic warmth and static curves, broads tones into distant roars and electronic cascade of sounds. While Alva Noto's oeuvre is predominantly affiliated with pristine sound design, Xerrox holds more intimate gestures and emotional sensibility. This fourth volume shuns further from the conceptualism and orderliness of prior musical outputs, ranging from heart-warming elegies to mind-bending sci-fi projections in extrasolar territories." [label info] "It took five years for Carsten Nicolai to release the third volume to his five-part series Xerrox, and it took five more to release the fourth. At this rate, it will be 2025 when we will see the final chapter. Although there are rumblings on the intarwebs that the fourth instalment, which should be depicting the letter 'X' again of the typeface 'XERROX', is actually the first one, with the same image on the cover. I guess we'll have to wait and see. Meanwhile, one of the reasons for an interval in between the volumes can be attributed to the split between the Raster and Noton labels, which occurred in 2017, after the Raster-Noton's 20th anniversary. So, although a keen eye may notice that this particular entry in the series appears on another label, the continuity between the music, artwork, layout, packaging, and pretty much everything else, is still intact. For that we thank thee. Whereas Volume 1 was attributed to the "Old World", Volume 2 "To The New World", and Vol. 3 was "Towards Space", this fourth instalment is subtitled as "Transit Extrasolar Territories And Inner Worlds". So the trajectory is further and out, and so are the sounds, depicted within. This fourth instalment is even more 'ambient', if one may call it that. Gone are the digital structures, copied with all of the artefacts of the process, and replaced with warm swells of organic-sounding strings, which breathe with the punctuating deep bass. I would have almost expected the opposite, as we flew into the extrasolar regions of our universe - something darker, colder, and void. But upon another reflection, fundamental sonic expressions within the fourteen pieces of the album totally make sense, since it is the human world, of the old and new worlds, that occupies within the digital domain. The rest of the creation is beyond the numbers. And yet... if digital emerged from minds and will of humans, is it not part of the organic? This, and many other questions, can be but glimpsed by travelling onboard with Alva Noto, who intricately weaves an aural frame which is by far his best in series. Of course, I've got all of the four instalments on CD, and have aligned them all to spell out "XERRO..." but at this point, I'm leaning towards grabbing a 2x12" edition of the album, since its vibrations and pure chime must be experienced through surface listening. It's also worth noting, that this album was originally finished in February, just as the pandemic began to unfold across the globe. And, as my dear friend Peter van Cooten notes on his ambientblog writeup, "this means that the emotional impact of this music is different now than it would have been without the COVID-19 crisis," with which I wholeheartedly agree. Xerrox Vol.4 is an album worth listening to on numerous continuous repeats, and if you prefer, you can lie down and turn off the lights. And as you float out of these outer worlds and through your inner, I hope to see you on the other side." [Headphone Commute] 2020 €23.00
  Xerrox Vol. 4 CD "Alva Noto returns to his much awaited Xerrox project with Vol. 4, the fourth installment of the five-piece intended series based on the concept of digital replication of source material. Using the process of copying as a basis, the Xerrox series deals with the manipulation of data by means of endless reproduction. Due to the inherent fallacy of the procedure involving the making of copies made from other copies, everyday’s sounds become so altered that they can be hardly associated with the source material. As a result, entirely new sounds are created: copies of originals become originals themselves. Following Xerrox Vol. 1 (2007), Vol. 2 (2009), Vol. 3 (2015), Carsten Nicolai continues the pentalogy eluding the accuracy and precise sound design for which he’s renowned, and turning to a more harmony-driven composition technique. Unlike the previous Xerrox albums, whose starting point is a set of samples extracted from external sources and fragments of recordings, Vol. 4 compounds under a unified cinematic soundscape, warm chords, thrumming digital ambiences, liquified electronics, drones, and noise sustained by floods of strings. The tension between the organic warmth and static curves, broads tones into distant roars and electronic cascade of sounds. While Alva Noto's oeuvre is predominantly affiliated with pristine sound design, Xerrox holds more intimate gestures and emotional sensibility. This fourth volume shuns further from the conceptualism and orderliness of prior musical outputs, ranging from heart-warming elegies to mind-bending sci-fi projections in extrasolar territories." [label info] "It took five years for Carsten Nicolai to release the third volume to his five-part series Xerrox, and it took five more to release the fourth. At this rate, it will be 2025 when we will see the final chapter. Although there are rumblings on the intarwebs that the fourth instalment, which should be depicting the letter 'X' again of the typeface 'XERROX', is actually the first one, with the same image on the cover. I guess we'll have to wait and see. Meanwhile, one of the reasons for an interval in between the volumes can be attributed to the split between the Raster and Noton labels, which occurred in 2017, after the Raster-Noton's 20th anniversary. So, although a keen eye may notice that this particular entry in the series appears on another label, the continuity between the music, artwork, layout, packaging, and pretty much everything else, is still intact. For that we thank thee. Whereas Volume 1 was attributed to the "Old World", Volume 2 "To The New World", and Vol. 3 was "Towards Space", this fourth instalment is subtitled as "Transit Extrasolar Territories And Inner Worlds". So the trajectory is further and out, and so are the sounds, depicted within. This fourth instalment is even more 'ambient', if one may call it that. Gone are the digital structures, copied with all of the artefacts of the process, and replaced with warm swells of organic-sounding strings, which breathe with the punctuating deep bass. I would have almost expected the opposite, as we flew into the extrasolar regions of our universe - something darker, colder, and void. But upon another reflection, fundamental sonic expressions within the fourteen pieces of the album totally make sense, since it is the human world, of the old and new worlds, that occupies within the digital domain. The rest of the creation is beyond the numbers. And yet... if digital emerged from minds and will of humans, is it not part of the organic? This, and many other questions, can be but glimpsed by travelling onboard with Alva Noto, who intricately weaves an aural frame which is by far his best in series. Of course, I've got all of the four instalments on CD, and have aligned them all to spell out "XERRO..." but at this point, I'm leaning towards grabbing a 2x12" edition of the album, since its vibrations and pure chime must be experienced through surface listening. It's also worth noting, that this album was originally finished in February, just as the pandemic began to unfold across the globe. And, as my dear friend Peter van Cooten notes on his ambientblog writeup, "this means that the emotional impact of this music is different now than it would have been without the COVID-19 crisis," with which I wholeheartedly agree. Xerrox Vol.4 is an album worth listening to on numerous continuous repeats, and if you prefer, you can lie down and turn off the lights. And as you float out of these outer worlds and through your inner, I hope to see you on the other side." [Headphone Commute] 2020 €16.00
AMENRA / CAVE IN / MARISSA NADLER Songs of Townes van Zandt Vol. III LP listen: https://neurotrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/songs-of-townes-van-zandt-vol-iii Neurot Recordings in conjunction with My Proud Mountain announces the third record of the Songs of Townes Van Zandt series, which was started in 2012, featuring various artists covering the works of beloved American singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt. Songs of Townes Van Zandt Vol. III features new renditions of nine classic tracks as interpreted by AMENRA, CAVE IN, and MARISSA NADLER. Steve Brodsky of CAVE IN stated about being part of the record, “In the winter of 2010, I did a solo tour with Scott Kelly of Neurosis and Bob Wayne. It was the three of us and Ansgar Glade traveling in Bob's ‘green machine’ van around the UK and Ireland. At every show, Scott played the song ‘Caroline’ and each time I heard it, I found myself enraptured. This was my introduction to Townes Van Zandt. Pretty cool that ten years later, Ansgar has given me and CAVE IN this great opportunity to show our love for TVZ's music.” Lennart Bossu of AMENRA says, “Being Belgians, the very American folk and country of Townes Van Zandt is not exactly the music we grew up listening to, but upon discovering his songs in our early twenties, they immediately struck a chord with us. Even people who do not understand the lyrics can probably tell that they are listening to someone who has lived and suffered, and, oddly enough, at the same time find deep comfort in his soothing voice. It is the kind of comfort that often defines great music or art in general, and it made the prospect of trying our own hand at a few of his songs no less daunting. Nonetheless, when we were asked to be part of this collection of Townes Van Zandt cover songs, we felt excited and compelled to be part of it, as, in a way, it offered us a chance to do something in return for the great songs he has given us, and also be a part of a series of albums that are almost exclusively comprised of artists we deeply respect.” Marissa Nadler offers, “I’ve been a fan of Townes Van Zandt’s music for nearly as long as I’ve been writing songs. When I was starting out, a friend introduced me to Townes’s music, and I pretty much instantly fell in love with both the rawness of his songs as well as the intense sense of longing expressed within them. His lyrics are haunting and evocative and have inspired me endlessly. These melodies will linger with you, year after year, and hopefully keep you company along the way.” 2022 €25.00
AMINI, SIAVASH TAR LP Continuing his experiments combining elements of drone and modern classical music, Tehran based composer Siavash Amini`s 4th solo LP "TAR" explores the fragile tensions between an individual and a collective subconscious. TAR is an inquiry of how fears and hopes of an individual can be related to a broader state of mind shared collectively. Making it`s starting point the expression of these feelings in dreams and nightmares of each individual, and translating the images, feelings and textures into sound. After a series of noisier and less melodic albums, this release catches the active listener with a subtle tension created by oscillating sounds somewhere between discomfort and transcendence. Even if some parts of TAR are quite disturbing, the record gets never simply dark. There is a much more sophisticated attitude that deludes us into a deeper act of listening and provokes maybe even some new synapse formations. TAR was premiered in February 2017 as a part of CTM festival`s Fear Anger Love edition. Echoes of previous releases by Shiavash Amini: „This is music to get lost in“ The Wire „Iranian artist Siavash Amini has been making his own brand of ethereal dream music (steadily heading into more nightmarish territory of late)“ The Quietus "Amini provides a satisfying mix of modern classical composition, ambient noise, granular synthesis and musique concrète with a hint of muscularity below its serene surface." The Guardian hallowground.bandcamp.com/album/siavash-amini-tar 2017 €21.50
  A Mimesis of Nothingness LP "Siavash Amini returns to Hallow Ground with A Mimesis of Nothingness, his fourth album for the Swiss label. Following up on Harmistice (HG 1902LP, 2019) together with fellow Iranian artists 9T Antiope, the six tracks were conceived in close collaboration with another artist and see the prolific composer intensify his interdisciplinary approach. The six tracks enter a dialogue with the photographs of Nooshin Shafiee, an acclaimed artist whose work capturing their hometown Tehran becomes the starting point for one of Amini's most visceral and haunting records. A Mimesis of Nothingness translates the ephemeral situations and melancholic moods of Shafiee's pictures into suspenseful soundscapes that masterfully navigate between the concrete and the abstract. A Mimesis of Nothingness is a disquieting record precisely because it is a quiet one. Working with field recordings, Amini sculpts dynamic portraits that create an atmosphere of tangible suspense that is never fully released. Even when string-like sounds enter the picture as they do on the third track "Moonless Garden" or when the abstract and glacial noise on "Observance (Shadow)" demand the listener's attention, the six pieces take hold of the subconscious rather than trying to be direct and confrontational. It is sound conceived not as a description, but a circumscription of spatial relations and the eeriness embedded in them. Includes eight-page booklet." "Zu den interessantesten Versuchen, einen Ort im künstlerischen Medium, sei es Bild, Text oder Klang, erfahrbar zu machen, zählen jene, die den Blick auf eher untypische Aspekte lenken. Ein solcher Fokus richtet sich an ein aktives Publikum, das die präsentierten Details mit dem vorhandenen Wissen zu einem kaum festschreibbaren, hypothetischen Rahmen synthetisiert, und er umschifft ganz nebenbei eine Menge Klischees. Das ganz seiner Heimatstadt Teheran gewidmete neue Album von Komponist und Producer Siavash Amini befasst sich mit Details des Ortes, die zunächst wenig zu den Projektionen passen, die der Medienkonsument abrufen kann, seien diese den Nachrichten oder den Resten eines verklärenden Orientalismus geschuldet. Amini, den Leser unserer Seiten sicher von seiner Zusammenarbeit mit 9T Antiope kennen, ist zudem ein leidenschaftlicher Kollaborateur, und so ist „The Mimesis of Nothingness“ erneut eine Gemeinschaftsarbeit, diesmal mit der ebenfalls in Teheran lebenden Fotografin Nooshin Shafiee. Amini und Shafiee trafen sich vor einigen Jahren zum ersten Mal in der Emkan Gallery im mit diversen Art Spaces gespickten Zentrum der Stadt. Sie stellte dort gerade eine Reihe digitaler Fotografien aus, während Amini im Raum nebenan Soundevents organisierte. Aufgrund ihrer gemeinsamen Ansätze – ein Sinn für Raum, fürs Fragmentarische und Experimentelle – ließ die Idee zu einer Kollaboration nicht lange auf sich warten, und so wurde der Grundstein zu „A Mimesis of Nothingness“ gelegt: Die Stadt sollte sich quasi selbst porträtieren mit wie zufällig aufgeschnappten “nichtigen” Objekten und Soundschnipseln, aber auch mit der diffusen Atmosphäre, die sie zu erzeugen weiß. Die beiden Künstler sollten dabei mehr wie Medien fungieren, durch deren Ohren und Augen der Ort spricht. Dass Teheran dabei weder als romantischer Sehnsuchtsort, noch als Schauplatz weltpolitischer Konflikte erscheint, mag mit einigen westlichen Vorstellungen brechen, den Nerv der Einheimischen trifft das aber sicher umso mehr. „A Mimesis of Nothingness“ führt sein Publikum in ein Teheran, durch dessen Häuserschluchten und Alleen, über dessen weite Plätze, Parks, Fabrikgelände und Ruinen ein eisiger Wind weht, ein Wind, der Hagelklötze und Staub und Erinnerungen transportiert und all dies sprunghaft in die unterschiedlichsten Richtungen weht. In den Fotos mag die kühldunkle Atmosphäre impliziert sein, im langsam heranschleichenden Dark Ambient-Sound Aminis ist sie mehr als deutlich im gesampleten Wind und Regen zu hören, und doch scheint dies und das Echo undefinierbaren Donnerns und Detonierens eher das Innenleben des Ortes und seiner Bewohner wiederzugeben. Auf den Bildern sind Objekte zu sehen, die Kontext und Charakter erst beim genaueren Hinsehen implizieren: Zeltplanen, Vorhänge und andere ausladende Textilien kehren leitmotivisch wieder in den dunkel ausgeleuchteten Tableaus, hängen auf Wäscheleinen oder bedecken Treppen, Möbel und manchmal auch den ganzen Schauplatz, und alles, was unter ihrem Stoff verdeckt wird, wirkt außer Betrieb, im Standby, und jede direkte menschliche Präsenz würde deplatziert wirken. Die Musik und die Bilder arbeiten (auch) immer wieder sehr stark mit dem, was sie gerade nicht präsentieren. Immer gibt es Aussichten auf ein diffuses Dahinter, auf Baum- oder Häusergruppen, diffuse Übergänge auf weitere Räume sind zu sehen. Wohin führen diese Öffnungen, Wege, freien Flächen, was ist oder passiert dahinter oder daneben? Die Frage nach dem größeren Rahmen des nur ausgeschnittenen Raumes ist so evident wie ein eingeblendeter Schriftzug oder eine Stimme aus dem Off. Auch bei den kreisenden, rauschenden, rumpelnden Bewegungen der elegant gestalteten Musik kommt immer wieder die Frage nach dem Was, dem Woher und dem Wohin auf, doch geheimnisvoll ist das Szenario nicht nur wegen des fragmentarischen Charakters und der nur gelegentlich ortbaren Sounds, sondern auch wegen des immer wieder Spannung überzeugenden Wechsels von melancholischen und harschen, gewaltsamen Passagen, die meist recht plötzlich in Form bohrender Loops oder eisiger Lärmlawinen einbrechen. Die Streicherparts im unromantisch betitelten “Moonless Garden” halten die schönsten, aber auch die desolatesten Momente des Albums bereit, und letztlich sind es doch die Anzeichen des Lebens, die die Szenerie auflockern: zeternde Vögel, deren Krächzen keineswegs betulich wirkt, Schritte, die von einer tiefernsten Klangfläche begleitet eine Treppe herauf oder herunter gehen, gegen Ende sogar menschliche Stimmen, die den Hörer sofort, trotz Sprachbarriere, in einen anderen kommunikativen Modus bringen. An der meist nur bedingt fassbaren Stimmung, die selten mit derart klaren und eindringlichen Mitteln hervorgerufen wird wie hier, ändert auch das nichts – auf „A Mimesis of Nothingness“ fühlt man sich an einem unbekannten Ort ausgesetzt, den man über das zufällig vorgefundene erkundet. Wenn es so etwas wie ein Wesen eines Ortes gibt, so kann man dieses vermutlich so besser erfahren, als durch ein vorgefertigtes Set an Dingen, „die man gesehen haben muss“." (U.S.) AFRICAN PAPER africanpaper.com/2020/08/29/siavash-amini-the-mimesis-of-nothingness/ 2020 €22.00
AMINI, SIAVASH & EUGENE THACKER Songs for Sad Poets do-LP Composer and sound artist Siavash Amini collaborates with author Eugene Thacker on »Songs for Sad Poets.« The collection of eight pieces draws its inspiration from the legacy of the so-called cursed poets (»poètes maudits«) as well as the German-language tradition of song cycles and expands the structure of the classic art song through a process of lyric abstraction. Amini is no stranger to interdisciplinary collaboration, as seen in »A Mimesis of Nothingness,« his 2020 collaboration with photographer Nooshin Shafiee, also released through the Swiss Hallow Ground label. But whereas in Amini’s previous collaborations music and other media are set in dialogue, with »Songs for Sad Poets«, Thacker’s poems and Amini’s soundscapes are deeply enmeshed with each other. In fact, none of the words printed in the record’s booklet are being said out loud on this double LP, but rather made tangible through the use of sound. Poetry and music do not so much correspond with each other as they conspire together—as songs without words, words without song. »Songs for Sad Poets« was born out of a mutual admiration of each other’s work and it is easy to see how the musician and the writer could relate to one another artistically. The Tehran-based Amini has released over 20 albums in the past decade—among them »TAR« and »FORAS« on Hallow Ground—that probe the physical world but also search for something beyond it. His compositions draw on field recordings as well as acoustic and electronic sounds, blurring the lines between what is conventionally perceived as real or authentic and the abstract or otherworldly. The New York-based Thacker on the other hand is known as a writer whose philosophical works like »Infinite Resignation« read like poetry while his poetry and other literary writing is inherently philosophically charged. What unites them on this project is an interest in the idea of the fragility of the human being set against the vast horizon of climate, planet, and the cosmos that produces a »sadness without cause.« The pieces on »Songs for Sad Poets« translate this nearly inexpressible ambient melancholy into dense and sometimes claustrophobic pieces that are marked by internal tensions and slowly unfolding dynamics. The eight poems are neither only the starting points nor just the byproduct of the compositions, or vice versa. Instead, the entire record is one single result of a coherent creative process. Thacker’s writing—dedicated to the poètes maudits Gérard de Nerval, Chūya Nakahara, Sadeq Hedayat, Alejandra Pizarnik, Giacomo Leopardi, Mário de Sá-Carneiro, Zhu Shuzhen and Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo—is marked by a stunning formal rigour, but also a wide-reaching evocativeness. All it needs to conjure up an all encompassing sense of cosmic sorrow is a few lines with even fewer words in them. The rhythmic character of the poems is reflected in Amini’s music which puts an emphasis on tone and mood, but also on movement and density. All of this makes »Songs for Sad Poets« a work of art that directly addresses its listeners’ affects, expressing an underlying melancholy while evoking an air of dread by transcending the borders between music and literature. https://hallowground.bandcamp.com/album/siavash-amini-eugene-thacker-songs-for-sad-poets 2022 €32.50
AMUNDSON, NATHAN Western Songs LP "Minimalist singer/songwriter Nathan Amundson began recording as Rivulets in 1999, when his self-titled debut was issued by Chairkickers Union, the Duluth, Minnesota label run by the veteran slowcore outfit Low. Since then Nathan has released a plethora of albums, EPs, and singles as Rivulets on labels such as Chairkickers, Acuarela, Important Recoords, TROME and Jellyfant. His live performances, both solo and with his band, are highly acclaimed, and much sought after on the European circuit. "Western Songs" marks the very first time Nathan Amundson is releasing music under his own name. This record is his first for Silentes, and features two side-long late night instrumental guitar jams evoking the vast arid landscape surrounding his home state of Colorado. Recommended if you like: deserts, drone, experimental, minimalist, mountains and slowcore. "Western Songs" is released in two different editions: - 200 copies on black vinyl; - 50 copies on splattered vinyl. [sold out]" [label info] 13.silentes.it 2015 €18.00
ANEMONE TUBE Golden Temple CD "anemone tube’s third release of the 'suicide series' tetralogy is an immersive industrial music album and the most ambitious and complex work yet, a long-term project of no less than 6 years, pursuing a highly sophisticated approach full of cross-cultural and historical references. painting a sonic landscape, 'golden temple' is perfectly real and dreamlike at the same time, endorsing archaic, mythological and worldly ideals alike. beauty and evil, the profane and chaos, apocalypse and hope - anemone tube keeps account and observes the antagonist forces of life. composed of raw urban field recordings collected in japan and china, combined with layers of piercing feedback and sinister hovering synth melodies, 'golden temple' confronts you with an all-embracing atmosphere of aggrieving darkness and glorious harshness, fathoming the possibilities of the genre. to ensure due impact, it has been sharply engineered to perfection by mastermind james plotkin. pursuing radical psychological effects of sound, the 13+ minutes initiation 'l`homme et les sirenes' is a mind-bending journey into the human psyche, a slowly emerging sinister landscape evoking man’s intrinsic imbalance with (its own) nature, followed by the noisy debris and crushing buildup of 'apocalyptic fantasy' as well as 'tower of evil', which is the central piece of the album, conceptually and musically, multi-layered and sample-heavy, related to tokyo’s roppongi hills mori tower, which is regarded by natives as a symbol for the uninhibited commercialization of life. 'negation of myth' descends into a barren, metallic darkness, radiating an equivocal sense of melancholy, before 'sea of lights (golden temple)' ascends in sparkling brightness and divinity. the evanescent bleakness of 'anthropocene - the dark abyss of time' finishes the main part of the album on a perversely promising, almost calm, spiritual note. under the heading 'arcadia - dreamland and myth', which constitutes a coherent sequel to the album, anemone tube explores questions pertaining our longing for a return to the realms of myth and emotion. whereas the sinister seething 'i, death, rule even in arcadia' picks up the first piece’s topic of sirens and conjures up the dionysian reunion with the innermost depths of nature and chaos, the psychologically strenuous 'tojinbo - tranquil sea of equanimity' composed by radical sound artist dave phillips (switzerland, schimpfluch-gruppe), using field recordings of the country’s most notorious suicide spot, demands the ultimate choice: how far to go to find your peace of mind. after the purely fantastic 'dream landscape' conjuring up an apocalyptic vision and the dark, brooding landscape of 'death over china' slowly spreading as thick smog (as a consequence for china’s uncompromising economical and societal development causing irreparable environmental harm), the semi-fictional work 'golden temple' is the series’ logical sequel . it suggests a (meta)physical landscape, here in form of global cities and metropolises proudly and brightly soaring in darkness, and bestowing golden radiance and divine beauty. with its alluring metaphorical world of images, symbols and sounds it is the very symbol of our innermost longings, desires and fears and our attempts to escape from a disconcerting reality. the 'golden temple' is comforting and threatening at the same time: consoling as it promises to reveal the secrets of beauty, threatening as it becomes a mirror of our secret death wish. strongly influenced by pasolini’s cinematic masterpiece 'medea', which evolves around the subject matters of estrangement from traditional values, the loss of contact with the mythical and the sacred in an increasingly rationalized and consumerist society, anemone tube brings matters to a head with an invocation of religiously charged symbolism, with the 'golden temple' acting as more than a singular viewpoint, but as a meta-sign, functioning in its paramount acknowledgement and acceptance of complex, sometimes contradictory subject matter. supported by the use of ancient and contemporary imagery, literary and cinematic references reproduced in the lavish accompanying booklet anemone tube creates different narrative levels, juxtaposes contemporary western and long-standing asian culture, plays with symbolic meanings and values - however, while doing so, never takes an unequivocal stand. anemone tube with his varied interests and approaches always strives to present a holistic work of art, and 'golden temple' works on many levels accordingly. the considered use of field recordings and samples, the arrangement of old masters’ paintings, contemporary photos and a variety of quotes from literature and movies - nothing is random, everything is part of the big picture. 'golden temple' is a multi-facetted recording, absorbing and inspiring as well as a complex concept waiting to be discovered. quality time lies ahead for those who get involved and visit the golden temple! the cd comes with a beautifully designed 6 panel digifile with golden print on black paper and a lavish 12-page booklet." [label info] "Im Zentrum von Tokyos Bezirk Minato erhebt sich die Skyline der Roppongi Hills, einer Gruppe von Bürotürmen um den mächtigen Mori Tower, den die kritisch gesinnten unter den Einheimischen in leicht abergläubischer Weise den bösen Turm nennen. In ihrer Wahrnehmung steht er für die Macht, die das Kapital und der entfesselte Konsum auf alle Lebensbereiche ausweitet. Für den Musiker Anemone Tube, der vor einigen Jahren Japan bereiste und am Fuße der Türme das Covermotiv und nicht wenige der Sounds seines aktuellen Albums „Golden Temple“ aufnahm, ist der Ort ein Symbol der kapitalistischen Spatmoderne, der Tower of Evil, den er im gleichnamigen Stück besingt, ist eine Allegorie, die nicht nur in Japan ihre Manifestation hat. „Golden Temple“ – man mag beim Titel an Mishimas Temple of the Golden Pavillon denken, woraus im opulenten Booklet zitiert wird – ist der dritte Teil von Anemone Tubes „Suicide Series“ und somit Nachfolger von „Dream Landscape“ und „Death Over China“. Ein weiteres mal geht es um Landschaften, die sich in der Spätform unserer Zivilisation herausgebildet haben und die zugleich ihren selbst hervorgerufenen Kollaps symbolisieren. Auf „Golden Temple“ ist all dies noch stärker als zuvor mit textlichen und ikonischen Zitaten und Anspielungen unterfüttert, die viele Fragen stellen und gelegentlich auch die eine oder andere Antwort in den Raum stellen. Noch deutlicher als auf „Death Over China“ dreht sich auf „Golden Temple“ alles um das Thema der Entfremdung und ihrer apokalyptischen Dimensionen, und wie es scheint wird ein historisches Panorama entfaltet. Im eröffnenden „L’Homme et les Sirenes“ wird gewissermaßen die Ursünde der Entfremdung abgehandelt, der Trick des Odysseus, dem verführerischen Gesang der Sirenen zu widerstehen, oder allgemeiner: durch scheinbare Disziplin, die in Wirklichkeit eine Selbstfesselung ist, über die Natur und ihre Geister zu triumphieren. Dieser Akt, von Homer gefeiert und noch in der Dialektik der Aufklärung als Sternstunde der Zivilisation gewürdigt, erscheint hier als Auftakt einer fatalen Dystopie, zumindest lässt der knochentrockene Schleifsound, der seine destruktive Wirkraft erst nach und nach entfaltet, nichts anderes vermuten. Von der Irrfahrt des Heroen bis zum finalen Anthropozän in „Anthropocene – The Dark Abyss of Time“ mit seinem an apokalyptisches Flammengeprassel erinnernden Rauschen ist es ein weiter Weg, und der ist mit Marken versehen, die so etwas wie einen Kampf zwischen Sein und Entfremdung anzudeuten scheinen. Auf musikalischer wie textlicher Seite herrscht der Nihilismus des all-encompassing destroyer aus dem zentralen „Tower of Evil“. „Apocalyptic Fantasy“ knüpt mit fatal dröhnenden Kreisbewegungen und einem Sound, der an Gitarrensoli diverser Metalgenres gemahnt, an die vorab veröffentlichte EP „In the Vortex of Dionysian Reality“ an, und schon dass hier auf Fantasy und nicht auf Nightmare verwiesen wird, unterstreicht das Lustvolle, dass dieses Untergangs-Narrativ bis zum kaum verständlichen Sprachample durchzieht – wie im Tarot Crowleys ist der Turm, der hier durch brettharte Noisewände evoziert wird, eine dem Einsturz geweihte comfort zone, deren Implosion gefürchtet und zugleich erhofft wird. Nach einer eindringlicheren Version des schon auf dem Vortex-Tape enthaltenen „Tower of Evil“, hier mit dem Zusatz „The Ultimate Truth“, führt uns „Negation of Myth“ in die etwas filigraneren Regionen der Anemone Tube-Kosmos, was allerdings nur heißt, dass die nosigen Sounds weniger verwaschen und die einzelnen grobkörnigen Partikel deutlicher herausgearbeitet sind. Wer vergleichbare Passagen auf „Death Over China“ oder auf der Split mit Dissecting Table kennt, weiß, dass solche Tracks immer noch niederdrückend sind, und hier ist es v.a. das kosmische Hintergrunddröhnen, das den Eindruck von etwas Verlorenem aufrecht erhält. Vielleicht ist es diese Evokation von etwas ungreifbar Verlorenem, die auch den vielleicht schöngeistigesten Track „Sea of Lights (Golden Temple)“ so eindringlich macht. Anemone Tube war stets an einer angemessenen allegorischen Aufmachung interessiert, doch diesmal ist das Booklet besonders reichhaltig gefüllt. Auf der bildlichen und paratextlichen Seite, die hier entfaltet wird, erwacht eine hetrotopische Gegenwelt, die so etwas wie ein nicht entfremdetes Sein zum Thema macht. Teil dieser Gegenwelt, wenn auch auf sehr radikale Art, ist zumindest der erste der beiden Bonus-Tracks, die wie eine integrierte EP unter dem Titel „Arcadia – Dreamland and Myth” angehängt sind: „I, Death, Even Rule in Arcadia” greift das Motiv der Odysse wieder auf und deutet eine alternative Erzähung an, in der der Held dem Ruf der Geister nachgibt und – auf tragische Weise, der Entfremdung jedoch entrinnend, wieder mit seiner eigenen Natur verschmilzt. „Tojinbo – Tranquil Sea of Equanimity” wiederum ist besonders doppelbödig, scheinen die vom schweitzer Soundaktivisten Dave Philips abgemischten Feldaufnahmen aus der Nähe einer für zahlreiche Selbstmorde bekannten Felsenklippe in Japan doch eher wieder eine Folge der Entfremdung statt ihre Alternative zu beschwören. Letztlich bleibt es eine Frage der Interpretation, ob man die schönen Seiten des in „Golden Temple“ beschworenen als eskapistische Gegenwelt, als Einklagen einer veschmähten Kostbarkeit, als reine Dokumentation oder als vorsichtig hoffnungvolle Zukunftsaussicht auf ein Danach lesen will. Nietzsches Umschreibung des Dionysischen als „Ja zu Leben in all seiner Tragik” kommt mir dabei allerdings nicht aus dem Sinn. Sicher ist, dass das immer etwas links klingende Wort Antikapitalismus und das immer etwas rechts klingende Wort Antimodernismus selten so sehr überblendet wurde, wie auf diesem an Andeutungen und Anspielungen reichen Album, das den Geist Pasolinis wie ein Kontrastmittel über die Goldenen Tempel unserer Zeit gießt – und damit selbst die namenlose saufende Schönheit zu Füßen der Kolosses aus Glas und Beton zum Strahlen bringt." (U.S./AFRICAN PAPER] www.raubbau.org "The second chapter in "the suicide series" from Berlin's Anemone Tube is a suitably grim offering of machined noise, discordant feedback, and industrial field recordings of urban sprawl from a protracted visit to China a few years back. Anemone Tube's inclusion of these Chinese sounds comes from a very conscious decision to express the unfortunate side of the human condition to lay blame of current ills on the foreigner, the other - as Sartre explored in The Stranger. These recordings of locomotive engines grinding against the tracks, jet-engines surging into the sky, and the deafening roar from turbines are not unique to China, but the acceleration of environmental decline through such activities should also be seen as a mirror to the European civilization, whose cities have complex histories to war, famine, death, and disease. Hence, the title refers more to the gleaming optimism of human progress when everything points to another conclusion. Anemone Tube captures this in an immersive construct of these revolving field recordings, compounded by sinister synth passages and haunted drone, that keep us thinking of the likes of Morthound and Megaptera, in the death-industrial realms." [Aquarius Rec.] 2016 €13.00
ANTONY & THE JOHNSONS The Crying Light CD Drei Platten die wir auch mit Drone anbieten wurden vom PITCHFORK Magazin (zur Zeit wohl DIE Referenz im Alternativ-Bereich) zu den "besten Platten des Jahres 2009" erkoren: SUNN O)))s "Monoliths & Dimensions", JIM O'ROURKE - "The Visitor", und "The Crying Light". Zurecht, denn dies ist das Meisterstück des aussergewöhnlichen Sängers mit der fragilen Stimme und den herzzereissenden Arrangements! "Mit seinem dritten Album "The Crying Light" setzt der Songschreiber, dessen empathisch emotionaler Kopfgesang kein Geschlecht kennt, aber dafür die Tiefe menschlicher Gefühle, einen intimeren Fokus. Im Interview mit der britischen Musikzeitschrift "Wire" spricht Antony von einem "inneren Garten", dessen Mauern er nun überwinden möchte, weil es dahinter ja noch viel mehr zu entdecken gibt - "the landscape beyond my inner landscape". Es ist eine Meditation über das Paradies, das für Antony viel mit der Entfaltung der Natur und ihrem Formenreichtum zu tun hat. 30 Songs hat er in den letzten sieben Jahren für das enorm geschlossen wirkende "The Crying Light" geschrieben - und schließlich trotzdem nur zehn davon verwendet. Ein Prozess der Verfeinerung. Auch bei den Arrangements wurde alles Überflüssige gestrichen. "Dust And Water" klingt deshalb so pur wie schwebender Morgennebel, und hinter dem gesamten Album steht offensichtlich mehr eine suchende Zen-Haltung als ein exaltiertes Pop-Ego. "Her Eyes Are Underneath The Ground", der erste Song des Albums, weckt Erinnerungen an Schubert und das deutsche Kunstlied. Da ist vor allem Antonys Stimme, dazu ein sacht ertastetes Klavier und eine Ahnung von Violinen und Cello im Hintergrund. Erst ganz zum Schluss drängen sich harsche Bässe in den Vordergrund, wie Gewitterwolken an einem heiteren Nachmittag. "Epilepsy Is Dancing" tänzelt hoffnungsvoll und verspielt "One Dove" schält sich ganz langsam aus dem Nichts, wie viele Stücke hier. Später setzten Dissonanzen ein, mehr und mehr Instrumente tauchen auf und verschwinden wieder, bis nur noch seltsame Tierstimmen zu hören sind. "Kiss My Name" schwelgt dagegen in einem orchestralen Klang- und Melodie-Reichtum, der fast schon an Freund Rufus erinnert. Der Höhepunkt, "Another World", ist ein hellhäutiger Blues und ein banges Abschiedslied auf die Welt: "I need another place, will there be peace? I need another world, this one is nearly gone." Es folgt eine Liste der Dinge, die der Sänger in einer anderen Welt vermissen würde: die Bäume, das Meer, den Schnee, die Bienen und überhaupt alles, was wächst - "I'm gonna miss you all". "Aeon" mit seiner rauen Gitarre ist dagegen fast schon ein Rocksong, aber eben nur fast. Zu "The Crying Light" kann man nicht tanzen, und das Album gehört auch nicht zu den Platten, die einem mit packenden Refrains durchs eigene Leben helfen. Die Schönheit dieses bisher reifsten Antony & The Johnsons-Werks liegt darin, dass es nach der Seele sucht, wo andere nur in den Spiegel blicken. Ein Meisterwerk, eine andere Welt und ein Refugium für alle, die es zu schätzen wissen." [Jürgen Ziemer, Rolling Stone] "Zeitlos und doch aktuell: das lang ersehnte dritte Album. "The Crying Light" heißt das lang ersehnte dritte Album von Antony and The Johnsons. Auf "The Crying Light" legt Antony seinen Fokus auf ein neues Thema und gibt uns einen Einblick in seine Beziehung zur Umwelt. Der Album-Opener "Her Eyes Are Underneath The Ground" ist ein liebevolles Zwiegespräch mit Mutter Natur und Ausdruck des Wunsches, dass sie am Ende über ihre Zerstörung siegen wird - "no one can stop you now!" Darauf folgen der schwindelerregende Walzer "Epilepsy Is Dancing" und das herzzerreißende "One Dove", dessen detailreiche Instrumentierung Antonys Stimme - bildlich gesprochen - regelrecht umarmt. Mit "The Crying Light" ist Antony and The Johnsons ein zeitloses Meisterwerk gelungen, das uns die folgenschweren Entwicklungen in der Welt und unsere Rolle darin ins Bewusstsein ruft. Es kann zum Sinnbild dieser turbulenten Zeit werden; eine Momentaufnahme und ein Anstoß für uns alle, Courage zu besitzen und uns sowohl in unserem persönlichen Kosmos als auch in der Welt als Ganzes rücksichtsvoller zu bewegen." [Indigo] "ANTONY & THE JOHNSONS' breakthrough second album "I Am a Bird Now" won the UK's prestigious Mercury Prize in 2005. The success that followed introduced many to a pioneering soul singer unafraid to explore themes that traversed darkness and light, life and death, male and female. Antony's inimitable voice sparked the interest of artists ranging from Bjork to Hercules and Love Affair, resulting in a series of critically acclaimed collaborations. "The Crying Light" is the highly anticipated full-length follow-up to "I Am a Bird Now". Here, Antony shifts the thematic focus and explores his relationship with the natural world. The intimacy of the Johnsons' sound is enveloped by avant-classical composer Nico Muhly's symphonic arrangements. The record's centerpiece, "Another World" traces the singer's dispair in the face of a vanishing landscape. Antony and the Johnsons' music bridges the gap between avant-classical music and the blues, and the band's sold out performances have resulted in standing ovations from Carnegie Hall to the Apollo. "The Crying Light" is a soul-stirring new work with its daring compositions and captivating vocal performances. Antony and the Johnsons have created a subtle and timely work that brings a magical and yet changing world to the forefront of our consciousness." [press release] 2009 €16.00
APSE Climb up CD "In the fall of 2007, around Apse's 8th year as a band, Michael Gundlach and founding member Bobby relocated to the quiet shores of outer Cape Cod, Massachusetts and began living in virtual isolation. A few months into the move and for various reasons the 2 brooklyn based members of the band were no longer in the picture, leaving only Bobby, Michael and their faithful touring bass player / contributing member John Mordecai, living 4 hours away. Together Bobby and Michael found multi-instrumentalist Jed Armour who joined the band and introduced them to drummer Brandon Collins. Both of them highly talented musicians and long time residents of the cape, the addition of these two members greatly impacted the creative capabilities of the band as well as Bobby and Michael's understanding of - and integration into the year 'round life in the band's new home. After rigorous preparation with the new members rehearsing for an already-booked 6 week European tour that saw them performing at ATP Vs. Pitchfork and several other noteworthy dates across Europe the band returned to Cape Cod and began writing a new album. In August of 2008 during the early stages of the writing process, All Tomorrow's Parties reissued the band's 2006 Spirit to warm critical reception. Labeled as a post-rock record by some, a genre-splicing giant to others, Spin Magazine's Kenny Herzog likely put it best: "Spirit is the deathnail for the labored beast that is "post-rock," revealing the much more alluring potential that always lurked around its sinister corners." Since making Spirit - originally completed in 2006 and after releasing a number of smaller albums both before and after the ATP reissue, the band found itself ready to take on its next major endeavor. Just as a director might make respective films - changing subject matter, approach and format for each - the band was inspired to explore new means of composition, songwriting and production. Its range of members were influenced from a diverse array of art and music, life experience, fiction - and were unanimously uninfluenced by their surroundings - as there were little social distractions or creative camaraderies to be had. The bulk of this writing process then took place between the fall of 2008 and the spring of 2009. Forging the album through long days and nights in the quiet beauty of the winter months on outer Cape Cod. The record that's come out of it, entitled Climb Up is undoubtedly a reflection of the very process that made it - tying into the creative methods as well as the story of the lives of the band's members as they crafted the album. Climb Up was recorded entirely by the band in their homes. The bulk of the arrangements and mixing were authored by Bobby Jed and Michael. Drawing from a mixture of existing demos that were turned into working songs as well as full-band improvised live recordings that Bobby cut up and formed into song structures, overdubbing effects and vocals on top of them - the band ultimately chose and honed in on a final cut of 12 tracks, culled from a larger body of work. The ever-changing obtuse creative strategies of Bobby and Michael, paired with the adept musical knowledge and performance abilities of Jed and Brandon - and the diverse inspirations of all members combined to create an album that bares a fantastic dialogue between imagination and songcraft. Climb Up is wildly unique, versatile, and inarguably the bravest yet most accessible work by the band. The record is a major departure from the band's most notable predecessor, Spirit - which was completed 4 years prior. Where Spirit explored a dark world of reverberant guitars, ambient passages, and minimal, haunting vocals, Climb Up proves a bold step out of that darkness. The intricacies of this new world are depicted as if staggering from the world of Spirit into a very different, more illuminated place. Not to mention its packed with more grooves, a greater use of electronics, a range of instruments both modern and classical and – notably – a much stronger emphasis on voices and melodies. Climb Up is dense, innovative, cinematic. Apse draw from a colourful palette of different genres, techniques, instruments and approaches - and with that have made what is likely to be one of the most curious, and probably largely unexpected albums of the year. Listen, and be immersed." [label info] www.atpfestival.com/recordings.php 2009 €10.00
  Climb up do-LP "In the fall of 2007, around Apse's 8th year as a band, Michael Gundlach and founding member Bobby relocated to the quiet shores of outer Cape Cod, Massachusetts and began living in virtual isolation. A few months into the move and for various reasons the 2 brooklyn based members of the band were no longer in the picture, leaving only Bobby, Michael and their faithful touring bass player / contributing member John Mordecai, living 4 hours away. Together Bobby and Michael found multi-instrumentalist Jed Armour who joined the band and introduced them to drummer Brandon Collins. Both of them highly talented musicians and long time residents of the cape, the addition of these two members greatly impacted the creative capabilities of the band as well as Bobby and Michael's understanding of - and integration into the year 'round life in the band's new home. After rigorous preparation with the new members rehearsing for an already-booked 6 week European tour that saw them performing at ATP Vs. Pitchfork and several other noteworthy dates across Europe the band returned to Cape Cod and began writing a new album. In August of 2008 during the early stages of the writing process, All Tomorrow's Parties reissued the band's 2006 Spirit to warm critical reception. Labeled as a post-rock record by some, a genre-splicing giant to others, Spin Magazine's Kenny Herzog likely put it best: "Spirit is the deathnail for the labored beast that is "post-rock," revealing the much more alluring potential that always lurked around its sinister corners." Since making Spirit - originally completed in 2006 and after releasing a number of smaller albums both before and after the ATP reissue, the band found itself ready to take on its next major endeavor. Just as a director might make respective films - changing subject matter, approach and format for each - the band was inspired to explore new means of composition, songwriting and production. Its range of members were influenced from a diverse array of art and music, life experience, fiction - and were unanimously uninfluenced by their surroundings - as there were little social distractions or creative camaraderies to be had. The bulk of this writing process then took place between the fall of 2008 and the spring of 2009. Forging the album through long days and nights in the quiet beauty of the winter months on outer Cape Cod. The record that's come out of it, entitled Climb Up is undoubtedly a reflection of the very process that made it - tying into the creative methods as well as the story of the lives of the band's members as they crafted the album. Climb Up was recorded entirely by the band in their homes. The bulk of the arrangements and mixing were authored by Bobby Jed and Michael. Drawing from a mixture of existing demos that were turned into working songs as well as full-band improvised live recordings that Bobby cut up and formed into song structures, overdubbing effects and vocals on top of them - the band ultimately chose and honed in on a final cut of 12 tracks, culled from a larger body of work. The ever-changing obtuse creative strategies of Bobby and Michael, paired with the adept musical knowledge and performance abilities of Jed and Brandon - and the diverse inspirations of all members combined to create an album that bares a fantastic dialogue between imagination and songcraft. Climb Up is wildly unique, versatile, and inarguably the bravest yet most accessible work by the band. The record is a major departure from the band's most notable predecessor, Spirit - which was completed 4 years prior. Where Spirit explored a dark world of reverberant guitars, ambient passages, and minimal, haunting vocals, Climb Up proves a bold step out of that darkness. The intricacies of this new world are depicted as if staggering from the world of Spirit into a very different, more illuminated place. Not to mention its packed with more grooves, a greater use of electronics, a range of instruments both modern and classical and – notably – a much stronger emphasis on voices and melodies. Climb Up is dense, innovative, cinematic. Apse draw from a colourful palette of different genres, techniques, instruments and approaches - and with that have made what is likely to be one of the most curious, and probably largely unexpected albums of the year. Listen, and be immersed." [label info] www.atpfestival.com/recordings.php 2009 €17.50
AQUA DORSA Cloudlands CD Debut-Album des neuen Projekts von GIANLUIGI GASPARETTI (aka OÖPHOI) und ENRICO CONIGLIO, einem italienischen Gitarristen und Ambient-Komponisten. CLOUDLANDS tönt sehr friedlich & mit harmonischen Untertönen, mitunter leicht loopig-rhythmisch aber ohne Aufdringlichkeit, erinnert an ruhigere Sachen von RAPOON, etc.. Sieben Stücke von weiträumigen und weltabgewandten Ambient-Scapes... "...This is ambient music but then with a little bit more, and no doubt Coniglio is the man responsible for that extra bite. Not simply satisfied with 'just' ambient synthesizer textures, there is an addition from the world of microsound to this. Underneath the warm tapestries are woven of synthesizers playing sustained textured sounds, but the icing (pun intended) on the cake comes from the crackles, buzz and hiss that are on top of this. That makes that this music moves out of the usual ambient field, and blends together ambient and microsound, while, because its not entirely generated in the digital realm, its not entirely ambient glitch either. A marriage that works wonderfully well, I'd say. Deep atmospheric textures, icy glitches on top." [FdW / Vital Weekly] "Aquadorsa is a new musical Italian ambient project formed by Enrico Coniglio and Oophoi. Their first work “Cloudlands” is a perfect mix of glitch, classical and orchestral glacial ambient soundscape. Enrico Coniglio is a guitar player and composer and his research has increasingly focused on the relationship between 'music' and 'landscape', in an attempt to represent the contemporary crisis of the territory, the loss of nature and identity of places, and the unknown on the evolution of post-urban and post-industrial territory. He has collaborated with various artists, including: Nicola Alesini, Joachim Roedelius and Elisa Marzorati. He has produced some releases such as "AREAVIRUS - topofonie vol.1" (2007 Psychonavigation), "dyanMU" (2008 Psychonavigation) and digital releases Sapientumsuperacquis on Touch Radio (Touch records) and Crònicaster (Crònica Electronica). Gianluigi Gasparetti better know as Oophoi started his own music experiments in 1995, trying to explore the shores of deep space-ambient. His live album "The spirals of time", released in 1997 by Amplexus, has been voted as one of the best ambient albums of all times. Oophoi uses traditional instruments as synths and sampling machines and his music is recorded using analog-only devices in The Kiva. He has released CDs for many International labels such as Amplexus, Hypnos, Nextera, Prikosnovénie and Glacial Movements and he has collaborated with Louisa John Krol, Alio die, Mathias Grassow and Klaus Wiese." [label info] www.glacialmovements.com 2009 €13.00
AQUAVOICE Nocturne CD " 'Nocturne', the second AQUAVOICE offering on Zoharum, is a successor to well-received last year's "Grey." The material for both albums was created around the same time and was divided according to the following key: "Grey" - more experimental and coarse compositions; "Nocturne" - more dreamy, low-key and soothing ambient textures. The new album includes 11 new songs clocking in at 50 minutes, songs a bit darker and colder than before where one can find inspirations taken from Scandinavian art. This 3-panel ecopak release is strictly limited to 500 copies." [label info] www.zoharum.com "Things in Poland seem to be booming, for quite some time actually. Monotype is a very active label, when it comes to releases, and Zoharum follows neatly. Zoharum is a label that specializes in anything that is dark and atmospheric, but not without beats. We start this particular journey with the second release by Aquavoice, the musical project of Tadeusz Luczejko, whose debut was reviewed in Vital Weekly 896. Here Aquavoice further explores the boundaries of starry nights, of nocturnal soundtracks, with dreamy synthesizer sounds, mild sequenced rhythm - more ticking than beating - an occasional voice well placed here and there. Exactly the same references as last time pass by: S.E.T.I., Biosphere, Pete Namlook and no doubt you could add many others from the field of ambient music that comes with a bit of rhythm. I don't think Aquavoice had a re-thought of what he was doing after 'Grey', but simply decided to carry on what he was doing so well already. Maybe the addition of 'real' instruments - piano, violin - is something that is new around here? Maybe not. So, perhaps nothing much new, and then what? There is nothing wrong with that. Luczejko simply explores further what he does best, what is in a tradition from Eno, via ambient house, to microsound and he delivers another fifty minutes of some excellent music. I very much enjoyed this nocturnal, cosmic ride." [FdW/Vital Weekly] 2014 €12.00
ARANOS No Religion 7inch Feine Single mit einem lustig-beschwingten Stück über Religion („I’ve got no religion and I’m glad“) auf der Verso-, und einem wunderbaren Konkret-Noise-Collagen-Stück auf der Recto-Side.... giftgrünes Vinyl. “Most people will recognize his name from appearing on albums by Nurse With Wound, but this Czech-born Bohemian Irish resident has a musical blood that runs deep into the heart of Gipsy folk, jazz, and rock music. "No Religion" is most certainly a statement a statement of Aranos' own personal dismay with violence and abhorrent behavior conducted in the name of religion while "Spitting Revivalist Dreams" is perhaps one of the most excrutiating noise tracks I have ever witnessed. This is the first of a number of 7" singles to be released by Aranos this year, and expect to see him live in Europe earlier this year with a North American string of dates being worked out for later in the year. He's a fantastic musician and a charismatic performer. Videos and sounds and bio are available at www.brainwashed.com/aranos.” [press release] 2005 €7.00
  Tangomango CD Ziemlich obskure Musik kredenzt Herr ARANOS uns hier, rauher Gesang & Violinen & Akustikklampfen zuhauf, irgendwo zwischen Obskur-Folk und seltsamer Geräuschmuziek, auch zarte drone-Sphären tauchen auf, erinnert manchmal an D.D.A.A. oder VOLCANO THE BEAR, ist aber so eigenständig exzentrisch und einmalig dass es jedem Vergleich spottet..... in super-handgemachter / genähter überaus edler Stoff-Hülle.... real Avantgarde !! “Aranos is a master of the stringed instrument, a frequent collaborator with fellow Irish countryside dweller Steven Stapleton, and the creator of a string of idiosyncratic experimental albums that, like most great works of art, defy categorization. This solo full-length is the follow-up to 2001's Magnificent! Magnificent! No One Knows the Final Word, an album unique not only for its unconventional musical content and homegrown organic packaging, but also for its "experimental anarchy distribution," a sort of honor system where Aranos shipped the album at his expense to anyone who wanted it, asking each listener to decide how much the album was worth. Tangomango continues down the same path as Magnificent, but somehow manages to be even more willfully eccentric. Lovely passages of emotively played strings are overdubbed with shambolic percussion, occasional forays into electronics of uncertain origin and Aranos' gravelly vocals, free-associating long strings of unhinged Dadaesque lyrical couplets. Aranos creates a one-man chamber quartet, overdubbing layers of plucked and bowed violin, viola and double bass, his melodies fondly recalling the Eastern European gypsy music idioms of his heritage. Sometimes the effect is a sort of avant-garde chamber pop, as on "Julio Cruz," which sounds not entirely unlike mid-1970s John Cale. Other times, Aranos' techniques are so unorthodox that the music sounds like nothing else, as with the strange organic kaleidescope created on "All The Lost Turbans Will Be On That Speaker," which utilizes musique concrête effects to create an unsettling piece of psychedelic tape music. On "Worryism," the album's only guest player, Jon Whitney (editor of this rag), contributes a series of distended bleats on a didgeridoo, forming the foundation for a distinctly ritualistic excursion that ends Tangomango on a somber note. Halfway through the oddly named "69 Walton's Yamamoto Noodles," Aranos strikes the gong and unleashes a series of mindbending electronic pulses. "Broken Eights" is a fractured military ode constructed from martial drums and layers of vacillated vocal overdubs. The album's title could not be more appropriate, as Aranos is able to reference the improvisatory feel of Can's masterpiece, while impregnating it with his own organic sense of rhythm. It's a little bit fun, and a little bit fruity. The album comes packaged in a lovely handmade royal purple silk purse with a beaded clasp and a lyric booklet adorned with many beautiful photographs. Tangomango is a rare album that truly feels like a pure, unmediated foray into one man's peculiar and joyful vision of music, and it's a rewarding trip at that.”[Jonathan Dean / Brainwashed] www.brainwashed.com/aranos 2004 €15.00
ARBEIT / BEAUCHAMP / PALUMBO Torino 012010 do-CD "Torino 012010 is the second release of a series documenting the collaboration between Jochen Arbeit (guitar player of Die Haut and Einstuerzende Neubauten) Paul Beauchamp and Fabrizio Modonese Palumbo (the duo known as Blind Cave Salamander). This collaboration started as part of Arbeit's “Soundscapes” improvisation live project. The focus being on the moment of the spontaneous meeting of different systems of soundscaping, the task and challenge of exchanging the results of individual sound research in a public space. The Torino 012010 double cd release on Tourette Records follows the vinyl only live album Halle 27022010 (released by the German label Behind s.r.b.) and presents two different sessions recorded by the trio in January 2010 in Torino Italy: a studio session at O.F.F. studios reecorded, mixed and edited by producer and sound engineer Marco Milanesio and a recording of a live performance in the historical chapel of the San Pietro In Vincoli ex-cemetery as recorded by Larsen's Paolo Dellapiana and edited by Jochen Arbeit. Even though this collaboration is an integral part of Blind Cave Salamander's activity and discography the musicians have decided to release these albums under their individual names to emphasize the project's collaborative nature based on improvisation and composing as a real time emotional and musical reaction to each other's inputs/outputs. Credits Jochen Arbeit : guitar, electronics Paul Beauchamp : electronics, musical saw Fabrizio Modonese Palumbo : guitar, electric viola" [label info] www.touretterecords.com 2011 €16.00
ARCANA Emerald maxi-CD "It’s with great honor that present brand new material from Sweden’s most revered Ethereal / Neo Classical act, Arcana. Brainchild of Peter Bjärgö, this now legendary formation is back with a new release after 4 years of silence since their last full length album, Raspail. While 2010 saw the re-release of their first 4 albums with “The First Era” 4CD boxset, commemorating the early days of the band, we are now offered a superb follow up the their long tradition of awe filled melancholic melodies. With it’s undeniable signature sound, Peter’s years of experience as a composer and the gifted musicians and vocalists surrounding him simply shine through on these 3 new tracks. Long time fans will simply rejoice in these mesmerizing songs and new fans will in turn surely be conquered by these. This Mini CD also serves as a prelude to their upcoming full length album “As Bright As A Thousand Suns”, scheduled for a May 2012 release on Cyclic Law. 2nd Edition of 1000 copies in 4 panel eco pack. 3 Tracks. Running Time 13:33." [label info] 2012 €10.00
ARNALDS, OLAFUR Dyad 1909 CD "Der Isländer komponiert die Bühnenmusik für ein zeitgenössisches Tanzstück: 2009 war ein gutes Jahr für Islands neoklassischen Export Ólafur Arnalds. Nach dem Erfolg seiner "Found Songs", die er innerhalb einer Woche aufnahm, bat ihn der renommierte britische Choreograph Wayne McGregor, einen Soundtrack für sein Tanzstück "Dyad 1909" zu kreieren. Das Werk, inspiriert von Shackletons Expedition zum Südpol, feierte im Oktober 2009 Premiere in London. Im Dezember 2009 wurde "Dyad 1909" zur Hauptsendezeit auf ITV1, Englands größtem privaten Fernsehsender, ausgestrahlt. Neben vier neuen Kompositionen bietet der 30-minütige Soundtrack auch vertraute Momente. Auf Wunsch von McGregor interpretierte Arnalds das vorletzte Stück seines Debütalbums "Eulogy For Evolution" und zwei Stücke seiner EP "Variations Of Static" auf neue Art und Weise. "Dyad 1909" erscheint auf 10"-Vinyl (mit Download-Code, digitalem Bonus-Remix und Label-Sampler) sowie als CD. "Die beste Klavierplatte 2009" urteilte "De:Bug" über "Found Songs". Für Fans von Sigur Rós, Max Richter, Peter Broderick und Yann Tiersen." [label info / Indigo] www.erasedtapes.com 2009 €14.50
AROVANE & PORYA HATAMI C.H.R.O.N.O.S. LP https://karlrecords.bandcamp.com/album/organism-evolution On “C.H.R.O.N.O.S”, their 3rd album on KARL, AROVANE and PORYA HATAMI deliver five delicate ambient pieces, rich in textures and zen-like atmospheres. Available as 180gr LP and DL. After “Organism” (2017) and the musique concrete influenced “Organism_evolution” (2018) UWE ZAHN alias AROVANE and PORYA HATAMI continue their sonic explorations with “C.H.R.O.N.O.S.”, the fifth collaborational album by the German electronic producer and the Iranian sound artist. While the duo’s last album was a collection of 23 mostly short tracks, each an acribic examination of sounds that treated by techniques like modular synthesis, granular synthesis, spectral processing, granular synthesis, resynthesis and resonator / modal synthesis, ““C.H.R.O.N.O.S.” consists of five longer compositions that focus on creating a contemplative, zen-like atmosphere of subtle beauty. Rich in details, carefully sound-designed, AROVANE and PORYA HATAMI prove once more their top notch skills when it’s about creating state of the art contemporary ambient. Quotes on previous albums: # Organism (2017) “an album of fleet, subtle beauty.” The Wire “some of the subtlest, elusive material in either’s catalogue.” Boomkat “a dark, mysterious, but extremely detailed sound – as alive and moving as nature’s finest organisms.” Ambientblog.net ################# "My good friend and partner in crime [you will find out soon enough what I mean by that], Uwe Zahn, has been prolific these years with collaborations [hint, hint], explorations, and trials. His most successful among these, in my humble opinion, is the partnership with the Iranian ambient sound artist, Porya Hatami. Together, they have already released numerous albums: Resonance (Éter Editions, 2015), Kaziwa (Time Released Sound, 2016), and Organism (Karlrecords, 2017). This year, the pair returns to Thomas Herbst's "outlet for experimental music" with C.H.R.O.N.O.S. - a five-piece statement "rich in textures and zen-like atmospheres." This music is a culmination of the interchangeable sonic language, which is reduced in grammar or words but is simply understood. Fans of intricate designs and loosely-structured aural fabrics will find themselves drowning in the expansive architecture of sound, synthesized via granular, modular, and spectral machines, each with a thick layer of resonating fabric. Like a never-ending zoom-in on a delicate textile, up until the point where the fibre becomes the forest and a universe of its own, C.H.R.O.N.O.S. takes the listener into a complex compound of delicate blankets, which they will peel apart long after the last tones have gone. Highly recommended with a sophisticated pair of headphones or precision-tuned bookshelf speakers, playing from a 180g vinyl, or a lossless digital source. Fans of Ian Hawgood, Celer, Tomasz Bednarczyk, Christopher Bissonnette, and Taylor Deupree will agree." [Headphone Commute] 2019 €18.00
ASHTORETH Rites I & II CD We’re glad to welcome Belgian artist Peter Verwimp and his shamanistic guitar driven soundscapes. The first instalment for the Rites series touches on the importance of ceremony and ritual in our daily lives. It deals with our interconnectedness with nature as a whole and the necessity to acknowledge and use this connection as an amplifier of thoughts, ideas and emotions. Minimal, meditative ambient drones with layers of meandering guitars and voices mixing elements of doom, drone and ambient experimentation. Rites I & II take a shamanic and animistic approach to our surroundings, unveiling inner and outer visual landscapes, a journey through flesh, sound and spirit. CD Edition of 500 copies in 6 panels Digisleeve. 2 Tracks. Running Time 37:51 https://cycliclaw.bandcamp.com/album/rites-i-ii "Slowly but certainly, Peter Verwimp is becoming the forerunner for the new wave of Antwerp ambient. Throughout the years I have seen him perform his enigmatic guitar drones and soundscapes numerous times. From petite venues and living rooms to forests and stages everywhere, Ashtoreth manages to turn everything into a place for rituals and meditation. I think it was only a matter of time before a quality label like Cyclic Law would become interested in this shamanic approach to ambient. With 'Rites I & II', the first installment of a series, Ashtoreth delivers a long ceremony and a deep meditation. 'Rite I: Earth' opens with heavy guitars and powerful vocals. When I heard these for the first time, I wasn't sure if I was listening to Ashtoreth or to an intro for a Conan album. This is a somewhat different approach from the slowly in-fading soundscapes. But mostly, it immediately grabs the listener's attention for its brutalist approach. Gradually, however, the track evolves. The distortion fades away and other soundscapes appear. They sound like the breathing of the earth. Then, hints of melody appear, in perfect Ashtoreth tradition. In a way, this first track feels like a journey from something bad and scary to a feeling of piece of serenity. 'Rite II: Fire' is somewhat shorter but still long enough to be a narrative drone ambient highlight. It drives on gloomy drones and shamanic voices, a bit like we're used from Peter Verwimp by now, but let that not be a turn-off. This track is downright eerie, a perfect addition to the heaps of dark ambient masterpieces released by Cyclic Law. So yes, this is a stunning piece of work and it comes with equally stunning artwork by GootSlaper. I don't think this needs much more explanation. 'Rites I & II' is one of those albums that deserve a spot in your ever widening and mind-altering collection." [Merchants of Air] "Here’s an interesting story. There was an amazing Belgian progressive, experimental hardcore band from Antwerp and their name was Maya. Until now, I consider their debut album as the epitome of hardcore progression, an utterly unrecognized gem and one of the most important hardcore albums in the history of the genre! In 2013, I uploaded Maya’s debut via Youtube, as I believed that such a gem deserves the utmost recognition. Not much time passed and I received a message from a fine gent, Peter Verwimp (Building Transmissions, Haunted Places, Station Grey, Stifled Cries) thanking me for that upload and telling me that he played in… Maya! Shocked as I was, he added that he has a new (at the time) project, named Ashtoreth! Much time have passed, people and I’m extremely pleased to review Peter’s new creation. Ashtoreth – as I read – is in search of a shamanistic perspective, channeling at times: minimal, meditative drones with layers of meandering guitars and at others, a catharsis of doom, drone, ambient, folk, metal, noise and experimentation, always in a free and improvised form. Intriguing, right? Rites I & II is a two-piece album, clocking at almost 38 minutes. Being heavily based on drones and ambient, it creates a certain space and a holistic appropriation of darkness, a ritual and introverted expedition into a spiritual and organic vastness. Ashtoreth’s sound is penetrating in every aspect: shamanic chanting, energy razor-blades in the form of minimal guitar, a huge embrace of bass driven currents, cathartic and certain. An aesthetic procreation and the well-perceived certainty of exquisite ambient music, that leaves a feeling of void thereafter. Music that delivers plentifully giving one climax after the other! Serene soundscapes with such power and punch! It’s amazing to hear in this recording elements of Peter’s early works, even before Ashtoreth. The listener faces a recognizable and fine-tuned sound, with very sincere and solid continuance as developed over the years. In Ashtoreth’s case, ambient that – I dare to say – includes in it’s core, amazingly concealed, but present hardcore (!) elements. In fact, many different but related elements merged together, quite skillfully. And the album is presented as a beautifully packaged vinyl and equally beautiful, six-panel CD released by the Berlin based label, Cyclic Law. Peter Verwimp has become an artist of his very own kind; a self-proclaimed sonic shaman and very well deserving of this attribute. Let us witness and be merry for his wonderful incantations." [Toneshift] 2019 €13.00
ASTRID & RACHEL GRIMES Through the Sparkle LP "Through the Sparkle is a collaboration between French ensemble astrïd and American pianist and composer Rachel Grimes. Rachel Grimes is best known for her chamber music project Rachel’s, a hugely influential group formed in 1991 in Louisville, Kentucky, releasing six studio albums between 1995 and 2005. She has also released a string of contemporary classical works in recent years on labels such as Temporary Residence. astrïd is a collective of four musicians based in Nantes, releasing records on Rune Grammofon and Home Normal. After years of mail and email back and forth over the ocean, from Nantes to Kentucky, astrïd invited Rachel to come for a residency to make music together and play shows in France. They gathered for a few days, here and there, in 2012 and 2013 to write songs in Cyril and Vanina's home studio in the countryside. The compositions found on Through the Sparkle glow with a unique, connected energy and a pure, instinctive musical understanding. Considered contributions from all sides allow the pieces to unfurl naturally. Each note and phrase feels like it simply couldn’t be placed anywhere else in the album. Charming, gentle and cinematic sounds are found here in abundance. Melodies circle and reveal themselves without force, allowing the listener to focus and explore the depths of what is on offer. Musically, Through the Sparkle is an expansive and evocative album. There is a presence to be felt throughout, from Cyril Secq’s emotive tremelo’d guitars of M5 to the darker, more haunting mood of The Theme, to the tension in Mossgrove & Seaweed. Strings and woodwind coalesce around intricate piano and guitar movements creating a wealth of harmony and melancholy. Through the Sparkle is a record of miniature symphonies, of elegant restraint. A gracious and generous offering from a group of musicians at one with each other and at the top of their game." www.gizehrecords.com https://gizehrecords.bandcamp.com/album/through-the-sparkle "Man, that’s devastating! If the reverb-drenched guitar on this record’s second track doesn’t move you to tremble with tears, then the soaring strings on “M1” surely will. Pianist/composer Rachel Grimes follows up her best-of-2015 The Clearing solo outing with the magnificent Through The Sparkle, a seven-song collaboration with the French chamber ensemble Astrïd, out today digitally, on CD and on vinyl through U.K.-based Gizeh Records. This thing’s gotta be heard to be believed. Striking, again, with some of her finest work, Grimes’ piano flashes more contemporary flourishes than the heart-wrenching Romanticism of her landmark years with Rachel’s, everyone’s favorite post-classical ensemble. While there are still gentle, lulling notes – I’m looking to the album-closing “Le Petit Salon” and, again, the epic “M1” – Grimes’ metronomic figures on “The Herald en Masse” and “Mossgrove & Seaweed” positively pulsate with life, lending a record laced with restraint loads of emotional force. This says nothing of Astrïd multi-instrumentalist Vanina Andreani, whose violin wraps its fingers around Grimes’ ephemeral melodies in much the way Christian Frederickson’s viola did in Rachel’s. Guillaume Wickel is brilliant on bass clarinet, drummer/percussionist Yvan Ros does a fine job anchoring the melancholy, and didn’t I already mention the eerie repercussions of Cyril Secq’s guitar? This ensemble, featuring Grimes, seems to have a beautiful way of making even the most composed moment seem instinctive, lending a gentle humanity to the proceedings. There are less “classical” and more “post-classical” moments on the record, too, like the haunted “The Theme,” which starts with an emotive bass clarinet figure and kalimba, and expands, more often through the space between notes than the notes themselves, with an electric guitar right out of Hotel2Tango in Montreal. Or there’s “Hollis,” which punctuates Grimes’ refrains with more kalimba, subtle bass, and a shuffling, jazzy backbeat before descending into a field of mathy beeps that could be summoned from piano and, maybe, a Fender Rhodes. The whole record is breathtaking gossamer – definite year-end-list material." [Justin Vellucci/Popdose] 2017 €20.00
ASUNTA Landscapes CD "Landscapes enthält Klarinettenkompostionen von Slawomir Golaszewski, Begründer und Mastermind von Asunta, der hier von Wojciech Karwacki auf dem Harmonium begleitet wird. Aufgenommen und produziert wurden die faszinierende Mischung von Ethno drones, Ambient-Psychedelia und slawischer New Age in Warschau von Alik Dziki (http://dziki.net), dem ehemaligen Bassisten der polnischen Reggae-Legenden Kultura und Izrael sowie in der Frühphase Mitglied bei den Mystik-Punks von Armia. Die Erstveröffentlichung in Polen war 1996 lediglich eine Kassette-Edition beim Label "Fly Music", der 2001 eine limitierte Cdr-Version beim polnischen "Nefryt"-Label folgte. Diese Wiederveröffentlichung auf Lollipoppe Shoppe stellt insofern die erste internationale Würdigung des außergewöhnlichen Asunta-Sounds von Landscapesdar. Slawomir Golaszewski ist eine legendäre Figur der polnischen Off-Kultur: Er gehörte 1985 zu den Mitbegründern der mit transzendentaler Wucht und mystischer Poesie agierenden Hardcore Punk- Institution "Armia", auf deren Platten er mehrfach unter dem Pseudonym Merlin mitwirkte, und war zu dieser Zeit zugleich aktiv im Umfeld des sich auflösenden "Teatr Laboratorium" (http://www.grotowski.net) des großen Theatererneuerers Jerzy Grotowskis in Wroc³aw/Breslau (zu seinen Lehrern zählten hier Zbigniew Cynkutis, Zygmunt Molik und Ludwik Flaszen). Grotkowskis Forschungen zum psychophysiologischen Einfluß ritueller Gesänge und die Anwendung auf die experimentlle Theaterarbeit haben Go³aszewskis Arbeit geprägt. Seit den frühen 1980er Jahren ist Go³aszewski außerdem als Radiomoderator, Journalist und Autor tätig; er hat unter anderem früh die Verbreitung von Reggae- und Rastafari-Kultur in Polen betrieben und mehrere Generation des polski Reggae geprägt. Darüberhinaus war der "musizierende Philosoph" (Alexander Pehlemann, "Zonic" http://www.zonic-online.de) selber künstlerisch in der Szene aktiv. Die Liste seiner Kollaborationen wie auch seiner publizistischen Beiträge ist unüberschaubar. Über Go³aszewskis künstlerische und esoterische Interessen erklärt sich letztlich auch die Zusammenarbeit mit den ebenso legendären "Atman", einer seit den Mitt-Siebzigern aktive Gruppe von Musikern, die erfolgreich die Integration von Klangkunst und Ökologie betrieben und deren Label "Fly Music" das Album Landscapes 1996 als Kassette veröffenlichte und Asunta im folgenden Jahr auf ihrem "Festival in der Landschaft" (Muzyka w krajobrazie http://pathman.republika.pl) im mittelpolnischen Inow³ódz präsentierten. Mit diesem völlig akustischem Konzert in einer romanischen Kapelle manifestierte sich endgültig die Reputation des Projekts in der alternativen Musikszene Polens. Nach einer lebensbedrohlichen Gehirnoperation 2010 und Rekonvaleszenz meldet sich Go³aszewski nun zurück: 2012 wurde seine Graphic Novel "Moja Terapia" (mit Zeichnung von Szawe³ P³óciennik, Central Europe Comics Art, http://centrala.org.pl) veröffentlicht und eine erweiterte, 400 Seiten starke und um ein Audiobook ergänzte Neuauflage von Go³aszewskis Schriften zu Reggae und seiner spezifischen Rezeption in Polen von dem Label und Verlag "Manufaktura Legenda" besorgt, das federführend ist bei der Aufarbeitung von polnischer Subkultur ("Reggae Rastafarie - Regementarz" http://manufaktura-legenda.pl). This release contains clarinet compositions by S³awomir Go³aszewski, founder and master-mind of the project, and harmonium works by Wojciech "Kaktus" Karwacki. Landscapes was recorded and produced by Alik Dziki, former bass player of the Polish Reggae legends Izrael and Kultura, as well as an early member of the mystic punk group Armia. The album was released on tape in Poland in 1996 under project name Asunta on the "Fly Music" label and in 2001 released in a limited edition on Cdr by the "Nefryt" label. Landscapes features a fascinating blend of ritual ethno drones, ambient psychedelia and Slavonic New Age. The cover painting by Lithuanian artist Linas Domarackas was designed for the original release. S³awomir Go³aszewski is a legendary figure of Polish off- and counter culture. In 1984/85 he co-founded the seminal punk rock group Armia and contributed to their albums under pseudonym Merlin. At the same time he was active in the shadow of Jerzy Grotowskis's dissolving "Teatr Laboratorium" in Wroclaw/Breslau (Zbigniew Cynkutis, Zygmunt Molik, and Ludwik Flaszen being his teachers). Grotowskis's research on rituals, its psychophysiological impact, and his expanded concept of theater has coined Go³aszewski's artistic work. Since the late 1980's, Go³aszewski is active as a radio presenter, journalist and author; among other things he was crucial for the early popularisation of Reggae music and Rastafarian culture in Poland and thus influencing an entire generation of fans and musicians alike. His contributions both artistic and publicistical to the Polish alternative music scene are numerous. His artistic and esoteric quest also lead to the collaboration with the legendary Atman group, a collective of musicians dealing with the integration of sound and ecology. The group's self-managed label "Fly Music" released Landscapes in 1996 on cassette. In the following year, Atman also invited Go³aszewski to present his project at their Music in the Landscape Festival [Muzyka w krajobrazie] in Inow³ódz, a small medieval village in central Poland. This entirely acoustic performance in the Romanesque St. Giles church in Inow³ódz in July 1997 brought Asunta lasting reputation among Poland's alternative music circuit. After a life-threatening brain surgery in 2010 and a period of convalescence Go³aszewski is back and active again: 2012 saw the publication of his graphic novel "Moja Terapia" (with drawings by Szawe³ P³óciennik, Central Europe Comics Art) as well as a 400-page volume of his collected writings on Reggae music and Rastafari culture published by "Manufaktura Legenda", the leading label and publisher for the reappraisal of the legacy of Polish subculture." [label info] www.lollipopshop.de 2013 €12.00
ATAVIST / NADJA 12012291920 / 1414101 LP "12012291920 / 1414101 is the coming together of two distinct creative forces in the form of ATAVIST (UK) and NADJA (Canada), and represents an abstract detraction from both of the bands previous works. The feel of the album is one of blissful escapism presented through harmonious audio manipulation, intricate melody and polarizing heaviness. This release sees Atavist / Nadja placing the listener into an dreamlike environment throughout the albums two expansive tracks by using an innovative array of layered sounds, abstract guitar work, subsonic bass levels and delicate electronics to give a desolate, yet warm full length album. 12012291920 / 1414101 is not a split album, rather a collaborate effort between Atavist & Nadja with each artist bringing their own components to the whole. Vinyl comes with an alternative cover and features reverse board which really makes the graphics stand out." [label info] www.kreationrecords.net 2008 €16.50
ATOMINE ELEKTRINE The Antikythera Mechanism CD "A container of all the knowledge about the universe. The motion of the gears deeply intertwine a link between micro- and macrocosm. A mechanism that simulates cosmology and senses characteristics of an eclipse, with color, size and associated winds. Define a question, and there will be a calculated answer, even capable of astral divination. Is it an all-seeing eye, or perhaps something beyond even that; a magic entity capable of creating the cosmic events that it is supposed to measure and foretell. If so, is it by nature auspicious or ominous. Or is it merely a representation and extension of ourselves and our senses, trying to reach both the celestial and the intrinsically unobtainable. Winter-Light warmly welcomes Peter Andersson to our label, with his 'Atomine Elektrine' project and a stunning new studio album 'The Antikythera Mechanism'. Here we are invited or compelled even, to delve deep into the intricacies and finely tuned mechanics of this mysterious, all-encompassing machine. Infinitely extending it's influence across multi-dimensions of time and space, constantly calculating, cogs ever turning, gears whirring, mapping, learning, storing and moving ever onwards. Leaving in it's wake, a vast ocean of unimaginable cosmic events, left to ripple through time until they too fade away to become yet another click in the eternal cycle of 'The Antikythera Mechanism'. Difference between the CD/Digital and vinyl version 'The Antikythera Mechanism' has a small degree of randomness built-in to the sounds which means that the output of each rendering becomes slightly different. The tracks on the vinyl are of a different rendering than the tracks for the CD/Digital version. This is a natural glitch in 'The Antikythera Mechanism' and it is more or less noticeable. The sounds are the same but the positions in the sounds are time offset in an arbitrary mode. Any further inequalities are due to the fact that a different mastering technique has been utilised for the vinyl version, than for the CD/Digital version. As well as there being a different final rendering for the vinyl version, the DLP also comes with an additional and exclusive track, which clocks in at 19:52." https://winter-light.bandcamp.com/album/the-antikythera-mechanism "This mechanism Peter Andersson is referring to in the title of the new Atomine Elektrine offering is considered as the first analogue computer. The device was constructed by the ancient Greeks to predict future astronomical occurrences and phenomenas. Even this day it’s an object of scientific researches and studies as its technological sophistication is still unexplained for XXI century scientists and scholars. One of the greatest enigmas in the history of mankind and… what an inspiring theme for a dark ambient artist to explore through music. It’s not a secret that Peter is a truly versatile musician within the electronic underground, always efficient, no matter if he seeks more noisy approach or more atmospheric one. Atomine Elektrine was born of his fascination of science and instead of wandering through lost cathedrals and desolate wastelands we explore the secrets of space and quantum physics. Clearly, it’s not just the words in the titles and press releases, but the music is unlike his other projects as well. For 25 years the foundation of Atomine Elektrine sound was the use of analogue synthetisers, the old-school instruments cherished by the German masters from the 70s. His music was constantly developing over the years, in all projects, apart from Atomine Elektrine also Raison d’etre, Necrophorus, Bocksholm and several others. Often the inspirations were morphing one through another (for example Necrophorus’ “Imprints” has a one hundred percent Atomine Elektrine vibe), but in general high quality is practically always guaranteed. I have to admit that while my favourite Peter’s “non-raison” release is “Drifting In Motion” by Necrophorus, it is Atomine Elektrine I value the most as a whole. Maybe not exactly the very first albums, like “Elemental Severance” where it was Jean Michel Jarre a godfather rather than Klaus Schulze, but “Nebulous” or “Laniakea” are very frequent guests in my CD player, up to this day. Can’t declare today that “The Antikythera Mechanism” will also regain its place in my personal pantheon of all Peter’s releases as it is quite crowdy over there, but yes, it is good, it is goddamn good! The opening dark space of “Arcturus Alpha Boo” made me think of the cosmic vacuums generated by some of the Loki Foundation maestros as the deep rumblings and the feeling of an infinite expanse made me feel small and irrelevant. It calms down after a few minutes and brings a mystery of a titular mechanism to the forefront. From the universe entirety to this tiny device that can capture its secret. I’m in love with “Metonic Spiral”. You know why? Because it’s like taken straight from “Drifting In Motion”, those delicate synth passages combined with weird bubbling and swirling sounds recall the atmosphere of that masterpiece. Yet while that one had this overwhelming aura of sadness and solitude, in “Metonic Spiral” I hear… a hope that the wonder of what hides behind the ionosphere can be comprehended by the human mind. That feeling is intensified by the second half of the track where these slow melodies and analogue sequences take it one step closer to the old-school German electronica. In the following track, “The Exeligmos Pointer” all these rhythmic pulsations may recall a working mechanism, while the majestic background textures compliment the structure as a subject of that work. They’re huge and beautiful, they can be compared to the sun/moon eclipse, watched by you, predicted by the device. Subtly disturbing “Time Dislocated By The Mechanism” is. It may sound bizarre, but this piece have something in common with what Penjaga Insaf did on their “Sama Sadja”. While conceptually both projects couldn’t be more distant one from another. The organic aura of “Epicylic Gearing” is represented by these cyclic sequences, coming and going, pulsating like a bloodflow, later that bass rumblings appears, like a heartbeat. And that simple repeated melody, combined with the mentioned elements develop a tremendous track, which brings another name to my mind. Predominance. Remember that one? Yes, as you can see, that Loki reference few paragraphs ago wasn’t accidental. Such albums like “The Antikythera Mechanism” deserve an epic ending, yet one must have in mind that Peter Andersson doesn’t really like to finish his albums with a bang. “Fragment F” is not a praise of a human mind, the awe of its endless powers and capabilities. No, it’s a cosmic space, quiet, soulless, without beginning nor end.It’s like the blackest shade of black, it’s probably Peter’s most oppressive finale since “The Eternal Return And The Infinity Horizon”. And probably one of his best works, at least within the last couple of years. This reference may sound funny, but he’s like Stephen King of dark ambient and I know that a lot of folks grumble that “it’s not the same, his older novels were classic and now he’s just reaping the benefits of his older efforts.” Not true, “The Outsider” or “Sleeping Beauties” are as good as the novels from his so-called “golden era”. Same goes with Peter Andersson, I heard more than once that what he does now is not the same as 20-25 years ago. Wrong. Don’t let nostalgia speak for you. He’s still in a very good shape and the astounding sound of “The Antikythera Mechanism” is its brightest, or rather darkest example." [Santa Sangre] 2019 €13.00
AUN Utica (SOLD OUT) 7 Behind AUN we find Montreal's Martin Dumais, a long time activist in the Canadian scene. With AUN he has already released 3 solo albums on ORAL, and lately the acclaimed Motorsleep on ALIEN8. The sound of AUN is a marriage between very harmonic/emotional drones and distorted machine-power, between sensibility and noise-strength, usually based on guitar sound-sources. The two pieces on his DRONE EP (first AUN vinyl) show his melancholic side: "The tracks were put together after a summer of very noisy concerts and AUN recording. Usually a split entity, AUN always has a lighter and more heady and melancholic side to the more physical powerdrone material, these two tracks are of the lighter more luminous nature." The material on the A-Side ("Utica") is still very expansive and builds an impressive suspense curve, but especially the B-Side " Lelehudah" is full of touching & yearnful harmonic structures, a majestic dance of polyphonic overtones. Filed under: ROMANTIC POWER-DRONES more info: www.aundrone.com WHITE VINYL. GREAT GEOMETRIC PATTERN DESIGN BY MATHIEU BEAUSÉJOUR, HAND-ASSEMBLED FULL COLOUR COVERS M BY ARIANE GAGNÉ. WHITE INLAY w. RED PRINT 2009 €7.00  
AURAL RAGE The Doctrine of Maybeness 3 x CD "The Doctrine of Maybeness" by Aural Rage is an anthology of the works of Danny Hyde’s Aural rage project, an engineer, programmer, producer, collaborator, remixer, and co-conspirator of Coil, Nine Inch Nails, Psychic TV, Depeche Mode, and many others. A 15 year anniversary of musical adventure on 3xCDs with all works together - "A Nature Of Nonsense", "Sinsemilla Dreams" and "Svay Pak" with unreleased bonus tracks. One of the early sampling Pioneers, producing 80’s band Savage Progress, a huge continental hit. Working with amongst others The The, soft cell, and many more on Fairlights and Synclaviers. He contributed many unique sounds to Coil’s legacy and worked on their legendary albums Horse Rotovator and Love’s Secret Domain, onto The new Backwards. Coil lovers know that Hyde was a kind of a secret member for this group. On Aural Rage dark industrial-tinged electronica and moony-ambient music has broadened with synthetic strings, programmed rhythms, shuddering MDMA-filtered beats, acid gurgles and insect buzzes are all over the album. Believing that Humour can be the hidden violin in a piece. This anthology is a Cross-genre cocktail of various music styles, a pure experiment without any borders. The project features following guest musicians: John Balance and Peter Christopherson aka Coil and Joanna de Seyne. https://infinitefog.bandcamp.com/album/the-doctrine-of-maybeness 2020 €28.00
AX Metal Forest CD "AX is the project of British rock and electronic musician Anthony Di Franco (Ramleh, Novatron, Ethnic Acid, JFK, ex-Skullflower). Extreme and uncompromising, AX presents a unique sound world of blistering power electronics, pulverising bass drones, feedback symphonies, and dark atmospheres. This CD includes tracks from the legendary long out of print mid-90′s vinyl albums, digitally remastered for the first time." "Needless to say EXTREMELY recommended, and not just for nineties industrial obsessives (although obviously, for those folks, this is a no brainer), but if you dig minimal guitar mesmer, psychedelic doom, abstract heaviness, post industrial soundscaping, all strains of drone, especially heavy guitardrone, this collection will blow your mind." [Aquarius Records] 2012 €12.00
BAD SECTOR Dolmen Factory CD Re-Release dieses klassischen (zweite CD) BAD SECTOR-Albums aus dem Jahre 2000, damals erschienen auf dem inzwischen längst nicht mehr aktiven MEMBRUM DEBILE PROPAGANDA-Label (basierend auf einer MC Version auf einem italienischen Cassettenlabel von 1997, das Material wurde bereits zwischen 1994-1996 aufgenommen). DOLMEN FACTORY hat all das was BAD SECTOR zu einem ganz besonderen Projekt aus dem "experimentellen drone/ambient" Sektor werden liess: den typischen Synth-Sound, die rauhen Störgeräusche, die endlose Weite & Melancholie, ein industriell-futuristischer "Nährboden".. "Wiederveröffentlichung des raren "dolmen factory" – Tapes, 1997 auf Soffitta Macabra in 60er Auflage erschienen. Hier geht es stark in Richtung "AMPOS", sphärische monumental-distorted Synths, harmonisch und elegisch, dazu " a small set of samples of echocardiogram machine, Stimmen aus dem Nichts... the best synth-music you can get!!!" [Drone Rec. info 2000] "Reprint of the classic Bad Sector release. Harmonic, noisy, emotional electronic tracks set the trademark sound of the one-man project from Tuscany. It includes an unreleased track. Limited edition of 500 pieces, FAR-21, 2008 www.faria.ru" [label info] 2008 €12.50
  Transponder CD "science experiment as pagan ritual... Who needs representation for Bad Sector? Certainly almost no one. Since 95 year, each new album of this project it's event which is awaited by every second listener of industrial music. And now - long-awaited, CD the version, one of the most interesting albums of Italian master Massimo Magrini! First time Transponder was released as CD-r on Blade Records in 99, now the album is again accessible, in a new format and with additional, exclusive compositions of that period - "Yst" and "Waal"! More than 60 minutes dark, deep, meditative, structured noise-ambient, in the best traditions of Dolmen Factory and Ampos..." [label info] www.infinitefog.ru 2011 €12.50
BAILEY, THOMAS BEY WILLIAM La Production Interdite MC Thomas Bey William Bailey is a researcher and author of several books (e.g. "To Hear The World With New Eyes," "Micro Bionic") as well as a dedicated sound artist: in whatever medium he chooses, he focuses upon the extremes of information in order to determine both their liberating potential and their hidden dangers. Over a period of time that has seen him collaborating with the sonic arts communities of Japan, Central Europe and several distinct regions of the United States, he has developed an unorthodox style not beholden to any single popular or ‘avant garde’ genre: his embrace of the whole sonic spectrum has, in recent years, resulted in a high-intensity form that cohesively joins bracing noise and sidereal ephemera to seductive silences. TBWB’s debut for Elevator Bath, "La Production Interdite," carries on a tradition of albums themed around under-reported ‘threshold’ states of consciousness. Following on the heels of the previous year’s "A Desperate Expediency" - an ‘enhanced interrogation’-themed album on Brazil’s Seminal Records - "La Production Interdite" takes its inspiration from the phenomenon of autoscopy, i.e. the visualization of doppelgängers or phantom doubles. Split into a purely instrumental half-hour side and a vocally-enhanced side in which TBWB narrates accounts of autoscopic events, this new album oscillates between moments of narcotic consolation and moments of sharp poignancy in an attempt to present the many different emotive 'faces' of autoscopic phenomena. A full complement of analog and digital tools, including the famous Buchla modular system at Stockholm’s EMS studios, are brought into play in order to make this a thoroughly compelling listen. Ambience and anti-ambience symbolically vie for dominance throughout, in the same way as one might struggle to determine whether their ‚primary’ self or their autoscopic double is the 'real' source of their consciousness. "La Production Interdite" is expertly mastered by Elevator Bath alumnus Alex Keller, and comes in a lush pro-printed cassette package with original collage artwork by TBWB in a limited edition of just 50 copies. A seven-page PDF text supplement is included with the download. https://elevatorbath.bandcamp.com/album/la-production-interdite 2018 €10.00
BAILIFF, JESSICA same CD Drittes Album der dream-drone-Folk Chanteuse aus Toledo, OH, auf Kranky ! Etwas herbe, getragene Songs, slow-ambience-folk mit verzerrten drone-guitars... "Call it Jessica Bailiff, Untitled or anything you want; the third album from Jessica Bailiff is a delivery on the promise of her first two albums. Simultaneously clearer and murkier, it features a more acoustic focus and experimental sound placement. Two songs feature the violin-uke (most notably the stark 'Hour of the Traces'), there is a tin whistle on a few tracks, piano, a few computer fx, drums, smeary guitars and even sitar. The end result can best be described as narco-folk. Jessica Bailiff describes her new album as being about '...stagefright, dreams, loss of creative energy/desire, love & time, living in the same place all your life, ghosts, near-death experiences, etc..' After recording two albums with the members of Low, Jessica Bailiff created a direct, stripped back album that showcases her-strengths in both songwriting and arrangements." [press release] 2002 €14.50
BAKER, AIDAN Liminoid / Lifeforms CD "While Alien8 Recordings has had the pleasure of releasing three full-length albums by Aidan Baker's ambient doom project Nadja, as well as his collaborative effort Fantasma Parastasie with Tim Hecker, this marks our first solo release with the artist. Although we consider Liminoid/Lifeforms to be a solo effort, there are in fact no less than eight guest musicians helping out on the recording. These include Canadian noise legend Knurl (a.k.a. Alan Bloor) who has been released three times on Alien8 Recordings prior to this recording, as well as members of Arc, Picastro, Forest City Lovers and Whisper Room. Liminoid is a composition for large ensemble exploring sonic immersion in drones and textures, rhythms and pulsations. Incorporating composed and improvised segments, the piece uses elongation of sound and layered polyph- ony in an attempt to create a liminal and/or numinous state. This recording of Liminoid is from its premier at The Music Gallery's X-Avant Festival in Toronto, October 25, 2008. The piece features a powerful vocal performance with every member sharing the vocal duties. The lyrics have been adapted from 5th-8th century Coptic Christian texts and inspired by the book Ancient Christian Magic by Marvin W. Meyer & Richard Smith. The ensemble members for this performance were: Aidan Baker (guitar/ voice), Clara Engel (guitar/voice), Nick Storring (cello/voice), Jakob Thiesen (drums/voice), Richard Baker (drums/voice), Tillman Lewis (cello/voice), Laura Bates (violin/voice) and Jonathan Demers (guitar/voice). Lifeforms is a composition for strings, prepared/effected guitar, and amplified metal works. Likewise incorporating written and improvised material, the piece was originally commissioned and performed by The Penderecki Quartet in 2003. This recording was made in August 2008 at Commonwealth Studios in Toronto. The performers were: Aidan Baker (guitar), Nick Storring (cello), Mika Posen (violin) and Alan Bloor (metal works). This recording has been both skillfully mixed from multiple recordings and mastered by James Plotkin." [label info] www.alien8recordings.com "The latest from the always impressive, and always prolific Aidan Baker, who creates thick wall of sound doomgaze in the duo Nadja, and much more personal, hushed drone music under his own name, but more and more has been expanding his scope with various collaborations and large ensembles. This might be the biggest ensemble he's worked with, 8 players, all contributing vocals, three guitars, two drummers, violin and two cellos. And it does sound like what you might imagine, a sort of Aidan Baker drone record / chamber music hybrid, long languid tones, plenty of cymbal shimmer, the strings moan and sing, the sounds ebb and flow, swelling ominously, building to swirling crescendos, before slipping back into something more minimal and contemplative, "Liminoid" is split into 4 movements, and is about as close to classical music as Baker has come, at least in the first part, the second part shifts gears dramatically, transforming into something more jazzy and propulsive, a sort of krautrock thing, but with a jazzy slow shifting Necks vibe, eventually building to a dense tribal workout, before slipping into part 3, all shimmery blissy drift, soft focus and sun dappled, the drums an understated slowcore shuffle, leading up to the 15 minute final movement, where the vocalists team up for a haunting bit of choral drama, which explodes into full on free jazz freakout wall of sound, finishing off with a long form spaced out drone jam, that definitely reminds us of a super stripped down White Hills, psychedelic and washed out and very hypnotic. The second piece, the nearly 30 minute "Lifeforms" is a smaller ensemble, Baker on guitar, with violin, cello and 'amplified metal works', the metal works had us expecting something clangy and bombastic, but instead, it's almost all warm whirling ambient shimmer, much more in keeping with Baker's solo sounds, near the end, the sounds shift, and the strings move to the fore, weaving dramatic melodies over the slow burning drone underneath, the result very cinematic. Quite nice." [Aquarius Rec.] "One of my favorite noise albums, "Frequency LSD" by Japanoise artist Masonna was released on Alien8 Recordings in the mid-90's. With this in mind, and in combination with the release of present two albums, there shouldn't be any questions about the the great span of styles released by Alien8 Recordings - Canada's probably most interesting label of the underground. Aidan Baker is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist and sound artist that creates music in the field from post-rock across drone ambient to modern classical. His latest release "Limonoid / Lifeforms" roughly comes across all aforementioned styles. On the album Aidan Baker has allied with concrete noise artist Alan Bloor alias Knurl / Pholde, Richard Baker on drums plus a number of other acoustic members on instruments such as cello, violin and guitars. As the title suggest the album is divided into two main sections: A section called "Limonoid" consisting of four intersections and the long and final piece titled "Lifeforms". "Limonoid" is as mentioned earlier an interesting crossover between neo-classical chamber music, noise-rock, post-rock with associations of earlier Krautrock (first of all Amon Düül I + II) and neo-folk with elements of middle-age expressions. Quite interesting and very trippy psychedelia with vocals from Clara Engel is what the first four chapters of the albums presents. But in my opinion, the true gift is the second main section of the album titled "Lifeforms". "Lifeforms" is a lengthy piece clocking approximately 30 minutes. Where the aforementioned section was a crossover of a number of styles "Lifeforms" mainly focus on ambient-expressions but with clear interventions of classical instruments such as violin and cello meanwhile aforementioned noise artist Alan Bloor controls his usual ultra-aggressive sound equipments being amplified steel and metal as sound sources into more subtle and very attractive noise drones. The piece is quite repetitive with a long hissing drone of amplified strings but with organic interventions of concrete sounds of aforementioned instruments. Halfway though the track, hissing drone fades away giving way to more plain acoustic ambience until another drone appears. The atmosphere is hypnotic and very intense through out the running time of the piece. Very interesting album showing the wide span of Aidan Baker." [NM / Vital Weekly] 2010 €13.00
The Sea swells a bit do-LP "As a Canadian musician currently living in Berlin, Aidan Baker got first famous as half part of the prolific project Nadja, playing along with Leah Buckareff. LP after LP and collaboration after collaboration (A Storm of Light, Atavist, Year of no Light....), Nadja never ceased to explore the different aspects of ambient, noise and drone music. Also a prolific solo composer, Aidan Baker is well-known by experimental and alternative music fans as much for his solo albums as for his prestigious collaborations with some artists (Tim Hecker, Thisquietarmy, Noveller...) and famous music labels (Denovali, Important, Lattitudes, Gizeh...). Today, Mind Travels is very proud to present the first vinyl edition of one of his key records, A Sea Swells a Bit...., first released in 2006. Three long ambient titles that will likely make you shiver and lose your senses. A live version of the eponymous title is also joined as a bonus. The artwork, again designed by Francis Meslet (Urbex), intensifies in the most admirable manner the depth of this dizzying music." [label info] www.icidailleurs.com "AIDAN BAKER besingt die tiefe See, den Ozean, sterbende Seemänner. Dicht und undurchdringlich, dunkel gefärbt & geheimnis-umwebt sind seine drei langen Stücke auf dieser CD für den SMALL VOICES-Ableger. Wie so oft arbeitet BAKER mit urlangen Gitarrenloops, schichtet Zirkel auf Zirkel und sich allmählich aufbauenden Crescendos.... ab dem zweiten Stück durchziehen sanfte Perkussion und Bass-Grooves die Flächen, und das ganze erhält einen leichten Psychedelic-Touch...." [Drone Records text zur CD version 2006] 2015 €20.00
The Confessional Tapes LP "Aidan Baker's The Confessional Tapes is another of his more song-oriented albums, though here drifting between slowcore, dreampop, abstract jazz, and glitchy electronica. Baker originally began working on this record in Toronto several years ago, but lost the audio files in a hard drive crash. Those files which were recoverable from the original recordings, corrupted and glitchy, ended up forming the backbone of the album, providing a fragmentary and abstract structure to the songs as Baker worked on them in his adoptive home of Berlin. Aidan Baker is a Canadian musician and writer who has toured and performed around the world, both solo and with his partner in the “ambient-doom” duo Nadja. A prolific artist, Baker has released numerous albums on such labels as Alien8 Recordings, Important Records, and Drone Records. He is also the author of a several books." [label info] 2015 €21.00
  Dualism do-CD After different collaborations between Aidan Baker and other musicians, we are finally presenting you the first solo release by Aidan Baker on Midira Records. We are very proud to bring you this little piece of art called “Dualism”. The album starts like an untamed beast with dark drone and doom sounds and it morphs into a very gentle floating ambient body. Aidan plays guitar, bass and drums, what makes the tracks sound structured but also disengaged at the same time. The all-instrumental tracks have Nadja-like moments when the sound is darker and doomy and then they transform to beautiful melodies and rhythms. So you can hear the album moving from darkness to light, from heaviness to easiness and from interlaced to clear textured. Sometimes you feel like dancing, sometimes you feel like head-banging, sometimes you feel just relaxed and all sounds and moods fit perfectly together. The album is based on the theory of dualism. A theory enfolding several books and explanation, including different meanings. That´s what Aidan Baker thought about the Dualism theory referring to this recording: “Dualism in philosophy refers to the theory that the mind and body are different things and while the body is necessarily part of the physical world, the mind (and thoughts) may or may not be associated with a physical, concrete reality… and the notion of a ‘consciousness bridge’ is the way one might attempt to bridge the gap, so to speak, between body and mind.” We thought that is a nice concept, but then something unforeseeable happened. The Dualism theory overgrew the whole release project. After we decided to press the music on CD, the master tapes got lost. We were talking about what we can do, because everything was set up to be released. So Aidan Baker decided to re-record the album. After he recorded the album, the original recordings showed up again by coincidence. So we had two Dualism albums sounding completely different, both worth to be released. We decided to release both sessions as Session A and B. A circumstance fitting perfectly into the dualism theory. Then we were waiting for the CD to be finalized with a matt finished artwork. The parcel arrived from the plant, but accidentally with glossy artwork. We started to believe that there is a hex of dualism covering this project. But finally, we finished the album with 2 CDs and a handsome matt lamination. To perfect the album package, we added a letterpress inlay including a poem by Aidan Baker (from Passing Through) and an antithetic version of the cover artwork. Manufactured by Letterjazz with some very old letterpress machines. Some more dualism trivia in this context: The alphabetic characters A and B of both sessions does not only fit to the artist name but also to the name of our contact person at the letter press studio. Dualism fortuity. Dualism comes as a double CD album in an edition of 200 copies housed in a 6 panel digipack, including a letterpress inlay on 650 gram LeNaBoard (grey cardboard). 2016 €18.50
BALDRUIN Vergessene Träume LP "It’s said that German philosopher Immanuel Kant hardly ever left his home town. Yet he managed to pull off some of the most influential thinking to date. How did he manage to do that? Well, a daily routine based on reasoning interrupted by long walks did the trick and – voilà! – another “Critique” was done! Johannes Schebler’s body of work released under his Baldruin moniker may not exactly be as groundbreaking as the old geezer’s from Königsberg, but it’s fair to point out that his discipline is comparably versed and experienced when it comes to making his music. During the years past he hardly ever left town, avoided exhausting and time consuming nonsense such as touring and instead stayed inside preparing and releasing over a dozen albums since his first recordings back in 2009. He snuck out for a walk once in a while – especially to have a cheap lunch or dinner downtown – but other than that he kept himself busy watching Midnite Movies and messing around with a myriad of musical instruments. (And yes, an occasional painting was finished here and there, too!) In short: Johannes is quite a regular guy following a well-arranged, unhurried 24/7 routine. Given this almost boring day in, day out one might wonder how he manages to piece together his colorful, imaginative and meticulously manufactured sonic miniatures? Well, it’s obviously that kind of untroubled artistic existence that leads to a mindset to create a slightly unsettling music quite far from the artist’s own experience. It’s not real, it’s phantasy. It’s art, it’s entertainment – and it’s meant to be fun. Keep in mind: Listening to „Vergessene Träume“ („Forgotten Dreams“) is like visiting a fairground’s Tunnel of Horror or a field trip to an other-worldly theme park: Tracks like „Begegnung im Labyrinth” („Encounter in the Maze“) or „Das Mysterium der Kreidefelsen“ („The Enigma of the Chalk Cliffs“) hint at the playful and surreal character of the music. Music that is deeply informed by the colorful works of composers like Franco Battiato and the iconic and imaginative horror-movie soundtracks of Goblin („Suspiria“) and the likes. So, don’t mistake Baldruin’s fanciful, vaudevillian approach with the omnipresent depressive and dystopian post-postmodern aesthetics. Baldruin’s far from being a bleak bloke and such is his music: It’s the brainchild of a rich, child-like imagination, a celebration of the comical ‘n creepy yet life-affirming forces in life. Enjoy the ride!" ikuisuus.bandcamp.com/album/vergessene-tr-ume 2018 €15.00
Die halluzinierte Welt MC "Anbruch eines neuen Tages. Die Natur wird in ein magisches Licht getaucht. Es verändert die Warnehmung der Dinge und erzeugt eine entrückte Atmosphäre. Etwas nicht greifbares schwebt über den Köpfen. Ein Übergang von intensiv erlebten Gefühlszuständen in eine halluzinierte imaginäre Realität. Eine erweiterte Wirklichkeitsauffassung kommt zum Vorschein. Ängste, Hoffnungen und Sehnsüchte einer nicht (mehr) greifbaren Welt, die sich als surreale Visionen materialisieren. Individuell real Erlebtes verformt sich und wird transformiert zu fantasierten Erinnerungen, zu denen immer wieder zurückgekehrt werden kann. Impressionistische musikalische Skizzen als Ausdruck innerer Sehnsuchtsbilder. --------- Dawn of a new day, nature is immersed in a magical light. The aura is raptured by this illumination and the atmosphere is ecstatic. A transition occurs from an intense emotional state to a hallucinated reality, revealed by expanded perceptions. Emerging from surreal visions, fears, hopes and desires materialize. Authentic experiences morph, before transforming back into fleeting memories that return with time again. Sonic sketches of impressions and internal imagery. released June 6, 2020 All tracks recorded 2019 and 2020 in Wiesbaden, Germany by Johannes Schebler https://lullabiesforinsomniacslabel.bandcamp.com/album/die-halluzinierte-welt "Since 2009 Johannes Scheblers has began mapping out his surreal sonic topography. Shortly after releasing his first experimental compositions on the homegrown DIY SicSic-Label together with Daniel Voigt, his albums began circulating on labels all over Europe as well as in the USA and Japan. He grew up in a small Bavarian village, where his family had moved to for his fathers work as a pastoral officer. Here they lived in the rectory attached to the church where the loud resonance of the bells, lush organ sounds and chorales of singing churchgoers where constantly present in Johannes childhood. The alluring atmospheres enticed him and he spent several years serving as a altar boy. These early spiritual experiences are a foundation for Baldruin’s sound. In his teenage years, he was exposed to transcendental and dreamlike visions in surreal and avant-garde films which he obsessed over. The unique artistic styles of Švankmajer, Buñuel, Jodorowsky, Cronenberg and Lynch have heavily informed his sonic palette. Schebler’s compositions offer reinterpretations of dark and mystic mythologies, a chance meeting with strange beings from unknown depths conjured in his imagination where he gives free rein to the fantastic and surreal. Besides his Baldruin project he collaborates with Jani Hirvonen (Uton) on the project Grykë Pyje and is joined by Brannten Schnüre together as Diamantener Oberhof." 2020 €11.00
  Relikte aus der Zukunft LP Relikte aus der Zukunft (Relics from the Future) is a new album by experimental German artist Baldruin. Growing up in a small Bavarian village rectory around 10 meters beside the church and serving as an altar boy; organ music, church bells, and spiritual chanting were very much present in Johannes Schebler's ears during his childhood years. This experience was probably the basis for his ongoing interest in transcendental and mysterious atmospheres, he recalls. Schebler started making music as Baldruin back in 2009 with DIY experimentations which were first released on tape, a CD-R 3" and later on several LPs all over Europe (Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Finland, Netherlands, Slovakia), as well as in the USA and Japan. While in the beginning Baldruin's tracks were mostly created with acoustic instruments, later synthesizers and other electronic sound sources joined, expanding the sound palette and letting primordial and futuristic worlds merge organically into each other. Although Relikte aus der Zukunft feels like a journey to the unknown, with constantly changing moods, all of the recordings were done in a small and improvised home studio in Schebler's living room in Wiesbaden, Germany, using mostly a single MIDI-keyboard for recording. The tracks are full of color and amazement, detailed and thorough when evoking the setting and conjuring the experience. They can be playful and bright, or suspenseful and ominous, until bursting into ritual and hallucination. The gloomiest soundscapes can jump into a ship fueled by retro sci-fi arpeggios, the solemn can turn to rejoice, and a star can shrink into a fireplace. Mastered by Alberto Cendra at Garden Lab Audio. Cover art by Johannes Schebler. Edition of 300. https://buhrecords.bandcamp.com/album/relikte-aus-der-zukunft "Vor gerade einmal acht Monaten brachte Johannes Schebler alias Baldruin mit “Kleine Freuden” ein Album heraus, das trotz seiner Opulenz und vor allem wegen der geschlossenen Kompaktheit der einzelnen Stücke ganz im Zeichen der fast schon intim anmutenden Miniatur stand. Seit einigen Wochen steht mit “Relikte aus der Zukunft” nun ein neuer Longplayer in den Regalen, der im Vergleich dazu wie ein Gegenzoom wirkt und die Aufmerksamkeit auf die großen und breiten Zusammenhänge richtet. Schon der Titel könnte zu einem handlungsreichen Film passen, und zu Tracks wie “Hintenherum”, “Wurzeltrank” oder “Ritt auf der Silberechse” könnte man sich fantastische Science Fiction-Stoffe der surrealen Art ausdenken. Die ersten Minuten des Albums verbreiten eine erwartungsvolle Stimmung: Es klappert und rumpelt, und über einem Sound, der nach Syntie klingt, erklingt das Trillern verschiedener Klangquellen, die Flöten, Klarinetten und ein Saxophon sein könnten, im Zusammenspiel mit flatternden Flügelschlägen aber sofort an verfremdete Vogelstimmen denken lassen. Halbversteckte Glockenschläge im Hintergrund leiten über in ein sakraler anmutendes Setting mit tiefen Tastentönen und etwas, das an Choräle erinnert, und man wundert sich, dass all dies – laut Begleittext – überwiegend einem Midi-Keyboard entstammen soll. Sanft bimmelnde Glöckchen, spannungsvolle Cellodrones, quirlige Sounddetails, die wie Gummi quietschen; ein vermutlich asiatisches Saiteninstrument, dass mit seinen kreisenden Bewegungen eine entsprechende Melodie anstimmt und weitere folkig eingefärbte Klänge; alarmierende Hochtöner über dunklen, aus der Ferne hörbaren Paukenschlägen; desolate Sounds, die für kurze Momente an Industrial erinnern; sogar eine vervielfachte menschliche Stimme vor einer Kulisse aus Gebimmel und rauschenden Motoren – die klanglichen Details und motivischen Ideen sind in diesem Album beinahe Legion und im ständigen Wandel begriffen. Ist man erstmal vollends in diese Welt eingetaucht, dann halluziniert man vielleicht noch einige dazu. Wenn man also so etwas wie einen roten Faden sucht, dann findet man ihn woanders, z.B. in der aufgeweckten Neugier, die in der Reise durch die verschiedenen Klangwelten spürbar ist. Da scheint man dem Entdecken einer Kultur beizuwohnen, deren Zeichen man wie ein Schwamm aufsaugt, während die eigentliche Erforschung und Kartografierung noch ansteht. Die einzelnen Szenarien wirken wie Momentaufnahmen im Stadium des ersten faszinierten Eindrucks. Neben “Insel der Hoffnung”, dass in all seiner Verträumtheit und mit gebrochenen Rhythmen so etwas wie der “Hit” des Albums sein könnte, gibt es weitere Wegmarken. Das wäre z.B “Wilde Reise”, eine von rumpelnden Trommelwirbeln und entrückten Flötensounds begleitete Fahrt über Stock und Stein. Außerdem “Vorherbestimmt”, das mit seinen pulsierenden Orchestralsounds wie ein dramatischer Stummfilmscore klingt, der von allerlei destruktivem Klirren begleitet wird und in seiner ganz eigenen Schönheit doch unangetastet bleibt. Vielleicht findet sich auch in dieser Tendenz zur Zerfleddertheit, an deren Grenze sich fast alle Stücke bewegen, und die immer durch eine solide Grundsubstanz eingehegt und zusammengehalten wird, ein Schlüssel zur klanglichen Grund-DNA dieses beeindruckenden Albums." [African Paper] 2023 €27.50
BALESTRAZZI, SIMON Ultrasonic Bathing Apparatus CD Simon Balestrazzi is an electronic/electroacoustic composer and sound artist active since the 80's and one of the leading figures of italian post-industrial scene. In 1981 he co-founded T.A.C. (Tomografia Assiale Computerizzata), a long-lived and outstanding Italian band operating on the border between experimental music, leftfield rock and post-industrial. Between 1986 and 1988 he created the dark-chamber ensemble Kino Glaz while in 1991 he joined Kirlian Camera, with whom he worked for seven years releasing several albums and performing live throughout Europe. He has so far performed live or recorded with the following musicians and groups: Gianluca Becuzzi, Maurizio Bianchi/MB, Bron Y Aur, Marco Cappelli, Elia Casu, Fabio Cerina, Paulo Chagas, Mattia Coletti, Compoundead, Sylvie Courvoisier, Deison, Max Eastley, Andrea 'Ics' Ferraris, Forbici Di Manitù, Henning Frimann, Hermetic Brotherhood Of Lux-or, Tim Hodgkinson, Dalila Kayros, M.S. Miroslaw, Ikue Mori, Clara Murtas, Phill Niblock, Noisedelik, Victor Nubla, Alessandro Olla, Plasma Expander, Maja Ratkje, Paolo Sanna, Damo Suzuki, TH26, Uncodified, VipCancro, Z’EV, Francesco Paladino. He's currently working as a solo artist and with experimental duos Dream Weapon Ritual (with Monica Serra), Candor Chasma (with Corrado Altieri), Sarang (with Enrico Marani) and the improv ensemble A Sphere Of Simple Green (with Adriano Orrù and Silvia Corda). Ultrasonic Bathing Apparatus is an apotheosis of the deep sound. Built around the concept of numbness and sensorial deprivation, the album unfolds in seven movements. An ideal path that alternates between dives alienating themselves from external tension and re-emergences, where the sounds become palpable and consistent. A continuous transition from deep tense drones, making you feel disconnected from body perception, and actual sounds, that make you fall quickly back into the outside world. Until the last dive, a massive final drone, where you get lost and can only concentrate on your own self. A work composed with surgical precision and great arrangement care, supported by a very skilled composition and containing a touching poetics of progressive estrangement. Psychological tension constantly on! Are you ready for this? https://sincoperec.bandcamp.com/album/simon-balestrazzi-ultrasonic-bathing-apparatus-cd 2015 €10.00
BALL, DAVE & JON SAVAGE Photosynthesis CD “We started composing some quasi pop/classical pieces that gradually morphed and evolved into one, hour-long piece. Via digital recording and processing of vintage analogue sound sources (i.e. mini Moog, Sequential Circuits, Prophet 5 synthesizers etc.) the piece gradually took shape. The title ‘Photosynthesis' was re-appropriated from the botanical process. Sitting in the garden surrounded by trees and plants on a sunny day, the idea of organisms using sunlight to synthesise nutrients from CO2 and water became an inspiration to us. This idea, juxtaposed with mankind's destruction of the planet through pollution and war gave us the inspiration to compose this soundscape”. Dave Ball (Soft Cell, The Grid) and Jon Savage. Comes in a beautiful 6-panel digipak, cloaked in exquisite flora art." www.coldspring.co.uk "One of the most wonderful things about artistic creation is that you never really know where it will take you. Even though Photosynthesis started out as an attempt to write some quasi pop/classic pieces, you’d never know that from the finished product. What the duo of Dave Ball and Jon Savage have created instead is a haunting, delightfully organic album of ambient and experimental electronica. This is a record to sink in to, letting it take you on its journey to some other place, and it has a refreshing, almost cleansing feel to its retro soundscapes. There’s a warmth to Photosynthesis that many other albums of this sort lack, aided by the use of analogue sources, and it’s this warmth that gives the album such a special feel. Even if there are moments when it verges upon the haunting and unsettling, as during “ATM#2” with its ominous bass drone and piercing, warbling frequencies, it never feels like a dark ambient album; rather, these are moments of contrast that fit in well with the organic nature of the album. After all, nature is often a violent, destructive force, and that is captured in tracks such as this one, and that side of humanity is demonstrated here too, as it is in song titles such as “One Night In Helmand Province”. Photosynthesis is also an album that makes clever use of space. “Passing Cloud Factory” and “The Process” are relatively sparse tracks, with elements drifting in and out over a foundation of subtle drones and strings, and the space created is just as effective as any individual sound or other element. And the way one track flows in to another creates a sense of narrative, not necessarily in the sense of a linear story, but of a cohesive whole; it feels as if the album has something to say, raising it above being a simple collection of tracks and giving it an extra sense of importance and weight. When a more obvious melody or movement does come to the fore, as on closer “Dead Neon”, the effect is all the stronger for how well it contrasts with the more sparse, ambient sections. Not that any of this may be readily apparent. Photosynthesis is an album that requires multiple listens and proper attention to fully appreciate, but the rewards are more than worth it. It is an album full of depth, with an engaging character and atmosphere that is more than worth losing several evenings exploring." [The Sound Not The Word-blog] 2016 €12.00
BARDOSENETICCUBE + NOISES OF RUSSIA New Orthodox Line CD Rauhe, trancige Dronescapes mit sakralem Touch & intensiv ansteigendem Spannungsbogen zum Ende hin. Vielleicht lässt sich dieses feine Album der beiden in St. Petersburg beheimateten Projekte so mit einem Satz charakterisieren. Letztere sind zuletzt durch eine Reihe von ekstatisch-rituellen Konzerten aufgefallen, die sie in Russland und im angrenzenden skandinavischen Raum gaben... "New Orthodox Line brings together two of the most notable Russian post-industrial / experimental groups: Bardoseneticcube and Noises of Russia. This unique collaboration stirs the best of both artists to surface, and results in an extremely powerful and intense emotional experience. The opus travels from sacral soundscapes of orthodox choirs and church bells to a more punishing end of the sonic spectrum provided by pounding rhythms and howling feedback. Here, the opposites unite with passion and compliment each other for the sake of the greater good, the synergetic New Orthodox Line. Bardoseneticcube, having released dozens of albums on various labels worldwide, has gained recognition in the international experimental / electronic scene. Bardoseneticcube self-describes their music as “surrealism”, using A. Breton’s description: "pure psychic automatism willing to express the real functioning of the reflection either orally or written, or in any other form. Dictation of mind without any control from the intellect, outside of any aesthetic of moral considerations". More info » bsc.radionoise.ru Noises of Russia is a highly active Russian experimental music act, with practically countless live performances and a number of albums and videos under their belt. This four member group uses styles and imagery from dark ambient to drone, all the while never forgetting traditional noise music. Their unique mixture of influences, along with their extremely powerful use of vocals, create an unforgettable experience in modern music. More info » www.noises.ru " [label notes] "... a joint venture between two of Russia's interesting projects from the Noise-related scene. Noises Of Russia is a quartet known for its high activity of live performances plus a large number of albums and videos released. The other project is called Bardosenetticcube also being in the forefront on the Russian scene. This album titled "New orthodox line" is a strange beast even in the noise scene with the inclusion of sacral soundscapes consisting of church bells and orthodox choirs swirling in the storm of abrasive noise drones. Consisting of one lengthy track of 47 minutes the expression is impressive with a nice emotional approach to sonic aggression. Intense." [NM, Vital weekly] www.someplaceelse.net 2007 €12.00
BASINSKI, WILLIAM The Disintegration Loops IV CD "Teil IV der hypnotischen alten tape-loops, die in endlos-symphonischer Wiederholung wie nostalgische Erinnerungen an vergangene Zeiten wirken.. sehr ruhig & meditativ." [Drone Rec.] “..And somehow, that personal grief comes through in these reworked 20 year old recordings. Basinski had discovered a handful of old tape loops that were oxidizing and essentially disintegrating, and transferred them digitally, capturing the strangely decaying melodies, making for an expansive suite (almost three hundred minutes) of haunting otherworldy looping drones. Muzak like melodies crumble into barely melodic throbbing pulses, swathed in reverb, allowing the already obscured snatches of music, to fade into wispy smears of sound. So beautiful.” [Aquarius Records] "For those who missed out on the now-legendary, highly sought-after (and highly sold-out) box sets, we are now offering the four volumes of The Disintegration Loops suite as separate, individually packaged albums. The audio was remastered in 2012 from the original master tapes, and the artwork is packaged in deluxe old-style tip-on gatefold jackets. For a collection of music built around the poignant inevitability of decay, there has been a great many hopeful and inspired words devoted to William Basinski's The Disintegration Loops: stunning, ethereal, majestic, transfixing, life-affirming… and for good reason. From its 20-year gestation period to its infamously fateful completion, The Disintegration Loops is one of the most powerful manifestations of the inevitable cycle of life ever committed to tape, even as it documents the inevitable decay of all that is committed to tape. The very passage of time is its most effective instrument. Not only lauded by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Pitchfork, NPR and dozens more, The Disintegration Loops have become considered by many to be “one of the most pre-eminent American artistic statements of the 21st Century.” [press release] https://williambasinski.bandcamp.com/album/the-disintegration-loops-iv 2014 €15.00
BASINSKI, WILLIAM & RICHARD CHARTIER Divertissement LP "Divertissement is the third collaborative full length from minimalist composer William Basinski and sound artist Richard Chartier. The duo utilize electronics, piano, tape-loops and short wave radio to evoke a dense atmosphere suggesting hundreds of years of history rising up from the depths of a reverberating cathedral. Subtle, buried and intense murmurs of melody morph through this deeply consuming and slowly evolving composition in two parts. Pressed in an edition of 500 with beautiful cover drawings by artist James Elaine. William Basinski is a classically trained musician and composer who has been working in experimental media for over 30 years in NYC and most recently, California. Employing obsolete technology and analogue tape loops, his haunting and melancholy soundscapes explore the temporal nature of life and resound with the reverberations of memory and the mystery of time. His epic 4-disc masterwork, The Disintegration Loops received international critical acclaim and was chosen as one of the top 50 albums of 2004 by Pitchfork Media. The Temporary Residence deluxe LP box-set reissue from 2012 was awarded best re-issue of the year and a score of 10 on Pitchfork. Installations and films made in collaboration with artist-filmmaker, James Elaine have been presented in festivals and museums internationally, and his concerts are presented to sold out crowds around the world. Most recently, Basinski was chosen by Music Director, Antony Hegarty to create music for the new Robert Wilson opera, The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic which had its world premiere at the Manchester International Festival in July 2011 and toured Europe in 2012 and North America in 2013. Orchestral transcriptions of The Disintegration Loops by Maxim Moston have been performed at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Queen Elizabeth Hall and La Batie Festival in Geneva, Switzerland. Basinski is currently touring the world in support of Cascade and The Deluge, his latest works which will be released in Spring 2015 on 2062/USA. Richard Chartier (b.1971), sound and installation artist, is considered one of the key figures in the current of reductionist electronic sound art which has been termed both microsound and Neo-Modernist. Chartier's minimalist digital work explores the inter-relationships between the spatial nature of sound, silence, focus, perception and the act of listening itself. Chartier's sound works/installations have been presented in galleries and museums internationally including the 2002's Whitney Biennial and he has performed his work live across Europe, Japan, Australia, and North America at digital art electronic music festivals and exhibits. In 2000 he formed the recording label LINE and has since curated its continuing documentation of compositional and installation work by international sound artists/composers exploring the aesthetics of contemporary and digital minimalism. In 2010, Chartier was awarded a Smithsonian Institution Artist Research Fellowship to explore the National Museum of American History's collection of 19th-Century acoustic apparatus for scientific demonstration." [label info] www.importantrecords.com 2015 €25.50
  Aurora Liminalis CD "Line is pleased to announce the upcoming release of the second highly anticipated collaboration from renowned composer William Basinski and sound artist Richard Chartier. Aurora Liminalis is a rich and nebulous soundtrack, the aural equivalent of undulating trails of light. Disintegrating spatial shifts incorporating the two artists' distinct sonic palettes mesh to create a slow, deep ebb and flow like some melting spectral transmission. The work has a distinct complex presence, difficult to resist its pull. Befitting cover image by visual artist James Elaine. William Basinski (b.1958)is a classically trained musician and composer who has been working in experimental media for over 30 years in NYC and most recently, California. Employing obsolete technology and analogue tape loops, his haunting and melancholy soundscapes explore the temporal nature of life and resound with the reverberations of memory and the mystery of time. His epic, entropic masterpiece, The Disintegration Loops has received international critical acclaim and was chosen as one of the top 50 albums of 2004 by Pitchfork Media, as well as the top re-issue for 2012's Temporary Residence vinyl box set. Art Forum selected The River, his transcendental 2-disc shortwave music experiment on Raster-Noton, Germany as one of the top ten albums of 2003. Installations and films made in collaboration with artist-filmmaker, James Elaine have been presented in festivals and museums internationally, and his concerts are presented to sold out crowds around the world. Recent collaborations include music for Robert Wilson's latest opera, The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic, Aurora Liminalis with Richard Chartier and a remix of Antony's Cut The World as well as a new solo album for release in early 2013, Nocturnes. Basinski's works are released on 2062 and distributed internationally. Richard Chartier (b.1971), sound and installation artist, is considered one of the key figures in the current of reductionist electronic sound art which has been termed both 'microsound' and Neo-Modernist. Chartier's minimalist digital work explores the inter-relationships between the spatial nature of sound, silence, focus, perception and the act of listening itself. Chartier's sound works-installations have been presented in galleries and museums internationally including the 2002 s Whitney Biennial and he has performed his work live across Europe, Japan, Australia, and North America at digital art/electronic music festivals and exhibits. In 2000 he formed the recording label Line and has since curated its continuing documentation of compositional and installation work by international sound artists/composers exploring the aesthetics of contemporary and digital minimalism. In 2010, Chartier was awarded a Smithsonian Institution Artist Research Fellowship to explore the National Museum of American History's collection of 19th-Century acoustic apparatus for scientific demonstration." [label info] 2013 €14.50
BATES, MARTYN Mystery Seas (Letters written # 2) CD Re-Release dieses Albums von 1995 (Ambivalent Scale 018), nach dem sich das Brüsseler Unterwasser-Ambient CD-R Label MYSTERY SEAS von Daniel Crokaert benannt hat! MYSTERY SEAS enthält 15 Stücke mit wallenden E-Orgel-Polyphonien & Drones, einsamen Melodika-Melodien, alles handgespielt und authentisch, und Martyns intim naher & hochexpressiver Stimme.....alles angetrieben von grosser, den Himmel anrufender SEHNSUCHT, die einen die Tränen in die Augen treibt.... “How can one describe in words such emotional cascades as ’Mystery Seas’. Once again without fail Martyn Bates creates flawless mirages and barren landscapes of explicit consciousness. Riddled throughout with the sort of incoherence and fragility which made Eyeless In Gaza such an immense encounter, at times the guy could be reciting his shopping list for all we know, or care really, for the magic conjured up by a single gasp expresses a magnitude of explanations. This is stark and lonely, yet warm and touching collection of songs drifts over your nerve ends and gently massages your soul. Truly enchanting, beautiful.“ [Music from the Empty Quarter ] “Martyn Bates’ (ex-Eyeless in Gaza) long announced re-release of his most beautiful album is entering now its final production stage, and Shayo is proud to announce its release date for early January! A second life for this poetic album coming now as a digipack with a brand new layout and booklet. Shayo and Martyn Bates are planning to re-issue "Mystery Seas" twin album "Imagination feels like poison" during the year 2006.” [label info] 2005 €13.00
  I Said to Love CD Within this excellent and finely crafted album of songs dedicated “to the future”, there lies a puzzle, an enigma. With Eyeless In Gaza tending more and more towards the collaged soundscaping type situation where “the studio is very much an instrument” there is also Martyn Bates’ solo work, with his albums of late travelling in quite the opposite direction, all having the distinctive feel of being performance based voice/guitar type records. Initial listenings to Bates’ new album take all of that elsewhere however, and extend it – with the results ending up kind of schizoid in character. The more familiar ‘introspective’ songs and voice remain for sure, yet they’re often contrasted wildly with a brace of noisier and more musically complex “duo” songs played and sung by Bates together with chanteuse Elizabeth S. These ‘opposing’ styles often seem to clash at first, crazily contrasting in tone and mood, creating a not altogether unpleasant tension – which actually turns out to make more sense on repeated hearings. A good example of this would be the quiet, whispering aura of “At Last”, followed with the pummelling, disturbing melee of “Hallucination”. Also, somehow managing to stray outside of all this sturm und drang, the album holds a different kind of gem of a song yet, in its title track – “I Said To Love” – which finds Bates pitted against a string section for the first time in eons, and … it works too – bitter, bitter sweet, indeed. Bates has never been one to shy away from tackling grand themes, with the songs on I Said to Love staying true to form – dealing with mystery, rest, space, hallucinations, hindsight, loss, pity, hope, transformation, having your soul stolen & recovered, solace, deja vu, despair, resistance, delirium, entropy, determination – amongst other similarly chewable topics. The key however is in the album’s penultimate track, the haunted “I Look Back”, where Bates eschews his usual poetic lyric style – a style that can sometimes come across as overtly personal and as an almost private language – portraying within this one lyric a peculiarly single-minded determination. Somehow, listening through these words, they seem to summon up something personal in term of locating new spirit, a new direction for Martyn Bates’ whole oeuvre – we’re looking back, and it just isn’t right … how can we hope, if our hope lives in memories? … we must face our fear for there’s no turning back: just a set of simply framed words that manage to mirror the equally plain statement of dedication to be found on the album sleeve of I Said to Love – “to the future”. On the sheer melodic strength and diversity of this music, this is one future that I will eagerly await. www.eyelessingaza.com/mb.html#1 "I’ve been a hooked fan of Martyn Bates since his one of a kind experimental band ‘Eyeless In Gaza’. I bought everything on vinyl (and now CD) by both his band (a brilliant and endless stream of creations unlike anything I have ever heard and suspect it will remain as such). and his solos. With this, the 16th solo work by Bates, (not counting the comps, singles, EP’s, guest appearances, and many collaborations with other artists, you would think nothing could be left, but you’d be very wrong. ‘I Said To Love’ brings classic Martyn into the limelight with glorious melodies, somewhat alien elements, and rich gorgeous folkish semi siren music, with long time mate and stunning lyricist (multi-instrumentalist and angelic vocalist) Elizabeth S. Alan Trench also contributes cymbals, string machine, and ghost feathers as well as co produces with Bates. All titles composed by Martyn. This equals the utopian ‘Red Rust September’ by Eyeless In Gaza (my all-time favorite EIG recording). Simply stunning with strings backing Martyn’s jeweled and often melancholy voice. He sounds every bit as blissful as he always has. Songs include Martyn performing guitar and vocals on fifteen tracks of storybook, fields of pastel, and things dreams are made of. The first listen left me speechless. It took a second spin to begin this review. This one will stay on my recommendation list forever. All I can say to readers who have never heard either EIG or Martyn’s solos, you need this one. A grand place to start your collection. ‘I Said To Love’ gets a massive applause from this listener." [Lee Henderson / Art Rock Magazine] Reviewed by Lee Henderson 2 – 18 – 2018 2017 €13.00
BECUZZI, GIANLUCA We can be Everywhere do-CD Originally recorded between 2012 and 2013, and released on Final Muzik as a limited edition CDr, “We Can Be Everywhere” is still one of the best albums ever released by Italian music composer Gianluca Becuzzi. The original release includes three solo tracks plus three collaborative ones: two pieces each with Raimondo Gaviano (Svart 1), Lino Monaco and Nicola Buono from Italian electronic music explorers Retina.it and two amazing tracks with Italian sound sculptor (and Final Muzik member) Deison. The album presents obscure and thrilling atmospheres, unexpected dark structures and out-of-this-world modern electronic music’s soundscapes. To do even more justice to this album, Final Muzik and Gianluca Becuzzi have opted for a double CD reissue, including the original release plus a new CD, composed, produced and mastered by Gianluca Becuzzi between 2022 and 2023, that includes a new version of “We Can Be Everywhere”. Obviously inspired by the original, of which it only keeps few samples (mainly vocals) it develops the new sound-path taken by the artist. The new “We Can Be Everywhere” is structured around four lengthy tracks based on mesmerizing distorted guitar sounds, concrete music noises and raw rhythm programming from “far away”. The result is a new masterpiece of wrapping, gloomy doom/drone soundscapes. Images: Diego Spinelli. Artwork by Deison. Limited edition of 200 copies only. Track 01-09 From "We Can Be Everywhere" Produced And Mastered By Gianluca Becuzzi At Kinetixlab [2012-2013] Composed By: Tracks 01, 02: Gianluca Becuzzi And Raimondo Gaviano [svart1] Tracks 03, 05, 07: Gianluca Becuzzi Tracks 04, 06: Gianluca Becuzzi, Lino Monaco And Nicola Buono [retina It] Tracks 08, 09: Gianluca Becuzzi And Cristiano Deison [deison] Tracks 10-13 Produced And Mastered By Gianluca Becuzzi At Kinetixlab [2022-2023] Composed By: Gianluca Becuzzi https://finalmuzik.bandcamp.com/album/we-can-be-everywhere-2014-2023 Seit den frühen 80ern ist der aus der Toskana stammende Gianluca Becuzzi ein musikalischer Workaholic, und vielen hierzulande ist er vermutlich am ehesten durch sein frühes New Wave- und Postpunk-Projekt Limbo bekannt, mit dem er bis ins neue Jahrtausend hinein zahlreiche Alben herausbrachte. Die Zeit um die Jahrtausendwende markierte auch eine Schwerpunktverschiebung von den zwar bisweilen experimentell eingefärbten, aber vom Hauptfokus her dennoch eher songorientierten Arbeiten hin zu abstrakteren Klangwelten, die er mit Projekten wie Kinetix, seinen Arbeiten mit dem Dröhner Fabio Orsi und nicht zuletzt auch solo herausbrachte. “We Can Be Everywhere”, das vor zehn Jahren bei Final Muzik auf CDr erschienen ist, stellte damals eine besondere Wegmarke im Rahmen seiner Soloarbeiten dar, wobei solo in dem Fall nicht heißt, dass Becuzzi das Album im Alleingang produziert hätte. Drei besondere Acts unterstützten ihn dabei in den meisten der Aufnahmen. Das eröffnende “From this Poem of Void” entstand in Zusammenarbeit mit Raimondo Gaviano alias Swart1. Hier brechen in unregelmäßigen Abständen prasselnde Noise-Kaskaden in eine Welt der Stille und scheinen andere kleinteilige Geräusche zum lauter werden zu ermutigen. Erst nach einiger Zeit wird das Ganze durch ein hintergründiges Brummen eingehegt, dennoch ist der Track atmosphärisch eher Doom-Industrial als Ambient. Einige der Klänge hier sind so gut versteckt, dass man sie leicht überhören könnte, so die hechelnden Frauenstimmen, die sich – wenn sie denn keine Fata Morgana sind – ganz tief unter der Oberfläche abhetzen. Der gleichen Zusammenarbeit entstammt “The Screaming Torso”, das gleich mit einer infernalischen Feedback-Lawine beginnt. Gefühlt hundert Details fliegen so schnell durch den Raum, dass das Resultat schon wie ein homogener Fluss wirkt, wenn man nicht innerlich das Tempo herunterschraubt – bis raues Kratzen die Illusion durchbricht. Nach einer kurzen, aber intensiven Klangwelt voll frunkensprühender Glöckchen führt die Reise durch zwei beklemmende Tracks, die zusammen mit dem neapolitanischen Duo Retina.it entstanden sind. Stetig pulsierendes Pauken, das sich zunächst im Hintergrund hält und dann von einer wuchtigen Dröhnwelle nach vorne gedrückt wird, darüber Stimmen, vermutlich von einer Lautsprecherdurchsage, abstrakte Sound-Mixturen, aus denen immer wieder Glocken an die Oberfläche dringen, dunkles Gemurmel, zirpende Insekten: Alles wird dichter mit der Zeit und offenbart eine große Vielschichtigkeit, und am Ende kulminiert alles in einer prasselnden Lärmsalve. Nach einem weiteren solo eingespielten Interludium beginnt der zusammen mit dem Klangkünstler Deison produzierte Schlussteil, der das experimentierfreudigste Material des Albums bereithält: Das Stück “Headless shadows” beginnt mit zum Teil rückwärts eingespieltem Material, das aber nur notdürftig die hypnotische Perkussion und die verquere Melodik dahinter verdeckt. Das lange “All the ghosts of my life” schließt das ursprüngliche Album noch um einiges subtiler ab, denn hier meint man eine nur leicht elektrifizierte Naturszenerie mit heranbrandendem Wasser und Vogelstimmen zu hören. Doch irgendwann bricht auch hier noch einmal die Dunkelheit in Form schriller Hochtöner, dunklem Grollen und mysteriösem metallenden Hantieren ein. Was passiert hier? Lässt hier jemand ein Geisterschiff vom Anker gehen? Als Überraschung hat sich Becuzzi das mittlerweile fast ein Jahrzehnt alte Material erneut vorgenommen und ausgehend von einigen Samples daraus im Alleingang vier eigenständige Kompositionen gebaut, die vier Tracks mit den Titeln “We”, “Can”, “Be” und “Everywhere” umfasst. Doch was sich zum Auftakt noch wie ein Rework anmuten mag, entpuppt sich als eine weitgehend eingeständiges Bonusalbum, das mit dem ursprünglichen Longplayer nur durch Referenzen verbunden ist. Das Erkennungszeichen dieser Kompositionen ist ihr schleppender und bleischwerer Doomcharakter, dessen Infernalik nicht nur sägenden Gitarrenwänden, höllischen Twangs, wahrwitzigem Gemurmel und schleppenden Takten zu verdanken ist, sondern auch knarrenden Türen, krächzenden Flüstervocals, einzelnen Freekout-Ansätzen, trügerischen Glöckchen, gezielt eingesetzten lichten Momenten und einigem mehr. Becuzzis Repertoir ist offenkundig breit gefächert. Die Reissue erschien bereits vor einem Dreivierteljahr und einigen der CDs sind noch erhältlich. Selbstredend empfehlen wir sie. (U.S.) AFRICAN PAPER 2023 €15.00
BEGG, MICHAEL Moonlight and Sentiment CD "Dark ambient music by British composer Michael Begg who has recently collaborated with Hans-Joachim Roedelius. Michael Begg is an award-winning Scottish composer, sound artist, and musician. In 2000, he began the Human Greed project with Deryk Thomas, releasing a string of critically acclaimed albums, including Black Hill, Fortress Longing, and World Fair. Since 2007, he has been a core contributor to Clodagh Simonds's cult collective, Fovea Hex. He is an associate artist at The Queen's Hall, Edinburgh, and artist in residence with the European Marine Board. Begg has released a number of recordings in his own name, working more progressively towards a territory comprising site specific thematic exploration, contemporary classical music, software development and studio experimenting. In 2018 he won the New Music Scotland award for TITAN, a Cryptic commission for Sonica Festival. Shortly thereafter he founded the Black Glass Ensemble to develop new forms of music for the Anthropocene, informed by scientific collaboration and data sonification. The Ensemble comprises fellow traveler in the UK underground, Ben Ponton (:soviet:france:), and players from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. His recent output includes a collaborative CD with Krautrock legend Hans-Joachim Roedelius which is still available from Klanggalerie. This is what Michael says about Moonlight and Sentiment: 'This music does not create a song for our ears. It is a 'state', such as moonlight poured over the fields.' This is not a crafted record. The quality is often very poor and the resolution is seldom realized. The melodic lines drift into sentimentality and the production lacks focus and rigor. It is, however, the authentic sound of moonlight suicides, Christmas midnights and a representation of a certain kind of recovered memory that ruins your sleep. I was in the midst of upheaval and I was trying to realize something. Whatever the 'something' was refused to play, and so something else has been realised instead. https://omnempathy.bandcamp.com/album/moonlight-and-sentiment 2022 €15.00
BEGG, MICHAEL / HUMAN GREED Let the cold Stove sing CD "These recordings comprise work conceived for theatre, gallery and installation contexts. They are concerned with defined and definite spaces, places and absences. These places arise both from nature and through construction. In turn, the construction may be natural or virtual. They are informed by the great divorce of music and context occasioned by the birth of recording, and by the 20 year fermata occurring after the invention of recording and before the discovery of the means of affecting playback. This was, by definition, the period where we began to conceive of the need to listen repeatedly, in the way an archaeologist brushes repeatedly at the desert, for clues, details, and, possibly, reason." [label info] www.omnempathy.com "East Lothian based composer Michael Begg has quietly but steadfastly released (in this listener's humble opinion) some of the finest and most affecting albums of the last decade, such as 2008's dark and yearning 'Black Hill: Midnight At The Blighted Star', 2011's melancholic masterpiece 'Fortress Longing' and 2014's career best 'World Fair'. Along the way many noted and esteemed collaborators have added their voice or presence to proceedings such as Julia Kent (Antony And The Johnsons), David Tibet (Current 93), Chris Connelly (Ministry) and Clodagh Simonds (Mellow Candle, Fovea Hex). Working in the realm of drones, electronica and modern experimental composition to create vast, atmospheric and hugely evocative pieces of sound and melody, Begg has little in the way of contemporaries although aficionados of the windswept work of Richard Skelton, 'On Land'-era Eno, the dark soundscapes of Andrew Lilies and the classic recordings of Reich, Glass and Popol Vuh will find much to fall in love with here. Referencing both, according to Begg, 'gallery, theatre and installation works, as well as my preoccupation with defining space, place and time with sound' this is an essential and crucial work that needs to be heard and experienced. The album begins with 'Hopetoun Tower Before The Harvest', named after a forbidding and lonely construction that stands defiantly on a hill near Begg's Captain's Quarters recording studio. As befits its namesake, the track rumbles with exposure to some building and growing winds as snakelike electronics creep and wisp into view. A beautiful and tentative string section enters, trembling emotively as bowed strings and bowls resonate. It feels sacred, like a storm has suddenly and dramatically silenced leaving a hushed and perceptible sense of being in the universe. The title track follows, piano and droned strings echoing out into darkness, both tangibly lonely and filled with a gorgeous sadness. There is something deeply existential about this work, one feels small in the face of the space and sounds that evoke the surrounding skies and landscape. 'The Children Will Wet The Academy Floor' adds some truly lovely chamber strings that reverberate and haunt, a spectral symphony of lamentation and grief whilst 'Paris is Closing' is a field recording of chatter and metro sounds that are pleasingly though disturbingly disorientating. Next, 'Pendrachin Wood: Pollen And Frost' is a frozen and glacial layered piece of orchestral electronica, reminiscent of Bowie's Berlin experiments; this literally lifts the hairs of one's arms and neck as it swells and recedes with visions of snow covered pines in the darkening Scottish winter afternoons. Human Greed are no simple drone or electronic act; these are carefully wrought and constructed compositions that evoke and emote in an almost avant classical sense. They are almost unique in working in this field and are creating pieces of heartbreaking genius that this listener implores you to discover and fall in love with; it is criminal that Begg is not more revered outside of the underground as the pioneer and composer that he is. 'Francis Bacon; A Room' is as complex and unsettling as the British artist himself, a corrosive drone and buzz hovering over the mutter of voices whist a sister song 'Louise Bourgeois: A Cell' allows chimes and electronic hums to flutter and slither malevolently throughout. 'Leisure In F' glides majestically into being, epic and choral strings ebbing and flowing until ominous notes and birdsong float into focus; reminiscent of charcoal skies passing by overhead with the threat of snowfall as nature and animal life reacts accordingly this is an incredibly moving and transportive piece. 'Made And Unmade In Europe' rasps and buzzes as a bird's lonesome call cries out against the imperious landscape, an unforgiving wind suddenly giving way to a soprano song and weeping strings in a genuinely breathtaking moment. 'Cunny For Thine Mountain Penne' almost silently emerges on delicate notes and drone sounds, distant percussion and mournful brass reminding this listener of Gorecki's 'Sorrowful Songs'. Stately, graceful and melancholic this regal and funereal piece stays with the listener long after the album has finished playing. Next, 'Intermission For Blisters And Russian Weddings' is driven along on wary and eerie violin bursts, a solar echo resonating and unfurling slowly and perceptibly whilst gentle bass notes hold anchor. This is music to play when the sky is huge, dark and forbidding, to watch the stars blink on and off with cosmic indifference to us watching. 'Studies In Space And Density' is equally massive in scale and suggestion; a cold, sad throb through the universe that becomes increasingly distorted and growling before returning to an icy, repeating refrain of solar wind. A sudden warmth enters with 'Let The Cold Stove Sing Within Reason' as a bass throb and beautiful melody grows and layers over a distant electronic howl and circling strings. Hugely affecting, there is an integral human component at the heart of everything Human Greed or Begg does, this is music about the human condition, about what it is to be in this casually cruel and beautiful universe. 'Whiteadder Water After The Harvest' brings us full circle and close the album with the burble of streams and rivers, metallic and windswept notes sweeping overhead. I cannot recommend this album highly enough. There is more detail, more arresting and heart-rending moments, more creativity on this album than there is in some other artist's entire oeuvres. One for those lonely, late night listens or for accompaniment of solitary walks and dérives, 'Let The Cold Stove Sing' is a heartbreakingly beautiful and important album, perhaps quite easily already my album of the year. The cold stove is singing, now one must listen." [Grey Malkin/The Active Listener blogspot] active-listener.blogspot.de/2016/06/michael-begg-human-greed-let-cold-stove.html 2016 €13.00
BERROCAL, JACQUES MDLV CD "A real event: Jac Berrocal has not released disc for 20 years. The legendary French trumpeter is back with its special atmosphere and feeling. Lot of guests too. Jacques "Jac" Berrocal (born 22 October 1946, Saint-Jean d'Angély) is a French trumpeter, singer and composer. He has been active since the 1970s in the independent and avant-garde music scene (he recorded/played with Steven Stapleton/Nurse With Wound and collaborated with Sunny Murray, Pascal Comelade, MKB (F. J. Ossang), James Chance, Alan Shorter, Bernard Vitet, Lol Coxhill, Michel Portal, Lizzy Mercier Descloux). He has released a few important albums, mainly on his own label d'Avantage. He also founded and performed in the group Catalogue. Berrocal has appeared too in several films. In 2011, we released an unique collaboration between him, Ghedalia Tazartès and David Fenech (Superdisque CD/LP SR321)." [label info] www.subrosa.net 2014 €13.00
BESTIA CENTAURI Teratogenesis CD oversized digipack Bedrohlich klaustrophobische Welten beschwört "Teratogenesis" herauf, einengend nah und intensiv scheinen elektronische Drones & Sounds wie Waffen anzugreifen, wie eine Psycho-Geisterbahn der völlig derangierten, morphenden Art... kein typischer dark ambient, eher düster-industrielle Elektro-Akustik ! "Bestia Centauri is a solo electronic music project begun in 1999. "Teratogenesis" is its fourth release after "Ubbo-Sathla" (Somnambulant Corpse Recordings, 2002), "The Antideluvian Earth" (Afe, 2003) and "The Self Immolation Rite" (Somnambulant Corpse Recordings, 2004). The aim of Bestia Centauri is to create sonic landscapes that convey a sense of the numinous, the horrific, and the extra-human. Its sounds have much in common with those of electroacoustic music, but the compositional structures generally display a much greater sense of flow. Although Bestia Centauri's music is (to put it mildly) very different, the early releases of Tangerine Dream (circa 1972-1975) remain a tremendous source of inspiration for the composer, along with the orchestral, choral, and organ works of the composers Gyorgy Ligeti (Atmospheres; Lux Aeterna; Lontano) and Giacinto Scelsi. Older works of electroacoustic or tape music, such as the compositions of Basil Kirchin, Tod Dockstader, and Iannis Xenakis, offer the listener another frame of reference. With the new release, "Teratogenesis", Bestia Centauri defies once and for all the persistent mischaracterizations of its sound as belonging to the "Dark Ambient ghetto". Electroacoustic and computer music elements come brazenly to the foreground, and contribute even more so to the flow of "crawling chaos" that has always characterized and inspired Bestia Centauri’s compositions. The genesis and development of a monstrosity is the theme of this new work, which charts a course from mutated unicellular sonic DNA to the resultant life-form that reaches "from the jaws of the dragon, from the depths of the abyss". With "X" and its deranged rhythmic outbursts, which suggest a creation gone radically wrong, with "Nebular Embryo", a microtonal and minimalist homage to the work of Giacinto Scelsi, and with "E Faucibus Draconis, E Profundis Barathri", a pure electroacoustic work of epic scope, Bestia Centauri demonstrates a new-found range and mastery in its work. Four years in the making, "Teratogenesis" represents Bestia Centauri's most mature mating to date of flowing soundscapes and electroacoustic sound design. It also represents a point of departure for even more radical works, to come. This albums comes as an Eibon Records / Afe co-production whose artwork was designed by Chris Donovan of Somnambulant." [label description] www.eibonrecords.com / www.aferecords.com 2007 €13.00
BEX Rosegger LP "Third opus by Berlin-based one-man project Bex. Originally from France, Bex has released two CDs on the French label “Le Dernier Cri” and played a great many concerts throughout Europe since his first live gig back in 2006. “Rosegger” is his first vinyl appearance, his most luminous and most intense work to date. As if emerging through some hermetic transformation from the harshness and anger of the previous albums, “Rosegger” is ablaze with a radiant, almost ecstatic mixture of joy and grief, drenched in light even in its darkest moments. Melodic guitarscapes and distant shoegaze vocals between lament and incantations pour over the listener, filling every pore, vein and cell with a warm, brittle, spellbinding emotion, taking him adrift on luminous waters which progressively darken on side B, finally drowning the incandescence into deep pools of doom drones like a glorious, achingly beautiful sunset." [label info] www.tutrur.com 2011 €10.00
BEYOND SENSORY EXPERIENCE (B.S.E.) Faint CD "With their new full-length album "Faint" Beyond Sensory Experience are back revisiting ghosts of the past to create memories of the future. Eleven divergent studies of transformation elements result in BSE’s most complete and intriguing album to date; full of liquid dark ambient soundscapes, salient samples and entrancing melodies. Hold your breath and close your eyes, when winter turns to water, day turns to Faint. Edition of 500 copies in 4 panel digi sleeve with 12 page booklet. 11 Tracks. Running Time 60:00" [label info] "They didn’t make us wait very long for a “Modern Day Diabolists” follow-up. Along with “Faint”, we have the opportunity once again to move away from the senses under the watchful eye of Drakh and K. Meizter. And because they’re fully fledged professionals, in this case also the trip on the edge of and even beyond the human self turns out to be very fruitful. Fruitful, but somehow familiar. Our fellow Swedes have defined their specific path for quite a while, they have their own unique style and sound and are sticking to it, leaving the battering down of this already open door to younger and more hot-headed travelers. It’s an experienced project, their aforementioned style is usually recognizable after only a few sounds – “Faint” isn’t at all different. I think even woken up in the middle of the night it would take me maybe a few seconds to pinpoint whose creations are filtering from the speakers. I never meant what those two nice Swedes do as dark ambient does. Certainly, the genre’s characteristics have always been to a larger or lesser extent present on previous albums, but they were never incorporating a typical, textbook darkness with particular relish. And with each consecutive release its amount becomes lesser and lesser. On “Faint” you practically won’t find the typical background-filling drones. This role is ascribed to either a stretched echo single guitar or piano tones (just listen to “Blank”), or simply silence which operates here on the same basis as the specific sounds, instruments, field recordings or samples. I always appreciated musicians who can play with silence. As for the album’s atmosphere, I could actually copy-paste here what I wrote about “Modern Day Diabolists”. Ethereal, dreamy parts, mesmerizing in a way, sometimes serene (“Bystanders”), sometimes pulsating with a distant, uncertain threat (such as in my favorite piece, “Legacy”). Sometimes it feels as if the Swedes deliberately want to lull the listener, so that all external protective barriers are down and then hit with horror, war or apocalypse. But it never happens, though you never know what lies beyond the horizon. Calm down, you can safely turn off for those few minutes. Beyond Sensory Experience doesn’t interfere with the bliss. It only gently wags its finger at us at times, saying that “next time there’s going to be a nightmare” (“Exhausted”), and we don’t have to believe the Swedes anyway. Probably in a year or two they’ll release another album, and again we’ll allow ourselves to be seduced by those ambient spaces, a pinch of post-rock atmosphere. We’ll smoke another cigarette, listening to the yearning, aching samples spoken in different languages… Another successful, very solid release by Beyond Sensory Experience and another – which one is it already – strong position in the Cyclic Law roster." [Stark/Santa Sangre] 2013 €13.00
  The End of it all CD "On their third release for Cyclic Law, BSE have created an aural mirror image of underlying substructures hidden amongst the ordinary. Using their trademark sounds of lush ominous melodies and insightful theories, extinct arrangements of life mechanics unfold to reveal The End Of It All. Edition of 500 Copies in 6 panel Digipack with Spot UV varnish. 11 Tracks. Running Time 63:33" [label info] www.cycliclaw.com "Beyond Sensory Experience have been making albums in the dark ambient genre for over a decade, starting with their debut, Tortuna, on Old Europa Cafe. They gained recognition during their time on the legendary, now defunct label, Cold Meat Industry. In 2013, Beyond Sensory Experience would find their new home with Frederic Arbour and company at Cyclic Law. Now, with the release of their third album on Cyclic Law, entitled The End Of It All, Beyond Sensory Experience prove that they still have plenty of landscape left to cover in their musical career. The End Of It All does anything but break the mold when it comes to musical output by Beyond Sensory Experience. The sounds presented here will be familiar to any fan of their previous albums, especially their most recent releases through Cyclic Law. Beyond Sensory Experience have a very particular sort of sound, which seems to draw a lot of parallels to Silent Heart by The Human Voice, also released through Cyclic Law. In both these projects what we hear are albums which seem to be the perfect soundtracks to a lonely and melancholic late night, lights dimmed, conjuring retrograded mental images of a life once lost. There is no happiness to be found here. Yet the album doesn't tend to make one sad, so much as it is the perfect companion to one's own sadness, a shoulder to cry on, when no other living soul is around, during your darkest nights. Beyond Sensory Experience achieve this bleak and melancholic mood through the use of minimal droning passages, checkered with solemn and tragically forlorn piano movements. The occasional cello notes can be heard on tracks like "Ends And Histories" raising the emotional intensity to an even higher degree. There are ample vocal passages throughout The End Of It All, adding a bit of narration to further solidify the intentions of its authors. These vocal passages are almost all from different sources and different people, presumably none of which are actually Beyond Sensory Experience, which is of little consequence as the words and voices themselves are a perfect match to this somber affair. As previously mentioned, similar to Silent Heart, by The Human Voice, The End Of It All is a soundtrack to a deep and personal ending. The intersections of beauty, despair, and a pervasive calmness give The End Of It All a powerful emotional edge. Listened to in the right circumstances, I am sure this could easily bring one to tears. This isn't a glorification of sadness by any means, more so an complete and utter appreciation for and understanding of the depression, loss, and defeat felt in the lives of everyday people. As the illusion of world-wide peace and happiness is being slowly revealed to the inhabitants of our planet, there has never seemed to be a time in the past more suitable for contemplating the weaknesses and failings of humanity as a whole. Never before have so many people, world-wide, been able to look at history, without rosy-red glasses, and see the predicaments we are now finding ourselves in as a collective whole. The End Of It All is the soundtrack to that sentiment. "Properties Of Stars", for instance, grasps this concept like few other dark ambient tracks. It is as if we are sitting in some lonely personal retreat, staring up at the stars, and yet we feel the collective of humanity at our side, all staring into the sky, wondering, pleading for some signs of a way out of our collective dilemma. The vocal passages in The End Of It All really do play a large part in this personal feeling of loss and sadness. Many of these passages are spoken in English, but others are in some other language which I am unable to specify. One of the best tracks on the album, and the best example of the power of these spoken words, comes in "Time Travels" the second last track, which says, "I have often wondered about what it must be like to go to sleep and never wake up." and later in the track saying "To be simply not there, forever and ever." These simple statements along with some of the most melancholic piano work I have heard combine to produce quite an emotionally charged experience. With many humans finding themselves in an existential dilemma these days, and the state of our Eco-system in utter chaos, there has never been a better time for releasing music of such a particularly dark yet contemplative and sober variety. Dark days are sure to be ahead of us, and with those dark days many of us seek equally dark music. For many listeners The End Of It All should be the perfect companion to your own personal apocalypse. I highly recommend this album to any fans of a more instrumental and vocal take on dark ambient. Also, anyone interested in melancholic neo-classical will find plenty to enjoy here. As far as readers who may not often listen to this genre, Beyond Sensory Experience showcase many of the elements which make for a perfect introduction to dark ambient and its various cousin genres." [Michael, Terra Relicta] 2016 €13.00
BIANCHI, MAURIZIO & MAOR APPELBAUM Innervation CD-R "Excluding the avantgarde composers of the 1950/60s, Maurizio Bianchi is probably the most well-known and respected italian experimental composer. At the end of the 70s, at the peak of the Industrial scene, he released several tapes of noise music under the Sacher-Pelz moniker. In the early 80s he started using the M.B. moniker and as the tape network was growing, a lot of his cassettes, such as Mectpyo/Blut, Industrial Tape, Computer S.p.A., Technology, Dicembre 1980 and many more were released. Symphony for a Genocide was his first vinyl record, soon followed by other cult albums such as Menses, Neuro Habitat, Regel, Mectpyo Bakterium (released under his own real name), Das Testament, Endometrio, Carcinosi and The Plain Truth. In 1984, "Armaghedon" was announced as his last record. In 1998-2000, due to the interest of Emanuele Carcano, founder of the Alga Marghen label, after having been sadly bootlegged all over the world for more than a decade, the whole M.B. vinyl catalogue was officially re-released on CD by Ees't Records. At the same time, after a 14 years of meditative pause, Maurizio Bianchi returned to create music. Plenty of solo albums and collaborations were subsequently released on various medias by labels all over the world, showcasing Bianchi's different approaches at experimental music. Maor Appelbaum is a well-respected producer and sound and lighting engineer and multi-talented musician. He has been heavily involved in the Israel music scene for many years. He is involved in multi-textured and genre-hopping projects such as the atmospheric Sleepless, the highly aggressive and varied Vultures, the dark wave EBM-oriented band I.W.R, the dark black noise project Thy Mesmerized, as well as being the sole creator of such avant-garde solo projects as, Vectorscope, Lunisolar and Screening. His musical ventures expand to more metallic bands such as the doom infested Moonskin, for whom he play bass and compose most of the music and lyrics. He has done various musical collaborations with Maurizio Bianchi, Kenji Siratori, Clint Listing, The Hollowing and Tom Davidov. He was a freelance writer in such well-known zines as Metal Hammer Israel and Dofek. Currently he is the editor of the music webzine www.alternative-zine.com, and also a D.J. for many clubs and radio programs. Coming after "Environmental Meditations" (Topheth Prophet, 2006) and "Electrostatic Deflection" (Silentes, 2007), "Innervation" is Maurizio Bianchi & Maor Appelbaum's third collaborative effort. "Innervation", in the scientific study, is the distribution of the nerve fibers to an organ or body region. "Innervation", in the experimental dissertation, is the prevaricator apportionment of the sound filaments to a magnetophonic tissue or electrostrictive territory." * The six tracks on the album have a strong impact, treating us with stabs of intense noise generated by analog synthesizers and effects. "This innervated work was released using electro-neurotic sequences, mixed with concrete-sensorial modulations in an investigative contraction. Its mechanistic internalization stimulates indipendent functions for an emotional behavior. For your genetical safety please listen to it using intense cellular ear-dilatation..." * * Maurizio Bianchi, October 2008" ]label info] www.aferecords.com 2010 €13.00
BIANCHI, MAURIZIO & RYAN MARTIN As strong as Death is do-LP Backwards is very happy to announce the Maurizio Bianchi & Ryan Martin "As Strong As Death Is" double vinyl LP. For roughly the past 40 years, the cryptic tally of works by Maurizio Bianchi has formulated a somewhat religious rite of passage, a communion of tone and definition based around his various devotional phases in his life. Coming to the forefront of industrial music and noise composition in the late 1970’s, just as the world was recovering from the jarring wake left behind by groups such as Throbbing Gristle and Whitehouse, Bianchi was bundled within the zeitgeist of extreme experimentation due to the use of provocative subject matter and sonic assault. Though by 1983, Maurizio Bianchi seemed to have “disappeared” after conflicting releases and disappointing acceptance amongst his peers. It was not until the mid-90’s when Maurizio Bianchi resurfaced, now with a focus on spiritual guidance and restraint, that he released varied recordings of his newly sculpted ambient works and re-visitations of his now classic albums from the previous decade. Up until present day, Bianchi has enjoyed a renaissance of interest in part due to his expansive reissues of previous works and his dedication to new recordings, which state that Bianchi is still a zenith in the world of the experimental electronic music. Around 2008, New York City based artist / musician Ryan Martin, of industrial outfit York Factory Complaint and Copley Medal, started correspondence with Bianchi about the reissue of his mechanically clinical ambient masterpiece, Endometrio, for release on Martin’s co-founded imprint, Dais Records. During this time, Martin was forming his own solo label to release private edition works under the title Robert & Leopold and asked Bianchi to present his recent exploratory violin compositions as the label’s debut release. Since that time, Bianchi and Martin have collaborated in various forms including the release of Bianchi’s recent exploration, Arkeomene, and the featuring of Martin’s artwork on the cover of Bianchi’s contentious single, Amentest. Most notably however was the complex and deliberate musical collaboration between the two entitled “As Strong As Death Is”. Spanning the course of two years to create, legendary Italian noise composer Maurizio Bianchi and artist Ryan Martin (York Factory Complaint / Copley Medal / Dais Records) took on the pilgrimage of scoring the abstract concept of marriage based on the biblical Song of Solomon. Employing prepared electronics with accompanying strings and tape, this ambient religious collaboration seeks to flesh out the union, to understand the universal desire to be one. Constricted lullabies walk down the aisle to create a consortium of moving, ghost-like consolidation. Mixed ad edited by Anthony Mangicapra (Hoor-paar-Kraat) and mastered by Kris Lapke (Alberich / Hospital Productions). Recorded in both New York City and Opera, Italy between 2010 and 2012, this release was originally released in 2013 as a limited double cassette on Martin's own Robert & Leopold imprint in a edition of 100 copies, which quickly went out of print. The release comes with a lavish jacket, in two editions: ltd.100 copies on white vinyl and ltd.400 copies on standard black vinyl. Comes with a coupon for a free digital download. www.backwards.it 2016 €20.00
BIANCHI, MAURIZIO (M.B.) S.F.A.G. 81 LP "MAURIZIO BIANCHI’s 1981 Symphony for a Genocide LP is the artist's most well known work, widely recognized as a classic of early industrial music. A year and a half after its initial release on vinyl in a limited edition of 227 copies, the album was reissued on cassette by the Broken Flag label. It was at this time that Bianchi created an entirely new recording drawn from the audio of the original LP. Entitled S.F.A.G. 81 and issued in January 1983 as a companion to the Symphony for a Genocide cassette release, it was a radically different work comprised solely of two extended, side-long tracks. Bianchi had already began to evolve from the harsh and primitive attack of his earliest releases toward a more desolate, introspective sound exemplified by The Plain Truth and Armaghedon albums; S.F.A.G. 81 lands somewhere in between these two approaches. Remnants of the relentless mechanical rhythms and synthesizer churn of the original Symphony remain, but it is as though one were listening to them from a distance, lost in the midst of a massive blizzard. Strains of recognizable sound drift in and out of earshot like hallucinations, echoing across the bleak stretches of grayed-out sound. The S.F.A.G. 81 recording has been re-released (often in abridged form) on cassette and CD several times over the years, and an except appeared on one LP side of Vinyl On Demand's massive five-disc Broken Flag retrospective box set; this reissue marks the first time ever the complete album has been available on vinyl. Remastered and fully authorized, it comes packaged in thick tip-on jackets with artwork by longtime Bianchi collaborator SIEGMAR FRICKE. One-time pressing of 500 copies." [label info] 2014 €16.50
BIOSPHERE Substrata do-LP "One of the all-time classic ambient albums finally available on strictly limited edition 180 gram vinyl. The vinyl edition of Substrata is released by Geir Jenssen's own label, Biophon. It comes as a double gatefold album featuring the bonus track "Laika" (14:35). Biosphere is widely-regarded as one of the legendary names in ambient/electronic music. Residing in Norway, near the Arctic Circle, he has found the focus to slowly and steadily create a self-contained aural universe, made up of reflective and immersive sound sculptures. For almost 15 years, he has released a string of critically-acclaimed albums. 1997's Substrata, which marked Jenssen's embarkation towards an intensely minimal style, is not only often considered to be Jenssen's best work to date, but is also seen as one of the all-time classic ambient albums. Re-mastered by Stefan Betke @ Scape Mastering, Berlin. New artwork by David Coppenhall." [label info] www.biosphere.no 2011 €33.50
Microgravity do-CD "A remastered version of Biosphere's debut album Microgravity on double CD with a bonus album of previously unreleased tracks. From Wikipedia: "Geir Jenssen began releasing his music as Biosphere on obscure Norwegian compilation albums. His first Biosphere releases were the 12-inch single The Fairy Tale and the album Microgravity, both of which were rejected by SSR as unmarketable. Microgravity was released in 1991 on the Norwegian label Origo Sound, and saw wider release via the R&S Records subsidiary Apollo in 1992, to much critical acclaim." All tracks written and produced by Geir Jenssen. All tracks on CD2 and sides E-F are previously unreleased. Recorded in Skippergata 42, Tromsø, Norway, between 1990 and 1991. Mastered by Stefan Betke. Artwork by Philip Marshall." [label info] 2015 €25.50
Dropsonde do-CD "Dropsonde was originally released by Touch (UK) in 2006. This is a reissue with seven previously unreleased recordings. Widely regarded as one of Norwegian electronic music's most important artists, Biosphere's [Geir Jenssen] career spans nearly two decades, several albums, lots of remixes, various sound installations, commissions, soundtracks and even the odd Himalayan summit. You may recognise his work without knowing it, so frequently does it crop up on TV trailers and idents. In the early 1990s he was a pioneer of so-called 'Ambient Techno', but since then, he has refined his sound into something more magnetic and enduring. Dropsonde' isn't a soundtrack like the interwoven 'Substrata' nor an episodic journey in the way that 'Autour de la Lune' is. Here Geir Jenssen is pushing new directions towards the jazz colours of Miles Davis and Jon Hassell, whilst re-invigorating the pulse and projection of his signature sound: a hypnotic combination of pleasure and dread. The spatial aspects some have dubbed "Arctic sound" but it summons strong feelings, or as Exclaim from Canada put it, "in order to climb higher, you must first go deeper". Jon Savage adds: "As with all of the Biosphere albums, the music draws you in and makes you want to listen and feel. Jenssen's work acts on a very emotional level, one that encourages you to drift away into a haze of images and scenes brought to you by the music, where spectacular beauty hides unseen danger. Intense and moving, but comforting and soothing at the same time." [A 'dropsonde' is a weather reconnaissance device designed to be dropped from an airplane or similar craft at altitude to take telemetry as it falls to the ground. It typically relays information to a computer in the dropping airplane by radio. The fall may be slowed by a parachute. Information collected by a typical dropsonde may include wind speed, temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure.] https://biosphere.bandcamp.com/album/dropsonde-reissue-with-bonus-album 2020 €16.00
Dropsonde 3 x LP "Dropsonde was originally released by Touch (UK) in 2006. This is a reissue with seven previously unreleased recordings. Widely regarded as one of Norwegian electronic music's most important artists, Biosphere's [Geir Jenssen] career spans nearly two decades, several albums, lots of remixes, various sound installations, commissions, soundtracks and even the odd Himalayan summit. You may recognise his work without knowing it, so frequently does it crop up on TV trailers and idents. In the early 1990s he was a pioneer of so-called 'Ambient Techno', but since then, he has refined his sound into something more magnetic and enduring. Dropsonde' isn't a soundtrack like the interwoven 'Substrata' nor an episodic journey in the way that 'Autour de la Lune' is. Here Geir Jenssen is pushing new directions towards the jazz colours of Miles Davis and Jon Hassell, whilst re-invigorating the pulse and projection of his signature sound: a hypnotic combination of pleasure and dread. The spatial aspects some have dubbed "Arctic sound" but it summons strong feelings, or as Exclaim from Canada put it, "in order to climb higher, you must first go deeper". Jon Savage adds: "As with all of the Biosphere albums, the music draws you in and makes you want to listen and feel. Jenssen's work acts on a very emotional level, one that encourages you to drift away into a haze of images and scenes brought to you by the music, where spectacular beauty hides unseen danger. Intense and moving, but comforting and soothing at the same time." [A 'dropsonde' is a weather reconnaissance device designed to be dropped from an airplane or similar craft at altitude to take telemetry as it falls to the ground. It typically relays information to a computer in the dropping airplane by radio. The fall may be slowed by a parachute. Information collected by a typical dropsonde may include wind speed, temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure.] https://biosphere.bandcamp.com/album/dropsonde-reissue-with-bonus-album 2020 €32.00
  Substrata (Alternative) CD Substrata was the third studio album by the Norwegian electronic artist Biosphere, released 25 years ago by All Saints Records in London. In 2016, Pitchfork ranked it at number 38 on its list of the 50 Best Ambient Albums of All Time. Here are ten alternative versions picked from the Substrata recordings sessions that took place between 1995 and 1996. David Stubbs´review of the original album in Melody Maker ,July 12th 1997: Biosphere, aka Norwegian Geir Jenssen, is transmitting from a cold, polar outpost of the imagination. "Substrata" is the best ambient album I've heard in an ice age, an album of terrifying, desolate and all-enveloping beauty, the music of a man who's stared too long and too hard at the Northern lights, a music of distant rumbles, tremors underfoot, stray radio signals, yawning chasms and indistinct, grainy images in the half-light when the mind begins to play tricks. "Poa Alpina" reminds me of recent, frightening TV footage of vast chunks of iceberg cracking and falling away into the sea under the duress of global warming. As for "The Things I Tell You", imagine what Oasis would have sounded like had they been born Eskimos. "Sphere Of No Form" is shot through with a frantic peal like the Mayday song of the world's last whale and, best of all, "Kobresia" looms with a vast, mournful, symphonic motif, like the ghost of the Titanic. Chill out has never been this chilling. https://biosphere.bandcamp.com/album/substrata-alternative-versions 2022 €15.00
BIRCHVILLE CAT MOTEL Seventh ruined hex CD "... Die Grundästhetik seiner Arbeit als Birchville Cat Motel speist sich dann auch aus einem starken, deutlich hörbaren Black Flag-Einfluss, der auffällig gut mit einigen Querverweisen an Drone Music und Power Electronics harmoniert. Unter der willkommenen Mitwirkung von Matthew Bower, der dem Rock unter anderem bereits mit Skullflower einst ein anderes, tatsächlich ungewohntes Gesicht verpasste, kreiert Kneale in diesem Spektrum auf »Seventh Ruined Hex« (Important Records) eine weitere hörenswerte Variation auf ein Themas, das zuletzt vielleicht etwas oft beackert wurde, um dauerhaft spannend zu bleiben. Mann muss ihm allerdings zu Gute halten, dass seine Layer aus Noise, angedeuteter Harmonie und purer Klangwand jederzeit überzeugend, durchdacht und manchmal sogar recht originell erscheinen." [Kai Ginkel / SPEX] "A further step out in Birchville Cat Motel's ruminations on time/space distortion featuring the additional mystikal talents of fellow gravity destroyer, Matthew Bower (Hototogisu/Sunroof!). Seventh Ruined Hex presents like a lonesome planet, occasionally struck with super-sized fragments of space detritus, but for the most part, just hangs around, spinning on its axis and doing fuck-all. Strangely emotive for 'a buncha noise.' Like the deepest love, it's warm yet tenuous, and filled with the ever-present potential for loss and brutality. More in line with the estranged love tangle of the Birchville classic Chi Vampires than the most recent befuddling hyperspace rock overload of recent albums like Our Love Will Destroy the World and Birds Call Home their Dead. Features Matthew Bower, who has been known to put out a good album or two on a regular basis. Powerful." [label notes] www.importantrecords.com 2007 €13.00
BJERGA, SINDRE & MICROMELANCOLIE Invisible Paths CD "Another instalment in the ongoing collaborative mail-art series by the duo of Sindre Bjerga and Robert Skrzyński aka Micromelancolié. The first is a well-known Norwegian sound artist that works alone and in many projects (including the excellent drone Star Turbine) and runs the label called Gold Soundz. Robert Skrzyński does not slow down his creative momentum appearing for the first time on Zoharum with a collaboration (after highly acclaimed albums "It Does not Belong Here" by Micromelancolié and "Najas Flexilis Exequiae" by ForrrestDrones). The two parts of the title composition included on the album "Invisible Paths" is a continuation of sound exploration by both artists. The duo put on a more modest sonic arsenal than on the previous releases, which does not reduce the quality of these two recordings. In these collages there is a place for ambient textures, surreptitiously recorded conversation, oily drones, and even a little bit of tape music. Here and there scraps of melody emerge from from the bubbling magma, although, in contrast to "Prayer Calls" for example, they only serve as ornaments. "Invisible Paths" is an exercise in focusing attention of the listener, but it's a risk worth taking. The album is released in a 3-panel ecopak in a strictly limited edition of 300 copies. The cover is designed by Rutger Zuydervelt (aka Machinefabriek). It is mastered by Claus Poulsen (the Danish half of Star Turbine duo). The whole production process is overseen by Michał Porwet." [label info] www.zoharum.com 2015 €12.00
BLACK TO COMM Fractal Hair Geometry CD "Black To Comm is the solo venture of Dekorder label boss Marc Richter. Having released two and a half albums on his own label he is slowly establishing himself as one of the more prolific drone artists out there with a forthcoming album on the American Digitalis label, a collaborative CD with Datashock on Ikuisuus, a 7" on the Irish Trensmat label and a collaboration with Xela in the works. "Fractal Hair Geometry" is Richter's most refined and original work to date, picking up where the electrifying drone works of his monumental Double-LP left off. Like the last records this album is centered around recordings of a variety of vintage organs. While "Wir können leider..." often featured pure harmonium sounds and spacious recordings of chuch organ and mellotron, the new album opts for a more electronic, effects-laden sound, sending an old Farfisa Compact Deluxe and Casio SK-5 through an armada of analogue & digital effects pedals. The results are massive one-chord drones layered into dense & ecstatic, flickering & pulsating clusters of psychedelic electronic sound. Additional wordless vocal effects, hyperventilating & sizzling drum machines and hypnotic violin and guitar noises make for a hyperactive sound that never stands still even though most of the music is pure drones (sometimes consisting of more than 50 recording layers). Decidedly simple but gorgeous melodies shine through the mist from time to time, making a Black To Comm record always much more accessible than your average drone album. There's even a heavy 4/4 bass drum smuggled into a track dedicated to the late Leigh Bowery, one of the most enigmatic creative figures of the mid-80's UK club scene (and singer of Minty). Guests include Jonna Karanka (aka Kuupuu) on piano, Guido Möbius on trumpet and current Black To Comm (live) band members Renate Nikolaus on violin and Ulf Schütte (of Datashock, Aosuke, etc.) adding electronic sounds. Along the lines of the music, seminal German artist Oliver Ross has created a massive multi-layered neon-coloured collage artwork which is printed on special ultra-heavy cardboard stock." [label info] "..Chanted vocals, whirring organs, mysterious shimmers, squiggly melodies, buzzing Theremins, electronic glitches, analog synths, wheezing harmoniums, and those are just guesses, cuz just like that museum exhibit, it's difficult to tell what the source sounds are. We also didn't try that hard. It's like trying to peek under the table to see how a magician does a trick. We don't want to know. It's more fun to get lost in these mysterious sounds. One track even introduces a muted techno throb, and for a brief second it sounds like the weirdest record Kompakt never released. It's really hard to describe this stuff, which is probably why we like it so much, check out the sound samples, and hear for yourself!" [Aquarius Records review] www.dekorder.com 2008 €13.00
BLACK TO COMM / AOSUKE same LP "....THE TWO BRAND NEW TRACKS BY BLACK TO COMM ARE CONTINUING THE MASSIVE ORGAN/VOICE DRONE ALCHEMY OF THE LAST DOUBLE-LP WHILE REFINING AND PERSONALIZING HIS SOUND, REACHING NEW HEIGHTS OF BLAZING SONIC MYSTICISM. AOSUKE HAVE DECIDED TO HOME-RECORD THEIR NEW MATERIAL, CONTINUING THEIR LOOP-ORIENTED, MONOTONE YET HIGHLY MELODIC AMBIENT JOURNEYS. WORKING WITH REPETITION AND SMALL ABSTRACTIONS, ALL INSTRUMENTAL "LOOPS" ARE PLAYED BY HAND AND RECORDED LIVE WITHOUT OVERDUBS (ONE OF THE MAIN PRINCIPLES OF THE GUITAR/ELECTRONICS DUO), CREATING SURPRISINGLY CONCRETE DORMANT AND SOMNAMBULISTIC SOUNDSCAPES WHILE FORTUNATELY COMPLETELY LACKING THE WASHY AND DROWSY EFFECTS OF MOST AMBIENT MUSIC. BLACK TO COMM IS THE ONE-MAN PROJECT OF MARC RICHTER WHO IS THE BRAIN BEHIND THE DEKORDER LABEL AS WELL. SO FAR HE HAS RELEASED TWO ALBUMS ON HIS OWN LABEL ("RÜCKWÄRTS BACKWARDS" AND "WIR KÖNNEN LEIDER NICHT ETWAS MEHR ZU TUN..."). AOSUKE IS THE DUO OF TOBERT KNOPP AND ULF SCHÜTTE, THE LATTER BEING A LABEL HEAD AS WELL (TAPE TEKTONIKS). LAST YEAR THEY HAVE RELEASED THEIR DEBUT "MONOTONE SPIRITS" ALBUM CO-RELEASED BY HAMBURG'S AUDIOLITH LABEL AND SOUTH GERMANY'S MEUDIADEMORTE LABEL." [label info] "...A nearly sidelong track that begins with a wavering Goblin-y synth, that buzzes warmly and endlessly, an epic stretch of near static drone, drenched in overtones and subtly flickering variations in texture, and surrounded on all sides by distant barely audible scifi melodies and field recordings. Eventually this synthdrone is joined by another tone, this one more grinding and distorted, that slowly builds and builds along side the first, the intensity growing and growing as well as the volume, and the various surrounding sonic events seem much more frenzied, until everything levels off in some sort of Niblock style drone, the various layers beating against one another, notes and tones shifting subtly, the sound seemingly alive, flecked with shards of melody and bits of buzz and swirling effects. It's a glorious sound that enraptures and entrances, eventually, fading out and releasing the listener from their glorious trance. The side finishes off with a brief coda of humid late night soundscaping, the sound of the moors, or the plains, some mysterious dark emptiness, droning and ominous, with creepy reverbed vocals and all sorts of night sounds tangled up in the track's undulating shimmer. The flip side features a group called Aosuke, who we weren't all that familiar with, but whose sounds are as dark and gorgeous and Black To Comm's. But where BtC focus on sound and drone, Aosuke focus on melody as much as texture, with guitar being the focal point, a blissy soft focus guitar ambience, crystalline notes drifting through clouds of space-y effects and strange processed and blurred vocals, it sounds almost like how you might imagine a Durutti Column record on Morr Music might sound. Organic melodies, natural sounds, all tangled up in strange electronic soundscapes, very meditative, a little krautrocky at times, and so so pretty." [Aquarius] www.dekorder.com 2007 €12.50
BLACKSHAW, JAMES Celeste CD "Re-issue)Guitarist/composer James Blackshaw?s 2007 Tompkins Square album, The Cloud of Unknowing, received "Top 50 Albums of the Year? honors from Pitch-fork and Wire Magazine. Fresh off a U.S. and UK tour with Jose Gonzalez, and a bevy of year-end praise from the blogosphere to The New York Times, Tompkins Square reissues four catalog titles previously only available as tiny, limited edition CDR pressings. "Mr. Blackshaw plays 12-string acoustic guitar, picking endlessly circling, intertwining arpeggios: stately, tolling ones on the lower strings and faster ones, verging on tremolo, up above. Yet what usually emerges from the welter of notes is not bustle but tranquillity. The music has the same contemplative scope that turns countless tiny daubs into a Monet water lily." - Jon Pareles, The New York Times, Dec 31, 2007 www.myspace.com/jamesblackshaw" [label info] www.tompkinssquare.com 2007 €14.50
BLEEDING HEART NARRATIVE All that was missing we never had in the World CD Wiederveröffentlichung des Debut-Albums, mit Bonus-Tracks. Eine erstaunliches Zusammentreffen von Noise & Drones mit Folk / Postrock und kammermusikalischen Klängen, traumverwoben und verwandelt in sensible Fliessmuster... "...In The World". Reissue of the stunning debut BHN album from spring 2008 (ltd. 200). Working with a constantly evolving autumnal orchestra of layered cellos, repeating piano melodies, hushed vocals and mutant textures of sound and noise, Bleeding Heart Narrative has constructed a unique, haunting and compelling album. BHN is the work of sole composer, artist and producer Oliver Barrett, working in the live spectrum as a septet. Presented in a digipak with the new and exclusive bonus track 'Blueskywards'. We can't recommend this highly enough!" [label info] "Present album was originally released as a limited edition of 200 copies on Tataruga Records. One year after the original release British label Cold Spring Records now gives a wider audience the chance to get introduced to this interesting project. Behind the name Bleeding Heart Narrative, you find the London-based composer Oliver Barrett, who proves his insight knowledge in the world of acoustic sounds. Important elements on the album titled "All that was missing we never had in the world" is the sound of acoustic instruments such as cello, piano and guitar. Sometimes these acoustic sounds live their very own life in the music, other times the sounds are woven into electronic dronescapes, giving the music an ambient feeling. Musically, the album floats in-between ambient and postrock, mostly kept in trance-inducing atmospheres. A central part of the album is the excellent vocals of Alastair Bailey, that makes the overall style remind of the excellent joint venture-project between ambient-maestro Robert Rich and guitarist/bassist Rick Davies, Amoeba. As the album-title and the project-name suggest, the feeling on the album is melancholic and fragile. A beautiful and emotive experience that will appeal to listeners of dreamy postrock and acoustic based ambient." [NM / Vital Weekly] 2009 €13.00
BLOCK, OLIVIA Karren LP "Ltd Edition 500 copies. Karren is a two-movement electroacoustic-orchestral composition. The first movement, Foramen Magnum, is an electroacoustic/concrète piece created from heavily processed field recordings taken from orchestral rehearsals and various public locations, including museums and zoos. The second movement, Opening Night, is a layered orchestral score performed by the Chicago Composer’s Orchestra, with whom I recorded and worked for several years in order to complete this project. Thematically, Karren includes several personal interests and areas of study, including my recent work in anthropology and sociology. Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical metaphor described in The Presentation of Self in Every Day Life is a lens through which the entire composition, presented on vinyl, might be viewed as a metaphor for the self. The act of turning the vinyl disc over to play one side or another highlights the binary quality of the metaphor. Side one of the record plays the chaotic, angular and unsettling “back stage” sounds of Foramen Magnum, while the other side plays the smooth “front stage” sounds-the orchestral layers of Opening Night. The term “foramen magnum” literally means “large hole” or “large opening” in Latin. In anthropological terms, it is the name of the opening in the base of the human skull that allows the spine to connect with the brain. The position of the human foramen magnum is crucial to the evolution of bipedalism. The titles frame the composition with images of openings-an opening into a human skull on one side of the record and an opening into night on the other side. Olivia Block creates original sound compositions for concerts, site-specific multi-speaker installations, live cinema, and performance. In a recent feature article in the April 2011 issue of The Wire magazine, Julian Cowley describes Block’s compositions as “finely nuanced textures of environmental material and occasional surges of sonic power blended with an elegant instrumental architecture.” Her compositions often include field recordings, scored segments for chamber instruments, and electronic textures. Additionally, she performs her own partially improvised compositions for inside piano and electronics. She has performed throughout Europe, America, and Japan in tours and festivals including Sonic Light, Dissonanze, Archipel, Angelica, Sunoni per il Popolo, Outer Ear, and many others. Her works have premiered at La Biennale di Venezia 52nd International Festival of Contemporary Music, and she has completed residencies and premiered works at Mills College of Music and The Berklee College of Music. She has taught master classes at several additional universities. Block has created sound installations for public sites and exhibition spaces including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the library at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, the Lincoln Conservatory Fern Room in Chicago, and at the “Echoes Through the Mountains” exhibit at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Her 2008 DVD release with expanded cinema artists Sandra Leah Gibson and Luis Recoder, Untitled, on SOS editions, has been screened at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and the Expanded Cinema symposium at the Tate Modern in London. Her release Mobius Fuse was voted one of the best albums of the decade by Pitchfork. Block has published recordings through Sedimental, either/OAR, and Cut, among other labels." [label info] sedimental.com 2013 €19.00
BORGA, ASCANIO Xenomorphic CD-R "... It seems to me that his music has made a nice step forward. Until now it was all mainly non-rhythmic ambient music in the best Hypnos tradition of heavily treated guitar works, here he adds percussion, windchimes, Japanese carillon, frog guiro, samples, found sounds and objects. Three long pieces and one shorter coda 'Raw Ground' at the end of the release. The music is still largely in the ambient sector, with the addition of pseudo ethnic drumming and careful percussion. Somewhere towards the end of 'Apnea' e-bow guitars come in, adding an extra texture of seventies cosmic music. Still there is nothing new under the sun for Borga, but these new pieces mark an important step forward, the deepening of the sound of Borga. It makes a fuller, richer sound, still with all things beautiful. Borga wants to lull you to sleep, late at night and he does a very fine job at that. " [FdW / Vital Weekly] "Ascanio Borga is an italian guitarist, electronic musician and independent composer. After years of piano lessons attended during his childhood, he decided to leave formal musical studies to become a self-taught guitarist. He approached rock music and computers, learning to use the famous Amiga 500 Soundtracker. He began to play in various noise-rock bands and to record instrumental pieces for guitar, piano, and sampler, progressively approaching experimental music. In 1997, at the time when he was a student at the Faculty of Cinema, he released a cassette of "lo-fi" electronics entitled "Music For Non-Airports". Soon afterwards he left University to attend a professional course of recording techniques and digital audio, continuing to play in various rock bands for some more time. Later he began to create electronic suites for synthesizers and treated instruments, introducing more personal elements in his compositions, and at the same time he undertook the study of Mathematics. In 2001 he started to publish his music in the form of self-released CD-R albums credited to his own name. In the meantime, having completed his studies, he began to work as a programmer/consultant in the software industry. As an audio technician, besides mixing and mastering his own music, he did mastering work for several other musical productions, and also produced sound effects for various stage plays. Ascanio Borga is also an occasional writer and his personal website includes various movie, music, art reviews and essay about science and philosophy. Among his recently self-released albums we'd like to mention "Inner Geometry" (2001), "Liquid Symmetries" (2002), "Bad Ground" (2006) and "Peripheral Vision" (2007). "Xenomorphic", Ascanio's latest offering on Afe, literally evokes something "with a strange form", something unfamiliar that appears alien to us, defying our logic comprehension, and therefore generating tension, disquietude and even anguish in us, but it represents something terribly vital and dynamic at the same time, something whose possibilities are still unknown. Mixing guitars, bass, synthesizers, samples, percussions, objects, field-recording and even more sources, "Xenomorphic" is probably Ascanio's most evoluted work. With its feet in Ambient territory, the album features a wide range of musical solutions, showcasing the author's will to create a work where appearently distant elements converge and experimentation is put into a more accessible form." [label info] 2008 €12.00
BUT I'M NOT (PAWEL GRABOWSKI) DAEMON TRANCES I-VI CD This album is about trauma and PTSD. The music portrays the emotional loop... the continuous reminiscing about the traumatic event the never-ending anxiety and paralyzing panic attacks... ... from which a traumatized person simply cannot escape. I call this state the daemon trance (and, unfortunately, I know it far too well...) Recorded between January and May 2021 at SINE studio, Ireland. but I'm not is Pawel Grabowski (processed live instruments, field recordings, objects.) Mastering - Colin Potter at IC Studio, August 2021 Cover photo: Artur Mieczkowski (www.instagram.com/anxious_93/) https://silenceisnotempty.bandcamp.com/album/daemon-trances-i-vi "It's been a long time since I heard music by Pawel Grabowski (check Vital Weekly 414, 424, 492 and 508, but following that flurry of releases, it all went quiet for him. That was "mostly due to family, and life in general". Now he has a new moniker and a new label. The new name is But I'm Not (lower case, except for 'I'), and on 'Daemon Traces I-IV' he wanted to compose that captures that unique state is known only to people suffering from the aftermath of a traumatic event". According to the cover, it is something that he is "unfortunately all too familiar with". "Each of the six compositions portrays different aspects of what a traumatized person goes through, often every day - the continuous reminiscing about the traumatic event". This is one of those things of which I think "had I not known this, would I have heard it?". I guess not, but my personal view towards music is a very 'absolute' one. Music is never about anything. Anything attached to music to make it about something is not music; they are words used, descriptions, images (a record cover), that kind of thing. Grabowski explains the nature of the trauma for none of these six pieces, which leaves something to imagine, I guess, but also a hole in our knowledge (why not go all the way). Grabowski uses "processed live instruments, field recordings and objects". It is a pity that these live instruments are not specified. I hear a piano on quite a bit on the pieces, solemnly slow bangs on the keys, Gregorian voices in the first one (which I think that Grabowski went all gothic, but, good news, he didn't), a fair bit of synthesizers and sound effects and the samples of marbles in a bowl (also in the opener). Some of the other sounds are harder to define. Throughout the music solemn, slow and very moody. A bipolar disorder, with some extreme darkness and extreme happiness, is not to be found here. Grabowski reminded me what I thought of his older releases in a private letter, but they are so far away in the past that I don't remember them. Therefore it is not easy for me to say to what extent this new one is different from his previous releases. I think this is a solid album, a severe one, and while the subject is not very well spend on me, I can see that he's serious in creating music that paints a picture of those suffering from trauma and PTSD. [FdW / Vital Weekly] FULL PRESS RELEASE: About daemon trances “Daemon trances I-VI tells a story about experiences of living with trauma and PTSD. My objective when composing this music was to capture that unique state known only to people suffering from the aftermath of a traumatic event. And so, each of the six compositions portrays different aspects of what a traumatized person goes through, often every day – the continuous reminiscing about the traumatic event, the never-ending anxiety, paralyzing panic attacks... For my use, I refer to this state as the “daemon trance,” and the music on this album perfectly represents what I often struggle with in life.” About Pawel Grabowski Pawel Grabowski (b. 1977) – composer specializing in writing deeply personal electroacoustic and drone music. Grabowski uses prepared instruments, field recordings, and objects to create meditative and hypnotic compositions to convey emotions and create unique atmospheres. He refers to his music as Imaginism. Background: ● Although he doesn’t have a formal music education, between 1998 – 2001, Grabowski studied double bass with a famous Polish jazz bassist, Janusz Mackiewicz. ● He also took private tuition in classical composition between 2000 - 2002, first with prof. Krzysztof Olczak, then with prof. Eugeniusz Glowski ● He also participated in international composition workshops at the Academy of Music in Gdansk, Poland, in 2002. ● In 2002, he was selected as one of the artists representing his home city, Gdansk, at the Art Biennale - “ArtGenda” in Hamburg. He wrote music commissioned for various projects of the biennale. ● In the same year, he composed a piece commissioned by the Baltic Cultural Centre in Gdansk, showcased during a presentation of composition students of the Academy of Music. Career: ● Grabowski founded a chamber trio, Miasto Nie Spalo, in 1998 and recorded two albums with the band: Festspielhaus (1998) and Piesni Zalobne I-VII/Threnodies I-VII (2000 - released on the famous polish label, Obuh recs.) ● Between 2001 – 2006, Grabowski recorded solo, publishing his music on such labels as Drone records, Laub records, Cronica, Mystery Sea, Dark Winter, and more. ● Since 2020, Grabowski performs as but I’m not and runs a small, independent record label, Silence Is Not Empty. 2021 €12.00
BVDUB Ten Times the World lied CD Brock Van Wey, aka bvdub, is undoubtedly among the greatest and most prolific artists in the world, whose music directly affects the heart, soul, and human mind. His soundscapes spread in the air as if they were delicate and slow movements of the northern lights, or the wind that blows on the flowers of the trees in spring. There is something divine in bvdub's music, and Glacial Movements is more than honored to welcome another great work for the world, Ten Times the World Lied, his fifth album on the Roman label, as he nears forty overall. Ten songs impossible to describe in words, but which will breach the heart of all those who lose themselves in this sonic wonder. Completely devoid of vocals for the first time ever, Brock spins but layers upon layers of divine clouds, gradually darkening, gradually closing in - expertly mastered by the artist himself, culminating in arguably the best album he has composed for Glacial Movements to date. This album was recorded live in one take, over ten months, on the tenth of each month. Each in memory of a time the world lied. https://glacialmovements.bandcamp.com/album/ten-times-the-world-lied "With nearly 40 albums to his credit, it’s a surprise to hear that this is bvdub‘s first album without vocals. After all, we’re an instrumental-based site and we’ve reviewed a lot of them. But to be fair, Brock van Wey usually uses vocals in a textural fashion, using time-stretch and loop; although vocal, his albums haven’t seemed vocal; they have seemed like dreams. That part doesn’t change in Ten Times the World Lied, a generous 78:45 excursion into blissful ambient drone. Tones rise and fall, undulate and flatten. Orchestral instruments rise from the depths and float for a while, searching for land before they descend once more. Fans should be overjoyed at the seamless tone, as each track gently fades before another gently rises. Although the lack of vocals pushes it from the foreground, the album is ideal as the backdrop to nearly any task: reading, writing, cooking. It casts a pleasant cloud around the house, a welcome fog of sound, a white noise spirit to overwhelm any tiny real-life disturbance. And yet, real life is present for those who wish to look deeper. van Wey has always resisted any single interpretation of his music, but neither has he squashed attempts to paint over the tabula rasa. And so one might make something of the fact that most tracks are 7:52 in length (a few being 7:53), making the connection to Ukraine Flight 752, shot down over Iran earlier this year; or the leap year 752, marked by conquerings and successions. Since the only description is that each track is “in memory of a time the world lied,” one might jump to all manner of conclusions. “Not Yours to Say” might refer to the cover-up of the Iranian government; “Not Yours to Build” to the Tower of Babel; “Not Yours to Take” to the slavery trade; “Not Yours to Find” to early “discoverers” of settled land; “Not Yours to Rule” to the bloody aftermath. The most intriguing title, “Not Yours to Know,” strikes to the heart of the human condition as it pertains to faith: for now we see through a glass, darkly. It’s fun to play match-up. And we know that the world lies in all manner of ways, from the political to the commercial (for example, promises that a product will bring success, a procedure will make one beautiful, and the next movie to open will be fantastic). From the titles and theme, one might expect an angry or accusatory album, but instead, as with most of van Wey’s oeuvre, the tone is one of higher surrender. There are truths we may never know, but there is also comfort, majesty, awe. As the organ tones surge in “Not Yours to Know,” one may think of grand cathedrals, of encountering the divine not through word, but through beauty and symbol. Ten tracks, each recorded in one take on the tenth of the month: in numerology, ten defined as “constant change and flowing energy,” an apt description of van Wey’s work; but also the 10 plagues, the 10 Commandments, the perfect 10, the 10,000 x 10,000. While listening, one might delve into numerology, symbolism and history; or simply allow the sounds of this album to conquer the anxieties of the day. The piano of “Not Yours to See” is like the voice of a soothing parent, encouraging one to sleep. The overall message (if there is one) seems to be one of comfort: The world has lied and continues to lie; but real truth is eternal." [Richard Allen / A Closer Listen] 2020 €15.50
B°TONG (B*TONG / B-TONG/ BTONG) Monastic CD "Since getting to know Chris Sigdell from a distance in 2010, sending the label a promo copy of ”The Great Disintegrator”, and onwards recognising the release of his project b°tong ‎ through labels such as Attenuation Circuit, Greytone and Silken Tofu, we met up in the flesh in 2016. Since then the label invited him to master last years releases from Ajna, Valanx and Dronny Darko and now releases his project b°tong’s two new albums ”Monastic” and ”The Long Journey”. ”Monastic” is a configuration of field-recordings that Chris Sigdell recorded together with his companions Benny Braaten and Bertrand Gaude in 2010, while having a day off on tour. In the hands of Chris Sigdell ”Monastic” forms spooky and disturbing waves of sound, dripping carelessly down the spine, crushing rocks. Don’t listen properly, behave inaccurate. Don’t be obnoxious, be quiet and feel the concrete. CD w/ 4-panel digipack limited to 300 copies. Released 29th September 2017." www.reverse-alignment.se "The other CD is all based on field recordings Sigdell made at Landbouwbelang in Maastricht along with Benny Braaten and Betrand Gaude. Whatever you can record at Landbouwbelang (agricultural interest?) is not entirely clear, I’d say, as whatever Sigdell does with his equipment, it is all transformed a notch or two. With both of these releases I have no idea what it is that Sigdell uses, but the best I can make of it is that it is all a mixture of analogue and digital equipment. No words are used on ‘Monastic’, but there is plenty of reverb and sounds of water dripping, so I would think it has a more cave like atmosphere. It also sounds a bit louder and grittier than ‘The Long Journey’; it is more like being trapped in a machine hall, I’d think, than in a space ship. It’s the yin to yang here, the noisier ‘Monastic’ versus the atmospheric journey of the other. I would think that’s the reason for releasing these on separate discs; the different approaches require different discs. My personal preference is for ‘The Long Journey’, but I see the fine quality of both." [FdW/Vital Weekly] 2017 €13.00
B°TONG / EMERGE / IF BWANA / GERALD FIEBIG Thing CD-R In 2022, attenuation circuit starts a new series of four-way split albums called THING. The aim is to provide a medium for exchange and presentation of a great variety of artists. As each artist spreads the copies to their network, listeners also get to know the other artists featured on the same disc. The title references the fact that the CDs are physical objects – things! – but also refers to the 'thing' or 'ding' in old Norse and other Germanic languages, which designates the place of a popular assembly or the assembly itself and thus alludes to the 'meeting-place' character of the albums on (or around) which the four artists and their audiences meet, if only virtually. With the first instalment of the THING series, attenuation circuit also celebrates the 10th anniversary of its very first vinyl release. In 2012, b°tong and EMERGE released their self-titled split LP on the label. In contrast to other split LPs, their pieces were composed specifically for this LP, with both artists sharing the same pool of sound materials to create their respective pieces. The 100 copies shared a common design created by visual artist Tine Klink, but as all sleeves were hand-painted, each copy had a recognisable, yet still unique cover. This concept earned the label a mention in recognised art director Stuart Tolley's book “Collector's Edition: Innovative Packaging and Graphics” (London: Thames & Hudson 2014). In 2013, this album was followed up with another split LP by If,Bwana and Gerald Fiebig which followed the same musical and visual approach. Together, these two split albums formed attenuation circuit's original Vinyl Series, which was soon replaced by individually conceived vinyl albums. To celebrate the anniversary of attenuation circuit's first venture into vinyl territory, this THING collects all four sides of the two original LPs. To retain the “LP side” feel, the two pieces by If,Bwana have been transferred to the CD as only one track. File under: drone, dark ambient, ambient https://emerge.bandcamp.com/album/thing 2022 €8.00
CAMPBELL, J. The Cormorant LP Following his former album ‘Heirloomʼ, which came out on E. Sagglia and Death Kneelʼs now defunct Summer Isle label in 2018, ‘The Cormorantʼ is the latest album by Australian native Jason Campbell. After taking a year to complete, Campbell perceives ‘The Cormorantʼ as “a document of small-town Australia, concerned with the natural environment and the rugged coastline that I call home.” The sounds of his native domain, the coastlines of New South Wales, are explored and dissected throughout the entire album, with ocean swells or conversations at the local food court are layered onto sequences of violin tremolos, detuned cymbals and delayed piano chords. Throughout the albums run time, ‘The Cormorantʼ inhabits a destinctive sonic realm of its own, inhabited by sounds of ocean swells or conversations at the local food court, layered onto sequences of violin tremolos, detuned cymbals and delayed piano chords. The album begins with the highly vigorous ‘Emerge Againʼ, which features an accelerative volley of machine clatter and pitch shifted choruses, slowly merging into a bed of candid breaths and piano stabs. On the midway point, The album’s title track, ‘The Cormorantʼ presents itself as the albums definite, emotive underscore, while the pre-culminating reprieve ‘A Fallen Eucalyptʼ usher in the final stages of the journey. In the end, each piece on ‘The Cormorant’ showcases a unique, riveting sonic investigation into J. Campbellʼs coastal home, yet the album is not merely about an introspective examination of oneʼs topography, it’s the culmination of a truly sincere exploration, it’s a body of work about passion, existence and self- discovery. https://vaagner.bandcamp.com/album/the-cormorant 2021 €22.50
CARR, KATE The Story surrounds us MC "Kate Carr melds the exquisite details of her field recordings with an ephemeral approach to the song. This Australian has relocated herself to London after many trips around the globe. With each orbiting journey, she has collected innumerable sounds from the urbane to the aqueous and from the frenetic to the sublime, contextualizing all of these into compositions rippling with primordial melodies through guitar, piano, and electronics. The Story Surrounds Us follows her highly acclaimed albums I Had Myself A Nuclear Spring (first released on her own Flaming Pines imprint in 2015) and Carr's debut for Helen Scarsdale in 2016, It Was A Time Of Laboured Metaphors. Emblematic of her work is a gentle dislocation between the environmental sounds and her drone-dub ellipses of somnambulant melody. The clatter of a frozen dock or a vibrational shimmer from rustled objects or the unintelligible whispers displaces the sense of self amidst a sea of disparate symbols and coded thought. More a travelogue in and out of one's own body than to any particular place. Carr suggests "In a way, it is about restlessness, an uncomfortable tossing and turning in all these many different places, a struggle somehow to forge a connection between my own internal world and all these places and persons I have encountered. I think this holds a sense of unease and strain, with both beautiful and failed moments of intimacy and connection which are made either possible or impossible in the difficult and distorted context of being away. It is quite sad, really." Look to Carla dal Forno, Alan Lamb and those moments of clarity in the shapeshifting ethos from Jewelled Antler for neighboring sounds to Kate Carr's chimerical compositions." www.helenscarsdale.com "A rather fast follow-up to her last tape (It Was a Time of Laboured Metaphors, also on Helen Scarsdale), Australian sound artist Kate Carr's latest work is another entry in a rapidly growing discography that blends elements of both traditional composition and the unpredictable nature of field recordings. She does this and merges them together seamlessly, coming together as a beautiful set of sounds and moods from across the globe, yet still unified as a part of the human experience. Elements of The Story Surrounds Us were recorded during Carr’s travels to Iceland, Mexico, Sweden, and Spain, all of which clearly had an influence on the work; most obviously in the natural recordings she utilizes throughout. The tape is bookended by two sets of untreated field recordings from Ólafsfjörður, Iceland that perfectly capture the juxtaposition of her work. The first, "The Creaking Door Of The Abandoned Concrete Factory" is half a minute of just that: creaking sounds of post-industrial decay, capturing the emptiness of what surely was once part of a thriving industry. The end is “Water Lapping at Ice on Melting Lake”: the sound of wet and watery nature decaying, no doubt exacerbated by the same industry. Between these two most obvious field recordings lay eight songs that are never truly a-musical, but never become overly conventional either. "Things That Stubbornly And Resiliently Subsist Without Leave" features a lot of sparse, delicate guitar playing, but the musicality is broken up by mysterious, more synthetic-like passages that never become unpleasant. This combination also features heavily in "I Didn't Get A Lot of Sleep in Mexico", with light floating tones melded with processed guitar-like sounds, peppered with incidental found recordings and hints of music throughout. A brilliant pairing of compositions is the untreated recordings of "Communication Wires In Tropical Storm, Si'an Kaan, Mexico", and their appearance in the more compositionally based "We Were The Pulse Of A Wire Pulled Tightly". The former recordings are simply the sound of undulating metallic cables whipped about in heavy winds, taking on an odd beauty that contrasts their significantly more frightening pedigree. On "We Were The Pulse…" they reappear as overt pulses and jittery echoes resonating within electronic swarms and insinuations of percussion. The final product is moody and expansive, but concludes on a much lighter, drifting note compared to its more menacing moments. Other moments of this tape showcase Carr’s more conventional musical tendencies as well. Gentle melodies are the initial focus on "There Was a Lot of Whispering Involved", with a bit of plucked string being counterbalanced by the heavier subterranean rumble. On the whole it sounds much more traditional, but no less gripping. On the other hand, "1001 (Missed Connections)" begins with crackling voices on a PA system and ugly buzzing noises, but soon is realigned into sustained, yet chilly melodic moments. What even resembles a traditional 4/4 bass drum comes in, but just a bit too briefly. Conceptually, The Story Surrounds Us continues Kate Carr's focus on studying the sounds of specific locations, as well as the effects of social decay and its inevitable renewal. However, the music is captivating on its own as well: a wonderful blend of composed sound blended with the incidental, ephemeral sounds that surround us at all times, culminating in a strange, sometimes almost alien, but never mundane experience." [Brainwashed] 2017 €10.00
CARTER TUTTI VOID Play Chris & Cosey do-LP "Mit acht brandneuen Neuinterpretationen und Bearbeitungen von CHRIS & COSEY Klassikern aus den Achtziger und Neunziger Jahren. Die Idee zu diesem Album stammt von den sehr erfolgreichen Live Performances von ,Carter Tutti Play Chris & Cosey", die zwischen 2011 und 2014 zu einer bisher ungesehenen Serie von Shows im Vereinigten Königreich, Europa, Skandinavien und Nordamerika führten. Diese Shows führten wiederum zu einer großen Nachfrage, was Aufnahmen dieses Livesets anging, so dass sie Ende 2014 die komplette Kollektion der aufgearbeiteten Klassiker in ihrem eigenen Studio in Norfolk neu aufnahmen. Jedes Format wartet mit einem exklusiven Remix auf. Bei der CD ist das ,Vengeance" im exklusiven Remix, während das Vinyl sämtliche fünf Tracks von der Merchandising CD der Tour enthält. Double LP version, includes all five tracks from the limited CD Remix Chris & Cosey (CTI RSDUK01, 2014). Reinterpretations and re-workings of classic Chris & Cosey songs from the 1980s and 1990s. The idea for the album originated from the pair's much-requested live performances of Carter Tutti Plays Chris & Cosey, taking place in an unprecedented series of shows in the U.K., Europe, Scandinavia, and North America from 2011 through 2014. These dates in turn instigated so many requests for recordings of the live set that they were inspired to re-record this collection of reworked classic versions in their own Norfolk studio. Housed in a gatefold sleeve." [label info] "Carter Tutti. Chris & Cosey. There may be a semantic difference somewhere to be discussed, but this album brigades what those differences may be as the pair of Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti have crafted an album of material mined from the back catalogue of Chris & Cosey albums under the moniker Carter Tutti. Over the past four years, the couple has been touring vigorously, with the set including revamped / recorded / reengineered versions of the older Chris & Cosey material. So many people approached them with requests for the live recordings of these newer versions that they went into the studio to properly sequence these tracks for an album. And we gotta say that Carter Tutti offer up one hell of a recapitulation, and at times, they really do better themselves than what they had done back in the '80s. When Throbbing Gristle broke up and Chris & Cosey ventured out on their own, they adopted the seductive electro-pop subversion facets of TG to their own devices. Their albums eagerly consumed technology and fused any and all forms of electronics into the sexual / somatic rhythms of the human body. Admittedly, some times their ideas were hindered by the technologies that were at their disposal. Samplers that could only fire so fast and so much. MIDI programming that was limited by latency, memory, and timing issues. Jump several decades, and what Chris & Cosey did in the '80s with a bank of synthesizers and sequencers can now be done on any given phone. So many of these recapitulations work with the same set of melodies and sequences, but smoothed out the technological stumbling blocks. "Driving Blind" was one of the better tracks on their 1984 album Songs Of Love And Lust; and here, the two flesh out the arpeggiation of the sequences with a dense polyphony of streaming electronics above their whipcrack techno production - and Cosey's skulldrill monotone mantras are as compelling, delirious, and sexy as ever. "BeatBeatBeat" is one of the most refreshing recreations, mostly because the original was pretty damn annoying, again with a minimal, surgical set of cybernetic techno and Cosey reworking the vocal chorus into more of a celestial chime and less of a mosquito irritant. The S&M inspired "Sin" finds Cosey channelling Siouxsie more so than she's ever done in the full-throated bellows of sexual depravity above another finely tuned machine of chome-plated techno. One can hope that whatever new material comes out of this redux, it will follow this template which is pretty fucking great." [Aquarius Records] 2015 €29.50
Triumvirate LP "Triumvirate = the combined power of a group of three in creative collaboration. Containing all new studio recordings, Triumvirate brings Chris Carter, Cosey Fanni Tutti and Nik Void's collaborative partnership as Carter Tutti Void to a conclusion. The trio first came together as a collective for a live performance, invited by Mute for the Short Circuit Festival in 2011 and released their acclaimed debut, the live album Transverse the following year. Carter Tutti Void went on to release f(x) (Industrial Records, 2015), their first studio recording and performed a handful of selected shows, culminating in their final live performance in Hull, part of a series of events for Hull City of Culture 2017 centred around the COUM Transmissions retrospective. Triumvirate was approached with the improvisational spirit of previous Carter Tutti Void albums. The rhythms, created by Chris Carter, formed the foundation and starting point from which the process began of melding the live instrumentation of Cosey Fanni Tutti and Nik Void's searing guitars, vocals, effects and the arsenal of sounds each had amassed from a variety of sources, some sounds manipulated to extremes, all fed into the mix. Tying the album together is the power of three, and a free open approach to sound shared by the trio. Carter Tutti Void are Chris Carter, Cosey Fanni Tutti (Chris & Cosey / Throbbing Gristle) and Nik Void (Factory Floor / NVPR). Chris Carter recently released his first solo album in 17 years, Chris Carter's Chemistry Lessons Vol. 1 (Mute, 2018) and Cosey Fanni Tutti's TUTTI, her first album since 1982, came out ear-lier this year on Conspiracy International (home of Chris and Cosey since 1982). Nik Void is currently working on her debut solo album." [label info] 2019 €26.50
  Triumvirate CD "Triumvirate = the combined power of a group of three in creative collaboration. Containing all new studio recordings, Triumvirate brings Chris Carter, Cosey Fanni Tutti and Nik Void's collaborative partnership as Carter Tutti Void to a conclusion. The trio first came together as a collective for a live performance, invited by Mute for the Short Circuit Festival in 2011 and released their acclaimed debut, the live album Transverse the following year. Carter Tutti Void went on to release f(x) (Industrial Records, 2015), their first studio recording and performed a handful of selected shows, culminating in their final live performance in Hull, part of a series of events for Hull City of Culture 2017 centred around the COUM Transmissions retrospective. Triumvirate was approached with the improvisational spirit of previous Carter Tutti Void albums. The rhythms, created by Chris Carter, formed the foundation and starting point from which the process began of melding the live instrumentation of Cosey Fanni Tutti and Nik Void's searing guitars, vocals, effects and the arsenal of sounds each had amassed from a variety of sources, some sounds manipulated to extremes, all fed into the mix. Tying the album together is the power of three, and a free open approach to sound shared by the trio. Carter Tutti Void are Chris Carter, Cosey Fanni Tutti (Chris & Cosey / Throbbing Gristle) and Nik Void (Factory Floor / NVPR). Chris Carter recently released his first solo album in 17 years, Chris Carter's Chemistry Lessons Vol. 1 (Mute, 2018) and Cosey Fanni Tutti's TUTTI, her first album since 1982, came out ear-lier this year on Conspiracy International (home of Chris and Cosey since 1982). Nik Void is currently working on her debut solo album." [label info] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWB1ni4sa5Y 2019 €13.00
CASHMORE, MICHAEL Sleep England CD "MICHAEL CASHMORE, vor allem bekannt als Haupt-Songwriter von CURRENT 93, legt sein erstes Soloalbum vor, das beeindruckende Songs nur aus Elektronik und Bass gewoben, enthält. Fans von CURRENT 93 und vor allem des CASHMORE-Projekts NATURE AND ORGANISATION wird dieses Werk überzeugen. Das Album ist auf 1000 Stück europaweit limitiert. // "Sleep England is the first solo release from guitarist Michael Cashmore, who has worked extensively with Current 93 and released albums with his own project Nature And Organisation. Over the last fifteen years he's written a majority of the music on some of Current 93's most acclaimed albums including classics like Thunder Perfect Mind, Of Ruine Or Some Blazing Starre, Soft Black Stars, All the Pretty Little Horses and the recently released Black Ships Ate the Sky. Coupled with the lyrical stylings of David Tibet, Cashmore has established the group's reputation for producing some of the most challenging, profound and influential works in contemporary music. Cashmore has also recorded with Antony (Antony and the Johnsons), Nick Cave, Marc Almond and many others. Incorporating only electric and bass guitars, Sleep England consists of twelve new and previously-unreleased tracks that together form a singular and very personal work. This album is essential for followers of Current 93 and Nature and Organisation and will also appeal to fans of Jack Rose, John Fahey and Bert Jansch." [press release] 2006 €13.00
CASPAR BRÖTZMANN MASSAKER The Tribe LP "Southern Lord is proud to announce the first in a series of CASPAR BRÖTZMANN MASSAKER album reissues — beginning with the masterful debut The Tribe, originally released in 1988, and second album, Black Axis, originally released in 1989 — both remastered and presented as they were when originally released. After reissuing the first five albums, they shall later be made available in a collector’s boxed set complete with extensive liner notes, artwork by BRÖTZMANN, as well as a silkscreened print which will be hand numbered and signed by the artist. Full details of the series to be revealed in the coming months. CASPAR is also rumored to be working on brand new material. CASPAR BRÖTZMANN is one of the most unique and innovative guitarists of the last forty years. With his Berlin-based trio MASSAKER, he evolved a whole new autonomous approach to writing rock songs, starting from sounds that were widely considered ornamental if not detrimental “sonic waste” such as shrieking feedback and droning overtones. This plethora of sounds were arranged into tracks to sound like breaking concrete, grinding metal, or bursting glass, at once monumental and threatening, impenetrable and hermetic, yet also archaically tender and loving. Even today, as the art of noise has reached a level of sophistication that no one could have imagined thirty years ago, CASPAR BRÖTZMANN MASSAKER‘s music is resoundingly singular. Ultra-heavy riffs and beats, ominous tribal chants, and a raw physical force is conjured up by these three sinister and proud minds of their era. Their unhinged, unified stream of energy is captured on these remastered reissues and the results are thrilling. Southern Lord will reissue CASPAR BRÖTZMANN MASSAKER‘s The Tribe on CD, LP, and digital platforms and Black Axis on CD, 2xLP, and digital platforms on January 18th, 2019. Watch for preorders to post shortly. Born in 1962 in a post-war divided Germany, CASPAR BRÖTZMANN started out playing the piano, his main inspirations included, Hanns Eisler, singer Ernst Busch, his mother’s “Hausmusik” (German tradition where the family gathers to play their instruments together), and also by the roaring sounds of his father, a virtuoso saxophonist aka “The Teutonic Axe” – a key player in the European free jazz movement, Fluxus artist, and ideologically adamant communist. CASPAR lived in fear and awe of his strict father, and he took to the guitar knowing that his father and his peers sneered at Americanized music, and especially electric guitars and the hard rock sounds that appealed to him, the likes of Ritchie Blackmore, Jimmy Page, and Jimi Hendrix. The guitar became, CASPAR says, “his shield against the unsettling world,” also nting, “It wasn’t about virtuosity, rather the love of the instrument.” BRÖTZMANN didn’t have any formal training, but Hans Reichel — a family friend and an avant-garde guitarist who built his own instruments — showed him the ropes. Hans taught him how to manipulate the workings and mechanics of the guitar. CASPAR’s left-handed instrument is less of a nod to left-handed Hendrix and more of a technical improvement to his own playing, allowing for a stronger low end, better access to the volume control, and the vibrato bar, all of which gives CASPAR BRÖTZMANN MASSAKER‘s music an unparalleled dynamic range. The Tribe was CASPAR BRÖTZMANN MASSAKER‘s first album. Recorded at Jost Gebers’ legendary jazz studio FMP in Berlin. To Gebers, who was far from being a fan of amplified music, BRÖTZMANN recalls, MASSAKER‘s music sounded “honest”. The iconic sleeve was designed by CASPAR BRÖTZMANN‘s father. Prior to this record, CASPAR honed his craft as a solo artist opening for the likes of Nick Cave. It is now reissued as it was originally released, remastered for LP and CD. MASSAKER lineup for The Tribe: Caspar Brötzmann – guitars/vocals Eduardo Delgado Lopez – bass Jon – drums Julian Cope once stated that CASPAR BRÖTZMANN MASSAKER was, “The trio to end all power trios.” Like The Tribe, Black Axis was recorded at Jost Gebers’ FMP tudios in Berlin. Black Axis came to life in a rehearsal room so small with a ceiling so low that BRÖTZMANN, at nearly six-and-a-half feet tall, could barely stand up straight. The artwork was created by Brötzmann himself. The album is here reissued as it was originally release, remastered for 2xLP and CD. MASSAKER lineup for Black Axis: Caspar Brötzmann – guitars/vocals Eduardo Delgado Lopez – bass Frank Neumeier – Drums https://southernlord.com/caspar-brotzmann-massaker-reissue-series-to-launch-in-january-2019-through-southern-lord-beginning-with-the-tribe-and-black-axis/ "Das fulminante Debüt des CASPAR BRÖTZMANN MASSAKERs aus dem Jahr 198/ - remastert. Die rohe Gewalt des Power-Trios wird von BRÖTZMANN in einer explosiven und exquisiten Beschwörung dirigiert, die HENDRIX'sche Schwingungen aufgreift und sie in eine harte deutsche Industrial-Atmosphäre versetzt." 2019 €18.00
Koksofen do-LP "Koksofen (which translates as blast furnace), originally released in 1993, has become one of Massaker’s most popular albums. Like it’s predecessor, …Schwarze Folklore, the album took shape in Massaker’s rehearsal room below the Berlin subway station Schlesisches Tor, and was recorded at Conny Plank’s studio near Cologne, with Plank’s former associates Ingo Krauss and Bruno Gephard producing. There’s a different kind of intensity to Koksofen. The features of Massaker’s sound are in full bloom. Mountainous noises tower up and crash down, and tormented sounds rise from ominously seething grounds, haunting the entire song-scape. The feel of doom and dread hangs heavily over the five songs, and the title song rumbles, shrieks and wails, plagued by Caspar’s guttural growls of war, suffering and death. Caspar recalls one anecdote from shortly after the original release whereby Bassist Edu Delgado called him asking to turn on the TV, thus discovering that “Hymne“ was being used as background music to a report about the death penalty in the US. A different kind of intensity indeed. Reflecting on the album to this day Caspar remarks “Koksofen is still a mystery to me,” he continues “I can still feel the troubled times in these songs.” – the effects are certainly potent for the listener too. And the album undoubtedly affirms Massaker as the fiercely original and compellingly raw musicians that they are." https://casparbrotzmannmassakersl.bandcamp.com/album/koksofen 2019 €24.00
  Der Abend der schwarzen Folklore LP "Originally released in 1992, “Der Abend Der Schwarzen Folklore” is the third Massaker album, released by Rough Trade Germany. According to Caspar Brötzmann, the title track and “Bass Totem“ are the band’s most accomplished songs. It’s certainly the most sonicly refined of their albums, recorded during a residency over several weeks at the pastoral site of Conny Plank’s studio near Cologne, and produced by Ingo Krauss and Bruno Gebhard, who had worked with the famed Krautrock producer until his death in 1987. Not least, …Schwarze Folklore also features their new drummer Danny Lommen, whom Caspar and bassist Eduardo Delgado had headhunted at a concert with Lommen’s Dutch prog-core band Gore. Lommen shared their tastes in sheer volume and presence, and “has a completely unique sound to his drumming“, as Caspar marvels, “he plays ultrahard and clear, with authority and no compromise, nothing, not even the most turbulent and speedy beats, sound fuzzy – a statement.“ This, he adds with a smile, would sometimes lead to intense moods during rehearsals, when he overpowered – no small feat – competing with the sounds of Caspar’s guitar." https://casparbrotzmannmassakersl.bandcamp.com/album/der-abend-der-schwarzen-folklore 2019 €18.00
CASTRUP, HANS / STEFFAN DE TURCK / BOBAN RISTEVSKI / GRODOCK Thing CD-R "In 2022, attenuation circuit starts a new series of four-way split albums called THING. The aim is to provide a medium for exchange and presentation of a great variety of artists. As each artist spreads the copies to their network, listeners also get to know the other artists featured on the same disc. The title references the fact that the CDs are physical objects – things! – but also refers to the 'thing' or 'ding' in old Norse and other Germanic languages, which designates the place of a popular assembly or the assembly itself and thus alludes to the 'meeting-place' character of the albums on (or around) which the four artists and their audiences meet, if only virtually. The artists featured on the third instalment of the THING series hail from Germany, the Netherlands, and Macedonia. Hans Castrup and Steffan de Turck (also known under his Staplerfahrer moniker) create pieces of a rather collage-like nature, including many quasi-referential sounds which seem to tell a story – but one that retains a large degree of mystery. It might be called 'musique anecdotique', to borrow Luc Ferrari's term, but listeners are invited to find out their own punchlines. In the second half of the album, almost as if it were a B-side, Boban Ristevski and Grodock, who is also active as label head of Grubenwehr Freiburg (which despite the name is now based in Leipzig), take us deeper into drone territory. Cartographies get more blurred than in the first two tracks, and if track 1 and 2 were a sort of sonic road movie, now we rather find ourselves out at sea. Or in space? And if so, inner or outer space? Put on this THING and find out. File under: electroacoustic, drone" https://emerge.bandcamp.com/album/thing-3 "David Leutkart, who calls himself Grodock, is no stranger as the maker of Grubenwehr Freiburg (in Leipzig!) and with "Der Sog / Kollaborationen". He gives here in 'Das AbWesen a meaningful cue that unbirches Lacan's abject. As the seething, rasping, predatory snorting real (dead, unconscious, evil, powerless, inexistent, counterfactual, sadistic, ugly, disgusting, creepy, excessive, obscure), which is countered by harmonically pulsating waves and a chirping harmonica." [Bad Alchemy] " 'Thing' is, of course, a physical thing, the CDR object, but in old Norse and Germanic languages, a meeting place, a place of a popular assembly. This is a meeting of old and familiar names and newbies; well, rather new names for me. The latter constitute of Eisenlager, Wilfried Hanrath, and Hans Castrup. The latter opens up the proceedings with an exciting piece of modern electronics inspired music. Seemingly random drones and tones mingle in ever-changing configurations. Steffan de Turck (whom we better know as Staplerfahrer; I have no idea why he chooses his name for this release) has a somewhat unfocused piece with some interesting percussive loops, but, sadly, also some unimaginative turntables moves. Recently revived and active as ever, Boban Ristevski continues his excursions in drone land, and this time, the subject is acoustic sources; or so it seems. It has that warm laptop/pop sound that we used to love fifteen years ago, and which, in fact, I still do. Grodock, of the Grubenwehr Freiburg label, closes the proceedings with a descent into the underworld of darkness. Deep and mean rumbling below the earth's surface, via a monolithic synth, slowly slicing the core of the earth and unleashing a higher-pitched drone. Lovely!" [Vital Weekly] 2022 €8.00
CELER Sky Limits CD Dreams Wide Awake "Hill towns and empty mountains pass by, but the smoothness of the train blurs the view, and it's easier than ever to fall asleep in the low morning sunlight coming in through the train's windows", writes Will Long, the artist behind the Celer moniker, in his liner notes to Sky Limits, one of his most fulfilling records to date. First created as a duo project in 2005, Celer has been US-born musician Will Long's solo vehicle since 2009. Through the years and thanks to an astounding rate of production, Celer has become a reference in the field of ambient electronic music. The care Long puts in his ethereal albums and his flawless musical intuition have earned him the critics'praise and invites to release material on key labels such as Spekk, Glacial Movements, Humming Conch, Experimedia, and/OAR, and now Baskaru. Sky Limits consists in a series of daydreaming-prone, strings-laden ambient tracks interspersed with field recordings of daily life in Tokyo and Kyoto. This album is a reflection on the evanescent nature of memories, dreams, and reality. In addition to Celer, his main project, Will Long plays in Oh, Yoko (with Miko) and Hollywood Dream Trip (with Christoph Heemann). He also runs the Two Acorns label. www.baskaru.com "For a while I assumed that Celer was no more, due the passing of one half of the duo, but since 2009 Will Long also uses this name as a solo vehicle. He has released his music on many labels, such as Experimedia, Glacial Movements, Spekk and now Baskaru. Here we have a new album of eleven pieces, which all have a title and not necessarily form one long piece but could also be treated as such, of music that is very ambient mixed with a bit of field recordings. From his current location, Tokyo, he offers what seems to be the entire opposite soundtrack of a busy city. Much of this sounds like processed string music, not unlike the kind of strings processed by Marsen Jules. Music that floats by, really, really gentle and calm. Not the kind of stuff I would let pass without looking out the window and think of some weather related metaphor. It fits this sunny yet cold (how would I know: I haven't left the house all day) January day, and now, especially at the end of the afternoon, the evening starts to fall and lights begin to fade: this seems to be the perfect time of the day to start this CD and then, about an hour later, it's most likely dark and we have moved to a variety of moods here, all from the various possibilities on offer from the string sounds (light, dark, somewhere in between, together, alone), which he mixes with very quiet field recordings from Tokyo, just faint traces it seems of someone talking, some sparse sound, the rumble of far away traffic; Tokyo has quiet areas too, I know. This is Celer the way we like it; it's not the kind of music that Celer wouldn't do, and that's perhaps the downside of it. It doesn't seem to be something 'new', for whatever that is worth. But perhaps that's reviewer talk; maybe the fan wants more of the same?" [FdW/Vital Weekly] 2014 €14.00
CHALK, ANDREW The Circle of Days LP "Truly beautiful new LP, "The Circle Of Days", from UK sound/drone artist Andrew Chalk on his own Faraway Press imprint. Recorded in 2003-06 and created with field recordings, keyboards, guitar, bass guitar, and slide-guitar, "The Circle Of Days" includes a return for Chalk to his long-term collaboration with Daisuke Suzuki (Ghosts On Water, Lost Shadow, Siren Records et al), who features on five of the LP's 14 (relatively short) pieces. The field recordings, mostly captured from everyday home/community life, blend with beautiful fragments of minimalist keyboard runs and droning string tones that reach out, rise-up, and resonate to stunning effect, conveying celestial-like imagery of, say, light from another world shimmering in the dark of our own fog-blurred night. The sounds unfold, subliminally freezing/interrupting time, before fading into voids that sometimes leave a peculiar and wondrous sense of longing. Whilst the field recordings feel grounded in the real world, the instruments' rich sounds seem like they arrived from the ether of far-away, deep inside Chalk's expansive artistic vision. A magical, captivating piece of work that functions like a sonic parallel to the way shooting stars grip our gaze in wonder. Released on Chalk's Faraway Press imprint in an edition of 325 copies. Pressed on super-sounding black vinyl, mastered by Denis Blackham and housed in a sleeve featuring a reproduction of a pencil sketch by the artist himself, with layout design by Jos Moers." [Infinite Limits] www.farawaypress.info "Andrew Chalk records are the jewels of the English underground. The noise of Ferial Confine gasped with an existential blurt of obstinate tactility, violent in their self-immolation but never directing a rage outward. The gaze was inward. Then, when the drone grounded much of Chalk's classic works in the '90s and '00s, these slippery, elegiac croons of sonic impressionism dripped with an opalescent beauty that also spent a fair amount of time splashing around in the mud. More recently, Chalk has been exploring the poetic fragment, cracking the lens of British avant-folk eccentricity and scattering the results on stunningly beautiful albums like The Circle Of Days. The curious introductory track here sports a clattering of wood, recorded in situ with longtime collaborator Daisuke Suzuki, with a church nearby, whose bells chime the solemn Westminster Quarter melody. The following track pools rounded tones from Chalk's open-body electric guitar, finding a counterpart in the stoner-folk of Tom Carter's early work in the Charalambides. Piano, chord organ, and more guitar flesh out further tracks of nocturnally impressionist details that hang like constellations in the night sky, curving steadfast against the traffic of satellites, planes, and planets. The course of the second side reprises that of the first, with equally wandering expositions of intimate ambient swath, gossamer half-melody, and the soft-spoken mystical charm that has graced many an Andrew Chalk record! Very highly recommended as with everything that Chalk touches." [Aquarius Records] "Or, where quality meets content. The name Andrew Chalk, and indeed Faraway Press and La Scie Dorée, will be familiar to any attentive Vital Weekly reader. Chalk has been releasing music since the mid 80s and has worked with people like David Jackman, Darren Tate and Jonathan Coleclough. His best know collaboration is perhaps that with Christoph Heemann under the name Mirror, creating a series of albums that belong both musically as visually to the, in my humble opinion of course, to the best that the ‘ambient/soundscape’ genre has to offer. His new solo album The Circle Of Days has been made available in two editions: 325 copies in regular sleeve and 100 in a beautiful handmade portfolio sleeve, which, if you enjoy that sort of thing, is well worth hunting down. Working again with Daisuke Suzuki, headman of Siren records, Chalk has created what can only be described as yet another gorgeous and very fulfilling album. Even though the cover features several song titles on the back, the album itself is banded as one track per side, giving the impression of two suites, which is something I really like. Plus the record features a label that is slightly smaller in size than regular LP labels, which gives the album the look of an ancient 78 rpm record, which, again, I like very much. Full points for style and design therefore. The precise contribution of Suzuki is not always clear: even though some tracks mark his name, the almost hesitant playing of instruments like guitar, keyboards, piano (in gorgeous stereo), vibes could be either of the two. There are environmental sounds added to the slow tempo music; birds, children playing, the sound of a swing, it all adds to a beautiful musical painting of endless summer days. Nothing new, nothing shocking, simply an emotionally moving musical miniature." [FK/Vital Weekly] 2014 €20.00
Ghosts of Nakhodka LP "You may be thinking, there was an album by Andrew Chalk with this exact same title. And you would be correct but for one small distinction - the 2009 album was called Ghost Of Nakhodka and this 2015 album is Ghosts Of Nakhodka. Ah, the difference of plurality! The album is pegged as a sister to that 2009 album though Chalk has implemented a different set of tools on this one. Instead of piano and guitar laced with placid droning effects that was found on the singular Ghost album, here he's using a monophonic synthesizer occasionally dappled with field recordings and a few choice effects. It becomes very clear this a Chalk record through the albums' impressionist fragments spilled across 13 tracks, each rich with his languid sense of space and his elegant timing in placing this free-roaming kosmische blorp here and that swollen ambient blur over there. Brian Eno's Discreet Music and Apollo would be the closest references to what Chalk is up to here, though his production methods are qualitatively rough hewn in the synth manifestation of melancholic nostalgia with little of the portent that Eno imbues into his work. The miniatures presented are exquisite jewels coming from a craftsman keen on showcasing his work to a select few and within an deliberately intimate setting. It would seem far out of Chalk's character to broadcast works such as these at the Guggenheim or even the ICA. Instead, a humble English cottage with a sod roof and a console-sized cathode ray television as the only means of transmission. Ah, the wonders of Andrew Chalk never cease." [Aquarius Records] www.farawaypress.info 2015 €19.50
  The River that flows into the Sands LP Entirely handmade art edition, heavyweight card sleeve with tipped-on images, every copy features unique and original monotype artwork-printed by hand, no two copies are alike. 180 gramme clear vinyl with full-colour labels. The strikingly radiant masterwork The River that Flows into the Sands receives its first vinyl airing thanks to the wonderful Faraway Press imprint. Exploring oneiric and ghostly guitar soundscapes, Andrew Chalk centers his attention on the guitar and develops a series of meditations that gives his music new depth. While all drone music has a drifting quality to it, The River that Flows Into the Sands is worthy of that description for a different reason. The expanses that normally come to mind when I listen to Chalk are gone on this album and replacing those images is a sense of continuous movement. The bowed instruments and contracting moans seem weightless and inconsequential, floating away into nothing, but leaving a path for other sounds to follow. Like a fountain each drone bubbles up and slowly fades away or evolves into a new drone and each time a sound disappears, there is a new voice there to replace it. Multiple listens will reveal, however, that Chalk really hasn't left that much silence on the record. That illusion is generated via the way Chalk mixes very distinct melodic features with fairly constant tones. As they move about together, a sense of space is opened up that may not actually exist. The effects are as real as possible, though, and there is little room for doubt that this one of the most unique albums in Chalk's discography. [Soundohm] 2018 €30.00
CHALK, ANDREW & DAISUKE SUZUKI 山と梨 = Yama To Nashi CD Entirely handmade at Faraway Press (England) Debossed design and letterpress printing, with an insert. Recorded in Japan and England in 2016 “Somewhere in that blue sky where you hear the sound of the waves, I think I lost something incredible. Standing at Lost and Found in a transparent station of the past, I became all the sadder” -Sadness, Tanikawa Shuntaro Our third full-length album in fifteen years.. "Andrew Chalk and Daisuke Suzuki have known each other for many years now, as Suzuki runs the Siren label out of Japan and had released Sumac, Chalk's masterful collaboration with Jonathan Coleclough. Suzuki is also responsible for one of the very few published interviews with the somewhat reclusive Chalk. Their friendship certainly runs deep, and out of this friendship came the impetus to collaborate once again (both Suzuki and Chalk had contributed to the now defunct Ora project well over a decade ago). The enveloping opiated drone wrapping around cold field recordings of arctic winds racing across a mountain becomes the centerpiece, reflecting just how good Andrew Chalk's sounds are. Entirely handmade sleeves, Yama to nashi (Mountain & Pear) features delicately embossed and debossed paper techniques, with letterpress texts (in Japanese), housed in a heavy card gatefold sleeve of mini LP size. Insert included with translations to English language." [Soundohm] "The work of Andrew Chalk and Daisuke Suzuki seems as if it has been intertwined forever, so I was somewhat startled to discover that this is their first new collaborative release in almost a decade. As befits the re-convergence of these two masters of understated tranquility, Yama to Nashi feels like a relaxed and unhurried reunion of old friends rather than a bold new vision. As such, it is a somewhat minor (if lovely) addition to the Siren/Faraway Press oeuvre that mostly lingers in familiar territory, but there are a couple of divergent gems lurking amidst these new pieces that longtime fans will not want to miss. For the most part, the languorous and glistening opening piece ("Threads From The Milky Way") sets the tone for the entire album, establishing the overarching aesthetic of sketchlike vignettes of dreamlike, liquescent bliss. It is difficult to tell exactly how Chalk and Suzuki are getting their blurred and slippery tones, but I believe there is a processed electric piano at the heart of these recordings. As the album unfolds, however, Chalk and Suzuki start to drift further and further away from their lazily glimmering and rippling sound pools and both the mood and the palette start to deepen (and darken). The first real shadows start to fall across Yama on the third piece, "Suzume," which casts a mournful spell by weaving discordant harmonies from glacially swelling strings and drifting smears of synth tones. Curiously, that veil of sadness dispels almost as suddenly and unexpectedly as it appeared, as the wonderful "Shelf on Wall" shakes off its initial moody reverie to blossom into a surreal field recording of a Japanese parade. From there, the piece continues to be a pleasantly inventive and evocative surprise, as the parade seems to partially fade away, but leaves a lovely and lyrical flute melody in its wake that dreamily drifts through a woozy fog of gentle arpeggios, crashing waves, and a few lingering tendrils of the raucous festivities (marching men, clattering percussion, children's voices). To my ears, it is the album's true centerpiece (conveniently located in the center of the album, no less), but it is not without strong competition from the album's final stretch. Although it is considerably shorter, I am also quite fond of "A Sentry on The Roof," which augments its blearily impressionistic cascades of watery electric piano tones with the loud and fitful buzzing of a large bee. That bee makes a surprising amount of difference, which highlights an unusual trend the runs throughout Yama to Nashi: the purely instrumental pieces feel like the soundtrack to a gorgeous sunrise or seaside vista that I am not seeing, while the pieces that prominently feature field recording are considerably more effective at drawing me into the scene. I am a bit curious about why Chalk and Suzuki did not pursue that elegant blurring together of swooning, hazy ambiance and crisp, vibrant textures from the natural world more, as it definitely feels like that synthesis elevates this collaboration into something more transcendent and unique when it happens. If I had to guess, however, I suspect that the reason is that most of Yama to Nashi consists of Chalk and Suzuki's stronger improvisations that occurred on the road to composing the album's epic closing title piece. On one hand, "Yama To Nashi" is not radically different from the rest of the album, as it is built from gently tumbling arpeggios and warmly radiant washes of synthesizer (though there are some buried bird noises hiding in the mix). There is, however, an unexpectedly strong motif resembling a shuddering, digitalized bird call that periodically tears through the placid idyll. That certainly livens thing up, though it is not quite as dramatic as it sounds. The real difference is mostly just time: Chalk and Suzuki allow "Yama to Nashi" to languorously stretch out for over 20 minutes and that suits it beautifully. Duration makes a world of difference with music in this vein: a glimpse of heaven is nice, but getting a chance to linger in it is by far a superior experience. As is true of most Andrew Chalk albums (both with and without Suzuki) there is very little to grumble about with this album: Chalk and Suzuki have a long history of making lovely and lush music together and Yama to Nashi ends a long hiatus to bring the world more of it. That pleases me. I am, however, the hapless victim of my own high expectations, as I hoped this welcome reunion would result in an enduring classic. Yama is not an enduring classic, though "Shelf on Wall" seems like a strong step towards a more ambitious and immersive future opus. Hopefully it will not take another decade for that to happen, but I am sure I can find some way to keep busy while I wait if it does. In the meantime, Yama to Nashi is a solid to return to form that adds one more quietly beautiful longform work to the Chalk/Suzuki canon." [Anthony D'Amico / Brainwashed] 2018 €16.00
CHASE, BRIAN Drums & Drones CD & DVD "A first for Pogus! This fantastic new 2 disc set by Brian Chase, drummer for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, contains both a CD of the music and a DVD of the music with videos by New York video artists Ursula Scherrer and Erik Z. This recording is exactly what it says it is : drums and drones - based on Just Intonation tuning theory: A tuning system modeled after a naturally occurring acoustic phenomenon known as overtones, the subsidiary tones which exist in an ordered series from an established primary tone. Stemming from this single primary tone an infinite amount of overtones can be derived. As Chase explains: Drums and percussion has seen some but not much exploration in Just Intonation, yet they are inherently designed to represent it as such: a drum head is tuned to a single pitch, one frequency, and resonates with rich harmonic detail. From there the overtone series can be uncovered and expressed. The Drums and Drones project deals directly with approaching drums and percussion from the standpoint of Just Intonation. For Chase, the genesis of this project is outlined in this brief excerpt from his liner notes: The Drums and Drones project initially came about from inspiration by La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela's Dream House installation in TriBeCa, NYC. I had spent a good amount of time, volunteering there as a 'monitor' someone who minded the installation and greeted visitors. The duration of my shift, about 4-5 hours, was mostly spent sitting directly outside of the gallery space, listening and feeling the immense sound pulsing through the door and walls, and reading up on the principles of Just Intonation and the historical background of La Monte, Marian, and their cohorts of the NYC experimental art scene. I accumulated countless hours, too, sitting in the space itself, embracing the impact of the finely tuned sound and light vibrations. The tones would dance in my head, hypnotic and entrancing, and I would hear tones that previously seemed veiled which were now resonating loudly and clearly somewhere between the air, my ear, and my brain. I was mesmerized by the power of this physiological experience. With the pieces that were developed for a Feb. 2007 concert, a starting point was formed for what was to grew into a recording project. I had the idea of approaching the project as being a series of etudes, each one a study in the different ways of the application of the Just Intonation tuning theory to drums and percussion. Eventually I did develop a basic method which laid the groundwork for most of what was to come with D & D: 1) tune the drum head to a specific frequency 2) mic the drum and run the sound into a computer 3) with recording software, use very precise, a.k.a. surgical, equalization to emphasize and boost the frequencies of the drum's overtones. Also as part of the setup was a loop pedal, but at this stage it was used more for live performance. Another important method that I developed at this stage was getting sustained feedback tones generated between the resonating drumhead and the stereo speakers. To do this, I would boost a specific frequency on the EQ corresponding to the fundamental or a low harmonic, and this would encourage the drumhead to vibrate at that frequency. A feedback loop would get going between the drum and the speakers. Often times I would need to raise or lower the pitch of the drumhead ever so slightly to 'dial in' the tuning of the feedback tone. Each etude developed at this time would highlight a different set of overtones and showcase a specific playing technique. Brian Chase is a drummer and composer living in Brooklyn, NY. Growing up on Long Island, he started taking private drum lessons when he was 5 that led to earning a Bachelors of Music from the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio. Though he works in a variety of contexts, Brian is probably best known as a member of the rock group Yeah Yeah Yeahs, a band that has toured extensively throughout the world and has been nominated for two Grammys. Other recorded projects include the Seconds, a minimalist punk rock band that has two albums on the 5rc label, a duo ensemble with saxophonist Seth Misterka that has a record on the Heathen Skulls label, and Jeremiah Lockwood's Sway Machinery with a record on JDub. Performance collaborations have included Matt Welch, Jessica Pavone, Mary Halvorson, Stefan Tcherepnin, Alan Licht and Okkyung Lee. Brian is also interested in the Just Intonation tuning theory and is heavily influenced by the work of La Monte Young introduced to him by guitarist Jon Catler." [label info] www.pogus.com "The next release is the first DVD release by Pogus, with the same music on CD. I went to straight to the DVD. Brian Chase is the drummer for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (which name I may have come across, but surely not their music, as far as I know), a rock group. I must admit I didn't know what to expect from a disc in which the title already tells us what's going to happen. But exactly how drums create drones, or how the two are going to be married, is of course the big question here. Inspired by LaMonte Young and Marian Zazeela, Chase started to tune the drum head to a specific frequency and 'mic the drum and the sound into a computer' and then using software with very precise equalization to emphasize and boost the frequencies of the drum's overtones. In a concert situation he would also use a loop pedal. That was one starting point, the other was to have drum heads resonate with feedback loops between drum and speakers. None of this is actually be seen on the DVD, and the images, created by Ursual Scherrer and Erik Z, which are mostly abstract affairs of multi-layered images, that fit the music rather well. In many of these pieces one hardly has the idea one is listening to anything that is even remotely drum like, except perhaps 'Stick Shot Harmonics Drone', which is also one of the pieces in which the video seems to be running along with the music - in sync. But many of the other are like sustaining tones of sometimes sine wave like sounds, waving slowly and majestically about. If you listen closely you may recognize a bit of drum here and there, maybe more apparent if you play the CD and not be distracted by the visuals. As someone who loves drones, I must say I was quite taken by this release." [FdW/Vital Weekly] 2013 €18.00
CHASSAGNARD, JEROME & JEREMIE MATHES Outer Dialog CD "with this release french artist jérôme chassagnard continues the concept work he began on the 2014 album 'inner dialog', a reflection of his personal and artistic mind. for the creation of 'outer dialog' jérôme decided to work with someone he musically and personally admired, a collaboration that perfectly symbolizes the change from acting as an introvert towards a more extroverted approach. for this reason he worked with musician, composer and good friend jérémie mathes. jérémie had already participated on 'inner dialog' and had a breadth of experience as a solo artist himself, and he was able to add a number of different musical points of view to jérôme's already detailed concept. the music on this album is a logical continuation of its predecessor as well as conceptually expressing the other side of the coin: ambient electronica and shoegaze spheres counteract with intense rhythm-oriented idm textures while the sound is focused on extroverted beat patterns. a fascinating interaction between soothing beauty and stirring, powerful force. 'outer dialog' is intended as a partner to ‘inner dialog’, to meld both albums as one associated work, illustrated by a correspondent artwork style, typography, and an identical number of tracks. an engaging opus which captures every bit of your attention - captivating music with an edge." https://hymen-records.bandcamp.com/album/outer-dialog 2020 €6.00
CHAUVEAU, SYLVAIN Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated) CD "Stripped: dekonstruierte "Popsongs" des französischen Elektronikers. Es ist kaum zu glauben, dass zwischen Sylvain Chauveaus letztem Album "Down To The Bone" und "Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated)" ganze fünf Jahre liegen. Dazwischen gab’s Reissues, diverse Kollaborationen und Soundtrack-Arbeiten, dennoch ließ sich Chauveau Zeit, bis seine Ideen die Reife hatten, umgesetzt und auf Tonträger gebannt zu werden. Die Depeche-Mode-Songs, die er auf "Down To The Bone" erkundete, brachten ihn auf die Idee, ein Album mit Songs aufzunehmen. In vielerlei Hinsicht ist "Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated)" wie ein normales Album mit Hooks und Melodien konstruiert. Dennoch dekonstruierte Chauveau die bekannten Formen auf ihr Grundlevel. Vokalpassagen fallen aus den sparsamen Klavierarrangements wie Äpfel im Herbst. So wie Carsten Nicolai und Ryuichi Sakamoto klassische Musik dekonstruierten, hat sich Chauveau vorgenommen, die Wurzeln der Popmusik freizulegen. Jedes Stück klingt zunächst so, als könne mit ihm ein Drei-Minuten-Pop-Stück beginnen, bevor dann alle Teile allmählich wegbrechen. Eine herausfordernde, intensive Hörerfahrung." [label info / Indigo] "It is hard to believe that five years have passed since Sylvain Chauveau’s last ‘proper’ album. Of course there have been re-issues peppering the years since ‘Down To The Bone’, as well as more than a few collaborations and soundtrack appearances, but Sylvain has purposefully waited to allow his ideas to come to fruition. On mentioning his new album to me a few years ago, Sylvain commented that he didn’t think it would appeal to everyone and that he wanted to take a fresh direction. The Depeche Mode songs he had explored on ‘Down To The Bone’ had given him ideas he felt he needed to explore, and ‘Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated)’ is his attempt at an album of ‘songs’. In many ways, ‘Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated’) is constructed the way albums used to be – it is compact and filled with vocal hooks and melodies, yet Sylvain has deconstructed the musical forms he grew up listening to and reduced them to their base level. Vocal snippets fall through the stereo field and his signature piano motifs splutter and cough through processed digital hiccups. As Carsten Nicolai and Ryuichi Sakamoto deconstructed classical music, Sylvain attempts here to study and dissolve the roots of popular music. Each piece feels like it could have started as a three-minute pop sing-along before the accompaniments were stripped away and the component parts reduced to merely a backbone. ‘Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated)’ is a daring and challenging listening experience. The widescreen theatrics of Sylvain’s previous work have all but disappeared, leaving an album that is stark and incredibly beautiful. It is an album rooted in a love of art and music, both minimal and mainstream and celebrates Sylvain’s influences. One listen might only reveal surface details, but listen again and you will find much, much more." [label info] www.typerecords.com 2010 €15.50
  Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated) LP "It is hard to believe that five years have passed since French composer Sylvain Chauveau's last "proper" album. Of course, there have been re-issues peppering the years since Down To The Bone, as well as more than a few collaborations and soundtrack appearances, but Sylvain has purposefully waited to allow his ideas to come to fruition. The Depeche Mode songs he had explored on Down To The Bone had given him ideas he felt he needed to explore, and Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated) is his attempt at an album of "songs." In many ways, this album is constructed the way albums used to be -- it is compact and filled with vocal hooks and melodies, yet Sylvain has deconstructed the musical forms he grew up listening to and reduced them to their base level. Vocal snippets fall through the stereo field and his signature piano motifs splutter and cough through processed digital hiccups. As Carsten Nicolai and Ryuichi Sakamoto deconstructed classical music, Sylvain attempts here to study and dissolve the roots of popular music. Each piece feels like it could have started as a 3-minute pop sing-along before the accompaniments were stripped away and the component parts reduced to merely a backbone. Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated) is a daring and challenging listening experience. The widescreen theatrics of Sylvain's previous work have all but disappeared, leaving an album that is stark and incredibly beautiful. It is an album rooted in a love of art and music, both minimal and mainstream and celebrates Sylvain's influences. One listen might only reveal surface details, but listen again and you will find much, much more." [label info] 2010 €16.50
CHRIS & COSEY Pagan Tango LP Newly remastered reissue of 1991's `Pagan Tango', depicting synth-pop pioneers Chris & Cosey stepping into a new decade with uncanny, atavistic traces of bygone exotica and ritual musicks. CHRIS CARTER & COSEY FANNI TUTTI's remastered limited edition vinyl series continues in 2023 with the release of Techno Primitiv (1985), Trust (1989) and Pagan Tango (1991) - all available on vinyl for the first time since their original release. The remastered albums will be available on coloured vinyl, each with a printed inner sleeve of archival photos, via CTI. Elemental 7, Muzik Fantastique!, and Feral Vapours of The Silver Ether were released earlier this year, and the series has seen many of Chris & Cosey's influential albums available on vinyl for the first time, giving listeners a new opportunity to revisit some of their celebrated catalogue. Pagan Tango - described by Melody Maker as "C&C formulating perfection" - originally released in 1991 on Wax Trax!, and sees the pair once follow their own hypnotic beat in new directions. The album was originally presented ten years after C&C's legendary debut `Heartbeat', a decade in which they deployed no fewer than 10 albums, and acted as spirit-guides for the post-industrial era's phase shift to synth-pop and new wave. In title and function `Pagan Tango' echoes an occult thrust that underlined their music since the beginning and would parallel and dovetail themes of PTV, a rising new age consciousness, and neo-folk. It features Chris Carter continuing to refine his drum programming to whirring, intricate latin trills and triplets best for dancing (and which pissed on anything coming from Gen's apocryphal club projects, for example), and comparable with prevailing energies of body music, latin freestyle electro, Washington Go-Go and new jack swing, as much as the pagan tango of the record's title. Chris' rhythms would nothing without Cosey's sensual vox and cornet, found here like a sleek, gynoid cyberpunk presence mixed beautifully clear and wide across their retro-futurist projections. From the off they move perpendicular to trends, with `Ecstasy' clearly referencing the '91 drug du jour, but quite unlike its conventions, before the album sashays between echoes of `Exotica' in 'Synaesthesia', to the taut EBM of `Take Control' or `Sin' and its kinky title tune, via sultrier downstrokes in `Face to Face', the new jack swanger `Feel to Me', and Washington funk of `Go-Go Latino', with the pair's energies and sound design most hallucinatory in `Sacred Silence'. 2023 €30.50
CHROME Half Machine Lip Moves CD "Originally released in 1979 on Siren/Beggars Banquet, Half Machine Lip Moves is Chrome's third album and is considered an absolute classic of raw punk/experimental genius, authored by the duo of Helios Creed and Damon Edge. "Half Machine Lip Moves was a curious and powerful hybrid, which fused a Stooges-styles aggression with a sci-fi and LSD-inspired otherworldliness, reflected in titles that evidenced their interest in aliens and contemporary technology. This album was arguably their finest moment ... Creed's searing, heavily FX-laden guitar and Edge's eerie Moog and vocals, underpinned by metallic drums, came together to create what could have become a radical new departure point for a nascent form of post-rock." --The Wire; "One of my Personal Top 25 albums of all time, this is certainly one of those records you can keep returning to and find new things buried in all those layers of ZOUND." --Julian Cope" [label info] www.noiseville.com 2007 €16.00
  Feel it like a Scientist CD "Nach Damon Edges Tod im Sommer 1995 übernahm Helios Creed das Ruder, überblickte das Abmischen, Überarbeiten und Veröffentlichen des im letzten Jahr erschienenen Albums "Half Machine From The Sun, The Lost Tracks" und versammelte anschließend eine neue Band aus Veteranen und Neulingen. 'Feel Like A Scientist', das brandneue Album, wird passgenau zu der Welttournee im Sommer 2014 veröffentlicht. // With the untimely passing of Damon Edge in '96, Helios Creed has taken over the helm of CHROME, overseen the mixing, mastering and release of 2013's 'Half Machine From The Sun, The Lost Tracks' album, and assembled a band of veteran and newer members. Now here is Chrome's 2014 STUDIO ALBUM!" [label info] 2014 €13.00
CHRYSAKIS, THANOS ELYTRA CD New insect music release by Greek sound artist Thanos Chrysakis About ΕΛΥΤΡΑ Everyone has heard the marvelous sound of crickets in the summer especially in the countryside. The sound is produced by raising and scraping against each of their protective fore-wings the elytra. Their burrow act as a resonator bringing at times a transcendent quality to the place. The music in this album with myriads of sounds, regular and irregular pulses, unfolds a similar transforming quality. Thanos Chrysakis About Thanos Chrysakis Thanos Chrysakis is a Greek composer, musician, producer and sound-artist. He is best known for his work in electronic and contemporary music, free improvisation, and electro-acoustic music. With several albums to his name his work has appeared in festivals and events in many countries. His music was among the selected works at the International Competition de Musique et d'Art Sonore Electroacoustiques de Bourges 2005, in the category oeuvre d'art sonore électroacoustique, while received an honorary mention in 2006 at the 7th International Electroacoustic Competition Musica Viva in Lisbon (the jury was constituted by Morton Subotnick (USA), François Bayle (France), and Miguel Azguime (Portugal). He operates the Aural Terrains record label since 2007 where he has released part of his work until now, alongside releases by Kim Cascone, Franscisco López, Tomas Phillips, Dan Warburton, Szilárd Mezei, Michael Edwards, Wade Matthews, Dganit Elyakim, Edith Alonso, Christian Skjødt, Luis Tabuenca, Christian Kobi, Jeff Gburek, Steve Noble, and Milo Fine. He has written music for musicians of the Hyperion Ensemble, the Stockholm Saxophone Quartet, the Konus Saxophone Quartett, and the Shadanga Duo among others. Close collaborations with Tim Hodgkinson, Vincent Royer, Chris Cundy, Yoni Silver, Lori Freedman, Jason Alder, William Lang, Wilfrido Terrazas, Philippe Brunet, Wade Matthews, Ernesto Rodrigues, Abdul Moimême, Zsolt Sőrés, Ove Volquartz to name but a few. https://aufabwegen.bandcamp.com/track/tortoise-pilgrimage "Insekten üben seit langem eine (nicht nur) klangliche Faszination aus: Man denke an die vielen Filme, in denen das Zirpen der Zikaden fast schon ein alternativer Soundtrack ist oder an die symbolische Bedeutung der Geräusche der Grillen in einem Stück wie Sam Shephards „True West“. Eine Reihe von Musikern wurden vom Klangpotenzial der Insekten angezogen: 1986 veröffnetlichte Graeme Revell „The Insect Musicians“, sein Versuch einer auf dem Geräusch von Insekten basierenden “micro-musique” (gerade ist das Album auf Old Europa Cafe neu herausgebracht worden), jüngst erschien noch ein Album namens “The Life Of Insects” von der in Berlin lebenden Peruanerin Ale Hop. Der 1971 in Athen geborene Thanos Chrysakis hat zahlreiche Alben veröffentlicht und betreibt das Label Aural Terrains, “a creative space for exploratory contemporary music in its different manifestations”, auf dem er u.a. Alben von Francisco López, Tomas Phillips oder Michael Edwards veröffentlicht hat. Auf “ΕΛΥΤΡ” basieren die Stücke auf dem Klang von Grillen, der für Chrysakis fast eine “transcendent qualitiy” hat. Das das Album eröffnende 8-minütige „Alabaster Tide“ ist eine dichte Klangfläche, die anfangs in ihrer rabiaten Unruhe durchaus an einige der perkussiven Arbeiten von Z’EV denken lässst. Hier fühlt man sich, als befinde man sich geradewegs inmitten zahlloser Insekten. Das Unruhige wird aber im Verlaufe des Stücks zurückgefahren, schließlich hört man ein paar hochfrequentere Passagen und Knirschen. „Coral Aether“ knüpft mit seinem Knistern und Flüstern daran an. „Tortoise Pilgrimage“ besteht aus flirrenden und sirrenden kristallinen Sounds, die gar nicht so weit von einigen Aufnahmen Asmus Tietchens entfernt sind, dann plötzlich meint man, ein Windspiel erklinge. Eine größere Reduktion hört man auf „Tranquil Edge“ mit seinem Knistern, das den Eindruck erweckt, als ob kleine Zweige brechen würden. Dann gibt es „Delphic Maxims“ mit fast schon wasserartigen Sounds oder das Rascheln bei „Pierian Roses, das sich im weiteren Verlauf verdichtet. Schließlich endet das Album mit „ A Shadow’s Dream“ mit erratischen perkussiven Momenten, und dann plötzlich – unerwartet – etwas, das wie ein Piano klingt. Auch ohne die Faszination, die vielleicht vom Ausgangsmaterial ausgeht, ist das ein sehr starkes Album." [MG / African Paper] 2020 €13.00
  Manifold Vista CD listen: https://aufabwegen.bandcamp.com/album/manifold-vista About Manifold Vista Manifold Vista is the new album by composer/producer Thanos Chrysakis. Rarely can something so meticulously assembled together sound so fluid. A distinct, disciplined sense for composition emerges from each of these works, displaying formal integrity while at the same time, they are also effervescent, forceful, fiercely idiosyncratic and beautifully shaped and transformed. The album discloses an expanded and detailed vista of sound’s interiority forming a strangely pleasurable, not to mention engaging, experience. Thanos Chrysakis is a Greek composer, musician, producer and sound-artist. He is best known for his work in electronic and contemporary music, free improvisation, and electro-acoustic music. With several albums to his name his work has appeared in festivals and events in numerous countries, including CYNETart Festival, Festspielhaus Hellerau - Dresden, Artus Contemporary Arts Studio – Budapest, CRUCE Gallery – Madrid, Fylkingen – Stockholm, Relative (Cross) Hearings festival – Budapest, Festival Futura – Crest - Drôme, FACT Centre – Liverpool, Association Ryoanji – Ahun - Creuse, The Center for Advanced Musical Studies at Chosen Vale — Hanover - New Hampshire, Areté Gallery — Brooklyn - New York, UC San Diego – California - San Diego, Berner Münster – Bern, Fabbrica del Vapore – Milan, Grünewaldsalen – Svensk Musikvår — Stockholm, Splendor – Amsterdam, Logos Foundation – Ghent, Palacio de Bellas Artes – Mexico City, Műcsarnok Kunsthalle – Budapest, Spektrum – Berlin, Susikirtimai X – Vilnius, Festival del Bosque GERMINAL – Mexico City, ДОМ – Moscow, Oosterkerk – Amsterdam, KLANG ! – Montpellier, Nádor Terem – Budapest, Utzon Centre – Aalborg, Center for New Music – San Francisco, Västerås Konstmuseum – Västerås, Störung festival – Barcelona, BMIC Cutting Edge concert series at The Warehouse – London. His music was among the selected works at the International Competition de Musique et d'Art Sonore Electroacoustiques de Bourges 2005, in the category oeuvre d'art sonore électroacoustique, while received an honorary mention in 2006 at the 7th International Electroacoustic Competition Musica Viva in Lisbon (the jury was constituted by Morton Subotnick (USA), François Bayle (France), and Miguel Azguime (Portugal). He operates the Aural Terrains record label since 2007 where he has released part of his work until now, alongside releases by Kim Cascone, Franscisco López, Tomas Phillips, Dan Warburton, Szilárd Mezei, Michael Edwards, Wade Matthews, Dganit Elyakim, Edith Alonso, Luis Tabuenca, Jeff Gburek, Philippe Petit, Steve Noble, Milo Fine and David Ryan among others. He has written music for musicians of the Hyperion Ensemble, the Stockholm Saxophone Quartet, the Hermes Ensemble, Nemø Ensemble, the Konus Saxophone Quartett, and the Shadanga Duo among others. Close collaborations with Tim Hodgkinson, Vincent Royer, Chris Cundy, Yoni Silver, Lori Freedman, Jason Alder, Julie Kjaer, Henriette Jensen, William Lang, Wilfrido Terrazas, Philippe Brunet, Wade Matthews, Ernesto Rodrigues, Abdul Moimême, Ove Volquartz to name but a few. https://aufabwegen.bandcamp.com/album/manifold-vista 2023 €13.00
CINDYTALK Transgender Warrior 7inch Für uns eine der Kult-Bands der 80er aus dem dunkel- experimentellen englischen Untergrund. ... das Projekt um den charismatischen Sänger Gordon Sharp überrascht hier mit einer neuen 7“ auf Klanggalerie, wo es rein geräuschhaft-pulsierende Hochfrequent-Atmosphären-noises zu hören gibt... “ Cindytalk is a band from the UK that has been active for over twenty years. In the 1980´s their fantastic albums like "Wappinshaw" or "Camouflage Heart" were released on Midnight Music, in the 90´s mastermind Gordon Sharp concentrated more on his DJ activities and his other project Bambule. Now, in the new millennium, we are proud to present you a new Cindytalk release with another change in style. Noisy tracks that build up atmospheric soundscapes which need deep listening to be understood in their full beauty.” [label description] 2003 €20.00
Hold Everything Dear do-LP "All tracks written and recorded by Gordon Sharp and Matt Kinnison between 2006-2011 at Roi Vert, Okamoto (Japan), 13th Floor and Space Eko (London), Southend (Essex). Mastered at Piethopraxis, June 2011. Cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, June 2011. Design-images: David Coppenhall. Assembled at Sixism (Maggi Smith-David Coppenhall). For Matt Kinnison and John Berger. 'Hold Everything Dear' is the third installment in the new Cindytalk sound which started with 2007's The Crackle Of My Soul, and then last years Up Here in The Clouds. Its the first in the trilogy to feature musicians other than Gordon Sharp namely the late Matt Kinnison, to whom the album is dedicated. Inspired by the John Berger book of the same name, this latest release is whole new set of parameters which push the sound on the previous two works to an extreme point of abstraction, and in some places near silent passages and haunted melodic segments. And what a mysterious journey this ends up being with increased use of piano and found/field recordings giving all the tracks a blurry soundtrack appeal to the point where the definitions between the tracks are no longer clearly defined. It harks back to the odder parts of In This World and The Wind Is Strong albums from the early 1990s. Superbly packaged with new David Coppenhall artwork in a 4-panel digipack and gatefold vinyl sleeve." [label info] www.editionsmego.com 2011 €20.00
Wappinschaw (lim. clear red vinly) LP - For Fans of: This Mortal Coil, Xmal Deutschland, Interpol, Zoviet France, Clan of Xymox - First ever reissue - CD and vinyl download card include three rare b-side bonus tracks // Cindytalk is the mercurial, expressionist outlet of Scottish artist Cinder. An evolution of her early 1980's Edinburgh-based punk band The Freeze, she launched the project upon moving to London, inspired by the crossroads of exploratory UK post-punk and early European industrial. Her work thrives on chance and transformation, collaging elements of noise, balladry, soundtrack, catharsis, and improvisation. After a series of celebrated albums for the Midnight Music label as well as collaborations with This Mortal Coil and Cocteau Twins, Cinder migrated to the United States, becoming involved with various underground techno collectives around the Midwest and West Coast. Subsequent relocations to Hong Kong and Japan further expanded Cindytalk's horizons, resulting in a fruitful partnership with Viennese experimental institution Editions Mego, for whom she released five albums of swooning, granular atmosphere. 2021 finds her as engaged as ever, at the precipice of long-awaited back catalog reissues alongside multiple new works, guided by her lasting love of discovery and deviation: "new pathways always being uncovered." Across decades of activity Cinder's body of work has forever followed its own elusive muse but nowhere is this restless spirit more apparent and ambitious than the 4th Cindytalk LP, Wappinschaw. Conceived as "a call to arms" inspired by Scotland and its struggle for independence, the title refers to an archaic Scottish battle inspection during which clan chieftains surveyed their group's weapons to ensure they were combat ready. A mindset of reflective preparation threads throughout the record, manifested in forms both naked and noisy, ancient and anguished. Opening with an aching solo vocal rendition of the British folk standard "The First Time Ever (I Saw Your Face)," the album then surges into the Cindytalk classic, "A Song Of Changes," sparkling and spiraling in strange waves of sorrow and joy. From there the mood fragments, tracing asymmetrical paths of feverish dirge, pensive spirituals, noir abstraction, spoken word (landmark Glaswegian writer Alasdair Gray guests on "Wheesht"), bagpipe drone, and apocalyptic post-punk. Given its aggressive eclecticism, it's not surprising that Cinder describes the creation of Wappinschaw as a "precarious" process, composed from "scraps" with abruptly shifting personnel - a situation only compounded by the impending dissolution of their label at the time, Midnight Music. Despite, or perhaps because of, these factors, the collection stands as a testament to Cinder's belief that "so-called experimental can only remain so if you keep challenging yourself." This is singular and challenging music, texturally jagged and emotionally conflicted, swimming through shivering darkness into fragile pockets of light. At the time of its recording, Cinder was attempting to leave London after many years in the city, dreaming of an ancestral return. But as much as "ideas of homecoming were percolating," there remained unfinished business, old ghosts to exorcise, culminating in Wappinschaw's heady, harrowing voyage: "An invocation of spirits of resistance - as much a declaration of war as a declaration of love." 2021 €23.50
  The Wind is strong (lim. marble smoke viny) LP Cindytalk is the mercurial, expressionist outlet of Scottish artist Cinder. An evolution of her early 1980's Edinburgh-based punk band The Freeze, she launched the project upon moving to London, inspired by the crossroads of exploratory UK post-punk and early European industrial. Her work thrives on chance and transformation, collaging elements of noise, balladry, soundtrack, catharsis, and improvisation. After a series of celebrated albums for the Midnight Music label as well as collaborations with This Mortal Coil and Cocteau Twins, Cinder migrated to the United States, becoming involved with various underground techno collectives around the Midwest and West Coast. Subsequent relocations to Hong Kong and Japan further expanded Cindytalk's horizons, resulting in a fruitful partnership with Viennese experimental institution Editions Mego, for whom she released five full-lengths of swooning, granular atmosphere. 2021 finds her as engaged as ever, at the precipice of long-awaited back catalog reissues alongside multiple new works, guided by her lasting love of discovery and deviation: “new pathways always being uncovered.” The 3rd album by Scottish industrial enigma Cinder aka Cindytalk began life as the soundtrack to an experimental film by English director Ivan Unnwin entitled Eclipse (The Amateur Enthusiast's Guide To Virus Deployment), and was originally slated for release via Factory Records' video division, Ikon. Inspired heavily by Alan Splet's eerily disembodied sound design in David Lynch's Eraserhead, the collection's 15 pieces seethe between field recordings, wistful piano vignettes, and lurking metallic haze – a hybrid palette Cinder characterized at the time as “ambi-dustrial.” Unfortunately Ikon collapsed on the eve of the project's completion so the film was never distributed, but the Midnight Music imprint repackaged Cindytalk's score as an LP in 1990 under the name The Wind Is Strong... (full title: The Wind Is Strong - A Sparrow Dances, Piercing Holes in Our Sky). Long out of print, the album remains one of the most elusive and adventurous in the Cindytalk discography, a mix of musique concréte, haunted reverie, and desolate beauty. Even unaccompanied by their intended visuals, this is overtly cinematic music, conjuring forests at dusk and shadowed corridors, equal parts remote and reflective. Cinder cites a belief that “all sound is music,” which fully manifests here, utilizing tape hiss, ticking clocks, flicking flames, and distant whispers as evocative accents in tapestries of luminous negative space. Although Cinder included the subtitle “A Cindytalk diversion” in the sleeve notes, The Wind Is Strong... is crucial to the project's canon, demonstrating the depth and versatility of her unique ear and intuition. She describes each album as a direct response to the previous one, and in that sense The Wind marks a bold break from the coiled song-oriented post-punk of 1988's In This World, venturing into unknown, unnamed terrain, and finding foreboding new futures to call her own. https://www.daisrecords.com/products/cindytalk-the-wind-is-strong Cindytalk ist das quecksilbrige, expressionistische Ventil der schottischen Künstlerin Cinder. Als Weiterentwicklung ihrer Edinburgher Punkband The Freeze aus den frühen 1980er Jahren gründete sie das Projekt, nachdem sie nach London gezogen war, inspiriert von der Kreuzung aus forschendem britischen Post-Punk und frühem europäischen Industrial. Ihre Arbeit lebt vom Zufall und der Verwandlung, sie collagiert Elemente von Lärm, Balladen, Soundtracks, Katharsis und Improvisation. Nach einer Reihe gefeierter Alben für das Label Midnight Music sowie Kollaborationen mit This Mortal Coil und den Cocteau Twins wanderte Cinder in die Vereinigten Staaten aus und engagierte sich in verschiedenen Underground-Techno-Kollektiven im Mittleren Westen und an der Westküste. Spätere Umzüge nach Hongkong und Japan erweiterten Cindytalks Horizont und führten zu einer fruchtbaren Partnerschaft mit der Wiener Experimental-Institution Editions Mego, für die sie fünf Alben mit schwelgerischer, granularer Atmosphäre veröffentlichte. 2021 ist sie so engagiert wie eh und je und steht an der Schwelle von lang erwarteten Wiederveröffentlichungen des alten Katalogs neben zahlreichen neuen Werken, geleitet von ihrer anhaltenden Liebe zur Entdeckung und Abweichung: Immer neue Wege werden aufgedeckt. Das dritte Album des schottischen Industrial-Enigmas Cinder aka Cindytalk begann als Soundtrack zu einem Experimentalfilm des englischen Regisseurs Ivan Unnwin mit dem Titel Eclipse (The Amateur Enthusiast's Guide To Virus Deployment) und sollte ursprünglich über die Videoabteilung von Factory Records, Ikon, veröffentlicht werden. Inspiriert von Alan Splets unheimlichem, körperlosem Sounddesign in David Lynchs Eraserhead, bewegen sich die 15 Stücke der Sammlung zwischen Field Recordings, wehmütigen Klaviervignetten und lauerndem Metalldunst - eine hybride Palette, die Cinder damals als "ambi-dustrial" bezeichnete. Unglücklicherweise brach Ikon am Vorabend der Fertigstellung des Projekts zusammen, so dass der Film nie vertrieben wurde, aber das Midnight Music Imprint verpackte Cindytalks Partitur 1990 als LP unter dem Namen The Wind Is Strong... (vollständiger Titel: The Wind Is Strong - A Sparrow Dances, Piercing Holes in Our Sky). Längst vergriffen, bleibt das Album eines der schwer fassbarsten und abenteuerlichsten in der Diskographie von Cindytalk, eine Mischung aus konkreter Musik, geisterhafter Träumerei und trostloser Schönheit. Selbst ohne die visuelle Untermalung ist dies eine offenkundig filmische Musik, die Wälder in der Dämmerung und schattige Korridore heraufbeschwört, die zu gleichen Teilen entlegen und nachdenklich sind. Cinder beruft sich auf die Überzeugung, dass ügalles Geräusch Musik ist,üh was sich hier voll und ganz manifestiert, indem sie Tonbandrauschen, tickende Uhren, züngelnde Flammen und entferntes Flüstern als evokative Akzente in Wandteppichen aus leuchtendem Negativraum verwendet. Obwohl Cinder den Untertitel "A Cindytalk diversion" (Eine Cindytalk-Abwechslungü) in die Cover-Notizen geschrieben hat, ist The Wind Is Strong... entscheidend für den Kanon des Projekts und demonstriert die Tiefe und Vielseitigkeit ihres einzigartigen Gehörs und ihrer Intuition. Sie beschreibt jedes Album als direkte Antwort auf das vorherige, und in diesem Sinne markiert The Wind einen kühnen Bruch mit dem songorientierten Post-Punk des 1988er Albums In This World, indem sie sich in unbekanntes, unbenanntes Terrain wagt und eine neue Zukunft findet, die sie ihr Eigen nennen kann. Für Fans von: Harold Budd, Tor Lundvall, Lawrence English, Kevin Drumm, Loscil, This Mortal Coil, Drekka, Zoviet France. 2021 €23.50
CIRCLE Soundcheck CD "Recorded in Finland in October 2009, the band describes Soundcheck as “the most contemporary document possible of a Circle soundcheck/concert experience. For this concert Circle was reinforced by the guitars of J. & P. Jaaskelainen, who may be familiar to some from the ranks of Circle’s brother-in-arms Pharaoh Overlord. On the album, this expanded line-up explores the experimental possibilities of concert staples “Virsi” and “Nopeuskuningas” further than possibly ever before.” “The first part offers two new tracks, beginning with the brief “Kukkakaalia Kapteenit!”, a wispy swirl of shimmery synths, laid back tribal drumming and some dramatic, emotional crooning, very cinematic sounding, almost like it could be some lost 4AD single, dreamy and ethereal, giving way to the way more rocking and intense “Tuhatsata”, which takes up most of the side, a slow burning, blackened bit of Finnish krautrock, super epic, with dueling vocals, crooning versus grunted and growled, fusiony keys, still more tribal drumming, spidery guitars, the track pulsing and pounding, building to multiple crescendos, frenzied freakouts that always lip right back into more looped mesmer. The album progresses with two instantly recognizable live set staples, first up, “Virsi”, dramatically progtastic, with that super soaring epic intro, all dynamic shifts and huge bursts of instrumental crunch, with vocals howling and wailing almost operatically, before lurching into some rad atonal krauty, fusiony, jazzy, hypno groove skitter. The second track, another Circle classic, and live staple, “Nopeuskuningas”, explodes right out of the gate, with its chugging almost surfy, ZZ Top-ish boogie riff, locked in groove, the whole thing stretched out over the remainder of the side, the band solid, and hypnotic, and intense, and rocking and tight as fuck. Their showstopper for sure, and it clearly did the job at this show as well. In so much as between albums, Circle, like Grateful Dead, crank out killer live record after killer liver record, often with some of the same songs, always including a few live staples, familiar enough to hit the spot, but different enough that a Circle fan could be forgiven for needing them ALL!” (Aquarius Records) A stunning and truly unique live album approach by the Finnish masters of hypnorock and unusual sounds. Originally released as a very limited vinyl edition via J. Lehtisalo’s own imprint Full Contact Records and instantly sold out, Soundcheck is now back to life housed in our luxurious, heavy tip-on mini-LP gatefold packaging featuring fantastic expanded photography and artwork by Jussi S. Karjalainen. Limited edition of 800 copies. 2011 €13.50
CISFINITUM Coniunctio do-CD Material from 1999-2001 from the Russian cult-project, some taken from the deleted LANDSCHAFT CDR (IVB Records), one CD is entitled “World of Retribution”, the other “Heavenly Russia”. Monolithic sad noise, sacral post-industrial, spiritual doom-ambience, overwhelming sounds & sad emotions at the same time, highly recommended! “Cisfinitum is one of the oldest and well-known projects on Russian industrial scene, and shortly after their well-acclaimed 7” on Drone, Ewers Tonkunst is happy to present another international release of this remarkable project. This 2CD-set contains the tracks from the most gloomy and profound albums of Cisfinitum – “Landschaft” (released in 2001 as CDR by IVB Records) and “Malgyl” (previously unreleased), which have been recorded in 1999-2001. The material has been remastered and recompiled to become the new entity called “Coniunctio”. Newborn album consists of two parts, “Worlds Of Retribution” and “Heavenly Russia”, the first one contains most dark and depressive tracks, the second one presents brighter side of Cisfinitum. Going through the desperate landscapes of today’s dying spiritless world, the listener comes into the sacred and surreal inner space of an immaterial land full of light, mysticism and universal melancholy. One of the most beautiful and heartful records ever done in the drone ambient style, “Coniunctio” could remind of the best and saddest Maeror Tri albums or legendary HOEDH “Hymnus”, but the irrational Russian essence within Cisfinitum’s music makes it unique and completely original. The real masterpiece which we are really proud to release! CD comes in a full-colour fold-out digisleeve. The edition is limited to 500 copies.” [label info] 2006 €15.00
CLEW OF THESEUS Meridian CD "This album shows a projection and further maturity in Clew Of Theseus’ sound. Meridian is a dark and esoteric album, very focused, full of sounds at once harsh and ambient, with forceful drones and rich textures. Sounds were created with acoustic winds, electric guitar, analog and junk synthesizers and gritty electronics, mixed to create a foreboding atmosphere. The album was mastered by Timothy Stollenwerk at Stereophonic Mastering, best known for his work on dozens of Daniel Menche albums. Meridian was recorded in two weeks during the monsoon season of 2008. A careful study into the symbols inside the album show an obsession with elemental force and eternal power. Clew Of Theseus evokes images of furious storms, wiping the landscape of blight, bringing beautiful darkness in its wake. CD packaged in standard jewel case with full-color artwork." [label info] www.catharticprocess.com 2009 €12.00
CLUB OF ROME Grosse Statik CD Asmus Tietchens is a sound artist and composer from Hamburg, Germany. He got interested in Musique Concrete by listening to a German radio programme when he was 10 years old. In 1965, at the age of 18, Asmus started experimenting with tape loops and turned them into musical collages. Soon, the use of synthesizers was added. In 1980 his debut album Nachtstücke was released, produced by Peter Baumann of Tangerine Dream. This was soon followed by a series of albums of electronic pop music for the Sky label, home of many Krautrock bands. Tietchens often uses special source materials for his compositions such as water (Seuchengebiete), human voices (Von Mund zu Mund), paper (Papier ist geduldig). He is associated with the Industrial music scene through his collaborations and releases on labels such as United Dairies, Esplendor Geometrico or Dom Records. Tietchens never studied composition, he has no academic background, everything he does is self taught or learning by doing. Nevertheless, he was professor for sound design in Hamburg in recent years. Club of Rome was a pseudonym for Asmus Tietchens used on this cassette only release on ADN Records, 1985. https://www.klanggalerie.com/gg447 / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NM7Hh0UwHc 2023 €15.00
CLUSTER Grosses Wasser CD "Kammermusikalischer Minimalismus: 1979er-Album des Avantgardeduos. Auftakt einer 23-teiligen Reissue-Serie mit Elektronik-, Ambient- und Krautrock-Alben: 1971 gründeten Hans-Joachim Roedelius und Dieter Moebius Cluster, eine der einflussreichsten deutschen Bands der 70er-Jahre. Cluster zählen zu den Protagonisten der internationalen Elektronik-Avantgarde, gelten je nach Standpunkt als Erfinder der Ambientmusik, als Wegbereiter des Synthiepop, der Industrial-Musik, oder einfach als strahlender Stern im Krautrock-Universum. "Großes Wasser" erschien erstmals 1979, wurde von Peter Baumann (Tangerine Dream) produziert und ist Clusters fünftes Album. Das Cover illustriert seinen Minimalismus, steht für die Konzentration, Transparenz und Abgeklärtheit der Musik, die fast kammermusikalisch anmutet. Mehr als jemals zuvor bei Cluster sind akustische Schallquellen zu hören, allen voran ein sauber gestimmter Steinway-Flügel, aber auch E-Bass, Gitarre, Percussion und Stimme. Das Reissue des Albums ist Start einer 23-teiligen Wiederveröffentlichungsreihe von Elektronik-, Ambient- und Krautrock-Alben der Firma SKY Records. Der Begleittext stammt von Asmus Tietchens." [label info] www.bureau-b.com 2009 €16.50
COIL Love's Secret Domain (GOLD) 3 x LP In 1991 Coil released the third of their early classic full-length albums "Love's Secret Domain", seemingly casting aside the gloom and funereal beauty of its predecessors in favour of a painstakingly multi-layered hallucinogenic electronic beast, which unlike some of their fellow ex-industrial contemporaries' releases of the time wasn't an attempt at easy accessibility or (the-gods-forbid) danceability, but a vibrating psychedelic masterpiece unrivalled in their discography and still a landmark album. To mark its 30 year anniversary Infinite Fog are beyond proud to present an expanded, fully remastered re-release of this fan favourite available for the first time ever in its entirety on vinyl with 10 rare and mostly unreleased tracks and alternative versions from the period added as a bonus to a luxurious 3LP/2CD set. Love's Secret Domain contains among its many highlights the Lynchian William Blake tribute of its title track and the intoxicating single "Windowpane", original versions of the later Coil live staple "Teenage Lightning" and the majestically warped classicisms of "Chaostrophy". Marc Almond guests on the typhonian "Titan Arch" and This Heat's Charles Hayward provides some amazing drum stylings. This album is Coil pushing their sound ideas and probably their sanity to their very limits. Beyond the iconic Steven Stapleton cover art here reproduced in unseen definition the doors of perception still open wide for both long-term Coil aficionados and new-comers to this supremely innovative release to explore unknown depths. The long-overdue re-release illustrates how far ahead of the curve Coil were with the sounds on this album, which still sounds as fresh and mind-blowing as it did back in the early 90s. https://infinitefog.bandcamp.com/album/loves-secret-domain-30th-anniversary-edition 2021 €49.50
Love's Secret Domain do-CD In 1991 Coil released the third of their early classic full-length albums "Love's Secret Domain", seemingly casting aside the gloom and funereal beauty of its predecessors in favour of a painstakingly multi-layered hallucinogenic electronic beast, which unlike some of their fellow ex-industrial contemporaries' releases of the time wasn't an attempt at easy accessibility or (the-gods-forbid) danceability, but a vibrating psychedelic masterpiece unrivalled in their discography and still a landmark album. To mark its 30 year anniversary Infinite Fog are beyond proud to present an expanded, fully remastered re-release of this fan favourite available for the first time ever in its entirety on vinyl with 10 rare and mostly unreleased tracks and alternative versions from the period added as a bonus to a luxurious 3LP/2CD set. Love's Secret Domain contains among its many highlights the Lynchian William Blake tribute of its title track and the intoxicating single "Windowpane", original versions of the later Coil live staple "Teenage Lightning" and the majestically warped classicisms of "Chaostrophy". Marc Almond guests on the typhonian "Titan Arch" and This Heat's Charles Hayward provides some amazing drum stylings. This album is Coil pushing their sound ideas and probably their sanity to their very limits. Beyond the iconic Steven Stapleton cover art here reproduced in unseen definition the doors of perception still open wide for both long-term Coil aficionados and new-comers to this supremely innovative release to explore unknown depths. The long-overdue re-release illustrates how far ahead of the curve Coil were with the sounds on this album, which still sounds as fresh and mind-blowing as it did back in the early 90s. https://infinitefog.bandcamp.com/album/loves-secret-domain-30th-anniversary-edition 2021 €24.00
The New Backwards (extended edition) do-CD "The New Backwards" was conceived by Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson in 2007, revisiting stray tracks which hadn't seemed to gel with the material he had chosen for the more somber "Ape of Naples" from 2005, COIL's initial posthumous release, a sort of requiem and a kiss-goodbye to his then recently deceased partner John Balance. Significantly different to its sister release, this album collects the brilliantly chaotic and outrageously rhythmic material from the original sessions for the album that was begun as early as 1993 and had originally been conceptualised as the follow-up to "Love's Secret Domain". These songs are as diverse and wild as the places they originated from, partly infamously spawned in Sharon Tate's former home in the Hollywood Hills, the Nine Inch Nails home base in New Orleans and London's Swanyard, co-composed, remixed and restructured with the help of long-term friend Danny Hyde in Thailand, this collection has its own unique flow and an atmosphere not found on any other COIL release. Both "AYOR" and "Backwards" had by the time the album was first released already become favourites in COIL's manic live performances. Some of the other tracks had only leaked in demo versions and are here presented updated and polished as Christopherson and Hyde intended them to be heard. It is interesting to consider Balance's vocal contributions, too. Whilst on the albums COIL did release at the time this material was first put aside ("Black Light District" and "ElpH") his voice is all but absent, his vocal performances and his lyric writing here are arguably more closely indebted to the previous "Love's Secret Domain" era, especially the epic "Copacaballa" is noteworthy in that respect. The New Backwards" effectively became the final official COIL studio release of all new material whilst Peter was still alive and is here presented for the first time fully supervised by Danny Hyde, its co-creator. The stunning cover uses a detail from artist Ian Johnstone's "Cubic Raven" painting, licensed from the estate of IJ.. It is high time to rediscover this timeless album with the Infinite Fog release, first time available on vinyl in its full form without 3 skipped tracks! Besides that boasting nine further tracks of previously unheard material from the same sessions, rough working stages and surprising remixes which will surely delight the dedicated COIL archaeologists, as they shine yet another light on the creative process and on what could have been. credits released March 30, 2022 Recorded at Swanyard, London and at Nothing Studios, New Orleans, 1996. Thanks to everyone there, especially Trent Reznor who made it all possible. Written & Produced by Coil & Danny Hyde. Remixed by Peter Christopherson & Danny Hyde, Bangkok 2007. For that session Coil were: Peter Christopherson, Jhonn Balance & Drew McDowall. Mastered by Jessica Thompson. Front artwork by Ian Johnstone. Artwork licensed from The Estate of Ian Johnstone. Layout Cold Graves and Oleg Galay. https://infinitefog.bandcamp.com/album/the-new-backwards-extended-edition 2022 €26.00
  The New Backwards (special edition) 3 x pic-LP "The New Backwards" was conceived by Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson in 2007, revisiting stray tracks which hadn't seemed to gel with the material he had chosen for the more somber "Ape of Naples" from 2005, COIL's initial posthumous release, a sort of requiem and a kiss-goodbye to his then recently deceased partner John Balance. Significantly different to its sister release, this album collects the brilliantly chaotic and outrageously rhythmic material from the original sessions for the album that was begun as early as 1993 and had originally been conceptualised as the follow-up to "Love's Secret Domain". These songs are as diverse and wild as the places they originated from, partly infamously spawned in Sharon Tate's former home in the Hollywood Hills, the Nine Inch Nails home base in New Orleans and London's Swanyard, co-composed, remixed and restructured with the help of long-term friend Danny Hyde in Thailand, this collection has its own unique flow and an atmosphere not found on any other COIL release. Both "AYOR" and "Backwards" had by the time the album was first released already become favourites in COIL's manic live performances. Some of the other tracks had only leaked in demo versions and are here presented updated and polished as Christopherson and Hyde intended them to be heard. It is interesting to consider Balance's vocal contributions, too. Whilst on the albums COIL did release at the time this material was first put aside ("Black Light District" and "ElpH") his voice is all but absent, his vocal performances and his lyric writing here are arguably more closely indebted to the previous "Love's Secret Domain" era, especially the epic "Copacaballa" is noteworthy in that respect. The New Backwards" effectively became the final official COIL studio release of all new material whilst Peter was still alive and is here presented for the first time fully supervised by Danny Hyde, its co-creator. The stunning cover uses a detail from artist Ian Johnstone's "Cubic Raven" painting, licensed from the estate of IJ.. It is high time to rediscover this timeless album with the Infinite Fog release, first time available on vinyl in its full form without 3 skipped tracks! Besides that boasting nine further tracks of previously unheard material from the same sessions, rough working stages and surprising remixes which will surely delight the dedicated COIL archaeologists, as they shine yet another light on the creative process and on what could have been. Recorded at Swanyard, London and at Nothing Studios, New Orleans, 1996. Thanks to everyone there, especially Trent Reznor who made it all possible. Written & Produced by Coil & Danny Hyde. Remixed by Peter Christopherson & Danny Hyde, Bangkok 2007. For that session Coil were: Peter Christopherson, Jhonn Balance & Drew McDowall. Mastered by Jessica Thompson. Front artwork by Ian Johnstone. Artwork licensed from The Estate of Ian Johnstone. Layout Cold Graves and Oleg Galay. https://infinitefog.bandcamp.com/album/the-new-backwards-extended-edition 2022 €79.00
COIL presents BLACK LIGHT DISTRICT A Thousand Lights In A Darkened Room CD Reissue one of the key albums in the Coil discography. 'A Thousand Lights In A Darkened Room' was recorded in 1996 and released under the project name Black Light District (the name was taken from a track by Boyd Rice). John Balance, Peter Christopherson, Drew McDowall, Danny Hyde were a part of this record and this reissue is authorized by Danny Hyde. This CD contains one unreleased track from the same recording session. 2018 €15.00
COIL WITH BLACK SUN PRODUCTIONS The Plastic Spider Thing CD + DVD "This album, featuring Coil’s music literally remixed and re-arranged in ritual form to serve as the soundtrack to the Black Sun Productions extreme performance art spectacle entitled Plastic Spider Things, following the performers’ (among who was counted John Balance himself) every move. Synths, drones, and psychedelic textures lead us on mystical tour of sex and magic, serving as a testament to the undeniable connection between Coil’s music, ritual magic, and performance art. Included with the CD is a collection of Black Sun Productions videos documenting the history of Black Sun Productions and it’s strong ties with Coil. The DVD features rare clips and backstage footage (Coil Live Gigs) with both Peter Christopherson and John Balance, as well as video manipulations. A release that all hardcore Coil and Black Sun Productions fans have long been waiting for. Limited 500 copies Not to be missed!" "Tolle Wiederveröffentlichung des legendären COIL-Albums von 2002. Das Album entstand in Zusammenarbeit mit der Performance „The Plastic Spider Thing“ von BLACK SUN PRODUCTIONS. CD und LP kommen jeweils mit DVD und erscheinen auf RUSTBLADE. 2002 veröffentlichte THRESHOLD HOUSE bereits dieses legendäre und kontrovers diskutierte Album von COIL. Es war im Prinzip der Soundtrack zu der künstlerisch inszenierten Extremperformance „The Plastic Spider Thing“ in Kollaboration mit dem Schweizer Kollektiv BLACK SUN PRODUCTIONS. COIL, bzw. JOHN BALANCE war selbst Teil dieser Performance und der Soundtrack perfekt auf ihn abgestimmt. Das Projekt tourte damals durch verschiedene Städte in Europa und führte ein anstößiges und nicht überall akzeptiertes Konzept auf, bei dem es um sexuelle Neigungen, Nacktheit aber auch um spirituelle und rituelle Praktiken wie „Chaos Magick“ und „Spirituel Sex Magick“ ging. 2003 wurden BLACK SUN PRODUCTIONS in der Schweiz für die Perfomance sogar vor Gericht gestellt, weil sie in ihrer Kompromisslosigkeit gegen nationale Gesetze verstieß. Das vorliegende Re-Release enthält das Album, welches sich musikalisch zwischen Industrial, Drone und Psych-Noise bewegt, wie auch eine Videodokumentation der „Plastic Spider Thing“-Tour, exklusiven Backstagematerial und weiteren (Live-)Videos." [Broken Silence] 2017 €23.00
COLECLOUGH, JONATHAN & ANDREW LILES Torch Songs do-LP "Liles Reworking injiziert sublimen Feinklang in Colecloughs Improvisationen, etwas Subliminales, ein ständig morphendes, mäanderndes Sirren und Dröhnen, fernen Glockenklang, knispeliges undefinierbares Hantieren. Die Sinne werden in einen träumerischen Zustand versenkt, der sie offen macht für Halluzinationen, die die rechte Hirnhälfte der linken einflößt und zusummt. Die Flamme dieser ‚Torch Songs‘ ohne Worte brennt für keine verlorene Liebe, keinen unbekannten Soldaten, sondern vielleicht für das Unbekannte selbst." [Bad Alchemy] "'Torch Songs' is a collaboration between Jonathan Coleclough and Andrew Liles. They met in October 2004 when they both performed at Intergration 3 in Preston, UK. Liles subsequently reworked the recording of Coleclough's solo performance from that evening. He went on to add, subtract, multiply and divide further live recordings supplied by Coleclough, and the eventual result was this double LP. 'Torch Songs' is packaged in a gatefold sleeve featuring 'I dreamt I was a river,' a poem composed and painted by Geoff Sawers during a performance with Coleclough in Geneva in March 2005. The sound of Geoff's brush painting this lettering can be heard on side B of 'Torch Songs'. The album comes in a beautiful full colour gatefold sleeve with full colour inner sleeves in a limited edition of 500 copies. 180gr. Vinyl !" [press release] "Much like the entire back catalogue of John Duncan, British avant-drone artist Jonathan Coleclough has often buttressed his work through an ongoing set of collaborations, each of which push his work into interesting territories while maintaining that essence of Coleclough that makes all of his albums so enthralling. His 2006 collaboration with Murmer was easily one of the best drone albums of that year, twisting field recordings and quiet sessions with electric objects into a gauzy, crepuscular blur that even made those at Artforum perk up their ears and listen. Torch Songs came to fruition when both Coleclough and Liles performed in Preston (probably at the request of the ever-charming Colin Potter) in 2005. In fact, much of the source material for Torch Songs originated from Coleclough's performance to which Liles went on to "add, subtract, multiply, and divide" further. The fundamentals of Torch Songs are primarily Coleclough's signature moves: swelling, resonant drones manipulated from acoustic sources and distilled into tonally vibrant beams of pure sound. Yet, Liles (who in and of himself is a fine technician of sonic alchemy to the point where he has often graced the stage alongside Steve Stapleton, Colin Potter, and Matt Waldron in Nurse With Wound) interjects his own sidereal gestures with wooden creaks, digital time stretching, radiant eruptions of dissonant couplings with Coleclough's drones, and occasional jaunts of heavily filtered tin-can and rubber-band rhythms that parallel much of the output from Liles' recent 12 part Vortex series. Yet for all of Liles' baroque flares for the sonically surreal, it is Coleclough who authors the strongest material on Torch Songs through his sublime use of the drone. The first 300 copies of Torch Songs comes with a bonus CD that documents Coleclough's aforementioned Preston performance back in 2005." [Aquarius Records] 2007 €22.50
COLUMN ONE W.Transmission I-V 5 x CD SET Zoharum is excited to present for the first time on CD "WORLD TRANSMISSION" - a series of rare transmissions, reduced and performed by COLUMN ONE in chronological order to document some of its phases. This work is no recording. It exists as a stepping cone while it's essential creators were at work. W.T. 1 was recorded on August 12th, September 27th and October 5th, 1992 as well as January 23th, 1991 and April 17th, 1993. Previously released in 1992 on cassette tape titled "NEW-RE-GENERATION. The meaning and Function of this series were not clearly defined at the time.Various Unreleased Versions of this First Transmission took shape, all of which followed a diverging emphasis in their conceptional and formal direction. The originally released version, which is not included here, became a marked terminus rather then an origin. This release focused on the roots of COLUMN ONE that lie in a combination of coded key sounds and images. The associated degrees and movements of immersion and subversion into the consciousness that is COLUMN ONE moved, according to this pattern in a clear process. These recordings are basic situations. Like pieces of furniture they take place without variations in a psychic Space - without raising claim of wanting to enter a musical universe. Contact [recorded in 1993] varies the sentence “WHEN WE HEARD THAT NOISE, WE FELL DOWN AND HID OUR FACES.“ of a woman from NEW GUINEA. [1984] is included here as a curious find from childhood and documents first attempts to experiment with tape and sound in 1984. previously unreleased: contact, alloy, propaganda I, TH W AND [1984]. W.T. 2 originally released On A.N. COLUMN release For further information on COLUMN ONE, The Ideals and Products start collecting fish bones & moisten them under a ball of wool with a shampoo bottle or use the water from a leaky plastic bag to tear paper flags. W.T. 3 was an attempt to follow the physical aura of a religious architecture and, by using religious tools from its environment , Determinatesd to document COLUMN ONE spent two days in a church and followed streaming , Repellingly vibrating body of this concentrated space. All instruments were played live in November 12th & 13th and recorded with two microphones, installed at two different places of the church. The Position of these microphones made possible to document not only the overall sound, but also the movements in the room. An accentuation of the space acoustics besides the two micro-phones, which were the source material for this recording, a third microphone was connected to effects and a record player, AMP and Speakers. Through this second "artificial" system, manipulated sounds could be radiated into the room. The key and character of the recording are, however, to be found in the architectural presence of the church itself.. W.T.4 RE-WORKED TRANSMISSION World Transmission - the term for a species of contemporary trans-missions, produced and performed by COLUMN ONE in chronological order to document some of its phases : this work does not attempt to fulfil the form or function of an entire or commercial recording. It exists as a document, as a fragment- a tool for the work of the essential members. W.T.4 is the revised document of a COLUMN ONE event on April 3rd 1998 at Eimer in Berlin. It was the concept of this night to produce vibrations of "Ritual" materials of various origins in a new connection and in a new location. Besides acoustic instruments & sounds from our direct environ, used materials also included recordings of various natives. The Memories of this April 3rd are vague. Vibrations in a vault, in the centre of Berlin. All COLUMN ONE members in white robes... under an Alien-Like God... in catacombs scenery... W.T.5 was recorded the night of August 23rd-24th, 2001 and August 9th, 2010.Continuum is the final chapter in the WORLD TRANSMISSION series. The concept of these five albums, their visual and conceptual direction, was exclusively based on the artificial body that is “COLUMN ONE”. It was the perified root of this body that was buried in a pile of plastic, only to grow wondours blooklooms from time to time . In a time when museums still had doors and wordswere barked into megaphones on the quiet. The showcasehad been open long, the root penetrates other layer of Earth and vestows peace upon collectrors of spores and seeds. Continuum,. Upwards. Across narrow paths and overgrown rocks the calling and creaking loses itself in the treetops. It seems as if one climbs dowb into the coves of forest. The wooden cathedral. Each sound lies naked in the silence of the interior, whle the outside rushes from far above . Protected vt these walls, servants, masters, and rules move avout their empires, sleepwalkinng, floating, Gnawing and devouring, themselves, dragging and circling, tearing and creaking, stomping and buzzing all in one tone. Weighing tons, their craft lies one forest floor, permates and moves it, rises with the fluttering stroke of a wing, and sinks back into the ocean now and then large animals drft through these sacred halls. Kings are they. Lost in reverie they rumble through the trone room. Barley audible, a billion legs tick, like clocks. Crack tiny splinters beneath their feet... https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/w-transmission-1-5-set 2022 €50.00
CONTAGIOUS ORGASM Flows out CD Das Moskauer Label bereits mit dem vierten Release, ein neues sehr sehr ungewöhnliches Werk von HIROSHI HASHIMOTO (inkl. Verstärkung) mit dem genialen Projektnamen. Dies ist "a kind of experimental Mutanten-Pop", ungewöhnliche rhythmische Strukturen & weird Samples, jedes Stück klingt anders, hypnotisch, außerweltlich, analogisch. Kommt in aufwendiger Artwork mit diversen Inlays! „Contagious Orgasm is the band which was always cutting the line of japanese noise units. The music of Hiroshi Hashimoto appears to be much more structured and heavily "composed". Even in early albums released by Tesco and Ant-Zen, one can feel mind warping and challenging atmosphere instead of more usual raw instinctual aggression freed by sound. With every new album, the Contagious Orgasm music becomes more complex and unpredictable. "Flows Out" probably takes the band to the high point of career - to the moment , it's most mature and completed work. It's homogenous, but implicated with a plenty of different elements, not contrary but hardly combined within the noise music unwritten rules. These elements are mostly rhythmic parts related to minimal techno, techno ambient, glitch, electro industrial and even dub and swing grooves, which are fitting perfectly in every aspect of industrial aesthetics which flows out of the album. One can see the organic sounding as the optimizing feature for those who couldn't accept the real voice of nowadays underground. Anyway, this album is the perfect choice for the newcomers and people who never heard this band before. As always for Waystyx, deluxe edition including a set of nice postcards, placed with CD into the black pseudo-digipack. Ltd edition of 777 copies.” (I.E.M. magazine) 2003 €13.00
CONTRASTATE An Exercise in deFascination 7inch "The two tracks are alternate mixes from our ongoing studio recordings for the next Contrastate album. The album concept is inspired by the Italian giallo films of 1970s. Limited to 250 copies. Why are Flavia’s hands and feet missing? What is she doing in the Nessuno Aslyum? And how did she know about the death of Judge Carnevale? Inspector Qualcuno fights his way through the elite of society and the cabal of capitalism to the corrupt underbelly of a decadent and decaying nation. Until finally confronting a closed-shop cartel hell bent on anti-democratic sabotage for its own personal gain. Active from the late 1980s through to the present day Contrastate have released a number of critically acclaimed albums. Their sound insinuates itself inside the dark ritual ambience of the electronic avant-garde shot through with a vein of experimental noise and stentorian vocals that are strewn amongst touches of industrial surrealism and sonic soundtracks." [label info] "Ah, the 7" format! Sometimes misused by drone musicians, fading in and out a song, but hardly ever a complete rounded song. Contrastate is surely a band that could pull off a great song (as in 'a song') for which this format is well suited. They have been around since close to thirty years now and in the early years, I was a big fan. Their combination of moody electronics, drone experiments, industrial electronics and song format worked great for me, but I found them moving a bit too much in a what I would loosely call ‘gothic’ area when they started to work with vocals. So I am sure I missed out on some development there. It might also be that they aren't as active anymore. These two songs are alternative mixes from pieces that are going to be on the next Contrastate album. The Italian Giallo films of the 1970s inspired the album. ("Giallo is a 20th-century Italian genre of literature and film. Especially outside Italy, Giallo refers specifically to a particular Italian thriller-horror genre that has a mystery or detective elements and often contains slasher, crime fiction, psychological thriller, psychological horror, sexploitation, and, less frequently, supernatural horror elements. In Italy, the term generally denotes thrillers, typically of the crime fiction, mystery, and horror subgenres, regardless of the country of origin.") I don't think I ever saw one; I know, my bad. It makes me not the likeliest candidate to review this, but I would think the title track on side A builds quite a nice, orchestral tension, which would easily a horror or thriller movie. There are some dramatic climaxes along some suspenseful sustaining strings. On 'Spasmo', there are some narrative vocals (lots of reverb!) along with a more radio play like a dialogue of sounds, synthesizers, and bows on the guitars, making it all sound very retro, but I mean that in a very positive way. It reminded me of the first time I heard Contrastate and I was reminded straight away why I like it so much back and still would play with great fondness. Yes, indeed that ambient industrial slightly gothic sound." (FdW/Vital Weekly] 2019 €10.00
  35 Project 10inch "Black Rose Recordings are proud to present the new 10” single from Contrastate containing four brand new tracks. The release will be limited to 250 white vinyl copies and comes in a beautiful gloss finished cover. Active from the late 1980s through to the present day Contrastate have released several critically acclaimed albums. Their early experiments in music were heavily influenced by the industrial and experimental music and art scene of the 70’s and 80’s. Contrastate’s idiosyncratic take on challenging, industrial tinged music has certainly changed and evolved through the years. Their current sound insinuates itself inside the dark ritual ambience of the electronic avant-garde shot through with a vein of experimental noise and stentorian vocals that are strewn amongst touches of industrial surrealism and sonic soundtracks." “Contrastate achieve an amazing equilibrium between organic sound and brooding electronics.” – Heathen Harvest “Contrastate covers a bit of everything in their sound, and that black humor component…makes for a project that I can never predict what they will sound like next, but I know it will be fascinating no matter what” – Brainwashed.com https://www.facebook.com/contrastate/ "Contrastate haben über die Jahr(zehnt)e einen ganz eigenen Klang entwickelt, der sich sicher aus dem reichen Fundus der Industrialculture speist(e), enge Genrekorsetts aber schon früh abstreifte. Sie waren auch vielleicht auf reflektiertere Weise politisch als die an Transgressionen reiche Insustrialszene und klanglich immer im besten Sinne unvorhersehbar. Nach einer etwa zehnjährigen Pause zwischen 2000 und 2010 sind in den letzten Jahren eine Reihe von Aufnahmen veröffentlicht worden. Auf ihrer neuen 10” „35 Project“ finden sich insgesamt vier unbetitelte Stücke. Der erste Track beginnt mit vereinzelten Töne, leichten Dissonanzen, dann setzen melodisch-flächige Sounds ein, die abebben. Eine verfremdete, roboterhafte Stimme deklamiert u.a.: „you do not have the right to physically harm“ oder „you do not have the right to go to war“. Man hört rückwärts abgespielte Stimmen, dunkles Pulsieren und von leichter Unruhe durchzogene ambiente Passagen. Das zweite Stück der A-Seite besteht aus melodischen Flächen und perkussiven Momenten, in Teilen so, als schlage man auf Pauken. Der dritte Track ist von einer melancholischen Melodie durchzogen, in der Ferne tönen Glöckchen, man hört erneut verfremdete Stimmen und dann fast so etwas wie eine opulent klingende verrauschte Orgel. Das letzte Stück ist dagegen treibender und erneut mit verlangsamt-verfremdeter Stimme. Worauf die 10 ” konzeptionell abzielt, bleibt unklar; in einem Promovideo, das die Band anlässlich der Veröffentlichung des Vinyls verfügbar machte, werden Ausschnitte aus Willy Zielkes 1934 erschienenen Film „Das Stahltier“, einem Industrie- und Wirtschaftsfilm über die Reichsbahn, verwendet. Der Film gefiel damals allerdings weder der Reichsbahn noch dem „Dämon aus der Reklame-Abteilung“ (Klaus Mann). „Contrastate’s sound insinuates itself inside the dark ritual ambience of the electronic avant-gard “ heißt es auf ihrer Facebookseite und in der Pressemitteilung wird die Band in einem Spannungsfeld von „dark ritual ambience [und] experimental noise industrial surrealism sonic soundtracks“ verortet. In einem 1991 gemachten Interview meinte Stephen Meixner: „I would like to see Contrastate progressing in new areas with each new release“ – nachträglich kann man feststellen, dass ihm und Contrastate das sicher mehr als gelungen ist und auch diese auf 250 Exemplare in weißem Vinyl limitierte Veröffentlichung bezeugt das." [MG / African Paper] 2022 €16.50
CONTROL Algolagnia CD "For years I have been thinking of re-issuing two Control albums on Freak Animal. Both albums hold the special place for me. First Control album was decent, but as said, it was Algolagnia what really set the tone for Control. It may be hard for newbies to travel back 20 years, and hear how advanced and unique material was then. It set the standard of American power electronics / industrial to unheard level of composition, technical knowhow etc. Also being so unique, that you will recognize Control in few seconds when it starts to play. That can't be said about countless projects. This album has been sold out so long, that while FA has been reissuing selected items from past discography, this was always in my mind as necessary to get reissue." 2022 €13.00
  World of Lies CD "Control "World of Lies" album, that came out c. 15 years ago. There was couple albums between this and Algolagnia. I suggested artist, that what if he would intentionally break the template a bit, of course not completely abandon his style, but my suggestion was to make first vinyl LP of Control, and my hopes was that it would be a bit noisier, a bit less complex, more harsh and direct, a bit more upfront mix of vocals. Kind of capture the aggression we could see in live settings during these years. It felt like LP format would be ideal for it, as it would benefit from more stripped down approach and less massive sub-bass levels and stereo efx that work best on CD. As a result, World of Lies happened. It was certainly all Thomas Garrison's vision, and 100% Control, but indeed mentioning possibility that what I would hope for, resulted Control doing one of his most aggressive and fierce albums!" [Freak Animal] https://control-exsanguinate.bandcamp.com/album/world-of-lies 2022 €13.00
CONTROLLED BLEEDING Distress Signals II LP "Bisher unveröffentlichtes Album auf schwarzem Vinyl Remastert von den Originalbändern Offiziell autorisiert! Eine wunderschöne Vinyl-Version eines bisher unveröffentlichten CONTROLLED BLEEDING Albums, das während der "Distress-Signals-Session" entstand. Der Gründer von CONTROLLED BLEEDING, Paul Lemos, bestand darauf, dass es zwei "Distress Signals"-Alben gibt, von dem eines nie veröffentlicht wurde. Nun wird es über Artoffact Records auf Vinyl erscheinen." www.artoffact.com 2016 €22.00
Larva Lumps and Baby Bumps do-LP "Artoffact Records ist stolz das erste neue Studioalbum von CONTROLLED BLEEDING seit 2002 präsentieren zu dürfen! "Larva Lumps And Baby Bumps" ist ein bemerkenswertes Album: es verschmelzt nahtlos Industrial Noise und Prog Rock in einem wunderschönen, modernen stream-of-consciousness-Werk, das zugleich brachial und liebevoll ist. Das Album wurde von Martin Bisi aufgenommen (SWANS, WHITE ZOMBIE, JOHN ZORN) und das Cover wurde von Gregory Jacobsen (LOVELY LITTLE GIRLS) gestaltet. Der erste Track des Albums wird im Wall Street Journal premiert. Das Album erscheint in einem wunderschön gestalteten Gatefold-Cover." www.artoffact.com 2016 €38.00
  Blistered Bags of Fodder Swaying 10 x CD 10CD Bound Book! Vinyl-sized bound book containing 10 CDs and 24 pages, including artwork reproductions and an essay by Paul Lemos. The period between 1985 and 1988 was the most productive in the long history of Controlled Bleeding. No fewer than 13 albums and three split works were released in this short timeframe, starting with Death in the Cameroon, and including other releases on Sub Rosa, Dossier, and many others. Founder Paul Lemos, along with long-time members Joe Papa and Chris Moriarty produced material relentlessly over this three to four year span, experimenting with noise, industrial, tribal sounds, goth, ethereal, and ambient music. In hind-sight, this furious output set the stage for Controlled Bleeding's more famous Wax Trax works, but the material itself found its way to every corner of the experimental world, and it influenced everyone. Artoffact Records is proud to announce a 10CD collection of Controlled Bleeding material, released between 1985 and 1988, much of which has been out of print for decades. The set starts with the tape-only Death in the Cameroon, and includes seven more Controlled Bleeding albums, including Headcrack, which has never been released on CD. Also included are two Controlled Bleeding off-shoots: the industrial one-off project The Art Barbeque, from 1985, and the Lemos / Papa collaboration Music For Stolen Icon from 1986. The set includes large-size reproductions of the front and back covers of each release, as well as a longform essay by Paul Lemos. All material has been remastered and restored. CD Contents: 1. Death in the Cameroon 2. The Art Barbeque "Feet Hacked Rails" 3. Headcrack 4. Between Tides 5. Curd 6. Core 7. Paul Lemos & Joe Papa "Music for Stolen Icon" 8. Music For the Scourging Ground 9. Music For Gilded Chambers 10. Songs From the Drain 2018 €50.00
COPH NIA / MINDSPAWN Erotomechaniks II CD raubbau is delighted to present this transatlantic collaboration, sequel to the enormously well-received, yet regrettably rare first part of 2005. “erotomechaniks II” is a dark ambient delicacy in seven parts, all very concise tracks with a defined structure, never getting lost in sound as such. the overall subject matter is perfectly specified by the title: the meeting of machinery with eroticism, of precision with yearning, of industrial with human sounds. it was after his occult pop masterpiece “lashtal lace” in 2014 that mikael aldén aka coph nia felt a certain creative drain, so obviously he turned away from the song structures and emotional range of said album and sought to return to what is his own roots as well as his shared history of dark ambient industrial with us-based artist mindspawn: gene williams is a recognized multifaceted visual and musical artist, as much a seasoned producer (active since around 1980) as he is obscure. the combination of these two creative minds makes for the special tension of their collaborative work. “erotomechaniks I” was one of those albums that were received with rave reviews and enormous enthusiasm, but never found the wide audience it might have deserved due to the limited nature of its release. now, with a definite resurgence of interest in that particular style, it’s the perfect time for erotomechaniks II. it’s from the very first hum of “hive mechanics” that the listener feels a fragile comfort, an inescapable enchantment to the otherworld, before the antagonistic metal scrapes set in – and from there the trademark dualism of the album perseveres: the continued clash of the carnal with the constructed. erotomechaniks II is perfectly balanced, with the industrial sounds never pushing towards overt aggression, and the human sounds - like the subtle moans in “lust transformer” - never diverting the abstract nature of the album. all of the tracks clock in around the sevenminute- mark and build an intriguing suspense; that, combined with the sublime sound design, makes erotomechaniks II a prime choice for the dark ambient massive. www.raubbau.org 2016 €13.00
COPH'ANTAE TRYR Research Chronicles 2007-2009 do-CD "A superb collection of 4 albums (!) from the protagonist of New Drone Music Generation was released on 11/09/11. The Russian project Coph’antae Tryr presents its 2CD incl. 4 albums by this Ambient / Experimental drone sculpturist. Coph`antae Tryr is a way of an enlightenment and clearing by injections of medical enzymes in subconsciousness to study and learn other, undercover, dark corners of a universe and places where it is simply impossible to get physically. Where Coph is the axe of clearing opening a window to light, „Lux resplendens“ (dazzling Light), Antae – a barrier constraining consciousness and a body, and Tryr – a medicine. Demirod & Gridaltlryn: Solemn and melancholy sagas, with sensation of extreme weight, places slightly opening, and even flinging the doors open in Next world and infernal life measurements. Kyrleet & Redoran: That uneasy, the thoughtful sagas, baring horrible essence, denying rational philosophical concepts and self-confident claims for pansophy." [label info] www.horus.cz 2011 €16.50
CORTINI, ALESSANDRO Sonno do-LP "Much needed re-press of Alessandro Cortini's 2014 debut album for Hospital Productions, a much sought-after and highly immersive suite recorded using a minimal setup in hotel rooms across the globe while on tour as part of Nine Inch Nails. Cortini is best known as the lead electronics performer in Nine Inch Nails’, but in recent years his work as ‘Sonoio' and a pair of fine albums for Important Records under his own name have highlighted his own individual productions. Known as one of the pre-eminent Buchla masters in North America, Cortini makes a surprising departure on 'Sonno' by making use of little more than a Roland MC 202 fed through a delay pedal and ambient sound recordings taken in various hotel rooms recorded direct, sometimes into a small portable speaker system. “I liked to walk around the room with a handheld recorder to hear where the sequence would sound better, turn on faucets, open doors or windows to see how the ambient sounds would interact with the MC 202/delay/speaker sound…” The result is a beautiful, evocative, highly unusual suite of tracks, quite removed from the Modular/Kosmische revivalism that’s been so preeminent over the last decade. ‘Sonno' is soaked in atmosphere, those background recordings imbuing proceedings with a fizzing resonance that’s impossible to recreate artificially, making for essential listening for anyone who can’t get enough of classic material from ENO or AFX and bored with cheap imitations." [Boomkat] "One of the most unlikely moments of musical philosophy surely comes from the mouth of Peep Show's Super Hans when, while pressing a bass synth note, he utters the immortal line, "remember, the longer the note, the more dread." And of course he's right. Ambient music has long utilised the idea of drones and sustained notes to invoke such feelings. Like the musical equivalent of the Deleuzeian time-image, the long drone highlights the breakdown of sound that's organised by rhythms and movement, creating in its place a sense of memory and history, with the pitch and timbres of the sound opening and unfolding to our ears. Alessandro Cortini is a musician who's fast being recognised as a master at manipulating sound and time. A long-time connoisseur of analogue and modular synths, when he's not performing as a member of Nine Inch Nails, he is more likely to be seen on YouTube videos tinkering and messing around with huge modular synth racks. His solo discography of synth music, in particular the album Sonno he released last year on Hospital Records, shows a musician capable of creating ambient music of eerie and physical uneasiness. With its thick, crepuscular drones and tape hiss textures, Cortini draws out the sense of the uncanny, his music a soundtrack to those night time non-spaces built by but uninhabited by humanity; multi-storey car parks, office spaces, industrial parks, hotel and office corridors. Cortini now brings us Risveglio, a follow-up and continuation to Sonno. Like Sonno, Risveglio is an album created under severe restrictions and economy, composed while Cortini was on tour with NiN, with the tracks recorded in hotel rooms with a portable studio recorder. The capturing of fleeting moments of music on the hoof can be heard in instances on 'Dormiveglia,' which inexplicably stops less than 30 seconds in, while 'Ricadere' has fluctuating recording levels and the sound of cables being unplugged during the song. While Sonno was made with a single Roland MC-202 synthesiser/sequencer, Cortini, with Risveglio, adds a synched TB-303 bass synth. In terms of self-imposed limits, Cortini's setup is a closed system on starvation rations, with only Andreas Tilliander's TM-404 alter ego (where he uses combinations of nine pieces of classic Roland equipment) coming close to such levels of creative austerity. The inclusion of a TR-606 drum machine on the final track, 'La Sveglia (Drum Version)', feels gaudy and ostentatious in comparison. Despite such minimal and spartan conditions, Cortini makes his two machines sing to each other on Risveglio, creating remarkably dense soundscapes that bubble and oscillate in their own world. The opening two tracks, 'Stambecco' and 'La Sveglia', highlight how the TB-303, if not adding distinct rhythm, introduces a sense of movement to Risveglio’s sonic space imbibing a purpose of action to Cortini's music. While the bass purrs and burbles in the background, Cortini inflicts queasy pitch-shifting notes reminiscent of Boards Of Canada at their most hypnagogic. These two elements or movement and sound, reach their highpoint on 'Rispetto', a track with crumpled clicks and pings that echo through darkened zones. Despite the introduction of movement to Cortini's music, Risveglio still contains huge monolithic surges of synthwash drones. 'Lotta' consists of a simple repeating melody structure whose sounds gradually increase in mass until the notes distort and lose their stability, bleeding and dissipating into each other until they become a single mass. 'La Guardia' is one of Risveglio's highlights; a pulsating bass line strafed by single note pulsars and shrieking atmospherics that come to a crushing, noisy conclusion. Risveglio is an album that, while a continuation of Cortini's increasingly esoteric and hermetic journeys to the edges of the analogue synth frontier, actually turns away from the idea that ambient music should be passive and pastoral. Its use of frayed tones and frequencies as the organising basis for movement and propulsion allows the music to seep into the cracks and pores of the space around you, extracting the anxiety and dread inherent hidden in our world around us. Embrace the abyss and enjoy." [The Quietus] 2019 €25.00
  Risveglio do-LP "Much needed new vinyl edition of Nine Inch Nails' synthesist, Alessandro Cortini's much sought-after second album for Hospital productions, originally released in 2015 and out of print since. On 'Risveglio' Cortini animates an enveloping shadowplay of Roland 202 and TB303, here enhanced by the intangible quality provided by ambient room recordings that lend proceedings a mysterious and unquantifiable dimension. It’s easily our favourite Cortini. 'Risveglio' is the 'Awakening' to 'Sonno''s 'Sleep'. Like its predecessor, it was also written and recorded while on tour but, unlike 'Sonno', it syncs his favoured 202 with the unique integers of a TB303, eliding the two via a delay unit to expand his sound without ever losing sight of the crushing harmonic noise romance at its core. It's fair to say that we've never really heard the 303 used quite like this, eviscerated of its usual characteristics and instead used as an electro-acoustic component to convey a ghostly sense of momentum and underlying tension in some of the albums strongest passages. Ultimately, however, it's the perpetually claggy, electro-acoustic atmosphere and desiccated timbre of Cortini's spectres that we find ourselves so enchanted by, operating at liminal levels of ambient biting points similar to his label mate, Kevin Drumm, but guided by a grander, innate sense of gothic emotion. Cortini is a genuine anomaly by today's synth music standards, and 'Risveglio' is a perfect case in point. Classic." [Boomkat] "One of the most unlikely moments of musical philosophy surely comes from the mouth of Peep Show's Super Hans when, while pressing a bass synth note, he utters the immortal line, "remember, the longer the note, the more dread." And of course he's right. Ambient music has long utilised the idea of drones and sustained notes to invoke such feelings. Like the musical equivalent of the Deleuzeian time-image, the long drone highlights the breakdown of sound that's organised by rhythms and movement, creating in its place a sense of memory and history, with the pitch and timbres of the sound opening and unfolding to our ears. Alessandro Cortini is a musician who's fast being recognised as a master at manipulating sound and time. A long-time connoisseur of analogue and modular synths, when he's not performing as a member of Nine Inch Nails, he is more likely to be seen on YouTube videos tinkering and messing around with huge modular synth racks. His solo discography of synth music, in particular the album Sonno he released last year on Hospital Records, shows a musician capable of creating ambient music of eerie and physical uneasiness. With its thick, crepuscular drones and tape hiss textures, Cortini draws out the sense of the uncanny, his music a soundtrack to those night time non-spaces built by but uninhabited by humanity; multi-storey car parks, office spaces, industrial parks, hotel and office corridors. Cortini now brings us Risveglio, a follow-up and continuation to Sonno. Like Sonno, Risveglio is an album created under severe restrictions and economy, composed while Cortini was on tour with NiN, with the tracks recorded in hotel rooms with a portable studio recorder. The capturing of fleeting moments of music on the hoof can be heard in instances on 'Dormiveglia,' which inexplicably stops less than 30 seconds in, while 'Ricadere' has fluctuating recording levels and the sound of cables being unplugged during the song. While Sonno was made with a single Roland MC-202 synthesiser/sequencer, Cortini, with Risveglio, adds a synched TB-303 bass synth. In terms of self-imposed limits, Cortini's setup is a closed system on starvation rations, with only Andreas Tilliander's TM-404 alter ego (where he uses combinations of nine pieces of classic Roland equipment) coming close to such levels of creative austerity. The inclusion of a TR-606 drum machine on the final track, 'La Sveglia (Drum Version)', feels gaudy and ostentatious in comparison. Despite such minimal and spartan conditions, Cortini makes his two machines sing to each other on Risveglio, creating remarkably dense soundscapes that bubble and oscillate in their own world. The opening two tracks, 'Stambecco' and 'La Sveglia', highlight how the TB-303, if not adding distinct rhythm, introduces a sense of movement to Risveglio’s sonic space imbibing a purpose of action to Cortini's music. While the bass purrs and burbles in the background, Cortini inflicts queasy pitch-shifting notes reminiscent of Boards Of Canada at their most hypnagogic. These two elements or movement and sound, reach their highpoint on 'Rispetto', a track with crumpled clicks and pings that echo through darkened zones. Despite the introduction of movement to Cortini's music, Risveglio still contains huge monolithic surges of synthwash drones. 'Lotta' consists of a simple repeating melody structure whose sounds gradually increase in mass until the notes distort and lose their stability, bleeding and dissipating into each other until they become a single mass. 'La Guardia' is one of Risveglio's highlights; a pulsating bass line strafed by single note pulsars and shrieking atmospherics that come to a crushing, noisy conclusion. Risveglio is an album that, while a continuation of Cortini's increasingly esoteric and hermetic journeys to the edges of the analogue synth frontier, actually turns away from the idea that ambient music should be passive and pastoral. Its use of frayed tones and frequencies as the organising basis for movement and propulsion allows the music to seep into the cracks and pores of the space around you, extracting the anxiety and dread inherent hidden in our world around us. Embrace the abyss and enjoy." [The Quietus] 2019 €25.00
COSEY FANNI TUTTI Tutti LP TUTTI is comprised of eight soundscapes: an audio self portrait comprising of manipulated sound recordings from Cosey’s life, music and art: “It’s the only album I’ve made that is an all encompassing statement expressing the totality of my being. A sense of the past in relation to the present and everything in between. TUTTI besteht aus acht Tracks und ist ein Audio-Selbstporträt, das aus manipulierten Tonaufnahmen aus Cosey Fanni Tuttis Leben, Musik und Kunst besteht: "Es ist das einzige Album, das ich gemacht habe, das eine allumfassende Aussage ist, die die Gesamtheit meines Seins ausdrückt. Ein Gefühl der Vergangenheit in Bezug auf die Gegenwart und alles dazwischen." Diese acht Stücke waren ursprünglich als Soundtrack zum autobiografischen Film ,Harmonic Coumaction" konzipiert und wurden im Februar 2017 im Rahmen einer Veranstaltungsreihe zur Retrospektive über COUM Transmissions live aufgeführt. COUM Transmissions war eine subkulturelle Gruppe von britischen Musikern, Undergroundfilmemachern, Aktions- und Konzeptkünstlern, der Cosey anghörte und die Anfang der 1970er Jahre durch aggressive, provokante und schockierend-verstörende Performances medienpräsent auf sich aufmerksam machte und zu den Wegbereitern des späteren Industrial zählt. ,Harmonic Coumaction" wurde ebenfalls als audio-visuelle Installation bei Cosey Fanni Tuttis Einzelausstellung in der Cabinet Gallery, London, präsentiert. Cosey Fanni Tutti erklärt: "Die Arbeit an der Ausstellung COUM Transmissions fiel auch mit dem Schreiben meiner Autobiografie zusammen - dem Sammeln von Archivmaterial und dem Wiedereinbringen in meine Vergangenheit. Meine Arbeit ist ein Kontinuum, die Vergangenheit speist die Gegenwart und umgekehrt. Das Album ist eine Interpretation meiner Vergangenheit und Gegenwart, meines Verständnisses der wechselnden Wahrnehmungen, wie sie sich gegenseitig beeinflussen. Eine Form, die eine andere durch einen metamorphen Prozess erzeugt." Auf ,TUTTI" wurde die Musik aktualisiert und mit Elementen der Original-Tracks ergänzt, die neu aufgenommen und speziell weiterverarbeitet wurden, um ein einzigartiges eigenständiges Dokument zu erstellen, das von der Live-Performance und Installation getrennt ist. Das in ihrem Studio in Norfolk aufgenommene Album, wie auch ihre Debütveröffentlichung ,Time To Tell" von 1982, verbindet Cosey's künstlerische Aktivitäten mit ihrer Erforschung des Sounds: Das autobiografische Thema des Albums ist nicht an eine bestimmte Zeit oder einen bestimmten Ort gebunden, die "Stimmen", Instrumente und Klänge reichen zusammen über Jahrzehnte ihres Lebens, Musik und Kunst. In diesem Zusammenhang verschiebt sich ihr Name ,TUTTI" von seiner Rolle als Substantiv, um das Konzept des Albums perfekt darzustellen und gleichzeitig als Zeichen für Cosey als Künstlerin zu fungieren. ,TUTTI" ist Cosey Fanni Tutti's einziges Soloalbum seit ,Time To Tell" 1982. Sie ist Mitbegründerin von Throbbing Gristle und des Genres Industrial Music, bekannt für ihre Kunst, ihre Arbeit in der Sexindustrie, für ihren Beitrag zur elektronischen Musik als Teil von Chris & Cosey, Carter Tutti und Carter Tutti Void und für ihr bahnbrechendes Solowerk. Ihr Motto: ,Mein Leben ist meine Kunst, meine Kunst ist mein Leben". Coseys Autobiografie ,ART SEX MUSIC" wurde 2017 von Faber & Faber weltweit mit großem Erfolg veröffentlicht, eine japanische Ausgabe ist gerade erschienen, mit weiteren Übersetzungen und einem Hörbuch, das folgen wird. 2019 €29.50
  Tutti CD UTTI is comprised of eight soundscapes: an audio self portrait comprising of manipulated sound recordings from Cosey’s life, music and art: “It’s the only album I’ve made that is an all encompassing statement expressing the totality of my being. A sense of the past in relation to the present and everything in between.” These eight pieces were originally conceived as the soundtrack to the autobiographical film ‘Harmonic Coumaction’, and performed live in February 2017, part of a series of events that accompanied the COUM Transmissions retrospective which opened Hull UK City of Culture 2017. Later that year, ‘Harmonic Coumaction’ was presented as an audio-visual installation for Cosey Fanni Tutti’s solo exhibition at Cabinet Gallery, London. Cosey Fanni Tutti explains: “Working on the COUM Transmissions exhibition also coincided with writing my autobiography - collating archive material and re engaging with my past. My work is a continuum, the past feeding the present and vice versa. The album is an interpretation of my past and present, of my understanding the shifting perceptions of how they inform one another. One form creating another through a metamorphic process.” On TUTTI, the music has been updated and enhanced with elements of the original tracks re-recorded and further processed specifically to create a unique stand-alone document, separate to the live performance and installation. Recorded at Cosey Fanni Tutti’s studio in Norfolk, the album, as on her debut release, Time To Tell, merges Cosey’s art activities with her exploration of sound: The album’s autobiographical theme is not locked into any specific time or place, the ‘voices’, instruments and sounds together span decades of my life, music and art. In this context my name 'TUTTI’ shifts from its role as a noun to perfectly represent the concept of the album, also acting as sign for me the artist. TUTTI is Cosey Fanni Tutti’s only solo album release since 1982’s Time To Tell. Time To Tell was recently given its first release on vinyl, on a long awaited official deluxe edition. The interim years between solo releases has seen a blisteringly prolific output as an artist and musician. Renowned for her art, her work in the sex industry, as co-founder of Industrial music and Throbbing Gristle, and her pioneering electronic music solo and as Chris & Cosey, Carter Tutti and Carter Tutti Void, she has created throughout with the motto “my life is my art, my art is my life”. Cosey’s autobiography ART SEX MUSIC was published to worldwide acclaim by Faber & Faber in 2017, a Japanese edition has just been published with further translations and an audio book to follow. TUTTI TRACK LISTING Tutti Drone Moe Sophic Ripple Split Heliy En Orenda TUTTI besteht aus acht Tracks und ist ein Audio-Selbstporträt, das aus manipulierten Tonaufnahmen aus Cosey Fanni Tuttis Leben, Musik und Kunst besteht: "Es ist das einzige Album, das ich gemacht habe, das eine allumfassende Aussage ist, die die Gesamtheit meines Seins ausdrückt. Ein Gefühl der Vergangenheit in Bezug auf die Gegenwart und alles dazwischen." Diese acht Stücke waren ursprünglich als Soundtrack zum autobiografischen Film ,Harmonic Coumaction" konzipiert und wurden im Februar 2017 im Rahmen einer Veranstaltungsreihe zur Retrospektive über COUM Transmissions live aufgeführt. COUM Transmissions war eine subkulturelle Gruppe von britischen Musikern, Undergroundfilmemachern, Aktions- und Konzeptkünstlern, der Cosey anghörte und die Anfang der 1970er Jahre durch aggressive, provokante und schockierend-verstörende Performances medienpräsent auf sich aufmerksam machte und zu den Wegbereitern des späteren Industrial zählt. ,Harmonic Coumaction" wurde ebenfalls als audio-visuelle Installation bei Cosey Fanni Tuttis Einzelausstellung in der Cabinet Gallery, London, präsentiert. Cosey Fanni Tutti erklärt: "Die Arbeit an der Ausstellung COUM Transmissions fiel auch mit dem Schreiben meiner Autobiografie zusammen - dem Sammeln von Archivmaterial und dem Wiedereinbringen in meine Vergangenheit. Meine Arbeit ist ein Kontinuum, die Vergangenheit speist die Gegenwart und umgekehrt. Das Album ist eine Interpretation meiner Vergangenheit und Gegenwart, meines Verständnisses der wechselnden Wahrnehmungen, wie sie sich gegenseitig beeinflussen. Eine Form, die eine andere durch einen metamorphen Prozess erzeugt." Auf ,TUTTI" wurde die Musik aktualisiert und mit Elementen der Original-Tracks ergänzt, die neu aufgenommen und speziell weiterverarbeitet wurden, um ein einzigartiges eigenständiges Dokument zu erstellen, das von der Live-Performance und Installation getrennt ist. Das in ihrem Studio in Norfolk aufgenommene Album, wie auch ihre Debütveröffentlichung ,Time To Tell" von 1982, verbindet Cosey's künstlerische Aktivitäten mit ihrer Erforschung des Sounds: Das autobiografische Thema des Albums ist nicht an eine bestimmte Zeit oder einen bestimmten Ort gebunden, die "Stimmen", Instrumente und Klänge reichen zusammen über Jahrzehnte ihres Lebens, Musik und Kunst. In diesem Zusammenhang verschiebt sich ihr Name ,TUTTI" von seiner Rolle als Substantiv, um das Konzept des Albums perfekt darzustellen und gleichzeitig als Zeichen für Cosey als Künstlerin zu fungieren. ,TUTTI" ist Cosey Fanni Tutti's einziges Soloalbum seit ,Time To Tell" 1982. Sie ist Mitbegründerin von Throbbing Gristle und des Genres Industrial Music, bekannt für ihre Kunst, ihre Arbeit in der Sexindustrie, für ihren Beitrag zur elektronischen Musik als Teil von Chris & Cosey, Carter Tutti und Carter Tutti Void und für ihr bahnbrechendes Solowerk. Ihr Motto: ,Mein Leben ist meine Kunst, meine Kunst ist mein Leben". Coseys Autobiografie ,ART SEX MUSIC" wurde 2017 von Faber & Faber weltweit mit großem Erfolg veröffentlicht, eine japanische Ausgabe ist gerade erschienen, mit weiteren Übersetzungen und einem Hörbuch, das folgen wird. http://www.coseyfannitutti.com/content/tutti-lp-resources.html 2019 €16.00
COURTIS, ANLA Tape Works CD Eine Art Retrospektive von Solo-Arbeiten des REYNOLS-Kopfes ANLA COURTIS, mit Material datierend von 1991-1998, und das waren wirklich TAPE-Kompositionen im klassischen Sinn, da COURTIS ausschliesslich mit 4-Spur-Rekorder arbeitete…die CD enthält hervorragendes elektro-akustisches Material, kraftvollen Loop- & Schnipsel-Noise, sehr abwechslungsreich und furios.... ...und endlich wird auch einmal erwähnt, dass C.D. (CHRISTIAN DERGARABEDIAN) zur Urbesetzung von REYNOLS gehörte (von 1993 bis Anfang 1995, damals noch unter dem Namen BURT REYNOLS ENSEMBLE). “Anla Courtis continues to produce music and was even quite prolific during his time in Reynols. It goes without saying that Courtis learned a thing or two from his experience in Reynols; and there's a fundamental constant to all of his work: the cassette. One of Reynols' most infamous albums Blank Tapes was pieced together from the endemic hiss from, you guessed it, blank tapes. Far from being an empty album of silences, Blank Tapes is extraordinarily dynamic, amplifying the magnetic energy of the tape hiss into undulating fluctuations that mirror the somatic patterns of the human body. Reynols' tapes have a heart beat, blood pumping through their veins, and oxygen rushing through their lungs. This crudely built anthropomorphism continues in Courtis' work today, as the cassette and the tape deck remain primary tools in his compositional sensibility. Courtis himself explains: "Well to be honest for many years the cassette was the only medium I had to record music. Maybe this is because Argentina is always a bit behind in technology, or because I was never interested in having "the new thing." It might sound ridiculous but mainly my overdubbing work until now has been basically in a Portastudio. Maybe, this is just an old friend I don't think is necessary to leave; but on the other hand, there is a lot you can do with 4 channels... I mean there is no sense to discard old technology because you have a new one. A pen is technology; you don't need to kill the pen because now you have a mouse! In fact there are some things you can do with my old reel-to-reel that you cannot do with a disk drive, I mean pushing the tape, changing the aleatory speed... there are a bunch of unpredictable irregular things you can do with this old machine. In this sense, I think we should find a way to make different technologies live somehow together." It is in this context that Anla Courtis presents Tape Works, a collection of material that dates back to the early '90s. Here, Courtis splatters dense slabs of petrified tones with spasmodic algorithms, dissembodied vocal samples that spiral into a electric chorale, and hot-wired musique concrete techniques, all buried under the weight of the mighty distortion pedal. Once again, all things are possible for Anla Courtis. - Jim Haynes (from the liner notes) "Talking about a tape-works record in the Œ90s might sound rather anachronistic but, be it because of Argentina¹s technology lag or for some other mysterious reason, I did not get hold of a computer to work with sound until 1999. That¹s why the sound experiments I¹ve worked on throughout the last decade are mainly tape explorations. This CD contains a selection of re-mastered tape-works dating from the period 1991-1998." [Anla Courtis] www.pogus.com 2006 €15.00
CRAWLING CHAOS Spookhouse CD "Remember Crawling Chaos? Debuting post-punk art rock ensemble on Factory UK with the single 'Sex Machine'/'Berlin' (1980). They soon got dumped to Factory Benelux (who released their first LP 'The Gas Chair' in early 1982) for being too unclassifiable. Too weird? What else left but to put up their own Foetus Products for the musical output of Crawling Chaos and their many other disguises.... They reached a modest cult status, especially with the LP albums 'The Big C' (1984) and 'Waqqaz' (1985). 'Spookhouse' is a collection of their last ever recordings from 1987, unpublished so far, except for 2 tracks that were previously released before on cassette compilations by EE Tapes in 1987 and 1990. Hey, this is CD EE25, these tracks are 25 years old and this label is exactly 25 years old too this year! Coincidence does exist, let's throw a party! Jeff, this one's for you! Filed under: art rock, psychedelic rock, avantgarde, experimental" [label info] www.eetapes.be "EE Tapes is a very interesting Belgian label that picks hidden gems from the experimental underground scene and present them for audience of today. Present album was originally released 25 years ago - in fact released by a label that also can celebrate its 25th anniversary. The album titled “Spookhouse” comes from the British band Crawling Chaos. The band is stylishly a hard one to pigeonhole. Many styles are emerged to create this cocktail of experimental rock. Throughout the runtime the listener are confronted with everything from sax-driven ska-music across punk rock to something that could have been born in the age of German Krautrock. Especially krautrock-band Amon Düül II crosses my mind as I listen to the “Spookhouse”-album. The sound production of the album is quite raw and unpolished giving a nice feel of authenticity and improvisation. Yet another pearl from the 80’s experimental scene picked by one of Belgium's premium underground labels. Highly recommended." [NM/Vital Weekly] 2012 €13.00
CURD DUCA Waves 1 CD + LP box "Easy listening glitch innovator and pioneer Curd Duca presents his first work in 20 years; tiling 28 gorgeous vignettes in the first of a welcome trilogy for Cologne’s Magazine. Waves 2 and 3 will be released in 2021. Aside from the Austrian artist’s genteel self-released album of accordion cut-ups, ‘Waves 1’ marks the return of a lowkey but vital figure from the ‘90s experimental electronic scene, whose series of LPs (Easy Listening and Elevator), adorned with a distinctive play on a famous logo, caught eyes and ears in record shops around the world via release on Normal and Mille Plateaux, most often making their way to chill-out sessions and the best record collections. Curd Duca’s return could hardly be better timed for an era clearly in need of enchantment and peace, rustling together a spellbinding mosaic of sampled / processed ephemera that uncannily induces hypnagogic states with its succession of soothing but elusive, fragmentary moments. It’s exceptionally well done, constantly spouting with lovely new ideas that evaporate, segue, transition to the next with a illusionist’s sleight-of-hand, adding up to one of the cutest and mercurial albums you’ll cop this year." [Boomkat] "Part of the beauty of Curd Duca’s album lies in the fact that it opens up from so many perspectives. Situated somewhere between pop and avantgarde, it can be seen as a collection of treasures, a commentary on our acoustic environment, as an attempt to dissect the world and to stylize its parts. Some pieces are exaggerations. Some allusions. Others abstractions, parodies, and transfigurations. It is often not so clear if the music is based on a sample or a synthetic sound. This music should not be trivialized or underestimated. With Waves, Duca is exploring the essence of sound, in various layers of meaning. - Björn Gottstein, Donaueschingen Music Festival https://curdduca.bandcamp.com/album/waves-1-2 2020 €22.50
  Waves 3 LP + CD Magazine announces the album Waves 3 by Curd Duca, the third and last part of the trilogy Waves: Austrian electronic composer Curd Duca is widely known for his 1990s series of critically acclaimed easy listening 1-5 (Normal) and elevator 1-3 (Mille Plateaux). After a long break from the studio, Duca has issued part 1 of the Waves series in late 2020 on Magazine WAVES 001LP. This was in fact his first album in 20 years. The Waves recordings pick up the thread of his '90s work and open up a new chapter. Again, everything is shifting constantly and all tracks are quite different (soft, rough, melodic, abstract...), but complement each other in a surprisingly coherent way to form an idiosyncratic universe. While other experimental artists can sound as if they're attempting to lift lead weights over their heads, Duca is content flicking feathers into their faces. After his impressive 1990s/00s run on Normal and Mille Plateaux, Curd Duca had disappeared for 20 years before emerging from the aether last year. The albums of the new Waves trilogy represent a flawless examination of sound and texture. The Vienna-based producer still straddles high and low culture, but approaches his sonics with a more historically aware ear. So plain and resonant gong recordings are placed next to pop music loops and DSP-fractured cut-ups, and icy electronic jams nudge up against cassette warped instrumental sketches. Waves 3 is a continuation and culmination of the series. In the final chapter, you're drawn in with church bells on dome, but quickly transported to another era entirely with the crackly bläser and absurd zither, a tongue-in-cheek plunderphonic experiment assembled from zither samples. Duca follows this evocative run of tracks with a machine-gun blast of experimental sound, from the percussive 500 GRM to the ferric ASMR birdsong of "ziegenmelker." This is Duca at his most uncompromising, grabbing central European culture and dragging it through his array of processes. Playing the album from beginning to end opens up a weightless cut-and-paste mixtape, stitched together with expert foresight and a knowing wink to camera. Like the best psychedelic experiences, memories are triggered and turned inside-out, and knowledge is allowed to blossom. Curd Duca has been refining his process for three decades now, and few artists have quite the same ability to challenge, provoke, and inspire. 2022 €22.50
CURGENVEN, ROBERT Beyond Enclosures 3 x CD "The 3 albums that comprise this set all, at their heart, concern air and the attendant inter-permeability and fluidity of volumes. Be they discretionary or open volumes, architectural or spatiotemporal, each volume is subject to the specificities of: their resonance; the concomitant movements of volumes of air; their locational context and adjacent spaces. The 3 albums present different harmonic, gestural and durational possibilities to encourage us to step out of the perceptual frameworks that enclose us. Each album offers a unique instrumental foundation: experimental turntable techniques interwoven with piano & pipe organ harmonics (Bardo); resonant architectural interventions articulated by custom-made oscillators in post-Communist architectures and their locational context (SPECTRES); extended pipe organ techniques with an accompanying soundsystem that plumbs architectural harmonics and corporeal resonances (Bronze Lands). These works entreat us to think and hear beyond the structures enclosing each instrumental- and performance- approach - the turntable body, the architectural, the pipe organ, the speaker enclosure itself, even the confines of an audience as a gathering - and to also consider these longform works as an inter-related suite of aural and conceptual worlds." https://robertcurgenven.bandcamp.com https://www.recordedfields.net 2021 €27.50
CURRENT 93 When the May Rain comes 12inch "When the May Rain Comes, a cover of a track by Sand, whose work has had a profound affect on Tibet’s work, first appeared on Current 93’s influential album Thunder Perfect Mind. Also appearing on this 12" is an alternate version of the same track from a CD single which accompanied the first 1,000 copies of Tibet and Stapleton’s release of material by Sand, Ultrasonic Seraphim. This 12'' is part of a series of releases from rotorelief comprised of new albums from Sand, a reissue of their album Golem and albums by Nurse with Wound and Current 93. “INXOM” is the series of albums from Sand, the series title having one letter for each album. So, 5 albums of Sand are to be released. Two more albums from Nurse with Wound and Current 93, two groups who helped bring to light the mystery that is Sand, increase the number of letters in the title. With these last two albums the series becomes INXODEM. His First Steps – Golem - Desert Navigation - Sylph Ballet – North Atlantic Raven. And Chromanatron by Nurse With Wound and When the May Rain Comes, cover versions of Sand by Current 93." [label info] http://rotorelief.com 2010 €19.50
The Moons at your Door CD "A very spooky album from Current 93, which finds David Tibet working alongside Andrew Liles as his only comrade in arms; this was released in conjunction with a book of the same title of macabre tales that Tibet compiled for Strange Attractor Press. This is not the avant-folk minstrel side of Current 93, but the devilish abstraction of dark, sicktone sound design, overlaid with a deconstructed collage of a gravel throated gentleman (not Tibet) reciting and chanting in monotone various elements from the book. Yes, this does hark back to the Crowleyian incantations from Current 93's Nature Unveiled and the Thomas Ligotti collaborations In A Foreign Land, In A Foreign Town and I Have A Special Plan For This World. These albums continue to appear within Current 93's visionary work, and always act as huge gravity well, grasping from depths of the macabre and the supernatural. Nightmare music, par excellance!" [Aquarius Records] www.davidtibet.com 2016 €17.50
If a City is set upon a Hill [coloured vinyl] LP "Das neue Current 93-Album verweist mit dem auf den ersten Blick untypischen Fliesen-Artwork, auf denen der Mord Kains an Abel dargestellt ist, auf Current 93s „Rockalbum“ „Aleph At Hallucinatory Mountain“, auf dem es hieß: „In the beginning was the murderer“. Musikalisch-personell knüpft es stark an das 2018 erschienene Album „The Light Is Leaving Us All“ an, wurde „If A City Is Set Upon A Hill“ doch in fast der gleichen Besetzung aufgenommen – im direkten Vergleich ist „If A City“ vielleicht etwas elegischer und mit seinen sieben Stücken und 37 Minuten Laufzeit recht kurz, dabei allerdings nicht weniger gehaltvoll. Schaut man in die Entwicklung Current 93s, dann ist es sicher kein Zufall, dass viele der als Referenzwerke gesehenen Alben aus den 90ern, die nicht unerheblich zum Kultstatus des Projekts um David Tibet beigetragen haben, durch eine relativ stabile Kernbesetzung eingespielt wurden und darüberhinaus eine Vielzahl starker – solch ein Begriff mag bezogen auf Current 93 vielleicht etwas profan anmuten – Songs enthielten. Die Qualität der einzelnen Stücke trug dann auch sicher nicht unerheblich dazu bei, dass das 2018 erschienene „The Light Is Leaving Us All“ das vielleicht stärkste Album seit “Black Ships Ate The Sky” war. Seit “The Light…” erschienen die weitgehend instrumentalen, von Soundscapes durchzogenen Alben „Invocations Of Almost“, „If A Star Turns Into Ashes“ sowie die beiden Soloalben Tibets („Ferelith“ und „Fontelautus“), die in ihrer somnambulen (Alp-)Traumatmosphäre und atmosphärischen Dichte zumindest zum Teil an das Verstörende und Irritierende des Frühwerks anknüpften. Das schon vorab veröffentlichte das Album eröffnende „If A City…“ legt den Ton, die Stimmung fest: Im Zusammenspiel von Drones, Klavier und Geige entsteht ein elegisch-melancholisches Stück und Tibet, der hier – wie schon auf seinen Soloalben – nur noch unter seinem Vornamen firmiert, intoniert: „If under G+D’s Wing/By the JawBone and HeeHaw/The donkey creeps silently/Through the door in the hall/Then plague and mice/And the woodlice stream…“. Wenn man einem Instrument eine tragende und zentrale Rolle zusprechen will, so dann sicher der von Aloma Ruis Boada gespielten Geige, die das gesamte Album prägt. Auf „There Is No Zodiac“ setzt der dezente Einsatz von E-Gitarre leicht dissonate Akzente. Auf dem dann folgenden „Joke Moon“ gibt es ein fantastisches Zusammenspiel von Alisdair Roberts wunderschön gezupfter Gitarre und der Violine. Auch auf „A Column Of Dust“ erzeugen Gitarre und Geige und der dramatische Gesang Tibets eine beeindruckende Atmosphäre – man möchte dem von ihm besungenen “Final Express Train” nicht unbedingt begegnen. „The Child, And Fire” erinnert mit seinen Pianopassagen entfernt an „Soft Black Stars“. Textlich finden sich die thematischen Obsessionen, die das Werk Current 93s seit Jahr(zehnt)en prägen: Apokalyptische Szenarien werden entworfen: „It it rains razors, and murders, and slaughters“, „The Moon is dead now—Joke Moon!“, „A castle or Moloch“, „And the noise in your eyes/Has the rumours of wings/And the fly and the hornet/From the Scorpion RainBow“, „In the walls the colourful cartoons/Are covered with sores“), das Zusammenspiel von Profanem und Erhabenem („In time for tea, in time for end“), Nursery Rhymes („By the butcher, and the baker, /And the candlestick maker“, “Just memories stretched out/From nursery rhymes or spectres”), (der) Gott in all seiner Ambivalenz: „Vengence in His Eye/I AM THE LORD! – THE KILLER AND THE CREATOR“. Muss man beim Titel des Albums vielleicht unweigerlich an die von John Winthrops aus der Bergpredigt (“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden“) entlehnte Fortmulierung denken, der so eine zentrale Rolle beim Selbstverständnis der amerikanischen Nation zukommt, denken, erfährt man im Booklet, dass die Inspiration für das Album ein akkadischer Text namens „If A City Is Set Upon A Height“ ist. Passenderweise dankt Tibet im Booklet seinen Hebräisch-, Akkadisch-, Koptisch- und Ugaritischlehrern, erneut sein Interesse an (ur-)alten Sprachen, am logos betonend, der ja “im Anfang” war. Letztlich ist es so erfreulich wie erstaunlich, dass nach dem fast 40-jährigen Bestehen Current 93s, “your favourite hallucinatory skipping-rope”, wie es auf dem Albumcover heißt, noch immer Alben entstehen, die beeindrucken können und beeindruckend sind und ein Spätwerk einläuten, das viel verspricht." [MG, African Paper] 2022 €37.50
  If a City is set upon a Hill CD "Das neue Current 93-Album verweist mit dem auf den ersten Blick untypischen Fliesen-Artwork, auf denen der Mord Kains an Abel dargestellt ist, auf Current 93s „Rockalbum“ „Aleph At Hallucinatory Mountain“, auf dem es hieß: „In the beginning was the murderer“. Musikalisch-personell knüpft es stark an das 2018 erschienene Album „The Light Is Leaving Us All“ an, wurde „If A City Is Set Upon A Hill“ doch in fast der gleichen Besetzung aufgenommen – im direkten Vergleich ist „If A City“ vielleicht etwas elegischer und mit seinen sieben Stücken und 37 Minuten Laufzeit recht kurz, dabei allerdings nicht weniger gehaltvoll. Schaut man in die Entwicklung Current 93s, dann ist es sicher kein Zufall, dass viele der als Referenzwerke gesehenen Alben aus den 90ern, die nicht unerheblich zum Kultstatus des Projekts um David Tibet beigetragen haben, durch eine relativ stabile Kernbesetzung eingespielt wurden und darüberhinaus eine Vielzahl starker – solch ein Begriff mag bezogen auf Current 93 vielleicht etwas profan anmuten – Songs enthielten. Die Qualität der einzelnen Stücke trug dann auch sicher nicht unerheblich dazu bei, dass das 2018 erschienene „The Light Is Leaving Us All“ das vielleicht stärkste Album seit “Black Ships Ate The Sky” war. Seit “The Light…” erschienen die weitgehend instrumentalen, von Soundscapes durchzogenen Alben „Invocations Of Almost“, „If A Star Turns Into Ashes“ sowie die beiden Soloalben Tibets („Ferelith“ und „Fontelautus“), die in ihrer somnambulen (Alp-)Traumatmosphäre und atmosphärischen Dichte zumindest zum Teil an das Verstörende und Irritierende des Frühwerks anknüpften. Das schon vorab veröffentlichte das Album eröffnende „If A City…“ legt den Ton, die Stimmung fest: Im Zusammenspiel von Drones, Klavier und Geige entsteht ein elegisch-melancholisches Stück und Tibet, der hier – wie schon auf seinen Soloalben – nur noch unter seinem Vornamen firmiert, intoniert: „If under G+D’s Wing/By the JawBone and HeeHaw/The donkey creeps silently/Through the door in the hall/Then plague and mice/And the woodlice stream…“. Wenn man einem Instrument eine tragende und zentrale Rolle zusprechen will, so dann sicher der von Aloma Ruis Boada gespielten Geige, die das gesamte Album prägt. Auf „There Is No Zodiac“ setzt der dezente Einsatz von E-Gitarre leicht dissonate Akzente. Auf dem dann folgenden „Joke Moon“ gibt es ein fantastisches Zusammenspiel von Alisdair Roberts wunderschön gezupfter Gitarre und der Violine. Auch auf „A Column Of Dust“ erzeugen Gitarre und Geige und der dramatische Gesang Tibets eine beeindruckende Atmosphäre – man möchte dem von ihm besungenen “Final Express Train” nicht unbedingt begegnen. „The Child, And Fire” erinnert mit seinen Pianopassagen entfernt an „Soft Black Stars“. Textlich finden sich die thematischen Obsessionen, die das Werk Current 93s seit Jahr(zehnt)en prägen: Apokalyptische Szenarien werden entworfen: „It it rains razors, and murders, and slaughters“, „The Moon is dead now—Joke Moon!“, „A castle or Moloch“, „And the noise in your eyes/Has the rumours of wings/And the fly and the hornet/From the Scorpion RainBow“, „In the walls the colourful cartoons/Are covered with sores“), das Zusammenspiel von Profanem und Erhabenem („In time for tea, in time for end“), Nursery Rhymes („By the butcher, and the baker, /And the candlestick maker“, “Just memories stretched out/From nursery rhymes or spectres”), (der) Gott in all seiner Ambivalenz: „Vengence in His Eye/I AM THE LORD! – THE KILLER AND THE CREATOR“. Muss man beim Titel des Albums vielleicht unweigerlich an die von John Winthrops aus der Bergpredigt (“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden“) entlehnte Fortmulierung denken, der so eine zentrale Rolle beim Selbstverständnis der amerikanischen Nation zukommt, denken, erfährt man im Booklet, dass die Inspiration für das Album ein akkadischer Text namens „If A City Is Set Upon A Height“ ist. Passenderweise dankt Tibet im Booklet seinen Hebräisch-, Akkadisch-, Koptisch- und Ugaritischlehrern, erneut sein Interesse an (ur-)alten Sprachen, am logos betonend, der ja “im Anfang” war. Letztlich ist es so erfreulich wie erstaunlich, dass nach dem fast 40-jährigen Bestehen Current 93s, “your favourite hallucinatory skipping-rope”, wie es auf dem Albumcover heißt, noch immer Alben entstehen, die beeindrucken können und beeindruckend sind und ein Spätwerk einläuten, das viel verspricht." [MG / African Paper] 2022 €18.50
CYCLOTIMIA Music for Stockmarkets CD Das russische Projekt mit einem kritischen Werk zur Konsumgesellschaft & Finanzwirtschaft, eingespielt auf original russischen "Vintage Electronic" Geräten! "Cyclotimia is a project from Russia and have created some very good and interesting albums. Albums like ‘Same Time Same Place’, ‘Wasteland’ and ‘Celestis’ are a combination of spatial ambient and IDM glitch, aided with the use of lush synthesizers. The music often times is very deep and free interpretable. A recurring theme for this project is the world of stockmarkets. With this new album ‘Music for Stockmarkets’, stockmarkets is the essential theme and motive. Though the album ventures into the typical Cyclotimia topics, it doesn’t sound at all like the former albums. Well, maybe in some places, but its most of all a totally different experience. Gone are the deep soundscapes as the music is stripped to its bare essential. With a fast listening, it reminds me of music created in the Amiga era, but upon closes inspection, the music is rather layered and there is a lot to be discovered here. The album consists of a lot of bleeps and clicks and cuts, but there is also room for the occasional (piano) melody, together with different sampled sources. The great thing about this album is that it’s very subliminal and can sometimes have a rather disturbing feeling to it. A lot of tracks are very clinical in its approach, but it is interspersed with more layered tracks and deeper sounds. This is really an album which should be listened to with headphones and requires your full attention. If listened to rather superficially, the album can seem somewhat boring, because all the details are missed, which is the essential of this interesting work. It is music that can be difficult and cryptic, but that’s also the beauty of this album, which turns the music into a piece of art. The music therefore isn’t for everyone, because it’s not a ‘fun’ album. It’s maybe more academic, but with a more human approach. Hard to describe, you just have to listen to it. The artwork is also very nice and really makes the experience complete. The album gets a high recommendation because of its originality, but only to the more advanced listeners of experimental music, but a great album nonetheless." [Gothtronic] "Cyclotimia is most probably the only project in the world which has chosen the creation of a soundtrack to "globalisation" and life of the "consumer society" as their concept. The project members more than anyone else are immersed into the magic of finance and probably therefore has their creative intuition allowed them to compose the main part of "Music for Stockmarkets" with its unforgivingly precise name "Wallstreet Requiem". Today the whole civilised world is listening to this requiem the first cords of which were played on Wall Street itself... The "Music for Stockmarkets" album with its radically experimental nature stands out in the extensive discography of this Moscow project. The 64-minute album includes 32 tracks divided into three conceptual parts: "Wallstreet Requiem" (25 minutes, recorded in 2004-2007), "Trivial Pleasures" (26 minutes, recorded in 2002, this part was the only one released as a seperate CD in 2003) and "Financial Glossary" (13 minutes, recorded in 2003)... The music material itself is nothing like the one heard in the previous records of Cyclotimia. There is no apocalyptic soundscapes of "Wasteland" times, no cybernetic hi-tech and media madness of "E$chaton", no cosmic downtempo of "Celestis: Space Ceremonial Music"... Minimalism, academic sterility, surgical accuracy and meditative ataraxy prevail on "Music for Stockmarkets". Then again it is not the familiar "idm", "glitch", "noise", "clicks and cuts" and not "minimal techno"... The sound of the album is chrystal-clear and warm at the same time. "Vintage" lovers have a wonderful chance to listen to the masterpieces of Soviet music production (such as Rhythm 1, Rhythm 2, Aelita, Formanta UDS, Formanta EMS-01, Polyvox) in pure sound, unprocessed by effects." [label info] 2008 €13.00
D.D.A.A. (DEFICIT DES ANNEES ANTERIEURS) // DDAA Pourriture Cubique CD "We are proud to present the new album by legendary French avantgarde group DDAA. Active since 1979, they have developed their unique sound that has produced classic albums like "Ronsard", "Action and Japanese Demonstration" or more recently the collaboration "Cinq Faux Nids Six Fauz Nez" with jazz band Palo Alto. One of the longest surviving groups from the classical avantgarde. If you like Jacques Berrocal, Ghedalia Tazartes or HNAS (with whom the band have released a split 7"), you will love DDAA. But why explain a band who should be part of every record collection anyway? Go and buy DDAA. All of their records." [label info] www.klanggalerie.com 2012 €14.50
  Objet: When a Cap is raising CD Jean-Luc André, Sylvie Martineau-Fee and Jean-Philippe Fee started DDAA (Deficit Des Annees Anterieures) in 1977. They are pioneers of the French experimental and indie scene, also connected with Industrial 80s music and audiovisual projects. Approaching music in a completely unique way, and brilliantly produced by their own Illusion Production label (with more 40 published items), DDAA was and is undoubtedly one of the most legendary groups of the French underground for the past 30 years. Their early albums are classics - the self-titled debut, Action and Japanese Demonstration or Les Ambulants (re-issued and still available on Klanggalerie) are a must-have for every connoisseur of usual music. They appeared on the compilation album of music by outsider artist Adolf Wölfli alongside Nurse With Wound and Graeme Revell of SPK. The 10" album When A Cap Is Raising came out originally in 1988 on UK label Big Noise in Archgate. For this re-issue, the band has remastered the music and added bonus tracks from the compilation album Objet, and other sources, some previously unavailable. Full tracklist: 1. Chemin De Pierre 2. Little Boy 3. Exploration 4. Kembou 5. Geisha Girl 6. Passage On Nihon Bridge 7. Territoire Interdit 8. Dig It's Dig 9. Pourquoi Un Homme Est-il Un Homme Et Un Chat, Un Chat? 10. La Roue De Bicyclette 11. Mother With A Big Cake 12. Driving My Car With A Cigarette 13. Fonderie Sablage 14. Sonorisation Par Le Sol 15. A Fond Les Manettes 16. Sous Le 5eme Rideau. https://www.klanggalerie.com/gg379 2022 €15.00
DAKOTA SUITE The Night just keeps coming in CD "Tieftraurige Melodien und melancholische Schwermut zeichnen den Singer/Songwriter Chris Hooson von Dakota Suite aus. Das waren auch die Hauptanregungen der letzten Platte "The End Of Trying", welche Anfang 2009 erschien. Das Nachfolgealbum "The Night Just Keeps Coming In" wiederum enthält Versionen und Remixe von einer illustren Schar Musikern aus den Bereichen neuer und elektronischer Musik. Auf Hoosons eigenem Label Navigators Yard erschien bereits 2009 eine auf 300 Exemplare limitierte Auflage des Albums. Die Originale erzählen von Kummer und Schmerz des Komponisten aus Leeds. Künstler wie Machinefabriek, Peter Broderick und The Boats hauchen den einzelnen Tracks ein völlig neues Leben ein. Dadurch wirken die einzelnen Lieder graziöser (Jasper Leylands "Hands Swollen With Grace"), tragischer (Hauschkas "A Quietly Gathering Tragedy") und manchmal auch unheimlich wie Elegis "All The Love I Had Was Not Enough". Neben der CD wird es auch eine streng limitierte Vinylauflage geben. *** 01. Machinefabriek „One Day Without Harming You“ // 02. Peter Broderick „This Failing Sea“ // 03. Jasper Leyland „Hands Swollen With Grace“ // 04. Hauschka „A Quietly Gathering Tragedy“ // 05. Elegi „All The Love I Had Was Not Enough“ // 06. Deaf Center „Very Early Morning On Old Road“ // 07. Arve Henriksen „The End Of Trying Part 1“ // 08. Greg Haines „The End Of Trying Part 2“ // 09. Hannu „The End Of Trying Part 3“ // 10. Tape „The End Of Trying Part 4“ // 11. Swod „Een Langzaam Lekkende Wond“ // 12. The Boats „The Night Keeps Coming In“ // 13. Jacaszek „How Could You Let Me Go“ // 14. Emanuele Errante „Second Hand Light“ // 15. Loscil „Things We Lost Along The Way“ // 16. Dakota Suite & Nick Hawley „Z-Cars“ " [label info] 2009 €15.50
DANIELL, DAVID & DOUGLAS MCCOMBS Sycamore LP David Daniell and Douglas McCombs's first collaborative LP, Sycamore, was assembled from seven hours of in-studio improvisations. Daniell and McCombs sifted through the material looking for their favorite moments, then combined, cross faded, mixed, and matched those moments into something that made sense to them as a long player. For their new release, the double LP Versions, they gave the same seven hours of material to noted recording engineer and producer Ken Brown (ex-Tortoise), who was given free rein to assemble an LP of his choosing (subject to approval, of course). The results are fantastic. Brown has chosen to highlight moments in the music that the normally reserved Daniell and McCombs probably would not have chosen. There's a wider dynamic range on Versions, from brutally raw to delicate to practically inaudible. The other interesting aspect is that Brown's selections rarely cross over with the material on Sycamore--this is in no way a "remix," and that is exactly what Daniell and McCombs were hoping for. In addition, Versions includes a second LP of two live performances. These were chosen to show how Daniell and McCombs's music develops in a live setting. Improvising in a recording studio and improvising in front of an audience are two vastly different things. Montreal and Knoxville were two of Daniell and McCombs's favorite performances from their tours together. Over the years Daniell has collaborated with many notable musicians, including Loren Connors, Rhys Chatham, Tim Barnes, Jeph Jerman, Thurston Moore, Greg Davis, and Jonathan Kane, as well as releasing numerous albums under his own name and with his band San Agustin on labels such as Table of the Elements and Family Vineyard. McCombs is more often seen wielding a bass guitar, whether as a member of Eleventh Dream Day, the acoustic collective Pullman, or the pioneering and inimitable Tortoise; in his role as the driving force behind Brokeback; or through his varied work with the likes of Tom Ze, Azita Youseffi, Will Oldham, Yo La Tengo, and Calexico. www.thrilljockey.com/artists/david-daniell-and-douglas-mccombs https://daviddaniellanddouglasmccombs.bandcamp.com/album/sycamore 2009 €20.00
DEAD VOICES ON AIR Bundle 1995-2013 CD “Bundle 1995-2013″ stands as a career spanning primer into the challenging and innovative musical world of “Dead Voices On Air”. Mark Spybey has worked under the name Dead Voices On Air for 20 years, following his departure from Zoviet-France. He's released 15 albums and collaborated with an impressive list of people, including members of Can, Faust, Throbbing Gristle, Swans, cEvin Key, and others. Bundle 1995 2013 stands as a career-spanning primer into the challenging and innovative musical world of Dead Voices On Air. Spybey began working as DVOA in 1992 in the wake of relocating from his native Britain to Canada. Employing processed sounds generated by primitive instruments and childrens toys, and eschewing the standard sequencers and samplers, he began sculpting experimental soundscapes. Haunting drones and echoes of vocal murmurs are layered with noisier elements to create an intense, engaging sonic experience." [label info] www.metropolis-records.com 2013 €15.00
  Abrader Redux CD The hugely sought-after debut album from Dead Voices On Air (Mark Spybey of Download/ ex-Zoviet France, Reformed Faction), featuring Cevin Key (Skinny Puppy/Download). Abrader blends processed sounds from primitive instruments and found objects into hypnotic looped rhythmic structures, with dark clusters of heavy ambient washes into what could be described as "organic panambience", or "music for the eyes". Abrader was the first of over 80 releases (so far) by Mark Spybey using the name Dead Voices On Air. It was recorded over the space of days in Vancouver in 1993 and released as a tape the following year by Akifumi Nakajima (Aube), for his G.R.O.S.S. label. Chronologically, the material was recorded after most of the music that made up his first two releases on compact disc -- New Words Machine and Hafted Maul -- however, Abrader was released before both of those albums. Abrader Redux features the three lengthy tracks that were released on the original cassette, plus the bonus tracks that were included in the 2009 reprint as part of the Fast Falls The Eventide double-CD, and now with two "new" previously-unreleased bonus tracks recorded 1994 -- taking this masterwork up to seven tracks and over 67 minutes of exceptional music. This release is dedicated to the memory of both Akifumi Nakajima and Zev Asher who both passed away in 2013. Spybey was introduced to Akifumi by his friend from Vancouver, Zev Asher. Zev had a noise project called Roughage and was also in a band called Nimrod, that had at one time been based in Japan. Remastered by Martin Bowes from Attrition. Packaged in a matt-laminate digipak with art by Spybey, beautifully laid out by Abby Helasdottir. "If most ambient is the laudanum of the new fin de siécle, then Dead Voices on Air are the absinthe" --Village Voice. https://coldspring.bandcamp.com/album/abrader-redux-csr320cd 2023 €15.00
DEAD VOICES ON AIR & SIMON FISHER TURNER MzMzLaLaLa 7inch "This single is a double A side and is the first of the DVOA@20 series. Side A is entitled, ‘MzMzLaLaLa for Peace,’ and Side A is entitled, ‘MzMzLaLaLa Sing-Song-Sing.’ Simon Fisher Turner Simon had a highly successful career as a child/young hopeful actor, appearing in movie and TV roles from Black Beauty, Tom Brown’s Schooldays to The Big Sleep (re-made with Robert Mitchum). Aged 17 he signed to Jonathan King’s UK Records and released the album “Simon Turner” in 1969. He then discovered tape recorders and ended up playing with the legendary Portsmouth Symphonia with musicians such as Brian Eno. Simon first worked as a runner on the sets of films by Derek Jarman, before becoming Jarman’s favoured soundtrack composer. Simon’s association with Jarman was lasting and massively fruitful. “Caravaggio”, “The Last Of England” (with contributions from Barry Adamson and Diamanda Galas), “The Garden” (with the Balanescu Quartet), and “Edward II”, were amongst the most innovative film sound projects of the ’80s and early ’90s, most of them surfacing as CDs though Mute. His final film with Jarman was the powerful, poignant “Blue”, where a soundscape recorded by Simon at Eno’s country house, plus Jarman’s AIDs inspired spoken words, stood in for the visuals - only a blue screen was projected. Simon also worked under the name of The King Of Luxembourg and has collaborated extensively. He has released many albums and in addition to his work with Jarman has contributed to numerous other film soundtracks for directors such as David Lynch. Simon and Mark Spybey first met backstage at a Can concert at the Barbican in London in 1999. They work together, in spurts and fits, under the name MzMzLaLaLa and this single is their first release. They recently played a concert in London together under a railway arch. DVOA @ 20 Anniversary Series Since leaving :zoviet-france: in the late eighties Mark Spybey has released fifteen albums as Dead Voices On Air. He’s appeared on over 80 releases in the past twenty years. When the late Michael Karoli, the seminal guitarist, put together a band in the late nineties to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Can, it was Spybey who he asked to help him.. He has made a career out of collaborating extensively with a wide range of musicians, film- makers and visual artists. He was a member of Download and formed Beehatch with Phil Western of Download and Reformed Faction with ex-:zoviet-france: members, including Robin Storey of Rapoon. Between 1992 and 2000 he lived and worked in Vancouver, Canada and has toured extensively around the world with a variety of collaborators including Karoli and Damo Suzuki of Can, The Legendary Pink Dots, Pigface, Michael Rother of Neu! and Dieter Moebius of Cluster. He’s remixed Neu! and Faust amongst others. His has worked with labels such as Kranky, Nettwerk, Soleilmoon Recordings, Invisible, Spoon, Scratch, Cleopatra, Lens and for the 20th anniversary seven inch single series, Tourette Records of Houston Texas." [label info] www.touretterecords.com "To celebrate twenty years of existence, Dead Voices On Air, also known to mankind as Mark Spybey, will release a bunch of 7"s in collaboration with people who he has worked with in those years. The series kicks of with Simon Fisher Turner, perhaps best known for scoring soundtracks for the films of Derek Jarman (Caravaggio", "The Last Of England", "The Garden" and "Edward II") and also with David Lynch. he met Spybey at a concert of Can in 1999 and worked together since as MzMzLaLaLa, but this 7" is their first release. I am in a bit in the dark wether this 7" is t45 or 33 rpm, and I decided for 33. One side has an interesting tape collage of sounds and spoken word in a very film noir like style, while the other side ('MzMzLaLaLa Sing Song Sing') is more a pop like track with a very sparse guitar, a wacky percussive sample and a sad voice. This side did less for me, I think, maybe its too short, or perhaps too vague, but the other side is in fact very good. In the future there will be 7's with James Plotkin, Troum, Edward Ka-spel, Cevin Key, Robert Hampson, Robin Storey, Jochen Arbeit, Dave Wright, Ryan Moore and Orbit Service, which me thinks looks a promising series. Great cover too." [FdW/Vital Weekly] 2011 €10.00
DEAF CENTER Recount 12inch "Deaf Center is seemingly never of the times. Whether it's the nostalgic component often associated with Pale Ravine and Owl Splinters, or the time between releases, waiting and remembering are part of the experience. Recount is a bridge between full albums, where time and familiarity are mesmerizingly suspended. Recorded during rehearsal sessions in 2012 and 2008, Follow Still and Oblivion make full use of the Deaf Center spectrum. In the direction of a live performance, Recount plays off of experience and reaction; a balancing act of improvisation, sonic detail, and emotion. Follow Still recorded in Berlin 2012, brings you to a recent past. The 13-minute track leads you down a melancholic pathway and into tunnels of memory. Minimal piano passages and warm repeating organ sounds are at the core, slowly blurring your sense of time while faint guitar amp noise and the sound of effect-pedals switching off and on makes you feel present at the recording. Engraved with intricate details and quiet moments, Follow Still pursues the night until dawn. Oblivion, recorded 2008 in Oslo, recalls the live sets that followed the release of Pale Ravine. With this era condensed into one long track, the piece is an overwhelming mass of orchestral haze, crying strings and droning bass. The dense fog doesn't burden but calms, and as it starts to clear, reveals a true grandiosity. Recount is both a division and fusion of sound and time. Two tracks, two years, two people, two cities; ultimately, Deaf Center straddles worlds to lead to something unquantifiable and timeless." [label info] www.sonicpieces.com 2014 €20.00
  Low Distance LP "Low Distance is Deaf Center´s third full-length studio album and perhaps the most focused effort by the Norwegian duo to date. After their last record Owl Splinters (2011) was quite an eclectic endeavor, Erik K Skodvin & Otto A Totland draw their sound back into something more quiet and minimal. The record starts with a piece of sweeping analougue electronics. It´s a spacious, yet dynamic opener that leads directly into the static tones and piano motivs of Entity Voice, which balances a new sense of abstractation with the classic Deaf Center sound. It´s warm and close while sounding like it´s set in the outer horizon. Overall Low Distance feels both alien and familiar with its atonal synths, close pianos and drowned out noises. After meeting in studio for the first time since 2011, the recordings came out of a 3 day session in 2017. It was then mixed at both EMS Stockholm and at Erik´s home studio over a longer period to create a blend of deeply layered as well as stripped down pieces. Both Erik & Otto have been active individually since their last meeting as Deaf Center: Otto released 2 solo piano albums, while Erik has furthered his descent into musical abstractation both under his own name and as Svarte Greiner. It´s long overdue to hear them connect their personalities into something new. Low Distance is a welcome return replete with beauty, mystery and uncertainty." "So I managed to fall into that pattern again, whereby a long-anticipated album by a beloved project sits awaiting just the right time. I need a "perfect" mood and setting to experience Deaf Center, and I must not be interrupted in any possible way. And so I put it to the side. Meanwhile, I procrastinate with promos and suggestions and releases which are all sub par. Then I finally reach out, and I listen for the very first time. Then the second and the third. And time goes by. A month or two. I play it sixth and seventh time, and no, not yet, I'm not prepared to say the right things... I must find certain words to share my thoughts. And time goes by... That is the pattern. Until I recognize it for its block and rip the bandaid off and share. The time has come. Of this I'm certain. Since their 2014 release, Recount, put out by Monique Recknagel's Sonic Pieces imprint, the duo of Erik Skodvin and Otto Totland have massively raised the bar on their third full-length studio album, Low Distance. I've generally used the word "texture" in the past, to describe the intricate granular details that give a particular recording more depth, complexity and substance, and yet, on Low Distance Deaf Center takes it to a whole new level. Seemingly accidental noises, clips, and circuit howls become the foundation for the platform of this moody record, where Totland's piano finds the courage to reveal its beauty to the world. The heavy fibered bow scrapes at the cello strings to make the instrument convulse and shudder. The sonic gravity of the atmospheric treatments paired with the poignancy of the melodic heartache propels Low Distance into the ranks of albums of the decade, where every coveted position is meticulously picked. A total masterpiece for anyone inspired by the fine details stitched in a microcosm of harmonies and timbres. One which I will treasure for the many years to come, and with these words I hope you'll too. Highly recommended for anyone delighted by reductionist pianism, isolationist ambience, coarse minimalism and granular spaciousness. Yes, I've authored some of those stylistic genres just for you. But seriously, if you're into anything from the amazing Miasmah (which Skodvin runs), dark and organic drone mixed with evolving soundscapes by the likes of Rafael Anton Irisarri, Ben Lukas Boysen, Brambles, Richard Skelton, and Lawrence English, among the many appearing on this site, you'll be in for a treat. Highly recommended!" [Headphone Commute] 2019 €35.00
DEAF MACHINE Found Noises CD Das Berliner RAUBBAU-Label (früher auch als FORMOSAN aktiv) hat das längst vergriffene, verstreute Material dieses Solo-Projektes eines MEGAPTERA-Mitglieds zusammengestellt. Low-fi droning & death industrial stuff mit obskuren Samples & found sounds... "The groups in the Nyköping/Oxelösund region of Sweden (Megaptera, The Protagonist, Morthound) have been pretty thoroughly documented in the past. But one crucial missing link of this micro-scene has been overlooked, and not given the deserved recognition. Until now, that is. Mikael Svensson, founding member of Megaptera, also did his own project Deaf Machine for a while, though it vanished without leaving many traces behind. Besides a couple of wildly obscure self-released tapes, the only other marks were contributions to seminal compilations such as "In the Butcher's Backyard" (CMI) and "Death Odors" (Slaughter Prod.). Not content to rest on the laurels after the successful inaugural release by Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio, the fresh German label Raubbau has decided to treat Deaf Machine with an ambitious rerelease program covering two separate CD albums. This first one, "Found Noises", contains one of the tapes, two tracks culled from compilations, and one previously unreleased track. The similarity with Megaptera lies in the frequent use of voice samples from movies and news broadcasts. But whereas Megaptera relies on a method with upfront pounding machine rhythms, Deaf Machine opted for a subtler approach more based on textures and moods. The mix of muffled voice fragments, disjointed rhythm loops, and crude, bass-heavy synth-noises sound unlike anything else that came out of Sweden at the time. A unique sound by a neglected artist that thankfully no longer will remain a secret within small circles of cognoscenti." [label info] 2008 €13.00
DEGENERAL After the World CD-R Neuer russischer Industrial, analog, rauh & gut arrangiert! Kommt im silberfarbenen Schaumgummi-artigen besprühtem Spezialcover! "Degeneral was formed in the Siberian city of Kemerovo in 2001 and has already recorded several albums none of which has been issued to present day, so "After the World" can be called the first official release of the project. The album sounds like a soundtrack to a mental trip through the lifeless spaces of the world outlived electro-mechanical apocalypse. First monotonous droning tracks unobtrusively bring listener's perception into a laid-back and meditative state. But the sound gradually condenses, saturation of sonic events grows and music takes mechanical features of sinister atmosphere of a desolated factory working for hundreds of years without human assistance. Thunder of workshops, buzz of power substations and clanks of unknown mechanisms flow together into united psy-noise symphony. By the end of the disc anthropomorphical assotiations naturally pale and give way to abstract cosmic visions, provoked by skilfully combined avalanche-like noise waves and looped melodic lines. The release is packed into hand-made outer sleeve made of foil-covered material with sprayed symbol and inner semi-transparent cardboard sleeve with information notes." [label info] label: http://zhb.radionoise.ru/ 2005 €9.00
DEISON + GIANLUCA FAVARON Nearly Invisible CD "Cristiano Deison and Gianluca Favaron met in 2011 when the latter was a guest on Deison's "Night Sessions" album on Silentes. Both involved in many projects and music collaborations - Favaron with Lasik Surgery, Maribor, Zbeen and Under The Snow, and Deison with Mingle, Matteo Uggeri and Maurizio Bianchi - during the summer of 2015, at last free from previous engagements, they finally decide to mix their sound attitudes and give life to "Nearly Invisible", an album where they process concrete sounds, field-recordings, digital impulses and analog tapes. A sort of "rational improvisation" where the two artists have a conversation talking through the sounds of their surrounding realities. A slow overlapping of contaminated drones, embedded with manipulated noises describes "nearly invisible" environments visually captured by the companion pictures taken by Stefano Gentile. Rough images, textured, dirty; details that open windows onto landscapes where you can recognize panoramas, shadows and structures. All of this is presented in a high quality package, also available as a limited "art edition". DEISON Deison is involved in the experimental electronic area since more than 20 years (he played in Meathead during '90s) and he approached the world of sounds doing his own tape collages with tape recorders, turntables and objects mainly in the field of experimental noise; he runs a small label (Loud!) and collaborates with artist like Lasse Marhaug, KK Null, Teho Teardo, Thurston Moore, Scanner, etc... Influenced by the experimental music, ambient minimal electronic as well as a great interest into digital music and sound design, he operates with loops, field-recordings and drones to develop swirling electronic sounds of enormous range and complex musicality. Waves of looping deep ambient scapes, penetrated with sample fragments and light additional noise-ambient textures form Deison’s silent, minimal frame-set. His records have been released on various labels in Japan, Usa, UK, Italy and Germany. Latest collaborations include works with Maurizio Bianchi, Uggeri and Mingle. Gianluca FAVARON An electroacoustic musician, his work focuses on the processing of concrete sounds using software made on purpose. Field-recordings, drones: an approach that uses different music languages, to elaborate, merge or transform the sounds made by everyday objects into something different, both taking them out of context and/or processing and modifying them with various effects. He currently collaborates with Corrado Altieri in the "Altieri | Favaron" project and with Stefano Gentile (Silentes) as "Under the Snow". In 2015 he has released the CD albums "Entretien" on 13/Silentes and "Forget About Any Non-Gray" on MFU /Concrete; the Ab'SHE / Uncodified (Corrado Altieri) split album "Applied Misinformation for People Control" was also released by Naked Lunch Records. "Nearly Invisible" is released in two different editions: - a standard edition of 230 copies (CD + Book); - a limited "art" edition of 13 copies housed in a 12" gatefold handpainted cover that also include one original photo (size 26x26 cm) + CD + Book" [label info] 13.silentes.it 2015 €12.00
DEISON / MATTEO UGGERI In the other House CD-R "It was not born as a concept album, but as it was slowly becoming like the music inside it the sound work of Cristiano Deison and Matthew Uggeri ended up finding itself, step by step, enclosed between the narrow walls of an exceptional home. Arriving there from different places and positions, and never actually meeting, Friulian and Milan found themselves, perhaps in spite of themselves, together in uncomfortable rooms which were populated by dark invisible presences. It is not the scenario of a horror movie, there is no tradegy or fear, just the knowledge that somewhere else or the escape itself may be less reassuring than one has hoped. Therefore Francesca Mele's photos, both a seal of the work and source of inspiration for the music seem to further cloak the place in t that sense of quiet desperation that daily life often implies." https://matteouggeri.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-other-house Zwei jüngere italienische Soundbastler treffen sich hier. Beide haben schon vielfach ein Händchen für atmosphärische Landschaften bewiesen; DEISON (komplett: CRISTIANO DEISON) unter anderem hier auf NONPOP mit "Quiet Rooms", einem Album über die Stimmung in leeren Hotelzimmern. Auch UGGERI (komplett: MATTEO UGGERI) hat sein sicheres Gespür für beeindruckende Klangwolken schon aufgezeigt, unter anderem in Zusammenarbeiten mit DE FABRIEK oder MAURIZIO BIANCHI. Beiden Künstlern gemein ist die wohltuende Zurückhaltung bei Veröffentlichungen, man hat nie den Eindruck, dass sie den ohnehin übersättigten Markt der entsprechenden Genres fluten würden. Ihr erstes gemeinsames Album erscheint nun auf FINAL MUZIK (in Kooperation mit OLD BICYCLE RECORDS und OAK EDITIONS), wobei sich die Musiker kein einziges Mal persönlich gesehen haben – Arbeiten im digitalen Zeitalter. Der Titel des Albums sowie die Namen der einzelnen Tracks geben natürlich eine ganz klare Idee vor, aber – und dies ist das erste Kompliment für ein gelungenes Album – es geht auch ohne. "Fessure" (01) fühlt sich an wie das Hinabsteigen in eine pilzige, fluoreszierende Höhle. Warme, aber gleichzeitig aufschreckende und unruhige Sounds umwabern den Hörer, es ploppt und droned. Sehr atmosphärisch und, außer zu einer Höhle, auch passend zu der wohl toten Frau auf Vorder- und Rückseite des Covers, die ich eben entdeckt habe – Film noir-Feeling. Ein bassiger und unregelmäßiger Beat kommt langsam dazu, ebenso ein schräger Streicher. Und immer kurz vor einer Melodie nimmt die Komposition die nächste Abzweigung. Das äußerst filmische Ambiente bleibt in "So Detached" (02) bestehen. Türen quietschen, Schritte rascheln – hier wird eine Story erzählt, ein ganzer Storyteppich voll von organischen Klängen ausgerollt. Ich höre aufmerksam und angespannt zu, weil jederzeit etwas passieren könnte. Zunehmend freunde ich mich mit der titelgebenden Idee eines fremden Hauses an, durch das wir als Hörer schleichen. Das "Micro Drama" (03) spielt sich in der Küche ab, melodiös liegen gezupfte Piano-Teilchen auf dem Tisch, ein dickes Brummen und Summen zeugt von Insektenleben, und die Streicher quietschen immer wieder dramatisch. Passend zum Besuch im Bad ("Stasis", 04) plätschert Wasser, die Sounds wechseln in noisiges Quietschen und Rauschen, und insbesondere die Cluster aus Blasinstrumenten beeindrucken mich. Menschen räumen Möbel in "Worried Stagnation" (05), verursachen dabei lange, ewige Drones. Und mein Lieblingssound des gesamten Albums erklingt auf der Treppe und im Keller ("Prelude, Largo", 06) – ein Tuba-ähnliches Brummen, welches die sich abwechselnden Passagen zum einen aus ruhigen Ambientflächen, zum anderen aus mächtigen, majestätischen Drones inklusive Piepen und Klingeln umrahmt, wobei sich alle Ebenen mehr und mehr übereinander schieben. "In The Other House" ist ein wirklich beeindruckender Hörfilm, der mich an andere starke filmische Werke wie zum Beispiel die LAND-Trilogie ("Praha | Wien | Budapest", NONPOP-Besprechung) erinnert. Schleichen durch ein fremdes Haus, Erkunden einer dunklen Höhle, Hauptrolle in einem Film noir – das Album ist fast unabhängig vom möglichen Thema eine fesselnde Reise, und zwar von der ersten bis zur letzten Sekunde. Eine der bisher schönsten, weil stimmungsvollsten Basteleien des Jahres. Michael We. für nonpop.de 2015 €10.00
DEISON / MAURIZIO BIANCHI [Black Panorama] CD "One of the best Maurizio Bianchi's collaboration works and one of the best Deison's albums. Period. Music for black landscapes. MAURIZIO BIANCHI: "Prologue: The title can already say a lot of contents. When we see ahead of us a view from the inside and we see another, the two views collide and according to our state of mind we can see a negative panorama or a more positive one. That's why this work will help us to regain our peace of mind or to lose it forever, while remaining unchanged the view before us". Limited to 200 copies only." [label info] www.finalmuzik.com 2015 €13.00
DESPREZ, JOSQUIN The Renaissance Master. Sacred music and Chansons 3 x CD / book Sublime génie Il y a 500 ans, disparaissait Josquin Desprez. Traversant infatigablement l’Europe d’une cour à l’autre, il fut l’un des fers de lance les plus actifs de la Renaissance franco-flamande. Pour rendre hommage à cette figure majeure de l’histoire de la musique, harmonia mundi a réuni ici quelques-unes de ses œuvres profanes et religieuses les plus caractéristiques. Ce livre-disque, richement illustré, replace son parcours dans le contexte de cette période bouillonnante. JOSQUIN DESPREZ [1440-1521] Missa de Beata Virgine (Missarum Josquin liber tertius, Ottaviano Petrucci,Fossombrone, 1514) · Kyrie (3'47) · Gloria (8'01) · Credo (7'15) · Sanctus - Benedictus (5'47) · Agnus Dei (4'54) · Ave Maria (Mottetti A, Ottaviano Petrucci, Venezia, 1502) (4'38) · Stabat mater dolorosa (Mottetti de la corona, libro tertio, Ottaviano Petrucci, Fossombrone, 1519) (8'01) · Ave nobilissima creatura (Mottetti de la corona, libro tertio, Ottaviano Petrucci, Fossombrone, 1519) (8'36) · Salve regina à 4 (Vatican, Cappella Sistina, ms. 42, c. 1503) (4'01) · Pater noster - Ave Maria (Novum et insigne opus musicum, Hieronymus Formschneider, Nürnberg, 1537) (7'03) · De profundis - Requiem æternam (Motetti libro secondo, Andrea Antico, Venezia, c.1521) (4'28) · Qui habitat à 24 (Cantiones triginta selectissimae, Ulrich Neuber, Nürnberg, 1568) (5'38) Missa Pange lingua (Missæ tredecim quatuor vocum, Hieronymus Formschneider, Nürnberg, 1539) · Introït (5'43) · Kyrie (2'42) · Gloria (4'57) · Graduel (6'04) · Alleluia (4'29) · Credo (7'03) · Offertoire (3'09) · Sanctus (6'33) · O Salutaris (1'02) · Agnus Dei (7'04) · Hymne 'Pange lingua' (2'44) In principio erat Verbum (Secundus tomus novi operis musici, Hieronymus Formschneider, Nürnberg, 1538) · In principio erat Verbum (2'41) · Fuit homo missus a Deo (4'36) · Et Verbum caro factum est (1'46) Miserere mei,Deus (Liber selectarum cantionum, Sigmund Grimm & Marcus Wirsung, Augsburg, 1520) · Miserere mei, Deus (5'34) · Auditui meo dabis gaudium (4'14) · Domine, labia mea aperies (5'01) · Déploration sur la mort d'Ockeghem. Nymphes des bois / Requiem æternam (Jean Molinet) (Septiesme livre contenant vingt-quatre chansons a cinq et six parties, Tielman Susato, Antwerpen, 1545) (3'31) · Douleur me bat - 5 voix (Hc, T, T, Ba, B) et violes (Septiesme livre contenant vingt-quatre chansons a cinq et six parties, Tielman Susato, Antwerpen, 1545) (2'57) · Adieu mes amours - 4 violes (Harmonice musices odhecaton, Ottaviano Petrucci, Venezia, 1501) (2'08) · Plusieurs regretz - 2 voix (Hc, Ba) et violes (Septiesme livre contenant vingt-quatre chansons a cinq et six parties, Tielman Susato, Antwerpen, 1545) (2'36) · Petite camusette - 3 voix (Hc, T, Ba) et 3 violes (Septiesme livre contenant vingt-quatre chansons a cinq et six parties, Tielman Susato, Antwerpen, 1545) (1'10) · Mille regretz - 4 voix (Hc, T, Ba, B) et luth (Chansons amoureuses a quatre parties, Livre 11, Tielman Susato, Antwerpen, 1549) (2'00) · Mille regretz (Canción del Emperador) - luth solo (Transcription de Luis de Narváez) (Los seys libros del delphín, Libro 3, Diego Hernãdez de Cordova, Valladolid, 1538) (1'58) · En non saichant - 5 voix (Hc, T, Ba, Ba, B) (Septiesme livre contenant vingt-quatre chansons a cinq et six parties, Tielman Susato, Antwerpen, 1545) (1'47) · J'ay bien cause de lamenter - 3 voix (Hc, T, B) et luth (Selectissmæ necnon familiarissimæ cantiones, Melchior Kriesstein, Augsburg, 1540) (1'28) · Nimphes, nappés - tutti : 6 voix, violes, luth (Septiesme livre contenant vingt-quatre chansons a cinq et six parties, Tielman Susato, Antwerpen, 1545) (2'41) · Ile fantazies - violes (Rome, Biblioteca Casanetense, ms. 2865, 1479-81) (2'03) · La plus des plus - violes (Harmonice musices odhecaton, Ottaviano Petrucci, Venezia, 1501) (1'24) · Plus n'estes ma maistresse - 4 voix (Hc, T, Ba, B) et luth (Trente sixiesme livre contenant trente chansons, Pierre Attaingnant, 1550) (1'45) · Cueurs desolez . Ne cherchez plus/Plorans ploravi - cantus (Hc) et violes (Trente sixiesme livre contenant trente chansons, Pierre Attaingnant, 1550) (1'44) · Plaine de dueil - 5 voix (Hc, T, T, Ba, B) et violes (Septiesme livre contenant vingt-quatre chansons a cinq et six parties, Tielman Susato, Antwerpen, 1545) (1'26) · Fortuna desperata - violes (1'47) · Faulte d'argent - 5 voix (Hc, T, T, Ba, B) et luth (Septiesme livre contenant vingt-quatre chansons a cinq et six parties, Tielman Susato, Antwerpen, 1545) (1'28) · Cueur langoreulx - 2 voix (Hc, T) et violes (Septiesme livre contenant vingt-quatre chansons a cinq et six parties, Tielman Susato, Antwerpen, 1545) (1'22) · Fors seulement - luth (1'59) · Je me complains - 5 voix (Hc, T, T, Ba, B) et violes (Septiesme livre contenant vingt-quatre chansons a cinq et six parties, Tielman Susato, Antwerpen, 1545) (1'47) · Se congié prens à 6 - 2 voix (T, Ba) et violes (Septiesme livre contenant vingt-quatre chansons a cinq et six parties, Tielman Susato, Antwerpen, 1545) (2'15) · Tenez moy en vos bras à 6 - tutti (Septiesme livre contenant vingt-quatre chansons a cinq et six parties, Tielman Susato, Antwerpen, 1545) (1'55) · El grillo - 4 voix (Hc, T, Ba, B) et luth (Frottole libro tertio, Ottaviano Petrucci, Venezia, 1505) (1'37) · Si j'ay perdu mon amy - violes (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, ms. fr. 1597, c. 1500) (1'47) · Parfons regretz - 5 voix (Hc, T, T, Ba, B) (Septiesme livre contenant vingt-quatre chansons a cinq et six parties, Tielman Susato, Antwerpen, 1545) (1'55) · Vous l'arez, s'il vous plaist - 3 voix (Hc, T, Ba) et violes (Septiesme livre contenant vingt-quatre chansons a cinq et six parties, Tielman Susato, Antwerpen, 1545) (1'52) · Allégez moy - 6 voix (tutti) et luth (Septiesme livre contenant vingt-quatre chansons a cinq et six parties, Tielman Susato, Antwerpen, 1545) (1'08) Ensemble Clément Janequin La Chapelle Royale Huelgas-Ensemble Cappella Amsterdam Theatre of Voices Philippe Herreweghe Direction Ensemble Les Éléments Daniel Reuss Direction Paul Hillier Direction Dominique Visse Direction Ensemble Organum, Marcel Pérès Direction https://www.harmoniamundi.com/albums/sacred-music-and-chansons/ 2021 €29.50
DEYHIM, SUSSAN / BILL LASWELL Shy Angels. Reconstructions and Mix Translation of CD "The previous three artists whose work was revisited by Bill Laswell are Miles Davis, Bob Marley and Carlos Santans... we were therefore both honored & thrilled when the mighty Bill (whose credentials as a producer include names such as Laurie Anderson, Afrika Bambaataa, George Clinton, Yoko Ono, and most recently Herbie Hancock) accepted to create a new interpretation of Iranian diva Sussan Deyhim's "Madman Of God" album. The result is magnificent and provides a continuous, 45 minutes listening experience which includes re-arranged versions of all albms's songs, featuring new performances by musicians including Karsh Kale, renowned Indian tabla player Zakir Hussain and others, on top of the original albums's line-up (Reggie Workman, Glen Valez, Reza Derakhshani etc). "Madman of God", which came out in 2000, is Sussan Deyhim's uniquely personal reading of devine love poems by Rumi, Saadi and other Persian Sufi masters, set to a mixture of traditional Persioan music and delicate electronics, her extraordinary vocals being the central focus. Deyhim's live performances in 2001 were few but memorable (including a steaming set at the Montreux Jazz Festival and an acclaimed appearance with Ornette Coleman's group in London). A series of not-to-be-missed festival dates in Europe are planned for this year." [label info] www.crammed.be 2002 €13.00
DIAMETRICS Options CD " „Diametrics“ or, say, 'exactly opposite', someone told us some time ago, „gosh, that sounds so edgy, mathematical, New Wave-ish…“. Well, whereas we couldn’t give a damn about the former ideas, we definitely like the latter one. BUT don’t you even dare to think we’re a retro outfit – no fucking way! Just go on reading and let us explain. First of all, there was this trio from Bremen called ILSE LAU, the "post and noise rock monolith from the river Weser." (Szene Hamburg). During the ten years they played together, they released several albums on labels such as Fidel Bastro and Klangbad, before they split up in the Summer of 2007. Guitar player Ansgar went missing for good. So - time for a fresh start. Drummer/singer Henning, who had been intent on giving up hitting cymbals and skinks anyway, took over the vacant six-string position, while Fokke remained true to his bass. In Bremen, there's a saying that there are no drummers in the city. Proven wrong entirely after after just one try. Curtains for Jörn: hello to a fabulously good stickman and technician. First songs and a self-produced CD-r are finished after a few months only. So are initial live shows. The audience states: 'Indie rock' > naah, Diametrics know a few more strange chords. Or the audience says 'Math rock' > Sorry, we don't have calculators with us when we play. Says audience: 'Noise rock' > wrong. The band's too hooked on good melodies. Some even say 'Post rock' > sorry, we're a wee bit too loud for such assumptions. What we want to bring across? We just love finding ourselves in between chairs. We rather get our stuff from everywhere than using the most boring phrase in the music world, i.e. 'We can't be categorized'. You're still keen on adjectives? There you go: aesthetically dirty, consonantally discordant, metrically (in)constant music - partly with English or German lyrics. To be filed somewhere between the likes of SST, Amphetamine Reptile, Too Pure, and the Neue Bremer Schule. The press calls Diametrics "boisterous and feverish New Wave alongside precise stop-and-go Noise rock." (Szene Hamburg). In Summer2009, our first album 'There Is' (produced by Gregor Henning, who had been working with Ilse Lau all along) was released on Fidel Bastro. And more to follow this year. The mixing of the band's second album 'Options' has just been finished, and it's going to see the light of day in late Summer 2011, with supporting live shows to follow. .." [bandinfo] 2011 €12.00
DIE FORM Die Form ÷ Fine Automatic¹ LP "This release is the unique and complete full album from one of the Die Form side projects, named 'Die Form ÷ Fine Automatic' (from the 'Endless' short tapes serie). This one is released in double albums and also two separate LPs. This double album existis as two separate vinyl LPs in the context of the Archives of Industrial Music from France (offering inside this collection : identical covers, excepting specific typography of the artist or of the band and personalized logotypes) in order to point out its radical aesthetic unity and strong artistic coherence." [label info] www.rotorelief.com 2015 €22.00
  Die Form ÷ Fine Automatic² LP "This release is the unique and complete full album from one of the Die Form side projects, named 'Die Form ÷ Fine Automatic' (from the 'Endless' short tapes serie). This one is released in double albums and also 2 separate LP. This double album existis as two separate vinyl LPs in the context of the Archives of Industrial Music from France (offering inside this collection : identical covers, excepting specific typography of the artist or of the band and personalized logotypes) in order to point out its radical aesthetic unity and strong artistic coherence." [label info] www.rotorelief.com 2015 €22.00
DISSECTING TABLE / VASILISK Saddharma / Tibetan Liberation CD "DISSECTING TABLE: Saddharma is a very intense Experimental Industrial-Noise Orgy, lasting over nearly 32 minutes. on this brilliant track, the mastermind of the Japanese Noise-Poineers DISSECTING TABLE, Ichiro Tsuji, combines different rhythmic oldschool-elements, experimental sounds and very dark/aggressive vocals, that remind to the band's early years. VASILISK: after the mysterious Japanese Power-Noise band "WHITE HOSPITAL" split up into "GRIM" and "VASILISK", the newborn band released 3 fantastic LPs in 1987-89, which became some of the most wanted and most expensive records in the collector's scene, already short after their release. In 1990 the 3 LPs were followed by a brilliant "best of" CD (Liaberation & Ecstasy), which was definitely one of the best Ritual albums ever released. after the release of this CD it went quite silent around the band, but now, after more than 20 years, Tomo Kuwahara (Vasilisk) is back with the same amazing Ritual Music than before! he played a great live-concert in Japan short ago (please find the youtube links below) and his brandnew album will be released on Steinklang soon!" [label info] www.steinklang-records.at 2011 €14.00
DRAHOMIRA SONG ORCHESTRA La Chambre de Stryrene CD "This album is the first release of the DRAHOMIRA SONG ORCHESTRA, the musical subsidiary of the multimedia art factory 'INSTITUT DRAHOMIRA'. Eight obscure ambient tracks: bizarre string loops and mysterious unidentified speaking voices create a worrying atmosphere of claustrophobia. So far, their works (about 50 albums) were only produced on CD-R or tapes and distributed randomly by mail, to people picked in the phonebook. Since the late 80's some live performances were also organised in secret places and transmitted by phone to the audience. Weird!" [label info] 2002 €10.00
DREAM WEAPON RITUAL Ebb and Flow LP "Formed in November 2006, Dream Weapon Ritual is the duo of Simon Balestrazzi and Monica Serra. They play free-form music that draws equally from droning electronica soundscapes and imaginary folk visions. Simon Balestrazzi is an electronic/electroacoustic composer and sound artist active since the 80's. He released many albums and performed live around Europe under various names. Monica Serra is a talented actress whose artistic research led to double as vocalist since 1999. Both are members of the long-lived Italian cult band T.A.C. (Tomografia Assiale Computerizzata). Monica primarily sings and plays kaoss pad, while Simon primarily plays laptop and various small stringed instruments, although both also employ old synthesizers and various electronics, amplified sound objects, toys, live sampling tools, small percussion, and whatever they can get their hands on. Togheter as Dream Weapon Ritual they released their music through Radical Matters, Old Europa Cafe and Magick With Tears. Ebb & Flow is their latest album since 2011 and it’s another step forward in their imaginary blend of the archaic and the modern. Togheter with the core duo, Ebb & Flow sees contributions from M.S.Miroslaw (sacred horse skull), Massimo Olla aka Noisedelik (chalumeau), Paolo Sanna (various percussions), Donato Epiro (flutes), Antonio Gallucci of Architeuthis Rex (guitar, percussions)." [label info] www.boringmachines.it 2014 €15.00
The Uncanny little Sparrows CD "Formed in November 2006, Dream Weapon Ritual is the duo of Simon Balestrazzi and Monica Serra. They play free-form music that draws equally from droning electronica soundscapes and imaginary folk visions. Simon Balestrazzi is an electronic/electroacoustic composer and sound artist active since the 80's. He released many albums and performed live around Europe under various names. Monica Serra is a talented actress whose artistic research led to double as vocalist since 1999. Both are members of the long-lived Italian cult band T.A.C. (Tomografia Assiale Computerizzata). Togheter as Dream Weapon Ritual they released their music through Radical Matters, Old Europa Cafe and Magick With Tears. All music by Dream Weapon Ritual Mastered by James Plotkin Masks by Gabriela Mulas Photos by Franco Casu Artwork by Daniele Serra" "Gut drei Jahre nach „Ebb and Flow“ lassen die beiden Multiinstrumentalisten Simon Balestrazzi und Monica Serra zum fünften Mal von sich hören und erzählen mit allerhand schrägen Ideen im Gepäck die Geschichte einer Gruppe von unheimlichen kleinen Spatzen – das klingt auf den ersten Blick vielleicht nach Ironie und Spielerei, v.a. wenn man von dem hierzulande üblichen Image dieser nicht gerade gruseligen Vogelart ausgeht. Doch „The Uncanny Little Sparrows“ lädt nicht gerade zu letztgültigen Interpretationen seines Inhalts ein, und das ist auch gut so. Bei dem langsam an- und abschwellenden Drone, das an elektrisch aufgeladene Harmoniumklänge erinnert, den trunkenen Echolalien undeutbarer Stimmen, dem Rasseln und Scheppern und den seltsamen Bläserklängen des eröffnenden „Bird Mother“ zeigt sich schnell, dass die beiden sich in grundlegender Hinsicht treu geblieben sind, denn ihre „Freeform-Musik“, die ebenso von dröhnender Elektronik wie von folkigen Spuren durchdrungen ist, bewegt sich in den bekannten Bahnen, die quer durch moderne und primordiale Gefilde führen. In diesem Rahmen kommt es aber zu einigen Verschiebungen, denn auf den neuen Stücken scheint die Musik noch um einiges unregelmäßiger und unruhiger als auf den Aufnahmen zuvor. Kratzige Spielereien, eventuell erzeugt mit dem von Massimo Olla entworfenen [d]Ronin, allerhand Gereusel und geheimnissvolle Perkussion rufen Balestrazzis Projekte Hidden Reverse und A Sphere of Simple Green in Erinnerung, bei der Mischung aus untergründigem Brummen und falsettigen Hochtönereien denkt man vielleicht an so unterschiedliche Musiker wie Ka Baird oder die viel zu wenig beachteten Mailänder Sothiak – Vergleiche, mit denen nur eine vage Richtung angedeutet sein soll. Deutlich erkennbare Vogelstimmen treten erstmals in dem kurzen, in einem seltsam schleppenden Rhythmus hinkenden „Mating Call“ auf den Plan, wo sie sich sanft und verhuscht in mysteriöse Rückwärtspassagen einweben. In dem folgenden Track, der von „zwei kleinen Spatzen, die auf einem Zweig sitzen und auf die Erleuchtung warten,“ kündet, erinnern sie eher an übermütige Spechte. Weiter geht es durch noisige Gefilde, in denen man nicht mit dem Klang orientalischer Flöten gerechnet hätte, hin zu einer Urwald-Kulisse, in der ekstatische Perkussion und tremolierende Stimmen wie das Echo eines schamanischen Rituals wirken. „The One with the Iron Beak“ ist das letzte Stück betitelt, und wieder beschleicht einen der Verdacht, dass all die tiefschürfenden rituellen Elemente, die ebenso wie rhythmische und melodische Pop-Ansätze um jede zweite Ecke lugen, zwar auch, aber nicht nur mit erhabenem Ernst eingebracht werden. Das Album erschien jüngst bei Boring Machines als LP mit achtseitigem Booklet und ist darüber hinaus natürlich in den üblichen digitalen Formaten zu ergattern." (U.S./African Paper] 2018 €16.50
  Like a Tree growing out of a Sidewalk CD A forest, a virtual forest. An urban forest, maybe, populated by shattering shadows. Birds and insects. Voices, human or not. Trees slowly growing, roots swelling gently. Gradually its dark creeps under your skin in a deafening roar. In this work Dream Weapon Ritual deconstructs and reassembles the thin substance of dream and vision in a performance-ritual that, moulding together organic electronics and treated acoustic instruments, takes place in an invisible and vague terrain; an unexplored territory, where the borders between song, theatre and installation blur. "Like A Tree Growing Out Of A Sidewalk" started as a multimedia performance with collaboration of visual artist Elisabetta Saiu, whose video, projected on tulle screens accompanied each staging. It has been premiered in March 2007 at Lenz Teatro, in Parma, for "As A Little Phoenix" festival. Now it is also an intense and fascinating album made of little string and wind instruments, birdcalls, old synthesizers, sound objects and voice. A collection of visionary soundscapes where boundaries between droning electronica and imaginary folk traditions are constantly forced. All sound material was improvised in five sessions recorded between January and February 2007 and subsequently lovingly culled, edited and overdubbed between May 2007 and October 2008. Formed in November 2006, Dream Weapon Ritual is the duo of Simon Balestrazzi (historiacl leader of the Italian industrial-cult project T.A.C. and member of the first Kirlian Camera incarnations) and Monica Serra. Simon Balestrazzi is an electronic/electroacoustic composer and sound artist active since the 80's. He released many albums and performed live around Europe under various names. Monica Serra is a talented actress whose artistic research led her to double as vocalist since 1999. Tracklist : 01 Black Forest Myth 3:31 02 23 Visions Of Light Appear 5:17 03 Dead Things Always Come Back 5:01 04 Zero Growth 7:16 05 Little Angry Birds 7:34 06 Comfortably Nested 7:08 07 Travelling Without Maps 5:00 08 Like A Tree Growing Out Of A Sidewlak 6:32 2009 €12.00
DROMOMANE Abaton LP Black vinyl, 9 tracks, limited edition of hand-numbered 313 copies. "After three albums under his own name (the latest of which, "Rosegger", was released on (T)reue um (T)reue a couple of years ago), and several collaborative projects as the driving force behind DUHKHA and HELAAS, Benjamin Bex reveals his new avatar: DROMOMANE. With "Abaton", he delivers a singular and intimate album, inspired both by his urban experiences in Berlin, and his Mediterranean life in Marseille. Gnawing electronic drones rub shoulders with delicate arrangements of guitar arpeggios and synth loops, carrying a passionate, at times almost extatic voice. Grégory Lelay contributed field recordings from his sojourn in the Azores, as well as the stunning artwork." https://soundcloud.com/staalplaat/sets/dromomane-abaton-lp 2016 €15.00
DRONAEMENT Ezoterick Muzick CD-R Finally a new full album by DRONAEMENT with NEW material, very “positive” drone-vibrations & field-recording-reworkings with excursions to trancy tribal-rhythm-pieces, full of mystic feelings and close to the mystery of existence, the title is more than appropriate... “Dronæment is active since 1997 and is the main musical project of Marcus Obst who lives in the South area of what once was East Germany. After a few amazing tape albums he joined the Drone Records serie with the "Wassermond" 7", which was based on a collaboration with Jim De Jong, followed soon by a split LP with The Infant Cycle (Jim De Jong again....). Since then he released some marvellous albums on Dachstuhl, Nauze [Muzick], Mystery Sea, Le Cri De La Harpe and Field Muzik. Everyone with an even small interest in Drone / Experimental music should immediately put their hands on them. After the wonderful "Yr" (released with the help of our friends at Blade Records) and "Allein... Unter Menschen" (a remastered CD-R version of one of his early tapes), this is the third Dronæment album released by Afe. Needless to say that we're very proud about this. "Ezoterick Muzick" was inspired by repeated listenings of indian traditional music and is a successful attempt at creating meditative / relaxing ambient music...” [label info] 2006 €13.00
DRUMM, KEVIN Battering Rams LP From the viscerally punishing and nerve wrecking, to the wistfully sublime, Kevin Drumm ‘s work often yield a ferocious intensity through the timbres of minute details. Now, throughout this series of archival works dating from 2000 to 2022, his mastery is once again on full display. On »Battering Rams«, sinister forces interlope with sanguine glimmers of respite and contemplation, while recurring drones ceaselessly crescendo to near paralysing effect, only for the albums final moments to offer a lofty reprise of boundless oscillation, dispelling all the pent up tension into a sanguine state of bliss. Once again underpinning Drums’ genius of turning apparently trivial hums into elongated microtonal worlds that stay etched deeply in your conscious, often long after the works final resonances have already subsided. https://vaagner.bandcamp.com/album/battering-rams Another serene deployment from Chicago great Kevin Drumm, 'Battering Rams' is a dissociated crackle of damaged percussion and errant feedback that stabilizes into the kind of bleakly sensitive atmosphere you'd usually expect to find on the back of a short-run black metal tape. 'Battering Rams' won't surprise any regular listeners but it's another worthy addition to the noise legend's canon, filling out the cloudier end of his sonic spectrum with more spacious industrial abstraction and the kind of pillowy drones we fell in love with the moment we first clapped our ears on 'Imperial Distortion'. The relative openness of 'Fire' wrong-foots us at first, with studio clatter amplified above an amplified whine that sounds like heavy machinery vibrating into obsoletion, but the mood shifts significantly on the brief 'Glory Only Once', heralded by eerie whistles. We're led towards the crushing double blow of 'Dreams Now Major Events' and 'Old Shoes'. The former bends what sounds like synth choirs into bleak drones, slowly but perceptibly shifting the pitch and ramping up the tension, while the latter gives us the sweet release we've been waiting for, coaxing us towards the sublime. Here we're reminded of Drumm's most powerful serene material (think "Imperial Horizon"), lulled into a psychedelic slumber by billowing synths and distant keys. -Boomkat 2023 €22.50
DRØNE / DROENE / DRONE (MARK VAN HOEN / MIKE HARDING) Mappa Mundi CD This the first CD released by drøne, after two vinyl albums on Anna von Hausswolff's label, Pomperipossa. In a 5” jacket with artwork and font by nico, who also provided the hand-written text for the vinyl artwork for the 2015 and 2016 releases, “Mappa Mundi” traces and describes audio surrounding and occupying the planet earth. Workers toil in smithies, call signs and chants-at-prayer reveal attempts to order the chaos, which always remains one step ahead. Post-lapsarian for sure, but smoke signals and drums have morphed into the ‘bing bong’ of the attention-grabbing, mind-polluting PA system. The coded simplicity of the whistle (“Start!”) has evolved into a more deliberate attempt to control rather than inform by explicit, structured language. Announcements have become commands; signs bark orders. Thus ‘no’ becomes a powerful rejection, rather than merely a preference; and no-ers are more easily to spot… “You’re going the wrong way”! (To which the only sensitive and mature response is: “Good!”) Call signs, IDs, audio sigils and signatures all combine to describe a polluted, confusing atmosphere which threatens to leave us powerless and bewildered. "Decipher the sounds and you win the game! First prize is, guess what? You get to take the audio poison! Congratulations! You’ve lost!”. The first album, 'reversing into the future' drew this response from Lend Me Your Ears: "This thrilling piece – surely the most kinetic non-dancefloor record in an age". Anna herself wrote of the follow up record, 'a perfect blind': "I love everything about this release. Such a great presentation and exciting project! And most important: the music is sublime." The Quietus wrote: "Last year's distinctive debut from drøne was likened to a hurtling journey. It's combination of field recordings, shortwave radio and modular synths possessed an excited, driving energy whose route was hitherto unexplored and destination unknowable. But with an expanded sound pool boasting instruments across the ages - from guitar, through pipe organ and strings to dulcimer and psaltery – its follow-up takes a sideways step into more cognizant, reflective pastures.” 2017 €10.00
DÄLEK {DALEK] Untitled LP "One track, 40 minutes over 2 sides. The eagerly awaited and legendary Latitudes session finally sees the light of day. Vinyl comes in a limited run of 700 black and 300 purple and includes an insert and a sticker. from the liner notes: July 2005 was a crazy time in my universe. John Loder, my mentor and surrogate big brother, who I had worked alongside at Southern for 20 years, was very ill - battling a brain tumour diagnosed 18 months earlier. Dälek were holed up in my flat, on the sharp end of reducing their number from three to just two. They were recording a session for our relatively new Latitudes imprint - spending days in the studio laying tracks and nights in my living room, working on ideas. We got to know each other, really. (I have the photos of Alap passed out drunk in his boxer shorts to prove it.) I discovered that the hip-hop bravado and crushing beats were only one layer of these guys. They had a secret Metal past, a serious Alt-Country present, and hearts as big as New Jersey. Their love and knowledge of music ran deep. On the 7th, I got up to head into the office/studio, and left them sleeping away. Half way to the bus stop I got a call from Tony saying turn around, go home, don't get on the bus or the tube. He said there had been explosions in the Underground. I turned around, went home and turned on the news. Alap and Will sat with me and watched London's own version of 9-11 unfold, and then, full of determination and grit, headed into the studio to finish recording. And what did they produce? Why it's taken this long for this recording to be released is only down to me, and the battles that I've fought in the intervening five years. In August of 2005, John Loder left us. Since then I've had to work very hard to keep Southern going, and though we had to close our warehouse and as a result lose most of our staff last year, we've survived, and actually come out all the better for it. It's like the old days - we're compact, which means we can fight our battles like guerilla warriors - which is pretty much what you need to do to make ends meet these days. None of this has much to do with the epic grooves that Dälek laid down on this session. And it has everything to do with it, at least when I listen to what MC Dälek is saying. Sonically, this session is a real departure from Dälek's albums. It's a gorgeous, multi-cultural melting pot of sound and space, a serious shot to the head, an opening of the third eye. I strongly urge you to explore the magnificence of this session on headphones, in a darkened room, and let it take you away. I love it so much that I guess I wanted to keep it to myself for all this time. But it's time to share, and to apologise to you all for taking so long. - Allison Schnackenberg, August 2010" [label info] http://blog.southern.com/latitudes 2011 €15.00
Asphalt for Eden LP Conceived in New Jersey from its emerging DIY scene from the late ‘90s, cult hop-hop trio DÄLEK were known as pioneers over the last fifteen years or so of an intriguing sound which fused a blend of progressive hip-hop artistry supported by a rhythmic backdrop consisting of sonic experimentation through noise music and dark ambient (they would be dubbed by journalists as what would happen when you mix Public Enemy and My Bloody Valentine). Their singularity would be highlighted in four defining milestone full-length albums released on Ipecac Recordings (one of them being their “Absence” masterpiece LP from 2005), along with live actions where the band would support the likes of Tool and The Melvins, and even collaborate with the likes of artists such as Faust. In Spring 2015 mastermind MC Dälek (a.k.a. Will Brooks, with the blessing of ex-member/co-producer Oktopus) revived DÄLEK after a hiatus with a new lineup which now includes DJ rEk and Mike Swarmbots and are now preparing to release their new album “Asphalt For Eden” which will be the first official DÄLEK release since their last full-length, 2009’s “Gutter Tactics”. “Asphalt For Eden” sees a new creative peak for DÄLEK and will bring a new awareness for this cult hip-hop entity now resurrected once again and ready to show a formidable display of true hip hop artistry and experimentation through their new album and the plethora of touring the band have planned in support of it. A band which many see as one of the most genuine underground DIY hip hop iconoclasts. dalekipecac.bandcamp.com/album/asphalt-for-eden 2016 €27.00
  Endangered Philosophies do-LP "Pioneers of alt hip-hop, Dälek features rapper / producer MC Dälek, producer / live electronics Mike Manteca and turntablist DJ rEk. With roots in the mid-90s DIY scene, Dälek have consistently released groundbreaking albums, starting with their 1998 debut EP, ‘Negro Necro Nekros’, to 2016’s ‘Asphalt For Eden’, hailed by Pitchfork for its subtlety and restraint, saying “on ‘Asphalt For Eden’, hip hop ascends into the noosphere.” https://dalek.bandcamp.com/album/endangered-philosophies 2017 €29.50
EARTHMONKEY Alms of Morpheus do-CD "The Bog is back and Bogger than ever. His cavity inducing Krystil-clear psych riffs, suspended in jellied electronics are anything but Earthly. Peat and Repeat were sitting on a bridge. Peat fell off. Into infinity. Here's the map. Rinse and repeat. Bog has a real talent both for playing and composition. His musicks are weighted with heavy doses of classic late 60's lysergic lytergics, but his brand of 'delics are uniquely scented by the new millennium. Cosmic, deep, spiraling, melodic, contagious, sexy, weird, rock, roll, trance, pants. Earthmonkey wields these and more. The Monkey lays down on Broadway. To sleep, perchance to dream of Morpheus. PEAT BOG-EARTHMONKEY, A BRIEF HISTORY. Peat Bog's formative years were largely spent casting about the English countryside with The Convoy; a conflagration of acid crazed, medieval brigands (see also "hippies"), who traveled en masse via an armada of beaten old trucks & buses, making their homes in teepees and living as freely as possible. While tuning in and dropping out with this loose collective, Bog began to ingest not only psychedelic drugs, but also psychedelic music. From The Mothers Of Invention to Chrome, Bog was a head for it all. It wasn't long before he began to bake the minds of others with his own brand of trance inducing (and induced) music. It was with this burgeoning sense of a musical universe that Peat Bog moved to Ireland in 1989. Eventually settling in County Claire in 1992, Bog found kindred spirits in Ruby Wallis and in the family Stapleton. The Stapletons' pseudo-nomadic lifestyle, traveling by horses and wagons, appealed to Bog, and so he found himself as something of an auxiliary family member. In 1993 Steve Stapleton asked Bog if he would like to sit in on recording sessions for a Nurse With Wound track slated for the compilation album "50 Years Of Sunshine" (a musical tribute to the 50 years since Albert Hoffmann first stumbled upon LSD 25). As it happened, Bog had just the right experience in both music and Sunshine usage. Thus was born another Nurse With Wound adjutant who would later appear on such NWW albums as "Who Can I Turn To Stereo," "An Awkward Pause," "Alice The Goon," "Funeral Music For Perez Prado" and "Rock And Roll Station," as well as other projects. Concurrently, Peatbog performed with a band called The Big Bag Of Stix. This group was known for playing grueling three hour sets of tweaked out, Irish punk/traditional. Quoth a member of the band: "Bog would go mental on percussion and didgeridoo." 1995 saw the birth of Peat Bog and Ruby Wallace's child Freddy. It was at this time that Bog started to work with the band The Inflatable Sideshow. With Darragh Greally and some assistance from Stapleton, the "Bonefrequency" track was completed in 1996 and appeared on the "Foxtrot" compilation LP. The Inflatable Sideshow then spent quite some time touring Ireland and the European continent. In the late 90's, some friends asked if they could use a selection of Bog's home recordings for their Burning Man documentary, "Dust Devils." This suggestion dovetailed nicely with the new musical notions percolating in Bog's mind. Inspired by memories of similar festivals in the UK, Bog elicited the help of Andile Meeshec, Molly Gowen and Ian Cahill, and a series of pieces were created for the film under the new project name; Earthmonkey. The music finally used in the film appears as tracks 6 & 7 on Earthmonkey's "Audiosapien" album, released by Beta-lactam Ring Records in 2003." [label info] www.blrrecords.com 2011 €14.00
EARZUMBA Bestia Infernal CD Neues Material von argentinischen Drone-artist CHRISTIAN DERGARABEDIAN, der sich stylistisch mit seinem Projekt EARZUMBA mal wieder kaum einordnen lässt mit seiner irren Plunderphonia & Electro-Akustik beeinflusster Komposition. Als Beigabe gibt es etwas ganz anders, einen Mitschnitt von seinem tollen Solo-Auftritt in der Neuen Weserburg in Bremen, der im April 2005 von Radio Bremen mitgeschnitten und später ausgestrahlt wurde, ca. 30 Minuten fabulöse Drone-Vibrations! "...this album is pure sampladelia: Billy Joel,Metallica,tons of blues artists, Cage, Elvis, Bowie, tons of public and r&r bands, Screamin Jay Hawkins,Discepolo´s classic "siglo xx cambalache" PLUS a piano improvisation,a electroacoustic track and a bonus track of 30 MINUTES LONG of pure drone recorded live by RADIO BREMEN!!!!!! OUT NOW!!!" [label website info] "This is probably one of Christian Dergarabedian’s best albums to date, if not THE best, presenting his greatly enjoyable, truly “delihilarious” work with samples and cut’n’paste in the first half and an engrossing exploration of the low realms of “cosmic vibration” in the very last track " [Massimo Ricci TOUCHING EXTREMES] 2006 €8.00
ECKLOFF, JÜRGEN Angeflantschte Fugenstücke LP “Bei Wanzen Geld zurück” originally recorded 2004 for an exhibition at Sibirische Zelle (Berlin) fills the A-side of this two sided 30,48cm rotating audio-archive. A seemingly empty room with greasy walls is somehow filled by situations and more - of course with happy ending! Side B contains six shorter pieces including the unusual trilogy Mörtel I – IV. This is the very first trilogy that consists of four pieces instead of the usual three! A masterpiece using the most modern techniques of composition. (That's also the reason why the additional `T´ is used in the record-title...) All the sounds used for the pieces on Side B where recorded by the author himself mainly for his forthcoming film "Girls In Dirty Aprons" at several places. Five scenic figurines of photographic beauty and understanding of sonic nature. `Miniatures Concrètes´ a French maybe would say.... The final piece entitled “Jazz” sets another direction, Eckloff never has shown before. Not Dixieland...the other Jazz! Yes! The not fully printed backside of the coveroffers a lot of space for notes - a new & fresh invention on the fast growing record-market that underlines once more the forward-thinking way 90%Wasser steps on since years! Tracklist: side one: 1. Bei Wanzen Geld zurück side two: 2. Fettröhre 3. Mörtel I 4. Mörtel II 5. Mörtel III 6. Mörtel IV 7. Jazz "Und gleich noch etwas Neues aus dem Hause 90%WASSER, dem Berliner Label, das uns so exzellente Platten wie die von COLUMN ONE, JÜRGEN PLOOG und die letztlich hier präsentierten KEIN ZWEITER beschert hat. Das heißt, neben eben KEIN ZWEITER wird uns gleich noch die neuste Scheibe von JÜRGEN ECKLOFF angetragen, demjenigen, der so großartig Collagen und Videos mit surrealem Inhalt schnitzelt, dem, der Alben produziert, seine Collagen ab und an ausstellt (wie z.B. in der Sibirischen Zelle, der Rumsti-Pumsti-Galerie am Treptower Park in Berlin und – wie gemunkelt wird – demnächst in Zernikow bei Berlin) und sowohl mit COLUMN ONE als auch mit dem oben genannten Label eng verbunden ist. Auch auf dem Cover prangt eine Collage von ihm – wobei hier die einzelnen Teile wie ein Langschatten ineinandergefügt wurden. Dieser ist der eines Mannes. Und der wird von hinten wie von vorne gezeigt – mit einer Mütze auf dem Kopf, die darauf schließen lässt, dass es sich hier wohl um einen (Stahl- oder Bergwerks-) Arbeiter aus den – sagen wir – 1950er Jahren handelt. Musikalisch, oder was die zu hörenden Geräusche betrifft, oder auch hörspielerisch, werden wir in den Großraum einer Werkshalle entführt – möglicherweise ja die des auf dem Cover zu sehenden Arbeiters. „Bei Wanzen Geld zurück“ umfasst dann die gesamte A-Seite des Albums. Da schlürft und schmatzt zunächst jemand. Hörbar in einer eben größeren und annähernd leeren Halle. Alle Hintergrundgeräusche, einschließlich Pfeifen, hallen hier nämlich nach. Koch- oder größere Metalldeckel rollen. Das Schmatzen bleibt. Balken, wie Klanghölzer fallen in Pfützen. Das Schmatzen bleibt, scheint sich sogar hier und da mit den Wasserpfützklängen zu verbinden. Dann wird so etwas wie eine Tonne durch die Halle gerollt. Nun schmatzt es unterbrochen. Mal äußert sich das – ja was eigentlich, vielleicht Monster – brummend, mal hustend. Ein Knirschen. Die Deckel. Und wieder das Schmatzen. Im Hintergrund dann auch einzelne Töne eines Klaviers, oder etwas kleiner – eines für Kinder vielleicht. Dann wieder das Rollen. Manchmal, zum Ende hin, sind auch Töne zu hören, die an welche erinnern, die entstehen, wenn mit Wasser gefüllte Gläser, die an den oberen Kanten mit dem Finger gestrichen werden, ertönen, klingen, summen und brummen. Das geht bis zum Rückkopplungsgeräusch. Und schließlich mündet das Ganze in ein Flaschenfallgeräusch – in etwa so, als wär diejenige Person (das Monster, Wesen) da in der Halle grad damit beschäftigt, zu kegeln ... Die A-Seite macht dem Titel des Albums alle Ehre. Denn es flieht das besagte (Monster-) Wesen der (Arbeiter-) Person durch die Halle, und zwar in Form von Geräuschen, die polyphon und mehrstimmig sind – so wie bei einer klassischen Fuge, in der ja jedes Thema nach seinem Auftauchen, zeitversetzt wiederholt wird. Weil wir es hier aber lediglich mit Fugenstücken zu tun haben, die angeflanscht wurden, die also dicht, jedoch lösbar miteinander verbunden sind, kann das Ganze wohl auch in andere Kontexte gesetzt werden. Wer weiß? ... Auf der B-Seite sind dann „Röhrenfett“ (B1), „Mörtel I-IV“ (B2-5) und „Jazz“ (B6) zu hören. Vielleicht geht das Ganze auch in Richtung Versuchsaufbau. Vielleicht dient der Mörtel dem Errichten einer neuen Halle außerhalb der alten. Da werden – wie auf dem Bau üblich – nämlich Flaschen mit Plopp geöffnet, da wird innerhalb der Stücke gewerkelt, Lasten werden gezogen, da wird gehämmert, verräumt usw. Vielleicht richtet sich's aber auch an die Form der Musik. „Jazz“ ließe diesen Schluss zu. Denn hier wird nicht mehr mit Instrumenten, sondern mit Türknarren gearbeitet. Türen klingen da nämlich wie Blasinstrumente. Und das Hämmern und Poltern so wie ein Schlagwerk, das wie im Jazz üblich nicht unbedingt im Takt bleiben muss. Vielleicht ist das DADA, vielleicht konstruktivistisch oder auch situationistisch. Schließlich beschäftigten sich die Situationisten neben der Malerei und der Collage auch mit Stadtplanung. Allerdings waren sie der Arbeit gänzlich abgeneigt „Arbeit? Niemals.“ Das war einer der Slogans der Zeit ... Nun, was auch immer es ist, es lohnt sich auf jeden Fall „Angeflanschte Fugenstücke“ zu hören, und zwar um sich selbst ein Bild davon zu machen, wofür es meines Wissens nach noch keinen Begriff gibt." [andrewkorsch für nonpop.de] 2016 €15.00
EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN Phase IV : the box set (Alles in Allem) LP-Box Nach über 12 Jahren erscheint nun endlich das lang ersehnte neue Studioalbum der Band Einstürzende Neubauten ALLES IN ALLEM. Das Album markiert die Quintessenz ihres Schaffens und es öffnet sich wieder eine unerwartete Tür der mittlerweile 40 Jahre dauernden Klangexperimente des Forschungsteams um Blixa Bargeld. Wie kaum eine andere Band haben sie es geschafft einen eigenen musikalischen Kosmos zu erschaffen, ja sogar ein eigenes Genre zu kreieren, das sowohl klangliche Härte als auch ausgefeilte Poesie auf einzigartige Weise vereint. Passenderweise im Jahr der Ratte, gemäß Chinesischem Horoskop dem Symbol für Einfallsreichtum und Vielseitigkeit, ruht sich die Band nicht auf dem nunmehr vier Dekaden umfassenden Werk aus, sondern agiert zukunftsgewandt und erforscht weiterhin neugierig und mit grenzenloser Spielfreude alles, was das Klang-Universum hergibt. In den einzigartigen Klang- und Textlandschaften der 1980 in Berlin gegründeten Gruppe offenbart sich so jene Zeitlosigkeit, die sich Blixa Bargeld, N.U. Unruh, Alexander Hacke, Jochen Arbeit und Rudi Moser stets erhalten haben: Durch ihre experimentellen Herangehensweisen ans Songwriting, die in vier Jahrzehnten entwickelten Instrumente und das kollektive Arbeiten klingt die Band in ihrer eigenen Zeitrechnung auffallend gegenwärtig. Ja, die Einstürzenden Neubauten scheinen mit ihrer einzigartigen Musik stets äußerst präzise im jeweiligen Jetzt zu walten, ob im Industrial der Frühphase, den treibenden 90er-Jahren oder dem bedachten Spätwerk. Die Verse "Wir hatten tausend Ideen / Und alle waren gut" aus dem Albumtrack "Am Landwehrkanal" könnten durchaus eine Selbstbeschreibung der Band sein. So ist eine besondere Platte entstanden: ALLES IN ALLEM das erste reguläre Studioalbum der Einstürzenden Neubauten seit 12 Jahren, zeigt eine unvergleichbare Band, die ihre eigene Kategorie bildet, ihr eigenes Genre stiftet. Neben der CD und LP wird es auch ein limitiertes Deluxe Boxset geben. Dieses beinhaltet zusätzlich zur CD und LP noch jeweils eine CD und LP mit Outtakes sowie eine CD mit Bild-Tonaufnahmen aus dem Studio, welche die Entwicklung sowie Fortschritte der einzelnen Stücke festhalten. Einige Stücke sind ungeschliffen, aber schon fast fertig und andere noch in der experimentellen Findungsphase. Eine kleine Dokumentation der Entstehung des Albums. Abgesehen davon beinhaltet die Box ein 164-seitiges Buch mit allen handschriftlichen Aufzeichnungen von Blixa Bargeld hinsichtlich der Entstehung der Liedtexte sowie Essays von einigen Supportern. 2020 €90.00
EKIN FIL Ghosts Inside LP "Ekin Fil is the acclaimed drone-pop chanteuse working with the sparest of materials in her ethereal, shoegaze deconstructions. Her sound developed out of a healthy obsession with Cranes, Cocteau Twins, Slowdive and many other bands that she discovered in the tattered back issues of NME and the home-dubbed tapes that were passed around when she was growing up in Turkey. Upon a fortuitous invitation to perform alongside Grouper in Istanbul in the late oughts, Ekin Fil (nee Ekin Üzeltüzenci) began producing a series of hidden gems in the drone-rock underworld through releases on Root Strata, Students Of Decay, Bathetic and No Kings. Ghosts Inside continues to find Ekin coaxing somber melodies out of echo, shadow and whisper, even as she expands her arrangements to include piano and keyboards to accompany the guitar, voice and array of pedals that had been front and central on her previous recordings. Ghosts Inside stands as her most arresting recordings to date, written during a period of personal despair with an oblique poetry of sadness cascading through the songs. Her father battling cancer. The end of a romance. It's an introspective sound, completely turned in on itself and tuning out the socio-political tumult of her native home in Istanbul. In confronting psychic distress, heartache and depression, Ekin Fil blocks out the rest of the world to concentrate on the immediate issues of human relationships and their many complications. Allusions to catharsis flicker through the sullen, narcotized beauty of Ghosts Inside, updating the mood found on those classic 4AD albums of the '80s (i.e. Garlands, It'll End In Tears, Lonely Is An Eyesore, etc.) orbiting the spheres of Grouper, lovesliescrushing and Stars Of The Lid." www.helenscarsdale.com 2017 €19.00
ELECTRIC SEWER AGE Bad white Corpuscule CD "Electric sewer age was thought up in 2006 by a man called John Deek (r.i.p). The original idea was for likeminded souls, amongst particularly the coil fraternity, too compose music, which would be released, with no credits to the creators. This would allow the listener to listen, and not have a preconceived bias, as to which song they liked best, based on their favourite composer etc. While in Bangkok 2006, I talked with Peter Christopherson (r.i.p) about the project and he jumped aboard. He supplied many loops which made their way to Texas and onto the UK. These segments might or might not be used in here, you explore. Danny Hyde continues his fantastical journey in sound with this second release under the ESA name and completely moves beyond expectations. Disproving the doubters, this EP is pretty much just him in his studio wrenching new creations out of his equipment; the trainspotters amongst us will no doubt pick out some of the shards he pulls from his past. But he doesn't make them the focus of what is going on here, they are there merely to accent, to add a bit of depth and help illuminate how many years he's been at this. Does he follow a muse? If so, it must not be one that operates in the traditional sense. Perhaps it is more of a compulsion to create and then endlessly refine what you've done down to the most primal of elements. There are ghosts all over this thing, you can feel the weight of their absence and at some points you swear you can actually hear them. Tricks of the sound field, the mirror casting back shadows. If anyone else is on here, they have come out of the ether to make an appearance. Don't be afraid, put on your headphones and immerse yourself into a symphony that Hyde terms "an ode to loss". He'd know. We can all see from the outside what happened over the last decade but for him, it was all right there. Up close and personal. Through the usage of heavily processed vocals and arcane terrestrial instrumentation, Hyde lives up to his reputation for creating amazingly detailed yet extremely dark electronic compositions. The symbiosis of organic and synthetic influences would be his forte and he's not holding anything back this time out, believe me, there's a feel to what is on here that isn't easily conceived. To just sit down and begin knocking out what 'Bad White Corpuscle' contains I don't think could be done unless you had planned and plotted out every last possible contingency down to the millisecond. I've played this a lot but by comparison he's probably got mixes and additional versions of what's on here that could fill terabytes of hard drive space without batting an eye. Electric Sewer Age exist between two worlds: the one of now and an older, more disturbing place which with the passage of time only becomes more savage and terrifying to visit. As it appears he's chosen to put Aural Rage to bed, we have these excursions to look forward to; every few years Mr. Hyde will come out of seclusion to reveal where he's at and where he's going. Clearly, this project is a form of therapy for the guy and having researched precisely what a bad white corpuscle is there's an uneasy feeling that foreshadowing is being employed here. I'm not privy to whom this refers, I can only hope they know what they're doing. This is so intense, so unflinchingly expressive that I come away completely drained. Up by Sunday. Peter. Very elegant electronica, as you are used from best Coil's albums. Dreamy and doped muzak for the real dreamer. Tracklist : 01. Grey corpuscle 3.56 02. Corpuscular corpuscle 5.11 03. Amber corpuscle 5.12 04. Rising corpuscle 8.40 05. Bad white corpuscle 6.27 06. Black corpuscle 5.20 " [label info] www.oldeuropacafe.com 2014 €16.00
  Contemplating Nothingness CD ELECTRIC SEWER AGE was born as an “anonymous / secret and aural experiment” in 2006. In fact this project was a collaboration between PETER “SLEAZY” CHRISTOPHERSON (legendary former member of TG / COIL / PTV) and long time friend and collaborator DANNY HYDE (Dan might be better known for being the Sound-Maestro behind many COIL albums…). Following the unexpected passing of SLEAZY in 2010 and after the publication of first posthumous ELECTRIC SEWER AGE album, ESA became a solo project by DANNY HYDE. Well, after 5 years from the release of second ESA album here finally comes the awaited third chapter in the ESA saga. Very elegant, first-class electronic muzak. Dan was the sound-engineer for a number of COIL albums, e.g. “Love Secret Domain” which clearly bears his mark, similarly doped sounds & muzak can be deeply heard also on this new release. .... just like the previous release, this CD will come in a limited numbered edition of 750 copies." "In den letzten Jahren hat Danny Hyde durch seinen – und hier setze jeder das ihm passende Adjektiv ein – Umgang mit Coil-Material für Kontroversen gesorgt. Ich habe schon an anderer Stelle geschrieben, dass die gegenwärtige Situation des Coil-Nachlasses zu den traurigsten Kapiteln der Industrial Culture gehört. Vor etlichen Jahren debütierte Hyde nach langen Jahren als Studiomann als Solokünstler unter dem Projektnamen Aural Rage mit rhythmischen Tracks und auf dem bislang einzigen Album überarbeitete er auch Stücke, die er mit/für Coil geschrieben hatte. Mit „FJ Nettlefold“ konnte man dort das letzte von Balance eingesungene Stück hören. Das Projekt Electric Sewer Age hat eine schwierige Genese, Hyde hat das hier dargelegt. Die erste Veröffentlichung “In Final Phase” knüpfte an Coils „Equinoxe/Solstice“-Singles an. “Contemplating Nothingness”, ursprünglich 2019 auf Old Europa Café als CD und nun von Hallow Ground auf LP veröffentlicht, erinntert durchaus etwas an den Vorgänger “Bad White Corpuscle”. Von Labelseite wird das neue Album beschrieben als “a lysergic tapestry culled from the deep end of the collective pop cultural unconscious”. Der Einfluss Coils wird thematisch und musikalisch mehr als virulent. “Still Too Far To Go” ist ein atmosphärischer Beginn: Orgelartige Drones, Beats, die wie Überbleibsel aus den “Backwards”-Sessions klingen, dunkle Streicher und pastorale Flöten untermalen, wie jemand von seinem ersten Pilztrip berichtet („My first mushroom trip. It was so profound”). Das Cover des Gnarls Barkley-Stücks “Who’se Gonna Save My Soul” (hier leider ziemlich sicher unbeabsichtigt als “Whose Gonna Save My Soul” tituliert), kombiniert orientalische Flöten, Akustikgitarre und choralartige Passagen, wobei die leicht mit Effekten unterlegten spoken words nicht ganz überzeugen. Auf „Chebo” wird der gesamplete Gesang auf eine Weise bearbeitet, die an das erinnert, was Peter Christopherson mit seinem Threshold Houseboys Choir gemacht hat. „Surrender To The Crags“ besteht aus Sprachsamples (zum Thema Alkoholismus), orientalischen Flöten und Perkussion, die an Muslimgauze denken lässt. Eine Assoziation, die nicht nur ich hatte. „Self Doubting Trip”und „Dekotur“ mit ihren sphärischen, flächigen Passagen haben eine dezent melancholische Atmosphäre und schließen das durchaus stimmige und stimmungsvolle “Contempating Nothingsness” angemessen ab." (MG/African Paper} 2019 €15.00
ELIAN Whispers, then Silence CD "To say Michael Duane Ferrell (the man behind the Elian moniker) is a patient man would be something of an understatement. But then the work of Elian is all incredibly understated anyway, so it all fits nicely. I first heard Elian’s work through mutual contacts, my first experience being ‘We Are All Visitors Here’ on the rather wonderful Test Tube label. In fact, if you go over the work he has released, you will instantly notice a person who clearly takes his time and treats each album as a labour of love in the fullest sense. The album ‘Whispers, Then Silence’ was actually one of the first albums I got for release on Home Normal, all the way back in December 2009. Along with Celer, offthesky and Library Tapes, it was one of the albums which defined exactly what Home Normal would be for me. Its very special that we have been able to wait, tweak and just get everything timed perfectly for the release, which it duly has. The album is about as broad a record as we’ve released and about as ambitious a work that I have ever heard. From the opening vibraphone of its title track, through the interspersed white noise static and disturbing light-dark-dark-light melodies sourced from various instruments, you are left with the feeling of absolute and complete imagination. Always changing, never still, it keeps you suspended in its entirety, in (as one friend of mine said) ‘a horror film state’. Whilst I get this, it doesn’t fit for me. There is often a very limiting split in so called ‘minimal’ work for me: light airy fluffy drone or dark ‘doom’ drone work, and quite frankly I am bored of both. Where this work is truly great is in its ability to cross the line between organic and electronic, accessible and inaccessible, dark and light. The melodies are totally unique and its a voice quite unlike anyone else out there today. It doesn’t fit into any scene or exact definition, and whilst that may put some people off, it shouldn’t. For those who are as patient as the man himself, sit down and enjoy, you are in for one incredible ride." [label info] www.homenormal.com 2010 €15.00
ELIZABETH S. Gather Love CD Elizabeth S., long time contributor/performer with duo Eyeless In Gaza is about to release her first solo album. Happy in the past to remain on the sidelines with her collaborations she is now ready to reveal some of her story. These songs are her personal journey through many stormy years and the development of this work was many years in the making. All the songs were written, performed and produced by her with the only additional contributions being made by Martyn Bates and Alan Trench. In a recent review (www.bigbeautifulnoise.com) Lee Henderson wrote that her work extends from an almost mournful reminiscence to ethereal portraits and symbolic aural illustrations. Elizabeth S. has an approach that combines electronic treatments while having a tight grasp on her early British folk beginnings: this in-depth collection is a beacon on dark and intensely stormy years and yet it still offers a warm invitation to inspire hope and goodness to the human race. Consisting of twelve tracks of such an intimate autobiographical diary this body of work leaves the listener with no doubt that we have been allowed into a very private space inhabited by most of us at some point in our lives - with Elizabeth’s music gently moving from the tender to the abstract, all the while staying firmly rooted within a range of sparse musical arrangements. Elizabeth S. has been likened to a curious hybrid of Dolly Collins, June Tabor, Laurie Anderson and Kate Westbrook – but, it is truly difficult to label her music, and this is a task that we leave to the listener. Full tracklist: 1. Misborn 2. Will Your Love 3. The Carer 4. The Carter Girl 5. Weathered Life 6. Measured Greed 7. The Hill 8. The Long Farewell 9. Wanderlove 10. Gather Love 11. No Rain 12. To. https://www.klanggalerie.com/gg384 "Warum Elizabeth S., langjährige Mitwirkende bei der Band Eyeless in Gaza, erst nach Jahrzehnten ein Album im Alleingang produziert hat, ist nicht weiter bekannt. Schon die ersten beiden Tracks ihres vor kurzem erschienenen Debüts “Gather Love” geben jedoch bereits eine Vorstellung von der enorm aufwühlenden Emotionalität, die sich in unterschiedlichen Facetten durch das ganze Werk zieht. Ein solches Album braucht nicht nur eine Weile, um fertig gestellt zu werden, sondern noch mehr Zeit, um überhaupt als Idee heranzureifen. Ein solches Album ist, so will es die Redensart, keine leichte Geburt, und so beginnt “Gather Love” wie ein Donnerschlag mit dem heftigen “Misborn”, bei dem die Sängerin inmitten einer lärmenden Karambolage aus Drums, Noiserockgitarren und anderen Instrumenten beschwörende Verse anstimmt, während kleine Melodiefragmente auch hier bereits die Sanftheit ahnen lassen, die im weiteren Verlauf immer deutlicher in den Vordergrund treten wird. Alles dreht sich um den titelgebenden Begriff, und es scheint, als wollten Gesang und Lärm durch eine unsichtbare Wand dringen. Hinter der verbirgt sich vielleicht die gelöste, sehnsuchtsvolle Trauer, in die das darauffolgende “Will Your Love” getaucht ist – dieser vielleicht eingängigste Song des Albums, dessen eindringliches Gitarrenspiel und feuriger Gesang die Energie des Folkrevivals der 70er channelt, stellt die Frage nach einer Liebe, die den Tod überdauert. Alles in diesem Stück scheint dem Schmerz abgerungen und ist dabei frei von jeder lieblichen Romantik. Die zwölf Stücke, in denen die oftmals verschwimmenden Klänge von Gitarre, Piano, Melodica, dezenter Elektronik und Streichern den Sound prägen, drehen sich immer wieder um Themen des Verlusts und des Vermissens und strahlen dabei eine große Zärtlichkeit aus, die mehr als alles andere die Wertschätzung des Verlorenen deutlich macht. Der Journalist Lee Henderson, der einiges über die persönlichen Hintergründe des Albums weiß, erwähnt den Bezug einiger der Songs auf die Familie der Sängerin. So enthält das verweht dröhnende “The Carter Girl” eine Tape-Aufnahme, die Elizabeth als Kind von ihrer Mutter, einer Opernsängerin, machte, die später an Alzheimer erkrankte. Andere Songs wie das so entrückte wie exaltierte “Weathered Life” erzählen in ihren Texten von den Herausforderungen, mit denen der Sängerin nahestehende Personen leben und kämpfen mussten. Was die Opulenz der Stücke betrifft, die in ihrem unklaren Ort zwischen dunklen Folkballaden und abstrakteren Soundscapes immer wieder auch an Elizabeths Stammband erinnern, könnte “Gather Love” durchaus das Werk einer Band sein. Und doch bleibt stets der Eindruck einer persönlichen, autobiografischen Stimme, wie sie nur in wirklichen Soloarbeiten sprechen kann – ganz gleich, ob die Sängerin sich dabei wie in dem schleppenden, fast an No Wave erinnernden “No Rain” oder im gemächlich rauschenden “The Long Farewell” eher zurücknimmt und den Instrumenten den vorderen Platz überlässt, oder ob sie auch gesanglich wie in “The Hill” oder dem monumentalen “Measured Greed” alle Barrieren durchbricht und sich in fast wahnhafter Ekstatik Ausdruck verschafft. Zu den gemächlicheren Stücken zählt auch das Mason Williams-Cover “Wanderlove”, bei dem mit Alan Trench (Temple Music, 12 Thousand Days u.v.a.) und Ehemann Martyn Bates auch Gäste mit Drones und begleitendem Gesang zu Wort kommen. In das sanfte Dröhnen mischt sich etwas unruhig drängendes, das sich durch die emotionale Grund-DNA des ganzen Albums zieht, eine sich heftig aufbäumende Eruption, die gleichermaßen rastlos und konzentriert, magisch und kathartisch ist. Erst im kurzen Abspann von “To” glätten sich die Wogen – wie auf der letzten, versöhnlichen Seite einer autobiografischen Erzählung. Zweifelsohne ein mehr als gelungenes Debüt." [U.S./African Paper] 2022 €15.00
ELLENDE HALLO KAPTEIN mCD-R During the early 2000’s we experimented as a collaborative in trying to erase the notion of being a band. Instead, we aimed at operating as an anonymous musical assembly. Through the rise of the internet and its collaborative economy we thought that by pouring various (found) sounds into a large database, we could mix this into music with an incredible complexity that would amount to soundscapes (ugh) so deep that each time the listener would have a multifarious listening experience. In the mid 1970’s Ellende’s founding band members, the cousins Wim and Martinus had tried something similar when they over-dubbbed every 7” vinyl record found at their Cape Town home (mostly Dutch and Afrikaans popular music) onto tape, with mixed results. Conceptually we continued to experiment with this idea of overdubbing; by randomly layering found sounds, but also juxtaposing images or tv images on top of each other in anticipation that this technique could lead to interesting new images or sounds. We can safely say that the Post Modern concept of a hyper-collage has been an obsession for us for over 45 years. This idea reached for us its zenith in 2003 with the double cdr release on Somnabulant Corpse: No Holiday Without a Funeral - Damaged Beyond Repair. This release was extremely deep (sometimes 20 layers deep), but also very, very data heavy (it crashed our at that time top of the line Apple computers). Despite this technical feat, the resulting albums never reached the level of complexity that we had in mind. The result just sounded muddy. In 2010 we tried it again. The sessions for Hallo Kaptein started in 2010 and were mixed in 2011. It follows the same collage approach and contains many found sounds that are layered. However, we consciously aimed at remaining sonically spread out, leaving space for the various layers to be heard in context to the other sounds that are stacked on top of them. Some of the tracks are very open and give a feeling of having been recorded outside, while others are more metallic and enclosed. The last title track of the album is a live improvisation by adding one instrument upon the next one. As this was recorded in one take, we depended heavily on a compressor to keep everything within an acceptable dynamic range. Although recorded more than 10 years ago we felt that Hallo Kaptein was a layering exercise in which we achieved, to our own ears, more acceptable results. Ellende was Martinus Antonius and JJ. Scholtz with many anonymous contributions. Recorded in Cape Town and Tokyo. https://ellende1.bandcamp.com/album/hallo-kaptein "Experimental music is not constrained to a specific part of the world. And experiments, in general, are everywhere: it's a 'human' thing to think outside of the perspective we're given in our upbringing, environment or culture. The only thing is that it is sometimes difficult to get informed about what is all happening outside our little bubble of western influences. But thankfully, sometimes, the sounds of these unknown territories reach our side. We get to hear so many beautiful things ... One of the lesser-known continents where experimental music is made in Africa. Still, the best-known experimental group from this continent is South-African (and Tokyo) based Ellende (Dutch / Afrikaans for 'misery'). They also have a label called Smeerlappen (tr: Scumbags), and in the player are two 3" CDRs from that label. "Hallo Kaptein" by Ellende is the first, and it contains six tracks with a total playing time of just under 18 minutes. Way too short if you ask me because what I hear is serious of a higher level. The combination of field recordings, vocals and (mostly?) synthetic sounds are folded into hypnotizing sound collages, which I simply can't get enough of. Especially the title track - with its almost 7 minutes also the longest track - is so subtly layered and has excellent sound perfectly aligned and mixed ... A constant tension because of subtle changes in the attack of the recurrent sounds, layers in the background that after a bit of while shifted from the back to the front and then back again. And the use of vocals where I must say that being Dutch, the Afrikaans is in a way foreign to me, but with enough overlap to understand the basics. Damn, 18 minutes. Replay. I need a complete CD. And I believe I understand the "ETERNALLY ILLUSIVE DRONESOUP" words on their website." [BW / Vital Weekly] 2022 €9.50
  This is My Song MC listen: https://ellende1.bandcamp.com/album/this-is-my-song "Robert Wyatt once mentioned that he preferred short albums. Wim said he wanted a short life. Kobus spoke about having the shortest relationship ever. We think that giving the attention span, even before the ultra-short Instagram reel moments, for music between 20 to 25 minutes for an album is ideal. Wim argued that life should not go beyond forty. I uselessly argued with him about this and he never made it to forty. If you can even talk about this, Kobus had relationships that lasted less than half a day. And what to say about David? The Fever took him away from us, quite soon Ellende will be nothing but dust in the wind." "Albums by the South African/Japanese group Ellende (meaning 'misery' in Dutch) are usually short, and at twenty minutes, this new cassette is no different. The album is dedicated to Kobus (1964-1999) and Dave M (1967-2021); I believe the latter was a band member who plays synth and mellotron on this album who died of 'the fever' in 2021, which I assume is Covid-19. A life cut short, another shortness. Other players play the piano, Rhodes, and guitar. I believe the exchange of sound files is how this music is made by members living some miles apart. Over the years, I became a big fan of their music, and short albums aren't my thing. I prefer the classic forty-minute albums, so all Ellende albums are too short. Mainly because they play mood music that is atmospheric and richly textured synthesiser-based, which could easily lead up to longer tracks. With the help of carefully placed reverb, space and depth are suggested, and they are not shy about creating a rich sound. Nothing sparse but ominous, vast as space itself. Dark matter, this music, but maybe not without humour. Thanks to their song 'To All The Girls', I have that dreary Nelson song singing through my head. Go away, Willy, let me enjoy Ellende, as no matter how miserable one feels or how dark the music is, it is truly a pleasure to hear this. And that's what great music should do: bring light and joy in a dark world. Did I already mention that this album is way too short? And with my new tape deck having no auto-reverse, I dread the shortness even more." [FdW / Vital Weekly] 2024 €9.50
ELODIE (TIMO VAN LUIJK & ANDREW CHALK) Miniatures Persanes LP "Fourth album by Andrew Chalk & Timo van Luijk. 'A musical fantasy in two movements symbolising the evocative power and poetry of ancient illustration'. Edition of 300 copies." [label info] www.lasciedoree.be "Elodie’s Miniatures Persanes (‘Persian miniature’ I would venture) is the fifth album of Chalk’s collaboration with Timo van Luyk and released on Van Luyk’s private label La Scie Dorée. Available on both vinyl and in one of those beautiful handmade portfolio/slipcase covers that are also produced for Faraway Press albums, this record features two side long tracks that indeed conjure up images of Persia. The instrumentation and feel of Miniatures Persanes is not unlike that of The Circle Of Days, but there are differences that set it apart. The first side long track, Le Doigt d’Etonnement (The Surprising Finger?), is a slow drone-like piece, filled with reverbed instruments, backwards tapes and what sounds like wind (electronic or real), giving it a thick rotating sound. Despite the lack of some breathing space and, indeed, surprise in the track itself, this is a fine musical piece. The second side, Illuminations, fares even better with more pensive and transparent playing, that much-needed breath of air and even a hint of melody. With more variety in its structure and playing, I prefer this over the first side. Miniatures Persanes is a beautiful and reflective record, that works very well on a quiet winter evening." [FK/Vital Weekly] 2014 €17.50
  Vieux Silence CD "Having been entranced by both Andrew Chalk’s work with MIRROR (and back to his solo works as FERIAL CONFINE, plus multiple collaborations with David Jackman, The New Blockaders, Daisuke Suzuki, etc ) and Timo van Luijk (as Af Ursin, In Camera, La Poupée Vivante, and collaborations with Kris Vanderstraeten and others) for many years, I was naturally intrigued to hear about and hear their duo project ELODIE. The project formed in 2010, and has spanned eleven beautiful albums already, to date. "Vieux Silence” for Ideologic Organ is their first release presented outside of their own record publishing nook, Faraway Press & La Scie Dorée. However this is not the first encounter between Ideologic Organ & ELODIE, they performed at a night in London I curated in February 2012, alongside Jessika Kenney & Eyvind Kang. Elodie’s performance was among the most delicately engaging and savant I have witnessed… so very quiet, with snow falling in London outside Cafe Oto’s windows, the audience palpably entered a high intensity listening focus. The impression of this vivid memory is striking, considering how spare each of the individual elements present that night were. "Vieux Silence”, and ELODIE in general provoke a visual imagination in an instant, perhaps filtered through aged watercolour, tape grain, antique lenses, forgotten levels of listening and observational patience. On this gorgeous album Chalk & van Luijk also collaborate with piano, pedal steel and clarinet (played by ; Tom James Scott, Daniel Morris and Jean-Noel Rebilly, respectively). Each detail carefully considered and colouring step by step, like an impressionist watercolour." – Stephen O’Malley, Les Lilas 2017 editionsmego.com/release/SOMA027 2017 €14.00
ENGLISH, LAWRENCE Observation of Breath LP Do you remember the last time you were breathing consciously? Either way, you are likely doing it now. On his new album »Observation of Breath« for the Swiss-based Hallow Ground label, Lawrence English worked exclusively with an organ for four compositions that are exercises in »maximal minimalism,« as their creator himself notes in a nod to Charlemagne Palestine, who coined this term. While it seems somewhat fitting that those four pieces based on a steady flow of air were conceived and recorded in a situation of accelerated standstill caused by a respiratory disease, the Room40 founder is not so much concerned with capturing the zeitgeist than rather incorporating the spirit of time itself. »It is a record about presence and patience,« he explains. Exploring the unique sonic affordances of a singular instrument, »Observation of Breath« is not only devoted to the durability of sound but also to its density. That it marks his debut on Hallow Ground after having shaped its sound by mastering most of the label’s releases in recent years is just as fitting then as its release following albums by Kali Malone and FUJI|||||||||||TA, whose innovative work with organ instruments have facilitated a rediscovery of their possibilities. English’s compositions however are neither directly indebted nor responding to these musicians. His exploration of the organ’s many facets started a decade ago when the composer was given access to an instrument built in 1889 that is presently housed at The Old Museum in Brisbane. After it had already played a crucial role on his seminal albums »Wilderness Of Mirrors« and »Cruel Optimism,« last year’s self-released »Lassitude« was the first record that English entirely composed and recorded with that instrument. »During the soft lockdowns, I spent many days playing to an empty concert hall, recording the pieces that became ›Lassitude‹ and then, this album,« says English in regards to an unfortunate situation that fortunately provided him with time and space—two major themes but also key qualities of the four new compositions. In this sense, he goes on, »Observation of Breath« resolves a number of the questions originally raised by »Lassitude.« »The organ is an exercise in the observation of breath,« English explains the album’s title. »It is a physical breath, one that manifests both audible and inaudible waves of vibrations. The sheer scale of the instrument, its weight and the physical length of the pipes involved in producing the sounds we experience is nothing short of mind-boggling.« More importantly, the sound artist is fascinated by the organ’s ability to produce frequencies that exist at the sensory limits of human awareness—it’s at the edges of these limits that fascination can be found, he argues. »The particular organ that I work with comprises four manuals and 45 speaking stops and it has a tubular-pneumatic action,« he explains. »It’s the stops that are the focus of my interest. They are very specific and when manipulated in certain ways and in certain combinations, create a unique set of unsteady timbres that make it a remarkably intoxicating instrument to collaborate with.« Collaboration is indeed the key word here. The pieces of »Observation of Breath« were recorded in one take in recognition of the co-existence and co-dependence of the human body and mind when brought in unison while working with such a complex instrument. The end results are thus not only marked by longevity but also gripping dynamics. While the six minute-long »A Binding« and the album’s title track explore the sonic qualities of different frequency spectra with long sustained drones, opener »A Torso« and the aptly titled »And a Twist,« only two minutes and 42 seconds long, work with rhythmic elements that create intense moments of structural instability. »The music's power lies in its density, in the stacking of exhales all breathing in unison and then, at some point, failing to breathe further,« says English. »In these moments a wavering unsteadiness of tone arrives with an elegant uncertainty.« It is precisely this quality that makes »Observation of Breath« such a masterful exploration of the multifold relationships between space and time as well as the body and the mind—it’s a conscious meditation on unconscious processes. https://hallowground.bandcamp.com/album/lawrence-english-observation-of-breath 2021 €21.50
ENHET FÖR FRI MUSIK Ömhet & Skilsmässa LP New Enhet För Fri Musk album, recorded in Gothenburg and Malmö 2020 by Hugo Randulv, Sofie Herner, Gustaf Dicksson, Matthias Andersson and Dan Johansson. A concept album on relationships, family values and broken promises. 18 songs. With 20-page song book. Second press, 500 copies. Discreet Music 03, 2021. https://discreetmusic.myshopify.com/products/enhet-for-fri-musik-omhet-skilsmassa-lp "Enhet för fri musik had four full years to bring us new sounds. Their previous “Det finns ett hjärta som för dig” LP was one of their best albums until now, with many songs based in a simple but quite beautiful folk/pop music form. The group (that’s Hugo Randulv, Sofie Herner, Gustaf Dicksson, Dan Johansson and Matthias Andersson) has so far managed to gain fanatic fans and most of their releases are sold out really fast. Ömhet & Skilsmässa is already on second press, confirming this rule. Ömhet & Skilsmässa is more dark & melancholic album to my ears. The tunes of the “regular” songs are more down tempo and moody, as the band seems to give more space to the whole feeling that the listener gets by listening. Great stuff!" [soundtraag] 2021 €22.50
ESMERINE Dalmak CD "180 GRAMM VINYL LP INKLUSIVE POSTER + DOWNLOADCODE! Als ESMERINE mit "La Lechuza" 2011 ins Licht der Öffentlichkeit traten, war das Album das Signal für viele Dinge: es markierte die ersten Aufnahmen der Band nach sechs Jahren, ein erweitertes Line-Up und eine Songsammlung, die vom Leben und dem viel zu frühen Tod eine Freundes und Mitmusikers inspiriert war. Das neue ESMERINE Album ,Dalmak" stellt heraus, dass die Band nicht damit aufgehört hat, zu schreiben, zu entdecken und zu kollaborieren. Bruce Cawdron (Ex-GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR) und Cellistin Rebecca Foon (SILVER MT. ZION, SET FIRE TO FLAMES) haben den Percussionisten Jamie Thompson (UNICORNS, ISLANDS) und den Multiinstrumentalisten Brian Sanderson als vollwertige Mitglieder rekrutiert. Europäische Touren brachten ESMERINE zwischen 2011 und 2012 nach Istanbul; ,Dalmak" ist das Resultat dieses Besuches: Der Großteil des Albums wurde in Istanbul aufgenommen, wo die vier kanadischen Musiker Verstärkung von der gleichen Anzahl türkischer Gastmusiker bekam. ,Dalmak" ist ein türkisches Verb mit vielen Auslegungsmöglichkeiten: betrachten, sich auf etwas einlassen, eintauchen, baden, in etwas hineineilen, abstürzen. Als Albumtitel bezieht sich ,dalmak" wörtlich auf das Einlassen auf die Kultur und Musik von Istanbul, beschwört jedoch auch passenderweise die Spannweite der Musik, die hier herauskam: eine Sammlung von Songs, die zwischen meditativem Pulsieren und umarmender Hemmnis und spontanem Ausbruch in Rhythmus und Groove pendelt." [label info] www.cstrecords.com 2013 €14.00
Mechanics of Dominion LP 180G AUDIOPHILES VINYL INKL. EINEM SET AUS FÜNF 12 "X12" KUNSTDRUCKEN (ARTWORK VON JEAN-SÉBASTIEN DENIS AUS DER IMBRICATIONS-SERIE) + DOWNLAD-CODE "Mechanics of Dominion" entstand durch das moderne Kammer-Ensemble ESMERINE, das von Rebecca Foon (SALTLAND, SILVER MT. ZION) und Bruce Cawdron (GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR) gegründet wurde. "Mechanics of Dominion" ist vielleicht ESMERINEs' dynamischste und narrativ informierte Arbeit, die einen Bogen durch neoklassizistische, minimalistische, moderne zeitgenössische, Folk-, Barock-, Jazz- und Rock-Idiome verfolgt, um Klage, Meditation, Entschlossenheit, Widerstand und Hoffnung aufzurufen. Es ist ein Requiem für unseren unerträglich leidenden Planeten und ein Lobgesang für die unergründliche, wesentliche Würde der indigenen Ethik, der natürlichen Welt, die moderne menschliche Schwäche und den Einfallsreichtum. Stilistisch bringt "Mechanics of Dominion" Schlag-Instrumente in den Vordergrund, mit Marimba, Glockenspiel, Klavier und Spieluhr. Die Beiträge von Multi-Instrumentalist Brian Sanderson nehmen einen immer größeren Teil in ESMERINEs Songwriting ein - seine melodischen Linien auf Hörnern und akustischen Streichern sind Elemente der zeremoniellen Lyrik und beleben diesen Songzyklus. "Mechanics of Dominion" ist außerdem eine weitere Superlative im Anspruch an Covergestaltung und Verpackung, diesmal mit der Arbeit des Montréal-Künstlers Jean-Sebastien Denis, die das komplizierte Gleichgewicht des Albums von Abstraktion, Spannung und emotionalen Färbungen genial widerspiegel 2017 €22.50
  Everything was forever until it was no more LP Deluxe 180gram vinyl edition comes in a foil-embossed and die-cut cardstock jacket with printed inner sleeve and additional 12x12 art cards featuring the collages of Maciek Szczerbowski. All the art interacts with the die-cut jacket framing. Edition of 300. Rooted in a distinct and immediately identifiable sound_with the cello of Rebecca Foon (Saltland, Set Fire To Flames, Thee Silver Mt Zion) and the marimba of ex-Godspeed You! Black Emperor percussionist Bruce Cawdron at its core_Esmerine has long embroidered emotive chamber works using threads of post-classical, post-rock, Minimalism, neo-Baroque, jazz, pop and a wide array of folk traditions. Multi-instrumentalist Brian Sanderson, who joined the group in 2012, has furthered Esmerine's melodic and ethnomusicological sensibility ever since, expanding the ensemble's palette as its third core member with guitars, ngoni, ekonting, hulusi, brass horns of all sorts, and more. Since 2003, six stately and filmic instrumental albums have inscribed compositional landscapes through epigrammatic miniatures, longform multi-movement chronicles, and all manner of evocative musical prosody between. Marked by an inimitably turbid yet tempered pastoralism, alternately lit by dappled dawn and disquieted dusk, Esmerine's musical narratives balance asceticism and romanticism, melancholy and hope, stillness and wanderlust. Esmerine now shares Everything Was Forever Until It Was No More, its seventh full-length album and first in five years. The band surprise-dropped the full album digitally on 06 May 2022, with the CD and Deluxe 180gram LP editions hitting stores on official release date 26 August 2022. Following an acclaimed run of mid-career records on Constellation through the 2010s_the last three of which have all been finalists or winners of Juno Awards for Instrumental Album of the Year and/or Album Packaging of the Year_Esmerine began working on new music at decade's end. Under the auspices of a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, and a summer 2019 residency at Le Château de Monthelon (an artist commune in France where the band has cherished long-standing spiritual, creative, and personal connections), compositional seeds were planted_and then pandemic rooted everyone in place. In between lockdown waves, at the respective rural Québec homesteads of Cawdron and Foon, longtime co-producer Jace Lasek (The Bernard Lakes) began capturing the band in various stripped-down configurations with spartan remote equipment. More fulsome arrangement and overdub sessions at Foon's converted barn during the summer of 2021 brought the album to full fruition_where a notable increase in the use of acoustic piano also poured forth, with just about every band member having a go. The record also signals the definitive integration of bassist Philippe Charbonneau_having joined Esmerine as a touring member pre-pandemic, he plays throughout the album on upright and electric bass, with turns on piano and synth, as well as sound design contributions via tape echo and other processing. Everything Was Forever Until It Was No More grapples with the existential tensions between atmosphere and airlessness, seclusion and claustrophobia, forbearance and coalescence. In many ways it is one of Esmerine's most restrained records. Only a few passages are driven by full percussion. There is palpably less Sturm and Drang or overt crescendos compared to its recent predecessors. The new album roils with a different sort of dynamic intensity, where instrumental densities ebb and flow within an overtonal centre, melding into each other with gauzy timbral warmth, sometimes tracing fleeting tendrils outwards, but always rotating around a saturnine gravitational force. Everything Was Forever Until It Was No More is like a dark forest lit by a closely-orbiting opalescent planet; it could be the alternate score to Von Trier's Melancholia or Cormac McCarthy's The Road. https://esmerine.bandcamp.com/album/everything-was-forever-until-it-was-no-more 2022 €27.50
ESPLENDOR GEOMETRICO Sheikh Aljama CD "Geometrik presents the reissues, remastered from the original tapes, of three classical E.G. records sold out for more than fifteen years: SHEIKH ALJAMA, ARISPEJAL ASTISARO, and NADOR. They were recorded between 1987 and 1989, an especially interesting period where the unique and characteristic rhytmic-industrial EG style, developed along the eighties, turns more minimalistic, schematic, cold and rough, with sporadic influences of arabic musics and rhythms. They are released in digipack for the first time, with complete new design, and include a 4 page booklet. Sold out for more that 15 years and originally published by Daft Records, SHEIKH ALJAMA is a Esplendor Geométrico classic and one of the best albums of their whole career, including their hit Sinaya. Sheikh Aljama stands out for the incorporation of sonorities, voices and percusions of arabic influence, due in great measure to Gabriel Riaza, who a few years later would leave E.G. and convert to Islam." [label info] www.geometrikrecords.com 2010 €13.50
Nador LP + 7inch "Here's the first ever vinyl issue of 'Nador', originally published on CD in 1995. 'Nador' features nine (remastered) tracks, recorded in 1988-1989. Fans of Esplendor Geométrico have been waiting eagerly for this reissue of 'Nador', a collection of unreleased tracks and alternative takes recorded during the period that also spawned the albums 'Sheikh Aljama' and 'Arispejal Astisaró'. Due to the limited capacity of the vinyl format, the music of the CD had to be divided over an LP and a separate 7-inch single. Limited to 700 units." [label info] www.geometrikrecords.com 2015 €23.50
  Cinetica LP "The new album by Esplendor Geométrico after "Fluida Mekaniko" (2016)! Pioneers and international cult band of rhythmic industrial music. Recorded in Shanghai and Roma 2018-2019. Recommended both for "old school" industrial music fans and the followers of the new industrial techno. Esplendor Geométrico, the influential "industrial" pioneers of the pulsating, hypnotic and mechanical rhythms, returns with a new album "CINETICA", after their previous "Fluida Mekaniko" (2016). Based now in Shanghai and Rome, they have not stopped their live performances all over the world in the last two years (Germany, Spain, Russia, UK, France, Italy, and recently Chile) with great success. The LP include eight tracks, 10 in the CD version, recorded between 2018- 2019. Limited edition to 600 LPs and 500 CDs. "Cinética" gives a twist to the line that the group has followed in their last albums, highlighted by a more elaborate sound. A less raw sound, but without losing the essence of E.G: hypnotic rhythms and innovative industrial music, danceable and tribal sometimes. Certain songs like "Acoplamiento internacional" and "Modulaciones", with eastern and African voices, remember the classic LP "Mekano Turbo" (1988) that is considered as one of the best albums of E.G. In "Cinética" there are filtered and natural voices, broken, mechanical and industrial rhythms, synthesizers layers, percussion, noise, distortion, Mongolian chants. Esplendor Geométrico celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2020 and prepares special editions for that year. They have developed a unique style since 1980 that influenced many "industrial" musicians around the world, including the new trends of industrial techno." https://soundcloud.com/geometrikrecords/sets/esplendor-geometrico-cinetica 2020 €19.50
ESSEIVA, KIKO C. Sous les Etoiles CD Für Klang-Abenteurer genau das richtige, das zweite Album dieses uns bisher unbekannten Soundtüftlers auf dem Schweizer Label. ESSEIVA kreiert hochdynamische Geräuschmusik mit vielen breaks & cut-ups und meist instrumentellen & konkreten Klängen, en detail quasi unbeschreibbar da zu komplex (zum Glück aber gibt es Rigobert Dittmann), von der Machart an alte NWW oder spannende Elektro-Akustik erinnernd. Empfehlung ! "Sous Les Etoiles (HINT04) ist nach Musiques pour haut-parleurs (Music For Loudspeakers) und Improvisations / Bricolages I-IV im Split mit Eric Boros (1000+1 Tilt) eine weitere Manifestation der Kreativität von KIKO C. ESSEIVA in Lausanne. Es ist ein komplexes Werk, in Szene gesetzt als experimentelles Cinema pour l‘oreille, mit einem ‚Prélude‘, 8 Episoden und einer ‚Fanfare de fin‘. Hervorstechend ist dabei die Plastizität der Klänge, ob knackiger Apfelbiss, knurrige Drones oder windspielerisches Klimpern. Das erinnert an Hanna Hartmanns Bildprägnanz, geht aber eigene, geräuschhaftere Wege. Ein weiteres auffälliges Ingredienz sind Stimmen, als gutturale Vokalisation, dann ein Frauenmund, der den Titel ansagt. Aber auch andere Klänge scheinen per Mund erzeugt zu sein, wenn auch verfremdet bis zur Unkenntlichkeit zu perkussivem Rippeln, zu Knarren oder Fauchen. ‚En rêve‘ wirkt wie alte Streichmusik, wobei der Geigenbogen jede Rauheit der Saite übertrieben ausreizt. Aus vielen Fugen flattert, knarrt und knarzt es, ein Metalldeckel eiert, Wasser gluckert, Dulcimersaiten flickern. Keine Landschaft tut sich auf, alles ist hier konkreter, detaillierter, informeller, in plastischer Nahsicht vor das Tagtraumauge gerückt. ‚Sous les étoiles toujours‘ überrascht mit einem Piano, dumpfen Glockendongs, wooshenden Drones, fragilem Klingklang. Zum Finale erklingt keine Fanfare, sondern kaskadierendes Tamtam, Cymbalschläge, Scherenschnippen, eine quäkende Hupe, Posaunengeblubber, alles Teil eines surrealen Orchesters der Dinge. Ich drücke gleich mal auf repeat." [Bad Alchemy] "We are proud to release - four years after his first longplayer on Canadian imprint 'Manufracture' - Kiko C. Esseiva's second album 'Sous les étoiles'. The electro-acoustic-musique conrète compositions he has constructed during the past years are brilliant soundpieces that remind sometimes on Luc Ferraris electro-acoustic works but also the very narrative nature of some older Nurse With Wound albums. The way he mixes (almost) melodic elements into a complex structure of well arranged sounds and noises is simply beautiful. 'Sous Les Etoiles' goes even a step further than Esseiva's debut 'Musiques pour haut-parleurs', the tracks being audibly held together by leitmotifs, making it one big opus instead of being just a collection of tracks." [label info] www.hinterzimmer-records.com 2008 €13.00
ETANT DONNES Le Paradis Blanc LP + DVD "This album, recorded in 1983, is also the music of a movie directed by Etant Donnés the same yearand titled “Le paradis blanc”. Mastering Norscq. The album Le Paradis Blanc was recorded in 1983. This unreleased album until today is also the music of a film directed by Etant Donnés the same year. The film and music were part of a three days installation and performance of Etant Donnés in the ELAC (Espace Lyonnais d’Art Contemporain) at the Fifth Symposium of Art Performance in Lyon in 1983 : one day for the construction of the installation, one day with a performance and one day for the destruction. The film on the DVD is an edit made with the movies of the construction and the destruction of the installation. This music like all first works of Etant Donnés was made without any instrument or effect but is the fruit of a long work on a raw sound material coming from nature field recordings and other source like TV, films, radio, streets, factorys, etc. In 1977, Eric and Marc Hurtado founded Etant Donnés that quickly became essential in the field of experimental films, performance and experimental and industrial music, recording approximately 30 albums and counting numerous collaborations with major artists of the international music scene and cinema : Alan Vega, Genesis P.Orridge, Michael Gira, Lydia Lunch, Philippe Grandrieux, Mark Cunningham, Bachir Attar and the Master Musicians of Jajouka, etc." 2017 €24.00
  Bleu do-LP Following the first ever vinyl reissues of Aurore and Royaume/Aimant + Aimant, Penultimate Press make available the final part of this extraordinary trilogy. Bleu is the final gesture and culmination of this period of creation where poésie and la nature form a magical alliance that resonates as an alchemical wedding. Having the conviction that Bleu was the ultimate arc based on the purity of natural sound and poetry, leaning towards a mystical spiritual search towards their own souls the band moved into comradery and collaboration with friends and ideals such as Lydia Lunch and Alan Vega. A1. Aime - Moi A2. Droite A3. Mercure B1. Sirène B2. S'envole C1. Pierre Lune C2. Comète D1. Force De L'amour https://penultimatepress.bandcamp.com/album/bleu-2 "There are artefacts within the history of recorded music that stand entirely on their own; bound to the circumstances of their moment, while owing allegiance to none. Such is the case of Étant Donnés’ Bleu, originally issued by the legendary Staalplaat imprint in 1994, now receiving its first ever vinyl pressing by Penultimate Press. The final instalment of a tetralogy of field recording based works by the duo, preceded by Aurore, Royaume and Aimant + Aimant - also previously reissued by Penultimate Press - the album’s subtle textures, natural ambiences, and disarming vocalizations are imbued with a startling sense of intimacy, weaving a free-standing aural context from the inner and outer worlds of the singular minds that brought it to be. Founded in 1977 by Morocco born brothers, Eric and Marc Hurtado, Étant Donnés - taking their name from Marcel Duchamp's last major work - belongs to the flowers of sonic creativity and experimentation that developed in the wake of punk, hybridising the techniques and approaches of the avant-garde and DIY with countercultural attitudes, across a body of work more than 30 albums deep - including collaborations with Alan Vega, Genesis P. Orridge, Michael Gira, Lydia Lunch, Philippe Grandrieux, Mark Cunningham, and Bachir Attar - that traversed the fields of experimental film, performance, musique concrète, field recording, and experimental music. Bleu, originally released in 1994, is the fourth in a tetralogy of records that includes Aurore, Royaume and Aimant + Aimant, each being works of musique concrète built from body of field recordings and poetic utterances by the duo. Like its predecessors, the album not only defies all standard notions of genre, but deftly avoids orthodox perceptions of what its core practices usually entail. Eight works - spanning four sides of the double LP - rise as meetings of whispers - the whispering voices of the brothers intervening with the whispering textures produced by nature and discreet acts - seemingly resting at the verge of a violent scream that never comes. Field recordings of natural occurrences and intentional actions intertwine, blurring the boundaries purpose and chance, as subtle deployment of sound collage challenges the location of the artist’s hand, laying a striking foundation for the raw and unmediated vocals that punctuate the album’s length; the sounds of splashing water, scraping pebble, crackling fire, percussive rhythms, the rustles of nature, and the human voice building an uncanny body of magical narratives that points the brothers’ roots in the work of Duchamp. Fascinating, immersive, deeply personal, and remarkably tense, Étant Donnés’ Bleu is a revelatory inner world; a creative wonder unlike any other that gives the impression of having appeared fully formed. Issued by Penultimate Press in its first ever vinyl edition - spanning a full twoLPs - and its first ever reissue of any kind since its original 1994 CD release, this one is not to be missed." [Soundohm] 2021 €35.00
ETZINOY, YAIR Flawed CD "When i started working on this project i wanted to create two separate albums, one with smoked jazzy feeling with emphasis on beats and second one with only textures,a piano and pads. At that time i was performing a lot with this sort of music in galleries, art events and museums. In my live show performance i used to combine elements from both albums, i liked the way it sounded and slowly i got the notion that i can fuse all the sounds and ideas into one album. I tried to use the same working techniques for all the tracks in the album, most of them were created on a computer, some beats and stabs that were created on an old analog sampler. Most of the work effort was to edit the raw material i had and than arrange in on my computer. All composition deal with mistakes, non-perfect things and flaws. I think that sometimes when dealt in the right way a mistake or a flaw can be a beautiful thing, like a broken CRT monitor that still sends a signal. I got my inspiration from day to day things like : walking at night, sounds of machines working and office ambiance at night. During the process of making the album i lost all my hard drive data and all the projects i already created for the album were deleted. I never backup my work, my only luck was to find a DVD with some of the projects thrown somewhere around my studio (i burned one DVD to test the new burner)." [Yair Etzinoy] www.spekk.net 2007 €15.50
EXPO 70 (EXPO SEVENTY) Kinetic Tones LP Kinetic Tones front“Laced with drones, heavy and leaden as cinder block bunkers, and shot through with a cosmic strain of psychedelia that unwinds as much as unravels the soul.” – Raven Sings The Blues 500 copies on 140g bronze vinyl, housed in a 100% sustainable card sleeve. An additional 20 test pressing copies on black vinyl, housed in hand-crafted sleeves with alternative artwork, were available exclusively on this website. Both editions come with a free download code. Tracklist: A1 – Static Harmonic Pendulum (10:32) A2 – Eidetic Memory (07:56) B1 – Lucid Landscapes (07:50) B2 – Ascensions from Dusk (12:34) The Artist: One of Drone’s most prolific artists, Justin Wright aka Expo ’70 can look back on an impressive discography counting more than 40 albums since 2003, which have undoubtedly influenced many other musicians in the Experimental/Psychedelic/Drone community and attracted a huge followership in the scene. This has resulted in extensive touring, the last one through 11 countries in Europe, and several live releases. Now Expo ’70 returns with a brand-new studio album, showcasing his trademark organic guitar drones that propel the listener ever deeper (or higher?) into other states of consciousness. Kinetic Tones was recorded all to analog reel-to-reel with no over-dubs, which gives the whole album an even more personal and intimate feel. The album spans over four tracks that range from minimalist Drone over spooky Psychedelia to harmonic and beautiful soundscapes, reaching a total running time of just under 40 minutes. The Animal: Flores Hawk-Eagle (Nisaetus floris) Sumatra orangutan Expo ’70 dedicates his release to the critically endangered Flores hawk-eagle. Due to ongoing habitat loss within its small range across the Indonesian forests of Flores, Lombok, and Sumbawa, capture for the cage bird trade, and persecution due to its habit of taking chickens, the Flores hawk-eagle is evaluated as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is estimated that less than 100 pairs remain. All profits will be donated to the EDGE of Existence bird conservation project to finance much-needed research to establish population size and ecological requirements, and education of local people to halt persecution. 2015 €20.00
EYELESS IN GAZA Plague of Years : Songs and Instrumentals 1980-2006 CD 'Songs and Instrumentals 1980-2006'. Noch eine EIG-Zusammenstellung, die aber mehr auf die experimentelle Seite zielt, 21 Stücke die die ganze Bandbreite der Band aufzeigen, mit einigen sehr raren Stücken. Special low priced ! "One of the great bands that emerged post punk... They were truly unique.... I still love them..." [Alan Mc Gee / March 2005] "this CD deals with two sides of the group. first is its deeply lyrical vein, with summits like See Red and Lights of April, tracks that have almost never been included on "best-of" projects, despite the fact that they represent some of the most moving songs these musicians ever wrote. this collection also explores the group's more adventurous side through a number of instrumental pieces. this aspect of their output is little known and often neglected, even though it was there from their very beginnings. these two combining currents, where experimentation precedes lyricism (and the other way around), turn this album into a truly new way of (re)discovering Eyeless in Gaza. This unique architecture creates the impression that each side strengthens the other one's presence. probably for the first time ever, the 21 tracks so redistributed provide the band with irrefutable arguments toward its rebirth. Yes, Eyeless in Gaza is one of the most underrated groups. in this world of ours, will integrity finally pay off ?" [label info] "Plague of Years is a single-disc retrospective by Peter Becker and Martyn Bates, aka Eyeless in Gaza. The duo began recording with minimal instrumentation -- Becker's piano and keyboards, some primitive drum machines, a guitar here and there, as well as a traditional drum kit (or at least the snares and cymbals) -- and made music in the post-punk era that was both challenging and hideously beautiful. The reason for that description comes from the sound of Bates' voice: nasal, emotionally overwrought, and often flat, it was a voice that expressed things in his utterly naked and poetic words that the heart could comprehend, but that the intellect often could not. Long before Morrissey ever warbled, Bates ripped the door off the closet of his fear, longing, love, and disappointment, framing it with colors that held many shades of gray, but also held out the glimmer of gold for hope. There are 21 cuts on this set, beginning with their earliest tracks from 1980's debut album, Photographs as Memories ("John of Patmos"), and the amazing "Every Which Way" from 1981's Caught in Flux, issued by Cherry Red, and moving through their utterly brilliant albums Drumming the Beating Heart, Song of the Beautiful Wanton, Orange Ice & Wax Crayons, and Back from the Rains. There are cuts from compilations, such as "To Steven" and "Sun-Like-Gold," that appeared as two parts of a three-part suite on Sub Rosa's Myths. Instructions., singles such as "County Bizarre" on NDN, and the gorgeous "Falling Leaf/Fading Flower" from the 12" Pale Hands I Loved So Well, which was a bonus disc tucked inside the Drumming the Beating Heart CD. There are also cuts here from Bitter Apples, the album they released for World Serpent in 1995, and Saw You in Reminding Pictures from the Ambivalent Scale label. This is but a taste, of course, since Eyeless in Gaza needed to be taken album by album, but one honest encounter with one of their songs will send the listener scrambling for more. The music here is beauty that is so out of place in this world, it can scarcely be borne." [Thom Jurek / Allmusic.com] 2006 €12.00
Summer Salt & Subway Sun do-CD Erweiterte Neu-Auflage des letzten EIG-Albums, kommt mit einer kompletten Bonus-CD in einer dickwandigen / überformatigen Box mit 16 Seiten Booklet! 600 Stück. "Martyn Bates offers the following commentary on this huge set of recordings. "For me, one of the key impulses at work behind this set of recordings is an understanding of "The City", where individuals are clearly a microcosm within the macrocosm -- a distinct sense of a 'person' as a player on a stage with activity going on below them, around them, above them and also within them. The feeling is of something at work that is always subterranean … a sense of the invisible machinations of men and Gods. This is evidently something material -- namely, work being done in the here and now. It is an expression of something non-corporeal, however … of something bigger than 'spiritual', you might say. And yet it is holistic, and 'of the body' somehow. For me, this is a 'big picture' that makes perfect sense: this context of living, as a body and a sprit -- where the THE CITY is resolutely an outward manifestation of the human psyche. This warming and awe inspiring thought was with me during the writing, arranging and recording of this mammoth set of recordings." [EIG mailing list] "Standard 2CD edition. Standard edition of 600 copies are packaged in a deluxe full color book bound box, 16 page lyric booklet , full color book bound cd cases. Eyeless are an earful. Messrs Bates et Becker have miraculously come trembling through the decades musically unscathed. And yay though it is within the office of many bands to have precedents in other bands, EIG really only sound like Scriabin saw. Or like Stonehenge weeps. Or like cumulus clouds unite to make bunny shapes. Caught in flux, as usual, EIG are absolutely in top form. Martyn is in brilliant voice and sounds like an angel, and the harmonic house in which Peter and Martyn domicile this angel is the Taj Mahal. Or is it as simple and small as a poor carpenter’s cup, which some would call a grail? Either way, this is dope! The familiar old chunking guitar and baleful organ-synth are there as well as the swelling minor chord miasma of texture and noise that no human could possibly evoke. Oh wait, that’s right, humans ARE doing it! Care to go on sublime, long-form instrumental excursions through the centre of the Green Man’s bindu? EIG got it! Been itching to rock out to well written, post punk pop tunes? EIG got it!! Have you and your family been craving that astrally projected experimental fondue pot of swirling beauty and skewed rhythm that makes you feel like you’ve crawled back to the womb and the best chill room ever was there? EIG got it!!! Have you ever wondered if anyone can combine virtuoso musicianship and studio effects in a truly magical way that doesn’t make it seem like everything has been CGI’d in? EIG GOT IT!!!! Ebb and flow; high and low; cooked and raw. See Martyn. See Peter. See Eyeless. GO!!! Pulchritudinous all the way…as in ravishing…as in splendorous…as in metal pipes rattled in a driveway while someone is playing the piano. So many soft little things. So much perfectly appointed emptiness. Such sweetly crafted, quiet headbangers. Prosetry in words and music. Songs and un-songs. Some cadences and atmospheres even smell a bit like cosmic third stream jazz. This must be the 4th stream. Float down it. For once 2 CD’s isn’t even enough. How can it be that 2 people have made their umpteenth truly sublime album? Rumour has it they bought the stratosphere." [label info] www.blrrecords.com 2008 €19.00
All under the Leaves, the Leaves of Life CD "Released 16/03/09. Originally released in July 1996, All Under The Leaves, The Leaves Of Life is one of the most popular albums of this cult band's career, including such defining moments as Monstrous Joy and the title-track. The package features a reproduction of the original artwork, plus the inclusion of two bonus tracks, Luscious Word and The Carnal & The Crane . The album received ecstatic reviews on release. For example, New York's wonderful Big Takeover magazine would state that [Martyn] Bates has an utterly unique voice and lyrical cadence, a soaring counterpart for his and Becker s intricately woven organic and electronic instrumentation. Every song carries like a holistic message borne from high on the breeze. The refinement and grace of EIG bears no comparisons. Three Ships is simply transcendent. EIG are a treasure, as uncommon and stunning today as ever." [label info] "... Every song carries like a holistic message borne from High on the breeze. The refinement and grace of EIG bears no comparisons. ‘Three Ships’ is simply transcendant. EIG are a treasure, as uncommon and stunning today as ever." [Gil Gershman] www.cherryred.co.uk 2009 €8.00
Everyone feels like a Stranger CD "The edition is limited to 1000 copies and as with other Eyeless In Gaza albums, we do not know when or if there will be more editions coming, so get it now. The album is song-focussed and the running time is 46 mins 52 secs. The 12 tracks are: 1. Voices, 2. Dance of Hours, 3. Much Wants More, 4. Morning Singing, 5. Seeing/Book of Days, 6. Among the Gathering Skies, 7. So You Appear, 8. Slow Eve, 9. Childhood Knives, 10. Dreaming Body, 11. If I Could Live as the Sun Does, 12. Endless Trees. Dance of Hours, Childhood Knives and So You Appear have appeared in pre-view versions on radio programs and on YouTube, but have been perfected for the final release here. Morning Singing is a new take on the Martyn Bates solo classic from 1982, but since Eyeless In Gaza has performed this live as a band several times lately, this reflects how it is interpreted these days as a song by Eyeless In Gaza. Martyn Bates writes about the new album: Through the Summer of 2011 while we were putting together the tunes for Everyone Feels Like a Stranger, an unexpected pattern began to emerge. Clearly, as we were recording and completing pieces, much of this new work was showing a distinct prejudice /alignment to the form of songs, as opposed to instrumental explorations and improvisations, pictures without words. Now of course, all of the music we make has a story to it – much as we are all stories, because, well … that’s all we have really: stories beautiful / terrifying / ecstatic / anecdotal / awake / asleep etc. etc. These particular song-stories all naturally feed into Eyeless In Gaza directly, and, as far as I’m concerned, the songs then go on to take on a life of their own. That being said, I was already aware that these particular songs seemed to have arrived coloured with something that struck me as being particularly inward looking and reflective, for the most part. It was Peter Becker who first suggested that we title this album of songs Everyone Feels Like a Stranger – and initially I was unsure, as I felt that somehow this phrase ran the risk of conveying the ‘wrong kind’ of negative connotations. However, I see now that he was right. What we have here within these songs is a collective meditation upon the double-edged sense of exhilaration and closeness that can occur when one enters that peculiar state of mind and being that being alone can sometimes give. Where to ‘feel like a stranger’ oddly brings about a wayward sense of subtle happiness or comfort. And where distance and separation somehow connect with a sudden elevation and insight, and link in with an unsettling sense of security within that isolation. Where being ‘alone’ takes on an almost religious intensity .Where you are connected to the Quiet, the calm, the silence. Where Everyone Feels Like a Stranger, true … but, at the same time, no-one ever feels like a dispassionate collaborator. Dance of Hours – a YouTube film directed by David Black for Black Creative Limited with additional footage from Elizabeth Bates, recorded at Mont St. Michel out of the shores of Normandy in late August 2011. My own initial reaction to Everyone Feels Like a Stranger – not as negative in mood as the title might suggest. This is an album that is hard to tell why one should hold in high esteem, but one should, because it is greater in some ways than previous albums. It shows a deep respect for the song format and that is at the core here. I might find more improvisational material more exciting, but here they really bring out the best of what is central to making music – melody/harmony, wonderful voice, thoughtfulness, inventiveness, atmosphere, colouring and all without sounding presumptuous, nor trying to live up to what others might regard as great, but rather define it. An album not to be missed!" [website info] www.eyelessingaza.com 2011 €13.00
Mania Sour CD " ❖ Completed June 2014 and recorded at Hansa Studios, Berlin and at A-Scale Studios, Nuneaton UK, Mania Sour is an album that serves up a different twist on the soundworlds Eyeless In Gaza have inhabited of late – perhaps suggesting new parallels on the abrasive stylings displayed on the band’s early 80’s classic albums Photographs as Memories and Caught in Flux. Offering a glorious blend of uniquely Eyeless type e-guitars & full-on percussion, Mania Sour presents a brash, strident set of distinctively Bates/Becker style songs that snarl n’ soar with passion and bite. ❖ With the core of the album recorded ‘live’ in the studio Mania Sour is overall an electric guitar n’ drums fuelled album, and it’s worth noting that, in terms of it’s subject matter the album is definitely not the jeremiad you might think were you to judge by the title alone. The ‘mania’ here is that of time passing and experience, of appetite and urge, of perseverance/persistence & determination – a hard-won sense of righteousness at that which must not be allowed to sour. ❖ Addressing inner worlds, inner spaces, delicate and violent possession, sharpened perceptions, and, significantly, the cry of the eternal – the ‘first songs’ of the will and how they find voice in the world – the long-serving Eyeless In Gaza duo of Martyn Bates and Peter Becker celebrate all of this, kicking hell out of guitars and drums on Mania Sour along the way while also offering glimpses of the madness of joy and the ways in which all of us increasingly find that it is only you that can save your own life – and that: “If we are everywhere complicit, we are also everywhere active ….”. Listen to Aether Tears from the album on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/a-scale/aether-tears Mania Sour is released via A-Scale on August 4th, 2014 and directly available from http://www.eyelessingaza.com + later through iTunes & Amazon + Rough Trade." [label info] www.eyelessingaza.com 2014 €13.00
Sun Blues CD "An album of unusual songs, sounding both exotic and as a new take on things, but somehow familiar and the music comes together in a way only Eyeless In Gaza music can. The music often sounds stern and sometimes deeply melancholic, with exciting and successful soundscapes. I am sure this album will stand out as one of the more memorable albums from last 10 years, but we never know where they go from here. Always an exciting adventure to follow as it unravels! Listen to Tamarisk (early version) on YouTube, which gives an idea of what to expect from the album, even if the album cover quite a big territory: https://youtu.be/Lv1uXVByACw Martyn Bates : e-guitars/voices/clarinet/kybds. Peter Becker : bass/drums/e-guitars/voice/percussions/slide-guitar/piano/wasp/drum-machine/tapes/all engineering & recording. ❖ First album of all-new Eyeless In Gaza material since 2014’s Mania Sour. ❖ Completed August 2016 recorded at A-Scale studios Warwickshire, the Bates/Becker produced Sun Blues sees Eyeless In Gaza offering a 2016 styled distant cousin to 1982’s classic Pale Hands I Loved So Well. In an environment where the studio is very much a musical instrument, the band deliver a collection of filigree musics created via an organic osmosis, layering techniques, together with a painstakingly considered collaging of all elements. Here are instrumental discoveries & improvisations/pictures painted with words – songs that have an inbuilt claustrophobia and sonic density – playfully investigating the soundworlds/territories of the kosmische. ❖ On Sun Blues, of particular note is the combination of Martyn Bates’ at times melancholic, sometimes passionate vocals – which come across exceptionally strongly – teamed with the extraordinary, mercurial bass guitar work of Peter Becker. Sun Blues album would seem to be a groundbreaking distillation of everything that Bates & Becker have ever produced during their 36 year lifespan. Quite simply, Sun Blues is already being acclaimed as the definitive Eyeless In Gaza album." www.eyelessingaza.com "Eyeless in Gaza have had several trajectories since their original lo-fi outings in Coventry and Nuneaton in the early 1980s. The duo of Peter Becker and Martyn Bates seemed to be heading towards pop at one point, but en route diverted through textural soundscapes, improvisation, avant-folk, sonic experiment and occult rock; indeed, they still visit these places. Picture the Day is a well-overdue compilation that actually covers all the band’s output, including both the Cherry Red releases from the 1980s and the self-released albums on Ambivalent Scale that have been issued since the 1990s. The story of course starts with Ambivalent Scale and a 7 inch single, following some cassette releases. The edgy, synth-driven ‘Kodak Ghosts Run Amok’ is tucked away here in the middle of the first CD (unfortunately the superb ‘Feeling’s Mutual’ from the B-side isn’t) which selects from the band’s Cherry Red releases. Listeners are edged into the music with some of the more accessible end of things, a quick drift through some folkier songs and then the gorgeous emotive instrumental ‘Falling Leaf/Fading flower’ before restlessly moving on, from genre to genre, or more often falling between genres. The second CD features the Ambivalent Scale recordings, and is a similar mix of work. If more recent work isn’t as familiar to me it’s mainly due to growing up and not being able to spend time with new music in the same way that being a teenage and then a student previously facilitated with the original LPs. It’s clear I need to get my act together and have a relisten – this stuff is great. Together, the two CDs paint a broad, involving picture of this peculiar and engaging band. I like the fact it in no way pretends to be a ‘best of’ or ‘greatest hits’, but simply showcases some of the highlights from their numerous releases. I’d like to have seen the uplifting brassy pop of ‘Sun Bursts In’ here, but otherwise it is a perfect snapshot of one of my favourite bands, lovingly compiled and superbly sequenced. Eyeless’ new CD, Sun Blues, shares one track, ‘Tamarisk’ with Picture the Day and is a set of new music from the more experimental end of things. Having said that it’s more about mood and texture than the wild excesses of the band’s early output, although ‘Ill-Star’ is intense and loud, with some great honking sax in the pulverising maelstrom of sound. Elsewhere, Martyn Bate’s warm vocals are positioned within rich, dense music that both propels and entwines the songs and the listener. There are also three instrumental vignettes, two back to back in the centre of the album, the third a coda or finale. It takes some time to truly ‘hear’ the layers and complexities of this album, in the same way it takes time to grasp the width, breath and achievement of Eyeless in Gaza’s musical history. But time spent will be rewarded: Eyeless in Gaza remain one of the most accomplished and interesting bands to have emerged from the music-making underground post punk and postpunk. Here’s to further decades of experiment and beguilement." [Rupert Loydell/ International Times] "After nearly half a century performing together, Martyn Bates and Peter Becker must seem like a married couple – finishing each other’s sentences, telepathically sensing where their individual muse is leading them and effortlessly hopping on and enjoying the ride. With an extensive catalogue of well over two-dozen releases, they still sound as fresh and invigorating as that ground breaking EP, “Kodak Ghosts Run Amok” that started everything way back in 1980. Looking back to those early releases, the duo suggest their latest is a “distant cousin” to 1982’s classic Pale Hands I Loved So Well. But this is another century, and technological advances have enabled them to use their studio almost as an additional instrument, layering sounds, playing with various improvisational techniques, and offering, perhaps, a third pair of ears and hands to the proceedings. Yet at its heart is the combination of Bates’ breathy, almost theatrical vocal styling (a little Antony Hegarty, a tad Andy McCluskey) and intelligent, thought-provoking lyrics, revealing numerous layers of meaning and intent as each verse trickles off his soothing, emotional delivery, and Becker’s inquisitive bass lines, harmonic tape manipulations, and various percussive effects. While tracks like ‘Solar Logic’ may initially sound like a simple love ballad, further listening reveals intricate harmonic vocal interweaving, funky, almost African percussives, and the perfect placement of bells and tape manipulations that demonstrate how much the studio has been welcomed in to add lustre to their creative juices. ‘Tamarisk’ envelops the listener in swirling effects and percussive embellishments that wouldn’t be out of place on a Peter Gabriel album, while ‘New Take/Notkar’ offers a harsher splash of ice water in the face, evolving out of an almost industrial percussive backbeat and syncopated guitars that push the listener towards Faust or Nine Inch Nails gut crunchers. But never ones to fall into a rut, the following ‘Longing Song’ is an uplifting, lilting lover’s plea that rises from the ashes of desolation “To bring the morning alive...to be amazed/n you’ll be mine....” The duo occasionally include improvisational instrumentals in their albums, and the cinematic, provocative and evocative ‘Wind, Sand, Sea & Stars’ pretty much covers the gamut of the external universe – a breakneck journey through land, sea and sky, while ‘Unborn’ traverses the inner universe, wallowing, swallowing mouthfuls of life-giving amniotic fluids on the 9-month journey into a cold, shattering life that no one asked for or had any choice in bringing to fruition. But before we get too deep, let’s enjoy the sprinkling, sparkling, shimmering flourishes of duelling ukuleles, thumb pianos and glockenspiel on the celestial ‘Juniper’, and the soft, reflective instrumental closer ‘Long Gon Pa’, full of meticulous slide and acoustic guitar and Becker’s fascinating, dreamy devices and tape loops. An imaginative, emotional, headswirling buzz to wrap up another fascinating release from the always reliable duo, who never fail to excite us while eliciting nuances of emotional responses that are all-too-rare in this cookie-cutter, commercial world of Voices, Idols, and other nameless, brainless distractions." [Jeff Penczak/Ptolemaic Terrascope, November 2016] 2016 €13.00
  Skeletal Framework (The Cherry Red Recordings 1981-1986) 5 x CD BOX • The complete Eyeless In Gaza Cherry Red recordings, compiled and curated by Martyn Bates and Pete Becker. • 5CD clamshell box set featuring sleevenotes and extensive song-by-song reminisces by Martyn Bates. • Their entire 1981-1986 output for the label re-worked into five thematic suites by the band, bringing new life and light to familiar and much-loved material. • Includes the classics ‘Invisibility’, ‘Veil Like Calm’, Kodak Ghosts Run Amok’, ‘New Risen’ and many more. • A brilliant introduction for the curious and a fascinating re-visit for long-term fans. During the first half of the 1980s, few artists cut a path as individual and self-contained as Eyeless In Gaza. Over six albums and several classic singles, the duo followed their muse in multiple different directions at once, unrestrained by any desire to fit in with whatever was going on around them. Bursts of primal electronica sat comfortably alongside reflective ballads and lo-fi recordings and polished productions were equally valued, all of it pulled together by Martyn Bates’ unmistakable vocals and a singular, minimalist approach to songwriting. Curated by Eyeless In Gaza, and accompanied by Martyn Bates’ song-by-song reflections on their work, ‘Skeletal Framework’ presents the band’s entire Cherry Red output re-cast as five themed suites (or perhaps even playlists), each reflecting one of their many sides. The group’s best-known work sits comfortably alongside deeper album cuts and rarities with interesting results, as the duo guide us back and forth across recordings spanning almost six years of one of Cherry Red’s most distinctive artists. Track Listing: DISC ONE VOLUME ONE: LOOKING DAGGERS (ROCK and RHYTHMIC) 1 Looking Daggers 2 Skeletal Framework 3 Half Light 4 September Hills 5 The Feelings Mutual 6 In Your Painting 7 Fixation 8 Continual 9 Scale Amiss 10 Faceless 11 The Decoration 12 Voice From The Tracks 13 Whitewash 14 True Colour 15 Out From The Day-To-Day 16 Plague Of Years 17 Taking Steps (Original Version) 18 A Keepsake 19 From A To B 20 Soul On Thin Ice 21 Seven Years 22 Knives Replace Air DISC TWO VOLUME TWO: ROSE PETAL KNOT (POP TUNES etc) 1 Others 2 No Perfect Stranger 3 Twilight 4 One By One 5 Sweet Life Longer 6 Everpresent 7 Two 8 China Blue Vision 9 New Love Here 10 Speech Rapid Fire 11 Changing Stations 12 Sun Bursts In 13 Point You 14 Clear Cut Apparently 15 Veil Like Calm 16 Welcome Now 17 New Risen 18 Pencil Sketch 19 Picture The Day 20 Rose Petal Knot 21 Invisibility 22 Pearl And Pale 23 Keynote Inertia 24 Taking Steps 25 Kodak Ghosts Run Amok DISC THREE VOLUME THREE: YOUR RICH SKY (Approximate BALLADS and SIMILAR) 1 Drumming The Beating Heart 2 Lie Still, Sleep Long 3 See Red 4 Bright Play Of Eyes 5 Corner Of Dusk 6 Before You Go 7 At Arms Length 8 Catch Me 9 No Noise 10 Evening Music 11 Every Which Way 12 Stealing Autumn 13 My Last, Lost Melody 14 Far Lands Blue 15 Your Rich Sky 16 Only Whispers 17 Leaves Are Dancing 18 Back From The Rains 19 Between These Dreams 20 Flight Of Swallows 21 Catch Me, Count Me, Catch Fire DISC FOUR VOLUME FOUR: STILL AIR (ATMOS-SONGS) 1 Light Sliding 2 Dusky Ruth 3 Ill Wind Blows 4 The Eyes Of Beautiful Losers 5 Inky Blue Sky 6 Throw A Shadow 7 Tall And White Nettles 8 Sixth Sense 9 Lights Of April 10 Scent Of Evening Air 11 Transience Blues 12 Through Eastfields 13 Lilt Of Music 14 To Ellen 15 Tell 16 Still Air 17 She Moves Thru The Fair 18 Blue Distance DISC FIVE VOLUME 5: DREAMING AT RAIN (EXPERIMENTS and IMPROV) 1 Big Clipper Ship 2 Dreaming At Rain 3 Pale Saints 4 Lies Of Love 5 To Steven 6 John Of Patmos 7 Avenue With Trees 8 Sun Like Gold 9 Sheer Cliffs 10 Letters To She 11 Jane Dancing 12 Three Kittens 13 To Elizabeth S 14 Falling Leaf/Fading Flower;Goodbye To Summer 15 Warm Breath Soft And Slow 16 You Frighten 2022 €49.50
FAUST Faust CD Re-Release der legendären ersten Faust LP von 1971! „Psychedelik, 60s-Punk, The Velvet Underground, Pink Floyd, Klangcollagen, Dada-Durcheinander, elektronische Sounds, Ton- und Gesprächsfetzen und Musique Concrete......“ [Babyblaue Seiten] “Single disc , remastered version (as included in the Wumme Years box, in digipak. "Inventors of Kraut Rock, iconoclasts extraodinaire, Faust are key figures in the history of rock music. In the early 70's, along with Can and Kraftwerk, they re-invented pop as an art-form with a specifically European attitude. Virtually imprisoned by svengali producer Uwe Nettlebeck in their studio at Wumme, near Hamburg, they overturned our whole notion of what makes a pop record. They improvised with industrial noise, generated bizarre hypnotic grooves, created shockingly wilful studio collages, and dabbled with every conceivable musical genre sometimes simultaneously. Kurt Grapner, a Deutsche Gramaphon engineer who was seconded to the project, furnished Faust with innovative effects units and built a spontaneous recording environment which perfectly complemented Faust's conceptual ideas, satirical humour, and insane passions. After twenty years in the wilderness Faust re-formed in 1993, and have been touring and releasing new albums ever since. Their re-appearance has only served to bolster the legend, and the box set of all Faust's early work, from 1971-73, was released by ReR to tremendous acclaim. Though part of the box set, this 1st album has been unavailable for years as a single issue, so we're quite happy to offer it again. It is arguably Faust's finest hour, and has stood as a landmark in the annals of Rock music for over 3 decades." [label info] 2000 €14.00
j US t (Just us) LP & CD "Die Hamburger Krautrock-Pioniere mit einem Überraschungspaket aus Avantgarde, Dada und Folk. Die Hamburger Band Faust gehört zu den großen Namen, die der Krautrock der 1970er-Jahre hervorgebracht hat. Als Jean-Hervé Péron und Zappi Diermaier 1971 ihr Debütalbum vorlegten, wollte das in Deutschland niemand hören, im Ausland jedoch verkauften sich "The Faust Tapes" über 100.000-mal. "There is no group more mythical than Faust", schwärmte der englische Musiker und Krautrock-Kenner Julian Cope Jahrzehnte später. Mit "Just Us" setzen Faust ihren musikalischen Weg fort. Während Diermaier seinem Handwerk - Schlagzeug und Perkussion - treu bleibt, integriert Peron allerhand unübliche Klangquellen in sein Bassspiel, verschiedene Streichinstrumente, Klavier und sogar eine Nähmaschine als Metronom. Tracks wie "Nur nous" und "Ich bin ein Pavian" zeigen, dass Faust nichts von ihrer Vorliebe für Avantgarde und Dadaismus verloren haben. Ausflüge ins folkloristische Gefilde ("Cavaqui-ho", "Gammes") runden das wahrhaft faustische Überraschungspaket ab. // j US t - pronounced "Just Us" - is the new album from legendary Hamburg band Faust. Founder members Jean-Herve Peron and Zappi Diermaier have laid down twelve musical foundations, inviting the whole world to use them as a base on which to build their own music. The tracks presented by Peron and Diermaier are clearly, intrinsically typical of Faust in their own right, yet offer enough space for completely different works to develop. Which is exactly what they hope will happen. Whilst Diermaier largely remains true to his habitual handiwork - drums and percussion - Peron, as we might expect, incorporates all manner of unusual sonic sources alongside his bass, various string instruments and piano, even using a sewing machine as a metronome. Tracks like "nur nous" and "ich bin ein pavian" show that Faust have lost none of their predilection for avantgarde Dadaism and improvisation. Peron and Diermaier actually surprise us with folkloristic excursions ("cavaquinho", "gammes"). In short, there is something for everyone to work with here. Peron and Diermaier await the results with bated breath. Faust will follow the same principle on the accompanying tour by inviting local artists to collaborate with them on stage." [label info] www.bureau-b.com "Faust’s intentions have never been easy to discern. Over their 40-plus years of morphing, discontinuous existence, they’ve been so good at dodging expectations and confounding analysis that even when they’re playing it straight, you wonder if something else is going on. So when the press sheet for j US t (pronounced "just us") claims the band is "inviting the whole world to use [the album] as a base on which to build their own music," it’s hard not to get suspicious. Is this a decoy? Do Jean-Hervé Peron and Zappi Diermaier want you to imagine other music so you won’t focus on theirs? Is it simply a way to say "if you don’t like it, make your own"? Perhaps Faust truly are earnest about wanting this album to inspire public collaboration. But the idea does point to something that’s always been intriguing about Faust’s music: it’s often just as much about what they aren’t playing as what they are. Their work is full of implications and innuendos, spaces waiting to be filled in. j US t doesn’t necessarily have more of that than most Faust albums, but implication does seem to be a main theme here. This is music in which every note suggests many more possibilities. j US t begins by proclaiming more than intimating, and in this way it bears an uncanny resemblance to the last Faust effort, 2011’s stellar Something Dirty. That record began with three bold, practically rocking tunes, and so does this one. Based around simple riffs and looping beats, these songs are like free-form post-rock, sturdy in their rhythms but opened-ended in their direction. And despite how well-defined the base of each track is, there’s also tantalizing space in each one. Take "80Hz", whose simple two-note bass figure flows beautifully with the well-timed accents of Diermaier’s percussion and Peron’s sonic grab bag. At times it dips to near-silence, in other places it crests to frantic peaks, but throughout it maintains a tension that compels attention. The balance between action and suggestion tips more toward the latter for the rest of j US t, in ways both fascinating and frustrating. Some songs maintain the attraction of anticipation, hinting at where they might go without ever fully abandoning other options. But others feel more flat than ripe, not so much flirting with tense silence as drifting into empty inertia. One in particular, the seven-minute "Palpitations", is mostly limp. Its intermittent percussion and electronic squiggles sound more random than impulsive, making it the only instance on the album where I find myself wishing I could already hear other bands filling it in. It takes a few tracks to recover from that mid-album drop, but Faust manage to rebound on closer "Ich Sitze Immer Noch", whose slow, rising lope sounds like a sunny homage to Spiderland-era Slint. Like the bulk of j US t, it offers a lot worth hearing and just as much worth daydreaming about—in other words, it achieves the band's stated goals. Maybe Peron and Diermaier really did mean what they said." [Marc Masters / PITCHFORK] 2014 €22.00
Punkt LP After the overwhelming success of the 1971-1974 box set release (BB 374CD/LP), containing the first four studio albums and for the first time ever this lost "last" album recording, Punkt gets a deserved and necessary standalone release. "The band called it 5½, fans referred to it as the 'Munich album' and for almost fifty years it's been the missing chapter in Faustian mythology. Now for the first time, the German iconoclasts' previously unreleased fifth album sees the light of day as Punkt . . . Punkt is Faust at their most unhindered, untethered and unstoppable. Returning to Germany after a loss-making U.K. tour and after their manager Uwe Nettelbeck had split with them, the group dusted themselves down and planned their next project, what would have been their second for Richard Branson's Virgin. Joined as always by their engineering genius Kurt Graupner, the band took residence in the Arabella High Rise Building, the luxury hotel which housed Giorgio Moroder's Musicland Studio in its basement . . . Faust spent their nights below ground, creating the sublime cacophony which courses through these seven tracks. Driven by Diermaier's primitive repetition and Péron's rabid low-end growl, 'Morning Land' stomps its way through almost ten minutes of heavy psychedelia . . . A Luciferian spirit courses through the beatless 'Crapolino', a tumult of scorched guitar chords, strident FXs and disembodied vocals which bares all the hallmarks of a black mass. And just like that, the group summon some demonic hunting party for 'Knochentanz' (bone dance), arguably their most immersive creation . . . The storm clears for a second to allow a celestial chord progression to emerge from the darkness before the heavens open and Sosna's snarling, sawing guitar rains down from above, carrying 'Knochentanz' through its final iteration, a collision of muscular fretwork, percussion freakout and bleeping organ which completes the most psychedelic recording you've never heard. The frazzled optimism of 'Fernlicht' buzzes away like an acid Beethoven bathed in neons, before the breathless 'Juggernaut' stretches the definition of blues rock to its limit as squirming sine waves, clattering cymbals and corrosive guitars pan, reverse and overlap, each following its own unhinged rhythm. Then for a time the sound and the fury abate, making space for the frankly sublime 'Schön Rund', a piano-led diversion into the soul-swelling realms of ECM jazz and fin de siècle impressionism, which rivals anything else in their catalogue for pure beauty. And in case you thought they'd gone soft, Faust sign off with the guttural groans and course drones of 'Prends Ton Temps'..." --Patrick Ryder https://faust.bandcamp.com/album/punkt 2022 €22.50
  Punkt CD After the overwhelming success of the 1971-1974 box set release (BB 374CD/LP), containing the first four studio albums and for the first time ever this lost "last" album recording, Punkt gets a deserved and necessary standalone release. "The band called it 5½, fans referred to it as the 'Munich album' and for almost fifty years it's been the missing chapter in Faustian mythology. Now for the first time, the German iconoclasts' previously unreleased fifth album sees the light of day as Punkt . . . Punkt is Faust at their most unhindered, untethered and unstoppable. Returning to Germany after a loss-making U.K. tour and after their manager Uwe Nettelbeck had split with them, the group dusted themselves down and planned their next project, what would have been their second for Richard Branson's Virgin. Joined as always by their engineering genius Kurt Graupner, the band took residence in the Arabella High Rise Building, the luxury hotel which housed Giorgio Moroder's Musicland Studio in its basement . . . Faust spent their nights below ground, creating the sublime cacophony which courses through these seven tracks. Driven by Diermaier's primitive repetition and Péron's rabid low-end growl, 'Morning Land' stomps its way through almost ten minutes of heavy psychedelia . . . A Luciferian spirit courses through the beatless 'Crapolino', a tumult of scorched guitar chords, strident FXs and disembodied vocals which bares all the hallmarks of a black mass. And just like that, the group summon some demonic hunting party for 'Knochentanz' (bone dance), arguably their most immersive creation . . . The storm clears for a second to allow a celestial chord progression to emerge from the darkness before the heavens open and Sosna's snarling, sawing guitar rains down from above, carrying 'Knochentanz' through its final iteration, a collision of muscular fretwork, percussion freakout and bleeping organ which completes the most psychedelic recording you've never heard. The frazzled optimism of 'Fernlicht' buzzes away like an acid Beethoven bathed in neons, before the breathless 'Juggernaut' stretches the definition of blues rock to its limit as squirming sine waves, clattering cymbals and corrosive guitars pan, reverse and overlap, each following its own unhinged rhythm. Then for a time the sound and the fury abate, making space for the frankly sublime 'Schön Rund', a piano-led diversion into the soul-swelling realms of ECM jazz and fin de siècle impressionism, which rivals anything else in their catalogue for pure beauty. And in case you thought they'd gone soft, Faust sign off with the guttural groans and course drones of 'Prends Ton Temps'..." --Patrick Ryder www.bureau-b.com/faust71-74.php https://faust.bandcamp.com/album/punkt 2022 €16.00
FAVARON, GIANLUCA / ANACLETO VITOLO Zolfo CD "Zolfo" is born by the collaboration between Gianluca Favaron and Anacleto Vitolo. Both involved in many projects and music collaborations - Favaron with Corrado Altieri, Deison and in groups like Lasik Surgery, Maribor, Zbeen and Under The Snow; Vitolo with Doublebass player Francesco Galatro, Viola player Michela Coppola, Domenico Stellavatecascio (Internos) and many other. The album was composed, recorded, and mixed between January and May 2016 and is a mix of several music elements and techniques, such as tape loops, cymbals, microphonic works and live electronic processing. The result is a combination of musique concrète, noise and drone music. Gianluca Favaron: As electroacoustic musician, his work focuses on the processing of concrete sounds using software made on purpose. Field-recordings, drones: an approach that uses different music languages, to elaborate, merge or transform sounds made by everyday objects into something different, both taking them out of context and/or processing and modifying them with various effects. . In 2015 he has released the CD albums "Entretien" on 13/Silentes and "Forget About Any Non-Gray" on MFU /Concrete Anacleto Vitolo: Anacleto Vitolo A.K.A. AV-K / K.lust / Kletus.K part of several collectives such as X(i)NEON, Internos and Algebra del Bisogno, born August 2, 1985 in Battipaglia (SA), Italy.In 2010 and 2014 took part in “FLUSSI” festival sharing the same stage with some of the most important musicians of the contemporary electronic scene as Murcof, Thomas Fehlmann, Vladislav Delay, Retina.it, Emanuele Errante, Mokira, Mount Kimbie, etc. In 2013 signs a contract as Publishing Artist with FatCat. In 2015 takes part to MiRA festival in Barcelona with Andy Stott, Ben Frost, Richard Devine, Prefuse 73, Nosaj Thing and many others. He's the CO-Director of Manyfeetunder label, alongside with Vincenzo Nava ( dramavinile, UHVA) and Cogwheel Press Rec. Active with a lot of collaborations and releases. credits mfu/c 010 | sps1616 Gianluca Favaron : tapes, objects, microphones, analog and digital effects Anacleto Vitolo: live electronics, cymbals, laptop, objects "Crispy, crunchy, and crackly ~ these are the sounds of Zolfo. In real life, we hear such sounds in crumpling paper and leaves underfoot. In the electronic realm, they surface in cellphones, computers and amplifier feedback. Blend organic and electronic, as Gianluca Favaron and Anacleto Vitolo have done, and one will hear a padded melange, thicker than the timbres one is accustomed to hearing outside of a factory setting. So yes, that may be a church bell in the title track, stuttered and looped ~ but it may be the imitation of a church bell, the mind struggling to define and categorize what it is hearing. To prepare this album, the artists used a wide variety of sources, from cymbals to laptops, along with the vague term “objects”. Favaron in particular is enamored with decontextualization. Just because something sounds like a singing bowl (“Infrasound”) doesn’t mean it is a singing bowl; and if it is, Favaron and Vitolo have found a new purpose for its thrum. And all the while, drones and hums intrude, eager to colonize the sonic field, while glitches and pops decorate the drones like sparkling debris in a raging river. This is the thicker, busier end of the electroacoustic spectrum, a genre that lacks distinguishing tags, simply because there is so little of it. I call it particle accelerator music (PAM), as it sounds like agitated atoms. “Oblivion” highlights a scuttling sound, like that of the crablike creature racing across the floor in the medical lab of Aliens. Because the sonic field is constantly in motion, it’s hard to get a handle on the heart of these compositions; one drinks them like carbonation. On “Fold-in”, a welcome warmth is added by bells and horns, although the title makes one think of an egg dropped in batter. Thankfully, the metaphor fits. “Reflection” seems to contain power tools, sirens and broken glass, intimating a shattered mirror, or by extension, a shattered sense of self. Only in the album’s closing seconds does humanity make an appearance: pleasant banter and laughter, the lab coats packed away, the atoms free to collide, no longer performing under watchful eyes." [Richard Allen/A closer listen] https://manyfeetunderconcrete.bandcamp.com/album/zolfo 2016 €10.00
FEAR FALLS BURNING The Carnival of ourselves CD "... beide CDs sind da natürlich erstmal für die interessant, die die limitierten LPs nicht haben, aber, nicht nur für die: neben schickem cover-artwork (martina verhoeven + carl clover/aleph) und genau so schicker ausführung als pappschuber, kommen beide reissues mit je einem, dafür gleich ellenlangen (27.57 + 34.22) bonustrack: "and the land torn down" (live aufgenommen von ronald marien am 16. may 2006 bei den audio-unit living room concerts in hamburg) und "dead wisdom". ersterer in unbedingt vergleichbarer qualität zu den auf "the infinite sea of sustain" kompilierten 6 konzerten, allerdings, im gegensatz zu den meisten der dort versammelten (und auch im gegensatz zu dem auf "the rainbow mirrors a burning heart" konservierten live-set) vollständig auf langsamen, fast endlosen aufbau setzend; ohne breaks, ohne harmonische veränderung, fast ein suchspiel, was sich / ob sich überhaupt etwas verändert / ab einem bestimmten punkt (etwas) verändert hat. perfekte ergänzung der oben genannten und musterbeispiel für "wie lange laufzeiten gleichzeitig hypnotisch UND abwechslungsreich anlegen“. "dead wisdom" dann gleich vom start weg sperriger; passt ja, ist / war die original "numb" ja auch schon. und viele der sounds auf "dead wisdom" sprechen dafür, dass alle drei stücke aus der gleichen session stammen. siehe z.b. die von mir damals als fast twang / surf / dub abstraktionen etikettierten, leicht schrägen, abstürzenden flächen, die auch hier, schon innerhalb der ersten 10 minuten, auftauchen. und nach ungefähr der hälfte der spielzeit auslaufen und vorgeben, das stück beenden zu wollen. nach dieser antäuschung dann der echte auslauf, fast 20 minuten lang... und tatsächlich: die "numb" bleibt auch in der extended version noch immer so ein ding ohne fassbaren anfang, ohne fassbares ende... irgendwie faszinierend." [N, Unruhr.de] "when the carnival of ourselves and i'm one of those monster numb with grace were originally released, dirk serries had only just started recording under the name of fear falls burning. the albums turned out to be decisive in shaping his vision of an ongoing drone-manifesto: during several exploratory sessions initiated in mid-2005, he quickly expanded the project's catalogue by a staggering eight releases within a single year. these would take the cosmic, post-rock- and kraut-infused production of his early recordings into new directions and eventually lead up to his current, raw and unpolished symbiosis of hypnotic guitar power and percussive thunder. the carnival of ourselves was the first full-length to follow the double-album »he spoke in dead tongues« and pointed towards an immersive and ghostly ambient sound. an extensive european tour, however, catalysed the inclusion of rock elements and heralded the advent of a more edgey and tribal approach: i'm one of those monster numb with grace, especially, was an important record, as it aligned the more refined studio output of fear falls burning with its direct and passionate live sound. as these strictly limited releases sold out in no time (resulting in numerous requests for a second print), tonefloat and fear falls burning decided to leave the legacy of the vinyl untouched and to reissue both albums on cd - featuring new cover designs and bonus tracks culled from the abovementioned sessions. the astounding quality of these discoveries from the vault should convince even those already in possession of a vinyl copy: the twenty-eight-minute »and the land torn down« (on the carnival of ourselves) at first seems to build into a dense, dirge-like drone-sheet but intruigingly cools off to a disturbing soundscape haunted by muffled feedback and echoes of theremin-chants. the monumental bonus track to i'm one of those monster numb with grace, »dead wisdom«, meanwhile, would have made for a complete album in its own right: thirty-four minutes of subcutaneous feedback hum lead the listener down a spiral staircase into a place of deep calm and tantric concentration." [label info] www.tonefloat.com 2009 €12.00
FEINE TRINKERS BEI PINKELS DAHEIM (F.T.B.P.D.) A Bug's Life CD "Jürgen Eberhard aka Feine Trinkers Bei Pinkels Daheim celebrates 25 years of his artistic activity with the first full-length album on Zoharum entitled "A Bug's Life". keen observers of our activity certainly know his name, for instance from a common vinyl 7-incher entitled "Both Sides of The Looking Glass" shared with Bisclaveret duo or from the composition "Enigmatic Visions", which appeared on a commemorative compilation "07|100|15". "A Bug's Life" is the tenth full-length album in the discography of Feine Trinkers Bei Pinkels Daheim. It was being created, like the previous ones, for several years and is another conscious artistic statement. Seven compositions included here are of a collage nature and combine echoes of post-industrial ambient, drone music, musique concrete, field recordings and even plunderphonics. On his first studio album since "Die Legende vom Heiligen Trinker" from 2011, Jürgen Eberhard consciously continues his sonic quest on a depleted terrain and he manages to avoid traps of empty experiments. "A Bug's Life" is at the same time an atmospheric, and even accessible, album, and sonically elaborate and demanding of the listener." [label info] www.zoharum.com "FEINE TRINKERS BEI PINKELS DAHEIM ist ein Projekt, das ja eher unregelmäßig in der Musiklandschaft auftaucht, dabei aber bereits recht langlebig ist. Das letzte reguläre Album von JÜRGEN EBERHARD unter diesem Banner erschien 2011. „A Bug’s Life“ – so hieß übrigens auch der Pixar-Film „Das große Krabbeln“ im Original – widmet sich dem Namen entsprechend den Geräuschen von Insekten, die Grundlage für die Soundgestaltung des Albums gewesen sein sollen. Hierbei sollte man aber kein dauerndes, möglichst naturnahes Gezirpe oder Gesirre im Kopf haben – quasi ein Field-Recording-Overkill, sondern Klänge, die extrem stark bearbeitet und verfremdet wurden, wobei am Ende dennoch der Charakter von Sounds, die von Insekten erzeugt werden – auch knisternde, schabende Geräusche –, erhalten bleibt. Tatsächlich ist der Sound auf „A Bug’s Life“ aber relativ vielschichtig, teils auch wuchtig und massiv oder mit Drones durchsetzt, sodass das Ganze recht gut funktioniert und eben nicht an einen Abend auf der Terrasse erinnert. Auch Stimmen werden – verfremdet oder nicht – eingesetzt und Abwechslung kommt zusätzlich durch Stücke ins Spiel, die mit weiblichen Gesangslinien, die quasi als Zusatzinstrument fungieren, ausgestattet sind. Hier wäre wohl auch der Punkt, an dem man die Unterstützung von diversen Gästen wie u.a. MISS POLYESTER, FRL. LINIENTREU oder GENEVIÈVE PASQUIER erwähnen könnte. Das Klangspektrum reicht letztendlich von orientalisch angehauchten Sounds inklusive Rhythmus („Metallifekuwagamon“) bis hin zu düsteren Soundcollagen, die auch aufgrund der Bilder, die im Kopf entstehen, Unruhe auslösen können. Somit ist „A Bug’s Life“ eine spannende Sache für Freunde des Ambient oder der experimentellen Elektronik. Idee und Ausführung passen in jedem Fall hervorragend zueinander und die Qualität stimmt hier sowieso." [Tony F. für nonpop.de] "In der Geräuschmusik und überall sonst, wo mit Samples gearbeitet wird, sind Tiergeräusche eine beliebte Soundquelle, und zu den gefragtesten Geräuschproduzenten zählen seit jeher Insekten – was wäre ein sommerliches Kitschkolorit ohne das Zirpen von Grillen und Zikaden, und dass man aus dem Summen fliegender Insekten Noise und elektroakustiche Musik machen kann, ist hinlänglich bekannt. Beliebt sind Feldaufnahmen, bei denen die Sounds weitgehend naturbelassen bleiben und nur gelegentlich etwas Struktur eingebracht wird wie bei Dave Phillips’ und Hasegawa Hiroshis “Insect Apocalypse” oder “The Progeny of Flies” von Daniel Manche und Andrew Liles. Seltener sind Aufnahmen, bei denen die Sounds so stark verfremdet sind, dass man ohne Hintergrundwissen die Quelle kaum erkennen kann. Etwas derartiges hat der feine Pinkel, ähm: Trinker Jürgen Eberhard vor Kurzem unter dem Titel “A Bug’s Life” zustande gebracht. Die komplette CD wirkt wie ein Zoom, bei dem die Kamera dem lebenden Objekt so nah auf den Panzer rückt, dass man nur noch kleinteilige Strukturen in Übergröße erkennt, während größere Zusammenhänge nur noch zu erahnen sind. Vieles klingt wie ins Monströße vergrößert: Maschinell klingendes Summen, dass zeitweise in Noisewände übergeht, Detonationen, verursacht von einem enormen Insekt, das gegen eine überdimensionierte Scheibe knallt. Zirpen und Flattern, das eher nach einem Vogel klingt, und dem Tier, dessen rhythmischer Flügenschlag gegen Ende zu hören ist, möchte ich nicht im Dunkeln begegnen. So furchteinflößend es hier zugeht, hat die bizarre Szenerie auch irrsinnig Komisches zu bieten. Neben all dem gibt es zahlreiche Stellen, an denen kaum zu erkennen ist, ob die Aufnahmen ganz unkenntlich gemacht wurden oder anderen, z.B. elektronischen Ursprungs sind. Dies gilt für geschliffenen Ambientsound und zirkushafte Melodien ebenso wie für den entspannten Ethnosound, der irgendwann ganz überraschend eine Sängerin begleitet (die meisten Stimmbeiträge von Geneviève Pasquier, Allseits vs Troum, Frl. Linientreu und Joke Lanz sind spoken words). Ebenso gilt dies für monströses Brüllen, dass hoffentlich von einem Wirbeltier stammt. Aber warum eigentlich? Im Unterschied zu naturbelassenen Insektensounds lassen die Aufnahmen hier die Tiere enorm groß erscheinen und brechen so mit gänigen Wahrnehmungsgewohnheiten. Die nachhaltige, über den bloßen Schock weit hinausgehende Wirkung, kann im besten Fall in einem veränderten Blick auf das Tierreich münden." [J.G./U.S./African Paper] 2016 €12.00
FENN O'BERG (FENNESZ / O'ROURKE / REHBERG) In Stereo CD "Written and performed by Christian Fennesz, Jim O'Rourke & Peter Rehberg. Recorded and mixed at Studio GOK Sound, Tokyo, October 2009. Mastered at Piethopraxis, Köln, December 2009. 'Thats right, they're back! After a hiatus of almost 9 years the legendary trio of Christian Fennesz, Jim O'Rourke and Peter Rehberg have returned with a new studio album. Technically the first studio album as previous releases were edits of live performances. They spent a week in Studio GOK Sound, Tokyo to lay down some stunning electronic works. Whereas previously the emphasis was on a chaotic blend of found samples mangled through their mobile computing systems to create a humorous oddball sound, 'in stereo' implements a more wider instrumental palette of analogue & digital synthesis, guitar, piano, bass and percussion. What they do maintain is the ability to make a near psychedelic audio blend where its impossible to determine who does what. Released as CD digipack and gatefold double vinyl which features an extra slice of classic fenn O'Berg magic beauty. 'in stereo' ...for you." [label info] www.editionsmego.com "Is there something that you really want? That one coming release that excites you very much? In the world of reviewers: hardly. There is tons of music coming out every week, and everything is examined carefully (we do out best). But sometimes there is a release coming which even excites the overloaded reviewer. Say a new album by Christian Fennesz, Jim O'Rourke and Peter Rehberg, who work as Fenn O'berg. They released two albums almost a decade ago, classic works of computerized madness, culled from live shows. Mayhem, plunderphonics, laptop a gogo (recently re-issued as double CD - see Vital Weekly 685). Workload was also heavy for these musicians, always touring, recording, touring and recording. In October of last year they meet up again, for a week, in Tokyo, to sit together and record their first studio album. Six tracks and what a difference from the previous two. Its no longer laptop madness, but a fine blend of that with analogue sound material, guitar, piano, bass and percussion. I must admit its not easy to spot these instruments in these pieces. The music has changed though. Its not a wild and vivid collage of sound, but more concentrated efforts of sound, more composed than improvised. I think they laid down all the various sounds in an improvised form and then mixed it together into quite dense music, which has partly an ambient character (in a rather unique way) and also a strangely psychedelic atmosphere. Sometimes the computer processed sounds play a role, such as in 'Part VII', but by and large its not easy to spot here. Its an excellent release, I must say. Especially the first four tracks are great here, where they really go out into their own form of psychedelic music. 'Part III', the opening of the CD is perhaps the standout track of the CD. An excellent release, as said, well worth waiting so long for, but let's hope the next one will come sooner." [FdW / Vital Weekly] 2010 €13.50
FINAL It comes to us All LP Justin K Broadrick (Godflesh, Jesu, JK Flesh) breathes new life into his FINAL project for an album on Helm’s ALTER label. Formed in 1984 out of an obsession with the industrial, noise & power electronics acts of the early eighties, FINAL made its public debut at the legendary Mermaid pub in Birmingham when Broadrick was just 14 years old. A string of cassette releases via his Post Mortem Rekordings label established the name within the underground noise scene of the time until increased activity with his various groups (Napalm Death, Head of David and later Godflesh) meant that FINAL naturally fell by the wayside before the end of the decade. Broadrick reactivated the project in 1993 during the British ambient “isolationism” period and FINAL's sound became focussed more on texture, producing beatless ambient work with a number of albums for labels like Sentrax, Utech, No Quarter and Neurot. ‘It Comes To Us All’ is the first FINAL album to appear on vinyl since 2015’s ‘Black Dollars’ on Downwards and continues to explore the textural nature of Broadrick’s ambient work - this time through a filter of blown-out harmonic noise that reconnects the project with its harsher roots. Rather than channelling the angst of early power-electronics, the noise here rumbles along blissfully through 8 untitled tracks, sombre in tone and at times beautiful. Melodies sampled from pop music are put through a process of decay, stripped of their form and worn down with a rusty, melancholic afterglow. Reducing all its parts to slow-motion shadows of their former selves, ‘It Comes To Us All’ is an exploration of the decay of all living things that we face collectively, day after day. https://final1.bandcamp.com/album/it-comes-to-us-all 2022 €28.50
  It comes to us all CD Justin K Broadrick (Godflesh, Jesu, JK Flesh) breathes new life into his FINAL project for an album on Helm’s ALTER label. Formed in 1984 out of an obsession with the industrial, noise & power electronics acts of the early eighties, FINAL made its public debut at the legendary Mermaid pub in Birmingham when Broadrick was just 14 years old. A string of cassette releases via his Post Mortem Rekordings label established the name within the underground noise scene of the time until increased activity with his various groups (Napalm Death, Head of David and later Godflesh) meant that FINAL naturally fell by the wayside before the end of the decade. Broadrick reactivated the project in 1993 during the British ambient “isolationism” period and FINAL\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s sound became focussed more on texture, producing beatless ambient work with a number of albums for labels like Sentrax, Utech, No Quarter and Neurot. ‘It Comes To Us All’ is the first FINAL album to appear on vinyl since 2015’s ‘Black Dollars’ on Downwards and continues to explore the textural nature of Broadrick’s ambient work - this time through a filter of blown-out harmonic noise that reconnects the project with its harsher roots. Rather than channelling the angst of early power-electronics, the noise here rumbles along blissfully through 8 untitled tracks, sombre in tone and at times beautiful. Melodies sampled from pop music are put through a process of decay, stripped of their form and worn down with a rusty, melancholic afterglow. Reducing all its parts to slow-motion shadows of their former selves, ‘It Comes To Us All’ is an exploration of the decay of all living things that we face collectively, day after day. https://final1.bandcamp.com/album/it-comes-to-us-all 2022 €16.00
FIRST HUMAN FERRO Stardust CD "Dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the manned flight into space a Russian label Nitkie presents a new recording by a Ukrainian project First Human Ferro. "Stardust" is an ambient anthem tribute to the scientists, engineers and space pilots who contributed to the remarkable date. Their earthly dust is drifting like particles of god in the infinite space now, endlessly multiplying through the minds eye of the enthusiasts to come and carry the banner of scientific and technological revolution further. The album was recorded in 2004-2010 and featured by collaborations with Claustrum, Oda Relicta, and Louisa John-Krol. Designed by Marcin Lojek the release is limited to 500 copies in a digisleeve." [label info] www.nitkie.ru "Vor einiger Zeit hat OLEGH KOLYADA im NONPOP-Interview Bedenken geäußert, dass ihn sein Studium wohl zukünftig von musikalischen Aktivitäten abhalten würde. Dies scheint nicht der Fall zu sein, denn die Dichte an Veröffentlichungen, die auf den Ukrainer zurückgehen, hat eher noch zugenommen. Immerhin kümmert sich OLEGH mit seinem zweiten Hauptprojekt FIRST HUMAN FERRO nun schon zum zweiten Mal innerhalb kurzer Zeit um eines seiner Lieblingsthemen, den Weltraum. Erst vor wenigen Monaten erschien mit "Homo Shargey" (NONPOP-Besprechung) die Hommage an den ukrainischen Raumfahrtvordenker YURI KONDRATYUK, nun folgt mit "Stardust" eine allgemeine Reminiszenz an die bemannte Raumfahrt, die am 12. April 2011 ihren 50sten Jahrestag feierte; JURI GAGARIN umkreiste 1961 als erster Mensch in einem Raumschiff die Erde. Von der Anlage her ist "Stardust" ähnlich wie "Homo Shargey": OLEGH hat Stücke zusammengestellt, an denen er schon seit einigen Jahren arbeitet und die klanglich gut zusammen passen. Die zehn neuen Tracks sind in den Jahren 2004 bis 2010 entstanden, und wie auch auf dem Vorgänger merkt man dem Album diese Zeitspanne nicht an, es klingt wie aus einem Guss. Neu sind dagegen die Gäste: OLEGH KOLYADA war ja schon immer ein Bastler, hat mit seinem anderen Großprojekt ODA RELICTA mehrfach bewiesen, wie er ganz unterschiedliche Puzzleteile zusammenfügen kann. Diese Eigenschaft schlägt nun auch bei FIRST HUMAN FERRO durch, denn "Stardust" ist eine wohldosierte Mischung aus Dark Ambient, majestätisch-sakralen Klängen und einigen weiteren Einflüssen von CLAUSTRUM und LOUISA JOHN-KROL, die – neben dem eigenen Projekt ODA RELICTA – auf dem Cover genannt werden. Mit dem Dark Ambient-Projekt CLAUSTRUM aus Lettland ist es nicht die erste Zusammenarbeit, wohl aber mit der australischen Folk Pop-Nymphe LOUISA JOHN-KROL, die das hier schon häufiger besprochene PRIKOSNOVÉNIE-Programm ziert. Mit den ersten Tönen fängt die Reise an, alles klingt und riecht nach kühlen, fremden Welten und Sternenstaub. Flirrende Synthieklänge werden ab und an unterbrochen von Morsezeichen, später setzen auch bedrohlichere Klänge ein, dröhnend navigiert das Sonar durch unbekannte Sonnensysteme. Überraschend, aber nicht unpassend sind die sich langsam einschleichenden, klassischen Klänge, militärische Bläserfanfaren wie aus einem Filmsoundtrack mit Verweis auf das erste (Marsch)Album von ODA RELICTA (NONPOP-Besprechung). Die Stimmung wechselt im weiteren Verlauf, hinter bedrohlichen Drones lauert ein Knistern und Kratzen, der eingespielte Funkverkehr eines Weltraumspaziergangs mit dem Klassiker "one small step for man" klingt wie ein Original, und die zahlreichen Geräusche symbolisieren perfekt die Zerbrechlichkeit und Gefährlichkeit des Unterfangens. Über klassischen, höhligen und grollenden Dark Ambient arbeitet sich OLEGH in geheimnisvollere Gefilde vor, russischer Funkverkehr kratzt zwischen militärischen Trommeln und weichen, gleitenden Drones, dann dringt "Stardust" endgültig in die unendlichen Weiten vor. Einzelne Signale verschwinden im All, hinterlassen trommelnde Schallwellen. Eines der beeindruckendsten Stücke des Albums ist "Spectra Of Sferics" (08), Weltraumgefühl mit wenigen Mitteln: nur ein leises Knistern, dazu fremde, schöne und schwerelose Töne. Die Feenstimme macht "Of Earth Pristine" (09) zum ätherischsten Stück auf "Stardust"; wenige Keyboarddrones, auf die die Stimme von LOUISA JOHN-KROL vor sich hinsummt. Erinnert ein wenig an JACK OR JIVE. Das eindeutig ergreifendste Stück ist das letzte und längste, "Stars Scattered Pain" (10) zusammen mit CLAUSTRUM. Wunderschön und glänzend wird der Moment im Spacefilm vertont, an dem in der Einsamkeit ein Planet sichtbar wird und die Crew ahnt, dass sie doch nicht den Kältetod sterben muss. Eine langsame und majestätische Melodie, viele Klänge und Geräusche dazugepackt, wie ein 'Best Of' des ganzen Albums. OLEGH kann es halt, so einfach ist das. Seine All-Epen verkörpern immer die richtige Mischung aus Erhabenheit, Melancholie und düsteren Gedanken. "Stardust" sticht dabei noch einmal besonders hervor, weil zusätzliche Elemente beigemischt wurden, die einzelnen Songs – vor allem den drei letzten – ein besonderes Gesicht geben. Feines Album!" [Michael We. für nonpop.de] 2011 €12.00
FOVEA HEX Salt Garden (Landscaped) LP + CD Les Disques du Crepuscule presents The Salt Garden (Landscaped), an album of extended pieces by acclaimed quiet music ensemble Fovea Hex, featuring longform remixes by British songwriter and producer Steven Wilson and Serbian soundscape artist Abul Mogard, as well as a previously unreleased mix by Peter Chilvers. "Formed in 2005 by Irish musician Clodagh Simonds, Fovea Hex have since released 3 albums (Neither Speak Nor Remain Silent, Here Is Where We Used to Sing and The Salt Garden), drawing favourable comparisons with Nico, This Mortal Coil, Ligeti and even Schubert. The Salt Garden (Landscaped) is pressed on crystal clear vinyl, and comes packaged with a CD version featuring 4 tracks in total. The outer sleeve is printed in white reverse board and features an image taken by Crepuscule designer Joel Van Audenhaege during a recent trip to Greenland. The inner bag offers detailed liner notes as well as an interview with Clodagh. As well as Steven Wilson and Abul Mogard, other high-profile admirers include film director David Lynch, who invited the group to play at his Cartier Foundation exhibition in Paris in 2007, and Brian Eno, who has described Clodagh’s work as “some of the most extraordinary songs I’ve heard in years.” The Salt Garden (Landscaped) gathers together 3 long ambient remixes of tracks from the Salt Garden EP trilogy, originally released between 2016 and 2019. The core album is pressed on crystal clear vinyl and showcases ‘Solace’ and ‘Is Lanza Light & Given’, both re-worked by musical polymath Steven Wilson. “I’ve long been a fan of Fovea Hex,” explains Steven, “which for me is some of the most sublimely beautiful music ever recorded. It’s a mix of electronic and acoustic sounds played on instruments ranging from state-of-the-art to ancient and arcane.” As well as the two tracks reworked by Steven, the bonus CD enclosed with the vinyl album also finds room for ‘We Dream All the Dark Away’, the widely-acclaimed re-interpretation by Abul Mogard of ‘All Those Signs’ from the Salt Garden II EP. By turns haunting and sinister, but always beautiful, the piece features vocals by both Clodagh and Brian Eno, as well as cello by Kate Ellis, and modular synth and effects by mysterious soundscaper Mogard. An additional special bonus track on the CD is an unreleased remix of lesser -known 2015 digital single ‘By the Glacial Lake’ made by musician Peter Chilvers, best known for his collaborations with Brian Eno, Karl Hyde, Chris Martin and Tim Bowness. “I feel truly honoured!” says Clodagh Simons, who began her career in cult folk-psyche band Mellow Candle, and since then has guested on albums by Mike Oldfield, Thin Lizzy, Russell Mills, Matmos, Current 93 and Steven Wilson. “It’s been fascinating to witness how these pieces have been so imaginatively and skilfully revisioned in the hands of Steven, Abul and Peter. Each piece has emerged into a completely fresh new light, with a different vibrancy, yet remains grounded in what was there before.” 2021 €31.50
FRANCK, YANNICK Hierophany | Иерофания CD "In such conservative genre like ambient there is not easy to find something to discover, but the music of Yannick Franck can change this widespread prejudice. Infuenced by recent trip to Russia and the orthodox culture, he composed the continuous suite of three movements, showing his personal vision of the ancient rite. Release date is 29th December 2012. Limited edition of 500 copies in jewelcase." [label info] www.monochromevision.ru "Oily drones be found on Hierophany, an album released on the Russian imprint Monochrome Vision, inspired by the ancient rites of Russian orthodoxy, and produced by a Belgian on a working holiday whilst touring to the east of his homeland. Over the years, Franck has worked with Pietro Piparbelli (aka K11) with the two of them collaborating on a project based on recordings from Aleister Crowley's Abbey of Thelema (yes, K11 has released at least three other albums drawn from Thelemic residues). Theological differences aside (which are obviously massive), Franck's interest in both Crowley and the Russian Orthodox church seems to find common ground in the gnostic mysticism of meditation rituals and their capacity to introduce the process of transcendence. The massively thrumming drones that Franck presents on Hierophany seem to be based on field recordings made within a cathedral during a service, with the bell tones and chants reflecting into a gray wall of steely reverb and delay. Elements of human speech sporadically bounce within his system of acoustic and processed sound, creating something of a feedback loop of particular sonorous frequencies, reinforced and thickened by Franck's sonic sensibilities. The album quickly hits a uniform plateau of saturated environmental and electronic din, slipping rather subtly from one complementary movement to another. Well executed work that conceptually and aesthetically may have more than a few similarities to Current 93's early tape collage days." [Aquarius Rec.] "More field recordings, but perhaps a bit differently when it reaches the point of release, is the new release by Belgium's Yannick Franck. He's been releasing on various labels before, such as Silken Tofu, Young Girls Records and Silentes, and has worked with K11, Craig Hilton, Alan Trench and Esther Venrooy. Here however he is solo and he uses instruments and 'non musical objects', voice, radio signals and field recordings. Perhaps so far not much difference, but it's the way Franck executes his music. Instead of using the collage form, Franck sets wheels in motion, and when they are all in motion, then he subtly moves them about. Perhaps the word 'drone' music could apply to his music? Derived from various sources, his music is played altogether at the same time, adding and subtracting on microscopic level, all along using minimal changes in the use of sound effects. Quite a dense sound he arrives at here and like with the other release, the three pieces flow nicely into eachother. In the final part, 'Dying Down', you realize you are in a church, with whispering voices, and a far away choir practice. And then it seems like the other two pieces shared that same sort of big hall/cathedral reverb. That makes it perhaps all a bit too religious for my taste, but throughout I thought this was a very refined disc of challenging drone music." [FdW/Vital Weekly] 2012 €12.00
FREIBAND Cubes CD-R "Frans de Waard has been long time active as musician since the '80s and released several albums under named artists and groups such as Kapotte Muziek and Zebra. He's also been working for Staaplaat for 11 years. To me though he's best known as the editor of renowned Vital Weekly and such I first came in contact with him. On "Cubes" he act under his alias Freiband manipulating the sound material from the Ukrainian project Dao de Noize and set loose a 37 minute flood of noisy experimentalism." [label info] 2016 €10.00
FRITH, FRED The Happy End Problem CD "The Happy End Problem beinhaltet zwei Tanztheaterkompositionen, die Fred Frith im neuen Jahrtausend für Amanda Miller und ihre Pretty Ugly Dance Company komponiert hat. Uraufgeführt wurden die Stücke im Stadttheater Freiburg, im May 2003 ("The Happy End Problem") bzw. im April 2004 ("Imitation" - die Tracks 1-9). Recht akustisch wirkt „Imitation“, welches von Streichinstrumenten, Gitarre, Piano und etwas Perkussion bestimmt wird. Dazu kommen sehr verhaltene elektronische Sounds und Klangspielereien von Patrice Scanlon. Für Frithsche Verhältnisse ist "Imitation" erstaunlich melodisch und zahm ausgefallen. Fast elegisch und sentimental, sehr klassisch-kammermusikikalisch und entspannt kommen hier die Klänge aus den Boxen. Einzig die Pianolinen entwickeln ab und zu eine gewisse betriebsame Hektik. Ansonsten schreitet die Musik getragen, sehr schlicht, fast karg dahin. Recht prominent in der Musik steht Carla Kihlstedts Violine, die häufig die Melodieführung übernimmt. Das lange Titelstück ist dagegen etwas anders gestrickt. Deutliche elektronischer in der Ausrichtung, angereichert mit einigen Tonbandeinspielungen verschiedener Naturgeräusche, wirkt die Komposition fremdartiger und komplexer, wie ein großformatiges Klanggemälde, welches im zweiten Teil kurzzeitig zu einem recht wirren, schrägen und minimalistischen Elektro-RIO- Kammerrockdurcheinander gerät. Trotzdem ist die Nummer vielleicht das elektronischste Stück, welches ich von Frith kenne. "The Happy End Problem" ist ein weiteres Beispiel für die Vielseitigkeit des ehemaligen Gitarristen von Henry Cow. Wer die Musik von Frith schätzt, wird mit diesem Album sicher keinen Fehlkauf tun!" [Achim Breiling / Babyblaue Seiten] "A new recording, and instantly a Fred classic. Two, related, small-ensemble works for 6 and 7 musicians respectively - mostly strings of one sort or another, with percussion, flute and clarinet occasionally, and electronics. Fred, violinist Carla Kilsteht and percussionist Willie Wynant play throughout, providing continuity across the pieces as the music constantly unfolds into new textures and dialects. Melody, harmony and rhythm are omnipresent, though not always obviously colluding, and the music moves with constant assurance, never hesitating and never marking time. There are some affinities with Nicola Kodjbashias luminous Solitary Walker (which it predates) in its use of minimal instrumentation to maximum effect, popular materials, exquisite articulation and a kind of modest transcendence. The necessity and simplicity of these pieces conceals a catalogue of experimental techniques and novel ideas; there are those whod have squeezed a score of albums from this material. A gem. Buy it. Carla Kilsteht shines throughout." [label description] www.rermegacorp.com 2006 €14.00
GALBRAITH, ALASTAIR & MATT DE GENNARO From the Dark (South Island) CD "ALASTAIR GALBRAITH ist der Klebstoff, der den Underground von Neuseeland zusammenhält. Ob er nun schmerzhaft-schön Geige für so verschiedene Künstler wie PETER JEFFERIES oder THE BATS spielt oder sich mit dem Feedback bei A HANDFUL OF DUST beschäftigt oder zusammen mit dem Amerikaner MATT DE GENNARO neue Performances im Stile der Soundskulpturen von HARRY BERTOIA erschafft. Auf ,From The Dark" verwandeln sich architektonische Eigenarten in hypnotische Sounds. Stahlseile, die manchmal länger als 30 Meter sind, werden durch den Raum gespannt. Wenn die Seile noch mit geharzten Händen oder Lederstücken angeschlagen werden, schicken sie vibrierende Resonanzen zur ihren Fixpunkten. Nicht die Seile erzeugen Geräusche, sondern die Wände, Geländer oder Fensterrahmen, an denen die Seile befestigt sind. Das Resultat, eine Sinfonie in totaler Dunkelheit, ist eine wunderschön gruselige Zusammenstellung von Zufall, Architektur und Improvisation." [press release] "Alastair Galbraith is the glue that binds the New Zealand underground. His work ranges from achingly lyrical violin for artists as disparate as Peter Jefferies and the Bats, to the feedback squalls he conjures as member of A Handful Of Dust, to the otherworldly miniatures he crafts for his own solo albums. However, in recent years, Galbraith, along with American Matt De Gennaro, has developed another remarkable performance idiom, one that is positioned closer to the sounding sculptures of Harry Bertoia. In From the Dark (South Island), architectural idiosyncrasies are transformed into nuanced and hypnotic audio. Wires _some as long as 100 feet_ are affixed throughout a building. When the wires are taut and stroked with rosined hands or a piece of leather, longitudinal vibrations are sent to the points of attachment, creating a natural resonator. It is not the wires that make the sound, but the wall, railing or window frames at their end; wire length and room acoustics determine the pitch. The result, achieved in a veil of total darkness, is a beautiful and eerie confluence of chance and accident, architecture and improvisation. As Galbraith puts it, "There is some quite magical feeling of communion turning the lights off and making the building sing." [press release] 2006 €14.50
GAUCHISTE Sommet LP Gauchiste the black ambient, experimental band from USA was formed in 2009 and based in Raleigh, NC / Richmond, VA. Gauchiste is Tomas Phillips & Tannon Penland. Tomas Philips known as the minimalist sound artist but also in written and in visual arts, he released albums on such labels as Line Imprint and Trente Oiseaux. He currently teaches literature at North Carolina State University. Tannon Penland is a musician known mainly from the heavy metal scene, in bands like Loincloth - a Southern Lord label band that toured with Sunn O))) and released a couple of albums. This is their second full length album and "Sommet", like the predecessor, contains their finely crafted dark music, that will transpose you to an outstanding soundart noveau of dark-noire ambiance. It combines elements that reminds of metal aesthetics and experimental music subtleties aiming at minimalism. Indeed, Gauchiste veers much closer to a dark abstraction, falling somewhere, between Japanese minimalism, Thomas Köner, Nurse with Wound and the heaviness in the relative silences of metal. "Sommet", brings this noir soundtrack quality to this mix with numerous collaborators, including Robert Donne of Labradford fame - the band is greatly proud of. "Sommet" requires no more words, it speaks for each listener, for himself. But I dare to say it's an outstanding release. It is the kind of release that truly fulfills label's audio aesthetics. Animating the subtle vibration of the tree, which is breathing, beating. This release demanded also a very special package. The LP album is presented in shiny black Vinyl with folded cover in PVC envelope. Each copy includes the bandcamp download code! Gauchiste: Tannon Penland, Tomas Phillips Contributors: Greg Elkins - Steel guitar M. Moore - Vocals Matt L. - Guitar David Sanchez - Vocals Robert Donne - Synth Jenna Ottinger - Vocals David More - Bowed cymbal John Winston Phillips - Synth Tracy Wilson - Vocals Dave Witte - Drums Drums recorded by Brett Bamburger, Dan Gargiulo Mastering by: Ronan Chris Murphy (known for working with King Crimson, Gwar, Steve Morse, Terry Bozzio, Ulver...) Graphically Designed by Doug Dobey for Dobey Design https://essentiamundi.bandcamp.com/album/gauchiste-sommet-em047 2021 €23.00
GEINS'T NAIT L'Or'n Cat CD Geins't Naït was founded in Nancy, France, in 1986 by Thierry Merigout and Vincent Hachet, both students at the Architecture School of Nancy. A year later Laurent Petitgrand joined the band. Their sound is often described as an equivalent of bands like Einstürzende Neubauten, Coil or Test Dept., but Geins't Naït is not pure classic Industrial. While Geins't Naït offers rough pieces of music as an extension of its punk attitude, Petitgand refines them to create some musicality within the post-industrial collages, adding guitars, piano, and classical instruments. Geins't Naït and Laurent Petitgand sharpen sounds, giving them a kind of balance and density and ensuring that the musical language evokes a deep experience. Their music is raw and fascinating, and largely influenced by Surrealists and Situationists. Their early albums were released by French label Permis De Construire, with L'Or'n Cat being the second, released in 1987. It features ten tracks which have been carefully remastered for this first ever CD re-issue by Martin Bowes. Full tracklist: 1. Canari Et Compagnie 2. Splendeur Mécanique 3. Attention Deux 4. Toutatoc 5. Comme Un Lou 6. Radio Nino 7. Attention Un 8. Dormir 9. Paolino 10. Aldo. https://www.klanggalerie.com/gg387 "The mood is quite heavy and dark throughout, more so than so it seems on their debut album. Rhythms mechanically hammer away, along with grinding guitars. Interestingly some of the beats remind me of hip hop music but are played with the same ferocity as metal music. Geins t Naït is a band with many faces and many influences, which shows in the music. You could think that with all the variation and influences going on, the album would be too diverse, but thats not the case. Instead, it is all very much together, maybe even more so than on their debut album. It is pretty grim music, but please note the word pretty. This sort of heaviness is well spent on me." (Vital Weekly, April 2022) 2022 €15.00
GEINS'T NAIT & L. PETITGAND Fishes CD "Geins't Naït was founded in Nancy, France, in 1986 by Thierry Merigout and Vincent Hachet, both students at the Architecture School of Nancy. A year later Laurent Petitgand joined the band. Their sound is often described as an equivalent of bands like Einstürzende Neubauten, Coil or Test Dept., but Geins't Naït is not pure classic industrial. While Geins't Naït offers rough pieces of music as an extension of its punk attitude, Petitgand refines them to create some musicality within the post-industrial collages, adding guitars, piano, and classical instruments. Geins't Naït and Laurent Petitgand sharpen sounds, giving them a kind of balance and density and ensuring that the musical language evokes a deep experience. Their music is raw and fascinating, and largely influenced by Surrealists and Situationists. Their early albums were released by French label Permis De Construire, with Fishes being the band's fifth album, originally released in 1989. It features fifteen tracks which have been carefully remastered for this first ever CD re-issue by Martin Bowes." 2023 €15.00
GEINS'T NAIT + SCANNER + PETITGAND OLA CD Since 2014, when the Mind Travels [Ici, d'ailleurs] series was created, Geins't Naït and Laurent Petitgand have been working on one project after another with a great deal of sonic experimentation and with an unbroken passion. It is therefore not surprising to find the fifth album "OLA" from this collaboration on our collection dedicated to "ambient, neo-classical and industrial" music. After "Je vous dis" 2014, "Oublier" 2015, and "Like This Maybe Or This" in 2020, the group that we will call GN+LP is a figurehead of our sub-label and this new release "OLA" reinforces this association. Geins't Naït and Laurent Petitgand have been music activists for more than 30 years, two very singular musicians, coming from two different schools and whose collaboration was far from obvious: the industrial and experimental scene for Thierry Mérigout (the last active member of the group Geins't Naït) and for Laurent Petitgand, well known for his movie soundtracks, especially for his collaboration with Wim Wenders. These two artists have different visions at first sight, but share common roots and a mutual respect. They were also recently featured in a documentary directed by Otomo de Manuel: "So Young But So Cold", a feature film about the Nancy Punk/No Wave scene. For the album "OLA", the GN+LP duo is joined by an artist far from being unknown by ambient and IDM fans, namely Scanner alias Robin Rimbaud, to be pronounced /ˈrɒb.ɪn/ because, in spite of a French-sounding name, he is English and lives in London. The Englishman is a virtuoso of sound collage, a sound plastician, one of the most present on the electronic scene since the 90s. He has produced more than twenty albums on labels as prestigious as Sub Rosa or New electronica. A fan of collaborations, he has had the opportunity to work with many artists during his career, Kim Cascone or Alva Noto to name but a few. We can say that this combination: Geins't Nait + LP + Scanner is explosive. From the first track, "MT26", we quickly understand the potential of this trio formula. After three rather calm introductory minutes, scattered with modified voices and field recording, the track progressively evolves with a rhythmic. The loops merge and repeat, sometimes disintegrating and filling up with industrial sounds and more or less heavy metals. This structure can be found on several tracks such as "OLA" or "MOUCHE", two hypnotic tracks of more than seven minutes that could remind us of Autechre or Muslimgauze. We also discover a tribute to Gilles Deleuze on the track "GILLES" in which GN+LP+Scanner rework the conference of this philosopher "What is the act of creation? Gilles Deleuze is regularly featured in Geins't Nait's work. More industrial and colder than the previous albums "Je vous dis" or "Like This Maybe Or This", the album "OLA" is difficult to classify. Some tracks tend towards dark-ambient like "MORPHENG" "9.95MW", others are closer to techno like "BRA". Dense and complex at first sight, "OLA" is a work to be experienced. Intense and immersive, GN +LP + Scanner's work gives off an atmosphere: a timeless sound space, the perception of a cold, mechanical but strangely reassuring world. A universe that some might compare to a combination of David Cronenberg's "The Fly" and Wang Bing's "West of the tracks". https://mindtravels.bandcamp.com/album/ola 2023 €13.00
GENETIC TRANSMISSION Genetic Transmission CD It is hard to imagine the history of Polish industrial scene without noticing the activities of GENETIC TRANSMISSION – a project that might be considered legendary or having a cult status among quite a few, and the one that certainly has left a lot of its influence on the activity of many other artists in our country, and also inspired others to the activities in the field of urban, post-industrial music. The history of Genetic Transmission began when Tomasz Twardawa closed his earlier incarnations, working alone or in groups Zilch, Ładne Kwiatki, Godzilla. Although each of these groups left behind many interesting sessions, released earlier on tapes and CDRs, we have undertaken the release of the most important albums of the project Genetic Transmission, as the most active one of Tomasz Twardawa, and thus the richest part of his discography. As the first one in GT Archive Series, we release the debut material entitled simply “Genetic Transmission” released earlier on an OBUH tape in 1997. Now enriched and mastered by Tomasz Twardawa. It has been 20 years since its first release, but the recordings of sonic search still sound fresh and intriguing. We will find here compositions kept in the characteristic style of GT: harsh, metallic sounds, a mechanical structure, brut collages created using only analog sources and recorded in exactly the same manner – without the use of computers. In these dense structures, the artist concluded his entire manifesto, a declaration of his own research which has been developed consistently through his next sessions. “Genetic Transmission 1” is the starting point of your adventure with this project. This reissue is strictly limited to 200 copies. www.zoharum.com 2016 €12.00
Strychnina CD It has become a sort of tradition that every year during first days of autumn we release at least one part out of GT Archive Series. Keeping this tradition alive we present you seventh instalment of this series that is “Strychnina”. “Strychnina” being one of the most important albums in vast Genetic Transmission discography, originally was released in 2005 as CD-R via his own imprint Die Schöne Blumen Musik Werk. It consists of 2 compositions about 20 min each which suits perfectly vinyl format. Wax version of this release has been discussed for a long time and for a number of reasons couldn’t work out. Until now. We are proud to inform you that “Strychnina” will be available in two strictly limited versions: LP limited to 100 copies and CD limited to 200 copies. https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/strychnina 2020 €12.00
  Strychnina LP "It has become a sort of tradition that every year during first days of autumn we release at least one part out of GT Archive Series. Keeping this tradition alive we present you seventh instalment of this series that is “Strychnina”. “Strychnina” being one of the most important albums in vast Genetic Transmission discography, originally was released in 2005 as CD-R via his own imprint Die Schöne Blumen Musik Werk. It consists of 2 compositions about 20 min each which suits perfectly vinyl format. Wax version of this release has been discussed for a long time and for a number of reasons couldn’t work out. Until now. We are proud to inform you that “Strychnina” will be available in two strictly limited versions: LP limited to 100 copies and CD limited to 200 copies." https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/strychnina 2020 €18.00
GENOCIDE ORGAN Civilization do-CD BOX "This release was already planned in 2011 for the 20th anniversary of „Save our Slaves“. The implementation and the restoration of the original source material took a lot of time, especially the sound-files of the 1990 pre-release concert which are completed for this set for the 1st time. Genocide Organ had to dig deep into long-forgotten parts of the archive, to reconstruct as many as possible of the original photo-materials, reconstruct, extend and re-view them. The work on the new album „The Obituary of the Americas“ delayed the completion as well, but then also accelerated it, as both publications were cut across thematically. Now it is done! A further stone fits into the wall of the bands historical back catalogue. LP version: Limited numbered edition 500. The deluxe linenpaper covered Hard-Slipcase is foilblocked and debossed. The record sleeves and the additional artwork sleeves are all debossed and spot-varnished in the typical Genocide Organ artwork finish you know from : Obituary of the Americas: album. The artwork sleeve is filled up with extensive large 24p booklet, numbered certificate, inlay for the Live LP and embroidered patch. CD version: Limited first edition comes as deluxe linenpaper covered, foilblocked and debossed Hard-Slipcase, incl. Coverpak with double CD and extensive large 24p booklet. Only this first edition comes as special Hard-Slipcase Set with the additional Live CD. Musical contend on both formats: The complete material of „Save our Slaves“ originally released in 1991. „The Lever Sunlicht Shooting“, reflecting the complete performance of Genocide Organ Live 15.12.1990 in Mannheim in front of an invited audience. Compilation Tracks from: Perpetual State of Oracular Dream LP 1991 Natural Order 2LP 1997 Sound of Hate Vol.7 MC 1992 Exploration One CD 1995 Trans-Action MC 1992 + both tracks from: Klan Kountry 7″ 1998 all material from original source material re-mastered by Jerome Nougaillon and Genocide Organ. :CONTEXT: Released on Tesco Organisation in 1991, Save Our Slaves arrived as the second album for Genocide Organ, following the debut Leichenlinie released 2 years prior. Although the impact of Leichenlinie is undeniable in establishing the group within the noise industrial / power electronics scene, upon reflection Save Our Slaves is the release that cemented Genocide Organ’s cult underground status. This cult status has been generated via their musical approach, coupled with lavish handmade packaging and the presentation of strong, potentially controversial thematic material in an impartial and ambiguous manner; which incidentally some have interpreted as being ‚politically incorrect‘. Save Our Slaves stands out as the landmark release that definitively executed each hallmark element of sound, visuals and thematic content with flawless accuracy. :THEME: Conceptually, Save Our Slaves is an album renowned for its direct engagement with many taboo aspects of America’s history. Consequently, without shying away from the darkest aspects of America’s past, Save Our Slaves is concerned with: slavery, racist movements such as the Ku Klux Klan, radical right wing political advocacy group The John Birch Society, and the struggles for suppression, dominance and/or liberty on both sides of the civil rights movement. There are seemingly implied references to Dr Martin Luther King (the vinyl side dubbed Birmingham perhaps referring to Birmingham, Alabama and the 1950-60’s civil rights movement), whilst the track Violent Coordinating Committee appears to be inspired by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee – an important ‚direct action‘ organization of the 1960’s civil rights movement. Save Our Slaves also contains more direct references to other civil rights figures including James Meredith – the first African-American student admitted to the segregated University of Mississippi (a flashpoint of the civil rights movement); and Sarah Patton Boyle – Virginia’s most prominent white civil rights activists during the 1950-60s. Yet to expand the thematic content further, the album also makes reference to American Imperialism of the 1950’s to 1970’s, which included covert CIA operations in the Middle East, Africa, South America, and Indochina / South East Asia. Specifically, such operations involved the facilitation of military instigated coups and provision of financial and military support to various dictators in the ideological fight for capitalism against communism and socialism. Accordingly, within the broadly coveted discography of Genocide Organ, Save Our Slaves stands out as one of their pinnacle releases by fact of it being one the of most sought after. The album’s revered status is also demonstrative of the manner in which Genocide Organ combine music, theme and artwork to transcend the creation of albums designed merely to be ‚enjoyed‘. Save Our Slaves functions as a politically charged, controversial declaration and socio-political manifesto that analyses American society, the roots of America’s history and culture and its role in shaping the modern world. As exemplified by its sound, visuals and thematic content Save Our Slaves stands as a strong and clear testament to the initial rise and early establishment of Genocide Organ’s cult status. Richard Stevenson: editor of Spectrum Magazine (1998-2001) / current editor of noise receptor journal (print ‚zine & blog). 2017 €28.00
GEROGERIGEGEGE, THE The Gerogerigegege 12inch Straight after the gorgeous album„Moenai Hai“ from 2016, The GeroGeriGeGeGe are back with a new fantastic 12“ vinyl record. On April 23rd 2003, The GeroGeriGeGeGe hits the road on 8 city west coast tour. They would them make history by partaking in the first ever all scratch music tour. The unique thing about this record is that most of the sounds were designed and arranged before the group actually rehearsed it. In other words, you will hear this record and be challenged with the question on how to use the sounds just as they were. With less than 2 weeks to practice, the member took bits and pieces of sounds from this record, and created the vibe featured on this tour. Like any The GeroGeriGeGeGe releases, this is not your average record, this is an instrument featuring custom made sounds, vintage synths, as well as samples from seminal albums such as „Sketchbook: An Introduction to Good Music“. Wether you’re trying to mimmick the song performed on the tour and album, create original good music, or producing tracks traditionally, there’s enough samples to bang out multiple albums. A piece of history on wax. limited edition pressed on virgin black vinyl full colored recordssleeve scrotumrecords.storenvy.com 2017 €12.50
GERRARD, LISA & MARCELLO DE FRANCISCI Departum CD Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner singer/composer Lisa Gerrard (Dead Can Dance) and film composer Marcello De Francisci have joined forces to bring you their first collaborative album work titled "Departum". This album is a collection of pieces, which are filled with lyrical soundscapes, orchestrated with vocal chants, cimbalom, guitars, percussion, modern instruments and orchestra. An effort that took two years in the making moreover a journey inspired by ancient world cultures. (Mesopotamia, Europe & Asia) After the groundbreaking album "The Trail Of Genghis Khan" written in collaboration with an Australian artist Cye Wood, Lisa Gerrard returns to Infinite fog with long-awaited complete, extended edition of the album "Departum". Highest quality sound, ambient drifts, soft tribal rhythms, touching melodies of Cymbylom and 144-Strings Yang Chin playing by Lisa Gerrard and transcendental vocals. All this gives even more in sum and makes "Departum" pure pleasure listening. CD released in a digipak with massive 20 pages booklet. reviews: “Some of Gerrard’s most rhythmically lively and vocally enraptured music since Dead Can Dance’s Spirit Chaser.” - John Diliberto for ((( echoes ))) “Departum“ see’s Lisa collaborate with Marcello De Francisci after working together of a film (Tears of Gaza) and deciding they felt so at home together they wanted to have a separate project to let themselves go on. This has resulted in a wonderful selection of some of the best music in Gerrard’s catalogue and the most instantly enjoyable album since “Daulity” Quite frankly, when I heard The Black Opal, my review started this was the album I’d been waiting from Lisa for years… I was wrong. “Departum“ tops that album for me and is utterly mesmerizing from start to finish. There is something about teaming up Lisa’s voice with world music that is built to explode for finale and this album has worked that out a treat. Marcello has breathed new life into everything and now this is firm favorite to go head to head with "Ark" for my album of the year (and thus one of the best of the last 10!)” - July 23, 2010, Higher Plain Music higherplainmusic.com/2010/07/23/lisa-gerrard-marcello-de-francisci-departum-review/ “It took two years after that to create, record, produce and mix Departum. It was an effort of much transcendental exploration, with an intention to take the listener into a once ancient time where the forces of nature intertwined with humans on a physical level. The way the tracks are laid out is very much like a guided meditation. “ - Marcello De Francisci Marcello De Francisci, well-known an American composer/visual artist with an Italian-Argentinean background based in Los Angeles, California. Marcello De Francisci is a big name in soundtracks industry, in 2006 he won the best soundtrack of the year G.A.N.G. ward for his work on SCEA's "God of War" game. His music has been used in major theatrical movie trailers such as "Avatar", "Prince Of Persia", "Monsters VS Aliens", "Seven Pounds", Hellboy" to name a few. Moreover, we can remember his mesmerizing music in the sequel to "Baraka" art house documentary "Samsara". Since 2009, Marcello and Lisa start work together and recorded several soundtracks for major and art house movies. Besides that, their creativity also found a realization in a common album "Departum", which became one of the most top-rated albums in Lisa Gerrard discography. Attentive listener may remember Marcello as co-creator Lisa Gerrard's album "Twilight Kingdom". released March 29, 2018 infinitefog.bandcamp.com/album/lisa-gerrard-and-marcello-de-francisci-departum 2018 €14.00
GHEYSEN, FILIP Tabletop Guitar CD / DVD / BOOK "Filip Gheysen (1979) is a musician and audio artist, living and working in Ghent, Belgium, with a passion for sound and experimental music. Using only a tabletop guitar, effects and the occasional autoharp, he creates abstract droning soundscapes, stripped of all unnecessary elements, focussing solely on the timbre and tone of his instrument. It's this timbre that is vital in his musical works, in that the harmonic spectrums of the drones and the enhanced sounds he typically produces with his electric tabletop guitar are progressively shifting. Synonymous with timbre is the quasi-poetic phrase tone colour. These elements are equally visible in Gheysen's visual art, consisting mostly of abstract prints and paintings. There is obviously a play with the tones of a colour, thus an inversion of the aforementioned musical term. This pertinent in- and decrease of saturation and of temperature in the pictorial field is comparable to what is going on in his music. Moreover, these are features which are obviously emphasised in the videos the artist has been creating since 2011. They show lines dance rather timidly, make turns or float along accompanied by passing spots and travelling smears in a scenery of inks and paint. The imagery, strongly reminiscent of his prints and paintings, is enlivened by humming guitar sounds. As an inspired symbiosis between his visual art and his music, the video clips constitute a logical step in Gheysen's intriguing body of work that doesnt cease to amaze. Although appearing here for the first time under his own name, Filip Gheysen has been very active in different projects. He is the founder of Glasvocht Records and has released albums under the monikers Picturesque, Teledroom (with Portables-guitarist Wio) and is a member of the band 4 Black Boxes (with Jürgen De Blonde aka Köhn and Tom Vangheluwe). Trained as a graphic designer, he has also studied printmaking at the academy of Ghent and had several expositions. Tabletop Guitar presents both his musical and visual art and adds a third field of interest. His videoworks are the culmination of his two main outlets, giving a new dimension to his art." [label info] www.silkentofu.org 2013 €20.00
GIARDINI DI MIRO Good Luck CD "Willkommen zu Hause: fünftes Album der italienischen Indierock-Band. Ihr letztes Werk führte die italienische Post- und Indierock-Band weit zurück in die Vergangenheit: Mit "Il fuoco" vertonten Giardini Di Mirò Giovanni Pastrones Stummfilm aus dem Jahr 1915. Ansonsten mussten die Fans fünf Jahre lang auf ein neues Studioalbum warten: "Good Luck" nimmt diese Hürde jetzt sehr optimistisch. Der Titel habe was mit der Landschaft zu tun, in der das Album produziert wurde, so die Band. Die Provinz Reggio Emilia, eine Gegend, die sich durch Minimalismus, Einfachheit und geometrische Formen auszeichnet. Die Songs wiederum entstanden on the road im Tourbus und wurden, zurück in der Heimat, zu Souvenirs des Unterwegsseins. "Good Luck" entstand in aller Privatheit, zusammen mit Freunden der Band wie etwa den Sängerinnen Angela Baraldi und Sara Lov (Devics) und dem Gitarristen Stefano Pilia.// Giardini di Mirò really needs no introduction. Hailing from Cavriago, Italy, a small town near Reggio Emilia, the band released its first EP in 1998 and not only put out a ton of records ever since, but has been touring both Italy and the rest of Europe like crazy. So far, the band has released four full-length albums, the discography however also includes a multitude of EPs, remixes and exclusive tracks for compilations. While not working with the band, GDM's members engage in solo projects, tapping into sounds and genres, one would not necessarily expect from a band deeply routed in guitar music. The band also collaborated with and commissioned remixes from artists like Cyne, Dntl, Hood, Alias, Apparat, Piano Magic, Opiate, Isan and Herrmann & Kleine. Giardini Di Mirò has been on City Centre Offices' watch ever since the band started out. In 2010, CCO finally started to work with GDM, releasing the critically accaimed "Il fuoco", the band's soundtrack for Giovanni Pastrone's silent movie from 1915. As a first release in 2012, City Centre Offices now releases "Good Luck", the band's first proper studio album since 2007. [label info] www.city-centre-offices.de 2012 €16.00
GILBERT, B.C. & G. LEWIS 8 Time CD "Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis were members of the innovative and highly influential band Wire, whose three late 70s albums - Pink Flag, Chairs Missing and 154 - were a fertile and increasingly abstract voyage into the possibilities of the post-punk musical universe. By 1980, the band were on the brink of losing their record deal with EMI and were starting to fragment into separate recording units. Ivo, a big Wire fan, met Bruce and Graham at a Bauhaus show, where the pair offered 4AD some material they had been working on. Shortly afterwards, the Like This For Ages EP was released under the name Cupol, followed by the full-length album 3R4, credited simply to BC Gilbert/ G. Lewis. All of Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis's 4AD material was subsequently collected on the 8 Time CD." [label info] www.4ad.com/artists/gilbertandlewis 1998 €15.00
  3R4 LP "In 1980, after three relentlessly creative albums, the members of WIRE were at an impasse, unsure of how to push themselves any further as a four-piece rock band. While frontman Colin Newman spent the band's hiatus mining WIRE's knack for intelligent and contorted pop songs, guitarist Bruce Gilbert and bassist / vocalist Graham Lewis joined forces for a series of experimental projects (DOME, CUPOL, etc.) where the primary motivating concept was "studio as instrument." 3R4, the duo's only LP under the B.C. GILBERT / G. LEWIS moniker and the very second album to be released on 4AD, eschews melody and structure in favor of ambient-noise soundscapes, metallic textures, and tense moods. If the brief "Barge Calm" tracks appear like sonic exercises, the longer pieces ("3.4…" and "R") are true exorcisms, conjuring supernatural found-sounds with the patience and deliberation of (un)holy men. Play this record loud and try not to think that it is the soundtrack to a lost David Lynch film. Originally released on 4AD in 1980. This first-time vinyl reissue is recommended for fans of FAUST, David Cunningham and Thomas Leer & Robert Rental's The Bridge." [label info] www.superiorviaduct.com 2015 €23.00
GODFLESH Post Self CD "The new LP from pioneering industrial band Godflesh is the duo’s best effort in over 20 years—a sinister amalgam of Justin Broadrick and G.C. Green’s collective work to date. “We understand the ordinary business of living, we know how to work the machine,” T.S. Eliot wrote in 1939’s “The Family Reunion.” “We are insured against fire, against larceny and illness, against defective plumbing, but not against the act of God.” Eliot’s play was a disaster, but it well illustrates the binaries written right into the name of pioneering industrial band Godflesh. Since the duo’s formation in 1988, their artistic underpinnings have encompassed human screams and assembly-line roars, hot blood and cold steel, the devil we know and the android we fear. Multi-instrumentalist Justin Broadrick and bassist G.C. Green weren’t the first in heavy music to exploit these binaries through unbridled aggression; Killing Joke, Throbbing Gristle, and Einstürzende Neubauten are but three iconic groups that were active long before Godflesh. But in matters of sheer sonic magnitude, Godflesh’s juncture of man-made instrumentation (searing shouts, buzzsaw riffs) and artificial fury (militant drum loops, chrome-laden effects) was unprecedented upon arrival. Three decades, six albums, and one 13-year hiatus later, Godflesh remain revered—and what’s more, they keep getting better. Post Self, the duo’s eighth LP and third release since reconvening in 2014, is easily the group’s best effort in over 20 years, not to mention 2017’s best industrial-metal album. Whereas the preceding A World Lit Only By Fire functioned primarily as a reintroduction to Godflesh’s primordial rage, Post Self represents a sinister amalgam of its creators’ greater body of work, especially Broadrick’s ambient project Jesu." [Pitchfork] 2017 €13.50
GODSPEED YOU BLACK EMPOROR! [GYBE] Yanqui U.x.o. do-LP Die melancholisch-monumentalen kanadischen Drone-Rocker mit einem neuen Wurf – hochpolitisch & systemkritisch, druckvoll produziert von Steve Albini, die Songs stets dialektisch zwischen schwelender Ruhe und explodierenden Klangströmen bewegend – eines DER Alben des Jahres 2002. For us one of THE albums of 2002, the Canadian melancholic-monumental drone-rockers, with songs moving quasi dialectical between suspenseful near-silence and exploding sound-streams.. “u.x.o. is unexploded ordnance is landmines is cluster bombs. yanqui is post-colonial imperialism is international police state is multinational corporate oligarchy. godspeed you! black emperor is complicit is guilty is resisting. the new album is just music. recorded by steve albini at electrical audio in chicago. mixed by howard bilerman and godspeed you! black emperor at the hotel2tango in montreal. available on single compact disc and double phonograph record. stubborn tiny lights vs. clustering darkness forever ok?” [from the Constellation website] www.cstrecords.com 2002 €26.00
Yanqui U.X.O CD "Die melancholisch-monumentalen kanadischen Drone-Rocker mit einem neuen Wurf – hochpolitisch & systemkritisch im Gestus, druckvoll produziert von Steve Albini, die Songs stets dialektisch zwischen schwelender Ruhe und explodierenden Klangströmen bewegend – eines DER Alben des Jahres 2002. For us one of THE albums of 2002, the canadian melancholic-monumental drone-rockers, with songs moving quasi dialectical between suspenseful near-silence and exploding sound-streams.." [Drone Records info 2002] “u.x.o. is unexploded ordnance is landmines is cluster bombs. yanqui is post-colonial imperialism is international police state is multinational corporate oligarchy. godspeed you! black emperor is complicit is guilty is resisting. the new album is just music. recorded by steve albini at electrical audio in chicago. mixed by howard bilerman and godspeed you! black emperor at the hotel2tango in montreal. available on single compact disc and double phonograph record. stubborn tiny lights vs. clustering darkness forever ok?” [from the Constellation website] label: www.cstrecords.com 2002 €15.00
Luciferian Towers LP 180g Vinyl im Gatefold Cover! Inklusive 24"x24" Poster und DL Coupon! Luciferian Towers", das siebte Album der Kanadier GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR, wurde im Winter 2016/2017 im Hotel2Tango Studio in Montreal aufgenommen. Greg Norman übernahm wie bereits beim Vorgängeralbum ,Asunder, Sweet And Other Distress" das Engeneering und die Co-Produktion. Der Sound des Albums hat sich in den vergangenen zwei Jahren herausgeschält, maßgeblichen Einfluss daran hatte die gleichzeitige Kooperation mit der Tanzgruppe HOLY BODY TATTOO, sowie der Auftrag zu einer Komposition zum 100jährigen Gedenken der Schlacht bei Messines, welche im Juni letzten Jahres in Belgien auf dem Gelände des Massakers in Heuvelland ihre Premiere feierte. "Luciferian Towers" ist zudem das dritte Album von GY!BE seit der ,Reunion" der Band 2011 und die zweite aufeinanderfolgende Einzel-LP - denen drei Doppel-Alben (2000, 2002 und 2012) vorangingen. Neben den einzelnen Track-Beschreibungen gibt die Band dazu noch das folgende Statement ab: "this long-playing record, a thing we made in the midst of communal mess, raising dogs and children. eyes up and filled with dreadful joy - we aimed for wrong notes that explode, a quiet muttering amplified heavenward. we recorded it all in a burning motorboat." 1. UNDOING A LUCIFERIAN TOWERS - look at that fucking skyline! big lazy money writ in dull marble obelisks! imagine all those buildings much later on, hollowed out and strippe d bare of wires and glass, listen- the wind is whistling through all 3,000 of its burning window-holes! 2. BOSSES HANG - labor, alienated from the wealth it creates, so that holy cow, most of us live precariously! kicking at it, but barely hanging on! also - the proud illuminations of our shortened lives! also - more of us than them! also - what we need now is shovels, wells, and barricades! 3. FAM / FAMINE - how they kill us = absentee landlord, burning high-rise. the loud panics of child-policemen and their exploding trigger-hands. with the dull edge of an arbitrary meritocracy. neglect, cancer maps, drone strike, famine. the forest is burning and soon they'll hunt us like wolves. 4. ANTHEM FOR NO STATE - kanada, emptied of its minerals and dirty oil. emptied of its trees and water. a crippled thing, drowning in a puddle, covered in ants. the ocean doesn't give a shit because it knows it's dying too. finally and in conclusion; the ,Luciferian Towers" L.P. was informed by the following grand demands: + an end to foreign invasions + an end to borders + the total dismantling of the prison-industrial complex + healthcare, housing, food and water acknowledged as an inalienable human right + the expert fuckers who broke this world never get to speak again. www.cstrecords.com 2017 €23.00
  Luciferian Towers CD Luciferian Towers", das siebte Album der Kanadier GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR, wurde im Winter 2016/2017 im Hotel2Tango Studio in Montreal aufgenommen. Greg Norman übernahm wie bereits beim Vorgängeralbum ,Asunder, Sweet And Other Distress" das Engeneering und die Co-Produktion. Der Sound des Albums hat sich in den vergangenen zwei Jahren herausgeschält, maßgeblichen Einfluss daran hatte die gleichzeitige Kooperation mit der Tanzgruppe HOLY BODY TATTOO, sowie der Auftrag zu einer Komposition zum 100jährigen Gedenken der Schlacht bei Messines, welche im Juni letzten Jahres in Belgien auf dem Gelände des Massakers in Heuvelland ihre Premiere feierte. "Luciferian Towers" ist zudem das dritte Album von GY!BE seit der ,Reunion" der Band 2011 und die zweite aufeinanderfolgende Einzel-LP - denen drei Doppel-Alben (2000, 2002 und 2012) vorangingen. Neben den einzelnen Track-Beschreibungen gibt die Band dazu noch das folgende Statement ab: "this long-playing record, a thing we made in the midst of communal mess, raising dogs and children. eyes up and filled with dreadful joy - we aimed for wrong notes that explode, a quiet muttering amplified heavenward. we recorded it all in a burning motorboat." 1. UNDOING A LUCIFERIAN TOWERS - look at that fucking skyline! big lazy money writ in dull marble obelisks! imagine all those buildings much later on, hollowed out and strippe d bare of wires and glass, listen- the wind is whistling through all 3,000 of its burning window-holes! 2. BOSSES HANG - labor, alienated from the wealth it creates, so that holy cow, most of us live precariously! kicking at it, but barely hanging on! also - the proud illuminations of our shortened lives! also - more of us than them! also - what we need now is shovels, wells, and barricades! 3. FAM / FAMINE - how they kill us = absentee landlord, burning high-rise. the loud panics of child-policemen and their exploding trigger-hands. with the dull edge of an arbitrary meritocracy. neglect, cancer maps, drone strike, famine. the forest is burning and soon they'll hunt us like wolves. 4. ANTHEM FOR NO STATE - kanada, emptied of its minerals and dirty oil. emptied of its trees and water. a crippled thing, drowning in a puddle, covered in ants. the ocean doesn't give a shit because it knows it's dying too. finally and in conclusion; the ,Luciferian Towers" L.P. was informed by the following grand demands: + an end to foreign invasions + an end to borders + the total dismantling of the prison-industrial complex + healthcare, housing, food and water acknowledged as an inalienable human right + the expert fuckers who broke this world never get to speak again. 2017 €13.00
GRAILS Chalice Hymnal do-LP "Rather than pick up where they left off, Grails take the sky-high riff-based heaviness of their earlier albums and distill it into a nuanced, widescreen opus. The perennial influences of mid-20th century Western film scores, obscure library music, and psychedelic krautrock are indelibly imprinted, but Chalice Hymnal exudes an eerie patience in unfurling the many layers of its subtle details. Produced by the band over the past five years, Chalice Hymnal bears some of the European psych and experimental hip-hop production techniques of founding members Alex Hall and Emil Amos' other group, Lilacs & Champagne. Amos' meditative metal band, Om, and longtime singer-songwriter project, Holy Sons, also naturally find their way into the Chalice cauldron. Rounding out their line-up, cofounder Zak Riles (also of experimental kraut-psych trio, Watter) layers synths and programming into an electronic-prog hybrid that pushes Grails further into the deep end, displaying a profound resonance, both musically and emotionally. No one else sounds like Grails, and on Chalice Hymnal they sound more like themselves than ever before." www.temporaryresidence.com 2017 €29.50
GRASSOW, MATHIAS The Darklight Quest CD "One of the strangest and most fascinating aspects of ambient music is the way it can sometimes morph from sonic wallpaper -where it basically functions as a soundtrack- into an agent of transformation, allowing the reshaping of the perceived world around the listener. Some of Mathias' albums have had this effect on me before, and the Darklight Quest definitely falls into this territory. gterma is happy to shine a light on this now mostly forgotten treasure. 1. Prelude (5:09) 2. The Abyss (33:23) 3. Unseen Worlds (29:25) 4. Beyond Nothingness (9:21) The Darklight Quest is a longform drone ambient album with mystical properties. It was originally released as a DIY CDr in 1998. The album is closely related to the Nightquest and Dreamquest Sessions. This edition has been slightly edited and expanded with a prelude. It has also received a mastering touch by Anders Peterson of Ghost Sounds." gterma.blogspot.de 2016 €13.00
GRASSOW, MATHIAS & THOMAS WEISS Conscience CD "An authority between the human made ego and his creator. The conscience is a regulator and gives always precisely feedback about our emotional actions. Everyone has the free will to accept this. Many people have forgotten to follow their inner voice. Instead their decisions are depended on status symbols and social standards. This music doesn't want to entertain you, but give you a view inside your "self". As soon as we have spirit, mind and body together we are practising the truth." [label notes] www.nextera.cz "Mathias Grassow, one of the main representatives of the continental ambient movement, with his friend Thomas Weiss have recorded an album dealing with the human conscience. This beautiful, intelligent record will be released on the Prague independent label Nextera. The German musician Mathias Grassow is one of the great stars of the continental ambient scene. In his youth, he studied guitar, key instruments and flute, then started to be involved in new age electronic music. The first album has been released as late as early 1990s - the recordings show a distinct experimental approach which, combined with spheric ambient and owing to the excellen album In Search of Sanity, had made Grassow a new big figure on the ever-growing ambient-electronic scene. Since then, Grassow has made a series of albums including collaborations with several other representatives of the genre such as Klaus Wiese, Amir Baghiri, Rüdiger Gleisberg (as Nostalgia) or in projects such as Anam Cara (with Wolfgang Barkowski), KarmaCosmic (with Carsten Agthe and Rüdiger Gleisberg) and the "supergroup" Nebula (apart from himself and Wiese featuring numerous Italian ambient musicians, e.g. Oöphoi and Tau Ceti). Most of these recordings rank among the best in the genre. Grassow melts the indescribable beauty od nature with deep labyrints of the human spirit, creating soulful imaginary structures, where abstraction intertwines with oriental motifs and unobtrusive ritual rhythmics. On his latest album, he has joined forces with Thomas Weiss to attempt a musical expression of the eternal topic of human conscience. Four long tracks leave space to freely morphing soundwaves, reflecting both positive spiritual power as well as somewhat murky moods. In the initial Unscaled Enigma with the almost palpable character of tide, Grassow and Weiss create the impression of absolute peace and harmony by mingling two main sound motifs (as though these were significantly discernable original sources of sound - the organs and the human voice). The next track, Along the Border, is marked by inner unrest and its sinister athmosphere can be percieved as if both artists were to guide us to the war-torn areas of the Middle East. In Foresight (credits for sound to Klaus Wiese and Ted de Jong), one can distantly hear Grassow's rhythmic production (light rhythmical structures, oriental voices). All of what was mentioned then merges into a vast sound ocean in the final, half-an-hour track Deceitful Expectation, definitely the most impenetrable and abstract track of the album. The album Conscience as a whole unambiguously shows the message of Grass' whole oevre, with no place for autotelic exhibition or egoistic sneer - it is a well of deep humility and belief in the fulfilment of the divine nature of man. If you find my closing words too impassioned, please give it a second thought while listening to the album. I think you will agree then." [Igor Nováček] 2006 €10.00
GRIMAUD, DOMINIQUE & VERONIQUE VILHET Iles LP "Véronique Vilhet and Dominique Grimaud are part, as indicated in the English Wire magazine, of the « veterans of French underground » who begun their musical activities in the counter-culture movement launched after May-68. Their adventures and misadventures drove them from the Festival of Avignon to Caracas, from Baalbek festival to the Music Building of New York, as well as in charts of the New Musical Express. Both of them followed the tracks of side roads of auto-production, even if they have also been considered by “official” labels in Chicago and Barclay in France. After four decades, they still go ahead; the duet now often plays outside the official channels, in self-directed places, squats and new-generation of record shops. InPolySons already invited in the past Véronique Vilhet or Dominique Grimaud: first for Véronique with the re-issue of the songs of Johnny B Crotte, and second for Dominique with two solo and duet (with Pierre Bastien) albums (Rag-Time and Rag-Time vol 2). Their new album has for concept “Islands”. In 2013, Denis Tagu gave them a present: Atlas of Remote Islands by Judith Schalansky (Penguin Books, 2010) translated in french (Arthaud, Flammarion 2010). Very keen of this topic, they proposed to use this book as a base for composing music and an album. As InPolySons found the idea pretty good, Véronique and Dominique selected within this atlas, as well as in folk and scientific books, different islands that all have specific histories, sometimes tragic, sometimes funny, and always unexpected. Recording was performed without synthesizers (except a Synthi AKS for simulation of wave sound). The drums and Fender Stratocaster guitars are the main used instruments, with the sake for open unusual chords, such as those by Nick Drake, Peter Finger or Michael Hedges. For some musical atmospheres, some additional instruments have been added: spinet, balafo, National steel guitar, alto and baryton saxophones, mouth harp… At the end, 12 pieces that correspond to 12 real or imaginary islands, with 12 outlines and fates turns by turns knocked-up, rusty, torn to shreds, disturbing, wild, uneven, pushed, tormented, comical, unusual, charming, colourful... a nice discovery." inpolysons.free.fr/fr/iles.html 2016 €18.00
GROWING live do-LP "...72 Min Live 2xLP of complete drone bliss, contains two complete live shows. These recordings were released on cd through Archive Recordings and are long sold out. “While Growing continually return to that near-ambient tranquility, the record is a series of meandering excursions into MASSIVE slow motion, melted-riff soundscapes, notes and chords unfurl impossibly slowly, as if someone had doubled the gravity and the sound waves were actually visible, drizzling lazily to the floor like molasses or honey, rich golden globs of thick distorted throb. Like Earth and Skullflower meshed into one buzzing blurry soundfield, all muted melody and crunchy riffage, a pulsing swirl of feedback and guitarral grrrr! The sound is basically phenomenal…” (Aquarius) Growing is a band from Olympia, Washington that was formed by Kevin Doria, Joe Denardo, and Zack Carlson (who left the band following the release of their first album) in 2001. They play instrumental drone rock with elements of noise and ambient music. Their live shows are known for being incredibly loud, playing straight through their set without break or pause. They have released albums on Kranky, Animal Disguise, Archive and Megablade, and currently have a new full length album out on Troubleman." [label info] 2007 €19.50
GRUBBS, DAVID & ELI KESZLER One and One less LP One and One Less is the first collaboration between David Grubbs and Eli Keszler and the first release in the UDPR series. One and One Less consists of a performance and an installation, both of which draw upon a single source text—David Grubbs’s ongoing One Poem, and the LP is split between these two forms: the live performance for reader (Grubbs) and percussionist (Keszler), and a recording of the installation version from the MIT List Visual Arts Center. The original installation (at the MIT List Visual Arts Center from October 10, 2014 to January 4, 2015 as part of the show Open Tunings) used recorded excerpts from One Poem to trigger a range of mechanical strikes within seven custom-made, sculptural sound boxes, each of which contained an elaborate mechanism of motors and speakers built by Keszler that acoustically filtered the voice, creating a constantly changing composition—one equally verbal and percussive. Subsequent to the live performance, the installation at MIT was intended as an aural afterimage, in which the clean visual disposition of the gallery space was contradicted by the intensity of the acoustically produced sound field. This LP is printed in a limited edition of 300 copies and includes an insert with the text of David Grubb's poem-in-progress. UDPR is a vinyl record series for the sound of poetry, curated by Michael Barron for Ugly Duckling Presse. David Grubbs is Professor of Music at Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center, CUNY. At Brooklyn College he also teaches in the MFA programs in Performance and Interactive Media Arts (PIMA) and Creative Writing. He is the author of Records Ruin the Landscape: John Cage, The Sixties, and Sound Recording (Duke University Press). Grubbs has released twelve solo albums and appeared on more than 150 commercially-released recordings. He is known for his cross-disciplinary collaborations with poet Susan Howe, visual artists Anthony McCall, Angela Bulloch, and Stephen Prina, and choreographer Jonah Bokaer. His work has been presented at the Guggenheim, MoMA, the Tate Modern, and the Centre Pompidou. Grubbs was a member of the groups Gastr del Sol, Bastro, and Squirrel Bait, and he has performed with the Red Krayola, Will Oldham, Tony Conrad, Pauline Oliveros, and Loren Connors, among many others. He is a grant recipient from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts; a contributing editor in music for BOMB Magazine; director of the Blue Chopsticks record label. Eli Keszler Photo credit: Christelle Perrin Eli Keszler is a New York-based artist, composer, and percussionist who situates his practice within the intersections of architecture, performance, installation, notation, and composition. Keszler’s installations and visual work have appeared at the Victoria & Albert Museum, MIT List Visual Arts Center, The Kitchen, South London Gallery, Barbican, Luma-Foundation, Tectonics Festival Reykjavik, and Centraal Museum in Utrecht among many others. Keszler has toured extensively throughout Europe, Asia and the United States, performing solo and in collaboration with artists such as Christian Wolff, Phill Niblock, Tony Conrad, Oren Ambarchi, Joe McPhee, Jandek, Roscoe Mitchell, Anthony Coleman, T Model Ford, and Ilan Volkov with the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra. His writing and work has appeared in BOMB Magazine, The New York Times, Wire Magazine, Frieze, and Modern Painters. He has received commissions and awards from Gaudeamus, National Public Radio, and the Foundation For Contemporary Art. Keszler is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music. https://www.uglyducklingpresse.org/catalog/browse/item/?pubID=546 2017 €28.00
GRUNT Spiritual Eugenics do-LP Born in 1993, Grunt remains one of the most active and restless forces in Finnish – or even global industrial noise network. Since first tapes published 25 years ago, project has been active without any breaks. Messy discography makes it hard to judge how many actual ”albums” has been created. List of releases reaches close to hundred, yet most of them represents other approach than creation of ”album”. Spiritual Eugenics continue to path established by Castrate The Illusionist (2018), Myth Of Blood (2015), World Draped In A Camouflage (2012), Petturien Rooli (2009) and Seer of Decay (2006). It expands the sounds, themes and visuals to unheard levels, but keeps firmly touch of known Grunt sound. 80 minutes long album is monolithic work packaged in double digipak with booklet and vinyl edition double LP in full color gatefold cover. https://freak-animal.net/2020/05/15/grunt-spiritual-eugenics-album/ 2020 €26.00
  Spiritual Eugenics do-CD Born in 1993, Grunt remains one of the most active and restless forces in Finnish – or even global industrial noise network. Since first tapes published 25 years ago, project has been active without any breaks. Messy discography makes it hard to judge how many actual ”albums” has been created. List of releases reaches close to hundred, yet most of them represents other approach than creation of ”album”. Spiritual Eugenics continue to path established by Castrate The Illusionist (2018), Myth Of Blood (2015), World Draped In A Camouflage (2012), Petturien Rooli (2009) and Seer of Decay (2006). It expands the sounds, themes and visuals to unheard levels, but keeps firmly touch of known Grunt sound. 80 minutes long album is monolithic work packaged in double digipak with booklet and vinyl edition double LP in full color gatefold cover. https://freak-animal.net/2020/05/15/grunt-spiritual-eugenics-album/ 2020 €16.00
GRÖHN, COSTA 2+1 mCD-R "Während Asmus Tietchens nur manchmal dafür gehalten wird, ist COSTA GRÖHN tatsächlich ein Mann der Kirche, nämlich Pastor von St. Johannis-Harvestehude. Weit davon entfernt, ein heimliches Laster zu sein, ist sein offenes Ohr für die Dinge des Lebens um ihn herum eine Tugend, der man weitere Verbreitung wünscht. 2 + 1 (1000füssler 016, 3“ mCD-R) hat Grillen und Vögel erlauscht, Schritte, Stimmen, brausenden Wind, auch eine maunzende Katze, knisterndes Feuer. Draußen, daheim. Alles zart und geheimnisvoll genug, um unter die Rubrik ‚Ohrenblicke der Schöpfung‘ zu fallen (so hieß 2003 ein Projekt in der Hamburger Petruskirche, an dem Gröhn mitgewirkt hatte). Der Alltagsklang ist nicht allein collagiert, er ist detailreich bearbeitet, mit Vinyl-Samples beschichtet, mit fein schwebendem Feedback durchfädelt und durchwellt. ‚Discounterbeat‘ mischt das typische Piepen einer Supermarktkasse mit Drummachine und einem Hauch von Chor. Das hat seine eigene Art von Frömmigkeit. Weltfremd ist es definitiv nicht." [Rigobert Dittmann, Bad Alchemy] "Costa Gröhn makes field recordings on the road, at home, in the city or in the forest. On "2+1" he processed recordings from his archive and added feedbacks and vinyl record samples to 2 and 1 soundscape compositions. [P] January 2009. 1. Chirring calls at home 8'25 2. Within a circle of fire (disrupted playback) 3‘10 3. Discounterbeat 3‘44 About the Artist: Costa Gröhn was born 1976 in Bad Segeberg (northern Germany). He is a pastor at the St. Johannis Church in Hamburg. He has been composing soundscapes and doing performances since 2000. Besides tracks for compilations and remix-projects, he has also released two full length CD-R albums "Im Gehölz" and "Bouboukas" on the Gruenrekorder label." [label info] 2010 €6.00
GUTHRIE, ANNE Gyropedie LP “Gyropedie,” Anne Guthrie’s third record for Students of Decay, takes us further into her hermetic practice, wherein expertly captured field recordings, French horn, and electronics are woven into potent and richly imagined electroacoustic environments. In Guthrie’s own words, “Quite literally a record of pilgrimage from East to West. Remnants of Midwest and East Coast soundmarks, instruments sold to lighten the travel load, sketched out and then buried under the new. Winter birds and crunching snow, frozen playgrounds, broken synths - I spent a year decoupaging over this, but of course it's still there. A second moon appears occasionally in the daytime, and there are frequent, murky transmissions. California has something alien about it I'm still trying to grasp. Primarily vintage, unabashed, corny, I find myself becoming an impressionist.” Anne Guthrie is an acoustician, composer, and French horn player. She studied music composition and english at the University of Iowa and architectural acoustics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where she completed her Ph.D in 2014. Her music combines her knowledge of acoustics and contemporary composition/improvisation. Her electronic music has focused on exploiting the natural acoustic phenomena of unique architectural spaces through minimal processing of field recordings. Her composition has focused on the orchestration of non-musical sounds, speech in particular. Her French horn playing has focused on electronic processing and extended techniques used in improvisatory settings, as a soloist and with Fraufraulein and Delicate Sen, among others. Her acoustics research has focused on the use of ambisonics for stage acoustics. https://anneguthrie.bandcamp.com "Anne Guthrie's third album for Students of Decay continues her trend of significantly transforming her vision with each new release, though the arc of her albums does consistently suggest an increasing aversion to conventional structure and musicality. In practical terms, that means that Gyropedie was primarily assembled from field recordings, though Guthrie's French horn does make a few ghostly and well-timed appearances. Notably, the sounds that Guthrie collected are entirely diaristic in nature ("quite literally a record of pilgrimage from East to West"), as she recorded and collaged a host of ephemeral and meaningful moments from her move from New York to California (birds, crunching snow, instruments that she had to sell, etc.). As Guthrie wryly notes in the album description, she found herself "becoming an impressionist." I heartily concur and believe that approach suits her work remarkably well. Given the deliberately abstract and elusive nature of the material, it took me a bit longer to become drawn into Gyropedie than it did for Guthrie's previous releases, but the album's second half contains some of the most tender, distinctive, and quietly beautiful work that she has yet recorded. The opening "Threading A Closed Loop" is a bold and interesting way to introduce the album, as it slowly rolls in like a mysterious fog of ambient outdoor sounds, plinking strings, distant woodpeckers, murmured voices, bees, and an occasional strangled sound from Guthrie's French horn. It is frankly about as understated and impressionistic as an album can get, but it does gradually cohere into something quite intriguing and evocative (I especially like the part where it sounds like the bees bought a distortion pedal). The following "Hill, Mountain" undergoes a similar trajectory, initially sounding like someone fumbling with a microphone while a woman recites poetry over a distorted radio, but eventually it blossoms into an enigmatic scene that seems to capture the time-stretched sounds of a train passing through a gently hallucinatory landscape of singing birds and metallic drones. I believe the "broken synth" mentioned in the album description makes an appearance as well. Both it and its predecessor are subtly beautiful in their own ways, yet my favorite pieces are the ones that follow. In "Variation on Coral," Guthrie paints a lovely seaside scene, as a slow, lovely French horn melody lazily unfolds over a backdrop of gently gurgling and lapping waves, lysergically smeared chimes, cooing vocals, and a host of other curious sounds. The closing "The Goldbeater’s Skin," on the other hand, sounds like a duet between a quietly plinking and fitfully operational music box and a lovelorn French horn player in a particularly bittersweet mood, but it is further enlivened by an evocative array of breath-like textures and wounded-sounding squeaks and warbles. To my ears, it is unquestionably Gyropedie's most lovely and memorable piece, as the unexpectedly poignant horn melody feels like the beating heart of the album finally being revealed, yet it would not make nearly the same impact without the languorous and dreamlike journey beforehand. Granted, Gyropedie is an album that demands some patience and attentive listening to reveal its full beauty, but its fragile and tender fantasia of memory fragments is well served by that steadily deepening immersion." [Brainwashed] "Threshold-dwelling lower case elisions of field recording and barely-there instrumental gestures by the wonderful Anne Guthrie, an occasional and prized presence on these pages. Guthrie’s solo work has previously snagged our ears with the gorgeous ‘Codiaeum Variegatum’ album and ‘Brass Orchids’, both for Students of Decay over the past decade. She returns to the label three years after her previous, and collabs with the GRM’s François Bonnet and Seymour Wright, to offer her most sublime sort of sonic mulch and vapours in ‘Gyropedie’, where she appears to quiesce the enduring air of Satie’s proto-ambient music into a more natural, elusive ecology of cherry-picked small sounds that amount to a lushly absorbing whole primed for pastoral sound bathing in the comfort of your own home." [Boomkat] 2021 €18.50
GUTHRIE, ANNE / RICHARD KAMERMAN Sinter CD "Sinter injects vast amounts of oxygen into the room, air swirling and echoing in huge spaces, light shimmering and hazy. In metallurgical terms, sintering is the making of objects from powder and powdery, especially with a metallic connotation, isn't the worst term you could use for much of this music. Field recordings (and, per the sleeve, domestic recordings) are mixed with electronics throughout; nary a French horn in sight though I think I pick up a bit of Kamerman's small clattering devices here and there. [] An extraordinary piece capping one of the finest recordings I've heard in quite a while. Excellent work'. Brian Olewnick. ErstAEU, a new sub-label to 'document the work of young American experimental musicians working in a post-electroacoustic vein'." [label info] www.erstwhilerecords.com Dusted Reviews Artist: Anne Guthrie / Richard Kamerman Album: Sinter Label: ErstAEU Review date: May. 15, 2013 "Erstwhile Records has just rolled out a new sub-label, ErstAEU. In the tradition of AMM, the AEU is not explained. Despite the paucity of officially sanctioned information — you won’t find any explanatory text on the label’s website — there’s a definite aesthetic angle at work here. The label’s first three CDs are all the product of American-born duos, and all of the participants are in their 20s or 30s. Conventional instruments aren’t completely absent, but they often take a back seat to captured or processed sounds, as well as disorienting manipulations of time and space. One thing the albums do not share is a particular methodology. Graham Stephenson and Aaron Zarzutski’s Touching is a straight-up improv encounter; Joe Panzner and Greg Stuart’s Dystonia Duos combines played and processed sounds into hard-shelled containers of noisy electrical activity; and Anne Guthrie and Richard Kamerman’s Sinter, an assembly of “field recordings, domestic recordings, composition, improvisation, and processing,” which inhabits some zone that doesn’t really have a name yet. For clues about how to understand it, one can look to the album’s name. Sintering bonds powdered clay into a pot without melting it; even after it’s fired, the ceramic’s texture will make you think of clay. The disparate elements of “Civil Twilight: 5:23” — dancing electrical buzzes, slow-changing mechanical hums, under-the-breath counting, close-up paper shuffling, and distant outdoor sounds — likewise retain their essential individual characters even though they have been configured into a hefty yet spacious block of musique concrète. But the way the sounds hang together doesn’t tell you why they were made to sit in that configuration, or how you should respond to them. They just are what they are. So you might either be thinking about now, “I gotta hear this record,” or “Why the hell would I ever want to hear this stuff?” You know who you are, and either way I’d tell you to listen to your inner voice. Having spent a lot of time with it, I’m on both sides of the fence. On the one hand, there’s “Re(Z)=Piper, Im(Z)=Andrej,” an amalgam of cleanly recorded exchanges in Italian (I think), fuzzy room sounds that might come from a mall or train station, and mightily distorted monk chants that sound like they’re being played Alvin Lucier-style from a busted speaker into a resonant room. I’d heartily recommend it to anyone who likes their noise non-macho and genuinely unpredictable. On the other, listening to “Porcellino”’s layers of distant banging and close metallic clanking is an exhausting Cage-ian exercise in using applied attention to pry interest from boredom. The most rewarding piece is the longest, the last, and the one that feels most musical. Taking a cue once more from nomenclature, “Several Or Many Fibers” feels to me like a tapestry. I’m not sure that its journey — from footsteps and a hovering synth note through sounds of water striking different surfaces to a late burst of weather reporting — is intended to say anything at all. But the way these sounds succeed each other implies a narrative whose inscrutability makes there passage compelling." [Bill Meyer, DUSTED magazine] 2013 €15.00
HAARVÖL Bombinate CD Part 1 in a series of 3. After releasing Indite at Moving Furniture Records (April of 2015), the first one with MFR but the band’s second album, Haarvöl began a series of conceptual, somehow interconnected projects, restricting the boundaries of the sonic ambience to a very concise one. This long process gave birth to three albums, each one having a very particular sonic approach but knitted in a personal Haarvöl sound idiosyncrasy, which gives the trilogy a thread that intertwines the whole collection. Bombinate is the first album of this trilogy to be released at Moving Furniture Records. It represents an evolution in Haarvöl’s sound. The music lives from the subtleties hidden in a powerful but sophisticated mass of sound. The exploration of the dynamics of the sounds evolved to a careful process of composition, giving the music a richness that evokes images, reinforcing the cinematic characteristics explored in the early albums. Each listener is invited to find the hidden details and create his own personal universe of the music. Bombinate combines tracks that are between quietude and a more sonic experimentalism towards the exploration of time in music. This appears as a kind of individualized approach to both drone and ambient aesthetics. The balance between both sides is a challenge for the album and a statement from the band. As in previous albums, Haarvöl explores the relationship with images both at the sonic level and in the references that often came from the visual arts. Here the spectral presence of Bas Jan Ader and Tonino Guerra, among others, can be experienced. Also a note for the participation – again - of the Spanish electro-acoustic composer and field recordings expert Xóan Xil López. Haarvöl, a collective project based in Portugal with three permanent members, has been active since the end of 2012. Haarvöl’s music has been presented in several spaces as sound installations, audio-visual performances or as a sort of expanded cinema focused on the connection between sounds and images. It is also present as original sound track in videos from visual artists." https://haarvol.bandcamp.com/album/bombinate 2017 €12.00
HAARVÖL + XOAN-XIL LOPEZ Unwritten Rules of a Ceaseless Journey CD Haarvöl’s three permanent members — Fernando José Pereira, João Faria, and Rui Manuel Vieira — collaborate with Xoán-Xil López, a Galician sound artistic working on field recording and experimental music. Haarvöl develops cinematic soundscapes, with analogue or digital sound sources weaved in complex and detailed compositions. They have been active since 2012 and have thus far released albums at PAD and Moving Furniture Records, presenting now their first release in Crónica, "Unwritten Rules for a Ceaseless Journey". This album documents three pieces composed for dance, commissioned by Ballet Teatro for the play "Revoluções" (Revolutions) by choreographer Né Barros. The work is divided in three parts, embodying formal idealisations of the three decisive layers of time — past, present, and future. First moment: Something’s Missing (Utopian) Theodor Adorno and Ernst Bloch discussed the problem of utopia as a possibility in a heated debate they produced in 1964 and later published in the book The Utopian Function of Art and Literature. It is in this context that Bloch launches the notion of “something's missing”, to seek to configure the utopian possibility. It is also from this notion of Bloch that the possibility of thinking and forming forms the whole utopian revolutionary essence that presides over emancipatory developments. This "before" is decisive for the understanding of the idea of revolution. It is here that the necessary possibilities are produced and, above all, the utopian aspirations of fracture and change. The Blochian “something’s missing” leads to the emancipatory idea from that place without place that is utopia. Or, putting it another way, it powers the immensity of thought without limitations. The revolutionary effervescence of the before is, perhaps, the most essential condition in the approach to the idea of revolution. Exactly because it does not come across any limit, because it is located in this place without place. But it is from this realisation that we can deal with the power of free thought, with the immense intentionality of this missing something which, being above all a naturally porous and cloudy thing, offers itself to the immense beauty of total openness. It will be there, in the dematerialised embodiment of free thought, that the whole process develops and is also in the possibility of art as a place of freedom (another place with no place that exists only between the artist and his work in a utopian dimension) it has its approximate representation. Second moment: Pulsating Waves (Reality) Pulse tone waves are frequencies embodied in a pulsar that is at the same time decisive for all humans and, metaphorically, for the revolution. Feeling the pulse of events, of agitation, of breaking, is essential for the revolutionary moment. It is this kind of continuous auscultation that determines success or, rather, the inversion of the whole emancipatory movement in the process of pragmatic transfiguration which, by obvious ineffectiveness, becomes implosive. The pulsations of events thus assert themselves as a decisive engine, and yet, in the face of the weakening of the utopian drive in its inevitable collision with reality, everything changes. The passage from one moment to the other brings with it the presence of the now and the consequent structural modifications that the utopian impossibility needs to maintain itself as an emancipatory impulse. It will then be in the programmatic transfiguration of the revolutionary event that its pulsation is played, more or less strong, but never absent. The decisive clash also affirms the reality, stripped of all the romantic drive that forms the revolutionary utopia. The fracture induces realism, and this is never the dreamed face of emancipation. We are told in the last book of the Invisible Committee that “All the reasons for making a revolution are there. There is none missing. The wreck of politics, the arrogance of the powerful, the reign of the false, the vulgarity of the rich, the cataclysms of industry, rampant misery, naked exploitation, the ecological apocalypse ... do not deprive us of anything, not even being informed of this. ‘Climate: 2016 beats record of heat’ says Le Monde in its main title, now already like almost every year. All the reasons are met, but not the reasons that make revolutions; are the bodies. And the bodies are in front of the screens.” Right. Third moment: Don’t Look Back, Run (Trauma) Says Hal Foster in his seminal book The Return of the Real: “An event is only recorded through another that recodes it; we become what we are only as deferred action (Nachträglichkeit). This is the analogy that I want to emphasize for the modernist studies of this end of the century: historical and neo-vanguard vanguards are similarly constituted as a continuous process of protension and retention, a complex retransmission of anticipated and reconstructed futures-that is, in a deferred action that abandons any simplified scheme of a before and after, cause and effect, origin and repetition.” The same scheme of thought can be used to analyse the revolutionary event in its complex structuring and temporality. An emancipatory event can only be constituted if it recodes traumatically past past events which will obviously mean a learning that will bring you the possibility of introducing the necessary changes to be made. That is to say, still according to Foster, that the emancipatory events are, therefore, less new and more deferred. Suppressed in part, they will return and continue to return, and yet they will return from the future, such is the paradoxical temporality of utopia. Note: At a certain point in Giorgio Agamben's book The State of Exception, he refers to a determinant question: the point of view that, in this context, is determined by a legal order that requires recognition by another that opposes it. Quoting Italian jurist Santi Romano, he says: "... after having recognized the anti-legal nature of the revolutionary forces, he adds that this only works in this way in relation to the positive law of the State against which it is directed, but this does not it means that, from a very different point of view, from which they define themselves, it is not a movement ordered and regulated by its own right. This also means that it is an order that must be classified in the category of originating legal systems, in the sense that is attributed to this expression. In this sense and within the limits that have been indicated one can therefore speak of a right of revolution." That is to say, still in Agamben's view, that the idea of state legal ordering is the only one, by effectively opposing what is usually called chaos, is first and foremost reductive and fallacious. One thing, however, is correct: all the mental structuring concerning the duality exclusion vs. inclusion simply depends on the point of view. And this is perhaps the most important point to make clear the relationship that is intrinsic and impossible to conceal, first of all, because it is also the source of the essentiality of the politician, that is, the necessary verification of antagonism. It is, therefore, the place where we want to be. https://cronica.bandcamp.com/album/unwritten-rules-of-a-ceaseless-journey 2019 €13.00
HAIGH, ROBERT Creatures of the Deep CD "A new album of piano driven ambient music from British composer Robert Haigh. Following in the path of his albums for the Japanese Siren label, Creatures of the Deep is an underground vantage of a meeting between the musical worlds of Harold Budd and Erik Satie. With a storied musical career that has ranged widely in style — from his industrial-avant-garde works on Nurse With Wound’s United Diaries label as SEMA to his legendary ambient drum and bass records as Omni Trio on Moving Shadow — Robert Haigh's work occupies a space between music and mystery. With Creatures of the Deep, Haigh is at the peak of his powers. Among noir, minimal, neo-classical landscapes are robust scatterings of bright reflection and a musical expression that is subtle and elusive yet uniquely Haigh’s in its voice and masterful execution. The closer we examine, the more is revealed, and the less is defined." [label info] www.unseenworlds.com 2017 €13.00
Creatures of the Deep LP A new album of piano driven ambient music from British composer Robert Haigh. Following in the path of his albums for the Japanese Siren label, Creatures of the Deep is an underground vantage of a meeting between the musical worlds of Harold Budd and Erik Satie. With a storied musical career that has ranged widely in style - from his industrial-avant-garde works on Nurse With Wound's United Diaries label as SEMA to his legendary ambient drum and bass records as Omni Trio on Moving Shadow - Robert Haigh's work occupies a space between music and mystery. With Creatures of the Deep, Haigh is at the peak of his powers. Among noir, minimal, neo-classical landscapes are robust scatterings of bright re+ection and a musical expression that is subtle and elusive yet uniquely Haigh's in its voice and masterful execution. The closer we examine, the more is revealed, and the less is defined. RIYL Nils Frahm, Brian Eno, Harold Budd, Chilly Gonzales, Omni Trio, Erik Satie, Nurse With Wound www.unseenworlds.com 2017 €18.00
Black Sarabande LP Robert Haigh's second full length LP for Unseen Worlds, Black Sarabande, is out today on LP, CD, and digital, uncovering a further layer of refinement to his music. It's no mistake that Haigh's releases have fluctuated between the underground and popular consciousness over the past forty years. This tension - between darkness and light, melancholy and solace, cacophony and clarity - is central to his work. With Black Sarabande, Haigh has gifted us with one of the quietest, most generous and vulnerable releases of his career. Advance Press for Black Sarabande "Robert Haigh’s latest album (under his own name) is a tender collection of spacious and textural piano pieces, full of rural ruminations and introspective intimacy." (9.0, scored review) - Zara Wladawsky, DJ Mag "Having worked on mid-’80s Nurse With Wound albums, Robert Haigh thrived with Omni Trio’s pioneering ‘90s productions for Moving Shadow, but his piano work, both under his and the SEMA name, reaches even further. His latest collection embraces the resonant ambience and subtle electronic embellishments of Harold Budd’s and Brian Eno’s The Pearl.” - Uncut Magazine “Robert Haigh's storied career reads like an almanac of ambient music. His latest is an unhurried flow of ambient piano pieces that, despite the implications of the title, are only momentarily dark and far from risqué, perhaps at times more suited for those soft intimate moments made for two, or most certainly personal reflections made for one.” - Slavko Bucifal, Exclaim! “Everything I’ve ever written about any album, concert or piece of music is wrong. I know this because of something that happened while I was quietly listening to ‘Arc Of Crows’ by pianist Robert Haigh, a track taken from his new album Black Sarabande.” - Further ​"'Why?'" - Philip Clark, WIRE "This contemporary classical pianist’s music proves more unsettling the more you disturb its placid surface. Depending on what release you discovered first, you might have believed there were two different Robert Haighs operating in the UK during the 1980s and ’90s. There was the pianist and composer who worked with Nurse With Wound and released elegant modern classical albums like 1987’s Valentine Out of Season. But what to make of the Robert Haigh behind the neck-whipping jungle breakbeats of the Omni Trio, a force throughout the drum ’n’ bass era in the UK? As that project drew to a close in the early 2000s, the more contemplative side of Haigh reemerged with a string of contemporary classical albums. They made for a perfect fit for New York’s Unseen Worlds label; his 2017 album Creatures of the Deep slotted well alongside pianists new and old, ranging from “Blue” Gene Tyranny to Lubomyr Melnyk to Leo Svirsky. Haigh’s Black Sarabande explores terrain similar to Deep, mixing gorgeous piano melodies with a patina of electronics. But where that previous album evoked the properties of water, Sarabande feels grounded. It draws on Haigh’s childhood memories of UK coal country and the hardscrabble “pit village” of Worsbrough in South Yorkshire where he was raised. There’s a heavy atmosphere to these 11 tracks, never wholly enveloped in blackness but always threatened to tip over into it. The opening title track is hushed, provoking comparisons to Harold Budd or Erik Satie. Yet as Haigh’s struck keys hover in space, they turn slightly discordant, like a chill settling into the skin. “Stranger on the Lake” strikes a balance between piano and electronics to luminous effect, its melody shadowed by ghostly overtones. Midway through, the ambient haze swells, and when it finally recedes, the piece is suffused with harp plucks and electronics, making you feel like you’ve left one piece behind and emerged in another one entirely. Black Sarabande’s calm surface proves illusory the more listens you give it. Struck piano wires startle the surface of the otherwise-placid “Wire Horses”; a gush of strings arrives and just as quickly disappears into the woozy, fluttering ambience of “Painted Serpent.” There are moments when Haigh’s playing verges on silence, so that if you’re listening on earbuds, you might hear your own footsteps through the snow more loudly than the music. The gorgeous and brief “Air Madeleine” sounds as if you’re walking around a frozen pond in the countryside and seated next to Haigh on the creaky piano bench all at once, as imaginary a landscape (and interior) as anything Brian Eno could have conceived." [Pitchfork] https://unseenworlds.bandcamp.com/album/black-sarabande 2020 €20.00
Human Remains CD Human Remains follows Creatures of the Deep and Black Sarabande as the final installment of a trilogy of piano based recordings by Robert Haigh for Unseen Worlds. The trilogy marks the end of the late era of solo albums by Haigh before he steps away from music production. The title, Human Remains, was initially based on a painting of the same name by Haigh that is suggestive of an ancient structure resolute in the wake of overwhelming forces. As a metaphor for our current times, it could be interpreted as human frailty in the face of nature’s unyielding dominion. Conversely, it could represent the persistence of human spirit and resourcefulness in the midst of catastrophe and upheaval. https://unseenworlds.bandcamp.com/album/human-remains 2022 €14.50
  Human Remains LP Human Remains follows Creatures of the Deep and Black Sarabande as the final installment of a trilogy of piano based recordings by Robert Haigh for Unseen Worlds. The trilogy marks the end of the late era of solo albums by Haigh before he steps away from music production. The title, Human Remains, was initially based on a painting of the same name by Haigh that is suggestive of an ancient structure resolute in the wake of overwhelming forces. As a metaphor for our current times, it could be interpreted as human frailty in the face of nature's unyielding dominion. Conversely, it could represent the persistence of human spirit and resourcefulness in the midst of catastrophe and upheaval. The album opens with 'Beginner's Mind' - a semi-improvised motif develops into an impressionistic refrain. This is followed by "Twilight Flowers" and "Waltz On Treated Wire" - intimate, monochrome piano portraits. Later tracks such as "Lost Albion" and "Signs Of Life" build on skeletal piano motifs with subtle electronic washes, textures and field sounds. The album ends with the elegiac "On Terminus Hill" where a stately piano refrain explores a series of sparse harmonic variations evoking a sense of closure. https://unseenworlds.bandcamp.com/album/human-remains 2022 €24.00
HAMMER, JOSEPH Roadless Travel CD-box "LAFMS musician Joseph Hammer creates unparalleled works of tape manipulation. However, as yet there are comparatively few solo albums by this phenomenal artist. To rectify this situation, Art Into Life has decided to release Roadless Travel, his latest album. The album comes with a dense 24 page booklet of liner notes (essentially a full history of Hammer) by T. Sakaguchi, who has enjoyed a long friendship with him and is the foremost Japanese historian of the LAFMS scene. Liner notes - Takuya Sakaguchi. Translation - Alan Cummings." [label info] 2014 €18.00
HARMONIA & ENO Tracks and Traces CD "...Im Spätsommer 1976 lagen die Dinge allerdings anders, Neu!-Gitarrist Michael Rother verstärkt das Projekt und Brian Eno, der gerade die Arbeit an zwei stilprägenden Klassikern abgeschlossen hatte, (das eigene 'Another Green World' und 'Low' von David Bowie), war noch nicht vom World-Music-Virus infiziert, sondern voll auf einem düster, organisch, minimalistischen Ambient Sound. Was wiederum hervorragend zu Harmonia passte, die auf 'Deluxe' zwar mit echtem Schlagzeug und Gesang experimentiert hatten, in Anwesenheit Enos allerdings schnell und zielstrebig zu den vollelektronischen Tönen ihres Debüts zurückfanden. Und so entsteht ein endlos faszinierender musikalischer Fluss, eine saubere Kreuzung aus der sakralen, instrumentalen Hälfte von 'Low', den pastoralen, spacigen Elementen von 'Musik von Harmonia' und den organisch wuchernden Atmosphären von 'Another Green World'. Die Töne fließen, kreisen, pluckern, tragen den Hörer davon und sind in jeder Sekunde als ein Produkt aus dem Hause Harmonia/ Cluster/ Eno erkennbar. Zentrum ist das fünfzehnminütige 'Sometimes In Autumn', ein bedrohlich tropfendes Kraut- Stück, welches eine eiskalte Weltraumigkeit ausstrahlt und sich gemächlich dreht und windet wie ein Spiralnebel. Kontrastiert wird dieses Monster durch kürzere Tracks, in denen immer wieder wunderbare, seltsam melodiöse Kürzel auftauchen, kurz durch die Boxen wandern und wieder verschwinden. Das Verrückte: Für einen kurzen, schönen Augenblick waren die Herren Rother, Moebius, Roedelius und Eno Kraftwerk um Längen voraus, während deren zeitgleiche Musik mit ihrer teutonischen Statik fest in den Siebzigern verwurzelt ist, könnte 'Tracks And Traces' locker als früher Proto-Techno der Marke Warp durchgehen. Aphex Twin oder Boards Of Canada beispielsweise. Exakt so gut ist dieses Album. Hätte man es 1976 auf den Markt geworfen, wäre es recht schnell zum Klassiker avanciert. So ist es zumindest eine nachträgliche Offenbahrung, remastert und gegenüber der 1997er Ryko CD Version mit drei Bonustracks und neuem Artwork versehen...." [Whiskey-Soda] "Magische Momente entstehen einfach so. Die Musiker von HARMONIA ereilte so ein Moment völlig unerwartet im Spätsommer 1976. Zwei Alben lagen zum damaligen Zeitpunkt hinter der Band, "Musik von Harmonia" (1974) und "Deluxe" (1975). Beide Werke gelten heute als Klassiker des Krautrock und der elektronischen Musik, doch danach endeten die gemeinsamen Planungen. Bis ein gewisser BRIAN ENO auf den Plan trat. Er wusste längst über HARMONIA Bescheid, hatte sich 1974 sogar mal spontan in ein Konzert der Band eingeklinkt. Zwei Jahre später meldete sich Eno bei HARMONIA und schlug eine Zusammenarbeit vor. Er war damals gerade auf dem Weg nach Montreux, um mit David Bowie an "Low" zu arbeiten. "Mit Eno kam ein Geist mit großer Offenheit, unendlicher Spielfreude und einem enormen Fundus an Erfahrungen im Bereich populärer neuer Musik ins Spiel, und das hat offenbar die bereits verschlossene Tür öffnen können", so Roedelius. Trotzdem hat die Öffentlichkeit lange nichts von diesen Aufnahmen gehört, zum Teil deshalb, weil sie nicht für kommerzielle Zwecke bestimmt waren, zum Teil aber auch deshalb, weil die Originalbänder bei Eno lange Zeit als verschollen galten. Zum Glück hatten sich Roedelius und Rother Kopien von den Vierspurbändern gemacht. 1997 erschien aus heiterem Himmel das HARMONIA-Album "Tracks & Traces" mit Ausschnitten aus den sagenumwobenen '76er-Sessions. Roedelius hatte das in seinem Besitz befindliche Material sondiert und in einem aufwändigen technischen Prozess editieren lassen. Die Musik ist wundervoll. Forsch rauscht in "Vamos Compañeros" ein Groove in Gestalt eines sich wiederholenden Dampflok-Sounds heran. Nach dem idyllischen Abstecher "By The Riverside" geht es sogleich in eine experimentell-abstrakte Phase mit düsterem Unterton über. Man hebt den warnenden Zeigefinger: "Don't get lost on Lüneburg Heath!" Nach einem "Weird Dream" hellt sich die Stimmung wieder auf, vernimmt man wärmere, pop-ähnliche Akkorde und die von späteren Arbeiten Enos bekannte, hier jedoch von Rother gespielte Slide-Gitarre. Aber natürlich war das nicht alles. Rother hatte ja auch noch seine Kopie in der Hinterhand, die seit 1976 bei ihm im Studio lag. Eines Tages entschloss auch er sich, die darauf enthaltenen Fragmente, 27 an der Zahl, zu digitalisieren. Daraus ließe sich womöglich ein ganzes Album machen, aber man verständigte sich darauf, drei Stücke als Ergänzung für die Wiederveröffentlichung des 97er Albums zu verwenden. Mit dem Entree "Welcome" und dem anschließenden Track "Atmosphere" baut sich das Album nun langsam auf, bevor es mit "Vamos Compañeros" in der gewohnten Form wieder Fahrt aufnimmt. Am Ende verstärkt "Aubade" den Eindruck eines versöhnlichen Ausklangs. Gut Ding will bekanntlich Weile haben. Nun liegt, 33 Jahre nach Entstehung des Materials, endlich eine rundum befriedigende Version eines lange verloren geglaubten Schatzes aus der Krautrock-Ära vor. Damit dürfte nun auch ein Schlussstrich unter das Kapitel HARMONIA gezogen sein. Die Band war zwar nach Veröffentlichung des gefeierten Konzertmitschnitts "Live 1974" vor zwei Jahren wieder aktiv und hat einige umjubelte Konzerte in Berlin, Großbritannien, USA und Australien gegeben, aber Rother und Roedelius haben übereinstimmend erklärt, dass es keine Fortsetzung der Live-Auftritte geben werde... Gute Musik entsteht ungefiltert aus der Künstlerseele heraus, nicht aufgrund von wie auch immer gearteten Strategien und Gedankenspielen. Und wie man an HARMONIA & ENO '76 - "Tracks and Traces" sieht, verblasst Qualität unter diesen Umständen nicht." [press release] www.groenland.com 2009 €13.00
HARTMAN, HANNA Ailanthus CD Vier neue Stücke des schwedischen Geräuschmusikwunderkinds, so intensiv dynamisch und konkret & nah wie irgendwas prasseln hier bannende Klänge aus den Lautsprechern; vor allem das Quietschen, Knirschen & Knarzen der Dingwelt scheint es ihr angetan zu haben, aber auch auf menschliche & tierische vokale Aktivitäten wird ein Fokus gesetzt, wobei sich als quasi Zeitlupen-Collage ständig neuartige Kontexte ergeben. Manchmal ergeben sich ruckartige Klangmuster, die jedoch auch immer wieder aufgebrochen werden ... eine eigenartige, neuartige, aufregende Klangsprache ist das! "Von HANNA HARTMAN, Karl-Sczuka-Preisträgerin 2005 aus Uppsala, die zuerst von BAs Radar erfasst wurde mit dem Elektron-Release ihrer Arbeiten von 2000-2002 und dann mit dem Komplott-Vorgänger Longitude/Cratere, liegt nun mit Ailanthus (escudre09) ihre Elektroakustik der Jahre 2003-2006 vor. Als erstes erklingen mit ‚Att Fälla Grova Träd Är Förknippat Med Risker‘ gleich die 8:35, die die Jury des SWR so beeindruckt hatten. Nachvollziehbar, denn ‚Das Fällen hoher Bäume ist mit Risiken verbunden‘ umknarrt und umfetzt die Ohren so plastisch, dass man wie ein aufgeschreckter Vogel zur Seite flattert. Mittendrin, statt bloß dabei, dieser Werbespruch trifft hier Punkt und Nerv. Jede reißende Faser und jeden krachenden Ast glaubt man am eigenen Körper zu spüren. ‚Wespen Vesper‘ (2005) wechselt kaum den Schauplatz, wir sind noch in Wald und Wiese, aber mehr bei Fauna statt Flora, unter summenden Insekten und ‚Schmetterlingen der Sprache‘. Fragmentarische Sprachsamples, kürzeste Haspel- und Lippenlaute, mischen sich unter muhende Kühe, größer als Elefanten, und unter geflügelte Sechsbeiner, die wie Mopeds vorbei surren. Mit der Sopranstimme, die den Schlusssegen einer Abendandacht anstimmt, erklärt sich, wortspielerisch, dann auch noch die zweite Hälfte des Titels. ‚Plåtmås‘ mischt einen herzhaften Apfelbiss, einen schrillen Falkenschrei und ungrad gebrochene Rhythmik zu prallen 3 Minuten. Die ‚Musik För Dansstycket Jag Glömmer Bort‘ entstand 2006 für eine Choreographie von Gunilla Heilborn. Simmfetzen, Apfelbiss und knarzige Percussion kehren hier wieder und fungieren wie Leitmotive, die dem Stück Struktur geben. Der noisig-perkussive Akzent ist stärker ausgeprägt, ein Hühnergackern macht komischen Effekt und überhaupt ist die vierdimensionale Plastizität der Sounds atemberaubend. Schwedische Elektroakustik wird hier ihrem Ruf als Markenartikel voll gerecht." [Bad Alchemy] "Having developed her very own language, the Swedish sound artist Hanna Hartman creates compositions that are exclusively made up from authentic sounds which she has recorded around the world. Sounds are taken out of their original context and thus perceived in their purity. Hanna Hartman seeks to reveal hidden correspondences between the most diverse auditive impressions, and in new constellations she creates extraordinary worlds of sound. The album is built out of four shorter pieces composed during 2003-2006. Compared to the large compositions of her earlier albums this music shows another side of Hanna Hartman's work. The album opens with 'Att flla grova trd r förkippat med risker' that was commissioned by Rikskonserter and which received several prizes, first and foremost the prestigious Karl Sczuka Prize in 2005. Hanna Hartman is also working with installations and sound performances and is currently Composer in Residence at Sveriges Radio 2007-2008." [label info ] "... Hartman is a pure concrete composer. She hardly uses electronic sound processing, but almost entirely on focussing on concrete sound collages to craft her pieces of music. All around the world she has captured sounds of human doing something. Like a fence being strummed, voices, eating, but of course also birds in the harbor. Unlike some of the older garde in the musique concrete scene, she uses repetition to quite some extent, which connects her music to the world of 'pop' music, but the actual result has nothing to do with it. No doubt many hours of editing went into these four pieces, which are very soundtrack like. Perhaps a bit of short release, but the four pieces are great. Very impressive stuff here, once again." [FdW / Vital Weekly] www.komplott.com 2007 €15.00
HATI Die Mechanik, Die! CD Auf DIE MECHANIK, DIE! erweitern HATI ihr Spektrum und reichern ihre archaischen Gong- & Ethno-Drones mit elektronischen Gerätschaften an (v.a. dark ambiente Synths), sehr trancig & rhythmisch, ein Mitschnitt eines live-Konzerts in sehr guter Qualität. "Trance dark electroacoustic sounds with excellent electronic machines! The album of the group from Torun - this time under the banner of Beast of Prey. A characteristic trance-gong-drone-music in the release "Die Mechanik, Die!" has been saturated with electronic sounds. Such HATI will suprise many of you! More than 45 minutes long album perfectly recorded during the performance in "the Mechanik" club in Gdansk. This time HATI famous for its acoustic sounds - made propably the darkest CD in its discography, the CD enriched with dark ambient tones. Tarry and heavy backgrounds perfectly harmonized with trance and mechanical instrumental variations of musicians move the imagination and bring nearer the world of the dying mechanics. From one side - harmonic and perfectly interrelated pieces of music, from the other side - increasing and intensifying athmosphere of the darkness which - like a rust - conquers more and more parts of urban areas. The title of this release speaks for itself." [label info] www.beastofprey.com HATI has got already few albums released in Poland and Europe, also from the concert aspect is one of the most recognizable projects in our country and HATI's live performances take many people breath away. The group has been performing in many cities in Poland and also abroad: in Germany, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands. HATI is a music group founded on sounds of acoustic instuments - traditional ones with the industrial instrumentarium. 2008 €8.00
HAYNES, JIM Flammable Materials from Foreign Lands LP The new LP from Jim Haynes is a haunted and provocative endeavor, rust-covered and mysterious. It is the result of an immersive listening/recording process through which Haynes' singular techniques intersected with an unfamiliar, disquieting landscape.... "The album was mostly composed, recorded, and sketched during an Estonian residency at MoKS for a program that was hosted by Simon Whetham and John Grzinich called Active Crossover. The goal of that program was to bring together various artists whose work pertained directly or indirectly to environmental recordings. When John asked me about what kinds of spaces I was interested in seeking out before I arrived, I mentioned that I would like to investigate sites that had a considerable amount of electro-magnetic disruption which I could capture on radio along with sites of psychic distress. The Estonian landscape is pocked with abandoned buildings of considerable size and decay. Many of the excursions for Active Crossover engaged the large crumbling Soviet-era structures. Given that the electricity was off in many of these sites, I had to rely on shortwave to capture any electro-magnetic disruptions instead of any fluctuations from shitty wiring or weird Soviet power transformers... and the radio reception from that particular time and that particular place (i.e. southeastern Estonia) was eerie and unsettled. The crackle, drone, and noise is unlike that which is heard in the United States, looming with a (possibly perceived) paranoia of the Russian state just a few kilometers away. That said, Estonia had experienced an encroachment from Russia as the Russian military kidnapped/extradited an Estonian intelligence officer who was on Estonian soil at the time not too far from where I was staying. Given the contemporary military actions of Russia reclaiming Crimea from Ukraine, this incident put many an Estonian on edge. The A-side to Flammable Materials reflects this aestheticized paranoia through bursts of static, pulsed noise, and atonal sinews of sustained frequency. The B-side is wholly more introspective, cutting up an Estonian radio broadcast into phonemes, disjointed phrases, and cryptic speech. What few words that can be recognized from the Estonian pertain to the forces of globalization. From the context of someone who understands very little of the language, these snippets of a female voice clip like a surrealist collage or a Dada poem. Compositionally, I was thinking very much of Robert Ashley's Purposeful Lady Slow Afternoon and the Nurse With Wound recontextualization of such sounds." - Jim Haynes Based in California, Jim Haynes has exhibited internationally at the San Francisco Museum Of Modern Art, the Lausanne Underground Film Festival, the Berkeley Art Museum, WestSpace (Melbourne, Australia), and Diapason (New York). Recorded media has been published through Editions Mego, Ghostly International, Drone Records, Hooker Vision, Intransitive, Semperflorens, Elevator Bath, and The Helen Scarsdale Agency. He has also been awarded residencies at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program (California), Recombinant Media Labs (California), Jack Straw Productions (Seattle), and MoKS (Estonia). He has participated in a number of fruitful collaborations with Loren Chasse, Keith Evans, Steven Stapleton, and M.S. Waldron. Until 2015, Haynes was the Vice President and Curatorial Director for 23five Incorporated, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development and increased awareness of sound arts within the public arena. He is also the lone occupant at The Helen Scarsdale Agency. Flammable Materials from Foreign Lands has been issued as a clear vinyl LP with gorgeous matte-finish jackets featuring artwork by Jim Haynes. Mastered by James Plotkin, it has been released in a limited edition of 300 copies. Every copy purchased directly from Elevator Bath will include a download code for high quality files of the entire audio content of this LP. Total running time: 38 minutes https://elevatorbath.bandcamp.com/album/flammable-materials-from-foreign-lands "For his two most recent (near simultaneous) releases, Jim Haynes has scaled back his audial representation of decay to something a bit colder and more intentionally off-putting. Both albums are largely based on field recordings taken from a residency in Estonia, and capturing the detritus of Soviet era electronics (and some still active) via shortwave and then processing the results. The final products may be somewhat sparser than his other works, but no less fascinating, and with an additional menacing edge. On the first side of the Flammable Materials record, Haynes presents three pieces that are perhaps the most inline with his previous works. Treated static and radio interference is unsurprisingly a recurring theme of the record, but are especially prevalent on the opening piece "Of Blast and Bleach". Here Haynes mixes it with some sort of idling motor sound that is fittingly inconsistent. Elements of the static and noise are shaped into some sort of rhythmic structure that contrasts the abstract remainder of the composition very effectively. Haynes takes on a more noise-centric approach on "Nyet". First a lava-like wall of harshness with the occasional tone slipping through, it is quickly broken back down and built back up, with an emphasis on shifting filters obscuring the low register part of the spectrum. For "E. Kohver" he takes on the opposite approach to the structure and arrangement. This piece is mostly a heavy, imposing drone with metallic tinged machinery noises that never goes full on dissonant, but stays sinister. At times the shortwave static is molded into that crackling texture-like sound that Haynes does so well, but the whole piece is very menacing and dynamic. The other side of the album is dedicated to a single piece, "Electric Speech: Nadiya". A bit over 20 minutes, the composition is based solely on the radio broadcast of a woman speaking. Of course Haynes also makes use of the static and noise inherent to this type of recording, but in general he embraces minimalism more. The source material voice appears frequently, cut into fragments and phonemes that are anything but identifiable words, regardless of the language being spoken. As a whole it is a different style he is working in, with that singular focus and an impressive use of silence to contrast the more commanding moments. [....] Both of Jim Haynes' newest works are exceptional additions to his already impressive body of work. The Throttle and Calibration tape is probably the less adventurous of the two, but is still a work deeply embedded in his style without being any sort of retread or replication of material he has already done. Flammable Materials from Foreign Lands benefits from its unique conceptual direction and focus, but really neither one is better than the other, and both are just excellent works from someone who has done an admirable job developing a career of sound art that always stands strong as utterly unique and fascinating." [Creaig Dunton/Brainwashed] "For well over a decade now, the Californian noise/drone (de)composer Jim Haynes has pursued a single-minded research into the sound of decay. Shortwave radio transmissions and convulsive motors are a few of the sources that are modulated and amplified into his psychologically tense, hauntological recordings. His 2016 album Flammable Materials From Foreign Lands rises from the eruptive strategies found in John Duncan's extrapolations of empty radio signals with parallels to be found in the mutated electro-acoustic dynamics found in contemporaries like Kevin Drumm and G*Park. One of the foreign lands in question to this flammable album is Estonia where he rummaged through abandoned Soviet-era ruins and collected disquieting shortwave signals. The other land is California with its own darkened psyche they roils beneath the mythologies of eternal sunshine. It's not so much a dialect as an accretion of static, grit and phased electro-magnetic disturbances – amplifying the neurosis and anxiety from a slow poisoning through psychological and/or environmental means. The first side of the album is pocked with convulsive crescendos which aggressively shove through Haynes' accumulated materials. The tracks rise to a boiling point, snap at the excessive pressure and collapse into a hypnotic fog. The second side is a single-sided collage of deconstructed/disembodied voice. Haynes clips and chops the mellifluous voice of an Estonian radio host (perhaps Tallinn's answer to Terri Gross?) into elemental gasps and utterances that rhythmically tick against an unsettled minimalism built from long, thin-wire recordings. Here, the strange and unsettled composition of voice and drone hauntingly resembles Alan Lamb's telegraph recordings poured into the empty spaces of Robert Ashley's Automatic Writing." [Stranded] 2016 €22.50
  Inauspicious LP In a recent interview, the California artist Jim Haynes was asked to name his top five noise albums. In quick fashion, he listed off Kill The King, Send, Desnos, Persona, and Carcinosi. Since then, he's equivocated on which albums to choose, but the artists behind such works remain as the adjacent signposts and landmarks to his own constructions of industrial noise. How those records connect to the output from Haynes is found in their unique combination of smoldering dynamism and psychological inquest. For over twenty five years, Haynes has been an autodidactic clinician into the processes of corrosion, decay, and rust, turning his attention away from visual practices and more to the metaphoric crucible of noise and sound. By now, it seems like a cliche that the pandemic changed everything; but since that viral encroachment, there is a noticeable shift in Haynes' work post 2020. It's more aggressive and yet more controlled: a rarification and telescoping of the research into decay for more potent noise and more potent metaphor. The tools for Haynes' work remain limited: motors, electronics, shortwave radio, found objects, all applied with considerable pressure. Compositionally, Inauspicious is a very rough moire pattern from overlapping elliptical structures that can negate and obfuscate just as easily as they can compound and aggregate. The album surges and collapses upon the two twenty minute chunks of controlled noise that follow an internal logic that snakes from brooding power drones, spectral radio transmission, and an aktionist demolition cast upon metal, glass, and unfortunate wooden objects. Rupture and release. Purge and pulse. 2023 €22.50
HECKER, TIM Radio Amor CD "... digitale drone-Schwebeflächen mit Harmonien & Noise, Stakkato-Eruptionen, aber alles träumerisch wie durch einen FETTEN Nebel-Schleier wahrgenommen. Very nice microdetail-ambience release from this canadian artist, dreamlike digi-drone-clouds as if perceived through a fat FOG-veil.. “Tim Hecker is considered one of the most talented and inventive i Canada's new breed of electronic musicians. Whereas his contemporaries often work within the confines of recognizable genres, critics and peers alike have been quick to note that Hecker's work has grown increasingly original and unclassifiable. If one were to draw a comparison, an apt description for "Radio Amor" would fall somewhere in between Fennesz's "Endless Summer" and Oval's "Diskont 94". Because of its combination of sheer experimentation and organic fluidity, this album rises to a level of synchronicity achieved by only a handful of albums in the past few years. Truly an exciting artistic achievement. Having released two critically acclaimed full-lengths on Montreal's Alien8/Substractif imprint, Tim Hecker is set to make his Mille Plateaux debut this spring. Fans of the label family will already be aware of Hecker's work through his minimal techno alias, Jetone on Force Inc. "Ultramarin", Jetone's second outing, was one of Force Inc's more adventurous releases of last year. Unlike its predecessors, this release abandons the coma-like ether of structured rhythms for a much more rewarding world of white noise, trade winds, and a miasmic mixture of saturated piano and guitar melody. A mature work indeed, especially important in such an era of reckless cultural inundation. “ [press release Mille Plateaux] 2007 €14.50
  No Highs do-LP "The latest by Canadian composer Tim Hecker serves as a beacon of unease against the deluge of false positive corporate ambient currently in vogue. Whether taken as warning or promise, No Highs delivers -- this is music of austerity and ambiguity, purgatorial and seasick. A jagged anti-relaxant for our medicated age, rough-hewn and undefined. Morse code pulse programming flickers like distress signals while a gathering storm of strings, noise, and low-end looms in the distance. Processed electronics shiver and shudder against pitch-shifting assemblages of crackling voltage, mantric horns (including exquisite modal sax by Colin Stetson), and cathedral keys. Throughout, the pieces both accrue and avoid drama, more attuned to undertow than crescendo. Hecker mentions \'negation\' as a muse of sorts -- the sense of tumult without bombast, tethered ecstasies, an escape from escapism. His is an antagonism both brusque and beguiling, devoid of resolution, beckoning the listener ever deeper into its greyscale alchemies of magisterial disquiet. https://timhecker.bandcamp.com/album/no-highs ######################### The veteran ambient musician pushes back at the hollowing out of the form with a burly, physically imposing release peppered with moments of gentle beauty. Ambient music is in crisis. Passive listening is no longer an alternative or fringe idea but the model on which the entire streaming industry is built. YouTube radio stations guarantee hours of chilled-out, challenge-free audio, and albums on Spotify fade into endless loops of sound-alikes. How to preserve the tradition of thoughtfully made ambient music in a market inundated with corporate-friendly fluff, or to convince listeners of the importance of artistic vision when an AI program can churn out a perfectly good drone? On No Highs, a self-described “beacon of unease against the deluge of false positive corporate ambient,” Tim Hecker gives his answer. The Canadian musician’s first album in four years isn’t a grouchy get-off-my-lawn statement, nor is it an abrasive audience-thinner like Vladislav Delay’s Rakka. In fact, it’s less confrontational than a lot of Hecker’s albums, even ones that don’t seem intended to be difficult, like his recent experiments in Japanese gagaku music Konoyo and Anoyo. What No Highs argues for instead is the importance of a wizard behind the curtain. The album is strongest when it makes you aware of the artist’s invisible presence, standing behind the scenes and summoning thunder and lightning at will, playing the audience like the director of a good thriller. The most satisfying passage comes less than two and a half minutes in. “Monotony” begins with one of the many Morse code-like, single-note sequencer patterns we’ll hear throughout. Atop that, Hecker creates a wilderness of sirens and street sweepers that begin to slow and morph into grand minor chords. Then—here is the moment—Hecker introduces the magisterial growl of a church organ, blowing the track’s low end wide open with vivid color and high drama. It’s a sound he’s used many times over, and it comes across here as a personal stamp, like Shinichi Atobe’s echoing piano or GAS’s kick drum. It’s his way of saying, You are listening to a Tim Hecker album, a reminder that this stuff couldn’t be made by just anyone. No Highs can be physically discomforting to listen to, not because it’s particularly noisy or dissonant but because it seems to consciously resist syncing with the bodily rhythms of the listener. “In Your Mind” introduces a throbbing sequencer pattern in its first few seconds, but Hecker keeps slowing it down and speeding it up, fading it in out, preventing the brain from getting a foothold. Saxophonist Colin Stetson appears throughout the album, exhibiting his usual burly, physical approach to his instrument. As he commences his endless runs on “Monotony II,” the clack of his keys clear as day, the listener might actually find themselves contracting their lungs in sympathy with his gobstopping breath control. This music is not going to align with your chakras. WATCH The One Song Jeff Tweedy Wishes He Wrote But No Highs can be beautiful in passing, and its last 10 minutes are devoted to two remarkable tracks that conjure the spirit of ambient’s early years. Mewling steel guitars make “Sense Suppression” a cousin of Daniel Lanois’ work on Brian Eno’s Apollo, a ghost of a country song drifting on the wind. “Living Spa Water,” meanwhile, is based on a metallic twinkle reminiscent of Laraaji’s zither, even if Hecker undergirds it with big synth blats that that gentle soul would probably find disquieting. These two tracks nod to ambient as a tradition—a noun rather than an adjective. For a state-of-the-genre address like this to work, the music has to present a viable alternative to whatever it’s railing against, and the physicality of Hecker’s approach allows the music greater range and freedom than if it were merely trying to set a mood. But Hecker’s primary concern here appears to be staking out a certain patch of turf rather than experimenting or expanding the possibilities of his music, and he shies away from extremes. No Highs is muted in comparison to the Gothic grandeur of Harmony in Ultraviolet, the buffeting noise of Ravedeath, 1972, the thorny ruggedness of the underloved An Imaginary Country. But Hecker’s title seems to already anticipate this criticism, and No Highs ultimately works as an example of what ambient music can be, rather than a suggestion of where it might go. [ Daniel Bromfield / Pitchfork ] 2023 €32.50
HEGRE, JOHN Colors Don't Clash CD "Hegre ist vermutlich bekannt durch sein projekt Jazkamer mit Lasse Marhaug und ihr famoses Album "Metal Music Machine" von letztem Jahr. Der Opener seines Solo-Albums "Don't" aber läßt aufschrecken: die 1003. Gitarren-Ick-hab-auch-Laptop-CD? Schnell wird jedoch im Verlauf des Albums klar, dass Hegre wesentlich besser wird, wenn es ums Aneinanderreihen der schnellen und eher kaputten Sounds geht. Vornehmlich produziert mit Gitarre, Drums, Bass und Digitalität schert sich der Norweger um keine Vorgaben und kappt schnell die laut stehenden Wände dreckiger Schwärze mit Orgeldrone und Schattenmond ("They"). "Never" erinnert leider etwas zu stark an Earth und bleibt seltsam unkräftig und eindimensional, "Do" schabt sich durch kantige Rothko-Referenzen und schwappt in ein vergnügtes Ende mit palawernden Kids. Durchwachsen, verspielt, ernsthaft und im Grunde spannend, da von Hegre mit Sicherheit noch richtig gute Alben kommen werden." [ed **** DEBUG] "...On his debut release, Hegre plays guitar, like he used to do before turning all things laptop. It seems as if Hegre wants to convince us that he knows how to play the thing, since it starts out with a rather soft and sweet multi layered guitar piece of gentle guitar sounds. However Jazkamer fans shouldn't worry: noise is here too, just as in 'Worry', 'They' and 'Never' (the five pieces read as 'Don't Worry They Never Do' as a response to the title of the CD - all to be said by Snakefinger in an interview in 1987 just before he died), both of which die out in a very slow manner. Hegre's version of a blues piece closes the CD and that is the only piece in which there is an actual band playing, including bass, drums and Tore Boe and family on vocals. 'Worry' is for me the best piece, since it combines in a single tracks various approaches, but make throughout a great piece of music. Hegre shows us all the possibilities of the guitar as an instrument, or perhaps, his instrument, and as such he produced a pretty varied album, but we can wonder if it's perhaps not a bit too varied. One could wonder: what does Hegre want with this? A display of his no doubt great skills, but the coherency of the album is somewhat gone. But fans of Jazkamer, once again, will pleased with this." [FdW/Vital Weekly] 2006 €10.00
HELM Axis LP "London exploratory industrialist Luke Younger characterizes the creation of his latest collection, Axis, as a liberating return to roots: “It felt like going back to the beginning, it felt freeing.” Begun before the pandemic as a soundtrack to a dance performance, the initial vision was for something “visceral, with physical movement in mind.” When the project shifted to indefinite hiatus, he reimagined the material in the context of an LP, while retaining its sense of dynamic physicality. The result is grim and gripping, seasick throbs lurching in a low-ceilinged space, strafed with fractured clanging, hissing steam, and grinding spirals of granular haze. Noise in its most elevated and compelling form, from and for the body as much as the mind. The album’s unique immediacy stems from Younger’s instinctual muse, reactivating raw methods with fresh energy. “I tuned back in to working with noise techniques again: more primitive equipment, cheap FX, contact mics, noise boxes.” Key guest contributions by Lucy Railton (cello), Mark Morgan of Sightings (guitar), Alex Tucker (vocals), and the late, legendary John Hannon (violin) further enrich the record’s bristling palette. Although half the tracks were begun pre-Covid at Hannon’s Essex studio, the rest were finished in Younger’s kitchen and living room during lockdown. The final tracks were then relayed to veteran mix specialist Randall Dunn, who further honed the material, adding a vivid spatial quality before entrusting the album to Stefan Betke (Pole) for final mastering. From the hellscape metronome of “Moskito” to the insectoid warzone pulse of “Repellent” to the seething orchestral undertow of “Axis,” this is music of ominous gravity and worlds in peril. But it’s the closing cut, “Tower,” which Younger calls “perhaps the most dramatic piece of music I’ve ever made.” A lurking, blackened descension conjured on keys, guitar, and wormhole wah, the melody simmers and swells until suddenly exploding in a chaos of distorted blast beats. From their ashes the three-note riff slowly returns, like some astral dungeon synth exorcism, rising in a searing arc towards frenzied immolation before finally fading away in white fire and afterlife whispers." "HELM has consistently been one of the most fascinating (projects) in British experimental music the past decade" - The Quietus Luke Younger, der unter dem Moniker HELM Alben veröffentlicht, die bereits Kult-Status genießen, hat beim Label DAIS angedockt. HELM hat bislang fünf Studioalben und drei EPs mit experimenteller Musik veröffentlicht, in denen er eine Beziehung zwischen akustischen, elektronischen und realen Klängen erforscht. Ab 2012 veröffentlichte er seine Alben beim renommierten PAN Label, darunter die von Kritikern und Fans gleichermaßen gefeierten Alben "Olympic Mess" und "Chemical Flowers". Der Londoner Industrial-Musiker Luke Younger aka HELM beschreibt die Kreation seiner neuesten Kollektion "Axis" als eine befreiende Rückkehr zu den Wurzeln: "It felt like going back to the beginning, it felt freeing." Das Ergebnis ist düster und fesselnd: Seekranke Klänge, die in einem niedrigen Raum taumeln, durchsetzt von gebrochenem Klirren, zischendem Dampf und mahlenden Spiralen aus körnigem Dunst. Lärm in seiner höchsten und fesselndsten Form, von und für den Körper ebenso wie für den Geist. Wichtige Gastbeiträge von Lucy Railton (Cello), Mark Morgan von Sightings (Gitarre), Alex Tucker (Gesang) und dem verstorbenen, legendären John Hannon (Violine) bereichern die schillernde Palette des Albums zusätzlich. Mix-Spezialist Randall Dunn verfeinerte das Material und fügte eine lebendige räumliche Qualität hinzu, bevor er das Album Stefan Betke (Pole) für das endgültige Mastering anvertraute. Vom höllischen Metronom von "Moskito" über den insektoiden Warzone-Puls von "Repellent" bis hin zum brodelnden orchestralen Unterton von "Axis" ist dies Musik von bedrohlicher Schwere und Welten in Gefahr. Aber es ist das abschließende Stück "Tower", das Younger als "perhaps the most dramatic piece of music I've ever made." bezeichnet. Ein lauernder, geschwärzter Abstieg, beschworen von Tasten, Saiten und Wurmloch-Wah, die Melodie brodelt und schwillt an, bis sie plötzlich in einem Chaos aus verzerrten Blastbeats explodiert. Aus ihrer Asche kehrt das dreistimmige Riff langsam zurück, wie ein astraler Kerker-Synthie-Exorzismus, der sich in einem brennenden Bogen zur rasenden Verbrennung steigert, bevor er schließlich in weißem Feuer und Jenseitsgeflüster vergeht. "Mit einem an Bauhaus’ „The Sky’s Gone Out“ erinnernden Cover erscheint nach einer Reihe von Alben mit “Axis” der neue Longplayer von Helm, dem Einmannprojekt von Luke Younger, auf Dais Records. Younger bezeichnet sich auf seiner Bandcampseite als „sound artist and experimental musician“, dabei hat er eine lange und durchaus heterogene(re) musikalische Biographie (u.a. Hardcore mit The Lowest Form). Auf „Axis“, ursprünglich vor der Pandemie konzipiert als Soundtrack für eine Tanzperformance, die dann doch nicht zustande kam, setzt Younger bewusst „primitives“ Equipment ein (“cheap FX, contact mics, noise boxes”). Hinzukommen Gastmusiker an Geige, Gitarre, Cello sowie Gesang von Alex Tucker. Mit zerhäckselten Störtönen beginnt das das Album eröffnende „Para“, bevor melodische Passagen einsetzen. Das elektronische Gebrutzel, das sich immer wieder verdichtet, gibt dem Stück eine dissonante Unruhe. „Moskito“ mit seinem kuriosen, kargen und schleppenden Rhythmus, klingt anfangs nach Minimaltechno, dann lassen sich dissonante Streicher erahnen. “Crash” dagegen ist – dem Titel zum Trotz – ruhiger, besitzt fast schon Ambientcharakter. Hier sorgen Streicherpassagen für Momente der Melancholie. Dieses Innehalten wird mit den Zahnarztbohrersounds, die “Repellent” einleiten, beendet. Dann setzen verzerrte Beats ein. “Mole” knistert, als werde eine Verpackung geöffnet. Das ist ein dunkles Stück Geräuschmusik mit Streicherpassagen, die an einen Folk Horror-Soundtrack denken lassen. Auf dem düsteren Titeltrack hört man übereinandergeschichtete schabende und nach Sirenen klingende Sounds, die in einer Kakophonie untergehen. “Tower” schließlich ist ein im Kontext des Albums fast schon orchestraler, dramatischer Track. The rest is silence." [MG / African Paper] 2021 €23.00
HELVACIOGLU, ERDEM Timeless Waves CD "NEW SERIES FRAMEWORK: An extension of our CONCRETE ELECTRONICS NOISE, a brand new mix-up of unusual conceptions of sound material by young unknown composers, well known not-so-young composers and old but clever composers. Timeless Waves originally composed for a 47 channel / 53 speaker diffusion system running on The Morning Line, is a sonic work based on six basic human emotions. The CD is a stereo version of this multichannel work. The piece has been inspired by W. Gerrod Parrott's book "Emotions in Social Psychology" and has been commissioned by Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (T-BA 21) for The Morning Line - an interdisciplinary art project by Matthew Ritchie, Aranda/Lasch and Arup AGU - and premiered in May 2010, when the project was exhibited at Eminonu Square in Istanbul. Sonically, Timeless Waves is based on the timbres of Togaman GuitarViol, Gibson Les Paul electric guitar, sine waves, various analog pedals and hardware fx processors. The music combines elements from genres such as electroacoustic, drone, noise, contemporary music blended with minimal melodies. Erdem Helvacioglu was born in Bursa, Turkey in 1975. He is one of the most renowned 'contemporary electronic music' composers of his generation in Turkey. His music has been broadcast on national radios such as BBC, ABC, WDR and Radio France, among others. He has received commissions from the 2006 World Soccer Championship, TBA 21 The Morning Line, Borusan Center for Culture & Arts, Arter "Space for Art", The Association for the Art of the Harp, Novelum Contemporary Music Festival, International Istanbul Biennial(IKSV) and the world famous new music ensemble Bang on a Can-All Stars. His sound installations have been included at museums and galleries such as 10th International Istanbul Biennial, Los Angeles Track 16, Indonesia Soemardja, Köln Museum für Angewandte Kunst, London Menier Gallery. His film music has been heard at Cannes, Sarajevo, Locarno, Seoul, Sao Paulo, and Sydney film festivals and he received the 'Best Original Soundtrack' award in the 2006 Mostramundo Film Festival. He has received prizes for his electroacoustic compositions from the Luigi Russolo, MUSICA NOVA and Insulae Electronicae Electroacoustic Music Competitions. Erdem Helvacioglu has collaborated with artists such as Mick Karn, Jacob Young, Elliott Sharp, Kevin Moore, Luo Chao-yun, Robert Scott Thompson, Stuart Gerber, Craig Green, Bill Walker, Nathan Larson, Nina Persson, Todd Reynolds, Kinan Azmeh, Jeffrey Roden, Ros Bandt, Stefan Ostersjo, Per Boysen, Sirin Pancaroglu and Saadet Turkoz. Erdem Helvacioglu's music has been released on labels such as Locustmusic, New Albion, Aucourant, Quiet Design, chmafu nocords, Pozitif, Sargasso. His solo and duo albums have been included in the 'best album of the year' lists on All About Jazz, Textura, Cyclic Defrost, Blogcritics, Culture Catch, Perfect Sound Forever and Guitar Player magazines. www.erdemhelvacioglu.com" [label info] www.subrosa.net 2012 €13.00
HEMATIC SUNSETS Aroma Club Adieu 5 LP + 12inch "Final release by Asmus Tietchens’ death lounge project Hematic Sunsets Farewell greetings by Michael Rother, Felix Kubin, Heinz Funk, Okko Bekker and more The Hematic Sunsets shut down the Aroma Club with a final release. The album “Aroma Club Adieu” features 12 exquisite pieces of death lounge electronic pop performed on electronic organs and entertainment devices of various kinds. Under the moniker Hematic Sunsets, legendary avantgarde composer Asmus Tietchens has explored his love of the Darth Vader organ sound – a cheesy, spooky, deranged but still catchy form of electronic pop. The body of work of Hematic Sunsets stands out as unique, displaced and in a sexy way out of fashion. As a bonus to the final album of the project artist friends of Asmus Tietchens have composed short hommages and farewell greetings that are included here in the form of a single sided 12” on white vinyl. Among those saluting are such illustrious musicians as Heinz Funk, Felix Kubin and Michael Rother." [label info] https://aufabwegen.bandcamp.com/album/aroma-club-adieu "And so it ends for the Aroma Club, adieu, so long and farewell. The fifth album by Hematic Sunsets, with such illustrious members as Hans Tim Cessteu, Assistent Meuch, Titus Mascheens, Suse Mittach sen and Asmus Tietchens. Or if you are clever, just Asmus Tietchens since all the other names are anagrams. Hematic Sunsets, check the anagram, is Tietchens' love for cheesy electronic music, which resulted in five LPs and two Christmas songs. The organ plays an important and I would think one of those organs that people had in the '70s. Well, my cousin had one, complete with a ton of ditto cheesy rhythms and chords and a big speaker below; the easy two-finger method of play. I seem to remember my cousin was pretty apt at it. I'd love to have one. Tietchens loves the sound of such organs as well as other machines that produce similar cheesy stuff. In the early days of his record releasing career, Tietchens did four albums for Sky Records, which had a more poppy electronic streak, and later he decided he enjoyed doing that stuff resulting in the fictitious Aroma Club, which, no doubt, in Tietchens mind was a place where you could drink coffee and smoke your cigarette. In the corner there would be such an organ and someone playing his take on lounge music, But, this is Tietchens, a man with quotes of Cioran on most of his record (replaced by Klopstock on Hematic Sunsets releases), so this Aroma Club is not necessarily full of colour and on second thought the lounge music is not so cheesy and lounge-like at all. It comes with a strange hook, a dark undercurrent, and on this fifth album it all seems a bit darker than before, maybe the dark times we experience and with all clubs closed (well, here in The Netherlands at least). This is, however, still great dark lounge music, with those minimal rhythms, and melodies, ranging from lightweight to almost industrial, showing the veracity of the music. Excellent album, once again. As a bonus, there is a one-sided LP which gives space to friends of Tietchens to say goodbye and bow their heads to the Aroma Club. There is Okko Bekker (owner of the studio in which Tietchens works), Felix Kubin, Michael Rother (early Kraftwerk member, and of Neu and Harmonia), Jetzmann, Heinz Funk, Ebinger, Chestnut Ameis, Maik Willing & Der Botox Lucas Chor and Unknown Singing Objects, who all have their take on Hematic Sunsets; spacious guitars, obviously, for Rother and Kubin with some fun pop song madness, or the super slick jazzy flutes of Ebinger. Maik Willing & Der Botox Lucas Chor tops it all with a schlager (look that up for yourself) going out of control. This is all a fitting tribute to the fun side of Tietchens. It could very well that you think it's stupid, but I think it is great fun." [FdW/Vital Weekly] "Auch wenn fast jede Veröffentlichung Asmus Tietchens von einem Cioran-Zitat begleitet und geziert wird, so hat sich schon immer auch Humor im Werk des Hamburgers gezeigt, was sich u.a. teilweise in der Titelgebung seiner Tracks widerspiegelte, jedoch war dieser Humor nie so dominant wie auf seinem „death lounge project “ Hematic Sunsets (auf dem seine anagrammatischen Mitspieler Achim Stutessen, Assistent Meusch, Hans Tim Cessteu, Mischa Suttense und Tussi Schemante heißen), auf dem Tietchens seiner Liebe zum – wie es in der Pressemitteilung heißt – „Darth Vader organ sound“ frönt; Attribute wie „cheesy, spooky, deranged but still catchy“ zeigen das Spannungsfeld, in dem sich diese Musik situieren lässt. Das erste Album erschien 1998, diese finale Veröffentlichung, auf der jetzt „Adieu“ gesagt wird, besteht aus einer LP mit neuen Kompositionen und einem weiteren, einseitig bespielten Album, auf dem Weggefährten „Tschüss“ sagen, da es sich „Ausgeduftet“ hat, wie es bei Jetztmann heißt. Die Hematic Sunsets-LP ist voller kurioser und zum Teil natürlich durchaus „catchy“ Tracks: Da gibt es die skurril-zerhäckselte Stimme auf „Zum Geleit“, das in TOPY-Diktion betitelte „Thee Church Ov Aroma“ mit seltsamen Stimmen und unheinlichen Flächen, das fast schon zu düster für dieses Album ist. Auf „Ungesungene Tanzrückstände“ hört man monotone hochrfrequente Loops. Es gibt das großartig betitelte „Stuhlwasser“ mit Billigorgel oder die seltsamen Kirmesstimmen bei „Der im Keller“. „Liebelei“ mit cheesy Streichern und Gesang hätte den einen oder anderen Partykeller in den 70ern beschallen können. Auf „Schrittbinder“ hört man kuriose Schellen, „Fiasko“ wäre in einem Paralleluniversum vielleicht ein Soundtrack zu einer Krimiserie gewesen, zu einer Zeit, als es nur zwei Fernsehprogramme gab. Interessanterweise hätte man ein Stück wie „Dem Morgen graut“ durchaus auch auf einer reinen Tietchens-Veröffentlichung der letzten Jahre finden können. Das lapidar betitelte „Das war’s dann“ schließt die erste LP ab. Chestnut Ameis eröffnet das zweite Album mit der seltsamen Kirmesmusik von „Speckpumpe“. Otto Bekkers lässt den Hörenden bei „Peyote-Melodie“ zu Bontempiorgel schunkeln, Unknown Singing Objects, die bisher ein paar Singles veröffentlicht haben, steuern eine seltsame Ballade voll “Blut” und “Knochenmark” bei. Auf “Phantomschmerz” ist Felix Kubin mit Retroscifi Lounge zu hören. Sehr schön ist “Martellato” des 2013 verstorbenen Heinz Funk. Jetztmann „endet lo-fi mit dementen Vocals. Im beiliegenden Blatt wird die Geschichte des Aroma Clubs augenzwinkernd dargelegt. Höhepunke waren etwa „Mikadotanz-Abende“, „Kriechkeller-Parties“ und „Hodenbaden unter der fachkundigen Observanz von Dr. Kurt Euler“ – ob die Liedertafel Margot Honecker dabei Lieder schmetterte, bleibt unerwähnt." [MG / African Paper] 2020 €32.00
HENRIKSEN, ARVE Strjon CD Drittes Album von ARVE HENRIKSEN für Rune Grammofon, eher bedächtig und melancholisch, eine Art ethno/world-ambient/drone-Jazz von allererster Güte ! "This is Norwegian Arve Henriksen's third full-length release on Rune Grammofon. On Strjon, Henriksen is joined by his Supersilent colleagues Ståle Storløkken and Helge Sten, who also produced the album. Strjon brings together the various sides of Henriksen, from the zen-like solo pieces of his debut album Sakuteiki to the open-ended melancholia of Chiaroscuro to the dark, brooding lyricism of Supersilent. "Strjon" is the medieval name of Arve's hometown Stryn on the west coast of Norway, referring to a streaming river or water. The nature around Stryn is fantastic and the changes between winter and summer are quite drastic, from crashing avalanches in steep mountains to calm beauty and majestic tranquility. Some of the music dates back to sketches made by a young Arve Henriksen in these surroundings, later worked on by both Arve himself and Helge Sten. Arve Henriksen is without doubt one of Norway's leading instrumentalists and a master of the trumpet, as can be heard on his previous solo albums, numerous Supersilent albums and as a side player for musicians such as Trygve Seim, Christian Wallumrød, Dhafer Youssef, David Sylvian and Frode Haltli to name only a few. As Henriken himself explains: "Most of the music comes from my own 'library' of sounds and music created during my days at Stryn. At the age of 16 I started to make sketches and recorded lots of cassettes with improvised electronic sequences, and over the years loads of tapes and discs have been added to the pile of homemade studio sketches. My idea has been to look into this material to search for a history, for moods, perhaps to understand a little bit more and maybe discover some reasons for why I play like I do." Performed by: Arve Henriksen (trumpet, voice, keyboards and electronics), Ståle Storløkken (keyboards) and Helge Sten (guitars and bow)." [label info] www.runegrammofon.com 2007 €15.00
  Towards Language LP + CD Arve Henriksen is a major representative of a golden generation of Norwegian jazz musicians. This is his ninth solo album (eight on Rune Grammofon and one on ECM), he has also released a dozen albums as a founder member of Supersilent and appears on well over a hundred records by artists like David Sylvian, Jon Balke, Trygve Seim, Imogen Heap, Arild Andersen and many more. With "Towards Language" trumpeter Arve Henriksen is back with his trusted long time musical partners Jan Bang and Erik Honoré. Arve first collaborated with the pair on the much loved and highly praised "Chiaroscuro" (2004), Arve´s second album, and later on "Cartography" (ECM 2008) and "Places Of Worship" (2013). Also an important part of the line-up is Eivind Aarset, the ECM associated guitarist extraordinaire. Mit ,Towards Language" ist der Trompeter ARVE HENRIKSEN mit seinen bewährten musikalischen Partnern JAN BANG und ERIK HONORÉ zurück. ARVE kollaborierte erstmals auf dem umjubelten ,Chiaroscuro" (2004) mit den beiden, auf dem Nachfolger und später dann auf ,Cartography" (ECM, 2008) und ,Places Of Worship" (2013). Ein ebenso wichtiger Teil des Lineups ist EIVIND AARSET, der herausragende ECM-Gitarrist. ,Towards Language" ist ARVEs neuntes Album (acht auf Rune Grammofon und eines auf ECM) unter seinem eigenen Namen. Außerdem hat er mit zahlreichen Künstlern wie DAVID SYLVIAN, JON BALKE, CHRISTIAN WALLUMROD, TRYGVE SEIM und TRIO MEDIAEVAL zusammengearbeitet. ARVEs Statement zu seinem neuen Album und dessen Titel: ,With this recording, the good help and inspirational artistic contributions from EIVIND AARSET and JAN BANG at the recording session in Oslo has led to these selected tracks. Music that has a connection to ,Places Of Worship but this time recorded ,live in the studio in a chamber music like approach inspired by contemporary elements from composers like TORU TAKEMITSU and MANUEL DE FALLA, to traditional organ music, and at the end of the album bringing in a traditional ,kven (ancient Nordic song tradition) theme from the roots of my family from the North of Norway, sung by Anna Maria Friman of TRIO MEDIAEVAL." www.runegrammofon.com/artists/arve_henriksen/rcd2192-arve-henriksen-towards-language-cd-lp/ 2017 €25.00
HENRY COW Stockholm & Göteborg CD "The first new release for 30 years from this legendary audience-splitting British group, and the first featuring Georgina Born, the group’s bassist between 1976-78. Remixed and re-mastered from the original Swedish radio tapes. ‘Henry Cow, me favourite band in the world’ [Robert Wyatt, 1973] Henry Cow were never going to fit in. Their compositions were way too composed and their improvising was way too improvised - a tendency that only got more extreme as time went on, as these recordings from 1976 and 1977 demonstrate. Stockholm and Goteborg fills in some of the missing history between In Praise of Learning (1975) and Western Culture (1978) and offers music that has not been heard on record until now. First is Tim Hodgkinson’s late and fiendishly complicated epic composition ‘Erk Gah’ (a working title), that took many months of sweat to learn and resolutely eschews any hint of riff, solo or modular assembly. At the other extreme are the two wide-ranging improvisations built around heady extended instrumental techniques, aleatorics, quotations, more-or-less randomly inserted prepared materials and a blithe disregard for genre rules. Between, constantly shifting ground, are a straight-ahead version of Phil Ochs’ No more Songs (one of only two covers ever performed by the band), an unreleased composition by Fred Frith, and a version of the Ottawa Song: a typical live set from that period. Finally, Stockholm is a snapshot of a band of exceptional talents having fun. And it reflects what the studio albums could not – that Henry Cow’s natural habitat was the stage - and the real-time pressure of public performance - because it was there that the music could live and breathe. And evolve. Stockholm and Goteborg is the first volume of a 9 CD and one DVD set of unreleased material commemorating the band’s 40th anniversary. Georgina Born. fretless bass, cello Lindsay Cooper. bassoon, flute, recorder, sopranino sax, piano Chris Cutler. drums, electrification (13) and piano Fred Frith. guitar, xylophone, piano John Greaves bass, voice Tim Hodgkinson. organ, alto saxophone Dagmar Krause. singing. " [label info] 2008 €14.00
HEROIN IN TAHITI Casilina Tapes 2010 - 2017 LP "Hailing from Rome, cult duo Heroin in Tahiti fuse analogue synths, garage-y guitars and skittering drum machines to gloriously lo-fi effect. This collection of previously unreleased tracks covers material recorded in their studio from a 7-year period. Their unique psychedelic vision touches on everything from beat poetry, house music and Ennio Morricone soundtracks." [Norman Records] "Heroin In Tahiti is a duo from Rome, Italy hailing from the Roma Est scene, a sort of local community based in the crumbling and deteriorated neighborhoods which were already eternalized by Pasolini and Neorealist Cinema (think of Pasolini, De Sica, Visconti, etc.) The duo plays a variety of cheap guitars, analog synths, drum machines, and pedals, achieving a dirtiness which is tragically lo-fi and out-of-time at the same time: a "Spaghetti Wasteland", as they call it. In 2012 they released on Boring Machines their debut album Death Surf, a title which spoke for the music played on the record. The label said of the album: "Think of drinking a frozen daiquiri on a solitary beach while watching a poorly tuned TV broadcasting loops of If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death (1968), while Mururoa tests are happening at the horizon." When mentioning Italian occult psychedelia, Heroin In Tahiti seems the best choice to sum up the sound and the references that stay at the core of this all-Italian scene. With albums like the mammoth double LP Sun And Violence (2015), the minimalist Canicola (2014) and the monolithic Remoria (GRA 001LP, 2017), Heroin In Tahiti became a cult band for their particular signature. Casilina Tapes 2010-2017 is the latest (and probably last) output from the cult Italian duo. It's a collection of unreleased tracks recorded in their basement studio in Rome in the last seven years while building up their thematic albums. The label listened to the single tracks at once and they found out there's a coherence between them even if they have been created in different periods. Actually, they show a coherence that only Heroin In Tahiti, with their kaleidoscopic vision of how Italy secretly sounds, can properly conjure up. Boring Machines calls it "total music". You may find elements which reminds of long lost Morriconian soundtracks for cheap westerns or giallos, library music to accompany documentaries on Superstudio radical architecture, urban tribalism, beat poetry festivals on the seashore, and house music. Recorded in Rome, 2010-2017. Artwork by Francesco de Figueiredo. Screen printed covers by Legno, Milano." [label info] 2018 €20.00
HIMUKALT Between My Teeth LP Dark, psychosexual electronics lurk between the teeth of Ester Kärkkäinen, the Las Vegas based artist also known as Himukalt. For the past six years, she has tirelessly pursued an avenue of bleak industrial productions that parallel the extremist works of Genocide Organ and Atrax Morgue. She has built a considerable reputation for uncompromising, full-frontal noise, releasing albums on Total Black, Malignant Records, Found Remains, and Foul Prey, amongst others. Between My Teeth was originally a cassette which came out in 2018 as a tiny edition on the Greek imprint Several Minor Promises and sold out immediately upon release. Himukalt returns to The Helen Scarsdale Agency with the necessary reissue of Between My Teeth as a vinyl edition with expanded artwork. The album is a maelstrom of ill-tempered noise and blackened frequencies, sutured to a foundation of primitive, raw rhythms. Kärkkäinen cuts up her own voice with the digital equivalent of a rusted razor blade through her proclamations of misery, rage, and desire. The albums' opening track "Cataclysm" a turgid industrial production with Kärkkäinen adopting two distinct voices that, while they remain mostly indecipherable in content, the context presumes an inevitable, catastrophic and emotionally violent collapse in the relationship between two people. A tense rhythm clicks below the full spectrum bursts of harsh noise on "She Went Mad" followed by the smoldering power electronic moves of "I No Longer Belong" and "Not Proper." And the death disco groove of "Mine" is far more hellish than danceable through its scalded distortion and Kärkkäinen's vocal mantras about bodily self-loathing. Another bold, declarative album in the ever impressive Himukalt discography. Remastered by James Plotkin and features a 12 page booklet of Kärkkäinen's signature collaged xerography. https://helenscarsdale.bandcamp.com/album/between-my-teeth 2022 €23.00
HIRANO, MIDORI Invisible Island LP Invisible Island is a fitting title for an album that seems to exist in a place quietly removed from the problems of the world. It's playful and imaginative, living in a soundscape filled with exotic fruits that fall from invisible trees. The record feels like a continuance from her album Minor Planet (2016) that shines through as an ethereal fog. Although the pieces on the album mostly centre around the piano - played in a soft, minimal way - it's the way they are presented that creates the personality that defines Invisible Island. The keys are coated in sound experimentations, perfectly accompanied by layers of synthesizers. It's a dreamy album that seems to emanate from a fantasy full of warmth, channeling both classic Japanese ambient music and a more modern electro-acoustic sound. Midori has a special sense of creating touching, melancholic pieces that float on the borders. As someone who grew up in the outskirts of Kyoto for then to later move to Berlin, one can sense the influences of both places - without ever settling down on either. Midori's Invisible Island is a safe place. Though it's one full of life and colours : birds, animals, wind and waves, fond memories of lost or unknown places and people that exist only in the hidden edges of this album. This especially comes to light for the albums centrepiece, the beautiful Belong, featuring Christoph Berg on violin. It's as if the protagonist - after roaming around the island for a long period, lost in its intrigue - finally finds what he/she has been searching for. A few tracks later the album ends on the title track, an uplifting ending that seems somehow unreal once the album stops and we ́re back to reality. Though the piano seems to keep performing in ones head with its repeating chorus and slowly drowning theme. An album of true visible beauty. https://midorihirano.bandcamp.com/album/invisible-island 2020 €29.00
HIS MAJESTY THE BABY Hope for Madness CD-R "On the occasion of Syd Barrett's 75th birthday, in 2020/21, Gonzo Records released "Love You: A tribute To Syd Barrett", practically all of the "boy's" albums remade by a host of groups from around the world. The more than competent SHINDING magazine listed among the best tracks "FEEL" by His Majesty The Baby, an Italian ghost band, actually Francesco Paolo Paladino (an old acquaintance: Atrox, Doubling Riders, and many solo albums) and Luca Chino Ferrari (poet, music writer, free thinker). On the strength of such a successful debut HMTB have worked tenaciously to build, chisel and breathe this album for Silentes, "Hope for Madness." Let's say right away that HMTB are a very strange group: Paladino is in charge of composing (and performing) all the music, while Ferrari takes care about the lyrics. Then there are the guests - and what guests! Most of them step in to sing and interpret Ferrari's lyrics (and we are talking about Martyn Bates, Edward Ka-spel, Alison O'Donnell, In Gowan Ring, Kitchen Cynics, Serena Nono, Maria Assunta Karini, Enomissosab); then there are the musicians/sound saboteurs who already collaborated on Paladino's previous albums: Mauro Sambo on woodwinds, Stefano Scala with his stralunate percussion, Maurizio and Roberto Opalio with their frosted noise entity, the Cavalazzi trio, Tiziano Popoli. And then we find again the unmistakable voice of Fiorella Gentile, host of legendary radio programs back in the days of our youth, who had already collaborated with Franco Battiato on "M.elle Le Gladiator". As the title itself suggests (a clear reference to early Soft Machine) the land the incredible brigade tackles is the "dada" territory of the early 20th Century, which, through chemical mutations that are difficult to recount, morphed into the 1967-69 adventure of the more adventurous Beatles and the fascinating Zappa psychedelia. It is a true journey through 14 tracks that cling to each other, separate and find each other through inventions and references (not least the early Philip Glass) that glide swiftly, building a topography that is both unprecedented and evokes a thousand scents. "Hope for Madness" is a refined latticework of influences and novel solutions, a calembour worthy of the best Canterburian seasons, winking at both "200 Motels" and the bravest Italian prog. It is no coincidence that the final track is a haiku recited by Fiorella Gentile greeting Franco (guess who...) wherever he is now. The circle is reconstituted and we can certainly say that some oxygen is still breathing in this old sick planet." 2022 €15.00
HISS Zahir CD Hiss is an improvisational quartet made up of one Englishman and three Norwegians with an instrumental line-up that is unremarkable enough, but with a sound that is fairly unique. Keyboardist/electronicist Pat Thomas is a veteran of the British free improv scene while guitarist Ivar Grydeland, bassist Tonny Kluften and percussionist Ingar Zach -- though the latter three are younger -- are mainstays of the Norwegian free jazz and improv cultures. The reasoning behind the Arabic-sounding track titles remains obscure. The music herein has some of the spikiness and general clamor associated with the post-SME scene in England, and leavened with allusions to contemporary electronica and even a tinge of rock-based fills. One might even be able to pick up the slightest influence of the very early Jan Garbarek groups: Grydeland sometimes brings to mind Terje Rypdal at his most extreme. Had the latter (a Norwegian saxophonist) stayed true to the aesthetic displayed in albums like Sart and Afric Pepperbird, it's just possible he might have been creating music like Hiss in 2002! For all their abstractions, the pieces hover in more of a free jazz vein than a non-idiomatic one. Though there are no solos per se; there is very much a sense of four individuals playing with less regard for the overall group sound than with creating a ruckus: a goal they reach often enough to make the album a fairly successful, noisy joyride. Listeners familiar with Company Weeks of the past, or the music produced along the Derek Bailey/Barry Guy/Evan Parker axis over the last several decades, may find nothing terribly groundbreaking here (though the title cut edges into intriguing territory). But overall it's a solid effort; very clearly recorded; that pays its own dividends. 2003 €6.00
HISS TRACTS Shortwave Nights CD "180g Vinyl mit Kunstdruck und Downloadcode. 'Shortwave Nights' ist das Debüt von HISS TRACTS, einem neuen Duo aus David Bryant (GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR, SET FIRE TO FLAMES) und Kevin Doria (GROWING, TOTAL LIFE). Die beiden trafen sich 2004 und begründeten eine musikalische Freundschaft, die in drei GROWING Alben mündete, die im The Pines Studio von Bryant in Montreal aufgenommen wurden und in mehreren Kollaborationen mit z.B. dem experimentellen Filmkünstler Karl Lemieux. Probebänder für ein Underground Film Festival in Lausanne 2008 wurden zur Basis für HISS TRACTS; David und Kevin arbeiteten zwischen 2009 und 2013 daran, doch vieles von der Magie der ersten Versionen ist noch immer greifbar. Kevin und David sind instrumentale Musiker von ungewöhnlicher Tiefe und Intensität. HISS TRACTS eröffnet neue kollaborative und erzählerische Pfade, um die beiden Musiker die Soundlandschaft von Komposition und Produktion erforschen zu lassen. Beide sind Gitarristen und die E-Gitarre erscheint als Quelle von 'Shortwave Nights', doch die Fülle an zusätzlichen analogen Quellen und Signalen stellt sicher, dass dieser Sound hier nicht mit gitarrenbasiertem Drone, Noise oder Postrock verwechselt wird. 'Shortwave Night' setzt sich über solch engmaschigen Genrebegriffe hinweg und lässt sich ebenso wenig in die vorherrschenden Subgenres einordnen. Wenn Drone jedoch der Orientierungspunkt ist, dann liegt das sicherlich an dem Mix, der die einzelnen Elemente zu einer Wall of Sound in Stereo vereint. Dies ist keine Elektro-Platte und 'Shortwave Nights' begibt sich auch nicht in die Welt von Ambient oder Wave, vielmehr lässt sich der Sound hier im breiten Abstammungsfeld von Post-Industrial und Musique Concrète verorten. // Shortwave Nights is the debut album by Hiss Tracts, a new duo featuring David Bryant (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Set Fire To Flames) and Kevin Doria (Growing, Total Life). The two met in 2004 and struck up a musical friendship that led to three Growing records being made at The Pines (Bryant's recording studio in Montreal) and a separate collaboration between the two, initially in conjunction with experimental filmmaker Karl Lemieux (also GY!BE's current 16mm auteur/projectionist). Rehearsal tapes from a set of sessions for a Lausanne Underground Film Festival performance in 2008 became the foundation and starting point for Hiss Tracts; David and Kevin continued working throughout 2009-2013, but much of the material from their earliest session is still present, in one state or another, within the tracks on this debut album. The sonic preoccupations of Bryant and Doria are well-known and well-documented across many highly acclaimed recordings over the past fifteen years, from the organic, group-based, semi-improvised collage albums of Set Fire To Flames to the glimmering, immersive minimalism of Growing and the more maximalist full-spectrum noise works of Total Life. David and Kevin are instrumental music practitioners of uncommon depth and intensity; Hiss Tracts opens new collaborative, procedural and narrative pathways for these fine musicians to continue exploring soundscape-based composition and production. Both are guitar players, and the electric guitar figures as both recognizable and unrecognizable source instrument on Shortwave Nights, but the deployment of a wide range of additional analog sources and signals ensures that there is no confusing this for a guitar-based drone, noise or post-rock record. Shortwave Nights defies categorization by terms like "drone" or "ambient" and it does not easily slip into any of the predominant subgenres that have proliferated around studio-based soundscape work in recent years. Insofar as drone is a touchstone, this has mostly to do with the approach to mixing, which tends towards a transcendent/trance-inducing integration of elements into a unified, saturated, wall-of-sound stereo field. The album contains no beats or programming and very little that is identifiably loop-based or overtly sampled and sampler-driven. Occasional deployments of digital signal processing remain firmly in the service of Hiss Tract's overriding framework and commitment to analog sources and human instrumentation. This is not an electronic record, nor does it sit comfortably at either the pastoral or spooky/sinister poles of any ambient or 'whatever'-wave spectrum; it can perhaps best be placed within the broad lineages of post-industrial and musique concrète. Meditative and visceral, humming with the electromagnetic atmosphere through which all manner of frequencies, transmissions and surveillances pass and collide, Shortwave Nights strikes an evocative balance between sonics captured-channeled-harnessed vs. composed-sculpted-performed, with an almost documentary rigour and restraint that nonetheless remains profoundly charged and engaged. Constellation is thrilled to introduce this new project with a brilliant debut album that has heavily infiltrated our brains and bloodstreams since Bryant and Doria first played us the nearly-finished recordings in the fall of 2013. Thanks for listening. Release date: 13 May 2014 Running time: 44:28 Packaging notes CD comes in a custom gatefold jacket printed on thick 24pt. paperboard with a printed CD dust sleeve. LP is pressed on 180 gram virgin vinyl at Optimal (Germany) and comes in a heavyweight jacket with black poly-lined audiophile dust sleeve, credit insert, pull-out art poster and download code for 320 kbps MP3 copy of the album." [label info] www.cstrecords.com 2014 €14.50
HLADNA Melting Water CD Lobenswerte Re-issue dieses frühen HLADNA-Albums, mehrschichtige Schwälle von metallisch-fliessenden Lava-Klang, heruntergetunte Gesänge, alles verliert sich in unendlich grossen Hallräumen... auch wild ekstatisch-krachige Parts kommen vor... frühe MAEROR TRI sind hier auch nicht weit.. "The reissue of early album from Saint-Petersburg noise artist Nikolay Kalmykov's project Hladna. Recorded in 1998-1999 and released as a very limited CDR, it is still one of the best records ever made by Russian industrial scene and the CD edition was long overdue. This is ritual ambient with some additions of noise and metal percussion, reminding of some classic Lustmord, Cranioclast or early Hybryds tracks, but the sound is more raw and harsh. The overall atmosphere of industrial decay is rather brutal and rusty than profound and mystical here, but there are obvious strong primordial currents in this music that wake up your archaic patterns. The release comes as a beautiful paper folder limited to 300 numbered copies." [label info] 2007 €13.50
HOARFROST & INNER VISION LABORATORY Decline CD "Both Hoarfrost and Inner Vision Laboratory are young projects, but it would be an understatement to call them 'newcomers.' Each of them has already released debut albums alongside numerous split releases, collaborations, web extended plays and compilation tracks. Thanks to them they gathered a substantial following among experimental music listeners. It was just a question of time when the men behind the projects would collaborate on a release. The result is 'Decline' – a tale of descending into the pits of madness in 8 parts. Inspired by two poems, 'Madman' and 'Modern Icarus,' takes you on a journey into the realms of dark thoughts. With such a clear concept, it's no wonder that the music is cinematic, thus slowly building images in the listener's head. Face the stillness, but remember: something is lingering in the corner." [label info] www.zoharum.com 2010 €12.00
HOEDH Universum CD "Last studio-album and musical testament of T.H. Thiel ( ORDO CATHARSIS TEMPLI ), who died in April 2003, only few days after putting the final touches to this impressive album. Like only few ambient artists, HOEDH succeed to awake a feeling of longing and melancholy within every listener and at the same time HOEDH create a feeling of inner silence: a spiritual drowning into your soul. ( HOEDH hymnus 1996) UNIVERSUM was released as official - In Memoriam Album - in collaboration with Ordo Catharsis Templi, who s founder T.H.Thiel was." [label info] "HOEDh was thee projekt ov thee German artist Thorn Hoedh who passed away on thee night ov May 15th-16th 2003.. he was involved in thee projekts: Delysid , DLS, Helix 12, Moksha, and Ordo Catharis Templi!! thee two albums shared here are some ov thee most beauteous dark ambient releases which one could hope to encounter!! Hymnvs was released in 1993 on thee Atmosphere sublabel ov Dark Vinyl which was dedicated to generally more rhythmic ambient music.. and Universum was released post-humously on thee Dark Vinyl Records label on thee first ov April 2004.. again here are presented more releases from thee astounding 23 Temple!!" [vitaignescorpuslignum.blogspot.com] 2004 €8.00
HOLLYWOOD DREAM TRIP Second Album CD listen: https://christophheemann.bandcamp.com/album/second-album "As much as I try to 'follow' some musicians' actions, I don't always keep up. I am pretty sure I knew that Christoph Heemann (once of HNAS, Mimir, Mirror, but mostly of himself) had teamed up with Will Long (mostly of Celer fame, but also doing other ambient music projects, but also works with minimal dance music as Long Trax). From the small discography of Hollywood Dream Trip, I understand that they work together whenever Will Long is in Europe—three albums in 2013 and two (digital) ones in 2021. One of the three from 2013 is 'Would You Like To Know More', a line from the Paul Verhoeven movie 'Starship Troopers'. They also recorded 'Second Album' in 2013 (no release is called 'First Album'), which they released as a CDR in an edition of 50 copies for the tour they did that year—now finding its way to a broader audience and quite rightfully so. Armed with a Moog Rogue, Roland MC-202, Lexicon PCM90, Electro Harmonix Random Tone Generator and tapes, they set out to record this forty-two-minute piece of slow-moving drones. There seem to be some field recordings in this piece, but they are hard to find here. In the beginning, there is a slow bump, like a heartbeat during sleep, which slowly alters as the piece evolves and the sound opens up. Becoming a tad lighter and brighter, maybe the heartbeat is the same, but it feels different because of the changing synthesiser sounds. It's not the kind of music I recommend when sleeping (in fact, I would never recommend any music during sleep, but that's my occasional insomnia speaking), as the overall tone remains dark. Especially around the thirty-minute mark, things roughen and could create a nightmarish scenario. It's not as relaxing as it could have been, which is good. This has all the markings of a live-in-the-studio recording, not trying to smooth things out too much. I enjoyed this work a lot, especially for that direct, in-your-face quality; nothing all too fancy, yet never anywhere close to being a full-on noise thing (far from it); just the sort of drone improvisation I love. (FdW) "Stephen Meixner hat neben seiner Arbeit mit Contrastate und Soloaufnahmen auf seinem kleinen Label Black Rose Recordings in den letzten Jahren eine Reihe von Alben anderer Künstler aus dem weiten Feld der Geräuschmusik veröffentlicht – zuletzt wurden bei uns noch hervorragende Alben von rlw und Asmus Tietchens besprochen. Nun wiederveröffentlicht er das zweite Album von Hollywood Dream Trip, einem aus Christoph Heemann und Will Long bestehenden Duo, das um 2013 aktiv war (und insgesamt drei Alben veröffentlichte), dem Jahr, in dem auch das lapidar „Second Album“ betitelte Zweitwerk in Aachen aufgenommen wurde. Ursprünglich war „Second Album“ nur als auf 50 Exemplare limitierte CD-R während einer Tour von Heemann und Long erhältlich. Eingespielt u.a. mit Moog Rogue und einem Roland MC-202 beginnt „Second Album“ mit dunklem, reduziertem Dröhnen und Pulsieren, zu dem nach und nach melodische flächige Sounds hinzukommen, die anfangs im Hintergrund bleiben. In weiteren Verlauf der 40 Minuten zu einem lauter werdenden, an- und abschwellenden Drone steigern. Als vor etlichen Jahren auf diesen Seiten Hollywood Dream Trips „Would You Like To Know More?“ besprochen wurde, konnte man lesen, man könne den Namen des Projekts „aber auch als Hinweis auf das Unterbewussste, Somnambule sehen – auf das, was dem Verstand oft nur indirekt zugänglich ist. Letzteres kommt einem beim Hören der zwei etwa 20-minütigen Tracks dann auch schnell in den Sinn.“ Letztlich passen diese Überlegungen auch zu dieser Veröffentlichung. Das ist nämlich, um auf das zweite Substantiv im Projektnamen zu kommen, tatsächlich eine im wahrsten und beiderlei Wortsinne „traumhafte“ Musik“ und es ist ein interessanter Kontrast zwischen dem doch recht prosaischen Titel des Albums und dieser Musik, der fortwährend ein Moment des Ver- und Entrücktseins innewohnt. Man kann sich problemlos eine nächtliche Fahrt durch die Hollywood Hills vorstellen, während man die CD hört und an David Lynchs Haus vorbeifährt. Zu dieser durchgängig somnambulen Atmosphäre passt dann auch das von Christoph Heemann gezeichnete Cover." [MG/African Paper] 2023 €13.00
HONEYMOON KILLERS (LES TUEURS DE LA LUNE DE MIEL) Les Tueurs de la Lune de Miel CD "Fronted by the late Yvon Vromman, The Honeymoon Killers were a provocative band with a strong pop sensibility. This album made them the darlings of the music press all around Europe (including in the UK, a rare feat for a French-singing act), and their delirious live shows gained them a strong following. Les Tueurs also included vocalist Véronique Vincent, Gerald Fenerberg, Jeanf Jones Jacob and Aksak Maboul/Crammed originators Marc Hollander & Vincent Kenis. The album originally came out in 1982. It was first re-issued on CD in 2003, augmented with 4 previously-unreleased live tracks from 1981 (with Aksak Maboul), a track recorded for a NME tape, and the 3 tracks from the "Subtitled Remix" EP (it had been strongly suggested to the band that they could broaden their audience if they recorded English versions of their songs. The Killers chose instead to “subtitle” them, or rather to add new, English-speaking characters to the songs: The Copter-hater, who lives a parallel story to that of the heroin of “Histoire à Suivre”, Mummy and Jason who comment the actions of the quarelling couple in “J4”, and Dr Stone, Max and Colonel LaFièvre, who turn the instrumental “Ariane” into a mini-space opera entitled “A Deep Space Romance”)." [label info] www.crammed.be Les Tueurs by Gilles Verlant: "The main quality and the main problem of the Honeymoon Killers is that they saw everything in duplicate. It's a recurrent drama with Belgians in general and artists in particular: they are often seriously schizophrenic. Let's start with their name. The Honeymoon Killers, like Leonard Kastle's 1970 film about a couple of serial killers ? Or Les Tueurs de la Lune de Miel, with this amusing contrast between menacing (Tueurs) and comforting words (Miel) ? They can't decide, so they'll put both names on the cover and the public will have to sort it out for themselves. And then who's the leader, or at any rate, who gets photographed for the press ? Is it Yvon Vromman, who is unshaven and ugly with his big round nose, but makes you die laughing (actually he's the one who'll die, far too early), a real bundle of nerves, the kind of psychopath which blows up in your face as soon as something goes wrong ? Or is it the evanescent Véronique Vincent, an ex-model and journalist ? In 1982 the New Musical Express doesn't think twice: the girl will make the cover. You can imagine Yvon's face: after all, he's the one who started this band! In the end, this internal competition will undermine them and make them explode in mid-flight. But there was even more schizophreny in the Killers: they were clearly going in several musical directions at the same time. Raw energy stemming from punk and new wave on the one hand, and serious musical skills of some band members on the other. What united them is the desire to have laughs, to experiment, to subvert influences without giving a damn about what's in and what's out (and maybe that's why their songs haven't aged, which is a thing you can't say about that many albums recorded back in 1981 !). Hey guys, let's make provocative versions of songs by Sheila and France Gall (two French pop stars from the '60s) ! They were only slightly more respectful with Charles Trenet's classic "Route Nationale 7", which went on to become a radio hit in France, while the press went apeshit. In reality, the Honeymoon Killers were a band from the 21st century which had unfortunately fallen into a spatio-temporal flaw. Today, all the things they were fighting for with their little fists tightly clenched (and their little tongues firmly screwed in their cheeks) have become totally obvious: being quirky and imaginative, not taking oneself too seriously, bravely mixing electro-and-pop-and-world-and-jazz etc. The Tueurs must absolutely reform. Yvon, don't act stupid, come back, all is forgiven ! [GV writes books and television programs. He is the author of the definitive Serge Gainsbourg biography.] www.crammed.be 2003 €13.00
HUM / SMALL TOWN ZOMBIE Stupefactions CD-R 65 min / 9 tracks collaboration work of these two Russian projects, ultra-slow & deep abstract & ethereal drone-ambience, like listening to the air 10 km above the earth. Strange & mysterious, softly roaring sounds, in no way monosonic as there’s enough variation between the tracks... “...this work is dedicated to stupor state, contains pieces recorded between june 2003 and january 2005. (except last part, recorded in august 2001). Some parts was taken from tapes recorded as Small Town Zombie (real-time processed street noise), others - hum stuff ( various-sources drones and processed tapes & field recordings)” [HUM] “....How aptly this is named, a soundtrack as an ode to those moments when we become amazed, jaw dropped and paralyzed due to the subsequent emotion...a state of short catatonia where reality ends up distorted, twisted, blurred, revealing something new and unknown along the process... really excellent (will end up in my end of the year list of fave albums !)...” [Daniel Crokaert/Mystery Sea] 2005 €9.50
HUMAN LARVAE Pure Sex CD At this point Human Larvae barely needs introduction. Freak Animal put out the previous full length LP Behind Blinding Light (2016). In 2020, double tape called "Fifteen Years" collected various live shows. Pure Sex is too long to fit on LP and album comes on CD only. Back in the day, one used to name drop other bands. In 2020 Human Larvae could be rather compared to his own former works. On this album, we can get both, the composition and creative variety of former albums, but also the dirt and fierce angle known from his smaller edition tapes. 2022 €13.00
HURTADO, MARC & ALAN VEGA Sniper CD "Alan Vega is literally a legend. Suicide, formed by the duo Rev and Vega is the spearhead of a punk trend which immersed all of a sudden in a fusion of waves and electronic loops. Since that period Vega became an icon for rock music and electronic generations... Vega’s flow, and the scansion of this white hot crooner sound fractured and charismatic. Everything is Rock, his leather jackets, his art and soul highly charged. So aesthetic, a rockabilly singing in a breathless style, wearing dusty pink and yelling metal make up. He is nowadays a Myth all around the world. Marc Hurtado gained his experience in the 80’s with his brother Eric, they were called “Étant Donnés”. Their albums, films and performances are highly appreciated in Beauboug,the Fondation Cartier, the Rennes Transmusicales,the Barcelona Sonar Festival, the Kitchen in New York and The French Cinematèque. In the years 2000, Marc Hurtado produced some original soundtracks (for Philippe Gandrieux and Jessica Hausner), but he is also known for his collaborations with Lydia Lunch, Genesis P-Orridge (Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV), Michael Gira (Swans), Gabi Delgado (DAF), The Hacker, Sky Saxon (The Seeds), Les Maîtres Musiciens de Jajouka, his project Sol Ixent with the German singer Saba Komossa (Delkom)... and of course Alan Vega. Hurtado recorded four tracks in the album Re-Up in 1999 and were together on stage in France and Europe (Centre Pompidou, Lieu Unique de Nantes with Christophe) and he also produced in 2009 the film “The Infinite Mercy Film”) dedicated to the art work of Alan Vega. Sniper was born from this artistic collaboration and complicity, it was recorded in 2010 at the 6/8 Studios cherished by Suicide. This is a blazing star, an album made of fever and chaos but it also remind us the synthetic ballad you can find in Vega’s early solo albums.Whithout mentioning Lydia Lunch’s participation in “Prison Sacrifice” already a cult song, there is the sublime one “Saturn Drive Duplex” in its first original version which could lead to inspiration in the future. With at least 13 tracks of rage and shiver where words and electricity are intertwine to show this threatening apocalyptic and violent world but also the desire to flee towards new possibilities and to explore the universe. This album follows the release of infinite Mercy, a monograph dedicated to the art work “Ghost Rider Man”, which came out in September 2010 at Presses du Réel and where you can find some texts from Marc Hurtado, Alan Vega, Henry Rollins, Ric Ocasek and Martin rev. Neon lights sculptures are on the outer cover and inside it, it’s a prestigious flamboyant release." [label info] www.maquismusic.com 2010 €15.50
HURTADO, MARC WITH VOMIR 2011 do-CD "Art edition with extra CD : 100 copies. Collaboration between Marc Hurtado, former of Etant Donnés, with Vomir (aka Romain Perrot). Marc Hurtado: Instruments, voice, mix, production. Vomir: static sound. Marc Hurtado, musician, film director, painter, poet and producer is the founder with his brother Eric Hurtado of the french multimedia band Etant Donnés, since 1977 he made 20 albums collaborating with people like Alan Vega, Genesis P Orridge, Lydia Lunch, Michael Gira, Marc Cunningham or Bachir Attar and the Master Musicians of Jajouka. He released some records with his solo project Sol Ixent between 2002 and 2004 and recorded between 2005 and 2008 an album of Neue Weltumfassende Resistance with Gabi Delgado , he produced the album 'The Source' by Bachir Attar and the Master Musicians of Jajouka in May 2010 and released the album 'Sniper' with Alan Vega in November 2010. He made several soundtracks for films by Philippe Grandrieux, Jessica Hausner or Mathieu Dufois and released 'The Infinite Mercy Film' with Alan Vega in 2009 and the film 'Jajouka, something good comes to you' with his brother Eric Hurtado in the Moroccan village of Jajouka in 2012. The project VOMIR (aka Romain Perrot) exist since 2006 and is active internationally with multiple releases, 2012 confirmed his status of International Master of the Harsh Noise Wall genre, which described a monolithic static harsh sound. Marc Hurtado met Vomir in 2010 and felt immediately in love for his 'burning' static sound. He invited him to work on the album 2011 which is the outcome of 3 years of work putting in abyss their respective universes and trying to blow up all the sound barriers and perceptions of art. '2011 is a raw and savage album elaborated in total freedom with no consideration for time or space that surrounded us' (Marc Hurtado)." [label info] www.touretterecords.com 2013 €24.00
HYBRYDS Music for Rituals do-CD "Sandy Nys says about the album: "'Music For Rituals' was first released in a hand-made pouch, on the German label ARTWARE. The music was like the first tape release, made in different places with different people on a 4-track Tascam cassette recorder. I also started making mail art music with musicians from far away in the world (no internet back then) sending basic music on cassette which I used in the compositions. In this music, Yasnaia and her cello and voice became prominent as we started working together." CD 2 contains rarities and unreleased tracks: 1: Hybryds & Alpha project (previously unreleased) 2: From 3RIOTAPES cassette compilation 3 & 4: sax by Barry Edgar Pilcher, from 3RIOTAPES cassette release: Saxapulation 1984 5: Koto build by Michel. Played by Michel and Magthea. Soundsamples from 'Dabide No Hoshi: Bishôjo-Gari' ('Star Of David: Beautiful Girl Hunter' a strange S/M movie from Japan 1979) (previously unreleased). This 2CD album is packaged in a digipak and limited to 500 copies." [label info] www.zoharum.com "Belgian electronic-ritualists The Hybryds began producing their exotic, sensual mesmerism and ethnographic forgeries in the mid '80s, after ringleader Sandy Nys (aka Magthea) transitioned from the minimalist EBM of The Klinik into the far more supple forms of tape loops and ritualized performance. Their iconography was one that was very much a precursor to the modern primitive bacchanal of Burning Man and paralleled the philosophical fascination with Crowley that came out of the whole Psychic TV and Current 93 circle. As such, Hybryds were a project with one foot very clearly in the ancient and the other firmly adhering to the technological advances. The slow, gyrating rhythms interlace the patter from hand-drummed percussion on wood, skin, bone, and metal with the electronic structures from MIDI-driven samples draped with reverberantly sustained synth drones. Nys along with co-conspirator Leen Smets (aka Yasnaia) also wove this tapestry with wordless vocals, processed violin, phasing tape loops, and the sublimely eerie buzzing of Egyptian reeds. Music For Rituals was the band's first album beyond a couple of limited cassette releases, featuring input from fellow Belgian transcendentalist Vidna Obmana who like Nys had shifted from a hard-bodied industrialist into a liquid melange of ritualized ambience and gnostic mysticism. This album originally came out on the seminal German label Artware in 1992, has been remastered from the 4-track tapes, and is now fleshed out with an extra cd's worth of bonus material. Zoviet France, O Yuki Conjugate, Zero Kama, and even the more introspective albums from Coil would all be worthy comrades in arms with Hybryds." [Aquarius Records] 2014 €15.00
The Rhythm of the Ritual / Ein Phallischer Gott do-CD "Zoharum continues reissuing past works of one of the most interesting projects coming from the 1980s underground - Hybryds. ”The Rhythm of the Ritual / Ein Phallischer Gott” is the fifth instalment in the reissue series of Hybryds classic releases. Sandy tells a few words about the period: In the 1990s only small independent labels existed which had their own area to cover distributionwise hoping to spread our music in the world. ”The Rhythm of the Rituals” (1994, Charnel Music) and ”Ein Phallischer Gott” (1997, Crowd Control Activities) shared some songs. There were no official media supporting this world of “underground” music. Acid and rave became popular in the “commercial” scene. Pro Tools was the magic word. But we made our music live on the 8-track. The only sequences were the drum machines. We stayed loyal to working the old-fashioned way. It's the more rhythmical and ethnical site of Hybryds, lots of percussion, played acoustically, or sampled and looped, or from drum machines. Some of the basic music was from the 1980s but by then we worked on a reel-to-reel 8-track tape recorder with a bigger mixing desk. Livewise we started to transfer to our cyberpunk period (as visible in the live version of ”Whisper”). Depending on the demand we had two live shows, the “magical” or the cyberpunk. It was also the time when Yasnaïa and me did the live shows alone. We did not work live on stage with others anymore. We had a manager, Patty Hele from Motherdance. It was easier to travel and perform with two people only. Yasnaïa released her solo album and started playing live with her solo project. The first CD collects tracks from two studio releases ”The Rhythm of the Ritual” and ”Ein Phallischer Gott”. The live CD contains live versions of the studio CD (some taken from the live Obuh vinyl LP) and some extras, like an unreleased song ”Dusk Falling”." [label info] www.zoharum.com "Neben dem Backcatalog anderer Bands taucht in den letzten Jahren auch immer wieder ein Album der HYBRYDS via ZOHARUM auf. Mit „The Rhythm Of The Ritual/ Ein Phallischer Gott“ ist man dabei bei zwei Werken von 1994 bzw. 1997 angekommen, die nun ergänzt um Live-Aufnahmen aus der Zeit als Doppel-CD, wiederaufgelegt werden. Hierzu ist allerdings anzumerken, dass nur drei Stücke des „The Rhythm Of The Ritual“-Albums enthalten sind. Die drei anderen wurden bereits mit der (Wieder-)veröffentlichung von „The Ritual Should Be Kept Alive“ 2015 erneut ans Tageslicht befördert. Auch nicht alle Stücke von „Ein Phallischer Gott“ haben es auf diese Zusammenstellung geschafft. Dafür taucht z.B. das eindrucksvolle „Call Of The Tuareg“ auf – ein Compilation-Track aus jener Zeit. Auf die fürchterlichen, quietschbunten 90er Jahre Computer-Cover der Originale wurde zum Glück nicht zurückgegriffen. Stattdessen wurde dem Release ein absolut stimmiges Artwork verpasst, das sich in die aktuelle, künstlerische Darstellung der HYBRYDS einpasst. Dass die vorliegenden Aufnahmen um die zwanzig Jahre alt sind, lässt sich tatsächlich nur schwer heraushören. Frei von damaligen Trends wirken die Stücke eher zeitlos. Die stark Ritual-, Tribal-lastige Musik wird zumeist von einem Rhythmus-Loop zusammengehalten, über den nicht durchgängig aber hin und wieder YASNAIAs Stimme gelegt wurde. Daneben erklingen Flötenklänge und Synthesizerpads, so dass der Gesamtsound mal organischer und mal elektronischer wirkt. Beteiligt waren an den Arbeiten damals auch illustre Gäste wie HERMAN KLAPHOLZ (u.a. AH CAMA-SOTZ) oder MOON FAR AWAY. Die Live-Aufnahmen und Proberaumaufnahmen der zweiten CD stammen ebenfalls aus der Zeit – zumeist 1996. Neben anderen Stücken, sind hier auch einige Tracks noch einmal in der Live-Version vorhanden, die auf der „Studio-Seite“ bereits zu finden sind. Der Sound ist dabei bis auf einige Ausnahmen durchweg recht gut. Wie oben dargestellt ist „The Rhythm Of The Ritual/ Ein Phallischer Gott“ keine Wiederveröffentlichung im eigentlichen Sinn, sondern eher eine Zusammenstellung von Stücken aus einer zeitlichen Periode, die in sich aber absolut stimmig und geschlossen wirkt und mit den zusätzlichen Live-Versionen und Outtakes einen gewissen Mehrwert mitbringt. Hörer, die sich für rituellen und Tribal-lastigen Ambient interessieren, sollten ruhig ein Ohr riskieren, da die Musik ohne Frage gegenüber der heutigen Konkurrenz mithalten kann – mindestens." [Tony F. für nonpop.de] 2016 €16.00
The Ritual of the Rave do-CD For the past several years Zoharum has been reissung the subsequent albums of the Belgian independent scene legend, Hybryds; so far five has been released. "The Ritual of the Rave" is the sixth installment in this series and is an expanded version of the 1995 album. It has not lost its freshness in those years. It is electronica with strong ambient and ethnic music influences locked in six long, slowly developing compositions. Here there are rhythmic elements directly taken from techno (which announced further changes in the Belgian project's repertoire.) "Icarus" or "Sjamanistic Dream" are still classics in the Hybryds catalogue. This is also one of the expanded editions of their classic albums. The second disc shows what Hybryds was like at concerts during the period when the recordings were made (live tracks compose the first five tracks recorded in 1995). In addition, we have three studio compositions here here. The first one belongs to the collaborative Hydra project, whose only official recording appeared on the compilation "The Uncertain Future" on Antler. The other two are the early recordings from 1988 by Magthea with Mark Burghgreave of Klinik. One of them, "Octahedron", appeared on the absolutely first single of the project. The album has been digitally remastered from the original master tapes by none else but Sandy Nys, who also provided the cover based on the previous editions. The CDs are housed in a digipak sleeve and the album is strictly limited to 500 copies. https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/the-ritual-of-the-rave 2017 €15.00
  Cortex Stimulation - Virtual Impact do-CD The next installment in the series of Hybryds classics reissues, consistently continued by Zoharum for years. This time we get two fullalbums, which, despite a few years between them, complement each other perfectly, showing a slightly more electronic face of the work of Belgian musicians. The first CD "Cortex Stimulation" was recorded with the participation of befriended musicians from Dive and Deutsch Nepal. The second disc "Virtual Impact" is a 100% live album, recorded during the band's performances at MS Stubnitz, Wave-Gotik-Treffen and Nursery Injection, which also featured guests from Deutsch Nepal, Dive or P.A.L. Originally, both albums were published by Daft Records, owned by Dirk Ivens. Today, refreshed, completely remastered and with new artwork by Sandy Nys, give the opportunity to rediscover for those who already know the earlier publications. For those who have not had yet the opportunity to know them in the past, it will allow to uncover an interesting and creative period in the activities of Hybryds 2021 €16.00
IGOR BARDO My Sweet Nightmare CD "Igor Bardo is a Russian musician and sound artist, best known from Bardoseneticcube, one of the leading experimental/post-industrial groups from Russia. My Sweet Nightmare is Igor Bardo’s debut solo album, containing about one hour of first class psychedelic electronic listening music. The surrealist soundscapes will be instantly embraced by fans of Bardoseneticcube, yet the artist manages to conquer heaps of new ground at the same time, and takes us on an adventurous journey deep down into the rabbit hole. Themes such as religion, psychedelia, sleep paralysis etc. are explored with eerie atmospheres, bliss-inducing frequencies and cutting edge studio experiments." [label info] www.someplaceelse.net "Some Place Else is a label based in Finland. My Sweet Nightmare is the debutalbum of the Russian soundartist and musician Igor Bardo. He is member of Bardoseneticube, an experimental/post-industrial group from Russia and is formed in 1998. This band released a lot of albums all over the world and they are wellknown as a powerful audiovisual live-performance act. The band ended in 2010. Bardo describes his album "My Sweet Nightmare" as a surrealistic album. The album is well composed and most compositions have a mix of recognizable sounds of musical structures like jazzy drums, religions chants or militaristic marches. He combines lots of different elements of music and sounds. Some tracks have an ambient noise style. The mixing between highly electronic sounds and fresh field-recordings and natural sound is well chosen. Old recordings of folk songs are mixed with ongoing electronic soundwaves and he creates a new old world. ?The end of the end? is a track with the shouting voice of Adolf Hitler. He samples his terrifying voice who evokes to destroy all Jews in the great German Reich with bombastic beats and chords. The song becomes more and more abstract and personal. But for me this song has nothing to do with a sweet nightmare. The track grabs my by the throat and my stomach starts turning. Real physical music, no more, no less. Highly recommended and real surprise for experimental ears and people with a strong stomach." [JKH/Vital Weekly] 2011 €13.00
IKEDA, KEN Merge CD Zweite CD des Japaners, der eher im Kunstbetrieb zu Hause ist, mit außergewöhnlichen Sounds.... zu hören gibt es hier eher im hochfrequenten Bereich angesiedelte, klare Sinustöne, die sich zu unvorhersagbaren Mustern zusammenraufen.. metallisch – resonanzerzeugend – leise, aber aufdringlich - zart, aber unterschwellig bedrohlich - nicht wirklich angenehm zu hören – wie eine eigene, fremde Sprache - .... “Ken Ikeda is a musician and artist who has composed and recorded for David Lynch and for Moriko Mori, latterly as part of the Royal Academy's 'Apocalypse' exhibition in 2001. He featured as part of Sonic Boom, at the Hayward Gallery, London in 2000. He has released two albums for Touch. The first, tzuki [Moon] (Touch # T33.17, 2000), was strangely reminiscent of early Durrutti Column, hypnotic, dreamy and mystical. Here a darker side to his work unfolds; although retaining Buddhist notions of circles and cycles and other natural laws and influences, here he contemplates nature's shadowy side. The title, Merge, has as its root 'to drown' or 'immerse' oneself, its current usage with regard to convergence or (business) partnership not recorded until 1926 (OED). The double-edged nature of this recording is also reflected by its entirely different aspect determined by whether one plays it at high or low volume. These notions are further reflected in Jon Wozencroft's photography -- two small and uninhabited islands almost enveloped by the rising sea levels, juxtaposed with a view of New York's Upper East Side, taken from Central Park, skyscrapers swimming in the cloud cover..." [press release] 2003 €14.00
ILITCH White Light LP After multiple projects and collaborations with, among others, Valentina Fanigliulo (Mushy, Phantom Love), Nicholas Littlemore (Empire Of The Sun, Pnau), Aaron Moore, Quentin Rollet, Jac Berrocal ... Thierry Müller restart the "concept" of ILITCH for this opus - new ilitch album since 2010 (excluding reissues). Ilitch albums, too rare for some, cults for others, are from the beginning generated by important moments in the life of Thierry Müller. Inspired by them, reflecting them, sublimating them, treating them as therapy or bearing an incisive, sometimes impudent and / or disillusioned look, Thierry gives each opus a resonance, a sound, a singular treatment. In the bloodline of "10 Suicides", "Lena's Life" ... He gives us a very personal concept album: "Several health-related accidents have led me to reflect on the passing of time, resulting in flashbacks, disturbing feelings about memory and neurological disorders, the questions it causes, and a strange feeling that I tried to "translate" into the track White Light that gave the title to the album ... ". With the contributions of Jac Berrocal, Aaron Moore, Quentin Rollet and Milena Drither-Lerru, this introspective album takes us to unknown lands that can only question and seduce us. THIERRY MÜLLER: guitar, bass, synths, piano, keys, Mellotron, drums programing, voice JAC BERROCAL: trumpet MILENA DRITHER-LERRU: cello, voice
 AARON MOORE: vocals, percussions, panpipes, harp
 QUENTIN ROLLET: saxophone
 https://bisourecords.bandcamp.com/album/white-light https://www.bisou-records.com/artists/thierry-muller/ 2021 €25.00
ILLUSION OF SAFETY In Session CD Neues Material des Projektes von DAN BURKE - als eher elektronisch arbeitende Industrial-Band fing man an, aber die verschiedenen Metamorphosen in der nunmehr 25jährigen Geschichte führten über Geräuschobjekt-Improvisationen und eher collagigen musique concrete Werken bis hin zum dark ambient und drone-basierender Musik. IN SESSION führt einiges davon zusammen, besitzt Anteile von verschiedenen Stilen, spannungeladen & sirrend, wellig, dronig, dicht, wieder ein kleines Meisterwerk. Geräuschmusik wie sie intensiver kaum vorstellbar ist. "Illusion Of Safety is one of the oldest post-industrial acts in the Americal musical underground, and in my opinion, of the most interesting projects ever. During 25 years of existence IOS have recorded a lot of various albums and their music has been changing a lot. Having passed through all the circles of industrial hell, Dan Burke has lost almost all his companions and remained alone. He hasn't released too many albums recently, and "In Session" released in 2008 has become a real surprise for me. I mean of course the fact of the release, because the highest quality of musical material and huge amount of pleasure while listening to it is guaranteed by any of IOS albums. "In Session" was recorded in 2007, the mastering was made by Thomas Dimuzio at Gench Music Studio. This is a very thorough and delicate work, an abstract performance in which synthetic and natural sounds mix in the most unusual combinations, when you really hold your breath to wait what's gonna be further. In 6 tracks of the album there are a lot of quiet microscopic sounds which whirl in front of the eyes like thoughts without rational content. They change into the smooth waves of melodic ambient, then to insane sampled collages which don't make you feeling relaxed keeping the constant tension. This shortening of the distance between contemplativeness and neural spasms has always been the trademark of IOS - it's interesting to watch how the musical structure transforms under the emotional passion hiding after each second of the track time, but not always going out. Separate compliments should be given to the artwork designer - you can observe the cover for a really long time being astounded by it's beauty. [Dmitry Vasilyev, Monochrome Vision] "One of my favorite post industrial bands ever. Period. Since more than twenty years I am a fan and every new release is awaited with eager anticipation. This highly limited release from Russia, in a gorgeous package, is no different. These days, since many years actually, Illusion Of Safety is reduced one person, following a free floating membership that included Thyme Jones and Jim O'Rourke to mention just two, which is Dan Burke. He plays 'sound generating devices and random objects that deliberately provoke, mesmerize and even affront listeners'. I deliberately use the term 'post industrial' and not say 'electro-acoustic' or 'musique concrete', which could also easily be applied to the music of Illusion Of Safety. When they started they were firmly rooted in the world of industrial music, and later on elements of musique concrete came along, but if you listen to 'In Session' the elements of industrial music are still there. Heavy, steel walls of drone music pierce your ears and are as easily replaced by soft drones, crackling sounds of hand held objects and contact microphones. I wouldn't be surprised if Burke plays all of this 'in session', live at home so to speak. I saw him a lot of times playing concerts which capture the equal beauty that is captured here. Ranging from sheer noise to near silence and there is always an element of surprise lurking around the corner. An abrupt, full stop or start and it bring the piece in a new territory. Illusion Of Safety's music can be compared with the likes of Roel Meelkop or Toy Bizarre, but is less bound to rules of composition and more free and joyous (well, that's probably not the right away) than those of the microsound/musique concrete posse that inhabits the world of Vital Weekly so frequently. That alone makes a great band and another great CD. Very fine concentrated bursts of sound." [FdW / Vital Weekly] "The first proper record from Illusion Of Safety in well over 5 years emerges from the Russian label Waystyx, meaning that this will not be around for long and will not be easy for us to track down once these are gone. Just a caveat before we launch into the, um, virtues of this exercise in muscular electronics and brainmelting dronescaping. Illusion Of Safety began well over two decades ago, firmly embracing the death factory imagery and psychological tension that came through the work of Throbbing Gristle, John Duncan, and The Hafler Trio. While the grizzly subjects of torture and sexual violence have dissolved over time, Illusion Of Safety's interest in unsettled soundscapes, collages, and electronic walls of noise remain as powerful as ever. Illusion Of Safety has always been a revolving door project centered around Chicago's Dan Burke; and In Session finds Burke alone at the helms of Illusion Of Safety, concocting a dizzying series of arcing electroshock compositions filled with intense dynamics and rapid crescendos of incremental noise quickly nosediving into subharmonic tones and microtonal squiggles, with plenty of slow building elements in between. The piercing drones that dominate the Illusion Of Safety palette are matched with crumbled textures from electronic circuits on the verge of collapse (see Wolf Eyes, Carlos Giffoni) and contact microphone agitation (see Tarab, Eric La Casa, Loren Chasse, etc.). There's one track of grim psychedelic arpeggiations which sounds as if Prurient were attempting a Terry Riley piece, with bad intentions running through the phase shifting loops. Totally fantastic, if not totally disquieting!" [Aquarius Rec.] 2008 €13.00
Probe CD "This is the first re-issue OF ILLUSION OF SAFETY's PROBE since its only appearance in 1992. In a limited edition of 500 copies, Perdition Plastics is proud to reintroduce this notable work of contemporary composition. Veteran provocateurs, ILLUSION OF SAFETY, examine an audio landscape found between youth and innocence, manufactured entertainment, and suburban complacency. Using a pastiche of field recordings and suggestively composed elements, Dan Burke and Jim O'Rourke strikingly capture ambivalence and their own personal interactions within this environment. PROBE was one of several early, pinnacle works to foreshadow the unique and prolific audio fingerprint of renowned producer/player, Jim O'Rourke, when still a compositional student in Chicago. This release fits neatly into O'Rourke's recent issuing OF forgotten and initial recordings. As the constant center OF ILLUSION OF SAFETY since 1983, Dan Burke has consistently edited and evolved more than 20 CDs from ambience to electronica, from sound collage to post-industrial noise. The complexity and restraint found within PROBE marked a compelling new direction for Burke and a great many others influenced by his music. ILLUSION OF SAFETY has been released by such labels as Die Stadt, Experimedia, Silent, Soleilmoon, Staalplaat, Tesco, and Waystyx among others. Collaborations include Cheer-Accident, Thomas Demuzio, Kevin Drumm, Ben Vida, and others. PROBE will be of interest to those who enjoy Hafler Trio, Throbbing Gristle, Luc Ferrari, etc." [label info] www.perditionplastics.com "This is not a review but merely a historical, personal ramble. In 1992 I started working for Staalplaat, buying and selling stuff, and helping out getting those strange packages done. One of the bands that already had a great package, before my time, was Illusion Of Safety, whose 'Historical' was packed in a leather pouch with a real bullet. Both Staalplaat and Korm Plastics, my own small venture, were in contact with Illusion Of Safety's main man Dan Burke and Jim O'Rourke, who was then a main collaborator with Burke. This resulted in 'Disengage', still one of the top 10 releases by Staalplaat, along with 'Probe' by Illusion Of Safety. The first 500 were packed in a wooden box with a real Italian coin and toy money from former Eastern Germany (an additional 500 were sold in the same wooden box, but without the monies). Illusion Of Safety were on a peak with that CD, or perhaps a watershed mark (otherwise you may think they never reached another peak again) is a better word. Before that Illusion Of Safety was, perhaps, 'another' fine band of harsh and less harsh industrial music as a bigger outfit with a varying line up. Towards the end of the era of releasing cassettes, which culminated in the fine but highly obscure 'RVE' tape, Jim O'Rourke became a member, bringing a love of composed music to the table, not just musique concrete but also the like of Scelsi. The music of Illusion Of Safety changed and on 'Probe', as said being here just Dan Burke & Jim O'Rourke, this culminated in that first highlight. All of the influences from before and new ones, melted together in this great disc of musique concrete. Many field recordings are used, along with piercing electronics at times, bowed guitars at others. Sometimes stretching out seemingly ad infinitum, but then sometimes abruptly changing color, speed, intensity, mood, texture and/or atmospherics. An absolute great work of sound collage, bridging musique concrete, electro-acoustics, improvisation, industrial music and ambient. Still a highlight of a career, and great to see back in print - even when the cover is not on par with the original. [FdW / Vital Weekly] "Arguably the finest Illusion Of Safety record ever made, Probe was the 1992 recording composed by Dan Burke and Jim O'Rourke. The former began Illusion Of Safety a decade earlier with a revolving door personnel policy involving a handful of Chicago malcontents. O'Rourke began working with Burke's project around 1989 or so, when he was still a teenager and studying composition in college. Where many of the Illusion Of Safety albums are full-frontal assaults on the psyche of the listener (especially the groundbreaking album Historical with its raw use of narration from torture documentaries), Probe is a far more subtle and thus effective album marked by the extended use of disturbed silences, predating such sound design techniques that David Lynch mastered in Mulholland Drive and Lost Highway. This use of space is definitely coming from the O'Rourke side of the equation (which according to Burke was 50/50 on Probe), as O'Rourke's early solo album Scend was released at about the same time as Probe with profound similarities. Throughout the subsonic frequencies and unsettled spooky drones, there are numerous punctures of analogue sourced micro- bleeping, errata from shortwave, scrabbling of tactile objects, field recordings of traffic jams, children at play, carnival rides, etc. and jittery digitally sculpted loops. As all of these elements slowly unfurl over several lengthy chapters, Probe truly synthesizes the aesthetics of both Burke and O'Rourke into a cohesive body of work, with Burke's research into the dark and transgressive balanced with O'Rourke's studies into the musique concrete of Luc Ferrari and Michel Chion. Staalplaat first released Probe in a wooden slipcase in an edition of 500 copies. Those quickly went out of print; but fortunately, Perdition Plastics has just reissued this brilliant album, albeit in more conventional packaging..."[Aquarius Records] 2009 €13.00
Surrender CD-R "I've been releasing things outside of the internet (no part of it), and one of them has been "Surrender", the newest outing by Illusion of Safety. Daniel Burke has made a "remix overview" of this work, and I had to let the cat out of the bag. More information can be found at the video link, including the mail box where money orders/hidden cash is to be sent. Do check it out! The video is exceptional! I've been told some of the processes in making it, and it's nothing short of deftly inspired! $7 postage paid in the US. $12 elsewhere. Available in pro cassette and pro CDR format. I haphazardly spurred Illusion of Safety back into live action in 2008 when I asked him to do a show with me at the Empty Bottle. From there, we were both asked to perform for WTII's monthly showcase at Darkroom, wherein this clown video material first surfaced, so it's a pleasure for me to release the nexus of a soundtrack to this imagery, coming full circle. "Illusion of Safety, just passing its 30th year since inception, is often regarded as the innovator of "ambient industrial". Despite having traversed nearly every arena of the experimental milieu, performed prestigious fests all over the world, and collaborated with some of widest ranging and heaviest hitting of the avante garde, core member/founder Daniel Burke has both shown a return to form and a veritable bouquet of new frontiers in his most recent outing, "Surrender". In just under 60 minutes, the listener is taken on a dizzying carousel ride where everything but the kitchen sink is employed to weave a deeply personal (abstract, wordless) narrative that comes off as minimalistic, condensed, and bombastic. But at the same time, it is a constantly shifting, complex and ornate grid iron amalgam of genuine enthusiasm and horror. Recommended if you like a complete disregard for the myopic trappings and short sighted formulae of contemporary sound art today." [label info] nopartofit.blogspot.de "Somewhere, an old T-shirt from Illusion Of Safety exists (the last we saw was affixed to Sigtryggur from Stillupsteypa some 10 years ago) with a deadpan/ironic catch-phrase "Illusion Of Safety gives you that soaring feeling" next to an image of a man tumbling headfirst out of a skyscraper window. Such a calculated juxtaposition of word and image was emblematic of the '80s art world (e.g. Barbara Kruger), often speaking to the underbelly of callousness, cruelty, violence and general amorality within consumerist society. Outside of this bold piece of iconography, Illusion Of Safety has operated within a more liminal state of mysteriousness through signifier and meaning. Even in their most placid albums of soft-focus ambience, the specter of some unknowable threat lurks in the background. More common in the Illusion Of Safety catalogue is an iron-fisted grasp of that sense of foreboding and dread through psychologically tense sound design. Over three decades in existence, this Chicago based project has been whittled down to its core member Dan Burke - with a few comrades-in-arms joining him occasionally - and is probably the longest running American industrial project, having produced a very impressive body of work. The 2014 album Surrender fits comfortably next to some of the masterpieces of the IOS back catalogue (e.g. Cancer, In Session, Historical, etc.) through the trademarked juxtaposition of noxious frequencies snaking in and out of harmonic phase patterns only to snap out of existence with a razor-cut edit into an electrical burst of tesla coil noise (for example). Disjointed rhythms, mediated collages, decontextualized field recordings, and psychoacoustic phrases map this album with incredible control and precision. Illusion Of Safety proves once again that they are one of the greats of industrial culture. Grab this album before it disappears, the pro-duplicated cd-r is limited to just 100 copies. Same for the cassette." [Aquarius Records] "Among the few artists I have been following what seems now to be a lifetime (Asmus Tietchens, Main, Organum), Illusion Of Safety is probably among them the band I saw play live most. Dan Burke, the main man, is a most loveable chap and he always surprises me with his next move. His music doesn't operate in any particular style, but overlaps various genres. Improvised, industrial, ambient, musique concrete, and even a bit of techno beat thrown in. Here's a new album that proofs it. It's called 'Surrender' (which word always reminds me of the Cheap Trick song) and on a label called No Part Of It, meaning they don't want to be part of the world of Internet. There is a website, but there catalogue is hand scribbled on a sheet of paper and the CDRs - professionally designed - can be bought with a money order. Yes! That's what I like. Swim against the tide. Music wise Illusion Of Safety does something we haven't seen him do in quite some time. The collage styled music in which lengthy chunks of sounds are suddenly cut away by voices from radio and TV, a techno beats slips into view and sounds remarkable like the early 90s works such as 'Historical', 'Inside Agitator' or 'Distraction'. Quiet at times, but also quite bombastic at other times, filmic but without too many words. And if we hear any, it's about nuclear waste leakage. In that sense this album also harks back to the post-industrial sound of yesteryear. The balance between the very quiet and the very loud, between the ambience and the beats, is maintained very well throughout this release. Daddy's all right: surrender!" [FdW/Vital Weekly] 2013 €9.00
  Organ Choir Drone MC https://nopartofit.bandcamp.com/album/organ-choir-drone "It's no big secret that I enjoy Illusion Of Safety's music and have been doing it for years. While there are very few albums that are don't favour, there are also a few that are easily in my top 100 best albums ever - and no, I don't have a list. Last week I played 'Cancer', a CD from the early 1990s, and I mumbled what a great record that was. Each new work is welcomed with much anticipation, and 'Organ Choir Drone' is no different. It's an album of recent music, and it's unclear if it contains organs and choirs. Maybe there are heavily processed parts of the music. Drones, on the other hand, are definitely a part of this. All usual Illusion Of Safety elements appear on this album. Longform drone sounds, modular synthesis, small acoustic sounds, radio waves, and lots of obscured sounds result in moody and textured music. Dystopian perhaps, as shining also in the titles, 'Children Of The Fear Of Light', 'Black Helicopters', or 'Waste Of Civiliation'. Some of these could be the title of a Stephen King novel. Dark and atmospheric as the music may seem, the overall goal isn't to produce grim music; at least, that's not how I perceive the music. I find these ominous dark soundscapes a true pleasure to hear, despite the grim undercurrent; another excellent addition to an otherwise already great catalogue." [FdW /Vital Weekly] 2023 €12.00
IN SLAUGHTER NATIVES Insanity & Treatment 3 x CD "The bloody awaited new release from Swedish cult band! Seven years of silence and now is the time to be back… Indeed, Jouni Havukainen never released his records too often, for over 20 years of existence, ISN did not release neither singles, (except for split 7” with Voice Of Hate) nor miniCDs, but have produced five full-length albums, each of which is an approachless peak in the history of dark music. Insanity & Treatment, is a collection of group’s live performances in a luxurious packaging, the best of them have been carefully selected and remastered personally by the author. You'll find the legendary radio recording of Mort Aux Vaches, Concerts in Madrid, France, Prague and in Moscow. The record is featured by Tomas Pettersson, Kathleen Binder and Peter Andersson! The famous musician and one of the best designers of the modern Industrial scene - Jerome Nougaillon (Propergol, Cosmos Entropy, Old Iron Fence, Sea-Green Series, Vargtimmen, Wrong Number) engaged in artistic design, his work makes an already unique publication, a true piece of art! Digibook LTD: 999 copies O:N:L:Y! ACT FAST!" [label info] www.infinitefog.ru 2011 €29.00
INANNA Day ov Torment CD Re-release of this classic death / drone-industrial album from 1993 (Staalplaat) by the solo-project of MIKAEL STAVÖSTRAND (who was also part of ARCHON SATANI at that time). New artwork design by NIKO SKORPIO (SOME PLACE ELSE, etc). "Reissue of the massive Death Industrial album from this ARCHON SATANI side-project, originally issued by Staalplaat in 1993. INANNA were at the forefront of a new force in Doom Ambiance way back in the early '90s. This stunningly remastered and repackaged album brings alive one of the classic scene albums - a milestone in ultra grim and crushing death sonics, that paved the way for many Drone and Ritual Industrial bands around today. Mixed by J Havukainen (IN SLAUGHTER NATIVES)." [label info] www.coldspring.co.uk 2007 €8.00
INCAPACITANTS As Loud as Possible do-LP + 7inch The mid-90s were particularly abundant years for harsh noise, producing many albums which are now considered masterpieces. One of the most beloved classics from this period is "As Loud As Possible" by Incapacitants. Active since 1981, the duo of Toshiji Mikawa and Fumio Kosakai found their stride in the early 90s and set off on an unrelenting course which produced countless gems of noise. Many of these have been well preserved and documented elsewhere, compiled on "Box Is Stupid" and "Alchemy Box Is Stupid", however, "As Loud As Possible" has never been reissued since its original release on Zabriskie Point. It is now made available for the first time since 1995, with no corner cut in preparation of its reissue. The audio was transferred from the original tapes by Din-I-Ilahi, and re-mastered for digital and vinyl formats by Rashad Becker. The iconic cover photographs by Naomi Hosokawa have been scanned from the original negatives and enlarged for the expanded format, along with outtakes and unused shots, which are now included here for the first time. T. Mikawa also dug into the Incapacitants archives and unearthed two additional tracks of previously unreleased material, recorded around the same time as the album. These two tracks, entitled "As Loud As Possible Revisited" are included as a bonus 7" with alternate picture sleeve. Features extensive liner notes written by Sam McKinlay aka The Rita. A personal all-time favourite, it is an honour to present "As Loud As Possible" as a double LP in deluxe gatefold sleeve. Includes digital download. https://totalblack.bandcamp.com/album/as-loud-as-possible 2022 €32.50
INNER VISION LABORATORY Relics CD 'Inner Vision Laboratory' releases new studio album 'Relics' on Winter-Light label. The inspiration for this album came from different science-fiction and post-apocalyptic books and movies, but also from the artists’ personal thoughts regarding mankind’s condition. ‘Relics’ is a musical illustration for the very distant future, where humanity has failed in its progress and moved to total annihilation. Relics are the only things humanity has left behind. Other higher advanced civilisations will come to visit our now desolate planet to collect these relics; these fading tokens of the past. They come to visit the Museum of Savages, who destroyed their own habitat and rendered their once beautiful planet uninhabitable. 'Inner Vision Laboratory' is a musical project brought into existence by the Polish artist/musician Karol Skrzypiec. Created in March 2005, stylistically the project qualifies as industrial dark ambient. Nevertheless, it also includes elements of ethnic music, classical music, et al. 'Inner Vision Laboratory' has released a series of albums on labels such as Rage In Eden, Zoharum, and Beast Of Prey, collaborating with other artists such as Hoarfrost, Roto Visage and Nepenthe. His other works include the highly acclaimed 'Anywhere Out Of This World', 'Perpetua' and 'Austeros'. 2018 €12.00
IONOSPHERE Nightscape CD "Eight years since the last release in 2007, Ionosphere has now returned with its third full length album. It follows the path of previous works focusing on deep, shivering, cosmic sound waves and moves further with the inclusion of an emotional core. Expansive drones, drifting melodic soundscapes, ominous sonic undertones and vocal transmissions intersect with densely concentrated rhythmic pulsations that emphasize the sculptural nature and deep atmospheric scope of the 11 tracks.’Nightscape’ is a soundtrack that transports the listener on an epic journey far away into spaces and environments where lights and noises move and circulate slowly while the night embraces everything. Comes in elegant 6-panel digi-sleeve." [label info] www.loki-found.de "Schon in meiner Besprechung zu Sawakos „Nu.it“-Album schrieb ich, dass es wenig Musikarten gibt, die das Phänomen der Nacht so unmittelbar und quasi impressionistisch einzufangen wissen wie Ambient. Während die Japanerin die Nacht als ein verspieltes Abenteuerreich darstellte, in dem sich wohlige und unheimliche Stimmungen gegenüberstehen, bis alles wie in einem Film zum beruhigenden Finale kommt, erscheint die Nacht in „Nightscape“, dem dritten Longplayer des deutschen Projektes Ionosphere, wie ein unendlicher Raum, der nicht nur den Schlafenden scheinbar für immer in seine Dunkelheit zieht. „Watch the world fall into the endless night“ lautet das aus den Titeln des eröffnenden und des abschließenden Tracks zusammengesetzte Motto des Albums. Doch auch hier ist die Nacht kein Gleichmacher, der alles in einem monochronen Schwarz zu ersticken droht. Ionosphere versteht es, sein Paket an Klängen in dichte, ausladende Dronehüllen von soghafter Schwere zu packen, die über weite Strecken eine molllastige Wärme aufweisen. Mal körnig, mal vibrierend, mal so glatt wie eine Skulptur und dann wieder so kantig wie das Gebirgsmassiv auf dem Cover ist die Beschaffenheit dieses Rahmens so wechselvoll, dass die epische Reise schon deshalb episodisch anmuten muss. Noch interessanter ist allerdings das, was sich unter dieser Hülle abspielt. Das können kleine, wie im Zeitraffer vorbeischnellende Klangschnipsel sein, die in „Vast Winds from Beyond“ gegen den Strom der Dröhnung anschwimmen, oder auch die kleinen Leerstellen und Hohlräume im ganz bezeichnend „The Silence Underneath“ betitelten Stück. Oft geht es jedoch merklich konkreter zu, und es ist eine der reizvollen Paradoxien des Albums, dass man über gerade diese konkreteren Sounds letztlich doch nur mutmaßen kann – ist es das Stöhnen eines Liebespaares, das in „Watch the World“ von der Nacht verschluckt wird, was sagt die grummelige Männerstimme in „Polarized Light“, woher kommt wohl das hintergründige Pfeifen in „Radio Altitude“, bevor es von einem bedrohlichen Pochen übertönt und endgültig im analogen Klangstrudel verschuckt wird? All dies und weitere Dinge verdanken ihre Faszination der Vagheit, mit der sie nur schemenhaft durchs Klangbild huschen oder wie von sehr weitem, aus der Ionosphäre, betrachtet anmuten. „Nightscape“ ist seinem Thema entsprechend ein düsteres Album geworden, doch es wäre falsch, es darauf und auf die Wucht der hereinbrechenden Düsternis zu reduzieren. Mit gestalterischem Feingefühl ist hier ein v.a. eine Hommage an die ins Dunkel gehüllte Vielgestalltigkeit einer verwandelten und verzauberten Welt gelungen." [Uwe Schneider / African Paper] africanpaper.com/2015/06/20/ionosphere-nightscape/#more-10344 2015 €13.00
IRISARRI, RAFAEL ANTON Peripeteia CD Over the years, American composer Rafael Anton Irisarri has become ubiquitous within the spheres of ambient, drone and electronic music. Whether it's through Irisarri's celestial long-form albums or his lauded audio engineering credentials for countless artists and labels, Irisarri's consistent dedication to his craft never wavers from the forefront. While Irisarri's compositions typically field an array of modern ambient overtones threaded through oceanic symphonies with tape loops, bowed electric guitar and vast washes of overdriven sound, his recent debut album for Dais Records, "Peripeteia, portrays these common themes giving way to metal and classical influences that emphasizes Irisarri's melancholic tendencies. These unique overtures, coupled with his signature layering of distortion and bleached-out textures, fabricate an audible environment that would seemingly be at odds with, yet gracefully complement each other. In Irisarri's own words, "My previous works internalize any exterior forces or circumstances, while trying to make sense of the world. Peripeteia reverses that approach, focusing on the personal in order to tell a wider human story." The emotional depth found throughout Peripeteia is impeccably on display with the track, Mellified. A collaboration with Spanish composer Yamila, the choral arrangements bring to mind the sacred music of Arvo Pärt, while her voice combines the Andalusian "Cante jondo" style with medieval modes, almost drowning in layers of octave fuzz distortion and dystopian synths patterns. On Arduous Clarity, the bright arpeggiating melody that churns throughout, offers the initial glimmer of optimism in an otherwise decaying tale of personal turmoil. This encouraging glimpse is short lived however, as the song Refuge/Refuse seemingly plummets into the mourning depths of somber despair. A chorus of voices steadily crawls from its desolate terrain - a sea of broken spirits, eternally resigned to strain and bellow their final lament. Fright and Control, a piece which is equally soul churning, seems to possess a satisfying resolve, as if after years of searching, one's very salvation has been laid to rest through the acceptance of mortality and the enlightenment in death. Irisarri's complexity is utilized to a forcible success, slowly pulsing throughout the foreground of his audience, further emphasizing the impending dread of resolve." https://irisarri.bandcamp.com/album/peripeteia 2020 €15.00
  Peripeteia (clear) LP Over the years, American composer Rafael Anton Irisarri has become ubiquitous within the spheres of ambient, drone and electronic music. Whether it's through Irisarri's celestial long-form albums or his lauded audio engineering credentials for countless artists and labels, Irisarri's consistent dedication to his craft never wavers from the forefront. While Irisarri's compositions typically field an array of modern ambient overtones threaded through oceanic symphonies with tape loops, bowed electric guitar and vast washes of overdriven sound, his recent debut album for Dais Records, "Peripeteia, portrays these common themes giving way to metal and classical influences that emphasizes Irisarri's melancholic tendencies. These unique overtures, coupled with his signature layering of distortion and bleached-out textures, fabricate an audible environment that would seemingly be at odds with, yet gracefully complement each other. In Irisarri's own words, "My previous works internalize any exterior forces or circumstances, while trying to make sense of the world. Peripeteia reverses that approach, focusing on the personal in order to tell a wider human story." The emotional depth found throughout Peripeteia is impeccably on display with the track, Mellified. A collaboration with Spanish composer Yamila, the choral arrangements bring to mind the sacred music of Arvo Pärt, while her voice combines the Andalusian "Cante jondo" style with medieval modes, almost drowning in layers of octave fuzz distortion and dystopian synths patterns. On Arduous Clarity, the bright arpeggiating melody that churns throughout, offers the initial glimmer of optimism in an otherwise decaying tale of personal turmoil. This encouraging glimpse is short lived however, as the song Refuge/Refuse seemingly plummets into the mourning depths of somber despair. A chorus of voices steadily crawls from its desolate terrain - a sea of broken spirits, eternally resigned to strain and bellow their final lament. Fright and Control, a piece which is equally soul churning, seems to possess a satisfying resolve, as if after years of searching, one's very salvation has been laid to rest through the acceptance of mortality and the enlightenment in death. Irisarri's complexity is utilized to a forcible success, slowly pulsing throughout the foreground of his audience, further emphasizing the impending dread of resolve." https://irisarri.bandcamp.com/album/peripeteia 2020 €24.00
IRR.APP. (ext.) Kreiselwelle CD "Das ist nun - nach Ozeanische Gefühle und Cosmic Superimposition - der abschließende Teil von M. S. Waldrons Trilogie über den Freudo-Marxisten, Faschismusund Orgontheoretiker und Parawissenschaftler Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957). Reich war der Auffassung, dass der von ihm postulierte ‚Orgonenergie-Ozean‘ 'Lebensenergie‘ in Form von ‚Kreiselwellen‘ ausstrahlt, die sich visuell, thermisch, elektroskopisch und mit Hilfe des Geiger-Müller-Zählers nachweisen lassen. Waldron spielt entsprechend mit ‚Spiral-Klängen‘, Spiralfedern, dem Geräusch anbrandender, ‚lappender‘ Wellen, Luftwirbeln, aufziehbarem Spielzeug etc. Rasselnde, pulsierende, blubbrig unkende, wie Whirlies sirrende und automatisch klappernde Geräusche mischen sich mit elementaren zu einem unruhigen Gedröhn. Die an- und abflauenden Erregungszustände sind Teil eines Kontinuums von gut einer Dreiviertelstunde. Schritte zu Beginn und zwischendurch vage Stimmfetzen im Hintergrund deuten an, dass der Mensch in diesem Energiefluss, diesem Kontinuum von Wirbeln mitschwingt." [Bad Alchemy] " irr. app. (ext.) is the sound-engineering project of Californian M.S. Waldron, whose liminal slippages and detourned croons have been spotted recently on stage in Nurse With Wound. Yet for all of the antics that are required for the NWW spectacle, Mr. Waldron still dedicates himself in the parallel pursuits of irr. app. (ext.) with a discography that reads more like a wunderkammer of uncanny investigations into futility declared as its reverse. Kreiselwelle is the third and final installment to a body of works that irr. app. (ext.) has composed under the influence of Wilhelm Reich, the unorthodox 20th Century psychologist who proposed amongst many hypotheses, an interconnectivity between energy, organisms, and the entire cosmos. The title to this album translates as ‘spiral wave,’ a structuralist form which Reich had observed throughout nature within numerous systems, whether that be the grand arcs of galaxies down to the radial symmetries of micro-organisms. For Kreiselwelle, Mr. Waldron returns to the same collection of field recordings which began this trilogy that includes Ozeanische Gefühle and Cosmic Superimposition; however, he restricted himself to those sounds with spiralling origins: resonating springs, the sounds of the ocean cyclically churning over pebbles on the beach, the wafting of air around various objects, or simply a lamp-shade spinning in place. The resulting recording develops as an organic sublimation of one sound transforming from one state into another and then another. Motorized sounds of mechanical toys set askew settle into a tremolo phase pattern of electrical vibrations. These in turn morph into a cauldron of slow locomotive rumbling, which beget one of many glassine drones that float throughout Kreiselwelle. Many of the sounds seem to have origins in objects that are broken, obsolete, or just plain wrong; but through Waldron’s deft alchemy, these sounds are allowed to flourish in this richly dark and oddly serene amalgamation." [label info] "...[as] for the ultra-fantastic soundwork of Irr. App. (Ext.), this Californian composer has been baffling and perplexing the ears of international listeners for not a few years now, and his new Kreiselwelle, a single 45-minute work of strange process music, is a slow voyage into the unknown. Within minutes, we're taken far beyond the relatively familiar world of "dark ambient" and enter a murky field of immersive and twisted shapes, where possible danger lurks at every corner. Conceptually rooted in an interpretation of the works of Wilhelm Reich, Kreiselwelle is the third part of a trilogy and connect with the "spiral waves" of the title, derived all of its sounds from things shaped like spirals (such as metal springs, or the circular movement of the ocean). In like manner, M. S. Waldron's composition will probably suck you into a whirlpool of doubt and ambiguity." [Ed Pinsent / The Sound Projector] www.helenscarsdale.com "Kreiselwelle is the conclusion to a superb trilogy from irr. app. (ext.) who used the words, philosophies, and eccentricities of Wilhelm Reich as the springboard into a realm of post-Surrealist, post-industrialist, post-drone arena of sound design. While a prominent European psychoanalyst, whose ideas could be seen as an occasional counterpoint to those of Freud, Reich may be best known for his parascientific research into Orgone energy, which he claimed was central and unifying force of life throughout the universe. Much of this latter research has been discredited and unfortunately shed a cloud of incredulity upon his psychoanalytic work. While Reich's claims of cloud-busting and orgone therapy offer particularly strong metaphors, M.S. Waldron - the principle architect to irr. app. (ext.) - has looked more to the psychological aspects of Reich's work. Kreiselwelle translates from the German as spiral wave or gyroscopic wave, and points to the similarities which Reich had noted in the structures of microscopic organisms, turbulent wave patterns, and spiral-arm galaxies. Through this trilogy (which also includes Ozeanische Gefuhle and Cosmic Superimposition), Waldron mirrors Reich's early cosmology through a compositional fluidity that alludes to contemporary drone fascination, constructed through overlapping collages, occluded field recordings, sustained tones from atypical instruments, and crosshatched synthetic noises. All three of these albums were sourced from the same set of field recordings, but each detours into its own particular wandering. Kreiselwelle begins with a very slow hypnotic strum across a detuned guitar with liquid tactility and a warped distance buzz filling in the gaps. Grand sweeps of slashing drones that could originate from an echoing chainsaw deep in the woods forms an unlikely crescendo with sympathetic tones, only to collapse into the softened white noise of cars passing by. Soon after, a rhythmic tapping of agitated electronics forms a motorik rhythm against the tapestry of audio fluidity, with all of the electro-shock bursts of a tesla coil. This in turn morphs into a cauldron of slow locomotive rumbling, which beget one of many glassine drones that float throughout Kreiselwelle. For fans of any of work of Nurse With Wound (after all Mr. Waldron is in the NWW touring ensemble!), H.N.A.S., and the more esoteric recordings of Organum; and certainly of note for those of you taken by Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words, Xela, Svarte Greiner, Expo '70, Emeralds, or any of the darker, weirder, more fucked-up drone ensembles of recent days. Very highly recommended!" [Aquarius Rec.] 2009 €13.00
Ozeanische Gefühle CD Damn, this is SO GOOD! IRR.APP (ext.) zeigt hier, dass er nicht nur strangeste eher elektro-akustische Soundscapes zusammenschustern kann, sondern auch sehr fliessende, aber leicht “gefährliche” und surrealistische dronescapes, die pulsieren, mäandern, rotieren und einfach LEBEN. In der Tat scheint hier alles in Grenzenlosigkeit zu zerfliessen...... High TIP for Drone-Heads ! “irr. app. (ext) is the work of California-based sound artist Matt Waldron, whose collected body of work is far too important to continue to be forgotten. During the past decade, only two full albums -- Dust Pincher Appliances (2003 on Crouton) and An Uncertain Animal, Ruptured; Tissue Expanding in Conversation (1997 on Fire, Inc.) -- have seen the light of day despite the fact that perhaps a dozen albums have been completed. The public silence for irr. app. (ext) was never by Waldron's design, as numerous recording deals collapsed, one after the other. The story becomes all the more of conundrum as these misadventures of neglect and ignorance occurred despite Waldron's high-profile collaborations with Nurse With Wound and Stilluppsteypa. If a humble organization like the Helen Scarsdale Agency can have its say, then we speak to remove whatever curses that have haunted irr. app. (ext.) in the past and provide the world with the opportunity to revel in the spectacle and the beauty that is Matt Waldron's art. Had things gone differently, Ozeanische Gefühle would have been one of the lost irr. app. (ext.) recordings. That would have been a shame for Ozeanische Gefühle stands as an impeccable composition of post-surrealist dronescaping rivaling such masterpieces as The Hafler Trio's Kill The King, Jonathan Coleclough & Andrew Chalk's Sumac, and Nurse With Wound's Soliloquy For Lilith. The title has origins with Freud and earlier thinkers; yet Waldron came across Ozeanische Gefühle (which translates from the German as "oceanic feelings") in his studies of Wilhelm Reich who referenced the term to describe the natural state of every healthy organism as connected to and engaged with the world around it, with its energies flowing from the center outwards. For Waldron, Reich's ideas became the starting point for a metonymic exercise seeking to discover that which is near a signifier and spiral beyond each successive discovery along a complicated aesthetic thread by way of intuition and accident. The album tumbles through a series of sympathetic dronings, field recordings, and performative gestures, continuously traversing the emotional polarities of psychological tension and externalized jouissance. The album begins with a heavily processed flutter of sustained woodwinds accompanied by thunderous rumbles in the distance before dispersing amidst Bernhard Hermann-esque slashings of discordant strings. Later on, the grotesque pathos of a Wurlitzer organ dissolves into a blackened emptiness that envelopes the complex resonant frequencies from Waldron's slow, deliberate performance upon bowls and bells. Despite the incredible depth of his source materials, Waldron displays an uncanny intellect that reflects all of his wandering passages through the lens of a melancholic ambience. Simply put, Ozeanische Gefühle is a wonder to behold.”[ Helen Scarsdale, June 2004] www.helenscarsdale.com "If anyone has the ability to carry the post-Surrealist torch of Nurse With Wound, it would have to be Matt Waldron through his irr. app. (ext.) project. Like Nurse With Wound's eccentric genius Stapleton, Waldron would never qualify himself as a Surrealist, but it's a good jumping off point to describe their respective works. With Ozeanische Gefuhle, Waldron establishes irr. app. (ext.) establishes himself as one of the most gifted sound-sculptors whose work have passed through the doors of Aquarius. If you've ever picked up any drone / minimalist / ambient records or even just anything that Andee has poetically described as 'completely fucked', then you owe it yourself to pick up Ozeanische Gefuhle. This review could ramble on and on, but let's cut to the chase and state the obvious, this album is brilliant. Strangely enough, Ozeanische Gefuhle -- as great as it is -- almost disappeared into the ether, as it was slated for release a few years back on another label who just sat on it for years, much to the chagrin of Mr. Waldron. Fortunately, the good people at the Helen Scarsdale Agency rectified the situation and made sure this album got its due recognition. The title itself is an allusion to Wilhelm Reich, who used the term to describe the natural state of every healthy organism as connected to and engaged with the world around it. Such ideas in lesser hands would result in limp idylltronica with New Age sentimentality; but this is not the case for irr. app. (ext.), who solidly grounds this record upon a fundamental drone, which slinks its way through numerous field recordings and performative gestures. Waldron's masterpiece emerges as a tidal current of electronic sound, rumbling through blackened spaces and soaring with divine expressivity. As good if not better than anything by Nurse With Wound, Organum, :zoviet france:, Phill Niblock, and the Hafler Trio. Yeah, it's that good!" [Aquarius Rec.] 2004 €14.00
  Are all Things Equivalent? 10inch "Substantia Innominata" is the 10" VINYL - series by Drone Records, presenting works inspired by or related to "the Unknown" around or within us. OUT NOW (March 2019): SUB-26 • IRR.APP.(ext.) - Are all Things Equivalent? Drone Records is proud to present two new tracks on vinyl by the master of surrealistic, enigmatic sound (and visual) worlds, whose collages and titles often reveal a cryptic and thought-provoking nature. As soon as the music starts you might get the impression that micro- and macroscopic dimensions intermingle and oscillate, these multi-layered drone expansions and deep humming drones evoke a strange organic feeling, ominous half-concrete acoustic shadows seem to live inside this, ghosty saw-blades conquer the sonic space, there are rolling mechanic eruptions, and you could be stuck in huge spinning machines, it's music that consists of complex noises and drones that seem to be in a circling state of an endless metamorphosis... irr.app.(ext.) has been the project of sound, performance and visual artist M. S. Waldron for more than 20 years. He currently resides in Hillsboro, Oregon (USA), just slightly to the left of the picturesque midriff of the Pacific Northwest. Known for recurring collaborations with NURSE WITH WOUND and through a phantastic trilogy of albums with reference to the radical psychoanalytic and founder of body psychotherapy WILHELM REICH, the creations are much grounded in non-orthodox surrealism and collage and fall somewhere between beauty and absurdity, between amorph drone ambience transcensions and bewildering and attacking noises, often with deep philosophical and psychological implications involved. Released in an edition of 300 copies on CLEAR vinyl, with full colour artwork by M.S. Waldron himself. www.substantia-innominata.com https://soundcloud.com/drone-records/irr-app-ext-side-b-sleep-turbines 2019 €15.00
ISABELLA, JASPER & SIMON FISHER TURNER Savage Songs of Brutality and Food CD "This is the blurb. I think it’s a press release, too, about this album I’ve made with my kids’ voices and sounds and these home recordings we’ve made over the last 13 years. They’re now 15 and 17 and who knows what they think. I know they’re not too interested in it this now, but they’ve seen the artwork and pictures and obviously they know the tracks, but I don’t think they actually realise this is coming out and that strangers can buy the LP in a Record Shop or online with actual money. For years as the two of them were growing up I was always photographing and recording their lives. Over 68,000 pictures on my desktop, and hours of recordings. This is commonplace now, but when I was growing up maybe the Brownie would come out on the beach on Whitsand Bay, or if we went on holiday, a picture of a mountain or something interesting like, a pizza. Mum had a reel-to-reel she never used, and I had a radio. Dad was underwater. Why go on holiday when you live in Cornwall. Dad was a submariner based in Plymouth and my mum was a mum and a Rally driver. Three boys to look after. Chaos and serious hard work. Now both my parents are dead, I’ve photos from mum’s albums, but oddly enough Dad never took photos at all, and distrusted them I think. So to this album. It’s the first thirteen years or so of our children’s lives made into cute and cruel songs of experimentation and, yes, chaos again. So, from the first heartbeat (not included here) to just under two years ago, I randomly and sometimes secretly recorded them singing or talking, often encouraged of course by me. That’s what parents do. I recorded for 13 years. It’s rather wonderful to have sound documents as opposed to pictures. Luckily I have both and I’m still rediscovering forgotten sounds even now. This is a music/sound diary (perhaps) of the frankly mad, cute, annoying, moving, innocent, loud, loving, embarrassing, noises of their lives up to now, as recorded and messed up by me, as in messed-up-and-I-don’t-care, but do I care. I try to edit with clarity where needed, but otherwise the vocals and ideas are pretty raw and unaltered for the sweeter market of pop. This is just STUFF. Wild and Alive. Rebels without a pause. I was a dad with slithers time on my hands and a Mac I could barely understand. I made tracks/songs, whatever you want to call them between cooking, cleaning, bathing, shopping, driving, and sleeping ad infinitum. It’s the three of us mainly, with The Elysian Quartet thrown together for The Mighty Dinosaur song, but I’m the leader, the captain of the ship. You always need a Captain and they were my sonic crewmates, even though they were often press-ganged into service reluctantly. . There will be no Volume Two. They’ve eventually got really fed up with me doing this, and I can’t blame them one bit, but when faced with all these bits of songs or, fragments of stuff, what do you do? Throw them in the bin, give them to them on their wedding day and really make them cringe? No. The best thing to do is to compile them like a mix tape and keep your fingers crossed that someday, someone might be interested in releasing a compilation of this madness. Charles Powne from Soleilmoon Recordings came to the rescue, in that he mentioned somehow whether I’d heard of an LP of children’s songs. I hadn’t in fact, but I told him about these recordings I’d been making over the years. Isabella and Jasper I think are now probably incredibly pissed off with me, but you know, that’s tough. Full stop. Now at 17 and 15 their childhoods are over. The illusions shattered. There is no pretence. They can watch the news, Snapchat at speed, and lurk on the net who knows where. Innocence has gone, battered out of them by schools and the more serious and dull adults that surround them. They were the funniest and most amusing two smaller people imaginable, but now, they’re Teenagers…….Aaahhhhh. They’ve opinions, they’re brighter than me, better looking, funnier, nicer clothes, better humour and taste, and they’ve more friends than me too. The job is done. I’m sadly responsible for the musical settings they happen to find themselves in, although, quite often all the music or at least some of it is made up from their noises too. We like a noise here and there and we love to dance on a Friday night. One of the beauties of this sort of music is that there are no rules. We could all do with this sort of freedom, in not just music, but film, cooking, and storytelling. A child’s imagination is the finest open canvas ever. No rules rule. Oh God, I sound like a dotting dull dad. C’est la vie. Stay well and keep calm and risk everything with passion and love." -- SIMON FISHER TURNER LONDON, 25 JUNE, 2020 https://isabellajasperandsimonfisherturner.bandcamp.com 2020 €14.00
IVERSON AND WALTERS First Collection LP After almost two years of work, we're glad to invite you to a new journey through the fog of time and enjoy the upcoming reissue of the great Ambient/Folk record from 1984. A well-known to collectors but extremely rare record by Jon Iverson a multi-instrumentalist from Palo Alto and his college friend, mandolinist Tom Walters. They shared a love for singer/songwriter fare and gigged around campus playing covers of Neil Young, CSN, and Loggins/Messina in the late '70s. "First Collection" was recorded during the Spring of 1984 in a small garage that had been converted to a one-room apartment in the seaside community of Los Osos, California. With an instrumentation of 12-string guitar, piano, mandolin, analog synthesizers, and sampler, the duo has recorded nine bright, weightless, and diverse compositions where electronic experiments mix with ethnic rhythms, sweeping through inspired folk reminiscent of the work of William Ackerman, John Fahey, Master Wilburn Burchette, and Robbie Basho, to homemade pastoral space folk exuding sophisticated, pale, lunar sonic moods that somehow might remind of the work of Roedelius from the early 80s. Equipment used for tracking included a rented 1/2" 8-track Otari MX5050 analog tape machine and assorted mics. With only a few thousand albums pressed, First Collection has become a collectable in some circles. Now, almost forty years later, First Collection has been remixed and remastered from the original 1/2" tapes for this release. ~~~ Press: "Using such non-EM instruments as mandolin and 12-string guitar, Jon Iverson and Thomas Walters produce a distinctly folk-oriented electronic music, full of exquisite acoustic sonorities along with their lovely digital synthesis. Wonderful job of recording, too." (Robert Carlberg, Polyphony, 1983) 2022 €23.00
JACASZEK Kwiaty LP "It all started with a book, as these things often do: an English anthology of metaphysical poetry from the 17th century, to be exact. Which may not sound like the sexiest option on the shelves, but hear us out. The gentleman plowing through those weathered pages happened to be Michał Jacaszek, the Polish composer who's spun dramatic shades of darkness and light into gold for more than a decade now. An absolute master of melancholy, from the trickle-down electronics of Treny to the vapor-trailed verses of its looming spiritual cousin KWIATY. "The poems were simple, pure and beautiful," Jacaszek says of the book's poignant Robert Herrick passages. "They spoke about death, pain, longing and loneliness, but somehow these pieces were bringing hope, solace, and peace." They also sounded a hell of a lot like songs when read out loud. Structurally at least. Herrick's rhyme schemes and rhythms still needed the right musical accompaniment, and Jacaszek had just the ticket: a backlog of previously unreleased recordings—warm-blooded samples, lonesome synth lines, pared-down guitar parts—begging for proper arrangements and dynamic mixdowns. Not to mention the most vocal-driven material Jacaszek's ever written, melding his stormy melodies with a breakout performance by Hania Malarowska and the robust supporting roles of Joasia Sobowiec-Jamioł and Natalia Grzebała. "I tend to always create organic, acoustic sounds, even though I work within a digital environment," explains Jacaszek. "Because KWIATY is actually a vocal album, the electronic sounds in the background seemed to be a perfect opposition. It's all unintentional, really; this is just my music language and I can't run away from it." jacaszek.bandcamp.com/album/kwiaty "I first discovered the wonderful and adventurous music of Jacaszek in a record store. 'Glimmer' and 'Catalogue des Arbres (feat. Kwartludium)' have been regularly played albums for years in this household. So when this new album was announced, I was immediately interested. However, like often happens with artists this talented and versatile, starting to write this review was a difficult task. So let's just begin by writing that this is an breathtaking piece of work. For those not familiar with Michał Jacaszek: he is a Polish composer who combines electronically prepared sounds with acoustic instruments. Over the years, he composed soundtracks and theatre music, plus a number of albums. His work blend classical music with experimental electronics and jazz. He knows little to no musical borders and continuously drags in seemingly strange influences. 'Kwiaty' means flowers and in a way that is exactly what you get on this album; blooming pieces of music that look and feel familiar yet mysterious. The album was inspired by Michał Jacaszek’s discovery of an English anthology of metaphysical poetry from the 17th century by Robert Herrick, which to him — somehow-- sounded songlike when read out-loud. The album contains guest appearances by Hania Malarowska (Hanimal), Joasia Sobowiec-Jamioł and Natalia Grzebała. The songs on this album are strange pop-ballads or jazz inspired classical pieces or electronically rearranged folk songs, regarding on how you feel about them. I hear influences from all these genres, including trip hop, dark jazz and the soundtracks to Tim Burton's movies or even Twin Peaks. There is a gloomy atmosphere, a mysterious feel but also musical ingenuity and beautiful vocals. In short, this is Jacaszek at his very best. Once again I refuse to pick a favorite track. I'm not even going to mention separate songs. I'm just going to recommend buying the album. Take the weekend off and enjoy 'Kwiaty' non-stop. Allow Jacaszek to guide you on an introvert but epic journey, one you will not regret. It will definitely be worth the effort. If you are into anything between Dead Can Dance, Bersarin Quartet and The Nightmare Before Christmas, you will easily get addicted to this thing..." [Merchants of Air] 2017 €20.00
JACKMAN, DAVID (=ORGANUM) SEKIHI OIDORI CD "Organum ‘RAVEN’ CD, which was released by Siren Records in 2018 was the last piece that Jackman released under the name Organum. He changed the name Organum to Organum Electronics in 2019 and has released five volumes of the albums on Siren Records since then. ‘SEKIHI OIDORI’ is a development of the quiet nature of earlier Organum works and Jackman decided to release the album under his own name because of a very personal essence. ‘SEKIHI OIDORI’ is composed of low-key church organ drones, airy tanpura sounds, occasional church bell chimes and chirping birds. It is the most minimal, the most quiet and the most powerful composition Jackman has ever created. The drones continue uninterrupted and you may feel little change in partial listening, but you’ll appreciate the increasing internal dynamic energy that Jackman infused with mindful listening. ‘SEKIHI OIDORI’ means ‘Stone Tomb Old Bird’ in English translation but the piece is neither an elegy nor a lamentation. Artist name: DAVID JACKMAN Title: SEKIHI OIDORI Label / Cat#: Siren Records / Siren 33 Format: CD Digisleeve Edition size: 500 copies Release date: 5th October 2023 2023 €15.00
JARBOE Illusory CD "Jarboe of course doesn't need an introduction. As a torche bearer for avant-garde music, she is no stranger to Consouling as well. After the fantastic split 10" release with Father Murphy, we are truly honered to be collaborating with Jarboe on her new album 'Illusory'. 'Illusory' truly is an engaging album, where the textures of the music interact with Jarboe's almost haunting vocals in a remarkable way. Her constant forward thinking approach makes it feel like travels through uncharted territory, where her siren-like voice leads the way. Or perhaps, as the dark and brooding nature of the album captivates you, will lead you astray." https://consouling.be/release/illusory "JARBOE, eine der absoluten Ikonen der experimentellen und avantgardistischen Musikszene meldet sich zwei Jahre nach ihrem letzten Album nun mit ‘Illusory ‘ zurück. Erscheint als CD und LP auf CONSOULING SOUNDS. Der Name JARBOE muss nicht groß vorgestellt werden. Seit den 1980er Jahren gehört die US Amerikanerin zu den kultigsten Künstlerinnen, die sich im avantgarde, Experimental und Heavybereich tummeln. Als Ehefrau von MICHAEL GIRA (SWANS) war sie eine zeitlang auch Mitglied dieser Band. Sie entwickelte sich aber immer weiter und war offen für verschiedenste musikalische Expermiente. So arbeitete sie u.a. auch mit SONIC YOUTH, NEUROSIS, BLIXA BARGELD, PHIL ANSELMO zusammen. Ihre Release-Vita kann ein ganzes Buch füllen und sie sorgt quasi jährlich für neuen Output in den verschiedensten Varianten. Nach ihrem letzten Soloalbum ‘The Cut Of The Warrior ‘ (2018) veröffentlichte sie noch eine neue Variante des früheren ‘Blackmouth ‘ Albums (zusammen mit John Bergin und Brett Smith). Nun steht mit ‘Illusory ‘ das neue Meisterwerk der ‘Goddess of Dark ‘ (Metal Injection) in Haus. Sieben Tracks, die die Grenzen zwischen Ambient, Experimental und Avantgarde ausloten und unglaublich intensiv sind." [Broken Silence] 2020 €15.00
JARL Vertigo Border CD "Vertigo Border is the thirteenth album of the Swedish electronics favourite and the second volume of Vertigo trilogy. The magic number thirteen may imply that the album contains anything special… However, let us leave these considerations for the numerological masturbators. There is nothing more special in Vertigo Border than in the earlier Erik’s albums since he remains loyal to his credo to fuck the audience with his monotonic, depressing, icy and colour-blind sound waves, to throw a tie onto their necks and slowly strangle them out of this grinding, claustrophobic and cramped world. All Jarl's albums smack of enormous and refined weariness. This is already the thirteenth album and this is the thirteenth tomb on your little grave, this is the thirteenth swing of the spade with the soil onto your coffin. The coffin sealing you off with all your squeaks of madness from the outside. The coffin doomed to choke you out of your life. This is an existential coffin with existential suffocation caused by unbearable, morbid and monotonous reality embodied in the sounds of the album. This is the ice in which you are frozen and where, beholding the inexhaustibility of the infinity, you may neither move, nor speak or even wink. So, you are that mechanical toy paralysed by sadist existence. Jarl is a ghost monotonously repeating this to you, so do not expect anything hopeful from the thirteenth master's album. Nor from the fourteenth that is still to be composed. Nor from the fifteen either. Suffer because you are worth it!" [label info] www.autarkeia.org Album lasts for 64 min. 17 sec. Limited edition 200 copies. 2010 €13.00
Negative Rotation / Intensive Fracture do-CD "After the critically acclaimed (and almost sold-out) collaborative album with Evenomist, Jarl returns to Zoharum fold with the next release. It is the first in the series of albums collecting rare works of Erik Jarl known for his involvement with IRM and Skin Area apart from his solo work. His own compositions are an exquisite mix of static ambient with strong influence of drone, noise or post-industrial electronica in general. This double CD is a reissue of two cassettes originally released by Abisko. They were recorded on a Fostex 8-track recorder. Both tapes sound very different. ”Negative Rotation” is cold and monotonous, but with some changes in sounds that repeats themselves, while ”Intensive Fracture” is improvised psychedelic floating noise. Both recordings were done with analogue synthesizers and analogue effects. This double CD also contains five bonus tracks from different compilations. The CD are housed in an ecopak sleeve and is strictly limited to 250 copies. The cover picture and design was made by Karolina Urbaniak (responsible for the lastest covers Jarl, IRM and Skin Area albums and widely known for here photographic work.) The album was remastered by Łukasz Miernik. The whole production process was overseen by Michał Porwet." 2017 €15.00
Isolation Colours CD The new Jarl album Isolation Colours is the 7th on Zoharum and consists of seven tracks, here named as Circle 1- 7 which each represents one colour and what sense and mood that colour can bring. Here focusing on isolation as the title of the album refers to. Grey-Scale one, Blue Grey (Livid ), Blue, Black, White, Grey Scale- Two and also Blindness in between with no colours. Painted by the sounds from Analogue Synthesizers. As often Jarl has a sort of a psychedelic sound which is hypnotic , cosmic ,melodic, intense but also restrained and withdrawn with different colour cords. Isolation, sadness, anger, fear, gloom, misery, separation but also innocence, inspiration and calmness are topics the colours can represent, but it’s also up to the listener to decide. Six colours scales separated from eachother Somehow a connection from previous albums like Turbulence, Amygdala, Hypnosis and Misophonia colours, although Isolation Colours sounds different and have a different theme. Album is available on CD folded in 6-panels digipack and on limited tape edtion of 30 copies. https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/isolation-colours "... In the case of Erik Jarl, the music is dark and ominous, but it's also quite pleasant. There are hints of cosmic music as if they were on a long journey through before reaching Jarl, so it's not the same anyway, but eroded and decaying, or, perhaps, a decommissioned spaceship that is still on a course (see, I think about films!), especially in 'White'. Big-time space music, not melodic, but created from drones, isolated tones, oscillations, and whatever connections can be made with analogue synthesisers. Music with a shimmer of light, hope, and refined beauty. That's my kind of music." [FdW/Vital Weekly] 2023 €13.00
  Isolation Colours MC The new Jarl album Isolation Colours is the 7th on Zoharum and consists of seven tracks, here named as Circle 1- 7 which each represents one colour and what sense and mood that colour can bring. Here focusing on isolation as the title of the album refers to. Grey-Scale one, Blue Grey (Livid ), Blue, Black, White, Grey Scale- Two and also Blindness in between with no colours. Painted by the sounds from Analogue Synthesizers. As often Jarl has a sort of a psychedelic sound which is hypnotic , cosmic ,melodic, intense but also restrained and withdrawn with different colour cords. Isolation, sadness, anger, fear, gloom, misery, separation but also innocence, inspiration and calmness are topics the colours can represent, but it’s also up to the listener to decide. Six colours scales separated from eachother Somehow a connection from previous albums like Turbulence, Amygdala, Hypnosis and Misophonia colours, although Isolation Colours sounds different and have a different theme. Album is available on CD folded in 6-panels digipack and on limited tape edtion of 30 copies. 2023 €10.00
JENSEN, CLARICE Esthesis LP Cellist/composer Clarice Jensen returns on 130701 with her third album, ‘Esthesis’, a deep and gorgeous new work conceptually structured around the emotional and harmonic spectrum and the phenomenon of chromesthesia – a condition whereby sound involuntarily evokes an experience of color, shape and movement. Following up her critically-acclaimed 2020 LP ‘The experience of repetition as death’ (a record almost presciently timed to arrive as Covid first hit), 'Esthesis’ sees Jensen expanding her oeuvre, introducing a wider instrumental range, and reflecting on the effects of isolation. Recorded by Jensen in upstate NY and expertly mixed by Francesco Donadello, the record was mastered by Matthew Agoglia and is released on October 21st, ahead of a UK/EU tour supporting 130701 alumni Dustin O’Halloran. From its opening piano notes, 'Esthesis’ gently upends expectations built up over previous albums. Shifting and extending Jensen’s sound in line with the adventurousness of the ‘Drone Studies’ and ‘Platonic Solids’ EPs, the album is less reliant on her trademark razor-sharp, processed cello drone. Performed heavily on synth, as well as her more usual cello and electronics, it also features the piano playing of Timo Andres (tracks 1, 4 and 5) and the voices of Laura Lutzke, Francesca Federico and Emma Broughton (on tracks 3 and 6). Whilst the drone is never far away, there’s a sense of more light and space across the album. 
'Esthesis’ was originally conceived in pre-pandemic times as a concert experience, structured to comprise a series of long drones, each centred on a single key/pitch and cycling sequentially through the circle of fifths from C to F. These drones would be punctuated by shorter “songs”, each depicting one of the seven principle emotions defined in the Chinese Book of Rites. As an audio-visual experience, Jensen imagined the audience being bathed in coloured lights that corresponded to each drone, with those colours combined or oscillating during the songs in an effort to mimic or induce chromesthesia: a (gentle, not jarring) trip through the complete spectrum of colour, (Western) pitch and emotion. With the pandemic dashing these plans and ushering in a period where it was even difficult to imagine live performance anymore, Jensen instead set out to realise the concept as an album palpably created in enforced solitude and isolation. “I expanded my usual palette of layered and treated cellos without the effect of a more grandiose or large-scale feeling of timbre; I wished to employ additional media in an effort to further portray the idea of isolation and containment.” Foregoing the longer drone structures she’d planned in favour of a more succinct whole, each track on ‘Esthesis’ evokes a different principal emotion using seemingly one-dimensional titles, with Jensen’s intention being to juxtapose the depths of these emotions with the reality-overlay of solitude. “It also calls to question how sensation can be rudimentary. Imposed isolation and the fear of viral exposure led many to seek sensation by streaming television, circulating memes, and sharing delayed laughs with loved ones across computer screens – all of this done alone and somewhat removed through various media, and set against a backdrop of very real fear.” While the \"removed\" nature of each track/emotion remains deliberate, so also exists the very realness of the emotion itself. “\'Joy\' evokes vernal lightness and promise, and came to me as I was falling asleep and realised I was still smiling thinking about someone I love. \'Sadness\' is a setting of Purcell\'s \'Dido\'s Lament’. \'Liking\' begins with tentative hope and then blossoms, using an additive compositional process, whereas \'Disliking\' is subtractive. ‘Anger\' uses text taken from Simone de Beauvoir\'s letters to Nelson Algren (the entirety is pasted below). \'Fear\' attempts to simply portray breathing and absence. The organs used on \'Love\' suggest hallowed spaces, employing only a short progression that always returns to the same but becomes layered, out-of-sync and lost, but simplest at its end.” Thursday, 3 Juillet 1947 “I led a very quiet life since my last letter: no cave, no party, no wit. There was a wonderful storm in the country, it was really beautiful. The whole day had been so hot, you really wanted to die, love or work or happiness did not mean anything more. And then came a huge black smoke in the sky, and strange phantasms went by in the dim light, and soon you could not see the sky nor the landscape any more, just a cherry tree beaten by the wind while the rain fell crazily, and thunder shaked the sky. Many trees were broken, flowers killed, the landscape was a battle field… Afterwards, everything was strangely peaceful. Friends came and we had a dinner and long evening: the woman who has swallowed a pin, her husband, the old lady I like so much, and Sartre. But I was not very quiet myself; the storm had gone on my nerves, and I drank much, and, dearest, when I drink much I am no longer sensible at all; when the other friends left I became a storm myself, and poor Sartre was very bored with me who spoke about life and death and everything in a rather mad way. When I am drunk everything seems very tragic and pathetic and terrifying to me – so dreadfully important, and yet without importance since death is at the end; I should knock my head against the walls. I did not knock my head but I spoke and raved late in the night on the peaceful little country roads, and I decided not to drink any more for some time. You see, it has never been very easy for me to live, though I am always very happy – maybe because I want so much to be happy. I like so much to live and I hate the idea of dying one day. And then I am awfully greedy; I want everything from life, I want to be a woman and to be a man, to have many friends and to have loneliness, to work much and write good books, and to travel and enjoy myself, to be selfish and to be unselfish…You see, it is difficult to get all which I want. And then when I do not succeed I get mad with anger…” [Simone de Beauvoir, Letters to Nelson Algren] Across the album’s seven pieces, Jensen shows great restraint and an incredible compositional talent in spinning a series of beautiful, complex interweavings of texture, tone, rhythm and melody. There is a serious depth in her sensibility, that rewards repeated listening. https://claricejensen.bandcamp.com/album/esthesis 2022 €32.50
JOHANNA LIEBHART Damals 10inch Mysterious and long-forgotten electro-wave diva of the early 80s, JOHANNA LIEBHART (occasionally credited as “ANNA”) disappeared in largely unknown circumstances back in 1999, leaving behind several unreleased albums. Even if her name is not familiar, some of you will already know her style from ICH WOLLTE ICH KÖNNTE’s first album, released on T.U.T. a couple of years ago, which was inspired by, and largely based on some of her compositions. The tracks on this 10” are all taken from Anna’s early tape recordings, and probably represent some of her most emotional and intimate works, as simple and modest in their beauty as the personality of their creator was facetious. Seven neo-romantic analogue-synth pieces, entirely instrumental. Sacral, minimal and utterly desperate, like the disclosing of someone’s secret chapel, or the hidden garden of a run-down doll-house. 10-inch LP, black vinyl - in special fold-out sleeve + inserts - lim. edition of 277 hand-numbered copies www.tutrur.com/tutrur_html/tut013.html 2009 €8.00
JOHANNSSON, JOHANN IBM 1401, a User's Manual CD Nach den schönen TOUCH-CDs ein weiteres stark Filmsoundtrack-artiges Album des Isländers, dass uns stark an die emotionale Musik von ARVO PÄRT erinnert... sein Debut für 4AD !! "Johann Johannsson ist Isländer und lebt in Reykjavik. Er ist Musiker (sowohl Solo als auch als Mitglied des Apparat Organ Quartets), Komponist, Produzent und Labelgründer (Kitchen Motor). Johannssons Name ist auch immer wieder in den Credits der Produktionen renommierter Künstler zu finden. So produzierte und schrieb er mit Marc Almond an dessen Stranger Things' Album, arbeitete mit Barry Adamson, Pan Sonic, dem Hafler Trio oder Jaki Liebezeit zusammen. Als Komponist verzaubert er seine Zuhörer meist mit seiner stattlichen und eindringlich-melodischen Musik. Sein neues Werk ist bis dato seine am anspruchsvollsten instrumentierte und attraktivste Komposition. Die Idee zum Album basiert auf der Arbeit von Johanns Vater. Dieser war im Jahr 1964 als leitender Techniker bei einem der ersten Großrechnerprojekte Islands beschäftigt und es gelang ihm, den Rechner IBM 1401 mit einer Melodie zu programmieren und diese aufzunehmen. Diese Tonbänder, die Johann auf dem Dachboden seines Vaters fand, bilden das Herzstück des Albums. Für die Aufnahmen schrieb Johannson seine Komposition für ein Streicher-Sextett um und komponierte einen neuen finalen Satz." [Indigo] "So here it is, Jóhann Jóhannsson’s eagerly awaited debut album for the 4AD label, and we’re very happy indeed to say that it’s the finest record he’s put his name to yet. I suppose the move from Touch worried some fans at first, but on hearing ‘IBM 1401…’ in it’s entirety it makes perfect sense as part of the 4AD catalogue. Jóhannsson found inspiration for the record after discovering his father’s IBM1401, a cumbersome 1960s computer system for which his father was a technician. Apparently these machines used to cost $2500 per day to lease and probably did a lot less than you’d think given the price, but Jóhannsson saw something intriguing to sample and in the same way that he utilised morse code receivers and ham radios on his Kitchen Motors disc, he uses IBM1401 training tapes as the thematic link on these tracks. An English voice can be heard describing the computer parts and how they work and how to engineer repairs on the machine and it’s peripherals, of course this is something that can ruin an otherwise good piece of music, but Jóhannsson in his restraint has managed to use the samples so cleverly that they actually become part of the music itself. The assertive voice becomes a symbol of nostalgia and that dusty sentiment, a picture of technology passed, or an electronic postcard from 1960, and never becomes there merely for the sake of it. Coupled with the simply stunning string arrangements they add a strange ethereal narrative, and while not telling a story as such, they bring vivid pictures to mind with great ease. Jóhannsson’s skill in merging sounds doesn’t end here either, as we heard on the stunning ‘Englabörn’ he can subtly blend his electronic production methods with the orchestral arrangements without it ever falling out of place. Synthesized chimes trip and fall in-between the orchestral swells and radiophonic bleeps to create soundscapes so breathtaking they can leave you totally lost for words. It would be almost offensive however to merely label ‘IBM 1401, A User’s Manual’ as cinematic, rather Jóhannsson has pushed the bar higher and taken the infant post-classical genre to the next logical place, creating an album which doesn’t just suggest visuals, rather with it’s oblique use of sampled voices and atmospheric sounds the visuals are there all the time and are simply left for us to interpret. A challenging, engaging and utterly breathtaking experience, Jóhann Jóhannsson has proved he is out there on his own. Essential purchase." [Boomkat] 2006 €14.00
  Orphee LP "Der Komponist Jóhann Jóhannsson, Golden Globe-Preisträger sowie für den Oscar, BAFTA und Grammy nominiert, veröffentlicht sein erstes Album für die Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft: es ist eine Meditation über die Schönheit und den künstlerischen Schaffensprozess. Jóhannsson ist eine Galionsfigur in einer dynamisch wachsenden Szene von Komponisten, die sich frei und einfallsreich zwischen Filmmusik, klassischem Minimalismus, Ambient und elektronischer Musik bewegen. Orphée schildert einen Weg von der Dunkelheit ins Licht, inspiriert durch die verschiedenen Versionen des antiken Orpheus-Mythos, von Ovid bis Cocteau. Die vielschichtige Erzählung über Tod, Wiedergeburt, Wandel und die Kurzlebigkeit der Erinnerung lässt sich auch als Metapher für künstlerische Kreativität deuten. Orphée bietet eine vielseitige Klangpalette: Es gibt akustische Instrumente solistisch oder im Ensemble kombiniert mit Elektronik und den geheimnisvollen Lauten der »Nummernsender« auf Kurzwelle. Sie ist angelehnt an viele Facetten seiner vorangehenden Werke und bindet Musik für Solocello, Orgel, Streichquartett, Streichorchester und A-cappella-Gesang mit ein." [label info] "Based loosely on Ovid’s interpretation of the Orpheus myth, the Icelandic composer’s latest work reveals the grandeur of his music outside of scoring films. Orphée, the latest album by the Icelandic composer and filmmaker Jóhann Jóhannsson is billed as his first studio album in six years since the somber and excellent The Miners’ Hymns**. But during that time Jóhannsson has released eight records—three of which were scores to major films (including Sicario & The Theory of Everything) and the rest music for smaller film projects, one of which Jóhannsson directed himself. But with even The Miners’ Hymns itself serving as a score to a film, the particular criteria for which Jóhannsson deems a record to be a “studio album” as opposed to a “film score” is somewhat unclear. What is clear is that after years of albums on 4AD and small post-classical labels such as Fat Cat’s 130701, in moving to Deutsche Grammophon—the oldest and most significant classical music label left standing—Jóhannsson wants Orphée to be seen as a work of music propped up by nothing but itself and its own deserved grandeur. Loosely themed around Ovid's version of the Orpheus myth, Orphée’s grandeur is made clear within seconds. Using only a few repeated parts of piano, violin, and some crackling sound treatments, opener “Flight from the City” takes off. It feels like film music in a way that most of Orphée does not; you could easily imagine it playing over credits, or an opening scene, or in a mid-film montage. But the palette, tone, and structure of Orphée vary greatly and much of it embraces a compositional approach akin to ’90s chamber experimentalists the Rachel’s and others in the post-classical mold on 130701 or Erased Tapes. “A Song for Europa” features more of those crackling sound treatments as well as a recurring spectral vocal sample, while the stately “A Deal With Chaos” or “The Radiant City” would be at home on the Rachel’s Music for Egon Schiele. Apart from “Flight from the City,” the most unforgettable tracks on Orphée are where Jóhannsson adds more experimental textures, particularly in the penultimate diptych of “Good Morning, Midnight” and “Good Night, Day.” In a way, these two tracks play out the climax of the Orpheus myth: The former begins with dreamy slow-waltz strings and burbling sound effects that connote the gait of a person heading toward destiny unknown, before giving way to a close-mic'd solo piano piece that sounds like the ruminative thoughts of man by way of Satie-style impressionism. The latter, “Good Night, Day,” begins with repeated string warnings that plays as a realization of chased dreams lost, with a cello melody serving as an elegiac narrative counterpoint. On each, the blend of early 20th-century modalities and experimental recording approaches make them archetypal post-classical tracks. Boldest of all is Orphée’s a capella closer “Orphic Hymn,” which features a breathtaking choral vocal performance by Paul Hillier’s Theatre of Voices of text from Ovid’s The Metamorphoses. Sung vocals are rarely found in Jóhannsson’s work, but the angelic arrangement makes you wish that he had found more opportunities to integrate vocals into the rest of the record. “Orphic Hymn” also brings Jóhannsson back full circle to British post-classical elder statesman Michael Nyman. The piece strongly recalls the longing of “Miserere” from The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, a great example of how Nyman’s scores work as independent music woven into a film rather than applied to the surface of scenes. It’s exciting to hear the freedom of Jóhannsson’s compositions in autonomous music, and with Orphée he’s reasserted himself as not a just an elegiac film score guy. As good as his cinema work has been, the act of telling someone else’s story puts limits on both an artist’s freedom to work and the impact of how they might be received, and Jóhannsson likely isn’t looking to become known as “the Next Thomas Newman.” The voice he uses on Orphée says otherwise, and provides a clear blast attestation that Jóhannsson is among the brightest lights of any member of the loosely grouped post-classical genre. [Pitchfork] "Sometimes, some records, and I along with them, fall into this first-class trap, this uppermost attic, this top-notch shelf, where this reside, and then I fail to cover them in time. These are records, like this one, that are just too good, and so I blunder on my task to ‘seek them out’ for you, to provide the filtering of all the noise, and then to spread the good ol’ sermon of their beauty. Surely you have found this simply on your own. Of course, you are already a huge fan of Jóhann Jóhannsson, and automatically grab every single record he puts out, including the latest pressed by Deutsche Grammophon. Right? No wonder Orphée appears at the top of HC’s Reader’s Poll Results for best records of 2016. So why even bother covering it, you know? Yet, here I am, unable to resist the urge to give this wonder all the words that it deserves. Jóhannsson has been pretty busy these past few years, working mostly on film scores and soundtracks. Even his last studio album, The Miners’ Hymns (130701, 2011) was a soundtrack of sorts. In fact, whether they were imaginary scores, like the one for Fordlandia (4AD, 2008) and IBM 1401, A User’s Manual (4AD, 2006), or real ones for independent films, like Copenhagen Dreams (NTOV, 2012) and McCanick (Milan, 2014), or full-blown Hollywood productions, like Prisoners OST (WaterTower Music, 2013), The Theory Of Everything OST (Blacklot, 2014) and, most recently, Arrival OST (Deutsche Grammophon, 2016), it’s easy to make a statement that Jóhannsson’s modern classical productions are indeed cinematic in nature. Painting these imaginary landscapes with his music is in his soul… it’s what he does. Orphée, of course, is no exception. From the very first note and subsequent chord progression, we hear the music of Jóhannsson at his best. Full strings are at the center of the stage, dancing the slow waltz in a haze of melancholy, minor heartbreak, and remorse. Baroque and classical elements appear throughout the album, in the form of a pipe organ, symphonic themes, and orchestral accompaniment (AIR Lyndhurst String Orchestra). The work is concluded with the Theatre of Voices singing the lines from Ovid. The minimal pieces are complemented by fundamental electronic treatments, minor field recordings, and sounds of shortwave radio from the “numbers stations”. The atmospherics are resplendent with space and texture, structurally stitched in all the critical thematic places, driven forth by a coherent motif, carried further by the forlorn piano or the anguished cello at its heart (with Clarice Jensen of ACME and Hildur Guðnadóttir). Orphée traces a path from darkness into light, inspired by the various re-tellings of the ancient tale of the poet Orpheus, from Ovid’s to Jean Cocteau’s. A many-layered story about death, rebirth, change and the ephemeral nature of memory, the myth can also be read as a metaphor for artistic creation, dealing with the elusive nature of beauty and its relationship to the artist, as well as the idea that art is created through transgression – by the poet defying the gods who have forbidden him to turn back towards his beloved as he leaves the Underworld. Unlike Jóhannsson’s previous albums, Orphée did not start out with a conceptual narrative. Yet, at the root of the album is a theme of change that Jóhannsson has been dealing with in the last six years. He has left Copenhagen to build a new life in Berlin, absorbing the city with all of its new offerings, relationships, and inspirations. “Perhaps this is one of the reasons I was drawn to the Orpheus myth, which is fundamentally about change, mutability, death, rebirth, the elusive nature of beauty and its sometimes thorny relation to the artist,” explains Jóhann. “This album, my first solo record for six years, is an oblique reflection on personal change.” We’re all familiar with all this change and our struggle and final acceptance of some endings and new beginnings. Perhaps these sounds will accompany your journeys. A true modern classical composition which will surely withstand the test of time." [Headphone Commute] 2016 €25.50
KA-SPEL, EDWARD O'er A Shalabast'r Tyde Strolt Ay CD Wiederveröffentlichung des schönen Albums von 2002, welches bisher nur auf Vinyl erhältlich war... "Repress of the album packaged in a custom made gatefold case and fully remastered by Randall Frazier at Helmet Room studios. A shalabast'r tyde, like unto pantent leather shoes, really doth shyne up. Reflected in the waves are twinkling stars; a smirking harvest moon; herds of passing clouds & hazey pink dots, like legends burned against eyelids after a long stare into an errant brightness. Ka-Spel's penchant for musical procreation is further fathered via this, another outstanding experimental recording. Fading into a subatomic rumble, 'Shalabast'r' sneaks into a quiet Edwardian waltz that sneaks into a fragmented sampling autoclave. If nothing else, Edward's always been a little sneaky. Maybe that's why he wears sneakers." [label info] ”..Slowly he seems to be pushing his solo music forward by going more and more for instrumental music, and move away from the song structures that were a feature of his older solo work. From the intimate sing-song-keyboard thing, he seems now interested in apocalyptic sound fields, dense, dark but always with a dot of light at the end of the tunnel.” [Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly] www.blrrecords.com 2009 €14.00
KA-SPEL, EDWARD & MOTION KAPTURE Alien Subspace LP The Magic and the Voice of Edward Ka-spel (Legendary Pink Dots) meet the ambient and psychedelic prog of Italian duo Motion Kapture, formed by Stefano Rossello (Bahntier, Ketvector) and Filippo Corradin (Bahntier, Lingams & Yoni). Alien Subspace captures and transports us into electronic synth spaces where guitars and basses are dilated in order to catapult us into eclectic stories and visions that only the inspired and melodic voice of Edward Ka-spel knows how to create. The songs are enthralling and romantic for one of the most inspired and best albums Edward Ka-spel has ever made. Influenced by Tangerine Dream, Progressive-Space Rock, Area and Coil, it is surely one of the most important releases in 2019. Mixed and mastered by Justin Bennett (Ketvector, Skinny puppy) An absolute must! EDWARD KA-SPEL : Voice, Effects, Noises MOTION KAPTURE STEFANO ROSSELLO : Guitar, Mellotron, DeepMind, DX7, Synth9, B9, Op1, Virus TI Snow, Juno 106, Kawai 100F, Sh101, Space Echo, Effects FILIPPO CORRADIN : Bass, VB-99, JP8, Doepfer A-111-5, Folktek Mescaline, Op1, Minimoog Qu-bit Nebulae, Edp Gnat special, Virus TI Snow, Dave Smith Prophet 08 Recording at : O.M. Studio - Agna - Padova Suonare Sergio - Bologna Furnace Studio - Legnago - Verona Preproduction and Recordings by Aux Jack Produced, Mixed, Mastered by Justin Bennett at Studio 23 Bologna https://rustblade.bandcamp.com/album/alien-subspace-2 2019 €20.00
KA-SPEL, EDWARD & THE SILVERMAN The Whispering Wail CD-R Early 2004 was a time of exploration for The Dots as they prepared "The Whispering Wall" and "Poppy Variations" albums. It wasn't unusual for sessions and improvisations to last for hours. "The Whispering Wail" focusses on synthesiser sessions of EK and The Silverman and produces a small voyage which we felt stood up in it's own right. This cdr release enjoyed a decent enough quality, but with today's advanced tours we took the liberty of subtle enhancement. It's wild and loud and at times utterly uplifting. Again, this one comes recommended. All pieces unreleased and unheard outside Chez Dots." [label info] https://legendarypinkdots1.bandcamp.com/album/whispering-wail 2013 €15.00
KAMMERFLIMMER KOLLEKTIEF Teufelskamin CD "Als Teufelskamin wird eine natürliche Felsformation bezeichnet, durch die Meerwasser mit gewaltigem Druck nach oben steigt und dort als Fontäne hinausgepresst wird. Die unmittelbare Übertragung des Begriffes auf das aktuelle Album des Karlsruher Trios KAMMERFLIMMER KOLLEKTIEF scheitert, denn weder Meeresgewalt noch Steinlandschaften kommen hier vor. Durchaus aber sind Assoziationen möglich mit einem winterlichen Kaminfeuer, in dem ab und an der Teufel, vielmehr ein Teufelchen steckt, welches die Funken stieben lässt. "Teufelskamin" ist das entspannteste, wenn man so will: das winterlichste Album der letzten Jahre, nach dem experimentellen "Jinx" (2007, Besprechung) und dem schon sehr friedlichen, erdigen "Wildling" (2010, Besprechung). Neu ist die RY COODER-Gitarre, dieses surfige 'Twang', der Beach ein Winterwald natürlich. Sie verleiht dem ganzen einen Hauch von Country, von gediegenem Landleben. An der Kernbesetzung hat sich nichts geändert: HEIKE AUMÜLLER ist zuständig für den entrückten, silbenhaften Gesang, JOHANNES FRISCH für Bass und Perkussion und THOMAS WEBER für Gitarre, Elektronik und Klavier. (In genau dieser Stammformation ist das KOLLEKTIEF übrigens auch live zu sehen.) Mit der erwähnten Roadmovie-Gitarre beginnt "Teufelskamin", der "Coricidin Boogie" (01) wärmt und entspannt. Schlagzeugbesen und der gewohnt traumhafte Gesang von HEIKE AUMÜLLER – ob Text oder Silben lässt sich nicht genau deuten, ist aber eigentlich auch egal – sorgen für ein wohliges Gefühl, hier ist Heimat, ein Feuer im Kamin (noch ohne Teufel), nur leichtes Quietschen und Knarzen. "Never Collapse, Always Dazzle!" (02) wechselt in die Nacht, es schwirren eindeutig Silben durchs Dunkel. Geheimnisvolle Ambientmusik, bis dato still und leise, ohne Ausbrüche. "Teufelskamin Jam #1" (03) – das 'Jam' deutet es an – klingt jazzig und im Verlauf improvisiert. Nach drei Minuten tauchen die ersten Störgeräusche auf, psychedelische Gitarre und Kratzen, dazu ein 70er Fender-Rhodes-Piano. Immer noch das knarzende, wohlige, manchmal aber auch unheimlich flackernde Kaminfeuer. "Shangrila" ist kurz und wunderbar (04), ein melancholischer Wattebausch, Musik wie ein warmer (Schnee)Regenschauer. "Soft Machine" (05) ist Jazz zu später Stunde, nur mit Piano und Contrabass, getragen von einer anheimelnden, umwerfenden Melancholie. Auch die zweite Hälfte des Albums birgt diesen neuen KAMMERFLIMMER-Ambient, erinnert übrigens während mancher Instrumentalpassagen (etwa in "New Ghosts", 09) an die stets unterschätzten DAS HOLZ – passt ja wiederum zum Thema 'Kamin'. Allerdings lodern die Flammen nach hinten etwas aufgeregter, knistern und knastern, die knarzigen und quietschenden Instrumente nehmen zu. Seit 1996 existiert das KAMMERFLIMMER KOLLEKTIEF und erfindet sich trotz aller Wiedererkennbarkeit, vor allem durch den Gesang, für jedes Album neu. Nach "Jinx" und "Wildling" ist "Teufelskamin" innerhalb weniger Jahre das dritte hochkarätige Album, typisch KOLLEKTIEF und doch wieder anders, diesmal mit dem Schwerpunkt eindeutig auf wohligem Ambient im winterlichen Landhaus. Der Cowboy am Lagerfeuer für Zuhause. Herzerwärmend! Und im ausgehenden Sommer schon meine Lieblingswinterplatte." [Michael We./NONPOP] 2011 €15.00
KATCHMARE Frieda Harris CD-R "An algid five tracks Occult homage to Lady Frieda Harris (mostly known as the artist behind Aleister Crowley's Thoth tarot deck) is the case with this new creation by Nick Hoffman aka Katchmare. "Frieda Harris" Represents both progression and realization Hoffman explored on previous Katchmare albums that he recorded during winter time, as it substantiates in the 25 minutes album opener "Winterreise"- A gesture to the renowned Schubert winter piece in the shape of saturnine and freezing drones that shifts to "Unseen Chariot", a picturesque track that offers noise washes alongside silent intervals and sensory drones gliding in idiosyncratic space heaven. "Wind Canticle" comes next as a methodical winter hymn with bitter ceremonial qualities, whilst "Shifting Snow" is a short and intimidating segment before "Ulrikke" rigorously end this album with an evident observation: Destruction implies creation. Death implies life. Winter is Death." [label info] www.hcbrecords.com 2011 €9.00
KEIN ZWEITER Teilstück für totalen Schwung LP & DVDr 10 YEARS LATER - 10 STEPS AHEAD! Above party lines – below the horizon of forgiveness...Kein Zweiter return stronger than ever! 10 years after the „Muskeln + Kraft = Überlegenheit“ album – a new release by Kein Zweiter! And nine pieces that are very difficult to categorize: - electronic music? - dance-able? - strong voices? -still a bit sweat of DAF? - uninspired 1980s pure-cult-machine YES! YES! YES! MAYBE! NO! KEIN ZWEITER STAY AS ORIGINAL AS UNIQUE! “...fantastic, sticky, garish nobleman-fetish-fantasies and pre-communistic oaths of knights take possession of me…" (Felix Kubin) Released as 12“vinyl including the „Eine Richtung – Eine Saat“ video on DVD-R, a postcard and an A4-inlay containing the lyrics & liner notes! Also available on Bandcamp! www.90-prozent-wasser.de "GORT KLÜTH, der Bände sprechende Vokalist und KLAUS-HELENE RAMP, der elektronische Musikverantwortliche, bilden zusammen das Berliner Duo KEIN ZWEITER. Dieses hat dieser Tage ihr zweites Album auf dem Label 90% WASSER herausgebracht. Und das hält sich, was die Aufmachung betrifft, elegant zurück. Das heißt, das mir vorliegende Cover ist schlicht in Pappkarton verpackt, auf dem nur der Bandname und der Titel der Platte aufgestempelt sind. Die Klebchen sind weiß, mit einem stilisierten K versehen. Mehr nicht. Doch mehr braucht es auch nicht ... Gegründet wurde KEIN ZWEITER von den genannten zwei Herren bereits 1989. Allerdings dauerte es nicht allzu lang, bis es wieder still um die beiden wurde. Die Stille währte dann bis 1998. Dann taten sie sich wieder zusammen. Nach mehreren Anläufen inklusive einer unveröffentlichten 7inch begannen sie 2003 damit, ihre erste, hier bereits besprochene LP "Muskeln + Kraft = Überlegenheit" aufzunehmen, die drei Jahre später erschien. Darauf folgt jetzt, etwas verzögert, weil GORT KLÜTH einige Probleme mit der Obrigkeit hatte und deshalb dann und wann in Staatsvoll- bzw. Halbpension war, die zweite "Teilstück Für Totalen Schwung". Und die ist nun noch verstrickter, der Gesamtklang voller, die Arrangements komplexer und die Texte derart hintersinnig aufklärerisch, dass einem die Augen auf- ja übergehen, in Anbetracht bzw. Anhörung dessen, wozu die Sprache fähig ist. Doch zur Sache ... Das Album nimmt sich zunächst, hört man es durch, verstreuter Teilstücke an. Da hören wir etwas vom Glied, von einem Kuchenstück, vom Tanzen, von Fügsamkeit und Widerstand, vom Wegsperren der Mütter und der Befreiung von den Vätern, von wilden Horden und vom Wagenmann, der dem, der sagt: Du sollst oder sollst eben nicht, den Kopf mit dem Hammer einschlägt. Da haben wir National- und auch nur Sozialismus, Aufbau, Zerstörung und Sexualität, die ja in all ihren Ausformungen eigentlich nie wider die Natur sein kann, aber auch schon mal wehtut ... "Genitalmetamorphosenovid", das erste Stück, gibt dabei die Stoßrichtung vor. Da wird der römische Dichter Ovid herangezogen, bzw. wird ihm etwas angehängt, an das er sicher damals nicht dachte. Seine Meatmorphosen, könnte man meinen, bilden dann auch gleich das Album ab. Denn stehen die einzelnen Stücke ähnlich wie die Ovidschen Verwandlungen in keinem direkten Zusammenhang. Man könnte gar meinen, ihre Zusammenstellung wär völlig wahllos. Doch so ist das nicht. Nein. In Wahrheit sind alle Teile sowohl der Metamorphosen als auch die des Albums kunstvoll miteinander verknüpft … “Komm herein” (02) verbindet z.B. gekonnt und mit einem tiefschwarz humorigen Anfang ("ss die wirklichkeit/ die mich von hinten treibt") Faschismus und Homosexualität. (Die ersten zwei Buchstaben werden als Laute gesprochen.) "Die Saat" (03) trägt dann in seiner auf youtube zu bewundernden bildlichen Darstellung Anleihen an den vergangenen Realsozialismus zur Schau. Was dann den im zweiten Stück genannten Faschismus nun wohl um die Dimension des Sozialismus, der die Vorstufe zum Kommunismus sein sollte, reicher macht, also ganz allgemein Diktatur bedeuten dürfte oder repressives System. Sowohl textlich als auch musikalisch kann das mindestens doppeldeutig genannt werden. Und das ist auch gut so. Denn das Eindeutige, bzw. all die Vormünder, die sich stets auf der richtigen Seite wähnen, nerven ob ihres ausschließlichen Hoheitsanspruches enorm. Es bedarf nun mal keiner Oberaufsicht. Das hat sicherlich auch Ovid, als er, so wie GORT KLÜTH, und zwar als das Werk fast abgeschlossen war, in die Verbannung geschickt wurde, gerufen ... Ob die Kunst nun also Kot isst, bleibt eben ihr überlassen … Mit "Kreislauf" (04) holen KEIN ZWEITER dann noch einmal Schwung, um sich im "Tanzlied" (05) dem Tanzen zu widmen … Die B-Seite umfasst dann noch vier weitere Titel. "Endstation Gürtel" (06), "Miteinander" (07), "Der Weg" (08) und "Der Wagenmann" (09) … Oh, der Wagenmann! Der hat es mir nun wirklich angetan. Dieses Stück Musik ist wohl das Epischste, das mir seit Jahren zu Ohren gekommen ist – sagenhaft. Man hört hier sogar einen klassischen Chor, der die Handlung der im Text beschriebenen Tragödie kommentiert ... großartig! Und dann ... dann fällt der Hammer ... Aufgenommen wurde "Teilstück Für Totalen Schwung" zwischen 2007 und 2013 in Morgenitz und Berlin. Die Produktion übernahmen PAUL VIEBEG und JÜRGEN ECKLOFF." [andrewkorsch für nonpop.de] 2016 €17.00
KIRCHENKAMPF Babel do-CD Dunkle Drone-Ambience, hallend, wummernd, unheimlich...metallische Obertöne, endlose Flächen & Äthernoise ... wie fast immer sind es religiöse Themen, die ihren Ausdruck finden bei KIRCHENKAMPF; beeindruckend, wie das ganze am Ende in immer bedrohlichere, ausserweltliche Gebiete abdriftet... filed under: apocalyptic dark ambient. " "Babel" follows the recent and well-received albums "Island of the Dead" (on Cohort) and "Transmissions" (which we released last year). It is an extremely dynamic and dense work that could generally be classified as experimental dark ambient. The theme here is the Tower of Babel and each disc takes a somewhat different yet complimentary approach: the first ("Red Babylon") is generally a rather heavy and intense recording, while the second ("Citadel of the Nevermind") is more droney and dream-like. A profound and monumental journey lasting well over two hours. 'kirchenkampf', the project of John Gore (Cohort Records, The Oratory of Divine Love, >wirewall<), has been active since 1986. Since that time he has released numerous recordings on his own and other labels. Additionally, John has collaborated with a number of others, including Steve Hall (Yen Pox), C. Reider, and Brett Smith (Caul). The CDs come packaged in a stunning printed gatefold sleeve." [press release] http://discs.diophantine.net/ 2007 €16.00
KLEISTWAHR Winter LP Kleistwahr is the solo project of Gary Mundy, the legendary power electronic and noise-rock musician who is a founding member of Ramleh and runs the highly influential Broken Flag label. Solemn drones and elegiac long-form passages gird Kleistwahr’s Winter, which often chimes, glistens, and glows through a unhurried constructs for organ, synth, guitar, and electronics. Yet Mundy pivots throughout with triumphant explosions of shrill noise, redlined overload, and harrowingly anguished vocals from the great unknown. Quintessential Kleistwahr. Winter was originally published as part of the instantly out of print On Corrosion - a 10 cassette anthology from 2019 that was housed in a handcrafted wooden box and featuring full albums from Kleistwahr, Neutral, Pinkcourtesyphone, Alice Kemp, She Spread Sorrow, G*Park, Relay For Death, Francisco Meirino, Fossil Aerosol Mining Project, and Himukalt. The collection also stood as the 50th release for The Helen Scarsdale Agency, an imprint founded in 2003 and dedicated to post-industrial research, recombinant noise, surrealist demolition, existential vacancy and then some. With the necessary reissue of Winter, The Helen Scarsdale Agency will embark upon the reissue of much of that material from On Corrosion. https://helenscarsdale.bandcamp.com/album/winter 2021 €18.50
Common Values CD "Since 2014 Gary Mundy of Ramleh and Breathless has been releasing most of his solo work through Fourth Dimension Records. Common Values is his seventh such album for the label (not including a reissue of 2009’s The Return album, originally released on vinyl by USA’s long gone by legendary Noiseville, and the LP reissues of the Broken Flag albums Mobility and Do Not also shipping in October 2022) and gathers another six mighty cuts that on one hand continue his penchant for exploring more serrated sonic landscapes and, on the other, keep those in check with a tempered approach to atmospherics that this time round is widened further by almost kosmische-like curdled organ playing,, electronic swirl, psychedelic guitar mainlined from one of Saturn’s outer rings, and occasional haunting yet despairing vocals that are more pronounced than ever before. Common Values is a title itself that simultaneously commands empathy as well as a wry nod towards the irony at work. If anything serves as a common thread in all of Gary’s work then it’s not only in his love of stratospheric sounds, but also this deep sense of anguish due to hoping things will improve whilst knowing that humanity is its own worst enemy. It’s this quality that binds his music together and is laid barest in Kleistwahr. Common Values sounds both like a basic recognition of a quality most individuals are possessed with whilst they tear each other apart because of perceived differences or a disagreement over fundamental truths. If Kleistwahr tread any line, then it’s right here. Common Values might well be illuminating this more than ever. This is the thirteenth Kleistwahr album since 1983's Myth (reissued as a limited edition LP by Harbinger Sound in 2011). Packaged as usual in gatefold-LP style sleeve in a characteristic Broken Flag design once again featuring fantastic photos by Chris Low, this album appeared in late October 2022 and is shipping now. 300 only." https://fourthdimensionrecords.bigcartel.com/ "Gary Mundy might be best known as the man behind Ramleh (well, to the readers of these pages), but Ramleh is a group (I may have used this opening line before). Kleistwahr is his solo project, and after a short period of activity in the 80s, releasing four cassettes (all re-issued on vinyl), he started again in 2010, and it's now the work he's most active with. His current Kleistwahr doesn't sound like the old incarnation, which was noisy and collage-like. The current Kleistwahr is noisy too, but a different kind of noise. Mundy uses a guitar, organ, synthesizers, and a plethora of sound effects and creates a multi-layered, orchestral sound. No doubt there is new technology available these days that allows him to use multiple layers in the music. As I noted before, Kleistwahr's music is not here to cheer anyone up. It is dark and grim, as opposed to dark and pleasantly atmospheric. The soundtrack for harsh times, and luckily (?) we have plenty of those these days. I wonder what the 'Common Values' are, according to Mundy. The titles of the pieces are puzzling, anyway. There is 'Time To Realise', 'Heaven Maybe Never', 'Toward A New Land' or 'In Blood Covered Land', all of which don't provide clues but leave much to guess (and, yes, it sounds grim) Kleistwahr's music is not piercingly loud, but somehow pierces right into your brain. When vocals are used, they sound far away, like a cry for help or a howl of pain. Maybe the voice is that one thing that sounds like Ramleh. The harpsichord sound I heard before (Vital Weekly 1271) returns here and has that haunted house, shivers down the spine sound. The title track is the longest, and following the loudest start, the volume drops, and Kleistwahr is off to a collage of voices and suppressed sounds and is more a collage piece, as opposed to the others, which are layered and psychedelic noise pieces. An excellent album all around, and Kleistwahr goes from strength to strength." [FdW / Vital Weekly] 2022 €13.00
Do Not LP Limited edition reissue of this album originally released in 1986 on cassette on Broken Flag. Comprising two untitled side-long pieces, Do Not catches Gary Mundy of Ramleh in peak "noise" mode with his solo endeavor, taking much from his place as one of the innovators of the so-called power electronics genre yet pushing this confrontational avant-garde sensibility somewhere entirely new. It is a sound that Kleistwahr has continued to explore and add new dimensions to since, but never completely untangles itself from this particular root. Raw and seemingly unrestrained, these pieces present a robust, white-hot sonic meltdown up there with the very best from this ultimately fertile period for music from the basement. This LP is packaged similarly to the vinyl reissues of the first two full-length Kleistwahr albums released by Harbinger Sound in 2011, Arsonicide and Myth. It is also being released the same time as the one-sided Mobility (FD 129LP) reissue originally released on cassette in 1983. https://fourthdimensionrecords.bigcartel.com/product/kleistwahr-do-not-lp 2022 €18.00
Mobility LP (single-sided) Limited edition reissue of this cassette originally released in 1983 on Broken Flag, gathering five untitled solo pieces by Gary Mundy of Ramleh in full on early power electronics mode, firmly illustrating his place as one of the innovators of this genre yet likewise pushing this confrontational avant-garde sensibility somewhere entirely new. It is a sound that Kleistwahr has continued to explore and add new dimensions to ever since, but never completely untangles itself from this particular root. Raw and seemingly unrestrained, these pieces present a robust, white-hot sonic meltdown up there with the very best from this ultimately fertile period for music from the basement. They last around 17 minutes in total. This release is packaged similarly to the vinyl reissues of the first two full-length Kleistwahr albums released by Harbinger Sound in 2011, 'Arsonicide' and 'Myth'. It is also being released the same time as the 'Do Not' reissue originally released on cassette in 1986. ############## "Limited edition reissue of an ultra-rare Broken Flag cassette (BF27), by Gary Mundy of Ramleh's longstanding solo endeavour, originally released in 1983. Unavailable for over 30 years, this is a must-have record by all those with an interest in Ramleh and their offshoots, the Broken Flag archives or, more broadly, anything from this fertile period in noise / avant--garde music from the basement. Ltd x 300 copies with insert. Mastered by Sion Orgon. Artwork by Gary Mundy and Puppy38." 2022 €14.00
  For the Lives Once Lived CD "Several years ago, Gary Mundy of Ramleh/Broken Flag (and far more besides) declared to me that he wished to do one new Kleistwahr album every year until he's no longer able to do them. Fourth Dimension Records has subsequently fulfilled a promise to honor this plan as much as possible and is managing to keep up so far. How Gary manages to keep pulling new ideas out of the proverbial hat at this rate is anybody's guess, but the latest album, For the Lives Once Lived illustrates very clearly that the wellspring he draws from has far from dried up. If you have been paying attention to the albums that have been released by Fourth Dimension Records during recent years, you should understand that his solo music has retained the molten intensity it has always been propelled by since Kleistwahr was founded in the early 1980s. While the work occasionally seems as though it draws from the same dusty religious setting as some of Messiaen's wonderful organ compositions, there's still an all-encompassing blanket of ravaged psychedelia firmly laced with blood-flecked barbs to help counter this. When Kleistwahr's music seems poised to elevate the atmospheric gestures towards the sublime and elegiac, there's always a gaping maw lined with razor-edged teeth lurking nearby to help keep all those lofty hopes and expectations from getting above themselves. For the Lives Once Lived may also surprise many with its opening song, "Rotten Boroughs," which both stands out from the rest of the album yet makes sense as part of it. This is another fantastic album from the unstoppable force that is Gary Mundy's Kleistwahr. Long may it continue. For the Lives Once Lived appears packaged in a Broken Flag-style sleeve featuring photos by Chris Low, design by Puppy38, and mastering by Sion Orgon." https://garymundykleistwahr.bandcamp.com/album/for-the-lives-once-lived 2023 €13.00
KLIVE Sweaty Psalms CD "KLIVE ist das Solo Projekt von Ulfur Hansson, einem jungen Musiker aus Reykjavik, Island. Er ist sonst Live-Musiker bei JÓNSI (Solo-Projekt des Sigur Rós Gittaristen) und Bassist der Noisecore-Band SWORDS OF CHAOS. Was SWEATY PSALMS auszeichnet, ist vor allem der am besten „organisch“ zu nennende Sound. Obwohl grundsätzlich elektronisch produziert, ist das Klangbild überraschend akustisch. Hierfür sorgen zunächst einmal die quäkend-exotisch klingenden Blechbläser seiner 3 Live-Begleitmusikerinnen (2010 auf Tour als Support von KIRA KIRA). Vor allem aber die Aufnahmen von original isländischen Klangereignissen (engl. Field Recordings) machen den ganz eigenen Charakter des Albums aus: Schwer zu sagen ob es sich um einen Flaschenzug oder ein vertautes, schaukeldes Ruderboot handelte, es klingt jedenfalls definitiv nach Holz und Wasser. Es knarrt, flötet, klappert und planscht unbekannterweise, lediglich Möven sind zu identifizieren. Und die Percussion auf DON’T GIVE UP THE GHOST ist tatsächlich das vehemente Schlagen auf Töpfe und Pfannen der aufgebrachten Bevökerung vor dem isländischen Parlament nach dem Finanz-Crash 2008! All dies macht SWEATY PSALMS zum einem klanglich und musikalisch auffälligen und wahrscheinlich bislang am wenigsten elektronisch klingenden MILLE PLATEAUX Album. Bislang. // KLIVE is the solo project of Ulfur Hansson, a young musician from Reykjavik, Iceland. He is also a touring member of JÓNSI ( Jon Þor Birgisson of SIGUR ROS) and the bass player of notorious noisecore band SWORDS OF CHAOS. Digital Folk From Iceland. SWEATY PSALMS sounds like water and wood. It bubbles, whistles and rattles indefinitely, with merely seagulls to be spotted. SWEATY PSALMS has a strong organic feel, mixed with tongue in-cheek brass samples and orchestrations that compliment heavily processed field recordings. In fact, DON'T GIVE UP THE GHOST include sounds from the vehement battering of pots and pans outside the icelandic parliament, after the nations financial crash and burn of 2008. It's inverted folkiness and warm concrete touch makes SWEATY PSALMS a remarkable album, and probably MILLE PLATEAUX's least electronic sounding album so far. So far!" [label info] www.mille-plateaux.com 2011 €13.00
KLUSTER Eruption LP "Kluster was a short-lived project of three musicians/artists/performers: Dieter Moebius, Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Konrad Schnitzler. They recorded two albums in 1970, unprecedented in their experimental radicalism. Chaotic, apocalyptic (noise) improvisations, a sound later termed industrial music. Kluster disbanded as Moebius and Roedelius found the financial risk of bringing out a third album too daunting. Schnitzler decided to go ahead on his own, releasing the material they had recorded together, without any information or credits on the pure black LP sleeve. Moebius and Roedelius continued as a duo under the name of Cluster." [label info] www.bureau-b.com 2012 €17.50
KOBI Dronesyndrome CD Drone-Impro aus Norwegen auf SILBER! KOBI arbeiten mit Synths, Guitar, Drums, Double Bass, Accordion, Cello, Dictaphone, etc.. auf den 9 hier enthaltenen Stücken schaffen sie Dronescapes und mysteriöse Klangkörper mit interessanten Texturen, zwischen Oberton-Drone-Äther-Sounds und „konkreter“ Impro .... zweite CD auf Silber für diese Gruppe aus dem ORIGAMI – Umfeld: “Layers of deep drones and pulsating electro-acoustic manipulation. Listen closely and you'll discover whole worlds of subtle aural beauty that as a whole creates one of the most well crafted and enticing drone albums I've heard in a while. Improvisation and experimentation at its finest by Kai Mikalsen and his Norwegian crew.” [label info] 2005 €12.00
KOVAC, BORIS / NEW RITUAL GROUP The Path CD "What’s remarkable about Boris is that he has carved out a musical form that transcends genre or even musical content; it’s a music of depth and feeling; and that’s what you hear beyond the notes or style. And he has gathered, over time, musicians who can realize that quality. This, for Boris, is a small group, only five people, so they can be looser, more personal than the larger ensembles. Though informed by chamber music, Serbian, Romanian and Hungarian folk music, and jazz, you can’t file this record in any of those categories. Lyrical and ostensibly simple, these exquisitely coloured and beautifully recorded compositions float, occasionally changing density, but always solid enough to be clear about what they are. The drums are especially subtle in this regard, more touch than motor, but they make themselves expressive, even forceful, when they need to. For the rest, the music moves as a sinuous wave, the parts distinct but not separated. It’s autumnal, that I could say." [label notes] "Mit „The Path“ veröffentlicht der Jugoslawische Komponist und Multiinstrumentalist BORIS KOVAC ein Album, das eine gefühlvolle Verschmelzung von Chamber Music, osteuropäischem Folk und Jazz bietet. Die CD erscheint als Digipack via RECOMMENDED. Mehr als 20 Alben hat der 1955 in der damals unabhängigen Region Vojvodina am Rande von Jugoslawien geborene BORIS KOVAC bislang veröffentlicht. Und obwohl seine Wurzeln in traditioneller Musik, Improvisation und Jazz verhaftet sind, verschrieb er sich doch auch der musikalischen Arbeit für Filme und Theaterstücke, für die er bereits mehrfach ausgezeichnet wurde. Mit seinen World- und Jazz-Ensembles RITUAL NOVA, LADAABA ORCHEST und dem LA CAMPANELLA ORCHESTRA spielte er mehr als 500 Konzerte in 30 verschiedenen Ländern. In den vier Instrumentalisten seiner NEW RITUAL GROUP fand er nun die idealen Partner um den acht Kompositionen seines neuen Albums „The Path“ auf knapp 50 Minuten zu einer nachdenklichen, zerbrechlich anmutenden Grundstimmung zu verhelfen. Hauptsächlich mit Kontrabass, Piano, Saxophon und Percussions instrumentiert, scheinen die vordergründig einfach gehaltenen Kompositionen durch den Raum zu schweben, mal düster, mal gefühlvoll verspielt, aber immer kristallklar. Durch ruhige Klänge - so schreibt KOVAC im Booklet - will er dem Hörer ein Ausbrechen aus dem turbulenten Alltag erleichtern und der Natur und deren Ruhe ein Stückchen näher bringen. Ein wunderbarer Gedanke, der mit „The Path“ ideal umgesetzt wird." 2016 €13.00
KRAKEN Untitled CD "kraken is back and pulls us down into the abyss - a dark, cold and desolate place that is filled with the droning of oscillators. authentic field recordings mingle with evolving rhythms, and the underlying tension created by the poignant confessions of human beings adds to the unique flavor of kraken: equally fascinating, enchanting and disturbing, the sounds cut right through our souls. for fifty minutes, kraken keeps us in its tight grip and we all cannot resist but realize our own fugacity. fifteen years past the first kraken release, its epitaph is more actual than ever before: when gazing into the abyss for too long, one tardy realizes that he is part of it. from within the vast depths, raubbau brings to you the latest album, unnamed." [label info] www.raubbau.org "Lange Jahre haben wir die beiden Belgier auf NONPOP begleitet. Insbesondere ab Mitte der so genannten Nullerjahre waren JORIS VERMOST und RICARDO GOMEZ Y DE BUCK sehr aktiv, brachten regelmäßig ihre klaustrophobischen Tiefsee-Soundtracks zwischen Dark Ambient, Noise und Collage unter die Leute. (Ein Interview zur Arbeit von KRAKEN findet Ihr hier.) Mit "Strop" auf RAUBBAU (Besprechung) schien sich dann zu bewahrheiten, was KRAKEN aus Spaß bis dahin zu jedem Album sagten: Es sei ihr finales. Vier Jahre Funkstille ohne jedwede Ankündigung neuer Aktivitäten. Umso erfreuter war ich über die Nachricht von RAUBBAU, dass nun tatsächlich ein weiteres Album erscheint, passend zur Zurückhaltung einfach ohne Titel – "Untitled". "A dark, cold and desolate place" verspricht das Label, "equally fascinating, enchanting and disturbing" – diese Beschreibung deckt sich mit meiner bisherigen Wahrnehmung von KRAKEN. Und auch die gleichzeitig ästhetischen, aber sehr trostlosen Alltagsfotos, mit denen das Duo seit jeher seine Alben schmückt, deuten auf Kontinuität hin. Tatsächlich hat auch das aktuelle Werk eine hohe Wiedererkennbarkeit und liefert mit dem ersten Track einen der besten der Bandgeschichte. "Untitled 1" beginnt überraschend mit einem deutschen Text: Eine furchtsame und angewiderte, rezitierende Frauenstimme (mit Akzent) berichtet von einem "schwarzen Loch, das alles verschlingt". Sie flüstert von Verfall, Drogen, Tot und Unrat – also vom ganz normalen Leben. Harsche, knirschende, aber nicht unschöne Sounds fügen sich darunter zu einem Ambientteppich, der wiederum abrupt von Billigbeats, von Surren und Knattern unterbrochen wird. Es folgt eine melodiösere Strecke mit Gitarrentönen, die weiterhin den Gegensatz des gesamten Albums aufrecht hält: schön vs. hässlich, Freundlichkeit vs. Verderben. Das Flüstern und allerlei mystische Geräusche spielen eine Rolle, manchmal erinnert das Stück gar an geknurrten Urfolk, um am Ende wieder von flächiger Trostlosigkeit eingeholt zu werden. "Untitled 2" wirkt als Collage aus diversen, organischen Sounds. Zwischen Field Redordings und Vocals schiebt sich ein Drone und bringt einige rituell anmutende Komponenten wie Stammesgeheul oder Kampfesrufe mit. "Untitled 3" besteht im Wesentlichen aus dem rhythmischen Peitschen von Frequenzen, ebenfalls mit entfernt unterlegten, menschlichen Geräuschen. Hypnotischer Dauerbeschuss wie intensives Hubschrauberdröhnen. In "Untitled 4" spielt erneut eine Frauenstimme – spanisch? – die tragende Rolle, spricht verzweifelt zu höhligen Sounds. Das Stück geht dann über in ambienthafte Drones und verströmt die das Album durchziehende, unheimliche Atmosphäre. "Untitled 5" schließt sich nahtlos an, als düstere Soundhöhle mit weiteren Vocals, hier kommt sehr deutlich das typische KRAKEN-Flair zum Tragen, der Bezug zur See mit Geräuschen wie knarzenden Schiffsbalken. "Untitled 6" schließlich ist überwiegend ein noisiges, ansteigendes Kreischen, das Abheben eines Düsenjets oder platzende Lungen bei Sauerstoffmangel im Wasser. Am Ende läuten die Totenglocken, mit denen die rund 55 Minuten auch begonnen haben. Belgien steht ja bei der Fußball-WM hoch im Kurs. Musikalisch fällt mir in der Regel wenig zu diesem Land ein. KRAKEN allerdings sind ein Aushängeschild, und ich bin froh, dass sie sich wieder zeigen. Diese Mischung aus Trostlosigkeit und Eleganz, die Reduzierung auf menschliche Ängste und Triebe in Kombination mit der sich manchmal einschleichenden Unterwassersymbolik – das ist einmalig. 'Human Dark Ambient', vor allem im ersten Stück auf ganz hohem Niveau." [Michael We. / NON-POP] 2014 €6.00
KTL IV do-12 Japanische Luxus-Vinyl-Edition des vierten KTL-Studio-Albums, Gatefold-Cover mit Bonus-Single & bedruckten Innenhüllen.. "... Aller Dienste und Fesseln ledig, entfaltet sich da etwas zu voller Pracht und Größe, dass dem ähnelt, das Yeats einst in einer Vision gen Bethlehem schlumpen sah. Etwas prosaischer gesagt, lässt O‘Malley urige Bassriffs grollen und Gitarren sich durch jeden Widerstand fräsen, während Rehberg Synthie- & Orgelsound ballt, wie - ohne Pathos lässt sich das nicht beschreiben - wie Goyas Koloss seine Faust. Als ob er den ganzen Kongo darin zerquetschen wollte und damit den letzten schwarzen Blutstropfen aus dem Herz der Finsternis. Die Wucht und Düsternis, die hier sich vorüber wälzt, lässt sich mit Namen wie Fushitsusha, Nadja oder SunnO))) nur so ungefähr andeuten. Der Auftakt ‚Paraug‘ ist erst noch ein ominöses Rumoren, Rauschen und melodiöses Riffen, bei ‚Paratrooper‘ setzt sich das knurrige Biest dann ganz langsam in Bewegung, mit schwerem Tritt, den der Boris-Drummer Atsuo wie mit Taikotrommel als dumpfes Trauermarschbumbumbum schlägt, und ein Chor machtloser Engel stöhnt dazu ein ewig langgezogenes Oooooooooooo. Diese gut 21 Min. sind ein Prachtstück an erhabener Erschütterung der Sinne, in der Wirkung vergleichbar mit Guapos Aztekenkult. Im schnellen Marathontrott hetzt dann ‚Wicked Way‘ dahin wie ein barfüßiger Unglücksbote, denn jetzt folgt mit ‚Benbbet‘ eine weitere Viertelstunde von infamer Poesie, die erst noch liebkost, was sie zerstören wird, und dann Tritt für Tritt, nun fast schon mutwillig, einen knirschenden Tanz der Vernichtung übt. ‚Eternal Winter‘ überzieht die Spuren auf Shivas Tanzboden mit Eiskristallen, bis ‚Eternal Trouble‘ mit aufsteigenden elektronischen Molekülketten, einzelnen dunklen, monoton aushallenden Gitarrentönen und gedongtem Gong (erneut Atsuo) beharrlich Indizien der Unverwüstlichkeit liefert - der Trouble geht weiter. Produziert hat diese Dystopie übrigens Rehbergs einstiger FennO‘Berg-Partner, der unverwüstliche Jim O‘Rourke." [Bad Alchemy] "Recorded and mixed at Studio GOK Sound, Tokyo, September 2008. Mastered at Pietthapraxis, Köln, October 2008. Stephen O'Malley: guitar. Peter Rehberg: computer & synthetizer. Atsuo: drums on 2 and gong on 6. Produced by Jim O'Rourke. Special Edition double 12 in gatefold tip on sleeve, with obi, mounted 7, and printed innersleeves. Japanese pressing, cut at 45 rpm." [label info] www.inoxia-rec.com 2009 €49.00
KÖNER, THOMAS Nuuk CD Thomas Köner is one of the most influential modernist minimal composers. Alongside Wolfgang Voigt’s “Gas” project, Köner has been centrally responsible for electronic music’s fascination with depth and reduction. His signature sound is vast, seemingly endless, which at first seems homogenous and infinite, but once exposed to it, when our senses calibrate to the fine nuances of changes, we discover and immerse into abundance of textures, richness of modulations and almost infinite range of sonic titilations. Köner’s work was inspired by his frequent travels in the Arctic, and listeners feel his music as a journey to mysterious worlds of the Arctic region. The experience of being exposed to the extreme cold, the hightening of our senses and ability to notice even the slightest changes in color, sound, light or density that creates this dangerously reductive environment, is like an immersion in the sonic world of this German artist, where masterfully crafted layers of sound open into colossal spaces, teeming with aural life, waiting to be discovered by those who venture into it. The titles of Köner’s highly regarded albums from the 90’s ever so often play with this affinity – Nunatak, Permafrost, Teimo - all reference to the world of the Artic region, just as his album Nuuk that points us to the capital of Greenland. Subdued and minimal at first glance, this album is brimming with low-end frequences, shadowy resonances and boreal ambience, but at the same time, constant fluctuation and vulnerability of sonic events, makes it very organic, human and almost comforting, like the tiny harbour existing in the sea of ice, it is named after. Originally published as one of four CD’s on the 1997 compilation Driftworks, which also included albums by Nijiumu, Pauline Oliveros& Randi Raine-Reusch and Paul Schütze, the album was re-relased in 2004 by MillePlateauxMedia. It also served as the source of music material and inspiration for Thomas Köner’s video art by the same. https://forceincmilleplateaux.bandcamp.com/album/nuuk 2021 €15.00
LA STPO (La Société des Timides à la Parade des Oiseaux) Les Explositionnistes LP "Tous les amateurs de la formation rennaise culte La Société des Timides à la Parade des Oiseaux doivent déjà connaître Les Explositionnistes, paru initialement au milieu des années 1990 et considéré par beaucoup comme leur chef-d’œuvre. Pour les autres, cette réédition est l’occasion de redécouvrir cet univers unique et poétique qu’ils développent depuis 1984. Véritable trésor de la scène art rock française, La STPO n’a jamais cessé son activité depuis trente-quatre ans, offrant des concerts au compte-gouttes tout en assurant un rythme soutenu d’une répétition par semaine. Un premier EP en 1986, suivi d’une bonne dizaine d’albums (La STPO, 1989 ; Le Femme : Portraits, 1993 ; Les Explositionnistes, 1995 ; L’Enciversel Marsac, 1998 ; Expériences de Survie, 1999 ; 86-90, 2001 ; Le Combat occulté, 2005 ; Tranches de temps jeté, 2006 ; Les Liquidateurs, 2015 ; L’Imparfait Multiple de Dieu, 2015), ainsi qu’un split avec Volcano the Bear ou un album live, il est donc inutile de dire qu’il y a de quoi écouter ! C’est pourquoi cette sortie remasterisée d’un des albums qui les a fait connaître est fort bienvenue. Mêlant des influences variées (post-punk, free jazz, no wave, avant-garde, rock in opposition, bruitisme…), le groupe créé autour de Pascal Godjikian (chant) et Jim B. (guitare) a néanmoins développé un monde onirique bien à eux, teinté de surréalisme et d’expressionnisme. Qui dit onirique ne veut pourtant pas dire planant ! Si certains passages de « Sarajevo-Stepanakert » ou « Barfüsserkirche in Erfurt » peuvent susciter une certaine mélancolie ou une forme d’irréalité, le style de la troupe c’est plutôt du direct dans ta face. « Violent » n’est peut-être pas le terme car tout est ici contrebalancé par l’humour, mais La STPO joue des brisures, des structures complexes, des fois très speed, nerveuses et tendues, au milieu desquelles peuvent émerger des hurlements ou des références à la guerre (les villes martyres de « Sarajevo-Stepanakert », le génocide arménien sur « Rouge, Bleu, Orange »). Et au milieu de tout cela, nous sommes invités à une valse monstrueuse, ambiance carnavalesque au milieu des décombres (« DadaMax Stellt Loplop Vor »). Dès ce premier morceau, l’inspiration picturale est mise en avant. Max Ernst, Pablo Picasso, Barnett Newman ou Lyonel Feininger sont conviés à la fête, et les superbes visuels de Jim B. leur rendent hommage avec brio. Grave et délirante, en mutation permanente, la musique est foisonnante. Chaque écoute nous amène à découvrir de nouveaux sons. Le chant, théâtral à souhait, aborde de nombreux registres, en s’amusant en permanence de la langue, se l’appropriant pour créer son propre vocabulaire. Au sein de ces tableaux absurdes rendant compte de la cruauté du monde émergent souvent des mélodies, tellement nombreuses et triturées qu’elles en deviennent presque impalpables. Version épique, virtuose et énergique de l’esprit Un Département/Déficit des Années Antérieures, La STPO garde une forme plus rock. L’instrumentation variée (batterie, guitare, basse, saxophone, contrebasse, synthés, radio, xylophone, viole de gambe, balafon…) ouvre, cela dit, les possibilités sonores, pouvant aller de la fanfare orientale (« Rouge, Bleu, Orange ») à des sortes de collages, entre jazz fou et le Hörspiel (« Le Portrait de Dora Maar »). De ces alliances contrastées émerge au final une véritable beauté, dont seul le groupe a la clé (« Barfüsserkirche in Erfurt ») et dont on peut vite devenir accro. Pas de problèmes, l’œuvre est assez dense pour pouvoir s’abreuver à volonté." [Max Lachaud, OBSKÜRE MAG9 2018 €17.50
  Romanciel CD "At last, more than three years after the magnificent “L’ Empreinte” here is the new album from my favorite Society: “Romanciel“. The first impression concerns the artistic creativity of the group: it’s astonishing how high it has been maintained throughout an almost forty-year career. In fact, I can say it right away, “Romanciel” is one of the best albums of theirs, in the field of a discography that is filled with beautiful works. Then comes the great pleasure to find again all the elements that make their style unique, immediately recognizable and, at once, new and fresh every time: Pascal Godjikian‘s extraordinary expressiveness and vocal skills, JimB‘s sharp metallic electric guitar, Patrice Babin‘s stormy drums and delicate small percussions, Christophe Gautheur‘s versatile keyboards and Sébastien Desloges‘s bass and violin. Fascinating, as well, are the suggestions to which La Stpo‘s world refers: the artistic avant-garde of the twentieth century for instance (Dadaism, Surrealism, Expressionism) or some masters of modern music (King Crimson, Pere Ubu and David Thomas projects are the first names that come to me). The album opens with the twenty minute long “Roman“, and it is the violin of the latest arrival Desloges (he joined the group eleven years ago) that gives an important contribution to the atmosphere of unusual lightness of this first track. Along with it we have soft blows of flute and ethereal openings of keyboards. It reminds me of Kandinsky or Klee’s most abstract paintings. But lightness can easily evaporate and leave the place to gravity and harmony can become dissonance just like a clear sky can suddenly cloud over, tear with lighting and explode with thunder. La Stpo‘s songs are kind of like this, they are changing and surprising. Pascal Godjikian‘s lyrics, that often take inspiration from the dream world, are well suited to the music with their surrealistic, bizarre, non consequential features. They speak a language of their own. Actually, since the very beginning of the story, language has always been a reason of great interest for him, even of experimentation with the creation of neologisms and new ways of combining the letters together. The second track gives us a nice chance to approach a very special “Dictionnaire“. “La Diminuée” has weird, theatrical tones alternating with tender sounds of twittering and magnificent lyrical breakthroughs. The mood changes drastically in the fourth and last song, “Rien qu’en Ciel“. It’s a twenty-four-minute performance, wonderful and frightening at the same time, that unveils a dramatic scenery, a kind of desperate cry while a higher and higher wall erases the sky. It’s a dark and haunting final but, despite of it, in the silence that follows the end of the music, a little smile finds its way and sweetens the lips and the soul of the listener. This is what happens in front of a work of art or a spectacle of nature. And this music is beautiful, imaginative and free just like a successful picture or like the flight of the birds that paint the sky with their wonderful parade." [Gabriele Carlini} https://adnrecords.com/la-stpo-romanciel/ "Romanciel (DNN 032 C) beginnt mit ‘Roman‘ und endet mit ‘Rien qu’un Ciel‘, logisch, soweit bei LA STPO je etwas logisch ist. Zwischen die mit knapp 20 und 23 3⁄4 Min. mächtigen Flügel haben JimB – guitar, Patrice Babin – drums, Sébastien Desloges – bass & violin, Christophe Gautheur – keys & reeds und allen voran Pascal Godjikian zwei live schon bekannte Kabinettstückchen platziert: das a capella angestimmte meta-ykegiakische, meta-tidalikische ‘Dictionnaire‘ und ‘La Diminuee‘, das mit verkleinerter Nase die Schwarz-wurzel falsifiziert. Davor bringt Pascal Zeilen aus “Le Tueur Littéral“, einem Roman des Typs R, wie: On a paré tous les états de mort oder Enfin, les 16 décès aux joyeux abois. Und stellt einen zuletzt vor eine höher und höher wachsende graue Mauer, Mauer, Mauer, die einem die Welt und den Himmel verstellt. Les pédales de la mort korrespondiert mit les états de mort. Aus Literatur werden Daten, Himmel gibt es nur noch auf Screens. JimBs Artwork lässt jedoch die farblose Sterilität eines Lochkartenlabors von Vögeln mit blauer Farbe bekleckern. Und von den ersten zitternden Geigenstrichen, von Pascals ersten irrwitzig artikulierten Sätzen an gibt da auch wieder die extraordinäre, im bad alchemystischen Sinn superlativste Musik ihr Kontra. Artrockistisch komplex, mit wieder Pascals unnachahmlichen Manierismen. Die phantastische Wortwahl und die theatralische, akrobatisch zwischen guttural und falsett springende Performanz suchen in ihrem surrealen, artaudesken Reiz, ihrer grotesken Komik einmal mehr ihresgleichen. Wie launig da wieder Babin mit Stabspiel klimpert oder übers Fell galoppiert, wie die Gitarre zuckt und Gift spuckt, der Kecak-Spaß, der vogelige Abbé Birdeen-Spleen bei ‘La Diminuee‘. Und schließlich das umflimmerte Pizzicato, die Violinrufe, das brachiale Mahl- und Basswerk, der Gitarrenexzess, die melancholischen Vibes, die ultimative, gegurgelte Glossolalie bei ‘…Ciel‘ als hochdramatisch karnevalsgrotesker Menschheitsdämmerung bis hin zu den finalen Paukenwirbeln und stechenden Pfiffen. Unfassbar stark!" [Rigobert Dittmann (Bad Alchemy 114)] 2022 €13.00
LABRADFORD Fixed/Context CD "Das neue Album der beliebten Ambient/Post-Rock-Band, diesmal sehr minimal und zart, wenig songorientiert, dafür eine sehr sanfte, magisch-dronige Atmosphäre.. ...Very minimal and sad, with long droney sequences.... 4 long tracks, produced by Steve Albini." [Drone Records info 2001] "To record their sixth album, the members of Labradford met in Chicago to work with Steve Albini at Electrical Audio in June 1999. fixed::context finds the trio stripping off the string trios of the last two albums and working with interlocking sound sources and modifiers; Carter Brown's vintage synthesizers, organs and electric piano, the distinctive Duane Eddy plays Satie guitar of Mark Nelson and Bobby Donne's four and six string basses. Beginning with the 16 minute 'Twenty', Labdradford demonstrate grasp of the dialectic between organic sound sources, digital processing and composition. The guitar duet 'Up To Pizmo' shows a refocusing on basic elements like melody and twang while samples pulse below and keyboards waft above." [label info] 2001 €13.00
LAND:FIRE Shortwave Transmission CD "Ist es wirklich schon fünf Jahre her seit das letzte Land:Fire-Album "Physical : Mental : Psychological" erschien? Ja, das Herbst9-Nebenprojekt von Henry Emich und Frank Merten hat tatsächlich so lang mit neuem Material auf sich warten lassen. Und trotz der grossen Zeitspanne ist das Thema des Albums ähnlich gewählt, geht es wieder um die Auswirkungen radioaktiver Techbologien. "Physical : Mental : Psychological" beschäftigte sich mit den Auswirkungen von 'Trinity', der ersten Atombombe 1945. Land:Fires neues Album "Shortwave Transmission" steckt den Rahmen etwas anders ab und beschäftigt sich mit dem Einsatz radioaktiver Substanzen in der modernen Kriegsführung, vor allem während der Kriege im Nahen Osten gegen Ende des letzten Jahrhunderts und den daraus resultierenden Folgen. Das Duo zeichnet ein apokalyptisches Bild der Welt, das wir uns so kaum vorstellen können, waren diese Kriege doch zu weit weg oder sind schon zu lang her. Da erscheint es fast beschämend, wenn einem die Musik aus "Shortwave Transmission" gefällt. Dieses mit Sprachfetzen aus alten Aufnahmen angefüllte Inferno klingt wie der düstere Nachhall einer Menschheit, die sich selbst vernichtet hat und deren auditives Vermächtnis alles ist, was übrig geblieben ist und nun in Radiowellen transformiert durch den Äther schwebt. Eine verlorene, einsame Melodie hallt knarzend vor sich hin. Bedrohliches Donnern macht Angst, genauso wie starkes, pulsierendes Rauschen. Blubberndes und kratzendes Grollen, von hellen, metallenen Tönen begleitet und mit unkenntlich verzerrten Sprachsamples führt zu einem abrupten Ende. Land:Fires Musik hat aber auch unweigerlich schöne Momente. Trostlosigkeit und Zerstörung sind nicht allumfassend. Der Schrei eines Raubvogels zum Beispiel oder die melancholische aber spärliche Melodie in "Most People Were Silent". Dieses Album ist eine Warnung, eine Aufforderung aufzuhören, bevor uns die Radioaktivität verschlingt. "Shortwave Transmission" ist kein Soundtrack für den Weltuntergang, sondern schon eher ein Nachruf." [Medienkonverter] "Coming back with an all new album after more than 5 years the Alter Ego of HERBST9 delivers another outstanding soundtrack about radiological warfare and it´s debris during the last century. SWT is like a massive energy spike with a surrounding maelstrom of machine noises, rhythms, interferrences and electromagnetic waves. The complex arrangement of technical sounds creates a deadly atmosphere of fallout and devastated landscapes with an apocalyptic aura reflected by dissonant harmonies and deep shimmering ambient scapes. Presented in a 6 panel digipack. Mastered by Andreas Wahnmann." [label info] www.loki-found.de "With a title like 'Short Wave Transmissions', you could perhaps easily think that the album of Land:Fire is along that of S.E.T.I. That is only partly true. There is indeed a lot of talking on this record, snippets from the radio, but the music is somewhat different. Land:Fire is an alter-ego of Herbst9, and it has been five years since he last released a record. This is all about radiological warfare, nuclear fall out and other somewhat unpleasant things in life. Here too we have some analogue synthesizers, computerized effects but also rhythm machines, which create a cold clinical and mechanical sound. That may seem like something negative, but its not. The music is very dynamic, moving back and forth between blocks of synthesized sound and soft spoken ambient textures, all spiced up with radio talk. Its not easy to say wether the music really reflects the radiological/nuclear holocaust theme (would you be aware if it wasn't told?), but there is certainly a spooky atmosphere surrounding this record. Excellent soundtrack to an imaginary film about these kind of subjects." [FdW / Vital Weekly] 2009 €13.00
LAST DOMINION LOST Abomination of Desolation LP Desolation: total, utter, without remit. Departure, loss, absence, yawning valleys of noise. The overture moans from the terminal ward. The humiliation of the cadaver, the scouring of abandoned houses and rubbish heaps, a planet blasted by the fruits of hubris. The last sigh of bathos: "It is finished“. Such is the subject matter and sentiment of this follow-up to the much acclaimed albums “Snowdrops From A Curate's Garden“ and „Towers of Silence“ which put Last Dominion Lost firmly on the throne of post-industrial music. “Abomination of Desolation” is consistent with their development into a dark and profound direction, and yet saturated with the noise and feedback that taps deep into the genre’s conscience: Metallic percussion and the screams of terror, ritual chants and anxious atmospheres, all used and abused in order to create the most accurate soundtrack of desolation. By the fans, “Abomination of Desolation” will be met with mixed feelings – as recordings began with John Murphy in 2015 and through his untimely death that year had to be finished without him, the acknowledged grandsigneur of post-industrial music. The album’s theme and musical approach were originally intended by John for a KRANK release: An electronic album, reflecting on John’s experiences when he was first hospitalized, comatose, and hooked to a breathing machine which was constantly creating bizarre sounds. The result stands as a brief and concise display of the group’s ability to create an unmistakable old school sound with contemporary production value. The album runs for ten tracks clocking in less than 40 minutes total and features new member Till Brüggemann (Gerechtigkeits Liga), as well as guests Nikolas Schreck, Lori Goldston and John Murphy’s beloved wife Annie Stubbs among others. With a firm electronic/analogue backbone, a delicate contrast of percussions of various origins and uncanny vocals, this is a truly dark affair, and while towards the end of the journey some more aggravating feedback loops crawl in, it never gets upfront aggressive. With the crisp mastering job of Hunter Barr it is safe to say that “Abomination of Desolation” will not lag behind its predecessors at all, but forge their deserved status as genre icons. 2017 €16.00
  Abomination of Desolation CD "Desolation: total, utter, without remit. Departure, loss, absence, yawning valleys of noise. The overture moans from the terminal ward. The humiliation of the cadaver, the scouring of abandoned houses and rubbish heaps, a planet blasted by the fruits of hubris. The last sigh of bathos: "It is finished“. Such is the subject matter and sentiment of this follow-up to the much acclaimed albums “Snowdrops From A Curate's Garden“ and „Towers of Silence“ which put Last Dominion Lost firmly on the throne of post-industrial music. “Abomination of Desolation” is consistent with their development into a dark and profound direction, and yet saturated with the noise and feedback that taps deep into the genre’s conscience: Metallic percussion and the screams of terror, ritual chants and anxious atmospheres, all used and abused in order to create the most accurate soundtrack of desolation. By the fans, “Abomination of Desolation” will be met with mixed feelings – as recordings began with John Murphy in 2015 and through his untimely death that year had to be finished without him, the acknowledged grandsigneur of post-industrial music. The album’s theme and musical approach were originally intended by John for a KRANK release: An electronic album, reflecting on John’s experiences when he was first hospitalized, comatose, and hooked to a breathing machine which was constantly creating bizarre sounds. The result stands as a brief and concise display of the group’s ability to create an unmistakable old school sound with contemporary production value. The album runs for ten tracks clocking in less than 40 minutes total and features new member Till Brüggemann (Gerechtigkeits Liga), as well as guests Nikolas Schreck, Lori Goldston and John Murphy’s beloved wife Annie Stubbs among others. With a firm electronic/analogue backbone, a delicate contrast of percussions of various origins and uncanny vocals, this is a truly dark affair, and while towards the end of the journey some more aggravating feedback loops crawl in, it never gets upfront aggressive. With the crisp mastering job of Hunter Barr it is safe to say that “Abomination of Desolation” will not lag behind its predecessors at all, but forge their deserved status as genre icons." https://epicureanescapism.bandcamp.com/album/abomination-of-desolation "Nachdem der Name Last Dominion Lost ursprünglich rückwirkend für Aufnahmen verwendet wurde, die John Murphy, Jon Evans und Dominic Guerin Anfang der 90er gemacht hatten, wurde in den letzten Jahren aus Last Dominion Lost eine aus Murphy, Evans sowie Julian Percy bestehende und in Berlin ansässige Band, die eine durchaus an den Ursprüngen des Industrials orientierte Geräuschmusik spielte, aber dem 21. Jahrhundert klanglich angemessen agierte. Über „Tower Of Silence“, das eigentliche Debüt, hieß es dann auch auf diesen Seiten, „dass Last Dominion Lost einen transparenten Klang schätzen, keinen Soundbrei, der vielleicht kurzfristig dem Hörer die Ohren zum Klingen bringt, dessen Effektivität sich aber schnell abnutzt.“ und man kann diese Einschätzung auch bzgl. des Nachfolgers – zwischendurch erschien das 2011 aufgenommene Livealbum „Snowdrops From A Curate’s Garden“ – „Abomination of Desolation“ äußern, denn wenn eine Reihe von Vertretern atonaler Geräuschmusik auf maximale Verzerrung und Statik setzen (am offensichtlichsten bei dem selbst so betitelten Wall Noise), beschreiten Last Dominion Lost einen anderen Weg, bei der statt Statik Dynamik oder besser gesagt: Unruhe herrscht – und das ist bei diesem „uneasy listening“ durchaus als Kompliment zu verstehen. Mit einem dem Buch Daniel entliehenen Titel, der auch schon Morbid Angel und Clark Ashton Smith inspirierte, macht die Band deutlich, in welche Richtung das Album geht. Von Labelseite heißt es auch: „Desolation: total, utter, without remit. Departure, loss, absence, yawning valleys of noise. The overture moans from the terminal ward. The humiliation of the cadaver, the scouring of abandoned houses and rubbish heaps, a planet blasted by the fruits of hubris. The last sigh of bathos: “It is finished“.” Diese Sätze scheinen nur auf den ersten Blick hyperbolisch, denn natürlich kann bzw. muss man das Album auch vor dem Hintergrund von John Murphys Tod lesen. Murphy hatte Konzept und musikalische Ausrichtung ursprünglich für sein Projekt Krank angedacht, um seine Krankenhauserfahrungen zu verarbeiten. Beendet wurden diese Aufnahmen von Percy, Evans sowie Till Brüggemann von Gerechtigkeits Liga, der seit einiger Zeit festes Mitglied von Last Dominion Lost ist. Letztlich ist das dystopische Musik, bei auf der der Stimme wenn nicht unbedingt eine zentrale, dann doch nicht zu unterschätzende Rolle zukommt: So etwa die Schreie, die auf „Overture To Desolation“ zu hören sind, während es scheppert und Glas zu zerbrechen scheint. Man hört aggressiv-derangierte Vocals auf „Dimunitive Cruciform“, irrsinnig dämonisches Stimmengewirr auf „Irrumatio Del Mortis“ oder aber im Hintergrund schreiende Personen auf „Bludger’s Kill“. „Devil’s Path, ein fast schon leicht atonales, analoges Ambientstück , wird von Flüstern durchzogen, „Beyond The Valley Of The Flies“ knüpft daran musikalisch an. Auf dem von ritueller Perkussion durchzogenen „Blueprint for Urban Warfare“ erklingen schmerzverzerrte Vocals, die eine psychische wie physische Auflösung zu illustrieren scheinen. Lediglich “Cursed Earth” erinnert vom Gesang an Power Electronics. Das ist vielleicht im positivsten Wortsinn pathologische Musik. In Anlehnung an Throbbing Gristle könnte man auch von einer “Journey through a diseased body” sprechen. Die Landschaften, die hier vor dem Auge des Hörenden entstehen, sind wahrlich (ver)wüst(et). In Klarkash-Tons Prosagedicht “The Abomination of Desolation” heißt es:„Of this horror, many tales are told, and nearly all of the tales are different. Some say that the thing has neither visible form nor audible voice“, Last Dominion Lost haben dem Grauen eine mehr als adäquate Stimme gegeben." [MG/African Paper] 2017 €12.00
LEGENDARY PINK DOTS & KETVECTOR The Shock Exchange LP "The Shock Exchange presents an encounter between two of the most interesting and unique projects of the current neo-psychedelic and electronic music panorama. The Legendary Pink Dots need no introduction, and on Side A they once again solidify their status as musical pioneers with all new songs and swirling psychedelic arrangements led by the charismatic voice of Edward Ka-spel. Side B is dedicated to the progressive and psychedelic electronic project kETvECTOR, born from the mind of Justin Bennett (Skinny Puppy / Bahntier) together with Stefano Rossello (Bahntier), showcasing many facets of the project; from electronic free jazz to ambient experimental and esoteric avant-garde. The album also features paintings by Franke Nardiello (aka Groovie Mann) of My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult. A transparent vinyl release exclusively for record store day 2015, not to be missed!" [label info] www.rustblade.it "When the first Compact Disc was released more than 30 years ago not many people were expecting that the LP would still be around in 2015. And even more, that it would make a come-back in the digital age. The LP today is not a mass product as it was back then, but more of a luxury product. Real music lovers want to experience music. Not just listen to it, but use all 5 senses. The tangibility, the artwork, the smell of it, it is all part of the experience. The Italian Rustblade record label is specialized in limited releases like picture discs and special packed albums. The Shock Exchange is a transparent vinyl split LP limited to 299 copies. The beautiful cover paintings were made by Franke Nardiello (a.k.a. Groovie Mann) of My Life with the Thrill Kill Cult. But most important is of course the music. The A side contains 3 tracks by The Legendary Pink Dots. The English/Dutch band celebrates its 35th anniversary this year. They are not the only band to last that long, and there are bands that are even older. But from their very first cassette release in 1980 there hasn't been a year where they did not release anything. In several years even more releases, and adding to that also solo releases and side projects such as The Tear Garden and Mimir. Also to this day they are still playing live regularly. The current lineup of the band consists of founder members Edward Ka-Spel (vocals, keyboards) and Phil Knight (a.k.a The Silverman, keyboards & electronics) as well as Erik Drost (guitars, bass) and sound engineer and wizard Raymond Steeg. The last two years the band was in a very productive phase with lots of releases, including a few releases on Rustblade: Chemical Playschool Volume 15 (2013, CD box set), The Curse Of Marie Antoinette (2013, picture disc) and 10 To The Power Of 9 (2014, 2 LP / CD). During their 35 years of existence the band's sound changed, but there are a few elements that have been there from the beginning. First there is the typical sound of Edward's voice. Second his lyrics: strange little stories with (black) humor, inventive word playing, bizarre twists and a very English reserve. Never judging but always observing. Third is a sense of melancholy, a longing for the unreachable. Fourth is a psychedelic element. Fifth is the creative use of synthesizers and samples: they use their gear to create unique sounds. Sometimes alienating, sometimes very powerful. The first track is very much in line with their previous releases, a more electronic driven song. The other two tracks are more minimalistic and melancholic. kETvECTOR is the name of the collaboration between Justin Bennett (Skinny Puppy, Bahntier) and Stefano Rossello (Bahntier). This collaboration is meant to explore new frontiers. The first two tracks are based on an electronic rhythm. The third track has human played rhythm guitar and bass guitar, and the fourth track has no rhythm, it is more ambient. All tracks are instrumental. They are like musical sketches: with abstract lines and shadows, but not fully colored. It reminds me of Tuxedomoon, probably because of the wind instruments that were used as well as the Peter Principle like bass guitar in the third track. The kETvECTOR side sounds like the soundtrack to a movie. In particular some kind of road movie, travelling on long straight roads through wide open spaces to strange places. The kind of road movie without a happy end. Where the main character never finds what he is looking for in the end, because it is the search itself that keeps him going. As a whole The Shock Exchange is not an easy album, and it takes an open mind and several listens before it reveals itself. But with every time you play it, you discover something new. In the end “difficult” albums are also the most pleasing ones. [Erik Gibbels (edited by Astrid de Ronde)/ BACKGROUND MAG] 2015 €23.00
LEGENDARY PINK DOTS (LPD) All the King's Horses CD Nun werden auch im “Alternative”-Bereich Releases veröffentlicht, die sich mit dem 11. September auseinandersetzen. Die PINK DOTS tun das auf ihre unnachahmliche Art und Weise, mit ihren introvertiert-introspektiven und doch so scheinbar banalen Geschichten, die manchmal auch als Fabeln funktionieren... hier tönen die Dots wieder sehr songorientiert und eingängig ! "I never liked discussing my own lyrics. In the early days of the Pink Dots, I steadfastly refused to include lyric sheets with the albums, in the belief that a listener cannot enjoy or enter a piece of music if she or he is reading and listening at the same time. However, when those lyrics began to be transcribed poorly and sometimes misinterpreted, understandably, by the people who bought the albums, I was forced to relent. I began writing the words for "All the King's Horses" and sister album, "All the King's Men" (on ROIR), early in 2001 with The Unlikely Event. The piece outlined a scenario which could occur in a society increasingly obsessed with technology. A plane is about to crash and one of the unfortunate passengers feels the need to phone his wife on his mobile, only to receive her voice-mail. A runaway train was set in motion with that song. Pieces were written furiously throughout the rest of the year - before and after September 11th. As a result, "All the King's Horses" and "All the King's Men" appear thematic-- not by design, but on account of a body of work being made in a period when the World really did change. My silent wish is that this work leaves the listener hopeful. Even at a moment in time when only madmen of ALL creeds and colours seem to have the fate of this fragile planet in their hands. Let live." ~Edward Ka-spel~ 2002 €13.50
All the King's Men CD Das Schwester-Album zu “All the King’s Horses”, wohl mit das melancholischste & herbstliche was die PINK DOTS bisher veröffentlicht haben.. "All The King's Men" (all new material) and its companion release on Soleilmoon "All The King's Horses", are albums inspired and affected by the events of September 11th. In classic LPD form, they use a nursery rhyme to evoke both the apocalyptic events of a year ago and the hope that has arisen from them. This album is a paradox and a provocation. The world has fallen apart amd we must put it back together. What should we do?” [Soleilmoon] 2002 €14.00
The Gethsemane Option CD "The Legendary Pink Dots is an Anglo-Dutch experimental rock band formed in London in August 1980. Although far outside the mainstream (in terms of their music and career path), LPD have released more than 40 albums, have a devoted worldwide following, and tour frequently. The core members of the group, Edward Ka-Spel (vocals, keyboards, songwriter) and Phil Knight (a.k.a. The Silverman) (keyboards, electronics), are joined by Erik Drost (guitars) and Raymond Steeg (live sound engineer). The band’s debut for Metropolis Records, entitled The Gethsemane Option, is a seven song, hour long exploration in textural ambience and rock experimentalism. Featuring Ka-Spel’s distinctive vocals and lyrical imagery blended with hypnotic guitar and synth washes and spellbinding bass pulses, The Gethsamane Option is a musical laudanum induced fever dream. An enthralling, captivating release." [label info] www.metropolis-records.com https://legendarypinkdots1.bandcamp.com/album/the-gethsemane-option-2 2013 €15.00
10 to the Power of 9 - Vol. 1 LP "Die Kult-Fomation meldet sich mit einem großartigen Konzeptalbum zurück, erscheinend auf RUSTBLADE als limitierte Colored-Vinyl-Edition (499 Exemplare)! Selten passt das Attribut legendär so gut wie auf die Gruppe um EDWARD KA-SPEL und PHIL „THE SILVERMAN“ KNIGHT, die seit nun mehr als drei Dekaden für ihren unverkennbaren, einzigartigen Soundkosmos verehrt wird, bei dem Psychedelic-Heads, Dark Waver und Freunde experimenteller (Elektronik-)Klänge gleichermaßen auf ihre Kosten kommen. Mit ihrem neusten Machwerk legen die LEGENDARY PINK DOTS den ersten Teil einer komplexen Story über Konspirativität, Magie und Spiritualität vor. Minimale Synths, Gitarren, synkopische Beats, die Verwirrung stiften, psychedelische und transzendentale Geräusche, welche wie gewohnt von der charakteristischen Stimme KA-SPELs begleitet werden. „Ten To The Power Of Nine Vol.1 ”ist ein dunkler und außergewöhnlicher Trip in die musikalische Psyche der LEGENDARY PINK DOTS, die hier wieder einmal ihren Status als absolut unverkennbare musikalische Ausnahmeerscheinung bestätigen." [label info] www.rustblade.com "For more than thirty years I have been following The Legendary Pink Dots, of which maybe twenty years close to the fire. I have written a lot about the Dots; about their music, the various incarnations, the old work versus the new and how some of the new albums released on smaller scale are more experimental than the bigger scale releases. When I was listening to '10 To the Power Of 9' (a culmination of two earlier LP releases under the same name), I was thinking about the latter notion - small/big, experimental or not - and thinking this is perhaps no longer the case. Whereas on the older yet recent works the stomping ground of krautrock was used a bit too much for my taste, the more experimental works were relegated to CDR, but on '10 To The Power Of 9' there is a fine balance between the experiment and the accessibility. A song like 'Malice/Freak Flag' shows this inside one piece: noisy guitars, spacious synthesizers, spacious guitars and mayhem, within these twelve minutes a lot happen. It seems as if Edward Ka-spel's voice is more 'above' the music, more reciting than singing; the emphasis is more on the poetry than the pure song format. But all of that embedded within the experiment of the music. I quite enjoyed this album for its variation. The more song-like structures of 'Open Season', 'Room For Two' and 'Your Humble Season' or the title piece, but also a psychedelic outing as 'The Elevator', which remind me of the band's various incarnations of the piece 'Premonition'. It seems to me that The Legendary Pink Dots have found their ground better in a work like this. Highly varied, a display of their various incarnations and throughout a hauntingly beautiful release." [FdW/Vital Weekly] 2014 €23.50
Pages of Aquarius CD "The Legendary Pink Dots is an Anglo-Dutch experimental rock band formed in London in 1980. Although far outside the mainstream, LPD have released more than 40 albums, have a devoted worldwide following, and tour frequently. Distinctive vocals and lyrical imagery blended with hypnotic guitar and synth washes and spellbinding bass pulses to create an enthralling, captivating release." [label info] "The problem with the Age of Aquarius is that nobody seems to know when it's due, or indeed whether or not it's already begun. According to the song 'Aquarius' from hippy musical Hair, the dawning will come when "The moon is in the seventh house, and Jupiter aligns with Mars." Unfortunately, as astrologer Neil Spencer has noted, the moon enters the seventh house daily, while Jupiter and Mars are aligned several times a year. Other astrologers have argued for Aquarian start dates ranging from 1447 right up until 3597. In the popular imagination, however, the Age of Aquarius will always be associated with the “love generation” counter-culture of the 1960s, and represents the utopian new age that their flower power shenanigans were supposed to usher in. In other words, it should be here by now, and it manifestly isn't. As Legendary Pink Dots' mainstay Edward Ka-Spel notes, if this is Aquarius page one then love, peace and good hair are hardly qualities in the ascendant. "It wasn't supposed to be like this," he writes. "Are we in for another 2,160 years of this?" Ultimately though, Ka-Spel's conclusions are optimistic. What we're actually living through are the death throes of the Pisces Age, he argues; it's brutal and painful, but it won't last. The way to get through is by letting go, on both a personal and societal level, and in order to do this we need to look unflinchingly at where we are now, what is holding us back and what will help us move forward. So the album's opening track, 'Mirror, Mirror' tackles introspection, narcissism and self-loathing alongside the hard but necessary task of looking closely at your own self and putting the work in to improve. Stinging synthesiser blasts reflect this flinching process over driving electronic percussion, before a melancholy mellotron passage suggests a degree of sorrowful self-acceptance has been found. On 'The Greatest Story Ever Told,' a swarm of buzzing clockwork wasps soundtrack rising existential dread before the song shifts into a litany of reasons not to worship God, or indeed watch his movies on TV, all set to a queasy rendition of 'All Things Bright and Beautiful.' The Age of Pisces is often identified as the Christian era, and early Christians identified themselves using two fishes as a symbol; among other qualities, Aquarius is associated with the decline of religion and the rise of technology. "We worship technology," Ka-Spel whispers ambivalently at the close. How the glorious analogue squelching of 'D-Train' fits into the concept I'm not sure, but 'Credibility' and 'Trending' take a look at the world around us, the former cursing "Damn your eyes, austerity" over lullaby-like piano, while the latter looks at the mysterious force of the zeitgeist as represented by popular topics on social media. Watching "the great sea ripple," Ka-Spel wonders who or what is driving the trends, directing our thoughts and attention as one linked collective organism. The album concludes with two multi-part epics. The near-eighteen minute 'Don't Go There- Page Aquarian- Jacob's Ladder' begins in haunting yet propulsive style, discussing surveillance culture and "cameras everywhere" before shifting onto memory as a form of observation, returning to the theme of looking unsparingly at your own past actions and how they've led you to where you are now. A collage of found sound leads into a passage of spare percussion over which Ka-Spel considers the stars and the notion of destiny, before the final section finds tentative piano chords reverberating over the sound of a gathering storm. Here considerations of mortality and the afterlife are resolved into the need to make peace and find some kind of acceptance. For CD listeners, that's where the album ends, but it would be a shame to miss out on the sixteen-and-a-half minute 'The Weight of Water Parts 1-4,' which is only available on digital and double vinyl editions. A dry, steady pulse beat supports slabs of musique concrete and some non-judgemental meditations on self-destructive behaviour, before a frantic flurry of low piano notes in a repeating, claustrophobic loop successfully simulates a panic attack. This then shifts into an oceanic evocation of waking at 3am with the realisation that your life has been wasted in deceit and acquisitiveness, before the instrumental final section captures a zen-like sensation of beatific release, with acoustic and electronic textures beautifully balanced against each other. Aquarius of course is the water bearer, and 'The Weight of Water' effectively sums up the pain and difficulty of this period of transition. There's no need though to take the astrological metaphors literally; this album can be enjoyed purely as an unsettling and moving 83 minutes of music, and for those who do listen closely to the words, Ka-Spel's dry sense of humour undercuts any tendency towards new age pretentiousness. Their long history could make some wrongly see the Legendary Pink Dots as unapproachable or worse, irrelevant. But Pages of Aquarius is an album that stands on its own merits. Even if you've never bought a Pink Dots record before, this is a progressive, provocative and ultimately positive statement about the world we're all living in today." [The Quietus] 2016 €15.00
From here you'll watch the World go by do-LP "Ltd. to strictly 499 copies, incl. bonus-Tracks! For the first time on Vinyl, one of LPDs most beloved albums! Moving from noir jazz and grand psychedelic ballads to sophisticated space rock, the charismatic voice of Ka-Spel floats and teases as only his can. Diehard fans of LPD have been waiting long for this gem to be released on vinyl! A must have!" www.rustblade.com 2017 €28.50
Kleine Krieg do-CD The Legendary Pink Dots are an Anglo-Dutch experimental rock band formed in London in August 1980. In 1984 the band moved to Amsterdam, playing with rotating musicians and having, as core members, singer/songwriter/keyboardist Edward Ka-Spel and keyboardist Phil Knight aka The Silverman. The band was originally called "One Day..." but subsequently changed the name to The Legendary Pink Dots, apparently inspired by pink dots on certain keys of the band's main recording studio piano. In the 1980s the band released albums on Mirrodot and In Phaze; in 1985 they signed with Play It Again Sam for the release of The Lovers. Their music touches on elements of neo-psychedelia, ambient music, electronic music, tape music, industrial, psychedelic folk, synthpop, post-punk, progressive, jazz, noise, pop, and goth rock, with a distinctly experimental/avant-garde bent; their sound has evolved over time and remains distinctive, making it difficult to place the group into a concise style or genre. The group's overall sound combined with Ka-Spel's distinct lyrics and singing have earned comparisons to Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett; the group also has links to the sounds of krautrock bands such as Can, Faust, Brainticket, Magma or Neu! The first cassette “Only Dreaming” was an edition of 9 copies, two of which had beautiful three-dimensional handmade covers. “Only Dreaming” was abandoned rather than deleted as the recorded output by The Dots expanded massively within months of the band’s inception. This increased activity led to the beautifully packaged “Chemical Playschool Volumes 1 & 2." 32 copies were made of this, and the hugely supportive Eurock magazine & mail-order service bought 30 of them in an exchange deal for exotic goodies in their catalogue. It wasn’t meant to end there but the 2 track masters for CP 1 & 2 were largely erased by accident - and “Kleine Krieg” represents the music that survived plus a lot of fresh material that just had to be unleashed on an unwary planet in the month or so following the double tape release. This edition has all tracks of both editions/versions of "Kleine Krieg", plus a couple of bonus tracks, and is the first time this is being released on double CD. It is a brand new and much better re-master than what was used on the CDR edition some time ago. Full tracklist: 1. Defeated/Deflated/Black Highway 2. Soma Bath/Peace Krime 2/Break Day/The Palace Of Love/Stoned Obituary/Starch On Sunday 3. Vigil 4. Legacy/One For The Pearl Moon 5. Dolls' House/Brill 6. Down From The Country/Thursday Night Fever/Die With Your Eyes On 7. Closet Kings (First Version) 8. Opus Dei. www.klanggalerie.com/gg321 2020 €18.00
  Come out from the Shadows 4 - Live at Lounge AX Chicago 1993 do-LP BOX COME OUT FROM THE SHADOWS PART 4 Lounge Ax ,Chicago 1993 This is the third and final instalment from The Silverman’s cassette archive which had been gathering dust in a dark cupboard- and it’s a special one, especially for those who hold the "Shadow Weaver" and "Malachai" albums close to their hearts. It’s hard to downplay the importance of the show presented here. Four years earlier, in 1989, The Dots anxiously anticipated their first show in Chicago (a city they viewed as one of the music capitals of The World) only for the date to vanish without explanation. In 1991, they were due to play third on the bill to Einsturzende Neubauten and old friends, Front Line Assembly at The Vic.In a chaotic scenario The Dots played filling in the sandwich between the 2 more famous bands, allowed a mere 15 minutes. It was a fiery show but most of the audience didn’t know who we were, as The Dots’ name was missing from the poster. Consequently this show at Lounge Ax in 1993 felt like our first “real” show in the city. Can you imagine the horror when EK succumbed to a throat infection in Milwaukee a night earlier? That show, in front of 30 people, was curtailed after 30 minutes. It was thanks to Nicoletta Stephanz and her box of medical wonders that the singer found his voice 24 hours later- and we have her to thank for this storming recording. Enjoy. The Silverman-keys,Ryan Moore-bass, Martijn De Kleer-guitars;Niels van Hoorn-horns;Edward Ka-Spel-voice,keys; Ray Steeg-sonix. https://legendarypinkdots1.bandcamp.com/albumcome-out-from-the-shadows-4-live-at-lounge-ax-1993 Erstmalige Veröffentlichung dieses bis dato unveröffentlichten Konzerts (1993, Lounge Ax Club Chicago) der Kultformation LEGENDARY PINK DOTS feat. EDWARD KA-SPEL. Erscheint als limitierte Doppel-CD Version im Digipack, als Doppelvinyl (Gelbes Vinyl, auf 299 Stück limitiert!) sowie als streng limitierte (199 Stk.) 3-LP-Box mit allerlei Gimmicks: Doppel-LP „Lounge Ax Chicago“ in Orange marmoriertem Vinyl, Doppel-CD, Bonus LP „Live in Philadelphia“ und ein Poster!). 1980 in London von EDWARD KA-SPEL und PHIL ‚THE SILVERMAN‘ KNIGHT gegründet, avancierten THE LEGENDARY PINK DOTS mit ihrem unverkennbaren, Genregrenzen überschreitenden Soundmix aus Progressive- / Jazz-Rock, (Dark) Wave, Psychedelia, Folk, Ambient und experimenteller Elektronik zu einer bis heute kultig verehrten Band. Seitdem erschienen von der anglo-niederländischen Formation bis dato neben diversen Singles / EPs und Compilation-Beiträgen mehr als achtzig Longplayer! RUSTBLADE macht nun dieses verloren geglaubte Kleinod erstmalig im Handel erhältlich: Ausgegraben aus dem Bandarchiv und bisher nur für den Eigengenuss der Band und deren Umfeld bestimmt, gibt es nun das komplette Konzert von 1993, aufgenommen im Lounge Ax Club in Chicago, mit allerhand Klassikern der Band (u.a. „Golden Dawn“ & „Maniac“) in drei Ausführungen! 2021 €33.00
LILES, ANDREW AND KENJI SIRATORI Black Paper CD Erster Teil der wahnwitzigen VORTEX VAULT-Serie, 12 CDs aus ANDREW LILES Archiv, aber auch neues Material wird präsentiert. Das ganze wiederum in der Beta-Lactam BLACK SERIES, die mit einheitlichen überformatigen schwarze Edel-Cover zu beglücken vermag. BLACK PAPER heisst also der erste Teil, wo LILES mit dem selbsternannten japanischen CYBER-Poeten KENJI SIRATORI kollab(or)iert, der wie's scheint zur Zeit mit jedem in der Experimental-Szene ansässigen Werktätigen eine Zusammenarbeit anstrebt. So hört man hier SIRATORIS Cyber-Gedichte (auf japanisch; auf englisch übersetzt wären übrigens genauso unverständlich - denn er scheint ein spätes Kind der Cut-Up Technik zu sein). Als wäre das nicht schon genug irrlichternder & funkelnder Wahnwitz, so zeigt sich auch LILES in Bestform, wenn er mit Synthklavier und Xylophon und durchdringenden Analog-Noises (=?) bewaffnet die letzten möglicherweise noch vorhandenen Reste gutgläubiger Erwartungshaltung des Hörers vernichtet, hier in irgendeiner Weise 'verstehbare" Musik hören zu dürfen. Genau darin aber, geneigter DRone Records-Kunde, liegt vielleicht die Genialität dieses Albums. Wir können das aber gerade nicht entscheiden und vertagen die Diskussion auf unbestimmte Zeit... "Black Series 1 - Ed. of 300 numbered and signed copies. 'The Vortex Vault' will be in part a collection of unreleased, unearthed and dusted down material from the vast Andrew Liles archive of unused studio material. 'The Vortex Vault' will also include brand new recordings, conceptual and collaborative pieces, special guests, kraut rock psyche outs, space rock, the odd and unlikely, Norwegian, the obscure and arcane, aircraft, cicadas, the absurd and nonsensical. 'The Vortex Vault' is a platform to release radically different and eclectic material. Expect the unexpected, the minimalist and excessive, the demure and deranged." [label info] "andrew liles, from the uk, is an experimental sound artist with a pretty diverse output. i'm only familiar with a few of his releases, but they ranged from sound art, to ambient soundscapes, drone, experimental electronics and the occasional foray into noisier directions. some good points of reference, as far as his ambient and drone works are concerned, would be andrew chalk and vidna obmana, two artists he's also happened to work with. kenji siratori is a japanese cyberpunk author who's had a hell of an outpouring of non-paper releases last year. this is mostly because he pimped himself out by "writing to as many industrial, ambient, ebm and goth bands he could find, including "reviews" of them in his idiosyncratic style, and asking to collaborate. (this) scattergun approach proved successful, despite his reviews of non-sequitirs and non-sensical cyberspeak being interchangeable" [discogs.com]. after all was said and done he'd put out fifteen total albums, including three that are on net labels and are availiable to download for free at smell the stench and dystonia. the bulk of them have been in the form of collaborations, most notably with gx jupitter-larsen (the haters), torturing nurse and henrik nordvargr björkk (hh9, folkstorm, mz.412, et al.). i would be surprised if that last one is anything short of amazing. i...must...stop...buying...things... black paper opens up with barometer ii, a beautifully haunting piano piece by liles, which siratori soon begins speaking over. his words are all spoken in japanese. emphasis on spoken. this could be poetry or god knows what, but it sounds great. he's got this gruff sounding voice that immediately made me think of splinter's voice from the teenage mutant ninja turtles movies. i love it. there's some great layering of his vocals near the end, too. vtr is one of the least musical (most experimental) cuts on here. there's a whole mess of noises, electronic bleeps and textures from andrew, and kenji's vocals are affected, in parts, and panned all over. it easily has the most overall stuff going on at once, but it works well, due partly to how andrew progresses it. if that was the album's exercise in maximalism (i think i just made that word up), the title piece is its most rhythmic. half of this piece features with some very catchy xylophone (i'm guessing) playing, the rest focuses on kenji's vocals, manipulated the most here. one of my favorite parts is where its just him with no music, and there's also his sped up vocals shooting back and forth between the speakers. jaguar is black paper's absolute highlight. over liles' sparse backdrop there's a vocal track in the left speaker, a different one in the right, a repetitious one in the center and then another, different track in the center. it's completely hypnotic, wonderful and memorable. then when that piano comes in towards the end, jaguar achieves total brilliance. it all strikes me as being rather noir, while maintaining an underlying sense of beauty. the next two tracks mainly feature andrew doing some nice, slightly stark, experimental electronic work. the closer, barometer iii is vocal less and revises the pianos from barometer ii, but adds some terrific electronic noises over it. there's actually two separate collaborations by kenji siratori with the title black paper, the other is with tardive dyskinesia. that may cause a bit of confusion, but this one is only available from andrew liles' website or beta-lactam ring. it's part of andrew's 12 cd set, the vortex vault, limited to only 300 copies. once those 300 are gone, that's it. no reissues. i think if you get one from andrew it will be signed by him. i'd also recommend his collaboration with gx. while it's not as memorable as this one here, there's some mighty fine noise by him, and who doesn't like mighty fine noise? after hearing all of this from kenji i've definitely become interested in his literary work...at the very least it should be interesting. smooth sailing review " [unknown writer, taken from the Beta-Lactam website] www.blrrecords.com 2006 €16.00
LINIJA MASS Trud CD "Der Angriff is proud to present the reissue of all three early albums from the famous russian old-school analogue industrial noise project by Alexander Lebedev-Frontov (also involved in Stalnoy Pakt and Vetrophonia). Having been previously available only on tapes and long deleted vinyl, those records now are the ones of the most sought after collectibles of russian industrial culture heritage. Each CD is packed into the cardboard black&white package with a poster, which is different to each album. "Trud" (1997) has an exclusive previously unreleased bonus track, "Proletkult" (1999) has a track which has been missed on vinyl edition and appeared only on a tape and CDR, and "Mekano-Faktura" (1999) offers as bonus a track from a rare 7". All the sound material have been remastered from the original source tapes. Each title is limited to 400 copies only. A must for all fans of pure and true industrial art!" [label info] 2007 €13.00
Mechano-Faktura CD "Der Angriff is proud to present the reissue of all three early albums from the famous russian old-school analogue industrial noise project by Alexander Lebedev-Frontov (also involved in Stalnoy Pakt and Vetrophonia). Having been previously available only on tapes and long deleted vinyl, those records now are the ones of the most sought after collectibles of russian industrial culture heritage. Each CD is packed into the cardboard black&white package with a poster, which is different to each album. "Trud" (1997) has an exclusive previously unreleased bonus track, "Proletkult" (1999) has a track which has been missed on vinyl edition and appeared only on a tape and CDR, and "Mekano-Faktura" (1999) offers as bonus a track from a rare 7". All the sound material have been remastered from the original source tapes. Each title is limited to 400 copies only. A must for all fans of pure and true industrial art!" [label info] "Great 'mechanical industrial' from St. Petersburg. Real metallic machine-sounds mixed with russian voices. Retro-Futurism at its best!" [original Drone Rec. info, about "Mechano-Faktura"] 2007 €13.00
  Proletkult CD "Der Angriff is proud to present the reissue of all three early albums from the famous russian old-school analogue industrial noise project by Alexander Lebedev-Frontov (also involved in Stalnoy Pakt and Vetrophonia). Having been previously available only on tapes and long deleted vinyl, those records now are the ones of the most sought after collectibles of russian industrial culture heritage. Each CD is packed into the cardboard black&white package with a poster, which is different to each album. "Trud" (1997) has an exclusive previously unreleased bonus track, "Proletkult" (1999) has a track which has been missed on vinyl edition and appeared only on a tape and CDR, and "Mekano-Faktura" (1999) offers as bonus a track from a rare 7". All the sound material have been remastered from the original source tapes. Each title is limited to 400 copies only. A must for all fans of pure and true industrial art!" [label info] 2007 €13.00
LIVE SKULL Dangerous Visions LP "Emerging in the early 80s at the end of New York’s legendary No Wave scene alongside Manhattan comrades Sonic Youth and Swans, Live Skull reshaped the aggression of burned-out post-punk into heavy, guitar-driven rock. This new release showcases their evolution, with Side 1 featuring recently recorded tracks, whilst Side 2 digs into the archives and includes four tracks from their 1989 Peel Session, released here for the first time. Struggle and chaos is nothing new for Live Skull. Mark C and his fellow founder, guitarist Tom Paine, were inspired by the nihilistic sounds of No New York and the dissonant walls of Glenn Branca and Rhys Chatham. Live Skull funneled those influences into hard-edged music that valued melody as much as anarchy. “We loved the noise and the chaos that was happening in the No Wave bands,” says Mark. “But we really tried to fit it into a song.” Over the next decade, Live Skull released four albums and three EPs with a rotating cast of 11 members, all of whom added new ideas to the group’s evolving sound. Their constant progression inspired New York Times critic Robert Palmer to call them “as challenging, as spiritually corrosive, and ultimately as transcendent as Albert Ayler’s mid-’60s free-jazz or the implacable drone-dance of the early Velvet Underground. It’s one of the essential sounds of our time.” Live Skull stopped playing in 1990–but for Mark C, there was still more to be said. So he reformed the group in 2016 with bassist Marnie Jaffe and drummer Richard Hutchins. Last year, an updated line-up with C, Hutchins and bassist Kent Heine recorded the first Live Skull album in nearly three decades, the urgent, forceful ‘Saturday Night Massacre’. Now, just a year later and joined by guitarist Dave Hollinghurst, they return with ‘Dangerous Visions’, and this time everyone from the entire Live Skull history is involved." 2020 €24.00
LOCRIAN Return to Annihilation CD "Ein Kapitel wird geschlossen – ein neues Kapitel aufgeschlagen. Nur wenig scheint so reichhaltig wie die Chroniken LOCRIANs. Nach “The Clearing“ und den Split-Alben mit MAMIFFER und Christoph Heemann folgt nun also “Return To Annihilation“. Eine Herausforderung dieses Albums bestand für die Band darin, dass Terence Hannum mittlerweile viele Kilometer von André Foisy und Steven Hess entfernt wohnt. So tauschte die Band zunächst Ideen via Email aus, bevor sie sich für drei Tage ins Studio einschloss, um das Album aufzunehmen. Entlang des ersten Durchlaufs fällt auf, dass die Musiker auf “Return To Annihilation“ noch fokussierter gearbeitet haben. Die große räumliche Distanz, mit der die Bandmitglieder umzugehen lernen mussten, scheint doch eher eine nahe Ferne gewesen zu sein. Das Zusammenspiel ist noch konzentrierter, die Improvisationen sind noch besser abgestimmt. Zudem hat man das Gefühl, dass LOCRIAN durch ihre verschiedenen Kollaborationen und Tätigkeiten in den diversen Nebenprojekten Facetten freigelegt und entdeckt haben, die gleichzeitig als eine Art Türöffner für ihre neuen Ideen fungieren. Ihre schöpferischen Ressourcen zeigen sich ideenprall und die Frische sowie die Freude beim Kreieren von Musik sind dem Album deutlich anzuhören. Das erste Stück “Eternal Return“ eröffnet hymnisch. Verschachtelte Synthesizerspuren, krachendes Schlagwerk, vorpreschende Gitarrensounds und ein bis in die tiefste Innerwelt berührender, fauchender Schreigesang lassen den Kurs des Albums erahnen. Doch jene Richtung führt nicht über vorgebahnte Wege. Es werden Schneisen ins Unterholz geschlagen, die Pfade ins Unbegangene oder hier konkret ins Ungehörte eröffnen. Im Fortlauf folgt “A Visitation From The Wrath Of Heaven“. Mächtige Electronics verrätseln diesen nächsten Gang, dazu rummst Steven Hess mit seiner Herzschlagtrommel, bevor der Gesang das Stück zu einem choralartigen Wunderwerk aufbaut, um kurze Zeit später abrupt abzubrechen. Und bereits hier lässt sich vermuten, dass sich LOCRIAN bei den Aufnahmen gegenseitig noch stärker angetrieben zu haben scheinen als auf den Vorgängerveröffentlichungen. Bei “Two Moons“ werden von Sekunde zu Sekunde andere Aspekte in den Vordergrund gerückt, dadurch entsteht ein dröhnendes Gebilde, welches sich von allen Stücken wohl am stärksten Einhegungsversuchen entzieht. Die Besonderheit dieses Albums liegt neben der Unvorhersehbarkeit auch darin, dass die Amerikaner ihrer Impulsfülle nachgeben, jedoch dabei niemals ihren Wiedererkennungswert verlieren. Der Wechsel von stürmischen und ruhigen Passagen wirkt nicht konstruiert, sondern entwickelt sich natürlich. Das Titelstück “Return To Annihilation“ führt den choralartigen Gesang fort, dazu hämmert ein Bolz-Drum, die Gitarren krachen Gewitter ähnlich. Ein orchestrales, dröhnendes Brausen zeigt dessen Entladung. Das Ambient lastige, rauschhaltige “Exiting The Hall Of Vapor And Light“ zieht hinter diesen Gewitterwolken auf und beruhigt das vorher Aufgewühlte. Dem schließt sich kontrastierend die Krachsinfonie “Panorama Of Mirrors“ an. Den Abschluss bildet das 15minütige “Obsolete Elegies“, welches alle Weggabelungen und Wetterlagen des Albums vereint und final den tiefsten, sich selbst beschleunigenden Wirbel in die eingeschlagene Schneise bricht. “Return To Annihilation“ ist durchwirkt vom Überraschenden aus dem Dunklen. Es umgürtet die Arbeit der Amerikaner. Hervorgerufen wurde es durch wahre Passion, die sich in der dem Album inhärenten Wucht offenbart. Viele Bands verlieren im Laufe der Jahre die Dunkelheit der Anfangstage und verwalten ihre kreative Ausbleichung. Nicht so LOCRIAN – das Dunkle wird hier nicht abgeschabt, sondern in seinen Stufungen neu ausgeleuchtet. André Foisy sprach davon, dass “Return To Annihilation“ das bisher wichtigste Album in der Bandgeschichte sei. Das schürt Erwartungen. Von einem Höhepunkt, vom Gelungenen kann immer dann gesprochen werden, wenn Erwartungen ihre Einlösung finden. Wenn das Ergebnis übergroße Schatten auf hohe Erwartungen wirft, kann vom Bleibenden gesprochen werden. Dieses Ergebnis wird sich auf die Erwartungen im Vorfeld der nächsten Veröffentlichung aufprägen. Eine Klimax gen Unendlichkeit – oder die nimmer endenden Chroniken LOCRIANs." (D.L./ Blackmagazin] "For a band so devoted to endings, the noise metallurgists of Locrian are surprisingly keen with beginnings, too. More than a year ago, Relapse Records announced they'd signed the Chicago-and-Baltimore trio. The move seemed surprising at the time, but not because Locrian’s electronics-and-effects-driven approach was at odds with the more orthodox heavy metal roster at Relapse; in fact, the label’s two decades are dotted by momentous dalliances with experimental music. Instead, before signing to Relapse, Locrian released a lot of music, a strategy that worked for a band putting out very limited editions on rather small labels but maybe not one meant for a fringe act now signed to an imprint as large as Relapse. Just how many Locrian eight-tracks or singles could and would Relapse actually handle? Since the deal, though, Locrian have only issued three titles-- a re-release of one such short-run record bundled with new material, a glacial collaboration with kindred lurkers Mammifer, and a beautiful piece with German sound art veteran Christopher Heemann. After many consecutive years of several albums, splits, and singles each, Locrian went almost silent-- just not behind the scenes. All along, they were sketching, building, and refining Return to Annihilation, their proper Relapse debut and step into a much bigger spotlight. It's an auspicious new phase of their existence: Return to Annihilation is the most provocative and engaging Locrian album to date, a brilliant mystery that evades simplistic definitions by turning their historical din and destruction in on itself and, sometimes, back again. In initial interviews for Return to Annihilation, Locrian-- multi-instrumentalist André Foisy, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Terrence Hannum and drummer Steven Hess-- spoke about the influence of Genesis on their new work. It felt to some like trolling, as there was no way the intricate (and sometimes awkward) prog rock of Genesis might have a substantive pull on music so ostensibly moonless and monolithic. But Return to Annihilation is intrinsically elusive, with twists so compelling and layers so deep that each listen reveals a half-dozen new facets. The title track, for instance, is a three-part suite. Locrian begins with the primal, repetitive wallop of Swans, repurposed with industrial accessories. Despite the aggressive delivery, it feels tunefully poppy, beckoning the listener forward just before the song shifts into a cataclysmic drone. Smothering electronics battle with piercing guitars, shaping a stalemate of willpowers. Hess’ drums goad the band forward again, hitting a climax that’s dense but buoyant, like the phosphorescent coda of a melodramatic post-millenial black metal epic. Though this is a triptych of distinct sections, the parts are strangely cohesive, blending into one another as a balance of extremes. For 50 minutes, Return to Annihilation runs like a whirlwind journey that you must mentally revisit when it’s done playing. Indeed, during the last three months, I’ve listened to this record a few dozen times, and each trip through only seems to solicit more questions about the material itself-- about its balance between corroded metal and coruscated drone, about its strange sense of enveloping atmosphere and unstoppable propulsion, about the completed puzzle and its complex constituent pieces. Sometimes its 15-minute closer, “Obsolete Elegies”, feels like an exhalation of relief, with muted piano and long-tone violin suggesting Pelt plundering the workshop of La Monte Young; other times, the quaking electronics and plodding guitar of the same piece intimate a hangman’s anthem, a steady gaze directed over and over again toward another imminent death. What’s most rewarding about Return to Annihilation is this sense of narrative and emotional limbo, or the feeling that supposedly staunch binaries-- birth and death, beauty and brutality, triumph and defeat-- function exclusively in interrelated arcs. Sure, there are entire tracks here that feel more nihilistic or uplifting than others. The neon guitars and escalating drum patterns of “Eternal Return” are exultant enough to soundtrack an action movie’s climax, while “Exiting the Hall of Vapor and Light” fashions a great, gray canvas from static and distortion, a diorama of nothingness. But in every instance, defeat and relief seem only to be dissolving through one another, not pushing one another from the frame. The guitars in “Vapor and Light” slink into patterns that don’t resolve, but for an instant, they bubble into the sort of ebullient loop that you might hear on a Dustin Wong record; it’s like glimpsing light at the end of a tunnel that’s so big you didn’t even know you were surrounded. And “Eternal Return” takes shape around bitterly shouted imprecations and swells of background noise so strong they sometimes threaten to push the ascension off track. Return to Annihilation forever demands that you decide for yourself-- or, of course, don’t. In the past, Locrian albums have seemed to me almost uniformly doomed, with their lyrics about industrial decay and blizzards of irascible tones creating an atmosphere of general oppression. But Return to Annihilation implicitly urged me to revisit those earlier records and to listen for, if not foreshadowing, signs that there’d been more ambiguity and complexity at work than I’d first supposed. And there is: The great Drenched Lands seems more forgiving than I’d perceievd, as if its excoriation of society is more of a way out than a mere self-excommunication. Moments of The Clearing, particularly the electrostatically foreboding “Coprolite”, sound in retrospect as if they are trying to climb out of the dark, even if they don’t succeed. Return to Annihilation, then, feels like a perfect nexus of Locrian’s past and future. This is the rare album that reveals new depth within a catalog that already seemed so deep and ruminative while proclaiming rather unlimited possibilities for a band nearing the end of its first decade. It’s a beginning refashioned from expired endings-- as it turns out, an essential Locrian idea." [Pitchfork] www.relapse.com www.relapse.com 2013 €13.00
  New Catastrophism LP “New Catastrophism”, the first LOCRIAN release in seven years sees the iconic experimental music trio return back to their roots through four immersive tracks that signal towards the band’s signature expressions through dark ambient, experimental music, drone and post rock. Massive dystopian soundscapes through the intricate, layered, and spacious sound palette LOCRIAN unveil. LOCRIAN is a prophetic voice of decline. From the band’s inception, it has comfortably straddled both the experimental and metal underground, weaving themes of apocalypse, urban decay, environmental destruction and birth/death/rebirth throughout its multifaceted and genre-defying releases. The trio formed in 2005 in Chicago and features Terence Hannum (synthesizers, vocals, tape loops), André Foisy (guitars, electronics), and Steven Hess (drums, electronics). Over their sixteen-year history, Locrian have released six studio albums, three collaborative albums, and numerous limited-edition releases. "Locrian break their seven-year silence with a new full-length, New Catastrophism (Profound Lore), a beautiful, heady record that strips their aesthetic back to straightforward postmetal-flavored ambience and electronics...New Catastrophism proves once again that whether Locrian are operating with a minimalist or maximalist palette, they’re hard to top when it comes to conjuring dark, moving sounds." --Luca Cimarusti, Chicago Reader "From start to finish New Catastrophism is perfectly nuanced. There is nothing present that does not enhance the overall sound...["Ghost Frontiers"] showcase LOCRIAN’s dark/drone ambient side and do so extremely well. Whilst the tracks on New Catastrophism convey a society and planet on its knees, those on Ghost Frontiers transport you to a land where nothing remains...I can’t praise LOCRIAN’s work on New Catastrophism and Ghost Frontiers highly enough. The band continue to be inventive and evocative and have lost none of what made them so special in the seven years since they released new music." -Dan Dolby, Veil of Sound credits released August 12, 2022 Recorded and mixed by J. Robbins Mastered by Brad Boatright Artwork by Trevor Paglen Design by Chimere Noire https://locrian.bandcamp.com/album/new-catastrophism 2022 €17.50
LOPEZ, FRANCISCO Animast LP untitled #369 Created at mobile messor (Anatananarivo, Dublin, Madrid, Den Haag and Dune Studio (Loosduinen), 2018-2019 untitled #365 Created at mobile messor (Paris, Valencia, Oslo, Venice and Dune Studio (Loosduinen), 2018-2019 \"Few albums would be as fitted for vinyl release as this one. Drawing on both analog-material and digital-immaterial undisclosed sources, “Animast” plays with the sonic textures and responses most suited for the characteristics of this particular analog medium: noisy crispness, compositional ‘loopiness’, contrasting sharp-and-thick textures and cycling dynamics. A must for experimental heads and adventurous DJs alike!\" https://fernsrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/animast 2021 €19.50
LOPEZ, FRANCISO & MIGUEL A. GARCIA Ekkert Nafn CD "The collaborative album Ekkert Nafn was composed from sound materials collected by Francisco López and Miguel A. García. Some of these materials were derived from field recordings, others from electrical and mechanical devices, all were manipulated with digital tools to varying degrees. After compiling the collection of sounds, both artists proceeded to compose independently, arriving to pieces that inevitably intersected each other’s aesthetics. In the two chimeric works presented in this album, we may recognise each artist’s authorial identity intertwined with the other’s in multiple and surprising ways. The title of the release is actually yet another manifestation of this superposition: García often uses invented words to title his pieces, looking for sounds and forms that somehow connect with the music. Sometimes, within these invented words, he discovers words from languages he does not understand. Ekkert Nafn happens to not be made up of invented words — although it could have been — but is composed by two Icelandic words that translate to the quintessential López title, No Name. Francisco López is internationally recognised as one of the major figures of the sound art and experimental music scene. For forty years he has developed an astonishing sonic universe, absolutely personal and iconoclastic, based on a profound listening of the world. Destroying boundaries between industrial sounds and wilderness sound environments, shifting with passion from the limits of perception to the most dreadful abyss of sonic power, proposing a blind, profound and transcendental listening, freed from the imperatives of knowledge and open to sensory and spiritual expansion. He has hundreds of concerts, projects, workshops and sound installations in over seventy countries of the six continents. His extensive catalog of sound works has been published worldwide, including live and studio collaborations with hundreds of international artists. He has been awarded four times with honorary mentions at the competition of Ars Electronica Festival and is the recipient of a Qwartz Award for best sound anthology. www.franciscolopez.net Miguel A. García (aka Xedh) is a restless sound artist living in Bilbao. Trained in Fine Arts, he works on electroacoustic composition and improvisation, using sources obtained from the manipulation of electrical devices, sometimes mixing these with sounds of acoustic instruments and field recordings. He has performed extensively across Europe, America and Asia, and appeared on more than a hundred albums. He is also part of the coordination of Hotsetan en Azkuna Zentroa, founder of Klub Larraskito, and director of the Zarata Fest festival, all of them platforms for the diffusion of risky music and related disciplines. www.xedh.org Untitled #351 created by Francisco López at ”mobile messor” (Den Haag, Chicago, Ljubljana, Gougan Barra, Kathmandu, Paris) and Dune Studio (Loosduinen), 2013-2017. Applainessads composed by Miguel A. García in 2018. Mastered by Francisco López. https://cronica.bandcamp.com/album/ekkert-nafn 2019 €13.00
LOS ANGELES FREE MUSIC SOCIETY (L.A.F.M.S.) 35 S. Raymond Avenue LP "One afternoon in 1975, friend and fellow music traveler, Harold Schroeder, showed up at Poo-Bath Record Shop where Tom Recchion worked selling records and experimental music to people, forcing them to buy albums that he swore would change their lives. Harold asked if Tom wanted to share in a studio space close to the shop. After seeing it Tom Recchion immediately said “YES!”. They moved in and divided the space in half. On Tom’s half he made drawings, paintings, performances, video, sculptures, installations and music. Harold had his all set up for music with his newly acquired Steiner-Parker synth and guitars and things. At the beginning they played under the name “The Two Who Do Duets”. Soon the late night jam sessions that took place in the back of Poo-Bath moved over to the 4th floor of 35 South Raymond. It was pretty beat up and derelict, the way one imagines an artists’ studio to look. They could make all the noise they wanted. No one else was on their floor. The music heard on this LP has remained unheard since it was recorded and was created just before and right after the inaugural concert by the LAFMS groups Le Forte Four, Doo-Doettes and Ace & Duce. This concert took place in late January 1976. The sessions on this release feature members of the newly formed and expanded Doo-Doettes, which now included Dennis Duck, Juan Gomez, Harold Schroeder and Tom Recchion, as well as Ju Suk Reet Meate from Smegma and Ace, of Ace & Duce. 35 S Raymond eventually became a sort of LAFMS headquarter, with Chip Chapman of Le Forte Four, artist and future Extended Organ vocalist/guitarist Paul McCarthy, and soon to become singer for Nervous Gender, punk/folk artist Phranc, who along with many other artists and musicians, moved into the building. 35 S Raymond allowed for free expression and explorations of all sort. Some wild parties ensued, not to mention the luxury of endless hours of experimentation. Parking was free and so was the art and music. Ace found the tapes for side one (“Tom’s Studio”) in his archive and Ju Suk Reet Meate found the tapes for side two (“50 of Every American Are Machines”) and edited them both for this release. No overdubs or remixing was employed. Edition of 200 copies presented in luxury gatefold sleeve." 2018 €25.00
LUNAR ABYSS / VANUM Ulm-Gra / Pelena Sna CD "This split-release of two Russian projects was delayed almost for two years, which makes it even more interesting. Lunar Abyss presents two tracks of solo immersions of Evgeniy S. in the droning waves, saturated by tube cascades, and the third track is recently found unreleased fragment of a concert from 25.10.1999 in the Experimental Sound Gallety - 21, the remarkable performance for the project which provided material for creating two albums: "Cosmologamma" and "Zeleznaya Voda"... Later come four pieces by Vanum from the city of Tolyatti, which continue the shamanic mood and isolationist discourse. The compositions are based on the sound of Soviet analogue synths with minimal processing which makes them airy, bright and hypnotic at the same time. This is not relax music, it mesmerizes and brings to a pleasant stupor, full of psychedelic vigor, a veil of a dream calling up visions... The CD is packed in a cardboard sleeve with a hand-made stamping, each copy is numbered." [label info] 2014 €13.00
LUNAR ABYSS DEUS ORGANUM Atanimonni Aitnatsbus 10inch "Behind LUNAR ABYSS DEUS ORGANUM (= also known as LUNAR ABYSS QUARTET or just LUNAR ABYSS) we find Russian artist EVGENY [Biosonar] SAVENKO from the vivid St. Petersburg experimental & post-industrial scene. Since more than a decade he's producing a unique style of music combining elements of droning ambient industrial, traditional folklore and electronic, tribal/trancy psychedelism, adding pure sound-experiments often based on field recordings. A strong DIY-attitude (self-released albums usually have handmade covers with ornamental drawings & paintings) is connected with a shamanistic and pan-religious philosophy. Meditation, Trance, the wish to explore the own unconscious areas by ecstatic experiences and a deep connection with nature are his main characteristics. The two pieces "Atanimonni" and "Aitnatsbus" were especially recorded for our 10"-series and give a wonderful example of the typical L.A.D.O.-style: two long tracks (total 23+ min.) of stunning multi-layered compositions, using lots of detail-sounds from domestic and wild animals, mountain winds and brooks, forest shelters and a destroyed missile garrison, soviet analog synths, north saami female voices / singings, subtle (neo) classic harmonies, bells & gongs... hyper-dense & fluid at the same time! Both tracks end up in endless grooves (water & fire) to symbolize the connection to timeless energies. Lim. 500 with artwork by ARTYOM OSTAPCHUK (KRYPTOGEN RUNDFUNK / ZHELEZOBETON label), comes on sky-blue, crystal & white mixed vinyl. "Recordings of field recordind sounds were made in the summer of 2009 in the Carpathian mountains and the land of lakes in Karelia, during a miraculous journey, full of joyful inspiration. Party of analog synthesizers recorded by sound-poet Lesnaya Pogan during a cold winter 2010 in Moscow." [Evgeny Savenko] [label info] www.substantia-innominata.de "lunar abyss deus organum hat mit „brusnika“ auf der dr-77 in der früheren 7“ serie von drone-records einen der teile herausgebracht, der mir von allen 100 beiträgen der serie am besten gefällt. nun ist das projekt mit „atanimonni / aitnatsbus“ als sub-16 auch auf der substantia innominata 10“ serie vertreten. lunar abyss deus organum ist dabei alles andere als ein projekt, das auf lang durchlaufende schichtungen, melodiebögen oder ähnliches setzt oder im gegenzug (bearbeitete) fieldrecordings oder konkretere musikschnipsel in den eindeutigen vordergrund der arbeit stellt. im ersten eindruck sind viele der arbeiten von lunar abyss deus organum vielmehr eine zunächst undurchschaubare collage aus all diesen elementen; eine collage, die aber nie übervoll erscheint, der es sogar gelingt, trotz manchmal fast wie brüche wirkender betonungen nie die stimmung und atmosphäre zu gefährden und so drones aufzubauen, die durch fast überraschende wendungen immer wieder neue bilder aufbauen können. auch „atanimonni“ folgt dieser tradition und wiegt die hörer dabei über sehr lange zeit in der trügerischen sicherheit, der schaukelnde, wellenartige bassdrone mit dem das stück auch beginnt, könnte, wenn schon nicht ewig, dann aber zumindest für die dauer der seite begleiter bleiben. und natürlich, gerade, wenn man vergessen hat, dass es jemals anders sein könnte, wachsen dessen rauere begleiter über sich selbst und den bassdrone hinaus, bauen eine geräuschhafte kakophonie auf, brechen wie urplötzlich ab und münden in einem nur ganz leise hörbaren, durch die rille auf analoge art geloopten wassersample. zumindest hier dann also das erhören derer, die sich eine derartige musik mit noch viel längeren laufzeiten wünschen... „aitnatsbus“ geht, in gewissen sinne, einen umgekehrten weg: die geräuschhaften komponenten stehen hier zu beginn fast ganz frei (wenn auch nicht so laut wie kurz vor ende von „atanimonni“) und fangen sich erst allmählich über zunächst bassigen dann knurrenden drones und fast unhörbar schleicht sich eine weibliche stimme hinein, die, auf ähnlich verführerischer art wie schon auf der „brusnika“ 7“, einen schnipsel aus einer dieser typischen melancholischen osteuropäischen volksmusikmelodien immer und immer wieder wiederholt. perfekter dynamischer aufbau und eigentlich unmöglich erscheinender kontrast zwischen den wälzenden drones mit ihren geräuschhüllen und der sehnsuchtsvollen stimme. eigentlich. und am ende verweht nur noch der gesang und was bleibt ist das (wiederum analog geloopte) feuer..." [Hellmut Neidhardt / N] 2012 €12.00
  Khara-Khoto CD We gladly present the new Lunar Abyss Deus Organum full-length album "Khara-Khoto"! In fact, this is the first big studio work of the project after "Atimudra" (2012, BioSonar^Labyrint) and a long series of split-releases, collaborations, live recordings and various small editions... Khara-Khoto was the name of a Tangut city with Buddhist culture which existed in the XI-XIV centuries before it was captured by the troops of the Chinese Ming dynasty (nowadays it's geographically located in the Chinese Inner Mongolia). The idea of creating this album appeared after visiting a special exhibition at the Hermitage, which presented a lot of original artifacts from this ancient settlement buried in the sands. Special inspiration came from a deep understanding of the ephemeral and impermanent nature of existence – even prosperous cultures can die in one moment because of the blind greed of invaders... From the musical point of view, here one can hear the full sound palette typical for Lunar Abyss. This includes multilayered ambiental sketches with flowing chains of samples, voice loops and acoustic instruments; rhythmic percussive tracks with vigorous pulsating energy; abstract collages made of analogue electronics, radio noises and fragments of television programs; semi-static enveloping drones spiced up with field recordings. The psychedelic kaleidoscope of aural images continues its work – the fans of the albums "Snovidenie", "Tuntury" and "Atimudra" won't be disappointed! The CD-version is limited to 300 copies and comes in a 4-panel matte foldout digisleeve. https://lunarabyss.bandcamp.com/album/khara-khoto 2019 €13.00
LUNDVALL, TOR Sleeping and Hiding LP "Originally recorded in 2005 and intended as the third and final chapter in the series which included the beautiful albums Last Light and Empty City, Dais Records is proud to release the latest album from Ghost Ambient composer TOR LUNDVALL. Dark and beautiful soundtracks for afternoon daydreams and moonlit forest walks. Limited to 500 hand numbered edition." [label info] www.daisrecords.com 2009 €17.50
  The Park LP "In 2012, ambient composer Tor Lundvall and Dais Records presented his second instrumental masterpiece entitled The Shipyard (2006’s Empty City being the first). After its release and universal praise, Lundvall had confided that there was a third instrumental album nearing completion entitled The Park. Fostering his natural habitat of the wooded landscapes of Eastern Long Island, Lundvall again set about capturing his portrait studies and composing a lurid and abstract soundtrack to accompany his source of inspiration. In Tor’s own words…"I first thought about making an album about a quiet park during a morning walk back in the frigid February of 2011. Song titles started popping into my head long before any music was recorded. 'Symbols on Pavement' was the first title that came to me, but ended up being the last piece recorded. Like most of my previous albums "The Park" follows a timeline, in this case, beginning on an early spring morning and ending on a late summer evening. The track sequence also maps out the shifting light and weather patterns during the course of a day. For the first time in years, I've incorporated field recordings into the music, other than the sounds recorded from outside my studio window. I carried my portable recorder with me during bike rides and walks through my favorite parks, recording birds, insects, lawnmowers, wood chippers, field games, and other less definable sounds. Parks have always been my sanctuaries and my greatest sources of inspiration since childhood. Although this album is not focused on one park in particular, the music resonates strongly with memories of my favorite childhood park, The James A. McFaul Environmental Center in Wyckoff, New Jersey. The McFaul Center is a place of quiet beauty, but it is also filled with shadows and secrets, especially deep within the Nature Trail. The final track, 'Closes At Dusk', is an homage to the siren which shrieked every evening from behind the towering pines." Limited to 300 vinyl editions (along with a free MP3 download coupon) with artwork by Tor Lundvall." [label info] www.daisrecords.com 2015 €22.50
LUNDVALL, TOR & LEILA ABDUL-RAUF Ibis / Quiet Seaside 7inch "Over the past few years, Tor Lundvall has thoughtfully displayed his ambient sound works in connection with Dais Records, releasing two retrospective multi-disc box sets and two full length albums. Apart from his collaboration with Tony Wakeford on Autumn Calls, collaborations with others have been extremely rare. Tor and multi-instrumentalist, Leila Abdul-Rauf (Vastum / Hammers of Misfortune / formerly of Amber Asylum) first got in touch in late 2011. Their exchanges eventually led to a musical collaboration of both like-minded artists joining in to illustrate their unique and personal visions of nature, life and art. During a visit to Lundvall's home in May 2012, Leila wrote a spontaneous track on Tor's Winter Piano entitled Ibis. Tor recorded and engineered the track along with Leila's vocals. Later that month, Lundvall added various sounds and ambient washes to the mix. A solo version of Ibis, featuring the original piano / vocals but with additional horn, was released on Abdul-Rauf's debut LP Cold and Cloud on Saadi Saati Records in 2013 (Lundvall also designed the sleeve and created the cover art for this LP). The earlier, collaborative version of Ibis has remained unreleased until now. It was agreed that a 7" was the perfect format. On the reverse, Lundvall has written a new piece entitled Quiet Seaside constructed around Abdul-Rauf's guitar riffs which Lundvall also recorded during her 2012 visit. The track captures Tor's signature lush keyboard and ambient whirl. The early mix was sent to Leila who worked in her slow-moving brass performance and textured tone scales to make this work as introspective as it is beautiful. Limited edition of 300 vinyl copies featuring artwork by Tor Lundvall. Release due on August 5, 2014." [label info] www.daisrecords.com 2014 €11.50
LUSTMORD [O T H E R] CD Das zehnte Studioalbum »Other« der Elektronik-/Industrial-Musikpioniere Lustmord wurde 2008 veröffentlicht und ist bis heute das einzige Lustmord-Album mit Gitarren, gespielt von Adam Jones (Tool), King Buzzo (The Melvins) und Aaron Turner (Isis). Das Album erschien ursprünglich auf dem unabhängigen Plattenlabel Hydra Head Records, das von Isis-Frontmann Aaron Turner gegründet wurde und früher Bands wie Converge, Pelican, Jesu, Sun O))) oder Boris beherbergte. Wie ein Journalist es damals formulierte, ist »Other« ein "düsteres Beispiel für einen vollendeten Künstler, der genau innerhalb der Parameter arbeitet, die er sich im Laufe der Jahre selbst gesetzt hat." Dieses Album zeigt Lustmord von seiner charakteristischsten Seite, und das eisige, unheilvolle Gitarrenspiel von Jones, Turner und Ozborne fügt sich perfekt in die tiefen Klanglandschaften ein, die diese beängstigende und doch inspirierende Reise ausmachen. Tatsächlich sind die Songs so kraftvoll, dass es Williams dazu bewegte, zwei Ambient-Remix-Versionen und eine Dub-Remix-EP zu erstellen, die die Klänge dieses Albums so weit wie möglich erforschen. Im Jahr 2022 arbeitet Lustmord für The Others (Lustmord Deconstructed) mit Künstlern wie Godflesh, Mono und Zola Jesus, um nur einige zu nennen, an Neuinterpretationen der »Other«-Songs zusammen, die ebenfalls jetzt erhältlich sind. Reissued in all its incarnations plus re-interpreted: Electronic/Industrial music pioneer LUSTMORDs tenth studio album [ O T H E R ], originally released in 2008 and to date the only LUSTMORD album with guitars on it, performed by Adam Jones (TOOL), King Buzzo (THE MELVINS) and Aaron Turner (ISIS). [ O T H E R ] originally came out on independent record label Hydra Head Records, founded by ISIS frontman Aaron Turner and former home of bands such as CONVERGE, PELICAN, JESU, SUN O))) or BORIS. As one journalist put it at the time, [ O T H E R ] is a "grim example of a consummate artist who is working frmly within the parameters that he has laid out for himself over the years." This album shows Lustmord at his most characteristic, and the icy, ominous guitar playing of Jones, Turner and Ozborne resonates perfectly within the deep soundscapes that make up this frightening yet inspiring journey. As a matter of fact, the material on [ O T H E R ] is so powerful that it moved Williams to create two ambient remix versions of it, and one dub remix EP exploring the sounds of this record to the greatest extend of his ability. In 2022, and also available now, LUSTMORD further collaborates with artist such as GODFLESH, MONO and ZOLA JESUS, to name but a few, for THE OTHERS (LUSTMORD DECONSTRUCTED) on re-interpretations on [ O T H E R ] tracks. LUSTMORD is the artistic moniker of Brian Williams. Born in North Wales, he started his musical career in 1980 and soon became a pioneer in the early industrial music scene in the UK. He was a former member of SPK during arguably their most crucial era, and went on to work with THROBBING GRISTLE members Chris & Cosey as well as appearing on early albums by CURRENT 93, NURSE WITH WOUND and others. After relocating to Los Angeles in 1993, Williams worked on dozens of motion picture soundtracks including The Crow, Underworld and Paul Schrader's First Reformed. Additionally he created several video game soundtracks, television scores and solo albums, as well as collaborating with artists as varied as THE MELVINS, CLOCK DVA, JARBOE, John Balance of COIL, Paul Haslinger (TANGERINE DREAM), PUSCIFER, Wes Borland and more, including Grammy Award-winners TOOL on their much acclaimed effort Fear Inoculum. To this day, Lustmord is actively recording and releasing music, his latest release being the collaborative album Alter with Karin Park of A°RABROT, and he is considered to be the founding father of the dark ambient music genre. [press release] 2022 €16.00
[Beyond] CD Reissued! Electronic music pioneer LUSTMORD released an album titled [OTHER] in 2008, to date the only LUSTMORD album with guitars on it, performed by Adam Jones (TOOL), King Buzzo (MELVINS) and Aaron Turner (ISIS). The albums The Dark Places of the Earth and Beyond, both released in 2009, are extensions of the ideas explored in [OTHER] and are taken from the same recording sessions, but with the guitars removed and the essence of [OTHER] distilled and reduced.[OTHER] was a journey with friends, while The Dark Places of the Earth and Beyond take the concept and listener further, deeper, in-between and beyond. While is some ways [OTHER] is as close to a "rock" album as Lustmord will ever make, The Dark Places of the Earth and Beyond are pure Lustmord, a sound that many others imitate but can never equal. LUSTMORD is the artistic moniker of Brian Williams. Born in North Wales, he started his musical career in 1980 and soon became a pioneer in the early industrial music scene in the UK. He was a former member of SPK during arguably their most crucial era, and went on to work with THROBBING GRISTLE members Chris & Cosey as well as appearing on early albums by CURRENT 93, NURSE WITH WOUND and others. After relocating to Los Angeles in 1993, Williams worked on dozens of motion picture soundtracks including The Crow, Underworld and Paul Schrader's First Reformed. Additionally he created several video game soundtracks, television scores and solo albums, as well as collaborating with artists as varied as THE MELVINS, CLOCK DVA, JARBOE, John Balance of COIL, Paul Haslinger (TANGERINE DREAM), PUSCIFER, Wes Borland and more, including Grammy Award-winners TOOL on their much acclaimed effort Fear Inoculum. To this day, Lustmord is actively recording and releasing music, his latest release being the collaborative album Alter with Karin Park of A°RABROT, and he is considered to be the founding father of the dark ambient music genre. https://lustmord.bandcamp.com/album/beyond 2022 €15.00
Beyond do-LP Reissued! Electronic music pioneer LUSTMORD released an album titled [OTHER] in 2008, to date the only LUSTMORD album with guitars on it, performed by Adam Jones (TOOL), King Buzzo (MELVINS) and Aaron Turner (ISIS). The albums The Dark Places of the Earth and Beyond, both released in 2009, are extensions of the ideas explored in [OTHER] and are taken from the same recording sessions, but with the guitars removed and the essence of [OTHER] distilled and reduced.[OTHER] was a journey with friends, while The Dark Places of the Earth and Beyond take the concept and listener further, deeper, in-between and beyond. While is some ways [OTHER] is as close to a "rock" album as Lustmord will ever make, The Dark Places of the Earth and Beyond are pure Lustmord, a sound that many others imitate but can never equal. LUSTMORD is the artistic moniker of Brian Williams. Born in North Wales, he started his musical career in 1980 and soon became a pioneer in the early industrial music scene in the UK. He was a former member of SPK during arguably their most crucial era, and went on to work with THROBBING GRISTLE members Chris & Cosey as well as appearing on early albums by CURRENT 93, NURSE WITH WOUND and others. After relocating to Los Angeles in 1993, Williams worked on dozens of motion picture soundtracks including The Crow, Underworld and Paul Schrader's First Reformed. Additionally he created several video game soundtracks, television scores and solo albums, as well as collaborating with artists as varied as THE MELVINS, CLOCK DVA, JARBOE, John Balance of COIL, Paul Haslinger (TANGERINE DREAM), PUSCIFER, Wes Borland and more, including Grammy Award-winners TOOL on their much acclaimed effort Fear Inoculum. To this day, Lustmord is actively recording and releasing music, his latest release being the collaborative album Alter with Karin Park of A°RABROT, and he is considered to be the founding father of the dark ambient music genre. https://lustmord.bandcamp.com/album/beyond 2022 €32.00
[The Dark Places of the Earth] do-LP Reissued! Electronic music pioneer LUSTMORD released an album titled [OTHER] in 2008, to date the only LUSTMORD album with guitars on it, performed by Adam Jones (TOOL), King Buzzo (MELVINS) and Aaron Turner (ISIS). The albums The Dark Places of the Earth and Beyond, both released in 2009, areextensions of the ideas explored in [OTHER] and are taken from the same recording sessions, but with the guitars removed and the essence of [OTHER] distilled and reduced.[OTHER] was a journey with friends, whileThe Dark Places of the Earth and Beyond take the concept and listener further, deeper, in-between and beyond. While is some ways [OTHER] is as close to a "rock" album as Lustmord will ever make, The Dark Places of the Earth and Beyond are pure Lustmord, a sound that many others imitate but can never equal. LUSTMORD is the artistic moniker of Brian Williams. Born in North Wales, he started his musical career in 1980 and soon became a pioneer in the early industrial music scene in the UK. He was a former member of SPK during arguably their most crucial era, and went on to work with THROBBING GRISTLE members Chris & Cosey as well as appearing on early albums by CURRENT 93, NURSE WITH WOUND and others. After relocating to Los Angeles in 1993, Williams worked on dozens of motion picture soundtracks including The Crow, Underworld and Paul Schrader's First Reformed. Additionally he created several video game soundtracks, television scores and solo albums, as well as collaborating with artists as varied as THE MELVINS, CLOCK DVA, JARBOE, John Balance of COIL, Paul Haslinger (TANGERINE DREAM), PUSCIFER, Wes Borland and more, including Grammy Award-winners TOOL on their much acclaimed effort Fear Inoculum. To this day, Lustmord is actively recording and releasing music, his latest release being the collaborative album Alter with Karin Park of A°RABROT, and he is considered to be the founding father of the dark ambient music genre. https://lustmord.bandcamp.com/album/the-dark-places-of-the-earth 2022 €32.00
[O T H E R] do-LP Reissued in all its incarnations plus re-interpreted: Electronic/Industrial music pioneer LUSTMORDs tenth studio album [ O T H E R ], originally released in 2008 and to date the only LUSTMORD album with guitars on it, performed by Adam Jones (TOOL), King Buzzo (THE MELVINS) and Aaron Turner (ISIS). [ O T H E R ] originally came out on independent record label Hydra Head Records, founded by ISIS frontman Aaron Turner and former home of bands such as CONVERGE, PELICAN, JESU, SUN O))) or BORIS. As one journalist put it at the time, [ O T H E R ] is a "grim example of a consummate artist who is working frmly within the parameters that he has laid out for himself over the years." This album shows Lustmord at his most characteristic, and the icy, ominous guitar playing of Jones, Turner and Ozborne resonates perfectly within the deep soundscapes that make up this frightening yet inspiring journey. As a matter of fact, the material on [ O T H E R ] is so powerful that it moved Williams to create two ambient remix versions of it, and one dub remix EP exploring the sounds of this record to the greatest extend of his ability. In 2022, and also available now, LUSTMORD further collaborates with artist such as GODFLESH, MONO and ZOLA JESUS, to name but a few, for THE OTHERS (LUSTMORD DECONSTRUCTED) on re-interpretations on [ O T H E R ] tracks. LUSTMORD is the artistic moniker of Brian Williams. Born in North Wales, he started his musical career in 1980 and soon became a pioneer in the early industrial music scene in the UK. He was a former member of SPK during arguably their most crucial era, and went on to work with THROBBING GRISTLE members Chris & Cosey as well as appearing on early albums by CURRENT 93, NURSE WITH WOUND and others. After relocating to Los Angeles in 1993, Williams worked on dozens of motion picture soundtracks including The Crow, Underworld and Paul Schrader's First Reformed. Additionally he created several video game soundtracks, television scores and solo albums, as well as collaborating with artists as varied as THE MELVINS, CLOCK DVA, JARBOE, John Balance of COIL, Paul Haslinger (TANGERINE DREAM), PUSCIFER, Wes Borland and more, including Grammy Award-winners TOOL on their much acclaimed effort Fear Inoculum. To this day, Lustmord is actively recording and releasing music, his latest release being the collaborative album Alter with Karin Park of A°RABROT, and he is considered to be the founding father of the dark ambient music genre. https://lustmord.bandcamp.com/album/o-t-h-e-r 2022 €32.00
  [Dark Places of the Earth] CD Reissued! Electronic music pioneer LUSTMORD released an album titled [OTHER] in 2008, to date the only LUSTMORD album with guitars on it, performed by Adam Jones (TOOL), King Buzzo (MELVINS) and Aaron Turner (ISIS). The albums The Dark Places of the Earth and Beyond, both released in 2009, areextensions of the ideas explored in [OTHER] and are taken from the same recording sessions, but with the guitars removed and the essence of [OTHER] distilled and reduced.[OTHER] was a journey with friends, whileThe Dark Places of the Earth and Beyond take the concept and listener further, deeper, in-between and beyond. While is some ways [OTHER] is as close to a "rock" album as Lustmord will ever make, The Dark Places of the Earth and Beyond are pure Lustmord, a sound that many others imitate but can never equal. LUSTMORD is the artistic moniker of Brian Williams. Born in North Wales, he started his musical career in 1980 and soon became a pioneer in the early industrial music scene in the UK. He was a former member of SPK during arguably their most crucial era, and went on to work with THROBBING GRISTLE members Chris & Cosey as well as appearing on early albums by CURRENT 93, NURSE WITH WOUND and others. After relocating to Los Angeles in 1993, Williams worked on dozens of motion picture soundtracks including The Crow, Underworld and Paul Schrader's First Reformed. Additionally he created several video game soundtracks, television scores and solo albums, as well as collaborating with artists as varied as THE MELVINS, CLOCK DVA, JARBOE, John Balance of COIL, Paul Haslinger (TANGERINE DREAM), PUSCIFER, Wes Borland and more, including Grammy Award-winners TOOL on their much acclaimed effort Fear Inoculum. To this day, Lustmord is actively recording and releasing music, his latest release being the collaborative album Alter with Karin Park of A°RABROT, and he is considered to be the founding father of the dark ambient music genre. https://lustmord.bandcamp.com/album/the-dark-places-of-the-earth 2022 €15.00
LUSTMORD & KARIN PARK Alter (lim. col. vinyl) do-LP Limited coloured LPs housed in gatefold w/ special canvas cardboard stock and silver hot foil! Nordic pop diva KARIN PARK of ÂRABROT adds her ethereal, mournful voice and keys to the primordial sound of legendary electronic pioneer LUSTMORD for this sublime and poignant collaboration. ALTER is a ritual of our times. On the pair's frst collaborative work, the nine tracks that make up ALTER are every bit as heart-wrenching as they are terrifying, mining new sonic territory, it is a fascinating study of light and shade that delves deep into vast uncharted darkness. Their ability to create atmosphere on the album opener "Hiraeth" is second to none, perfectly assembling a harrowing backdrop for Park's lilting sound of longing. From there, Park's vocals add all of the emotional depth and power found in names like Kate Bush, Maynard J Keenan and Elizabeth Frasier, perfectly playing against Lustmord's waves of dark drama and creating a wholly unique record that recalls Dead Can Dance, Massive Attack and Portishead at their greatest. Considering Park's credentials, it might be surprising that a collaboration with Lustmord would ft so seamlessly. Utilizing a sound comprised of elements of industrial, synth pop and more, the celebrated Swedish solo artist and member of Norwegian rock band Ârabrot utilizes experimentation in her work, blazing trails and bringing to mind the work of her peers The Knife, Scott Walker, Robyn, Depeche Mode and Burial with her darkly-rich compositions. Multiple winner of Norway's Spellemann award, Park co-wrote the Norwegian entry for the 2013 Eurovision, fnishing fourth overall. But it is the sensibility of the sacred music of her youth that Park adds to ALTER, contributing a powerful vocal that guides the listener through the cavernous, mystical depth of their collaborative work. "Lustmord is the Gustave Doré of music", Karin Park ofers pensively. "Painting magical pictures with a sound that is so vast, it gives space for your own imagination." Brian Williams grew up in North Wales, beginning his musical career as Lustmord in 1980 and becoming a pivotal fgure and pioneer in the early industrial music scene in the UK. A former member of SPK during arguably their most crucial era, Williams went on to work with Throbbing Gristle members Chris & Cosey and appeared on early albums by Current 93 and Nurse With Wound amongst others. After relocating to Los Angeles in 1993, Williams worked on dozens of motion picture soundtracks including The Crow, Underworld and Paul Schrader's First Reformed, as well as on several video game, television scores and solo albums. Williams has also contributed to and collaborated with artists as varied as the Melvins, Clock DVA, Jarboe, John Balance of Coil, Clock DVA, Paul Haslinger (Tangerine Dream), Wes Borland (Limp Bizkit), Puscifer and more, including Grammy Award-winners Tool from their much acclaimed eforts 10,000 Days and Fear Inoculum. TRACKLISTING: 01. HIRAETH 02. THE VOID BETWEEN 03. PERIHELION 04. TWIN FLAMES 05. ENTWINED 06. KINDRED 07. SONG OF SOL 08. SELE 2021 €35.00
Alter CD Nordic pop diva KARIN PARK of ÅRABROT adds her ethereal, mournful voice and keys to the primordial sound of legendary electronic pioneer LUSTMORD for this sublime and poignant collaboration. ALTER is a ritual of our times. On the pair’s frst collaborative work, the nine tracks that make up ALTER are every bit as heart-wrenching as they are terrifying, mining new sonic territory, it is a fascinating study of light and shade that delves deep into vast uncharted darkness. Their ability to create atmosphere on the album opener “Hiraeth” is second to none, perfectly assembling a harrowing backdrop for Park’s lilting sound of longing. From there, Park’s vocals add all of the emotional depth and power found in names like Kate Bush, Maynard J Keenan and Elizabeth Frasier, perfectly playing against Lustmord’s waves of dark drama and creating a wholly unique record that recalls Dead Can Dance, Massive Attack and Portishead at their greatest. Considering Park’s credentials, it might be surprising that a collaboration with Lustmord would ft so seamlessly. Utilizing a sound comprised of elements of industrial, synth pop and more, the celebrated Swedish solo artist and member of Norwegian rock band Årabrot utilizes experimentation in her work, blazing trails and bringing to mind the work of her peers The Knife, Scott Walker, Robyn, Depeche Mode and Burial with her darkly-rich compositions. Multiple winner of Norway’s Spellemann award, Park co-wrote the Norwegian entry for the 2013 Eurovision, fnishing fourth overall. But it is the sensibility of the sacred music of her youth that Park adds to ALTER, contributing a powerful vocal that guides the listener through the cavernous, mystical depth of their collaborative work. ”Lustmord is the Gustave Doré of music“, Karin Park ofers pensively. “Painting magical pictures with a sound that is so vast, it gives space for your own imagination.” Brian Williams grew up in North Wales, beginning his musical career as Lustmord in 1980 and becoming a pivotal fgure and pioneer in the early industrial music scene in the UK. A former member of SPK during arguably their most crucial era, Williams went on to work with Throbbing Gristle members Chris & Cosey and appeared on early albums by Current 93 and Nurse With Wound amongst others. After relocating to Los Angeles in 1993, Williams worked on dozens of motion picture soundtracks including The Crow, Underworld and Paul Schrader’s First Reformed, as well as on several video game, television scores and solo albums. Williams has also contributed to and collaborated with artists as varied as the Melvins, Clock DVA, Jarboe, John Balance of Coil, Clock DVA, Paul Haslinger (Tangerine Dream), Wes Borland (Limp Bizkit), Puscifer and more, including Grammy Award-winners Tool from their much acclaimed eforts 10,000 Days and Fear Inoculum. 2021 €14.00
  Alter (black vinyl) do-LP Limited coloured LPs housed in gatefold w/ special canvas cardboard stock and silver hot foil! Nordic pop diva KARIN PARK of ÂRABROT adds her ethereal, mournful voice and keys to the primordial sound of legendary electronic pioneer LUSTMORD for this sublime and poignant collaboration. ALTER is a ritual of our times. On the pair's frst collaborative work, the nine tracks that make up ALTER are every bit as heart-wrenching as they are terrifying, mining new sonic territory, it is a fascinating study of light and shade that delves deep into vast uncharted darkness. Their ability to create atmosphere on the album opener "Hiraeth" is second to none, perfectly assembling a harrowing backdrop for Park's lilting sound of longing. From there, Park's vocals add all of the emotional depth and power found in names like Kate Bush, Maynard J Keenan and Elizabeth Frasier, perfectly playing against Lustmord's waves of dark drama and creating a wholly unique record that recalls Dead Can Dance, Massive Attack and Portishead at their greatest. Considering Park's credentials, it might be surprising that a collaboration with Lustmord would ft so seamlessly. Utilizing a sound comprised of elements of industrial, synth pop and more, the celebrated Swedish solo artist and member of Norwegian rock band Ârabrot utilizes experimentation in her work, blazing trails and bringing to mind the work of her peers The Knife, Scott Walker, Robyn, Depeche Mode and Burial with her darkly-rich compositions. Multiple winner of Norway's Spellemann award, Park co-wrote the Norwegian entry for the 2013 Eurovision, fnishing fourth overall. But it is the sensibility of the sacred music of her youth that Park adds to ALTER, contributing a powerful vocal that guides the listener through the cavernous, mystical depth of their collaborative work. "Lustmord is the Gustave Doré of music", Karin Park ofers pensively. "Painting magical pictures with a sound that is so vast, it gives space for your own imagination." Brian Williams grew up in North Wales, beginning his musical career as Lustmord in 1980 and becoming a pivotal fgure and pioneer in the early industrial music scene in the UK. A former member of SPK during arguably their most crucial era, Williams went on to work with Throbbing Gristle members Chris & Cosey and appeared on early albums by Current 93 and Nurse With Wound amongst others. After relocating to Los Angeles in 1993, Williams worked on dozens of motion picture soundtracks including The Crow, Underworld and Paul Schrader's First Reformed, as well as on several video game, television scores and solo albums. Williams has also contributed to and collaborated with artists as varied as the Melvins, Clock DVA, Jarboe, John Balance of Coil, Clock DVA, Paul Haslinger (Tangerine Dream), Wes Borland (Limp Bizkit), Puscifer and more, including Grammy Award-winners Tool from their much acclaimed eforts 10,000 Days and Fear Inoculum. TRACKLISTING: 01. HIRAETH 02. THE VOID BETWEEN 03. PERIHELION 04. TWIN FLAMES 05. ENTWINED 06. KINDRED 07. SONG OF SOL 08. SELE 2021 €28.00
M.B. / FRAG Psychation CD An overwhelming collaboration between the legendary Maurizio Bianchi and FRAG recorded in early 2020. 4ib Records. MB & FRAG - Psychation ( 4IB Records ) "Any work of architecture that does not express serenity is a mistake." LUIS BARRAGAN What is serenity? To some; serenity is a tranquil, sequestered, fulfilled state of existence. A wilful pause of the modern consumer existence that pollutes and perverts our lives. A cessation of the demands modernity forces so brutally upon our febrile short lives. To others serenity exists within scripture, tomes and ritualistic expressions of the divine. The devout seek a glimpse of this divinity, through the serenity they seek whilst shackled to the cold clay of this mortal coil. Stephen Burroughs is FRAG and FRAG is a project that has found serenity in the brutalist architecture of the Midlands of Britain. In seeking to express in sound; the collapse of the industrial heartlands of the United Kingdom he has created through his FRAG project; a collection of audio sculptures that evoke the concrete isolation of his claustrophobic environment. FRAG is the soundtrack to a mankind that is alienated completely from the natural order of life. His compositions are not warm but cold, angular and granular. Huge slabs of desolate anguish that despite their sterile inhumanity pulse and seethe with submerged longing. The sound of FRAG is that of a lone human hand extending skywards from a collapsed building. That hand pointing accusingly, cursing the heavens for that fate that has befallen it. Beneath that dead mortar is humanity slowly expiring under the cold dead weight. It is entirely logical that FRAG and Maurizio Bianchi would collaborate together. In his early Archeo years Mr Bianchi explored the themes of isolated consciousness in the industrialised environment. The stark truth of the industrial age was explored by MB as he sought his own solace to the decaying soulless hell that surrounded him. Alienated by the inhumanity of his existence he sought to hold a mirror up to the crushing weight that sought to crush any and all resistance to its dehumanizing nature. Whilst MB sought to escape this brutalism of the soul by seeking an eremite like existence within the works of faith, FRAG became the lone wolf operative working behind enemy lines to fight a rearguard war of attrition against this inhuman leviathan. Both MB & FRAG have and are fighting the same war, against the same foe , using the same weaponry; the medium of sound. Psychation despite containing three lengthy tracks really needs to be listened to as a whole. Despite the tracks being individual entities with quite different atmosphere they are best appreciated as a thematic progression across the entire album. These tracks are constantly evolving and mutating pieces of angular geometry. A cascade of electronic shapes that fluctuate and shift in a metamorphosis of Musique Concrete tonal expressionism. At times the unrelenting nature of the album is just about to break your endurance before a snatch of melodic ambience breaks through the tumult and disarray. Where Psychation differs from most 'noise' based albums is that it retains its granite density without descending into chaotic nonsensicality. Despite the at times abrasive incisive attack of sound it retains a sense of weight. Almost as if the sound is being layered as one would layer asphalt, layer after layer added and poured. Over and over again in ceaseless repetition. The sound of humanity as it is drowned beneath the post human neo liberal order. Psychation is the sound of humanity as it thrashes and drowns beneath the technologic order that it has birthed into being. Psychation is a warning to us all. A warning of the world we will inherit if we forgo our humanity and spirituality. If we throw all caution to the wind and embrace the technologic future. Psychation is a window into that world. The post serenity, post human world of concrete, zero & ones and mindless consumerism. MB & FRAG are pointing at the inevitable conclusion of our existence if we as humans choose to venture any further. [Kristian Carter] M.B. - PSYCHELECTRONICS, SEGREGATED NOISES, NUCLEAR PICTURES. FRAG - PSYCHELECTRONIC SURGERISM. ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY - KRISTIAN R. CARTER. https://tunnelsofh.bandcamp.com/album/psychation 2020 €13.00
M.B.(MAURIZIO BIANCHI) / LAND USE Psychoneurose CD Collaboration der wiedererstarkten Industrial-Legende mit LAND USE, einem neuen Projekt aus NL.... zu hören gibt es hier rauhe, ratternde Klang-Emanationen, die sich in immer neuen Verformungen in den Äther wälzen.... Licht-verschluckend und zähflüssig wie schwarzer Teer....unser definitiver Favorit unter den neuen MB-Veröffentlichungen der letzten Zeit ! “Italian Avant-Noise legend M.B. and Land Use collaborate on dramatic, subterranean wall-of-noise constructions and swirling textural storms, dense and complex arrangements, shifting and shimmering tones barely under control, streaming toward some distant and indefineable precipice. Not noisy, but way too tense and corrosive to be called ambient. These vibrant monoliths of sound shift the listeners pysche into a restless sort of zen, a blissful chaos - truly mind and mood-altering. Bianchi released early records on Whitehouse's Come Org. label and has been active since the 1970's. And a recent and conspicuous absence from the experimental music world has been broken by several recent releases of surprising freshness and relevance. It is unclear where MB leaves off and Land Use begins but Psychoneurose is definitely a clear and brilliant return to early MB techniques with several refinements in delivery and focus. Psychoneurose will be the clear weapon of choice for those who prefer their ambience with teeth and their Power-Electronics with more of the deep, vaster textures than violence.” [label description] “....Thank God, we gave Psychoneurose a listen, as this record is so spectacular that perhaps we will be searching out some of those other records to see if they are as good as they were claimed to be! .....in returning to the all-encompassing, utterly blackened, subterraneanly frigid, nightmarishly grim, soul-crushingly bleak, death-shroud ambience that Bianchi had produced back in the day. Expansive, Frankensteinian drones constanly broadcast a black energy, marred with tactile corrosive noises and synthetic twitches which could only be made by the same anaglog technology of Bianchi's classic recordings. So until those aforementioned albums come back in print yet again, Psychoneurose holds its own as a worthy substitute.” [Aquarius] 2005 €13.00
MACHINEFABRIEK Dubbeltjes CD "Zoharum welcomes multitalented Rutger Zuydervelt aka Machinefabriek to its fold. We are very happy that Rutger decided to choose our label to release his new compilation of rare works entitled "Dubbeltjes". It consists of 11 track recorded between 2008 and 2013. Rutger Zuydervelt talks about "Dubbeltjes": Short playing time formats, like 7-inches and 3-inch cdrs, are great to work with. More than on regular albums, the durational limitations are useful to experiment with and to create really focused, cristalised pieces. Most of these tracks focus on a very limited palette of sounds. "Hilary" and "Jeffery" for example, are constructed using solely trombone recordings from (you guessed it) Hillary Jeffery (of The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble). "Huiswerk" Part 1 and 2 were made using a simple setup of electric guitar and sampler. And probably a suprise in my discography are "My Funny Valentine" and "Oh Doctor Jesus", two jazz classics, in collaboration with bass clarinet player Gareth Davis. All these sets of songs have a very specific quality to them. These tracks are among my personal favorites. Most of them aren't available on a physical format anymore, so it's great to gather them on the album 'Dubbeltjes'. The tracks are presented as pairs or trios, as they appeared on their original releases. It's up to you, the listener, to either experience these combinations seperatly, hear the album in continuous play, or use shuffle mode to make new combinations. "Dubbeltjes" is released in a 3-panel ecopak in a strictly limited edition of 300 copies." [label info] www.zoharum.com "Here at Vital Weekly a lot of music released by Machinefabriek is discussed, but there is a lot more than doesn't make it here, as Machinefabriek is also very active in the field of highly limited vinyl, lathe cut and cassette only releases. Luckily he is well known enough to have every now and then a compilation of these rarities, such as 'Dubbeltjes' ('dimes'). Here we have two pieces from compilations plus two 7"s, a lathe cut 5", a cassette and a 3"CDR, twelve pieces in total. Of these, I reviewed the lathe cut 5" with the jazz standards 'My Funny Valentine' and 'Oh Doctor Jesus' (Vital Weekly 789), which didn't sound like jazz anyway. One of the nicer things about such compilations as this one is that all of these pieces are relatively short and to the point and we hear Machinefabriek occasionally experimenting with form, such as 'Ontrafelde Tonen 1', which is more like musique concrete than his signature ambient guitar sound, which are present here, such as in 'Ax'. All of it gets a place in here, with a nice variety. At forty-eight minutes not the longest of anthologies you could imagine, but it's compiled to be entertaining, listenable and varied, all of which in the comfort of Machinefabriek's drone inspired music." [FdW/Vital Weekly] 2014 €12.00
Drum Solos LP "Drums (played with sticks, mallets, bow and tuning forks) and processing by Rutger Zuydervelt. "Driven by my love for solo albums by drummers and percussionists like Jon Mueller, Wil Guthrie, Nick Hennies and Burkhard Beins, I've made 'Drum Solos'. It's my take on a solo drum record, despite the fact that I lack the talent to hit a steady beat or a play a drum roll. Instead, I used the sounds of a drum kit as a sounce for further processing. I booked a rehearsel room with a drum kit, and recorded as much sounds as I could in one afternoon. Hitting, bowing, stroking, whatever ways I could find to create sounds, I recorded. And these soundfiles were chopped and screwed til it sounded like what you hear on the album. Each track focusses on one part of the drum kit. I like to think that purposefully employed limitations like that make me more creative, and my work more focussed. It's part of the aim to make my music as minimalistic and 'pure' (whatever that may be) as possible. In this case it resulted in a short but varied and at times meditative album that might not have any virtuoso drum acrobatics on it, but shows its quality on a more subtle level." ~RZ. Another great experimental and droning Machinefabriek album. Sleeve printed in metallic pantone gold ink. Limited edition of 300 copies on black vinyl." [label info] www.backwards.it "It shouldn't be a surprise that the ever prolific Rutger Zuydervelt (aka Machinefabriek) hasn't found the time to do everything that's he wanted to do in his artistic career. With his hundreds of recordings that have poured fourth in mostly tiny editions as well as his collaborations, he's rarefied the sounds from guitars and electronics into cracked crescendos of half-melodic smears of drone and noise full of doleful cavernous swells and dark-star explosions. Yes, we've long been smitten by his work; but we'll admit that we were a little skeptical of an album entitled Drum Solos that began with the preamble that Zuydervelt had long wanted to study the art of percussion but never found the time. Fortunately, this is not a half-assed first attempt at trying to make avant-garde percussive tumble like Will Guthrie or Eddie Prevost; rather, it's perfectly beautiful Machinefabriek album using the drumkit as the source material. With much filtering and signal processing, Zuydervelt broadcasts echoing tones of slow-unfurling sonar pulses across a bed of soft shimmering ambience and rumbling atmosphere. The cymbals seem to be the only part of the kit that he's left mostly free of processing; but even so, he's bowing the cymbals to create those same textured drones that Organum produced many moons ago. Rhythm is mostly shed in lieu of weightless tone-float and spiralling, ghostlike re-appearances of his reconfigured drum sounds. It's hardly what anyone would ever consider when thinking of a drum solo record, but in the context of a Machinefabriek album, it's pretty damn majestic." [Aquarius Rec.] 2014 €12.50
Stillness Soundtracks CD "Trained as a graphic designer, Rotterdam's Rutger Zuydervelt started releasing as Machinefabriek in 2004. In 2006 he released his first official full length album, 'Marijn', which was voted by the Wire as one of that years bests electronica albums. Since then, his discography expended rapidly, releasing on international labels such as 12K, Staalpaat, Important, Experimedia, Type, Home Normal, Dekorder and Glacial Movements. His improvised live performances has seen stages across the globe, including Japan, Canada, Russia en Israel. Besides making albums and playing gigs, Zuydervelt regularly works with film makers and choreographers, as well as producing on installations. 'When Esther Kokmeijer approached me with the idea of making the scores for a series of short films she was working on, I didn't hesitate. Having seen a lot of her photography, I immediately knew how inspiring the footage she shot in Antarctica and Greenland would be. And this expectation proved to be correct. In quite a short period (we had set a deadline, to show the result at an open studio date) we swapped sketches and edits of the videos and audio, until the combinations felt perfect.The 'Stillness' films aren't documentaries in the sense that they tell a clear story. We're seeing the Arctic through Esther's eyes, slowly passing giant icebergs and simply being amazed be the impressive and seemingly endless landscape. While in other films it's mostly the other way around, in 'Stillness' the narrative, if there is any, comes from the music. When making these soundtracks, the idea was to guide the viewer through the images with a sense of abstract story telling. Instead of the original first thought of making dark, cold soundscapes, the bleak mountains of ice are now colored by lush arrangements and even quite romantic themes. Esther and I released the videos on a usb-stick, in a limited edition of 100, that was sold out in no time. Now the scores are presented on 'Stillness Soundtracks', including two exclusive tracks. It speaks for itself that there's no better label to release this then the Glacial Movements label, so I couldn't be happier.' Rutger Zuydervelt, April 2014." [label info] www.glacialmovements.com 2014 €14.00
  15/15 LP "A threesome of coloured vinyl by WORM Records. These records are extraordinary not just because of their appearance (bright yellow, blue and pink vinyl), but also because of their unique origins. The a-sides of the records were recorded for Soundpiece, a soundinstallation under the floor of the Schouwburgplein in Rotterdam. WORM invited the composers Machinefabriek, Pierre Bastien and Dyane Donck/Daisy Bell to compose a piece for this. The results are three soundartworks/tape compositions that are made for public space, but are impressive as an isolated piece of art as well. Towards the end of 2011 the pieces rang out at fixed times during the Soundpiece installation and something that stands out well, are the different approaches taken by the three composers. Machinefabriek is the project of Rutger Zuydervelt. Machinefabrieks music combines elements of ambient, modern classical, minimalism, drone and field recordings. He already has a massive discography, with many of these titles self-released, but also including albums for well renowned labels and numerous collaborations. Soundpiece is a soundinstallation in the public space of the Schouwburgsplein in Rotterdam and utilising 32 speakers covers an area of 30 by 30 meters. This enables the compositions to be spread at low volume throughout the entire square." [label info] 2012 €15.00
MAEROR TRI Emotional Engramm CD "The reissue of a long-forgotten classic MAEROR TRI album with stunning new artwork and newly remastered sound. Back in 1997, it turned out to be the last album by this experimental trio of German droners composed of Stefan ‘Barakah’ Knappe, Martin ‘GLIT[s]CH’ Gitschel and Helge Siehl. The former two later formed TROUM (Zoharum releases: “Autopoiesis / Nahtscato” and “Seeing-Ear Gods” (A Continuous Journey in Six Parts) and the latter 1000SCHOEN. During their nine-year existence, they recorded a handful of albums and cassettes with their unique mixture of minimalism, industrial, ambient and drone, exploring the brains of potential listeners. „Emotional Engramm” is MAEROR TRI's most refined effort to date. After years of experimenting, the group came to a characteristic sound composed of layers of electrically/electronically-treated acoustic instruments. Their organic sound achieved the most accessible form on „Emotional Engramm”;. Clocking in at just under 80 minutes, the seven tracks presented here show Maeror Tri at its best. The reissue is presented in a lavish 6-panel digipak designed by Marcin Lojek (Ibsen Design, New Nihilism label, Mantichora and Schmerz bands) with a foreword by Martyn Bates (EYELESS IN GAZA). The album has been faithfully remastered by Lukasz Miernik (Dead Cat Mastering)." [label info] www.zoharum.com "Originally released in 1997 on the now defunct Iris Light imprint out of England, Emotion Engramm was the final album from Maeror Tri - the haunting, post-industrial drone trio that was the precursor to the equally haunting, post-industrial drone DUO Troum. This record - more so than any of the other Maeror Tri albums - engaged the complex structures that Troum would later push through their interlocking, shadowy melodies and slow-motion, effects-heavy drone. At the same time, the concepts that went into Emotional Engramm are more closely related to the clinical psychological themes of the Maeror Tri albums Multiple Personality Disorder or Language Of Flames & Sound, as referenced by the titular engram (purposefully misspelled in the title), a Scientology term for a mental image embedded into the brain by any type of trauma - physical, emotional, psychic, or otherwise. Far from prescribing the teachings of Scientology, Maeror Tri uses that concept as a jumping off point in conjuring "resonance of control, impact, fortuity, the randomly instigated yet inedibly etched emotional memory: Kodak ghosts." It's easy to read particular passages within the frozen din of washed-out guitar noise, spectral melodies, tectonic bass rumblings, and metallic slashes of grim electronics as the seizures within the psyche that might get caught in an infinite loop for the inner-mind. Some of those images provide an emotional resonance that's deeply sad and full of despair, while others are enraged with a blackened hostility. As we mentioned, many of the ideas and strategies that went into this album continued to develop through Troum; but even so, this stands as one of the best albums that either Maeror Tri or Troum had produced." [Aquarius Records] "Recorded between 1993 and 1996, this is the final release of MAEROR TRI - packaged to suggest that this music is a kind of empty canvas for engrams, for letters, words, scribblings (both significant and insignificant) to emerge upon. "Engrams" somehow brings to mind Scientology; resonances of Control, Impact, Fortuity, the randomly instigated yet indelibly etched emotional memory: Kodak Ghosts... The pure idea of Scientology is that of a beautiful catharsis; a steering thru the engrams, the 'de-control' of the mind and the re-acquisition of it's disparate componants...an insight...tools for your own endevour....for self-development......access towards some kind of re-affirmation of scattered aspects of being. MAEROR TRI here paint an expanse of (admittedly low-fi) sheets of sound; abstraction that is only truly completed by the sensitized listener, adrift, in darkness, volume filling/consuming the room (it doesn't function as ambience, I found...), waver of rain in radioactivity, ether tears of trains of thought, the long forever letters of minutia that you hand-write to dear friends half a world away all flooding back now, into your mind's ear; books - someone else's thoughts.....worlds that consume, yet are mere cyphers, scribbles that are understood somewhere in an unthinking space within the mechanism of each individual's fleeting moment upon the 'wheel of the quivering meat conception'. This MAEROR TRI CD; non-representational, perhaps easily dismissed by anyone who has no time to 'stand and stare'..... ... .... well, for God's sake, stop ... and stand and stare ... put your ear to the world, and listen to the song of the nightingale ..... .. no; listen to all the birdsong .. ... know that words, and sounds, are but tokens." [MARTYN BATES for SOFT WATCH for the 1st ed.] 2012 €12.00
Mort Aux Vaches: Hypnos/Transe CD "tracklist: 1 (mind) - initiation, 2 (mind) - alternation, 3 (mind) - expansion upc 821272307822. photographs by salt. release date: 31october2k12 15 years after its original release, 17 years after its recording, raubbau is delighted to present the highly anticipated reissue of this classic maeror tri album. history lesson part 1 - the band: maeror tri were a three-headed band from bremen who stemmed from the german diy tape scene of the 1980s. with their unique brand of music, which they performed on 'real' instruments but made it sound purely electronic, they stirred the attention of a wider audience and accomplished considerable crossover success. praised by the critics, their disbandment in 1996 was much bemoaned. nevertheless, ever since a number of archive and re-releases have compensated the fans for their loss, as well as the output of the maeror tri successors troum (still a major attraction in the drone/experimental ambient genre) and the audio & visual & paintings project 1000schoen. history lesson part 2 - mort aux vaches: a long-running series of specially-packaged albums released by cult label staalplaat, all of them recorded as live sessions for a dutch radio station. mort aux vaches has so far featured around 70 artists, among them many big name acts such as merzbow, zoviet france, roger rotor and many others. history lesson part 3 - the album: the aptly subtitled hypnos/transe (spelling deliberately chosen) was considered a magnificent legacy when it was posthumously released, combining all the elements that had made maeror tri special: their tracks sound strangely different anytime you listen to them, the elements never clearly reveal themselves but retain a fascinating secrecy, beautiful and demanding at the same time. the track titles of hypnos/transe reveal the concept of music affecting and altering the mental state of the listener. the 'initiation' accordingly uses a long build-up structure, starting with soothing ambient sounds, but continually integrating more and more layers of drones and culminating in an entrancing shamanic rhythm. 'alternation' is in a darker mood, with low-end rumbling and sonorous mock chants appealing to the deeper realms of the psyche. 'expansion' is easily the noisiest track of the three, with eerie scraping thumps and squealing sounds (wind? whales? bombs?). the psychogenic trip comes to its conclusion after 55 minutes, and one thing is for sure: after this listening session, you won’t be the same person as you had been before. this fine reissue comes well right for a new generation of listeners to discover a musical gem which has long been a sought-after, high-priced collectors item - and also one may with good cause say that the new artwork is much easier on the eyes than the original’s bright pink." [label info] www.raubbau.org 2012 €13.00
Sensuum Mendacia / Somnia CD "Musicians of the now-defunct Maeror Tri have already had many opportunities to work with Zoharum on both releasing their new recordings and reissues of their older material. Our catalog contains titles by Troum ("Autopoiesis / Nahtscato", "Seeing-Ear Gods" and "Dreaming Muzak"), 1000Schoen (double split with Polish Ab Intra), and also their original project Maeror Tri ("Emotional Engramm" and "Meditamentum"). Together with musicians we remove blank spots in their discography by restoring their older recordings. Maeror Tri was a project operating since the mid-80s until 1997, when they released their last album entitled "Emotional Engramm." In their works they penetrated such genres as minimalism, ambient and industrial music, and borrowed drone aesthetic from classical music. In addition to seven regular albums on CD and LP, they released a number of cassettes. They contained much rawer recordings compared to those from the trio's regular albums. One of these two tape albums is "Sensuum Mendacia" originally released in 1991 by the Welsh label Direction Music. It was the third tape in the discography of Maeror Tri. The following rerelease is expanded with 5 additional tracks lifted from the split tape with Nostalgie Eternelle duo released in 1990. All the recordings have been remastered for this release. The album is released in a 2-panel ecopak in a strictly limited edition of 350 copies. The cover is designed by Marcin Łojek (rozpad.com). It is mastered by Łukasz Miernik. The whole production process is overseen by Michał Porwet." [label info] www.zoharum.com 2016 €12.50
Hypnobasia CD "Musicians of the now-defunct Maeror Tri have already had many opportunities to work with Zoharum on both releasing their new recordings and reissues of their older material. Our catalog contains titles by Troum ("Autopoiesis / Nahtscato", "Seeing-Ear Gods" and "Dreaming Muzak"), 1000Schoen (double split with Polish Ab Intra), and also their original project Maeror Tri ("Emotional Engramm" and "Meditamentum"). Together with musicians we remove blank spots in their discography by restoring their older recordings. Maeror Tri was a project operating since the mid-80s until 1997, when they released their last album entitled "Emotional Engramm." In their works they penetrated such genres as minimalism, ambient and industrial music, and borrowed drone aesthetic from classical music. In addition to seven regular albums on CD and LP, they released a number of cassettes. They contained much rawer recordings compared to those from the trio's regular albums. One of these two tape albums is "Hypnobasia" originally released in 1992 by the Italian label Old Europa Cafe. It was the fifth tape in the discography of Maeror Tri. The following rerelease is expanded with 3 additional tracks lifted from various artists compilations from 1989-1992. All the recordings have been remastered for this release. The album is released in a 2-panel ecopak in a strictly limited edition of 350 copies. The cover is designed by Marcin Łojek (rozpad.com). It is mastered by Łukasz Miernik. The whole production process is overseen by Michał Porwet." [label info] www.zoharum.com "MAEROR TRI war ein Trio, das vom Ende der 80er-Jahre bis zum Jahr 1997 aktiv war. Nach einer Reihe von Veröffentlichungen, die sich in dem Rahmen Dark-Ambient, Industrial, Drone, Experimental einordnen lassen, war mit dem 1997er-Album „Emotional Engramm“ jedenfalls Schluss. Zwei Mitglieder, MARTIN GITSCHEL und STEFAN KNAPPE, machten danach mit TROUM weiter; HELGE SIEHL veröffentlichte in den Folgejahren als 1000SCHOEN. Gerade zu Beginn der Existenz von MAEROR TRI wurden eine Reihe von Tapes veröffentlicht, von denen einige bereits auf CD wiederveröffentlicht wurden. Die noch vorhandenen Lücken möchte nun das polnische ZOHARUM-Label schließen, indem es zum einen „Sensuum Mendacia / Somnia“ und zum anderen „Hypnobasia“ wiederveröffentlicht. „Sensuum Mendacia / Somnia“ umfasst dabei das „Sensuum Mendacia“ Tape und die MAEROR TRI-Stücke des „Somnia Et Expergisci“ Split-Tapes, das damals zusammen mit NOSTALGIE ÉTERNELLE veröffentlicht wurde. „Hypnobasia“ wurde noch um drei Tape-Compilation-Stücke aus der Zeit ergänzt. Gemeinsam ist beiden Veröffentlichungen, dass die Gitarre prägendes aber nicht wahrnehmbar dominierendes Element ist, wobei das Klangspektrum von Drones und Noise bis hin zu Akkorden und melancholischem Einzelanschlag der Saiten reicht. Die zupackendere, Richtung Industrial und Noise tendierende Seite von MAEROR TRI deckt hier definitiv „Hypnobasia“ ab, hier wird mit rhythmischen Elementen, Noise und bearbeiteten Stimmen gearbeitet. Ruhiger, flächiger, klanglich weitläufiger und auch melancholischer erscheint dagegen „Sensuum Mendacia / Somnia“. Der Klang erscheint bei beiden Veröffentlichungen als organisches, mit vielen Unebenheiten und Wendungen ausgestattetes Gebilde. Hochgezüchtete, digitale Soundwälle oder gar symphonische Elemente sucht man hier jedenfalls vergeblich. Im Klangbild mag man hier und da vielleicht den Staub der 90er-Jahre und die vielleicht noch nicht ganz ausgereifte technische Ausstattung erkennen; dennoch haftet dem Sound eine gewisse Zeitlosigkeit an, die das Wirken von MAEROR TRI auch aus heutiger Sicht als spannend erscheinen lassen kann." [Tony F. für nonpop.de] 2016 €12.50
Ultimate Time CD Musicians of the now-defunct Maeror Tri have already had many opportunities to work with Zoharum on both releasing their new recordings and reissues of their older material. Our catalog contains titles by Troum ("Autopoiesis / Nahtscato", "Seeing-Ear Gods" and "Dreaming Muzak"), 1000Schoen (double split with Polish Ab Intra), and also their original project Maeror Tri ("Emotional Engramm" and "Meditamentum"). Together with musicians we remove blank spots in their discography by restoring their older recordings. Maeror Tri was a project operating since the mid-80s until 1997, when they released their last album entitled "Emotional Engramm." In their works they penetrated such genres as minimalism, ambient and industrial music, and borrowed drone aesthetic from classical music. In addition to seven regular albums on CD and LP, they released a number of cassettes. They contained much rawer recordings compared to those from the trio's regular albums. The fourth release in this series is "Ultimate Time" originally released in 1994 by the Italian label Old Europa Cafe. It was the tenth cassette in the discography of Maeror Tri. The following rerelease is expanded with an additional track lifted from the compilation "The Art of Marginal Talent" released in 1997. All the recordings have been remastered for this release. The album is released in a 2-panel ecopak in a strictly limited edition of 350 copies. https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/ultimate-time 2018 €13.00
  Venenum / Timeless Transcension CD / DVD This is Infinite Fog's 4th step in reissues of Maeror Tri albums. 'Venenum' is a peaceful drone album recorded between 1989 and 1991. 'Venenum' was released in 1992 as a tape and reissued on limited 200 copies CD in 1999 by the short-lived French label ÜNE (r)ecords. This version is carefully remastered and packed in a deluxe hardcover digibook with booklet. Besides the CD, there is also a great surprise for all fans: a bonus DVD with 'Timeless Transcension', an experimental video created and released by the band in the 1992 year on VHS. The outstanding artwork was created especially for the album by a young painter and designer from Saint-Petersburg, Anton Bogdanov, who did a great job for the 'Peak Experience' and 'Mind Reversal' reissues before. https://infinitefog.bandcamp.com/album/maeror-tri-venenum 2018 €22.00
MANIFESTO Exit CD "Being a part of the alternative scene since more than 15 years past, Magnus Zetterberg's Manifesto has created a trademark of bleak and dark electronica, industrial textures and blackened ambient that satisfies a diverse taste of listening with it's manifold expression. Catching up with this act in 2008, in connection with the release of the album Core, the label found it only natural to get in touch again. Since then, Manifesto has released material on such labels as Silken Tofu and Bone Structure (to mention a few) and played live across northern Europe. Exit is the finalization of four years of transformative work where turbulence, creation and re-creation sets the thematics. The entering track unfolds existence as elusive and impermanent and onwards the harsh sides of reality push us towards entropy." [label info] ralignment.tictail.com "Manifesto is the solo project of Swede Magnus Zetterberg who has been issuing material under this name since 2000. Having previously released a series of albums, splits, live recordings and ep’s, ‘Exit’ is his latest 19th release and follows 2012’s ‘Rust’ album on Silken Tofu. Sonically Manifesto deal with soundtrack styled ambient music of a darker hue (aka ‘dark ambient’ for a more straight forward genre descriptor), which also fits within the recognizable traits of such music coming from northern European spheres. Musically speaking dank sub-orchestral drones provide the sonic bedrock, which is then augmented with a meticulous level of textual sonic detailing. The sound palate is also embedded with a high degree of mechanized tonality and jagged industrial based distortion in a few fleeting moments. Evidently Magnus has had formally trained in sound engineering and music production, with the results of this being absolutely demonstrated within the refined dark ambient approach on display. 5 tracks are featured, with each ranging from 5 to 13 minutes and which play out as variations on established dark ambient genre traits, where some pieces are dour and brooding, whilst others featuring driving and rhythmically pounding undercurrents. Yet collectively the greatest impression of ‘Exit’ is a strong ‘cinematic’ atmosphere and specifically that of a dystopian science fiction type motion picture. Although not necessary turning the tables of what can be expected from dark ambient music in 2016, this is still a complex, diverse and enjoyable listen, to very much constitute a soundtrack to a non-existent film. Mini gate-fold cardboard sleeve rounds out the packaging." [Noise Receptor] 2016 €12.00
MANINKARI Continuum Sonore part 7>14 CD "Maninkari, a duo hailing from France, should be a well-known one for ambient lovers. They have already released six albums on renowned labels such as Conspiracy, Neuropa or Basses Frequencies. Their influences range from classical music through jazz and free improv ending with ambient and drone. Therefore, it is not easy to classify them as a modern post-industrial electronica combo. The duo works quite intensively. They have just prepared the second volume of their 2012 ”Continuum Sonore” album. What enchanted us about Maninkari while listening to part 7-14 ”Continuum Sonore” compostion of is their easiness in creating beautiful, but haunting melodies drowned in cinema-like atmosphere. It is not surprising as the duo have created music for films of Thomas Pantalacci. Their other advantage is varied instrumental textures. Apart from regular synthesizers and not so common persussion, they use atypical instruments, such as bodhran, viola, cimbalom, santoor. It brings them closer to the neoclassical genre. The CD is housed in an ecopak sleeve and is strictly limited to 300 copies. The cover was designed by Maninkari. ”Continuum Sonore 7>14” was mastered by Łukasz Miernik. The whole production process was overseen by Michał Porwet." [label info] www.zoharum.com 2014 €12.00
Un Phénomène De Reliance CD After a few years, Maninkari returns to Zoharum with a new, already third studio album for the label. "Un Phenomene De Reliance" is a kind of concept album, it's something like a suite, consisting of four separate compositions. There are no spectacular twists or unexpected musical revolts here. The duo of Charlot brothers continues to follow the path chosen by them, masterfully developing the formula they developed years ago. We are dealing here with illustrative music, extremely vivid, strongly influencing the imagination of the audience.Certainly, it could serve as the soundtrack to an unspecified movie based on a somewhat dreamlike plot. It would be great as a sound for a performance or ballet. The French use classical instruments with quite a lot of freedom, and at the same time with impeccable virtuosity, to create a rather peculiar musical abstract, based on compositions that are characterized by incredible lightness, harmony and melodic beauty, at the same time giving the impression of fleetin, airy miniatures. where each note seems to sound only for a moment before disappearing into a huge space, filled with silence. Trying to properly describe what "Un Phenomene De Reliance" is, we can use the terms "ambient" or "chamber music". However, neither of these expressions will fully represent what is contained in this publication. At the same time, it is worth devoting special time to, somewhere in the privacy of your home, to be able to concentrate on the pleasure of listening and exploring this very intimate, personal and captivating music. https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/un-phenomene-de-reliance ###################### "Genre/Influences: Experimental, Ritual, Cinematic. Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl. Background/Info: Frédéric and Olivier Charlot -who are also involved with other projects like Sphyxion, are back on track unleashing a new opus of Maninkari.They already released several albums but this is their third one on Zoharum. Content: The work features 4 songs which have been progressively built up by the mix of authentic instruments and electronic treatments. The viola injects a deeply, atmospheric, darkness to the work while the rhythmic make it all sound Ritual. + + + : I like Maninkari for their authenticity, the use of acoustic instruments not only adding an artistic touch to the work but also a poignant, atmospheric, touch. The title song is a true masterpiece whereon the Charlot brothers have found a perfect balance between the different instruments. The viola is absolutely terrific here. You also can notice improvised passages but the work remains constantly accessible. – – – : It needs a few minutes before you totally get into the poignant sonic universe of Maninkari. So you better be a little bit patient. Conclusion: Subtle improvisation with a styled, acoustic, touch on top." [Side-Line] 2022 €12.00
  Un Phenomene De Reliance LP After a few years, Maninkari returns to Zoharum with a new, already third studio album for the label. "Un Phenomene De Reliance" is a kind of concept album, it's something like a suite, consisting of four separate compositions. There are no spectacular twists or unexpected musical revolts here. The duo of Charlot brothers continues to follow the path chosen by them, masterfully developing the formula they developed years ago. We are dealing here with illustrative music, extremely vivid, strongly influencing the imagination of the audience.Certainly, it could serve as the soundtrack to an unspecified movie based on a somewhat dreamlike plot. It would be great as a sound for a performance or ballet. The French use classical instruments with quite a lot of freedom, and at the same time with impeccable virtuosity, to create a rather peculiar musical abstract, based on compositions that are characterized by incredible lightness, harmony and melodic beauty, at the same time giving the impression of fleetin, airy miniatures. where each note seems to sound only for a moment before disappearing into a huge space, filled with silence. Trying to properly describe what "Un Phenomene De Reliance" is, we can use the terms "ambient" or "chamber music". However, neither of these expressions will fully represent what is contained in this publication. At the same time, it is worth devoting special time to, somewhere in the privacy of your home, to be able to concentrate on the pleasure of listening and exploring this very intimate, personal and captivating music. https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/un-phenomene-de-reliance ###################### "Genre/Influences: Experimental, Ritual, Cinematic. Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl. Background/Info: Frédéric and Olivier Charlot -who are also involved with other projects like Sphyxion, are back on track unleashing a new opus of Maninkari.They already released several albums but this is their third one on Zoharum. Content: The work features 4 songs which have been progressively built up by the mix of authentic instruments and electronic treatments. The viola injects a deeply, atmospheric, darkness to the work while the rhythmic make it all sound Ritual. + + + : I like Maninkari for their authenticity, the use of acoustic instruments not only adding an artistic touch to the work but also a poignant, atmospheric, touch. The title song is a true masterpiece whereon the Charlot brothers have found a perfect balance between the different instruments. The viola is absolutely terrific here. You also can notice improvised passages but the work remains constantly accessible. – – – : It needs a few minutes before you totally get into the poignant sonic universe of Maninkari. So you better be a little bit patient. Conclusion: Subtle improvisation with a styled, acoustic, touch on top." [Side-Line] 2022 €18.00
MARCHETTI, LIONEL Knud un Nom de Serpent CD Wiederveröffentlichung des erfolgreichen MARCHETTI-Albums von 1999 (soweit wir wissen sein erstes full-length Solo-Album), ein in höchstem Maße forderndes Collagen-Werk mit Aufnahmen von schamanistischen Ritualen & ritueller Musik, inspiriert von MIRCEA ELIADE. "Having seen Marchetti perform live with Jerome Noetinger, this CD comes as somewhat of a surprise. Starting with African music, followed by part of a French chanson and parts of spoken word, this work obviously needs a different approach. After reading the press release, things become clearer: Marchetti has a strong interest in shamanism and tries 'to make the listener live with my mythology, more aware of the world's potential forces'. Collage seems to be the method to achieve this goal. All tracks consist of numerous citations from music from all over the world and all over the times. The result is a work that one can listen to over and over again, because of the richness of its ingredients. Others can probably not stand the complexity..." [Roel Meelkop, Vital Weekly] "Back by popular demand ! Lionel Marchetti's classic album of harrowing tape music from 1999, Knud un Nom de Serpent (Le Cercle des Entrailles), was published by Intransitive in 1999, quickly sold out, and remains the most requested title to be resurrected from our back catalog. We're thrilled to make Knud available again, now with a striking new cover design and an appreciative essay by Bhob Rainey (nmperign, The BSC). The gripping drama of Knud un Nom de Serpent illustrates Marchetti's idea of popular music as Shamanic ritual, a gateway to ecstatic altered states. Armed with fierce wit and a razor blade, he smashes together sounds from all over the world into a hallucinatory cyclone of Jamaican reggae, French chanson, American avant-garde vocalists, Thai pop songs, nature recordings, spoken text, and more. The result is a chilling work of furious, obliquely narrative tape-collage and tense, frightening scenes. As Marchetti explained to The Wire magazine, 'I've always been interested in the idea of the medicine man. Someone who by sheer force of imagination transports you into another world, part artist, part healer. Maybe that's what a composer is.' Lionel Marchetti (France, 1967) is a self-taught composer of musique concrète. He has built his own recording studio, and has composed in the Groupe de Recherches Musicales in Paris since 1993. Marchetti also performs improvised music with microphones and loudspeakers as a duo with Jérôme Noetinger, as part of the group quintetAvant, and with the collective Le Cube, which performs live music and interactive film. Marchetti's book La Musique Concrète De Michel Chion was published by Éditions Metamkine in 1998. Also available: int031 Lionel Marchetti & Seijiro Murayama 'Hatali Atseli (L'Echange des Yeux)' CD." [label info] 2008 €12.00
MARHAUG, LASSE Context LP "Lasse Marhaug is one of those characters that operates at the nexus of so much stuff that’s important to us here - working as a producer (over the last couple of years alone he’s helped shape albums by Jenny Hval, Kelly Lee Owens, Okkyung Lee, Hillary Woods etc etc), a mastering engineer (far too many releases to mention), a prolific sleeve designer (likewise), publisher (his occasional Personal Best magazine is still going strong) and, perhaps most importantly - a recording artist in his own right. ‘Context’ is his most substantial release in years - a crushing assembly of bone-dry/darkside drone/machine malfunctions that’s bursting with a visceral, throbbing, mass of feeling. If yr into anything on the spectrum from Mika Vainio to Grouper to Kevin Drumm or Deathprod - this one’s as good as it gets Over almost three decades of activity, Marhaug has carved out notoriety as a solo performer, a prolific collaborator (working with everyone from Sunn O))) to Jim O'Rourke) and as a busy producer, who's notched up credits on some of the most striking-sounding albums of the last few years. This new album was created as a swan song for the infamous Oslo studio that he's inhabited for 17 years, prior to his move back to the Arctic Circle where he originally came from. Recorded over a 14-month period and painstakingly edited from hours upon hours of material, it might just be the most impressive, moving record we’ve heard from him so far. The interplay between piercing softness and deafening noise is the key to "Context", displaying a philosophy Marhaug has been exploring for years. Few other artists are able to balance chaos and harmony with such ease; Marhaug does it without grandstanding, it's music that sounds as simultaneously beautiful and as daunting as the Arctic landscape he's returning to. At any moment a sound can be alluring or treacherous, like the frozen sun reflecting on a snowy mountaintop. Marhaug's deftness with rhythm and bass emerges on 'Context 3', as he pairs Vainio-esque low-end pulses with crumpled noise and widescreen tones; as disquieting music-box chimes absorbed into the blasted soundscape on 'Context 5', while we're thrust into the freezing cold on 'Context 6', subjected to punctuating gusts of white noise and trapped string loops. Trust it’s a rare and near-mythical beast, conjuring vast, treacherous soundscapes illuminated with pangs of sentiment that naturally weave strands of his non-musical practice in their psychosensual lustre and gritty attrition. As he steps into a new phase of his career, we're left with a concluding chapter that stands as a summation and open-ended post-credits reveal." "Bursts of harsh noise, slivers of angular static, rumbles of punishing bass: Though the sounds here are every bit as intense as Marhaug’s past might lead us to expect, his patience and appreciation of space mean the results are newly delicate, the fragile skeleton of a once-formidable beast." - Pitchfork https://marhaug.bandcamp.com/album/context 2022 €28.50
MARSEN JULES Golden CD "Den Sommer begrüßt das Genesungswerk friedlich mit diesem Album von Marsen Jules. Auf GOLDEN treffen sich Gitarre, Piano und Elektronik zu einer harmonischen ménage à trois. Gelegentlich unterstützt von Ziehharmonika, Flöte und Geige finden sie sich nach einer Winterwanderung vor dem Kamin ein. Leise knisternd entzündet sich ein Feuer und vertreibt die Kälte aus unseren Gehörgängen. Akustikgitarre und Piano zeichnen die melodischen Linien, während sich die Elektronik einfühlend der Klangfarbe des Interieurs annimmt. GOLDEN ist wahrlich ein treffender Titel , funkeln und glimmen doch bei allen sieben Stücken die Klänge, ohne ihre Hörer je zu blenden. Sehr intim, sehr nah, zugleich klar und transparent taucht die Schönheit der Instrumente den Sommer in ein neues Licht." [label info] Electronica-Ambience reminding at times of newer ULTRA MILKMAIDS or a more poppy WILLIAM BASINSKI... "Close followers of these pages will already be intimately familiar with the work of Marsen Jules, responsible as he is for two of the loveliest albums we've had the pleasure of stocking these last few years. His debut album "Herbstlaub" strolled into an autumnal tundra of layered strings and neo-classical arrangements that best brought to mind the work of Arvo Part, attaining both critical and commercial acclaim from all quarters of the music scene. His dense follow-up "Les Fleurs" approached similar terrain but with a more colourful sound-pallette, creating an aural bloom of dense orchestral reductions that kept the minimal composure intact despite the rays of aural sunlight allowed to seep into Jules' unique, inspiring studio. This long awaited new album "Golden" takes little time in declaring its place as a worthy successor to both its predecessors - it's a breathtaking collection of pieces that begin from the same neo-classical starting point and unfurl in different directions, taking in acoustic guitar, barely audible electronic pulses, dense orchestral reductions and heavy filtering along the way. You'd find it difficult to get past the album's incredible opening track "Birkengefluster" without finding yourself incredibly moved by what's in front of you - another shimmering weave of elongated midnight strings and subliminal melodies consorting to force you to abandon all resistance in the face of its relentless beauty. By the time second track "Wharend" wheezes into life with its prepared piano passages and other-worldly washes of sound, you'll be unable to acknowledge anything else in your surroundings bar the music. Marsen Jules is just one of those rare artists who manages to achieve so much with such limited material at his disposal - it's both the simplicity and timeless quality of the 7 long tracks here that make "Golden" not only one of the most beautiful albums you'll hear this summer, but also one that you'll find hard to let go of come autumn. Sublime music - essential listening.'' [Boomkat] www.genesungswerk.de 2007 €10.00
MARTIN, KEVIN RICHARD Sirens LP When I was 22 I managed to acquire Techno Animal’s Demonoid 12” at a local record store, Rocking Horse Records. I can still recall the intensities of sound that marked the first moments of listening to it. The sense of bass as a tactile surface, that rolling groove and the howling sine waves and dub sirens that scorched with a type of sonic burning sensation that to this day makes my hairs stand on end. A year later I heard Ice’s Bad Blood, from there I discovered The Bug through a release on Wordsound, a band called God, a sound movement called isolationism and much more; all of these projects had one nexus point - Kevin Richard Martin. In 2015, Kevin and I book-ended a series of concerts at Berghain for CTM festival. For his performance, Kevin debuted a new work I’d heard very little about called ’Sirens’. I remember two things distinctly about the performance. The first thing is he opened the set with a blazing passage of bass and dub sirens that instantly transported me back to those initial moments of encountering his work. The second was the feeling of absolute, crushing bass. Not before, or since, have I felt a sense of sound pressure like this. Unlike his other work with The Bug for example, the consistent bass carrying in the space was literally breathtaking and there were moments when it seemed difficult to see clearly as my eye sockets were vibrating in a way I’d never experienced. Sirens, which documents the intensities surrounding the delivery and early days of his first child, carries in it a sense of deep affect. The album, unlike the live work, traces out a dynamic sound world that is both tender and caustic. It charts the emotional rollercoaster that is the arrival of parenthood, heightened through the complex circumstances of his wife's emergency procedures during the birth and two further life threatening operations for his son, in the first month of the child's life. Within each piece, microcosms of sensation unfold, Kevin clearly and deftly manoeuvres us through the tumultuous journey. Seconds become hours, and hours become seconds; Sirens somehow creates a sense of time that is without anchor and is foggy in a way that is profoundly unique (and frankly pleasurable). Kevin Richard Martin has remained a point of constant inspiration for me over several decades now. To have the opportunity to share his first ever solo recording, one that arguably opens an entirely new side of his practice, brings me the utmost pride. His work has impacted so very much on me at various points and I know I am not alone in this situation. His new work, Sirens is a life journey transposed into sound that is truly personal, but effortlessly universal. It is the start of a new chapter for Kevin and one that I know will only strengthen his place as one of the critical voices in contemporary electronic music. - Lawrence English, March 2019 https://room40.bandcamp.com/album/sirens "Kevin Martin has tapped into a kind of unfathomable strain of desolation this year, first on King Midas Sound’s ‘Solitude’ - one of the most painfully lonely albums of recent times, and now on the first album under his own name, ’Sirens’, released by Lawrence English’s Room 40 label. It’s a startling record lost in its own thoughts, the soundtrack to personal tragedy and rebirth somehow mirroring Hildur Gudnadottir’s recent score work for Chernobyl, but in much more personal space. Despite being a more or less constant presence on our radars since the late 90’s when we first opened our doors (actually, from way before that - 1995’s 'Macro Dub Infection' comp and 97’s 'Köner Experiment' are both foundational records here) - and despite a constant barrage of bangers under myriad guises (but mostly as The Bug), various strains of Martin's work seem to have only just recently converged into something entirely distinctive. Both ’Solitude’ and ’Sirens’ are neither showy nor self indulgent - this is music that’s ice cold yet intimate, barely-there - but utterly compelling. While its easy to make sudden impact with scudding basslines, here Martin takes a more lonely route into numerous strands of contemporary music; from dub to noise and across the abyss between, into a dimly lit corner that somehow brings out the best we’ve heard from him in over 20 years. It's nothing short of an isolationist classic." [Boomkat] 2019 €25.00
MASSTHISHADDHU Shekinah CD Re-Edition of a rare cult album first out on Steven Stapleton's (NWW) own label UNITED DAIRIES in 1988. Plus as bonus for this special re-issue, a never heard, unreleased track of 30 minutes! Masstishaddhu members were Sean Breadin, Mike Watson and Richard Rupenus, all of whom were also members of METGUMBNERBONE; Richard is also a member of TNB... Tribal & Droning Psychedelia from over three decades ago - a very special album to be re-discovered. Mastered from the original tapes by Colin Potter (NWW). Shekinah comprises two side-long slabs of highly experimental music in the early Coil / Current 93 / Organum vein with touches of Eastern (or is it North American?) mysticism thrown in for good measure. ‘For The Dead & Unborn’ is a wild, chilling and uninhibited chant-cum-invocation featuring wordless vocals set against a hypnotic backdrop of percussion and bowed instruments. ‘Angels Gather Here Between Purity Of Heart and Hopeless Despair’ is taken at a much slower pace with far less accent on the chanting and more emphasis on the bowed strings and singing / ringing percussion and at times had me glancing nervously over my shoulder! - AUDION Shekinah could be described as very dark Gothic Ritual Folk with a sprinkling of occult allure. The title, cover and music all suggest bloodied altars, unfathomable rituals and mystical learning. The low and buzzing drone underscores a lava flow of chants, cellos and percussion. Whatever words are spoken during this procession of yearning melodies and utterly ethereal voices is perhaps best left for the Gods. Whatever secrets the music holds, they are simultaneously a fountain of spiritual beauty and unknowable terror. It's as if its character changed with my dispositions: if I was feeling fear then fear is what I heard. If I was feeling joyous, then the joy of the Gods shone down upon me and relaxed every fibre of my being. - BRAINWASHED In the ‘80s underground, Ritual Ambient and Tribal Ambient were both coming to fruition and although they had a rough framework there wasn't yet a concrete basis for how the genres were set to develop. Masstishaddhu exploited this potential to create a music that sounds like a well-executed modern Free Folk album - in 1988, a good decade before the New Weird America scene (spearheaded by the likes of Sunburned Hand Of The Man) began revolutionizing the idea of Folk music operating under rhythmic constraints. In this sense Shekinah is undoubtedly unique, perpetuating the 'ritual' side of ambient through disconcerting vocalizations and chants. It is deeply embedded within the Folk influence that uses atmosphere to sculpt instrumental improvisations, again, much like well-executed modern Free Folk does. - A TERTIARY SOURCE "Wiederveröffentlichung des Masstishaddhu-Albums Shekinah auf Old Europa Café Veröffentlicht am 11. Januar 2021 von Michael Old Europa Cafe bringt das ursprünglich auf Steven Stapletons Label United Dairies 1988 veröffentlichte Album „Shekinah“ von dem Metgumbnerbone-Seitenprojekt Masstishaddhu, bei dem auch Richard Rupenus von den New Blockaders mitwirkte, auf CD neu heraus. Mit den teils perkussiv-tribalen Momenten, seltsamen Blasinstrumenten und merkwürdigen Stimmen, die zwischen Kehlkopfgesang und Delirium changieren, lässt sich das Album in die Tradition industrieller Ritual-Musik einordnen. Shekinah“ klingt in Passagen, als sei der Nekrophile-Records Backkatalog (der im Laufe des Jahres von Vinyl-On-Demand wiederveröffentlicht werden wird) von David Jackman neu abgemischt worden. Neben den zwei ursprünglich enthaltenen je eine Albenseite füllenden Tracks enthält die CD ein bisher unveröffentlichtes 30-minütiges Bonusstück, das einen stärkeren Free Folk-Charakter zu haben scheint." [African Paper] 2021 €13.00
MATHES, JEREMIE Oiarzun mCD-R "the work of french artist jérémie mathes is based on captation and manipulation of vibrant matters of acoustic origins through various field recording techniques and the use of music instruments as sound generators. this 3" is only his fourth published work, after two albums on mystery sea and another one on the sadly defunct basses frequences imprint." [label info] www.taalem.com "Perhaps it was indeed some time ago since we last saw new releases by Taleem, who excuse themselves for the recent 'long pause'. In their series of mini ambient albums it's time for two that can be classified as musique concrete meeting ambient. The first is by Jeremie Mathes, who previous work was released on Mystery Sea and Basses Frequences, and who uses recordings here from an abandoned farmhouse and inside 'le semaphore de calleloungue', which is in the national park of the calanques. There are water sounds, which run through more of this work (pun intended), sonic debris, crackling of leaves and all of that some highly dark and mysterious sounds that lurk underneath. Slow approaching violence, perhaps. It's all quite dark and highly atmospheric. Just like pretty much all of his work so far, which is of a consistent highly quality." [FdW/Vital Weekly] 2013 €5.00
MAXIMIN, BERANGERE Land of Waves do-LP On her 6th album, the French electroacoustic composer BÉRANGÈRE MAXIMIN explores the idea of a kaleidoscopic world - a sonic aggregation of living creatures, plants, minerals, nature and buildings, using various sound objects, small percussions, synths, electric gui-tar, voice and electronics. Working out of her private studio since 2008, BÉRANGÈRE MAXIMIN has developed her own ap-proach to sound art and electronic music, composing dense, immersive pieces with immediate im-pact. On five albums – released to critical acclaim on TZADIK, SUB ROSA, CRAMMED DISCS and CRAIG LEON’s ATLAS REALISATIONS label - she has revealed a taste for mixing disparate sounds together with a sense of detail, effusive, lyrical playings with the digital material and tight nuanced writing. BÉRANGÈRE MAXIMIN’s music engages the listener in consideration of space and textures, the sound ambivalence and its independence from its original source being at the center of her work. During her career, the French composer has obtained commissions and residencies in National Music Research Centres such as Paris' Ina-GRM, Stockholm's EMS and received a grant from the ‘Villa Medicis Hors Les Murs’ program in New York City (Cultures France). She has performed in notable festivals, venues and concert halls from Paris’ Présences Electronique festival, London’s Hayward gallery, NYC’s Roulette, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie’s e-Phil series to major international festivals in Eastern Europe. Beside her solo performances, she also regularly shares the stage in duo with FRED FRITH. “Land of Waves”: three words evoking territories of plains and curves connected with each other by canals, footpaths, tunnels. The four parts of the album lead the listener into a hybrid land where the jungle meets the city … a succession of reliefs, surfaces, textures, layers create a large mosaic as if on a concrete wall which seems solid and definitive but is in fact penetrable, alterable. For “Land of Waves”, BÉRANGÈRE MAXIMIN took inspiration from recordings she did in various city parks, abandoned properties and limits with the suburbs during her travels in Europe, the di-versity of sources, the variations of events and the contrasts between day and night they offered, and reinterpreted them in the studio. Recorded, composed, arranged, mixed and produced by Bérangère Maximin at the Home Sweet Home Studio/BM and Studio Polyphone, France, 2019/2020. Sound objects, small percussions, analog and digital synths, guitar, digital chimeras, voice. * Recomposed and mixed by B.M. featuring Fred Frith (electric guitar) and B.M, Colin Johnco, Kirikoo Des and Roméo Poirier as Swibekico Quartet (electronics). Mastered by Kassian Troyer at D&M, Berlin, 2020. https://karlrecords.bandcamp.com/album/land-of-waves 2020 €25.00
MAZUREK, ROB / EXPLODING STAR ORCHESTRA Dimensional Stardust LP Marfa TX-based multidisciplinary abstractivist Rob Mazurek has made an indelible impact on creative music over the past 30 years. Emerging from the musical nexus of the 1990s Chicago scene, he’s written more than 400 compositions and is featured on more than 70 recordings (including International Anthem’s very first, IARC0001, "Alternate Moon Cycles"). He’s led or co-led many ensembles – including the Chicago Underground (Duo, Trio, Quartet & Orchestra), Isotope 217 (alongside members of Tortoise), Pharoah and the Underground (feat. Pharoah Sanders), Alien Flower Sutra (with Emmett Kelly), São Paulo Underground (his primary working group across his time in Brazil), and a duo with Jeff Parker – each of which possesses its own distinct musical personality. While Mazurek’s solo work as a musician expands from cornet, piano, and piccolo trumpet studies to embody musique concrete and electronic experimentation, his composition for large ensemble reveals an intuitive sense of scale. Commissioned by the Chicago Cultural Center and the Jazz Institute of Chicago in 2005 to assemble a group representing the diversity of the city’s contemporary avant-garde, Mazurek amassed a 14-piece ensemble and began composing music for what became his Exploding Star Orchestra (ESO). Including musicians from the often-segregated communities of Chicago’s North, South, and West sides – from his long-time collaborators in Tortoise’s expansive orbit, to Great Black Music luminaries from the hallowed AACM, to free jazz revivalists from the Umbrella Music group – ESO debuted in the urban epicenter of Chicago’s Millennium Park and, shortly after, went into John McEntire’s Soma Studios to record "We Are All From Somewhere Else" (Thrill Jockey, 2007). By the time of "Galactic Parables Vol. 1," ESO’s 2015 triple LP release on Cuneiform Records, Mazurek reflected to Pop Matters that "Exploding Star Orchestra is the conceptual, compositional and philosophical center of all my work... a life star of musical, visual and conceptual ideas." In 2018, JazzFest Berlin curator Nadin Deventer invited Mazurek to present a new iteration of ESO with musicians based in Berlin as well as Chicago. Meeting the commission with the boundless ambition characteristic of his artistic approach, he imagined a jubilee of fifteen musicians and improvisers, true to ESO’s ethos in their widely diverse backgrounds and voices, but more tightly arranged around his intricate compositions than ever before. Summoning an array of symphonic studies – from Béla Bartók to Morton Feldman to Gil Evans to Sun Ra to Pedro Santos to Bill Dixon to The Art Ensemble of Chicago – in an ecstatic and wholly original program, Mazurek’s November 2018 debut at Berliner Festspiele marked a new pinnacle in his distinction as a composer and conductor of Contemporary Music. “Mazurek’s arrangements burst in colors, making synesthetes of us all,” wrote Paul Acquaro in a review of the concert for Free Jazz Collective. When Mazurek returned to Chicago in Summer 2019, International Anthem took the opportunity to capture his new ESO compositions with a cast of collaborators from their collective constellation of artists. Over a handful of studio dates between August 2019 and March 2020, Mazurek channeled his arrangements through 11 musicians – Nicole Mitchell, Jeff Parker, Jaimie Branch, Joel Ross, Mikel Patrick Avery, Tomeka Reid, Chad Taylor, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, Macie Stewart, Angelica Sanchez, and John Herndon – and commissioned his long-time lyrical collaborator Damon Locks to draft original texts for each of the titles and record vocal tracks. After three months of rigorous post-production, editing and assembly work, in June 2020 Mazurek completed his culminating new collection of ESO recordings: "Dimensional Stardust." "Dimensional Stardust" showcases the intricacy and complexity of Mazurek’s compositions but in their most potent, most compacted forms. Opting to focus on tight ensemble orchestration over passages of open improvisation, Mazurek distills a maximal orchestra of explosive improvisers into a beautifully restrained, graceful group exercise in melodic minimalism. The album features almost no “soloist” moments, excepting Jeff Parker’s other-worldy guitar meltdown on “The Careening Prism Within,” and when Nicole Mitchell’s flute floats to the front of the barrage on “Sun Core Tet.” Mazurek himself is sparsely present as instrumentalist, only occasionally joining the ensemble with his piccolo trumpet (notably on “Parable 3000,” where he shares leads with Mitchell’s flute and Joel Ross’s vibraphone, and his trills and textures haunt ghostly around Jaimie Branch’s trumpet counterpoint). Even Damon Locks’s voice is employed more like an ensemble instrument than a lead vocalist. Locks’ distinctively dry, abstract narrative flow beams in intermittently – sounding almost like fragments of Deltron 3030 through an Orson Wells-style radio transmission – climaxing in the album-closing poetry of “Autumn Pleiades.” And all the way through, the electro-acoustic poly-rhythmic percussion section (Chad Taylor, Mikel Patrick Avery, and John Herndon) churns, thrusting the music forward as the harmonic instruments collectively bow between frenzied, futurist chromaticism and soaring, pan-humanist pentatonic anthems. Somehow swirling the most adventurous elements of avant-garde jazz and contemporary classical into the most universal attractors of pop music, the cosmic opera of "Dimensional Stardust" is a pure spiritual extension of Exploding Star Orchestra’s unifying ethos, and a new peak in the prolific creative career of Rob Mazurek. ***"Dimensional Stardust" is the second album co-released by the North & South American partnership of International Anthem & Nonesuch Records, following Jeff Parker's early 2020 release, "Suite For Max Brown." International Anthem & Nonesuch Records are slated to co-release at least 6 titles over 3 years, details on future albums TBA. Outside of North and South America, these albums are marketed & distributed by K7 Records.*** Rob Mazurek - director, composer, piccolo trumpet, electronic renderings, modular synth Damon Locks - voice, electronics, texts Nicole Mitchell - flutes Macie Stewart - violins Tomeka Reid - cellos Joel Ross - vibraphone Jeff Parker - guitar Jaimie Branch - trumpet Angelica Sanchez - acoustic piano, electric piano Ingebrigt Håker Flaten - bass Chad Taylor - drums, percussion Mikel Patrick Avery - drums, percussion John Herndon - drum machines https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/dimensional-stardust 2020 €26.00
MAZZON, ENNIO Dimenticanza CD-R Wir konnten die letzten Exemplare des Debut-Albums dieses Ambient-Newcomers aus Italien ergattern, der hier mit flockig-fliessenden Atmosphären-Drones glänzt, die immer wieder durch sanfte digitale Störgeräusche durchbrochen werden. Kommt im handgemachten Spezialpapier-Cover, nummiert! Zu entdecken ! www.myspace.com/feelscaperecordings / www.myspace.com/emazzon 2009 €7.00
MB / BAD SECTOR / SIGILLUM S Endometrio / Endometrio De-Composto do-CD "Towards the end of 1982, I was living a moment of creative stagnation, and for avoid the risk of repeating myself with sterile modular secrations, I had an arterial idea: filering ancient recordings of mine through the aid of an Aiwa mucus echo machine, and so I set to process the sounds, transforming them into something completely new, so I coined the term “bionic music”, composed by concrete sounds recycled with electronic spraying… And as main theme I used the medical syncretism to ascertain the synthesis of physiological with unnatural. Thus was born the experimental cavity of "ENDOMETRIO". - MAURIZIO BIANCHI +++++++++++ After the re-mastered and De-Composed re-edition of “S.F.A.G.”, OEC is proud to affer a new re-edition of another seminal and innovative album by the MB of the very first era. This is one of the first chapters in the Industrial movment. "Endometrio" was first released in 1982 by MB and is one of the first and seminal albums of the Industrial movment de-composed and self-released by Maurizio Bianchi. This new re-edition was completely remastered and is offering a second CD with 2 re-mixes of the original tracks made by two primer Italian projects of the Industrial and Experimental-Ambient scene. A milestone which can finally be heard with best sound standards but with the old spirit of his original roots. And re-listen it in the "de-composed" versions by BAD SECTOR and SIGILLUM S, two primer projects of the Italian Industrial and Dark scene." www.oldeuropacafe.com 2016 €17.00
MCDOWALL, DREW Collapse LP "Drew McDowall’s back story reads like a primer of psychedelic fiction woven into statements of the unbelievable, superhuman and outright insane. Somewhere in the chaotic madness, comes an artist such as McDowall with total control and absolute calm within his songs and artistic method. Growing up in the gangs of 1970’s Scotland, Drew McDowall started to shy away from the daily violence once punk took hold of the counterculture youth. Drew McDowall quickly scrambled to form his own punk band in 1978 with his then wife, Rose McDowall, called The Poems. Shortly lived, the Poems released a single and various tracks but more importantly, the band allowed McDowall to network with other local musicians in Glasgow, such as Orange Juice, and allowed him to travel down to London thus forming friendships with Genesis P-Orridge, David Tibet and countless others, bringing Drew into the fold of the experimental revolution happening in the UK brought upon by Throbbing Gristle and executed by bands such as Psychic TV and Current 93. During the 1980’s, McDowall found himself in the ranks of P-Orridge’s Psychic TV and collaborating with the mysterious duo comprised of former Throbbing Gristle creator Peter ‘Sleazy’ Christopherson and the enigmatic John Balance who had been creating esoteric and progressive electronic music under the title of Coil. It was during his formative collaborations with Coil that McDowall saw himself shift from occasional contributor to austere full-time member of the arcane outfit. McDowall’s impact on the band’s sound was apparent as the releases transformed from their previous avant pop signature to a more complex and methodic electronic imprint accompanied by even more abstruse subject matter than previous years. McDowall would continue honing his compositional skills with Coil until the release of the band’s two most broad-minded albums, Astral Disaster and Musick to Play in the Dark. The past decade, Drew McDowall found himself living in New York City and re-appropriating himself within the local music scenes he found himself contributing to. In 2011, alongside his friend and collaborator, Tres Warren (Psychic Ills), McDowall found himself exploring his passion of meditative drone and abstract sound patterns in their project Compound Eye. In recent times, McDowall’s production work has provided the music world with some of the most outstanding remixes for bands such as Nine Inch Nails, Azar Swan and Long Distance Poison as well as his well-received scores he composed alongside artist Tamaryn for the works of Bret Easton Ellis. Outside of his collaborative duties, McDowall formed an audience as a solo artist, playing countless performances and showcases around New York’s electronic music haunts. Dais Records approached Drew to solidify his standing as a leading electronic musician with the recording of new material neatly wrapped up in his debut album entitled “Collapse”. Recorded in 2015 in Brooklyn, NY, McDowall’s synonymous modular synthesizer compositions are augmented by obtuse sampling cut-ups and contributions from Nicky Mao (Hiro Kone / Effi Briest) rounding out the lumbering sequential knot work that has become synonymous with McDowall and craft." [label info] www.daisrecords.com 2015 €23.00
MEERKAT Kapnos CD "In 2003 Maurizio Bianchi and Matteo Uggeri / Hue met through Afe Records; three years later Maurizio asked Matteo for a musical collaboration, which grew up quickly under the design of a long term project called "Between the Elements", a sort of music transposition of concepts that lies in the empty spaces between the natural elements, which are over-abused terms in the New Age music scene. Two albums were published in 2008: one about the concept of "clouds" ("Nefelodhis", by MB and the post-rock band Sparkle in Grey) and one about the concept of "desert" ("Erimos", by MB with Hue and Luca Bergero / Fhievel). One year later, the third chapter entitled "Kapnos" – Greek for "smoke" - is finally available. The industrial master contributes to back notes and concept, but keeps his hands far from the musical matter, leaving it to the expertise of ten of the most interesting experimental musicians of the Italian scene, united under the cryptic name of Meerkat. The Meerkat ensemble is formed by a group of musicians working in the field of experimental music, drones, microsounds and field recordings: Adriano Zanni / Punck, Matteo Uggeri / Hue, Luca Sigurtà, Luca Bergero / Fhievel, Davide Valecchi / Aal, Andrea Ferraris / Ics, Fabio Selvafiorita, Paolo Ippoliti (Logoplasm), Laura Lovreglio (Logoplasm) and Andrea Marutti / Amon / Never Known. The tracks on "Kapnos" present a surprising homogeneity in spite of the different attitudes of the artists, which mixed their experiences in each track creating new unforeseen connections, working in pairs or in threesome on each track. The Meerkat members also joint their efforts releasing the CD, which is in fact published by Afe (Andrea Marutti), Grey Sparkle (Matteo Uggeri), Nighthawks Tapes (Paolo Ippoliti) and Ctrl+Alt+Canc (Adriano Zanni). Under these premises, "Kapnos" represents an unique effort in the swarming Italian music scene of the '00s." [label info] "...The music is excellent - a fine mixture of styles and interests from these guys. All the elements one would expect are there, the field recordings, drones, ambience, microscopic detailed sounds. Great stuff here." [FdW / Vital Weekly] www.aferecords.com 2009 €12.00
MEIN GLASFABRIK Exotic Percussion / Death TV - Recordings 1979-81 do-LP "In the heart of Sheffield's electronic / industrial music scene of 1979, Peter Bargh and Mark Holmes created the experimental project Mein Glas Fabrik. This VOD release is a combination of their two cassette albums, recorded on simple equipment using tape loops, home made synths, samples, random radio frequencies and a legendary Shergold guitar. Death TV was favourably reviewed in local fanzine "Tigers on the Moor", Exotic Percussion followed soon after. While influenced by a wide spectrum of musical genres, Mein Glas Fabrik created a fusion of sounds, not adhering to any specific genre...expect the unexpected!" https://www.vod-records.com/-1-432-673.htm 2020 €28.00
MELT FAMAS Serial Weather 10inch "MUSIKZIMMER LABEL: The label Musikzimmer is based in Aarau (Switzerland) and Berlin. It was born with the idea of giving birth to music not only in a ethereal way. We want to materialise what we like. We want to produce, to touch and to spread it. It all started 21 years ago with one of the first „independent“ exhibition spaces in Switzerland, the Kunstraum Aarau. Since approximately 7 years we focus on soundart and sound related site specific interventions. And because not every manifestation finds its form in a frame work of an exhibition, we started to organise concerts and offer now a stage without stairs to concertant situations. To can those situations as long as possible we decided to cut them into vinyl. MELT FAMAS – serial weather is the first conserved situation. It will be followed by a 10“ of chained melodies by RM74. The concept is simple. 10 inch, 1 cover version and the cover sleeve is designed by an artist who does not play on but maybe with the record. MELT FAMAS: When the movement of a terrestrial object around a static point is repetitive, we talk about oscillation...When two people oscillate around several electric devices according to a nearly repetitive movement, we talk about rock‘n‘roll. At Melt Famas, during the supper, we talk about oscillations, aquatic rock‘n‘roll. Dessert comes when the table has already been cleared. In the living room, guitar screams exhort to indiscipline, and voices invite to the reconstruction of a new order. At Melt Famas‘, codes are made for others. According to the stars position, the degree of gravity and the level of caffein of the last tea, sounds meet under the fingers until dizzyness spreads, and invite us to an immobile trance. Fred Billet and Nicolas Magot, or l‘invitation au voyage with a one way ticket. FRED BIGOT: (aka Electronicat) The root of Fred Bigot‘s music is in guitar. The way he makes music is all related to the way he plays guitar, including imperfections, lo-fi sound, noise, melody and the practice of improvisation. The distorted but melodic guitar, the unquantised rhythms, the delay-heavy vocals and the buzzing rumbling 808 bass drum all became characteristic features of the Electronicat sound. His songs encompassed an array of influences in all respects - particularly glam rock, psychedelia, 60s garage rockabilly and experimental electronic music - and took it further making electronic music sound more rock n roll and vice versa. To date he has released numerous albums and singles on international labels (Holy Mountain, Onitor, Disko b, Optical Sound, Ldrr). He has produced tracks for pour Beans, Miss le Bomb, Marina Ribatski (ex- Bondo de Role), remixes for Depeche Mode, Numbers, Bretzel Göring. Fred played all around the world alongside with artists such as Felix Kubin, Stereolab, Adult. He has collaborated with numerous artists and musicians, building up an impressive resume that includes projects with musicians J.G Thirwell, Gerhard Potuznik, Khan and contemporary artists Nicolas Moulin, Anu Pennanen and Pauline Curnier-Jardin. NICOLAS MALLET: After having visited experimental and post-punk music, Nicolas Mallet turned into Nicolas Metall. Melodies in minor chords, Bach is never far. Keyboards, guitars and rhythms. He plays with Fred Bigot (Electronicat) in Melt Famas, with Marie Germinal in a rock-post punk style, he has organised events and works with artists and dancers (Nicolas Moulin, Marie Reinert, Olivier Dohin, Grégoire & Elise Charbey, Clémentine Roy). His most recent Release „ Growing Ideas Of Falling Generations“ is a Double Vinyl on Nicolas Moulin Label „Grautag Records“. „Growing Ideas Of Falling Generations, as the first double LP of Nicolas Metall, has to be heard as the psychoanalysis of the Space Odyssey computer HAL 9000. Electronic-wave music to dance on a russianÕs suburb discotheque dancefloor or to listen to by staring at the sunset , The 2nd release of the berlin-based label Grautag records“ (Grautag Records)" [label info] www.musikzimmeraarau.ch 2011 €12.00
MENCHE, DANIEL Scattered Remains:Early Remixes do-CD Zusammenstellung von frühen & raren Material, meist von nicht mehr erhältlichen Compilations, alles von 1994-1999. Der oft noch eher „noisige“, rauhe, mit mehr konkretem Touch arbeitende MENCHE.... Nice priced, alles re-mastered! “Keeping track of the musical output of Daniel Menche has never been easy. Besides his numerous albums and singles, released by an eclectic range of labels, he has contributed countless tracks to compilations, many of which reached only the smallest of audiences. Scattered Remains tracks his progress from 1995 through 1999, collecting the best of these pieces, now fully remastered, onto two full-length CDs. With the passing of time it has become nearly impossible to find many the original releases these tracks came on, making this rarities collection a must have for long-time fans and new converts alike. Besides the material culled from CD compilations, three tracks previously only available on vinyl appear in digital form for the first time ever. The list of labels involved reads like a who’s who of cutting edge music in the 90s: Banned Productions, Ash International, 23five, Noise Museum, Self Abuse, Isomorphic, KAON, Shirocoal, Suterfuge, G.M.B.H. and of course, Soleilmoon. Best of all, it’s a great value: Two CDs for the price of one. What’s not to love?” [press release] 2005 €13.00
  Melting Gravity LP Daniel Menche follows up his triple CD opus Sleeper with the razor drone constructs of Melting Gravity. Hailing from Portland, Oregon, Menche is an iconic musician with three decades working with intense noise, immersive ambience, and turbulent field recordings. With Melting Gravity, Menche continues to carve his spot as a figurehead in the experimental community. The title of Melting Gravity refers to an allegory on the human pursuit of transcendence with all of its connotations to weightlessness, ascension, flight, out-of-body experiences, and just getting high. Gravity, on the other hand, becomes that which negates and nullifies those transcendent pursuits. In the context of this particular allegory, gravity is the devil. Music, long a vehicle aimed towards transcendent ideals, becomes the weapon to defeat gravity, to defeat the devil. Daniel Menche wields the weapon of music in composing the mercurial grandeur that is Melting Gravity. Implementing an elegant arc of acceleration and dissolve, Menche presents a slow-motion tumble of drones from his signature manipulation of FM synthesis, oscillators, and sustained tones from various stringed instruments. The tangles and tendrils of these extended frequencies are bright and liquid, rich in harmonic complexities though mottled with a scrap metal discord. Menche balances these slippery, luminous overtones with a dub-inspired lattice of recursive bass tones. Read as an industrial mantra or as amplified minimalism, Melting Gravity stands as an exemplary work in Menche’s storied catalogue of recordings. Daniel Menche’s lengthy discography contains over 60 albums, many of which have been published by some of the most esteemed experimental record labels. Over the years he has worked with Editions Mego, Sige, Touch Music, Alien8 Records, Ash International, Utrecht Records, and many others. He has collaborated with Mamiffer, Andrew Liles, KK Null, John Wiese, Aaron Bradford Turner, Joe Preston, Anla Courtis, Zbigniew Karkowski, Kiyoshi Mizutani, and Kevin Drumm. He has performed extensively in North America, Japan, Europe, and Australia. - Jim Haynes https://sigerecords.bandcamp.com/album/melting-gravity 2019 €21.50
MENUCK, EFRIM MANUEL High Gospel LP + CD 180g Vinyl inklusive CD + limited edition Poster! EFRIM MANUEL MENUCK ist am besten als Mitbegründer von GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR, als Mastermind der Kammerpunk Gruppe THEE SILVER MT. ZION und als Mitglied der VIC CHESNUTT BAND bekannt. Mit dieser Band hat er insgesamt 13 Alben aufgenommen. Dazu hat er das Montrealer Hotel2Tango Studio mitgegründet und mit so verschiedenen Künstlern wie BRITISH SEA POWER, CARLA BOZULICH'S EVANGELISTA, WOLF PARADE und GRANT HART gearbeitet. Fans von MENUCK kennen sich mit seinem höchst eigenständigen und ständig weiter entwickelnden Zugang zur elektrischen Gitarre aus - eine einzigartige Kombination aus kurzen und langen Analogdelays, krasser Kompression und Wolken aus Pink Noise Verzerrung. Entstanden sind die Songs in den letzten anderthalb Jahren und lassen einen tiefen Blick zu in die Seele des Mannes, der nie versucht hat, persönliches, privates Leben von künstlerischer Äußerung zu trennen. Tief beeinflusst von den Emotionen, die ihn während und nach der Geburt seines Sohnes Ezra begleitet haben und geprägt von seiner Liebe zu Jessica Moss (die bei ASMZ auch Violine spielt) pendeln die Stücke zwischen experimenteller Klangentdeckung und Verneigung vor Melodien hin und her. Ein wunderbares Album! 180g Vinyl includes limited edition poster + CD Efrim Manuel Menuck is best known as co-founder of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, leader of agit-chamber-punk group Thee Silver Mt. Zion, and member of the Vic Chesnutt Band (2007-2009); he has a combined thirteen albums under his belt with these three groups. He is also co-founder of Montreal's Hotel2Tango recording studio, with dozens of recording, arranging and guest playing credits to his name, for a list of artists as diverse as British Sea Power, Carla Bozulich's Evangelista, Wolf Parade and Grant Hart. Fans of Menuck will be well versed in his highly original and constantly evolving approach to the sound of the electric guitar - a unique combination of short and long analog delays, biting compression and blown-out clouds of pink noise distortion. His recasting of various folkways through the lens of uncompromising punk-rock is also well-documented in the discography of Thee Silver Mt. Zion, with that band's use of poetically political group singing set against a hybrid of damaged blues, waltz, klezmer and folk instrumental tropes. Perhaps less appreciated is Menuck's work as an inventive signal-bender and soundsculptor, with an overriding commitment to analog processing, tape manipulations, reamping and other iterative strategies. Efrim's aesthetic and techniques remain about as diametrically opposite to the dominant Pro-Tools and DSP culture as it gets for someone working in contemporary multi-tracked rock composition and production. https://efrimmanuelmenuck.bandcamp.com/album/plays-high-gospel 2011 €23.50
MERZBOW Camouflage CD "The elemental excitement for each new Merzbow album remains intact among us here and, after four long years, the undisputable master returns to Essence Music with a new installment of his unique brand of harsh psychedelic noise assault. A bit distant from Sha Mo 3000’s pulsing, often rhythmic strategies or the recent albums featuring freestyle drums by Masami Akita himself, Camouflage plays by the more straight MERZBOW rules, going back to his comfort zone of audio barbarism. We salute the ferocious torrents of abused, imploding and exploding electronics, the sharp, pulverizing and abrasive high frequencies and the unrelenting punishment of frenzied throbbing machine-screams witnessed in the controlled cacophonic environment of Camouflage! Presented in our deluxe, sturdy gatefold mini-LP packaging featuring intriguing psychedelic collages by Mr. Akita. Limited to 800 copies." [label info] www.essence-music.com 2009 €14.00
  Cloud Cock OO Grand do-LP "Merzbow came roaring onto the Tokyo scene in 1979. To this day, the project remains one of the most prolific and aggressively forward-thinking acts in experimental music. Initially a duo of Masami Akita and Kiyoshi Mizutani, before settling as the moniker of Akita alone, the project took its name from German artist Kurt Schwitters' pre-war architectural assemblage, The Cathedral of Erotic Misery or Merzbau, and quickly set out to challenge entrenched notions of what music could be. Embracing technology and the machine, even in its earliest iterations, Merzbow broke boundaries and pushed toward new territories of the extreme, arriving at an unadulterated manifestation of sonic expression that has continued across the last 40 years, setting the pace for the entire genre of noise along the way. Few projects have pushed boundaries, risen to a more iconic status, or been as influential over the same period of time. Recorded in Holland during the autumn of 1989 and originally issued as an highly limited edition CD by ZSF Produkt in 1990, “Cloud Cock OO Grand” was the first of a series of albums to indicate a change in creative direction that Merzbow would following over the coming decade. During the European tour during which these recordings were laid to tape, Akita was only able to transport simple, portable gear. Rising to the challenge, these limitations led to the development of a signature form of harsh noise, heavily influenced by death metal and grindcore, that would come to define much of his early '90s sound. “Cloud Cock OO Grand” was the first of this shift to be sent into a wider realm. Comprising five individual compositions - three being side-long - “Cloud Cock OO Grand” was composed and performed by Akita on synthesizers, metal devices, noise electronics, and string instruments, all recorded at the extreme volumes for which Merzbow has always gained a unique sense of distinction. Despite being enthralling sonic assault, driven by the frenetic presence of electronic sounds, across the length of the album’s four sides it is hard not to be captivated by a greater sense of dynamics and space within the artist’s work, resulting from sparse acoustic interjections played against Akita’s heavily processed strings. The result, while no less intense of demanding than anything before or since, reveals a surprising sense of intimacy and consideration that’s often not easily observed within the field of noise. Easily among the most captivating gestures within Merbow’s sprawling catalog, pushing endlessly forward while subtly nodding toward historical gestures from the early years of the avant-garde, Urashima beautiful double LP edition of “Cloud Cock OO Grand” marks this seminal and long unavailable album’s first time over on vinyl. Issued in a very limited pressing of 299 copies, with cover that faithfully reproduces the original CD artwork and an A2 poster with an original 1990 draw by Masami Akita, it’s hard to recommend enough." https://urashima.bandcamp.com/album/cloud-cock-oo-grand 2023 €34.00
MERZBOW & Z'EV Spiral Right / Spiral Left CD "In the planning (and many faxes, emails and discussions in person) for 20 years, finally this stunning collaborative release for Cold Spring from Japanese Noise king Merzbow and legendary elemental sound artist Z'EV is here. The tracks were created in London and Tokyo, with each artist remixing the other's original sounds. Two tracks weighing in at 22 minutes and 28 minutes respectively! Dark Ambient Noise in a special textured card digisleeve." [label info] www.coldspring.co.uk "Two of present world's most border searching sound experimentalists join forces on this one. The result is nothing short of mindblowing! Japanese king of harsh noise, Masami Akita alias Merzbow manipulates and (mis)treats modern machinery into a sick but hypnotic world of aural machismo. The ear shattering noise-expressions from Merzbow is combined by one of the true legends of early pioneering industrial Z'EV. The album sounds like a blend between contemporary sound art of the extreme kind and electronic psychedelia circa early Pink Floyd. The combination of concrete steel percussions and ultra-aggressive drones of noise extremity works very well and pulls the listener into an opposite kind of listening trance in comparison to the folk world of "We bring you a king with a head of gold : Dark Brittanica II". Two excellent albums from Cold Spring." [NM/Vital Weekly] 2010 €13.00
MERZBOW / ASKEW Level LP "The first in a series of concept split albums, LEVEL brings together two artistic audio projects on one unique vinyl-only release. Side one features MERZBOW, one of the most prolific and respected artists in the world of experimental noise. Side two features ASKEW, a collective of artists, musicians and producers from the Rustblade label headed by Justin Bennett (Skinny Puppy, Bahntier) and Jeff “Squigg” Smith (Ohgr, Hate Dept). Both projects embrace a sonic philosophy based on free experimentation and improvisation utilizing analog instruments such as modular synthesizers, as well as environmental audio samples and unique noise producing objects. The results are a wall of sound and noise that move the listener through emotional and cathartic sonic waves. A real treat for lovers of free and structured noise, and those in search of sonic extremes. 40 minutes of Pure Noise." www.rustblade.com/product/level-limited-vinyl/ 2015 €15.00
MERZBOW / M.B Merzbow meets M.B. LP + 7inch First ever collaboration album between the two most important noise artists on the planet! 7" is a noisy split. Xeroxed cover with numbered insert. Lp is green/blue/yellow splatter vinyl and 7" is fuchsia. www.menstrualrecordings.org "Masami Akita and Maurizio Bianchi are without question amongst the pioneers of harsh, abrasive electronic music. Both of their careers began quite prolifically around the same time, and since Bianchi's return in the late 1990s have continued as such, with both producing a massive number of albums each year. These two albums act nicely as reference points on their long careers, with the 10" capturing pieces each submitted for the Mail Music Project compilation, here appearing unedited for the first time, and the LP being a recent collaborative work that stands amongst both artists' best material as of late. The material on Merzbow Meets M.B. is recent work from both acts as a true collaboration, and the bonus included 7" makes for a nice split release to compare to the 10" as far as the individual artists' work goes. "Dissonant Abstraction" initially is all roaring, cavernous Merzbow noise, but kept restrained and under control. Low register swells and patterns make for an ersatz rhythm, with haunting passages of synthesizer clearly marking Bianchi's contributions. His work here has shades of his more recent new age material, but it works, balancing out the harsher end of Akita’s harsh noise. In some ways it sounds like each artist’s solo work mixed together, and it is rather effective. The other half, "Surreal Distortions," is overall more in the noise spectrum of things, with muffled, bassy noises and thin analog electronics. There is not the same hints at melody as on the other side, and instead focuses on harsher textures. Bent oscillators and electronic chirps mark this a clearly analog piece, and with the occasional use of phasing and flanging it calls to mind some of CCCC and Astro's best work. Here it feels more like a collaboration between the two, with Akita’s use of chaotic mixing and Bianchi’s use of synthesizer sounds. The 7" single included with the LP features each artist contributing their own recent solo works as well, and while both are excellent, neither are surprising. Merzbow's "Fragment B" is all scraping metal and bleeping electronics, so in some regards is a throwback to his early 1990s junk noise sound without the overly loud electronics. An occasional rhythm sneaks in here and there, but for the most part it is pure chaos. Bianchi's "28th Flux" has the bleakness of his early works, but a more modern, higher fidelity sheen covering the pained electronics and darkness. (...) As both artists are ridiculously prolific, and I personally have a fondness for their earliest work in both cases, I tend to only occasionally dabble in either of their new releases. In this case, the recent collaboration work is exactly what I hoped it would be, mixing the best sounds of both artists together splendidly. Coupled with the vintage material on the 10", and it makes for a pair of releases that demonstrates the best facets of these two long respected artists." [Creaig Dunton] "Masami Akita from Japan and Maurizio Bianchi from Italy are both active inside experimental music since roughly the same time, the late 70s. They both came from the world of cassettes and have a legendary status by now. Merzbow is probably the more well-known musician, due to the fact that he plays many concerts all over the world, and both have a ton of releases under their belt. The difference is, perhaps, that Bianchi has moved more over the musical spectrum and Akita is more a man of strict noise. There has been a split release by them on the same label earlier this, but as far as I recall not a joint release. Here we have a LP of collaborative music with a bonus 7" of solo pieces. It seems to me Merzbow is taking the lead here, as this is all more in his territory than in that of Bianchi. You can figure out what Bianchi does here, as sometimes his chilly electronics leap out of the noisy hot bed that Merzbow created. When this is less apparent, it seems like a fine Merzbow record, and not like a Merzbow plus someone else record. That perhaps is the odd thing about this record, but says nothing about the quality. If we turn to the 7", then we'll see that Bianchi can be noisy too. His solo piece is quite loud, like a power drone stuck in a high voltage charger. Organic? Organ-like! This is a fine reminder of the old M.B. from the early 80s when this sort of violence was common ground for M.B. and he was the unquestioned master of the genre. For his solo piece, Merzbow also goes back to his earlier days and comes up with something that reminded me of his days, circa S.C.U.M.: various unrelated tapes and electronic sounds are stuck together and make up a fine musique concrete tres brut. Heavily cut up and chopped up into a fine pieces, grinded together. Excellent noise music throughout." [FdW/Vital Weekly] 2013 €26.50
MICROMELANCOLIE & STROM NOIR 49°05'19,3 CD "The album of the enigmatic title "49°05'19,3"N22°34'04,0'E" is the result of the collaboration between two artists signed to Zoharum: Emil Mat'ko aka Strom Noir from Slovakia and Robert Skrzyński aka Micromelancolié from Poland. Both have two albums and participated in several compilations released on our label on their account. Their collaborative album is a piece of work suspended between two stylistics penetrated within their own solo projects, and at the same time it is perfectly complementary. On one side we have the guitar/electronic passages so characteristic of Strom Noir, and on the other the sonic structures prepared from defects and scraps that has been explored for several years by Micromelancolié. Two untitled compositions float slowly and are contemplation of places a bit distant to urban civilization. "49°05'19,3"N22°34'04,0'E " is a sound postcard from the mysterious place hidden in the title. Where is it? The answer is in the music itself, and in the coordinates composing the title of this collaborative album." [label info] www.zoharum.com 2016 €12.00
MIEVILLE, EMMANUEL Ethers CD Slowly but o-so-surely, Emmanuel Mieville is building an impressive body of work, where each new album seems to make the previous one pale in comparison. And the music press would be wise to catch on to him. The man is discreet and unassertive, so is his music, but he – like it – cannot be dismissed as just another proponent of the field recording. For Mieville, music is some of the most spellbinding art for the ear out there in the aether. "Ethers" is Mieville's second album for Baskaru, and though the previous one certainly stands the test of time, this new opus pushes the bar higher, much higher. In the composer's own words, "Ethers is an attempt to give an earthy quality, a dense texture to drone music, to lower it from the 'skies'." Mieville first trained as a sound engineer, and then studied musique concrète at GRM. He grew up listening to creative radio programs and embraced field recording as a form of art. His latest works fully realized a synthesis of all these elements: the attentive ear to one's surroundings, the abstract approach to sound, the sense of drama that makes a field recording composition take life. Mieville has worked with Buto dancers, video artists, and like-minded musicians like Eric Cordier, Guido Huebner, and Benjamin Thigpen. After appearances on compilations albums, he released two CDs in Malaysia (on Herbal Records and XingWu), followed by his Western full-length debut "Four Wanderings in Tropical Lands" on Baskaru in 2011. Since then he released two thematic albums: "Buddha – Anima – Asia" (Obs*, 2012) on Buddhism, and "Concret-Sens" (Crónica, 2014), a homage to early musique concrète. www.baskaru.com "The last time I heard something from Emmanuel Mieville was in Vital Weekly 803, and that was his previous album for Baskaru. Mieville, a trained composer from GRM uses a lot of field recordings in his music, which he treats into music. I am not sure how Mieville works in creating his music, but it could very well be that he has many treatments of the same sound source and which are later stuck together and crafted into a piece of music, with all the subtle changes possible, which Mieville can choose from when doing this. I might very well be entirely wrong of course. His music can be compared to that of Whetham (or vice versa, but that's not the order I am hearing these releases): quite closed off blocks of sound, but somehow the work of Mieville sounds more coherent than Whetham on his new release. It also seems to be less closed off, with a bit more air in between the various treatments that he uses in his music. Whetham's music seems hermetically closed. There is fine vibrancy in the pieces by Mieville, shifting back and forth, ignoring strict classical rules of composition. Excellent release." [FdW/Vital Weekly] 2015 €12.00
MILITIA The Black Flag hoisted do-CD In 2016, Belgian tribal-power industrial sextet Militia entered the studio to re-record their landmark 2000 album "The Black Flag Hoisted", the final chapter of the ‘Statement’ triptych. The album was re-recorded almost completely, several tracks were completed, the recording of which was interrupted in 2000, and additional drum sections were added that were not recorded last time. In a few months, the album was re-recorded and for 5 years it was waiting for the release, which was postponed for various reasons. The work presents the Militia's view of anarchist theories - Die Theorielosigkeit des Anarchismus, nihilism, and liberal quests of the late 19th century, expressed in such historical figures as the Russian anarchist theoreticians Bakunin and Kropotkin, the French anarchist Proudhon. The first edition of the album is long out of print, as well as the other two parts of the trilogy, and represent some of the most wanted industrial recordings of the 2000s. Militia's music is always a unique and unique phenomenon. Conceptual industrial symphonies of hundreds of machine voices that travel through time and tell a story. Numerous references to events, ideas, people, and movements are woven into texts, while music, on the contrary, is distinguished by such originality that it is impossible to talk about similarities or homages. The Militia albums, including "The Black Flag Hoisted", are not designed to be "an everyday album." This is a rare and, perhaps, too complex work, thought out before every rustle and beat of the drum, deeply revealing the historical and ideological questions posed by the musicians. You will want to return to this recording more than once in order to hear something new and understand what has already been heard. Collaborators and guest musicians: AZURE MORTAL (Belgium) BASTARD NOISE (U.S.A.) IDPA (Germany) MARK KERKHOFS (The Netherlands) MIKE R. DANDO / CON-DOM (U.K.) ROBERT FIC (Czech Republic) RUDI PINSAERT (Belgium) COR GOUT / TRESPASSERS W (The Netherlands) WASTEMATRIX (U.S.A.) https://infinitefog.bandcamp.com/album/the-black-flag-hoisted 2022 €20.00
MILLIMETRIK Northwest Passage's New Era CD "Millimetrik is Québec City resident Pascal Asselin. Pascal’s music unites his love of hip-hop, electronica and ambient music, but takes these influences to somewhere entirely his own. Over the course of four albums, Millimetrik’s music has evolved, becoming less concerned with ambient textures and atmospheres, and more richly layered, warm and melodic. 2008’s “Northwest Passage’s New Era”, his first full-length release for Make Mine Music featured contributions from Ulrich Schnauss and Port-Royal. Pascal also records as half of Le Chat Blanc Orchestra." [label notes] www.makeminemusic.co.uk 2008 €8.00
MINIMAL COMPACT Deadly Weapons CD "Wiederveröffentlichung des 1984er-Albums der israelischen Kultband. Angeführt von Sänger Samy Birnbach (alias DJ Morpheus) waren Minimal Compact eine der inspirierendsten Bands der 1980er-Jahre. Sie verbanden funkige Rockrhythmen und prägnante Gitarren mit den musikalischen Aromen des Nahen Ostens. Die aus Israel stammende Band konnte in Europa und den USA auf eine leidenschaftliche Anhängerschaft zurückblicken, einige ihrer Songs, wie das auf "Deadly Weapons" zu findende "Next One Is Real", wurden zu Clubhits. Das Album markierte 1984 den internationalen Durchbruch der Band." [label info] "Minimal Compact's 'Deadly Weapons' - a disc of lingering textures- is a confluence where the streams of flair and ideas meet equally. It's an iconoclastic album, a collection of songs which are effortlessly assimilated yet tap normally suppressed emotions. If there is any simple division in music it's between compositions which lubricate the biological instincts -sex and the rest- and those that mine the, uhm, soul. Post Joy Division, I can only think of three rock bands who've successfully penetrated the shadows of existence in their individual ways: Nick Cave, Holy Toy and Minimal Compact. Heavy stuff, eh ? Piss off ! It's as easy as putting a record on a turntable. Though quite why the group should join the shortlist is uncertain: the majority of them are Israeli, so we have no obvious cultural connections on the surface. Compact's approach is harmonically impacted. And even at their most blatantly neo-traditional, like on 'The Howling Hole', the minaret motifs might make for a strange musical geography but the intent is instantly recognisable at some subcutaneous level. (...) Does this make the music 'difficult' ? Not unless you're a paraplegic who can't put a disc on a turntable. So damn well do it now." [Jack Barron / SOUNDS, 1984] www.crammed.be 2003 €10.00
MIXED BAND PHILANTROPIST The impossible Humane LP "Limitiertes Vinyl-Reissue des einzigen Albums der Industrial-Kultband. Aufgenommen in den Jahren 1984 bis 1986 ist "The Impossible Humane" das einzige Album von Mixed Band Philanthropist, einem Nebenprojekt der The New Blockaders. Ursprünglich war die Platte 1987 auf dem deutschen Label Selektion erschienen und ist natürlich längst ein begehrtes Sammlerstück. Das Label Staubgold macht dieses Juwel aus Industrial und Musique concrete in einer Kleinauflage wieder erhältlich. Das Reissue enthält zwei Bonustracks, die der 7-Zoll-Single "The Man Who Mistook A Real Woman For His Muse And Acted Accordingly" entnommen wurden. Am Album war das Who’s who der damaligen Industrial-Szene beteiligt, u. a. Nurse With Wound, Organum, Andrew Chalk, The New Blockaders, Etant Donnes, H.N.A.S., P16.D4, Asmus Tietchens, Controlled Bleeding, Smegma und Merzbow. "A totally great listening experience", meinte das Magazin "The Wire". Die Vinyl-only-Produktion ist auf 400 Platten limitiert." [label info] www.staubgold.com "Recorded from 1984 to 1986, "The Impossible Humane" is the sole album by The New Blockaders side project Mixed Band Philanthropist. Originally released on the German Selektion label in 1987 and impossible to find nowadays, Staubgold makes this rare gem of Industrial goes Musique Concrete available again in a strictly limited edition of 400 copies. Furthermore the reissue contains two bonus tracks taken from the 7" single "The Man Who Mistook A Real Woman For His Muse And Acted Accordingly". The album is assembled of exclusive source material by the who's who of the Industrial music scene of the time, including contributions by Nurse With Wound, Organum, Andrew Chalk, The New Blockaders, Etant Donnes, H.N.A.S., P16.D4, Asmus Tietchens, Controlled Bleeding, Smegma, Merzbow and many more. "A classic chunk of destroyed musique concrete. Assembled from a variety of musical and spoken sources, this is a nonstop barrage of genius. Filled with headsnapping changes, sexual innuendo and general confusion, it's a totally great listening experience," said The Wire magazine. Idwal Fisher wrote: "This car crash tape collage still stands today as one of the best examples of the genre. Its perpetual barrage of split-second samples are a dizzying mess of '60's Pop songs, scrapes, industrial whirr, uncategorizeable racket, ghostly voices, electronic beebles and burrs, sped-up records, tape whizz, machine rumble, snatches of Reggae, bucket damage, kazoo farts, Disco spots and about three-thousand or more (I'm guessing) other samples that really shouldn't work but, by some slight of hand or genius, actually do. On paper snatches of steel bands shouldn't be found on the same side of tape as Geordie MCs, Michael Jackson, pneumatic drills, early Merzbow and '50's Doo Wop but here they are and it works. Totally. Then comes the added bonus of being able to listen to this to the point of ad nauseam, mainly due to the fact that there are so few reference points that every listen brings something new." [label info] 2014 €16.00
MOEBIUS & TIETCHENS same LP "Erste Kooperation der beiden Elektronik-Avantgardisten seit 1976: Mit Asmus Tietchens und Dieter Moebius haben zwei Künstler zusammengefunden, die zu den ganz Großen der deutschen Avantgarde-Elektronikmusik gehören. Beide sind seit den 70er- Jahren dabei, Moebius als Mitglied von Kluster/Cluster und Harmonia sowie solo und in zahlreichen Kollaborationen (u. a. Brian Eno, Mani Neumeier); Tietchens fast ausschließlich als Solokünstler, anfangs in den Bereichen elektronischer und konkreter Musik, später dann vornehmlich im Gebiet der abstrakten Geräuschmusik. Das vorliegende Album ist ihre erste Kooperation seit 1976. Mit ihm lösen Moebius und Tietchens ein Versprechen ein, das sie sich vor 35 Jahren gaben: "Wir müssen mal eine Platte zusammen machen." 13 Stücke transportiert das Album, 13 Ideen, wie sie heterogener kaum sein können. Kein Stück ähnelt dem anderen: Von der hingehauchten Skizze bis zu derb zupackender Rhythmik ist so gut wie alles zu hören, was die beiden Altmeister der E-Musik in ihren Arsenalen haben. So klingt zeitgenössische, neue Musik. Das Vinyl erscheint mit Download-Code. // About the musicians: With Asmus Tietchens and Dieter Moebius, two artists counting among the greats of German avant-garde electronic music have come together. Both have been active for well over thirty years: Moebius (since 1970) as a member of Kluster/Cluster and Harmonia, as well as solo and in numerous collaborations (Brian Eno, Mani Neumeier, Conny Plank, Mayo Thompson and many more), and Tietchens (since 1976) almost exclusively as a solo artist, beginning in the fields of electronic music and musique concrète and later mainly in the realm of abstract music. “Moebius+Tietchens” is now their first collaboration in 35 years. With this album, Dieter Moebius and Asmus Tietchens fulfill a promise that they made 35 years ago. That is, in 1976, when the five musicians of Liliental completed the recordings for their eponymous album (released 1978) and again scattered to the winds, Moebius called out to Tietchens from the already moving car: "We have to make a record together sometime." At least that is the report of an ear-witness. Whether or not it's true… In any case, both decided in 2011 to record the album which is now to be released. Moebius (Cluster, Harmonia), since the early years of Cluster, has neither lost his curiosity nor his eagerness for experimentation. On the contrary: He has downright cultivated them. Tietchens is not only a true aficionado of the Cluster's music and friend of the duo, but has also released countless albums of electronic music and musique concrète since the 1980's – like Cluster, initially on Sky Records – then later only in the field of industrial and abstract music. Their album may come from out of the blue, but the large amount of overlap in the music of both artists made it a forgone conclusion to finally make good on the aforementioned promise. Thirteen pieces carries the album. These are thirteen ideas that could hardly be heterogeneous – no two pieces are similar. Moebius and Tietchens show us what they are capable of together. From the rough sketch to densely gripping rhythms, one can clearly hear just what these two old masters of electronic music have in their arsenals. This is not a result of the routine that comes with so many years of experience, nor a thin portion of tired old recipes for success. Other than for a few faint echoes of a bygone era (perhaps as a sentimental reminder), Moebius+Tietchens“ is an album that could only emerge from the here and now. It is contemporary, new music. Unfortunately, this time there was no ear-witness as Moebius and Tietchens said goodbye after finishing these recordings. So we do not know if they made a new agreement similar to the one from 35 years ago. Let's hope so." [label info] 2012 €18.50
  same CD "Erste Kooperation der beiden Elektronik-Avantgardisten seit 1976: Mit Asmus Tietchens und Dieter Moebius haben zwei Künstler zusammengefunden, die zu den ganz Großen der deutschen Avantgarde-Elektronikmusik gehören. Beide sind seit den 70er- Jahren dabei, Moebius als Mitglied von Kluster/Cluster und Harmonia sowie solo und in zahlreichen Kollaborationen (u. a. Brian Eno, Mani Neumeier); Tietchens fast ausschließlich als Solokünstler, anfangs in den Bereichen elektronischer und konkreter Musik, später dann vornehmlich im Gebiet der abstrakten Geräuschmusik. Das vorliegende Album ist ihre erste Kooperation seit 1976. Mit ihm lösen Moebius und Tietchens ein Versprechen ein, das sie sich vor 35 Jahren gaben: "Wir müssen mal eine Platte zusammen machen." 13 Stücke transportiert das Album, 13 Ideen, wie sie heterogener kaum sein können. Kein Stück ähnelt dem anderen: Von der hingehauchten Skizze bis zu derb zupackender Rhythmik ist so gut wie alles zu hören, was die beiden Altmeister der E-Musik in ihren Arsenalen haben. So klingt zeitgenössische, neue Musik. Das Vinyl erscheint mit Download-Code. // About the musicians: With Asmus Tietchens and Dieter Moebius, two artists counting among the greats of German avant-garde electronic music have come together. Both have been active for well over thirty years: Moebius (since 1970) as a member of Kluster/Cluster and Harmonia, as well as solo and in numerous collaborations (Brian Eno, Mani Neumeier, Conny Plank, Mayo Thompson and many more), and Tietchens (since 1976) almost exclusively as a solo artist, beginning in the fields of electronic music and musique concrète and later mainly in the realm of abstract music. “Moebius+Tietchens” is now their first collaboration in 35 years. With this album, Dieter Moebius and Asmus Tietchens fulfill a promise that they made 35 years ago. That is, in 1976, when the five musicians of Liliental completed the recordings for their eponymous album (released 1978) and again scattered to the winds, Moebius called out to Tietchens from the already moving car: "We have to make a record together sometime." At least that is the report of an ear-witness. Whether or not it's true… In any case, both decided in 2011 to record the album which is now to be released. Moebius (Cluster, Harmonia), since the early years of Cluster, has neither lost his curiosity nor his eagerness for experimentation. On the contrary: He has downright cultivated them. Tietchens is not only a true aficionado of the Cluster's music and friend of the duo, but has also released countless albums of electronic music and musique concrète since the 1980's – like Cluster, initially on Sky Records – then later only in the field of industrial and abstract music. Their album may come from out of the blue, but the large amount of overlap in the music of both artists made it a forgone conclusion to finally make good on the aforementioned promise. Thirteen pieces carries the album. These are thirteen ideas that could hardly be heterogeneous – no two pieces are similar. Moebius and Tietchens show us what they are capable of together. From the rough sketch to densely gripping rhythms, one can clearly hear just what these two old masters of electronic music have in their arsenals. This is not a result of the routine that comes with so many years of experience, nor a thin portion of tired old recipes for success. Other than for a few faint echoes of a bygone era (perhaps as a sentimental reminder), Moebius+Tietchens“ is an album that could only emerge from the here and now. It is contemporary, new music. Unfortunately, this time there was no ear-witness as Moebius and Tietchens said goodbye after finishing these recordings. So we do not know if they made a new agreement similar to the one from 35 years ago. Let's hope so." [label info] www.bureau-b.com 2012 €13.00
MOLJEBKA PVLSE / SEVENTEEN MIGS OF SPRING Ravha / Electricity Gardens CD Split & Collaboration vom beliebten schwedischen "Experimental Drone"-Projekt mit den uns bisher unbekannten 17 MIGS OF SPRING aus Tel Aviv. Eröffnet wird das Album durch ein sehr langes, ungewöhnliches Stück von M.P. mit vielen eher konkreten field recordings, welches wieder dessen grosse Variabilität aufzeigt; es folgen ein echtes Collaboration-Stück beider Projekte und 5 Stücke von 17 MIGS OF SPRING, die sich zwischen dunklem drone-ambient und aggressiven Analog-Industrial bewegen. "It is not every day you find reviews of albums released by Israeli labels in Vital Weekly. Topheth Prophet is an independent Israeli label formed in summer 2002 whose aim is to spread the knowledge of the Israeli noise scene to the outside world. The label focuses on styles ranging from harsh noise across power electronics to dark ambient. This 13th release from the label deals with drone-based ambient music. On this particular release one of the presented projects has its origin in Sweden. It is a split album between Israeli project SEVENTEEN MIGS OF SPRING and Swedish project MOLJEBKA PULSE. The album opens with the 27 minute long track titled "Ravha" from the latter mentioned project. The brain behind Moljebka Pvlse is the Swedish sound artist Mathias Josefson who explores the sounds of both acoustic and electronic origins, quite often with the starting point taken in found sounds and field recordings. The "Ravha"-track is a nice example of Mr. Josefson's ability to transform the sounds of reality into a world of drone-based minimalism. Opening with a mixture of concrete natural sounds and buzzing drones the expression slowly turns more and more harsh as the field recordings develops into noisy drones including spoken words. At a point the concrete sounds fades away or turns into sonic abstraction. The track moves into pure drone ambient minimalism. Nice work. Seventeen Migs Of Spring is an Israeli project consisting of three members, Gurfa, K-76 and B-74. As was the case with aforementioned Swedish project the conceptual approach of this Israeli project is sonic drones based on concrete sounds. Compared to the Swedish project the Israeli projects goes further to the extremes with sounds of a rather noisy kind. Especially four or the five tracks get quite harsh with the use of an on-going mixture of static noise and radio-based shortwave frequencies. Inbetween the two projects comes a collaborative track that successfully combines the style of the two projects. Everyone interested in drone based ambient with focus on concrete sounds should definitely check out this album. " [NM, Vital Weekly] label-website: www.tophet.org 2007 €13.50
MOLLUSK Aeon Synapses Connect CD-R "Mollusk is a project from sound artist Per Åhlund, known from previous releases on Reverse Alignment (with Skare and Kahl) and Johan Boberg, musician and composer that has been working with varied forms of approaches towards music. Schooled by Stockhausen and Coltrane, Johan has been part of the electronic music scene since the '90s and has, just like Per, become a very much active part of EMS and Fylkingen in Stockholm. During 2016, Reverse Alignment release a series of three Mollusk albums where "Aeon Synapses Connect" is the first, followed by "Astral Mechanics" (June) and "The Cloud Expedition" (September). With Mollusk the duo create "modular soundscapes resonating within the organic machinery feedback"." [label info] reversealignment.bandcamp.com 2016 €10.00
  The Cloud Expedition CD-R "After two albums from Johan Boberg and Per Åhlund on Reverse Alignment this year we now release Mollusk finale: "The Cloud Expedition". Beginning with the superexperimental meltdown "Aeon Synapses Connect" Johan and Per took the step into the domains of hyperyoga and touched upon the feets of deities in "Astral Mechanics". "The Cloud Expedition" takes off where "Astral Mechanics" ended. New experimental sounds in the genre of classical ambient unravels together with Mollusk skills in glitch and click. This sometimes reminds of the "Opto files" conducted by Alva Noto and Opiate, sometimes calling for an undefinied position among genres. With Mollusk sonic treaments you're always up for a nice suprise. "Modular soundscapes resonating within the organic machinery feedback". [label info] ralignment.tictail.com 2016 €12.00
MONOCUBE Substratum CD "Monocube’s new album since 2016’s “The Rituals”, a suite of wide landscapes painted in modular synth and stringed instruments. A spellbinding new album for Cyclic Law and Malignant Records, employing eight long-form pieces for the most expansive solo release by Monocube to date. Taking into account its haunting and elegiac quality - the result of no less than two years assiduous work it is elevated to the another level, presenting an analog purification of Monocube’s overtones. Purposefully evoking the feelings which are usually avoided in more scholastic examples of dark and drone music, Monocube voices the soul, while improvising on modular synth and stringed instruments, intimates a transcendental quality and approaches to the shape and density, delicacy and relation to transient and everlasting subjects, reaching the depth that was not present before. The outcome is considered as a reflection of non-verbal communication: from the flowing blossoms of Sehnsucht to the palsied depth of Prima Materia to the stirring crescendo of Luft and through the burned-out distortions of Visiones V to the 10 minute+ misty-eyed panorama of The Opposite Of Nadir following the helical torques and instilled eschatological atmosphere of Opaque, tempting the longing souls to the valerian vortex of Action In Distans and consummating with ultra-wide Limen. An alchemy of mysterious spirit. The mixed media artwork employs analog techniques, as cameraless photography and illustrations, which spawn silhouettes and haunting figures, recurring entropic motifs, a transition into worlds within worlds, coaxed out of gelatine silver prints. Enchanting, often deeply mysterious and disquieted is the visual part of Substratum created by sukkeret.og.pepper studio in Berlin." https://monocube.bandcamp.com/album/substratum ############################################## Neben seiner Teilnahme an der Kollaboration mit Anemone Tube und Jarl zum Jahreszeitenzyklus von Pieter Brueghel dem Älteren hat der ukrainische Ambientmusiker Andrzej Gladuszewski alias Monocube dieses Jahr gleich noch einen Nachfolger des vor drei Jahren erschienenen Debütalbums “The Rituals” herausgebracht. Atmosphärisch intensiver und kompositorisch ausgereifter wirkt das unter punktueller Unterstützung von Antti Litmanen (Arktau Eos) und Frederic Arbour (Visions) entstandene “Substratum” schon auf den ersten Eindruck, und doch knüpft das Werk stilistisch deutlich an seinen Vorgänger an, dessen Opener “Visiones” gleich in einem neuen Track fortgesetzt wird. Modulare Synthies und an ausgesuchten Stellen einmontierte Klänge verschiedener Saiteninstrumente bilden das Fundament der acht dröhnenden Klangflächen, deren düster-harmonische Schwere zum passiven Träumen verführen kann und so ein Grund sein mag, die unterschwellige Dynamik dieser Musik erst nach und nach mitzubekommen. Doch auch nachdem man sich an die Stimmung der Musik akklimatisiert hat, bleibt diese in ihrem Wesen diffus. Wer auf die Macht der Worte vertraut, kann durch die Tracktitel zumindest etwas Orientierung in den abstrakten Klanglandschaften bekommen. Von der Sehnsucht erzählen sie, die sich unter verhalltem Rauschen und plötzlich losbrechenden Noisebrocken etwas Schmerzhaftes offenbart und nach Veränderung schreit. Vom Element Luft und der Prima Materia, der aristotelischen Urmatierie, aus der alles Irdische hervorgegangen ist, künden sie, und lassen so einen kosmogonischen Hintergrund erahnen. Noch erhabener wirken so die Echos von angedeuteten Choralgesängen, ebenso die melodischen Synthietupfer, die irgendwann in akustische Klagelaute übergehen und an Orpheus in der Unterwelt denken lassen. Am Ende steht mit dem Limen die Schwelle, die die Grenze zum Zustand der Vollendung markiert. Letztlich drehen sich all diese Dinge um ein Schöpferisches, um eine Welt, die im Entstehen begriffen ist und die Musik, dem Titel entsprechend, zum Substrat macht. Die oft langsame und subtile Veränderlichkeit von Klangfarben, Harmonien und dezenten Rhythmen schärfen die Wahrnehmung und lassen die Abfolge von beunruhigendem Vibrieren, entspanntem kosmischen Bimmeln, fast schrillen bläserartigen Sounds und all den anderen Gegensätzen, ohne die laut William Blake kein Vorwärtsdrang möglich ist, noch deutlicher auf dem dunklen Nährboden aufscheinen. [U.S./African Paper] 2019 €13.00
MONOS (DARREN TATE & COLIN POTTER) Sunny Day in Saginomiya CD-R "Bearbeitete field recordings, die eine trancige, verwaschene Atmosphäre ausstrahlen, und ein konkreteres Stück mit vielen hellen Metall / Gong / Glas? –Klängen... neues Album basierend auf field recordings von D.SUZUKI vom englischen Kultprojekt." [old Drone Rec. info] "A unique project from the group of Darren Tate and producer Colin Potter. This project features recordings by Daisuke Suzuki (Lost Shadow, Siren Records). One track is based on a field recording and the other on an improvisation with some small objects. The overall tone of the recordings evokes a much more urban sound landscape than on previous Monos releases, but Colin and Darren's careful mixing and embellishment on the records lends a surreal if not slightly sinister atmosphere to the proceedings." [Edition - label info] "Sunny Day In Saginomiya is a Monos album that originally came out in 2001 on the American label Edition... (yes, the ellipsis is a part of the label's name) and it's been out of print for a very long time. Darren Tate of Monos has just reissued this as a super limited cd-r on his own Fungal imprint. Here's what we had to say about the album way back when: Darren Tate has been releasing an impressive catalogue of tiny edition cd-rs by his project Monos, which began as a solo project although more recently he has partnered with Colin Potter (who had worked with Tate in the organic drone ensemble Ora). Working in Potter's ICR studios (which has not only produced likeminded work from Organum, Jonathan Coleclough, and Andrew Chalk, but also the Dadaist collages of Nurse With Wound), Monos applied thick patinas of reverb and electric synthesis to a set of field recordings provided by another occasional Ora contributor, Daisuke Suzuki. The first half of the album couples reverb saturated field recordings of birds with some eerie spectral guitar drone work from Darren Tate, recalling some of the early Main albums. The second half is far more Spartan as Monos works their magic on a Daisuke Suzuki recording of bells, gongs, and rattles occasionally marked by ascending delay patterns and gradually overcome by the analog electronics found on Nightfall Sunshine. Quite lovely." [Aquarius Rec] 2015 €10.00
MOORE, ANTHONY / TOBIAS GREWENIG / DIRK SPECHT The April Sessions LP This journey, this slowly drifting sonic meditation, is an 'inner soundscape', a dialogue between the senses, the conscience and the world, inside / outside, interconnected. Like waking up from a long dream, and being stuck into its echo. The April Sessions immerges the listener into a drone-ish universe, full of random acousmatic events, inner monologues and a vast and unwritten subjective map to be drawn. The April Sessions has been living in a seedy hotel in Brussels for a few months. She listens to the sparse traffic outside her window, locked in and locked down. 'Everything is constructed', she says to herself, 'even the sound of a solitary aircraft at 25,000 feet traverses the sky no further out than the inside of my skull'. Other weird sonic phenomena criss-cross the inner cosmos of her brain and streak across her private sky like comets. And then there is the unshakeable presence of that inner monologue, known to her variously as the Tacit Dictator, the Subvocaliser and, nightmarishly enough, the voice of the Merlucid Hake. (Anthony Moore, St Leonards, 10th of March 2021). Anthony Moore, Dirk Specht and Tobias Grewenig have known each other and worked together since the early 2000s. They have collectively participated in a number of projects including live performances and recordings. In 2016, as part of The Missing Present Band, they released the live LP 'The Present Is Missing' on A-Musik. The following year they released 'Ore Talks', a double LP, realised in collaboration with Therapeutische Hörgruppe Köln. Anthony Moore born in 1948, founded the band Slapp Happy (circa 1972) with Peter Blegvad and Dagmar Krause, then worked alongside a.o. Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson in the unclassifiable band Henry Cow. He released several solo albums, composed soundtracks for experimental movies. His path also crossed Kevin Ayers's, Pink Floyd's, Richard Wright's… He was appointed professor for research into sound and music in the context of new media at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne, Germany. He still continues to write and perform. Dirk Specht sound artist, musician and curator. He studied architecture and media art and is active in the fields of sound works for choreography, radio drama, sound art, film and video art soundtracks… He published releases with several bands and projects. He has been an assistant for research into sound from 2011 to 2016 at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne, and is a founding member of Therapeutische Hörgruppe Köln. Tobias Grewenig studied at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne. He primarily deals with non-linearity in his audiovisual installative works and performances, including projects with the artist group 'Therapeutische Hörgruppe Köln', the ensemble 'The Knob, The Finger & The It' and the improvisation collective "Frequenzwechsel". The conception and development of electronic instruments and code is a key component of his artistic work. He lives and works in Cologne. https://subrosalabel.bandcamp.com/album/the-april-sessions 2021 €16.00
MORGEN WURDE Für Immer do-CD "Morgen Wurde and his musical allies move on to score the unfathomable wonder of the Dasein. "Für Immer" is a further breakthrough to the core, emanating sounds which let dissolve all conceivable questions of man about life and death. Sounds that let all questions appear negligibly. The immersive finds are channelled into ambient/space/drone music hybrids with neoclassical and jazz noir elements, sometimes crossing paths with messengers of transcendental sounds like Abul Mogard, bvdub, Fennesz, Gas, Rafael Anton Irisarri or Tim Hecker. The elevating experience happens in Morgen Wurde's electroacoustic spaces, hosting singular virtuoso instrumentalists. Creating the "Morgen Wurde" form of lyricism and haunting soundscapes, this collaborative exploration takes space music to new highs. There are the stoically undulating sound masses, like the ambivalence of the awe-inspiring mysterious forces of nature, sometimes majestic, sometimes threatening. And there are the soloists, wandering through these sonic landscapes as masters of their art: Doug Perry on the vibraphone and Tetsuroh Konishi on the trumpet embody subtle sublimeness. The violinists bring in widely differing styles: David Strother skipping ardently on top of the seething sound masses, Georges-Emmanuel Schneider forming a mystic amalgam with the underlying soundscapes. Maria Estrella's transcendent vocal texture, nestling in solemn spheres, marks the epic finale. These musicians bring unique elements of life and humanity to the recordings, adding their very personal note and vision. The rich material called for addressing also the body. Artists from around the world answered this call for cosmic dance remixes: Altone (Japan) initiates the rite with his transcendently free-floating remix, incorporating sounds from various album tracks. Roman Ridder (Germany) then sparks the dance with a deep dub techno ride. Liuos (Finland) irresistibly animates the body further into a trance, before Cie (Germany) breaks loose the passionate fire of rave. Lostlojic (Ukraine) upholds the energy of peaktime techno, before Dmitriy Zakat (Russia) navigates through an absorbing bass intermezzo, followed by a sweeping post-dubstep adventure by Sébastien Job (France). Martin Schulte (Russia) pursues the explorative mission driven by minimal tech breaks. Thereupon Johnnyx Guitar (Germany) deepens the tempting occult spirit of the venture. Duckem (Greece) leaves the traveller with moody trip hop in a Blade Runner-style bar, before we come full circle with the beat version of Altone's remix, reaching out to eternity. Like all the best remixing work, these tracks are not intended as alternative versions of the originals. Rather the remixes can be considered originals of the respective artists who drew sounds and vibes from the "Für Immer" originals. This is the third album in the series of Morgen Wurde's electroacoustic sound processing-based albums, following “Brach Auf” (2016) and “Assassinous Act” (2017) which were released on Time Released Sound, Alameda. Besides, there are two albums “Letzten Endes” (2015) and “Als je zuvor” (2018) (both on Off Rec.) which were composed classically on the piano and then clothed with electronic sounds." https://morgenwurde.bandcamp.com/album/f-r-immer 2020 €15.00
MORI, IKUE & CHRISTIAN RONN Chordis Et Machina LP "Ikue Mori and Christian Rønn are the superlative electroacoustic duo, well “duo” unless you count the instruments themselves and you should. Rather than contain with rigid composition, these twin masters of unrule remain radically attuned, open to resonance of time and sound, invoking even the personhood of space and object, chordis et machina. You´ll soon see, once this music gets loose to join you in your own environ. “Endless probing that hooks into your neurons, this album leaves sonic organisms floating around you. Even if that's merely an illusion, the alchemy of Mori and Rønn’s hyperactive stew is very real.” [Marc Masters] No meandering muddiness, the precision and responsiveness of this heady collaboration steps swiftly from fine grit distortions to leaky sinewaves, sweeping from the playfully melodic to the seriously xenomorphic. As prepared-piano hammers against braiding electronics, each possibility unfurls the next. Tossed from the final groove, you'll hike up your needle and want to plunge right back in. About the artists: Ikue Mori's impact as drummer of post-punk pioneers DNA found an unexpected path when a drum machine set alight her astonishing oeuvre in electronic music, both solo and in collaboration across 30+ albums in bands like Death Ambient, Mephista and in collaboration with John Zorn, Okkyung Lee, Zeena Parkins, Sylvie Courvoisier, Susie Ibarra, Wadada Leo Smith, Fred Frith, Kato Hideki, Evan Parker, Dave Douglas, Evyind Kang, Craig Taborn and Kim Gordon. Copenhagen's Christian Rønn is renowned for his electronic and organ improv music, his filmscores and performances on more than 20 albums, collaborations with Rhys Chatham, Peter Peter, Lotte Anker, P.O. Jørgens, Ingrid Chavez, Vanessa Daou, Jenny Graf, Bob Bellerue, Aram Shelton, his group projects Prox, Panser, Blind Mans Band and his popular solo project, Ganga. (Written by James Decker, Resipiscent Records)" https://nische.bandcamp.com/album/chordis-et-machina https://www.resipiscent.com/artist/view/50 2018 €23.00
MUELLER, JON The Whole CD "Der Avantgarde-Perkussionist übersetzt tradiertes Handwerk in Musik: "The Whole" mag sein Debüt für das Label Type sein, doch ist es bei weitem nicht Jon Muellers Einstand in der Szene. Über seine Mitarbeit in Bands wie Collections Of Colonies Of Bees und Volcano Choir mit Justin Vernon aka Bon Iver sowie mehreren Soloalben und Kollaborationen hat sich der Mann aus Milwaukee einen Namen als hervorragender Schlagzeuger und Perkussionist gemacht. Als Nachfolger seines Werks "Metals", einer Sammlung klassischer Heavy-Metal-Rhythmen, und den ausschweifend schönen "Physical Changes" war es für Mueller Zeit für ein grundlegendes Statement. Fasziniert von einfachen und akustischen Klängen, ließ sich Mueller sogar vom alten Kunsthandwerk der Shaker, einer amerikanischen Religionsgemeinschaft, und vom Quilt-Handwerk beeinflussen. Beides einfache tradierte Handwerksformen, die aber immer wieder misinterpretiert wurden. Diese fehlgedeutete Simplizität ist ein Leitmotiv von "The Whole". Mueller erschafft mit Schlagzeug, Dulcimer und seiner Stimme einen Sound, der gleichzeitig originell und verführerisch ist, der Spuren der Vergangenheit und Echos der Zukunft trägt.// The Whole might be avant-percussionist Jon Mueller's first album for the Type imprint, but it's far from his scene debut. Working in a plethora of bands for many years (including Collections Of Colonies Of Bees and Volcano Choir with Justin Vernon aka Bon Iver), Mueller has honed his sound to a distinct peak, and over the course of umpteen solo albums and collaborations has cemented his status as one of experimental music's most revered drummers. Following his epic works Metals (a collection of classic heavy metal rhythms) and the expansive and surprisingly beautiful Physical Changes, both for the esteemed Table Of The Elements label, Mueller embarked on the heady process of creating a "defining" work. Intrigued by ideas of simplicity and acoustic sound, Mueller's research drew him to Shaker crafts and quilt-making, both deceptively simple practices rooted in the transmission of ideas. Over time, these experiences were interpreted in many different ways, almost certainly inaccurately, and this miscommunicated simplicity is at the very center of The Whole. Through a rolling, unamplified snare drum (a piece of kit perfected over a year of intense practice), booming low toms, hammered dulcimer and his own voice, Mueller creates a sound that is wholly original and totally beguiling. There are traces of folk traditions and lines drawn to the avant garde idiom, but Mueller's sound is so singularly perfected, it is hard to connect him to specific peers. The Whole is an album that sounds like both a relic of the past and an echo of the future. The ideas are anchored in memory and tradition, yet the sound is alien and sometimes impenetrable. Over time, as the messages are stripped back, an unabashedly gorgeous piece of work is revealed. Like a good book, it requires patience and contemplation to show its beating heart." [label info] www.typerecords.com 2010 €15.50
MUNDAL, ARE Interlooper & Nocturnal Perambulation do-CD "Reissue of two LPs from Are Mundal: "Interloper" (2021) and "Nocturnal Perambulation" (2020). Dark atmospheric Ambient / Darkwave / Experimental music from Norway's Are Mundal, who has written songs for albums such as Enslaved's "Isa" and Immortal's "All Shall Fall", but who is probably best known for his photography of Fantoft stave church on the day it burnt down in 1992. "Dedicated to the fight against christianity, religion in general, and all destructive ideologies". Both albums were originally limited to 100 copies each and are now reissued as one collective double CD set. Also includes a bonus track from the "Nocturnal Discombobulation" 7". Remastered by Lazerus Winter. Comes with 2 artcards." 2022 €16.00
  Kreis 12inch Are Mundal has written songs for albums such as Enslaved's "Isa" and Immortal's "All Shall Fall", but is probably best known for his photography of Fantoft stave church on the day it burnt down in 1992. This EP features 22 mins of macabre darkwave, rhythmic industrial, atmospheric soundscapes, and experimental sound collages. "Industrial and tribal dark ambient, especially for those into the macabre... strange and dark material, mixing Industrial and Gothic elements, with some very distasteful chatter about [necrophilia] and other such documentary samples about unpleasant subjects. Throbbing Gristle and SPK have a lot to answer for!" (Audion). Ltd x 100 hand-numbered copies in a multi-stickered sleeve with three inserts: a 12" double-sided insert, an A4 double-sided insert, and an A5 double-sided artcard, with artwork by Mundal. 2023 €20.00
MURCOF The Versailles Sessions do-LP "Vom Barock zur Elektronik: Wassermusik des mexikanischen Elektronikers: Seinen Titel verdankt das Album dem Ort, wo alljährlich "Les Grandes Eaux Nocturnes" stattfindet: das Sound-, Licht- und Wasser-Festival im wohl berühmtesten Schloss der Welt, dem Château de Versailles bei Paris. Der mexikanische Elektroniker Fernando Corona alias Murcof hat für den großen Fontänenabend im Jardin de Roi extra eine Suite geschrieben, "The Versailles Sessions" dokumentiert das Ereignis. Die sechs Kompositionen für das Projekt stammen alle aus dem 17. Jahrhundert (u. a. von Jean-Baptiste Lully, François Couperin) und wurden für das Projekt von Barockmusikern auf Originalinstrumenten eingespielt. Was wie eine Verabschiedung von elektronischer Musik klingt, ist in Wahrheit eine Fortführung von Techniken, die Corona über die Jahre entwickelt hat: die Verarbeitung bestehenden Materials - nur, dass dies jetzt aus dem 17. Jahrhundert stammt. "The Versailles Sessions" sollen dennoch nicht als Nachfolger des Albums "Cosmos" (2007) gesehen werden, eher als Zwischenprojekt zum 2009er-Werk "Océano". Das Album erscheint auf CD sowie als Doppel-LP in limitierter Edition." [label info / Indigo] "In the summer of 2007, Fernando Corona completed a site-specific commission for Les Grandes Eaux Nocturnes, an annual festival of sound, light and water at Château de Versailles in France. A suite of music was composed specifically for the grand evening fountain display in the Jardin du Roi. The Versailles Sessions is an aural document of the event, to be released this winter on specially priced CD and limited edition double vinyl. The six compositions prepared for the project derive entirely from recordings of 17th century baroque instruments (including harpsichord, viola da gamba, flute and violin) and a mezzo soprano. GetSound, who commissioned the project, hired musicians specialized in baroque music in Paris. “We recorded pieces by Lully, Couperin and others,” says Corona of the sessions. “They were played traditionally, but we also experimented quite a bit with the music and instruments. It was a great learning experience - the musicians were amazing - very open minded and willing to have fun.” The recording process may appear to be a departure for an artist known primarily as an electronic musician, but in fact it’s a continuation of techniques Corona has perfected over a number of years. “It’s more or less done in the same fashion as my previous work: processing of previously recorded acoustic material. The only difference is the actual source material being so specific to 17th century baroque music and instruments. And since the recordings are the starting point of the composition process it naturally took me to a different place.” Corona’s initial interpretations of the source material didn’t quite go according to plan. “When we did a rehearsal about two weeks before the actual opening, it was pouring with rain so I wasn’t able to make the necessary tests. But being there and seeing the space and the installations (big disco balls and video projections on water fountains), I realised I was going in the wrong direction musically. “The location demanded a different approach: more openness, more time for the sounds to develop and for them to resonate in that big space, so I went back home and during those remaining two weeks I reworked the whole commission into what it is now. “The recordings I used as source material are very rich and cover a wide range of timbres, so I had lots of options as to how to approach the music making process.” The Versailles Sessions should not be considered as the successor to 2007’s monumental Cosmos, rather as a special project while we await Murcof’s next album proper." [label info] www.theleaflabel.com 2008 €18.50
The Versailles Sessions CD "Vom Barock zur Elektronik: Wassermusik des mexikanischen Elektronikers: Seinen Titel verdankt das Album dem Ort, wo alljährlich "Les Grandes Eaux Nocturnes" stattfindet: das Sound-, Licht- und Wasser-Festival im wohl berühmtesten Schloss der Welt, dem Château de Versailles bei Paris. Der mexikanische Elektroniker Fernando Corona alias Murcof hat für den großen Fontänenabend im Jardin de Roi extra eine Suite geschrieben, "The Versailles Sessions" dokumentiert das Ereignis. Die sechs Kompositionen für das Projekt stammen alle aus dem 17. Jahrhundert (u. a. von Jean-Baptiste Lully, François Couperin) und wurden für das Projekt von Barockmusikern auf Originalinstrumenten eingespielt. Was wie eine Verabschiedung von elektronischer Musik klingt, ist in Wahrheit eine Fortführung von Techniken, die Corona über die Jahre entwickelt hat: die Verarbeitung bestehenden Materials - nur, dass dies jetzt aus dem 17. Jahrhundert stammt. "The Versailles Sessions" sollen dennoch nicht als Nachfolger des Albums "Cosmos" (2007) gesehen werden, eher als Zwischenprojekt zum 2009er-Werk "Océano". Das Album erscheint auf CD sowie als Doppel-LP in limitierter Edition." [label info / Indigo] "In the summer of 2007, Fernando Corona completed a site-specific commission for Les Grandes Eaux Nocturnes, an annual festival of sound, light and water at Château de Versailles in France. A suite of music was composed specifically for the grand evening fountain display in the Jardin du Roi. The Versailles Sessions is an aural document of the event, to be released this winter on specially priced CD and limited edition double vinyl. The six compositions prepared for the project derive entirely from recordings of 17th century baroque instruments (including harpsichord, viola da gamba, flute and violin) and a mezzo soprano. GetSound, who commissioned the project, hired musicians specialized in baroque music in Paris. “We recorded pieces by Lully, Couperin and others,” says Corona of the sessions. “They were played traditionally, but we also experimented quite a bit with the music and instruments. It was a great learning experience - the musicians were amazing - very open minded and willing to have fun.” The recording process may appear to be a departure for an artist known primarily as an electronic musician, but in fact it’s a continuation of techniques Corona has perfected over a number of years. “It’s more or less done in the same fashion as my previous work: processing of previously recorded acoustic material. The only difference is the actual source material being so specific to 17th century baroque music and instruments. And since the recordings are the starting point of the composition process it naturally took me to a different place.” Corona’s initial interpretations of the source material didn’t quite go according to plan. “When we did a rehearsal about two weeks before the actual opening, it was pouring with rain so I wasn’t able to make the necessary tests. But being there and seeing the space and the installations (big disco balls and video projections on water fountains), I realised I was going in the wrong direction musically. “The location demanded a different approach: more openness, more time for the sounds to develop and for them to resonate in that big space, so I went back home and during those remaining two weeks I reworked the whole commission into what it is now. “The recordings I used as source material are very rich and cover a wide range of timbres, so I had lots of options as to how to approach the music making process.” The Versailles Sessions should not be considered as the successor to 2007’s monumental Cosmos, rather as a special project while we await Murcof’s next album proper." [label info] www.theleaflabel.com 2008 €12.00
  Utopia CD "When Fernando Corona released Martes, his first album as Murcof, back in 2002, it was a bolt from the blue: a work of such clarity and strength of character that it became an instant genre classic. The album’s reputation spread by word of mouth, and it continues to sell as strongly now as it did when it was released, subsequently becoming one of The Leaf Label’s biggest selling albums. Corona is currently putting the finishing touches to his second Murcof album, scheduled for release in September 2004 on CD and DVD in full 5.1 sound. But before that comes Utopía, a specially priced collection featuring sympathetic reworkings of tracks from Martes, the two tracks from 2003's exceptional Ulysses 12", both tracks from the Utopía Remixes 12" (April 2004) and two further previously unreleased Murcof tracks, ‘Una’ and ‘Ultimatum’. More a companion piece to Martes than a prelude to the new album, Utopía distils the essence of the first album into sinuous new forms. The remixers employed here are a typically global bunch for The Leaf Label, including Sutekh (Context Free Media/San Francisco), Supersilent producer Deathprod (Rune Grammofon/Oslo), Icarus (The Leaf Label/London), Corona’s Mexican collaborator Fax (Static Discos/Mexicali), Jan Jelinek (Scape/Berlin), Geoff White (Force Inc/USA) and Colleen (The Leaf Label/Paris) delivering her first ever remix." [label info] www.theleaflabel.com 2004 €11.50
MUSLIMGAUZE Uzi Mahmood do-CD "Bryn Jones died January 14, 1999. The man best known as Muslimgauze was 37 years old, and at the peak of his career. During his short life he recorded an astonishing number of albums, some 200 at last count, a great many of them in years immediately preceding his death. Indeed, his output was so great that his labels couldn’t keep up with the virtual flood of music he produced. It’s no wonder new material continues to surface so long after his passing. “Uzi Mahmood” was recorded to satisfy a specific request. Soleilmoon wanted a 12 inch single that DJs could play in nightclubs. The idea was to introduce Muslimgauze to a potentially enormous new audience. The request was made in the autumn of 1999, in a phone call lasting less than five minutes; Bryn was never one for small talk. He was all business, and he could record a complete album in three or four days, sometimes faster. Two weeks after agreeing to record a disco album for Soleilmoon, “Uzi Mahmood” was delivered to the label. But instead of the agreed on two or three tracks, he sent an eleven song compact disc, followed a week later by a 90 minute digital audio tape containing the entire CD plus two more pieces. Four songs were eventually selected for the experiment, and in the spring of 1998 a dirty-and-dubby 12" EP was released. Two more songs were later used to replace a pair of corrupted tracks on the master tape for “Hussein Mahmood Jeeb Tehar Gass”, released on CD in 1999. The music was well received by fans, but the hoped-for dance floor revolution never happened, and the little record with the unconventional beats went out of print a few years later. Fast forward to the present: The year is 2010 and the four song EP has been out of print for more than five years, seven more songs lie waiting in the vault, still unreleased, and the two tracks tacked onto “Hussein Mahmood Jeeb Tehar Gass” are the only ones in wide circulation. Which is why Soleilmoon is so very pleased to finally be releasing all thirteen songs together on one record. “Uzi Mahmood” is 90 minutes of the sexiest, most booty-shakin’ Muslimgauze music ever heard. We released a limited edition gatefold triple LP in November. Now it’s available as a two CD set. Disc one has the eleven tracks from the original master, disc two has the two extra songs that came on the DAT. The cover art is by plazm design (plazm.com)." [label info] www.soleilmoon.com 2010 €18.00
Narcotic do-LP "Narcotic is perhaps one example of an album in both camps of the muslimgauze spectrum, it denotes the expertise acquired in oriental percussion by Bryn Jones after a crescent development and practice through action, part Tribal, part Ambient with shades of texturized noise, glitch details and field recordings, as result the listener is inside this intoxicant atmosphere of exotic madness, where the basic musical premise constituted by the consistent tribal beats from darbukas and tambourines contrasting radically with the eerie sounds from organic noise, distortions and minimal jams. The opening track "Medina Flight" bangs on with a metallic sounding looped drum track that blares with distortion at some points while background voices chant out vocals nearly throughout. The track is flavored with other harsh sounds and even a few woodwind sounding instruments before subsequently breaking down and starting back in several times. "Believers of the Blind Sheikh" is a 10-minute middle-eastern sounding dub track sprinkled with live drum sounds and more occasional vocal samples of unknown conversation. "Saddams Children" leans more toward traditional instruments, but one can hear the gurgle of electronics lightly in the background. The instrumentation of the album is amazing. When I first started seeing that Muslimgauze released so many albums in such a short amount of time, I naturally thought that the quality might fall suspect, but Narcotic is a solid piece of work that covers quite a chunk of the electronic music spectrum, although a lot of the rhythms tend to fall on a little harder side. It manages to blend ethnic and electronic sounds into quite an interesting mix. The images of a surrealistic desert land inhabited by the bizarre and general strangeness abounds in between the strong rhythm usage and cinematic atmosphere unbound, subsequently the decisive progression from the album increases this sensation. The listener easily gets submerged into this opium like state, suscintly guided by the beats and echoes from oriental sounds that wander in and out of the speakers and far away and so close from the mind.Interesting and atractive the album keeps a middle ground status, half experimental and other half adapted for the tribal and linear structure common to Muslimgauze, the listener will find quite another of the many faces of this enigmatic artist." [label info] "....this album is largely percussion focused and very atmospheric but not necessarily in the way albums like Vote Hezbollah or Mullah Said are. Narcotic focuses much more on dubby, washed out and dense atmospheres that make you feel like you're wandering through an arabic street on a hot summer's day. a truly amazing record to me, featuring extremely memorable tracks like the hypnotic Gulf Between Us (which the 23 minute long extended mix of is excellent, by the way), Effendi, the fabulous and completely entrancing Believers of the Blind Sheikh and all 3 excellent Narcotic suite tracks. just an absolute gem of a record and the one that always sticks out the most to me, due to it's unique atmosphere and immensely coherent tracklist. a definite recommend. start here if you've never heard Muslimgauze before, as it's probably one of his most accessible and gives the best overall view of his sound in my opinion. it's a perfect mix of the ambient dub, percussion and hypnotic soundscapes i love from him." [StoneInFocus] 2020 €29.50
Emak Bakia CD "We have repeatedly surprised you with unusual releases that sound uncharacteristic for wellknown artists Remember Merzbow with guitars, synth (almost said synth-pop) and drum machine? Well, Muslimgauze's turn came up. Emak Bakia – long out of print masterpieces from 1994. Even in the huge Bryn Jones' discography Emak Bakia really stands out of albums from the period due its rather unique (house-music related) sound and short, by the standards of Bryn Jones, tracks. Like a crossmix between Psychic TV (circa Towards Thee Infinite Beat) and Muslimgauze's trademark percussion and eastern vibes. Available again as limited CD, MC and special Box Set. Re-mastered and with new stunning artwork. All Percussion Arranged and Played by Muslimgauze. Recorded at RMB Studios, London. Engineered by Andrew Burton. Mixed at Camden Lock Studios, London. Engineered by Jonno. Produced and Mixed by Andrew Burton. Re-mastered by Martin Bowes at The Cage, Coventry, UK, 2020. Sleeve by Oleg Galay. Thanks to Terry Bennett for his endless support and making this re-release possible! https://othervoicesrecords.bandcamp.com/album/emak-bakia-vox-57 2020 €13.00
Jackal The Invizible do-LP Listeners who know much of anything about Bryn Jones' work as Muslimgauze know that he was prolific in both his work and in the way he sent out his work to labels and other interested parties. Fittingly enough for an artist that feverishly productive and often taciturn to the point of frustration, he didn't tend to give much more information than handwritten track titles on the sleeve of a DAT. Why he would submit multiple copies of the same or similar tracks to those he worked with, often in totally different configurations, is now a permanent mystery, but it does lead to Jackal The Invizible, essentially a compilation of material from multiple other releases that Jones had also submitted at the time on its own DAT. All of the songs here were released at least 20 years ago (a few over 30) and as with practically all Muslimgauze releases they were limited and/or hard to get ahold of now. Jackal The Invizible is both a way to issue those tracks on vinyl as the Archive series has been consistently doing, and in interesting look into how Jones would organize and sequence his albums. The track listing here was faithfully reproduced from the way Jones titled these tracks on this submission, which is how you get Fedayeen's "Bharboo of Pakistan Railways" here called "Fedayeen Bharboo of Pakistan Railways 2001". This compilation as with most of his work was submitted without comment, so it can be asked, was it intended to be a compilation? Had he at some point decided he preferred these tracks in this arrangement rather than on their other tapes? Did he produce so much work and/or was so disorganized he simply forgot this batch had been mailed off before? Did he have a standing arrangement with his postal worker and just handed him whatever was closest to the door each week? The new juxtapositions can be quite striking; shifting suddenly from the harshly distorted blurts of "Resume and Shaduf Fatah Guerrilla 1999" to the cooly nocturnal atmosphere of "Abu Nidal 1987" and then to the dubby bass pulses and rattling hand percussion of "Hand of Fatima 1999" is an experience unlike much else in Jones' oeuvre, even though all three modes are ones he has worked in before. Engineered and mixed by J. Delf. Mastering by Rinus Hooning. Edition of 700. 2021 €29.50
  The Extreme Years 1990-1994 9 x LP BOX first time ever on vinyl * with bonus songs * unique sleeves with special spot UV and inside print * wooden deluxe boxset with 9 vinyls, booklet, hand numbered certificate card The English musician Bryn Jones, who preferred to call himself the band Muslimgauze during his artistic lifetime, was one of the most original and productive artists of the post-industrial scene. He has released an incredible amount of music in just 16 years. According to current estimates, there are at least 200 releases with a total of more than 1900 songs in circulation. The Extreme Years 1990-1994 is a compilation of all Muslimgauze music, released on the Australian label Extreme Music between 1990 and 1994. According to many critics and fans, this was a uniue and very special period in Bryn’s work, during which he grew from an amateur musician into an experienced sound sculptor. Sadly, Bryn passed away in early 1999, aged just 38 years. The box set is limited to 100 copies in golden vinyl and 222 copies in black vinyl. It includes 9 vinyls in expanded 2LP versions with bonus songs of the 4 Extreme albums, as well as the Infidel LP with remixes done by another electronic music genious David Thrussell (Snog, Soma, Black Lung). The Infidel LP will be exclusively available with the box set edition, where the 4 double albums will be available also as separate releases, beeing published one after the other during the first half of 2024, starting with Intifaxa 2LP. The original tracks were perfectly remastered for this first time ever vinyl release and the new masters received high praise from the Extreme Music owner Roger Richards. New sleeve designs were created by Oleg Galay, who is famous for his artworks for many Muslimgauze reissues. The boxset contains the albums: Intifaxa 2LP (AKT16) United States of Islam 2LP (AKT17) Zul’m 2LP (AKT18) Citadel 2LP (AKT19) Infidel LP (AKT20) – not available outside the box as well as a LP sized 8 page booklet, a pro DJ slipmat and a hand numbered certificate card, all housed in a highest quality, heavy wooden box. All album covers are made from extra heavy cardboard with deluxe spot UV finish and inside print. The release date for the complete Extreme Years 1990-1994 boxset with all vinyls included is 1.01.2024 The separate double LPs will be released on these dates: Intifaxa 2LP – 10.01.2024 United States of Islam 2LP – 1.03.2024 Zul’m 2LP – 1.05.2024 Citadel 2LP – 1.07.2024 https://kontaktaudio.bandcamp.com/merch/muslimgauze-the-extreme-years-9-lp-box-set-black-vinyl https://www.kontaktaudio.com/shop/muslimgauze-the-extreme-years-1990-1994-deluxe-boxset 2024 €199.00
MYSTIFIED & MARTYN SCHMIDT An Effort of Memory CD-R "ACE 1002: CD-R in folded cardboard sleeve Many albums in the Attenuation Circuit Eco Series are split releases, but this hour-long composition is a true collaboration with 50 per cent input from both US-based drone artist Mystified and German poet and sound artist Martyn Schmidt. Starting with a poem, Schmidt’s voice morphs into pure vocal improvisation and breathing, both processed to amalgamate with Mystified’s acoustic drones. The result sounds at times like La Monte Young meeting Morton Feldman or like Norwegian experimental jazz singer Sidsel Endresen imitating deep bass strings with her voice. Using feedback loops, the sound of whale bones played as percussion instruments on a Danish island, and jackhammers from local building sites, Schmidt „encoded, stored and retrieved“ (as the back cover says) lots of samples along with the music by Mystified he was reacting to - encoding, storing, retrieving being the three steps of memory as conceptualised by psychology. Connecting psychoacoustics back to his poetic roots, Schmidt also quotes (on the cover-artwork) the poem “Andenken” (Memory, or Remembrance) by Hölderlin. Memorising, forgetting, and recreating sounds and words turn out to be different sides of the artistic process, and the drone as a music that forever seems to dissolve and congeal, to ebb and flow, to move and stand still, seems a perfect sonic metaphor for this." [label info] www.attenuationcircuit.de "A collaboration by Thomas Park's project Mystified and Martyn Schmidt, a German poet and sound artist. There is a short spoken word prologue, a sixty-two minute piece of music, and short epilogue. In the main piece, 'An Effort Of Memory', uses, according to the information, 'feedback loops, the sound of whale bones as percussion instruments on a Danish island and jackhammers from local building sites', of which Schmidt made the samples which he combined with the music of Mystified, resulting in this hour long sound collage of all things atmospheric. Forget the word jackhammers (or building site), as there is nothing 'industrial' or loud about this. The music here is all atmospheric, dark in the full moon night, and everything flows into each other. The music may seem an amorphous mass of sounds mixed together, without real beginning or end, and perhaps (I might be wrong) without much compositional planning. More like a go with the flow kind of music, which is nothing strange in this particular musical underworld. None of the sound sources are easily recognized here, if at all, but all is transformed into a long, sustaining mass of atmospherics, and works very well. A cold day today, autumn has arrived it seems and this is the soundtrack for such seasonal weather. Nothing new, but it works very well." [FdW/Vital Weekly] 2013 €8.00
NADJA Corrasion do-LP Vinyl-Version des Albums / CD von 2007. Kommt mit neuer Version des Titelstücks und Bonus-Track. 400 Stück gibt es nur, feines Klappcover, schweres Vinyl, und die Musik? "das vielleicht bisher eingängigste NADJA-Album, himmlische Melodien & wuchtige Arrangements, wundersame Drone-Sphären und geisterhaft gehauchter Gesang, im Spannungsfeld & Treffpunkt von Metal, Post-Rock und Sphären-Drone... Wiederveröffentlichung / Neu-Arrangements der Stücke einer CDR von 2003." [Drone Rec info] "Basses Frequences is damn proud to finally give the vinyl treatment to what is certainly Nadja's finest full-length recording. "Corrasion" has Nadja in full doom mode; it is an extraordinary mix of slow, heavy, and layered guitar riffs and the ultra-dense-yet-melodic-drones that have become Nadja's trademark. "Corrasion" has been re-mastered for the vinyl release and includes an exclusive, extended version of the title track as well as the outstanding "numb" to expand on the 2007 CD release. Strictly limited to 400 copies on 180 gram black vinyl ( and 100 on 180 gram blue vinyl - sold out ) packaged in a full-color gatefold sleeve." [label info] www.bassesfrequences.org https://bassesfrequences.bandcamp.com/album/corrasion 2009 €25.00
Numbness CD "music genres: doom metal, shoegaze, ambient, experimental. Nadja is a duo of Aidan Baker (guitar, vocals, drums, piano, flute) and Leah Buckareff (bass, vocals, violin) from Toronto, Canada. Their sounds have been called "ambient doom"; music that combines elements of metal, shoegaze, ambient, post-rock, experimental, and neo-classical. They have released numerous albums on such labels as Alien8 Recordings, The End Records, and Conspiracy Records and have toured extensively throughout the world including appearances at noted festivals like Roadburn, FIMAV, and SXSW. "Numbness" is a special collection of tracks, compiled by Nadja themselves choosing "shoegaze-oriented" tracks among their vast previous titles. Most of the tracks were originally released on very limited vinyls or rare compilation albums. Among the 6 tracks, total time of over 70 minutes, there are two vocal-centered tracks which reveals the influence of My Bloody Valentine. The last track "Numb" is an amazing 21 minute drone noise track as if synchronizing dark psychedelia of Mono and Mogwai. A perfect compilation for Nadja beginners to Nadja freaks. Packaged in a special cardboard sleeve in black ink. Just Awesome! NUMBNESS track listing and info: 1) Veil of Disillusion originally released on Shadows Infinitum compilation (Crucial Bliss 2004) 2) God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen originally released on The Holiday Masterpieces compilation (Blod Records 2004) 3) Long Dark Twenties (slightly extended 7" version) originally released on 7" (Anthem Records 2008) 4) Alien In My Own Skin unreleased 5) Time Is Our Disease originally released on Infernal Procession... 3-way split with Atavist and Satori (Cold Spring Records 2008) 6) Numb originally released on Base Fluid 'net release (Foreshadow Productions 2007)" [label info] http://happyprince.jp 2009 €16.00
Queller CD "Second edition on CD. Strictly limited to 450 copies housed in our luxurious, sturdy tip-on mini-LP gatefold packaging. Features slightly modified and expanded artwork, including a silkscreened poster and die-cut bellyband. Nadja’s absolutely unique and incredible splicing of extreme doom, shoegaze and experimental music that the Canadian duo – currently based in Berlin – likes to call dreamgaze is of such beauty and heaviness that it can crumble skyscrapers and mesmerize souls in absolute bliss and colossal majesty. Calmer and more structured when compared to their other albums, Queller is their newly crafted masterpiece where the band explicitly dives back into the new wave and post-punk era to combine those influential sonorities with an amalgam of immense and gorgeous sludging heavy guitar constructions. As the mastermind Aidan Baker wisely says, “Killing Joke, Joy Division and Wire reinterpreted through the Nadja spectrum”. The ethereal, lush and slow-motion heaviness of tracks like “Dark Circles” and the crushing blasts of “Lidérc” per se are true statements of an album of epic proportions. Nadja at its absolutely best. Fantastic artwork by Error! Design and mastering by James Plotkin." [label info] www.essence-music.com 2016 €15.00
  Labyrinthine CD Four extended tracks of atmospheric doom sludge, each with a different guest vocalist: Alan Dubin (Gnaw, Khanate), Rachel Davies (Esben & The Witch), Lane Shi Otayonii (Elizabeth Colour Wheel), & Dylan Walker (Full of Hell). Nadja's latest full-length offering Labyrinthine, recorded during the pandemic and concurrently with their Southern Lord album Luminous Rot, finally sees a CD release on the band's own label, Broken Spine. Labyrinthine explores themes of identity and loss, monstrosity and regret, extreme asceticism, the differences between labyrinths and mazes, taking inspiration from Haruki Murakami's Killing Commendatore, Ursula K. LeGuin's The Tombs Of Atuan, and Victor Pelevin's reinterpretation of the story of the minotaur and Ariadne, The Helmet Of Horror. While this might be Nadja's heaviest, doomiest album to date, it is unique in the band's extensive catalog as each track features a guest vocalist: Alan Dubin, legendary American vocalist from O.L.D., Khanate currently Gnaw; Rachel Davies, vocalist and bassist from the British band, Esben & The Witch; Lane Shi Otayanii, a Chinese multi-media artist and vocalist in Elizabeth Colour Wheel; and Dylan Walker, American vocalist from grindcore/noise band Full Of Hell. Nadja has released numerous albums on many different underground labels -- Alien8 Recordings, Daymare Records, Robotic Empire, Hydrahead Records, Gizeh Records, and Important Records, to name a few. The duo has toured extensively around the world, including performances at such festivals as SXSW, FIMAV, Roadburn, Donaufest, Le Guess Who, Incubate, and Unsound, and has shared the stage with such artists as Earth, OM, Khanate, Tim Hecker, Ben Frost, and Godflesh. Mastered by James Plotkin, artwork by HLG. Released on CD by Broken Spine & limited cassettes by: Katuktu Collective (US), Cruel Nature Records (UK), Bad Moon Rising (Taiwan), Adagio830 (Germany), Muzan Editions (Japan), UR Audio Visual (Canada), Pale Ghoul (Australia), & WV Sorcerer (France/China). brokenspineprods.bandcamp.com katuktucollective.bandcamp.com/album/labyrinthine (US) cruelnaturerecordings.bandcamp.com/album/labyrinthine (UK) badmoonrising.bandcamp.com/album/labyrinthine (TW) adagio830-records.bandcamp.com/album/labyrinthine (DE) muzaneditions.bandcamp.com/album/labyrinthine (JP) uraudiovisual.bandcamp.com/album/ur-046-labyrinthine (CA) paleghoulrecordings.bandcamp.com (AUS) wvsorcerer.bandcamp.com/album/labyrinthine (FR) Aidan Baker - guitars, drum machine Leah Buckaeff - bass Alan Dubin - vocals Rachel Davies - vocals Lane Shi Otayonii - vocals Dylan Walker - vocals https://nadja.bandcamp.com/album/labyrinthine 2022 €13.00
NADJA & TROUM Dominium Visurgis CD "TRANSGREDIENT RECORDS TR-07 RELEASE DATE : 15. May 2010 8-PANEL DIGIPACK w. METALLIC COPPER PRINT FORMAT: FULL-LENGTH CD PLAYTIME: 49:30 min FILED UNDER: DRONE NADJA & TROUM "Dominium Visurgis" This is something you could call a "dreamlike liaison". When the Canadian "avant metal / drone doom"-duo NADJA (who name TROUM as one of their early influences) and the German post-industrial / experimental drone pioneers TROUM (years ago active as MAEROR TRI who are still discovered by many drone-fans these days) combine their exceptional styles, they form something even vaster as usually known from them. These three long collaboration tracks were recorded as a result of a spontaneous improvisation in April 2008 "live in the studio" near the Weser-river in Bremen, Germany, and suck you in with their powerful & emotional drone melancholy that works in many micro-& macrocosmic ways, using electric & acoustic guitars, bass, accordeon, drum-machine & voice." [label info / press release] "In dieser ersten Zusammenarbeit von Troum (Baraka[H] + Glit[s]ch) aus Deutschland und Nadja (Leah Buckareff + Aidan Baker) aus Kanada schaffen beide Bands etwas, dass vielen derartigen Kollaborationen eben nicht gelingt: den eigenen Stil beizubehalten und gleichzeitig offen zu sein, zentrale Elemente des musikalischen Partners gleichberechtigt einzubinden und eine echte Mischung entstehen zu lassen. Sei es aus dem Wissen darum, dass dies nur in einer direkten Konfrontation geht, sei es aus anderen Gründen und allein der glückliche Zufall hat es bewirkt, Troum und Nadja haben mit „Dominium Visurgis“ keine e-mail Zusammenarbeit auf CD gebannt, sondern sich tatsächlich im Studio getroffen und die vorliegenden drei Stücke in enger Zusammenarbeit komponiert und aufgenommen. Denn nur die dann entstehende derartig intensive Interaktion (und eigentlich: die daraus resultierende gegenseitige Inspiration) lässt eine Atmosphäre entstehen, die noch über die eigentliche Musik hinauszustrahlen scheint, den Wirkungskreis der Musik erweitert. Bei aller Qualität, die die VÖs beider Bands sonst haben, „Dominium Visurgis“ ist etwas besonderes. [Hellmut Neidhardt aka "N", Unruhr] "...Ein dröhnender, träumender Urozean, ein Fluss ohne Ufer, brandet, brodelnd und pfeifend, an Urgestade, die erst noch im Werden sind. Das Pfeifen lässt einen für einen Moment das Schreien von Phantommöven über der summenden, wogenden, atmenden Panthalassa halluzinieren. Der ‚atmende‘ Blasebalg erklingt nun auch als webendes Akkordeon neben klingelnden Gitarren. Die beiden Duos sind komplett zu einem Quartett verschmolzen. Man starrt gebannt auf, ach was, durch seine Schuhe hindurch beinahe bis zum Nabel der Welt." [R. Dittmann, Bad Alchemy] "To some these two names represent the absolute top of the drone music, and who am I to disagree? Troum, the follow-up to Maeror Tri and Nadja, the duo of Leah Buckareff and Aidan Baker, have both presented themselves through a line of releases, displaying the finer sense of drone music, through the use of guitars, accordeon, voice, rhythm machine effects and such like. In April 2008 they did a spontaneous improvisation in the Troum studio, which now is released on CD. This is indeed the top of their scene: guitars are set to play drones, through the use of e-bows, through lots of sound effects, loop stations and all such like. They do the usual slow built up towards a mighty crescendo, fly through air, and then land safely through a long decrescendo. Headspace music. Perhaps not the kind of music for a sunny day like it is today, but more for grey, rainy days. They are mood musicians and one has to be open to these particular dark moods, but if you open up then they are more than willing to transport you through these dark woods. An excellent work, hardly to believe one of some afternoon improvisation." [FdW/Vital Weekly] "... On albums like this, one again realizes just how many shades Troum’s self-repeating, subtly changing structures contain. When joined to parts provided by other talented artists, they shine with incredible power and enchantment, which one has to admire, totally captivated. This is precisely what happens on Dominium Visurgis." [Jiituomas, kuolleenmusiikinyhdistys.net] 2010 €12.00
NADJA / AIDAN BAKER Nalepa LP + CD NADJA | AIDAN BAKER NALEPA After their highly acclaimed album “Luminous Rot” (Southern Lord), Nadja continue their body of doom drone shoegaze works with the instrumental album “Nalepa”. On “Nalepa” Nadja are joined by Ángela Muñoz Martínez on drums, also known as one of the percussionists in the always evolving Hypnodrone Ensemble. The three musicians teamed up for a live in studio session at Funkhaus Berlin, after being invited by Jake Muir, with the aim “that we might do something different in the studio than we normally would ourselves” (Aidan Baker). The former DDR broadcast studio with its giant studio rooms, is the perfect place for an epic drone doom session, providing enough room for all the sounds to sprawl. “Nalepa” features the studio session, divided into six parts, or two parts on vinyl. The first half is a pushing forward doom beast, featuring repetitive themes, while the second part comes with a more experimental seething approach, like a volcano close before eruption. The album has its own haunting libertine mood and sounds different, compared to other Nadja albums featuring drummers. Have a listen on soundcloud. In a follow up session some weeks later, Aidan Baker also recorded a solo album at the illustrious Funkhaus Berlin that is featured as a CD, which comes with the Nadja LP. “Nalepa” by Aidan Baker features four dynamic tracks, moving somewhere between ambient, drone, jazz and space rock. All sounds on that record are played live by Aidan. He played drums over live-looped guitar and bass patterns, to create four exceptional energetic pieces. “Nalepa” comes in an edition of 250 copies on LP+CD. Black vinyl with printed labels and reverseboard printed sleeve on 300g cardboard. The CD is housed in a reverse board printed cardboard wallet. Both formats are featuring artwork by øjeRum. Nadja – Nalepa LP Funkspiel I (8:25) Funkspiel II (10:50) Funkspiel III (6:58) Funkspiel IV (12:25) Funkspiel V (7:54) Funkspiel VI (5.24) Aidan Baker – Nalepa CD Radioplay I (10:46) Radioplay II (11:24) Radioplay III (8:38) Radioplay IV (11:18) Credits: Nadja Aidan Baker (guitar) Leah Buckareff (bass) Ángela Muñoz Martínez (drums) recorded live in studio 01.02.2020 at Funkhaus Berlin by Jake Muir, Matias Santos and Olívi Mamberti Aidan Baker Aidan Baker (guitar, bass, drums) recorded live in studio 27.03.2020 at Funkhaus Berlin by Jake Muir, Matias Santos Technical: LP + CD / Limited to 250 copies LP comes on black vinyl / reverseboard printed sleeve / printed labels CD comes in wallet / reverseboard printed sleeve https://www.midirarecords.com/release/md-100-nadja-aidan-baker-nalepa/ 2022 €32.00
NADJA / PICASTRO Fool, Redeemer LP "Fool, Redeemer is semi-collaborative split release between Canadian acts Picastroand Nadja. Having toured together and shared a stage many times over the course of the last half-decade, the two bands thought it was time to finally release something together. Nominally a split album, with side A featuring tracks by Picastro and side B a sidelong track by Nadja, members of both groups contributed to each other's songs. And a certain mutual influence seeped into the compositions, Picastro's dark-folk appearing at the beginning of Nadja's track "Venom" and Nadja's trademark drone/dirge tendencies lending a heavier, noisier edge to Picastro's songs. Nadja is a Canadian duo made up of Aidan Baker (guitars, vocals, woodwinds, drum machines) and Leah Buckareff (bass, accordion, vocals), alternately based in Toronto, Canada and Berlin, Germany. The project, originally formed in 2003, creates music which has variously been described as 'Ambient doom,' 'Dreamsludge,' and 'Metal-gaze,' combining the atmospheric textures and elements of shoegaze and experimental/ambient music with the heaviness and volume of metal and noise. Nadja has toured extensively around the world and released numerous recordings on such labels as Alien8 Recordings, Hydrahead Records, Beta-Lactam Ring Records, Blocks Recording Club, and their own fledgling label, Broken Spine Productions. Toronto-based Liz Hysen's (guitars, vocals, piano, violin) Picastro has existed in various forms with various players (including members of Final Fantasy and Rockets Red Glare), since 1997. Currently active as a trio, Hysen is joined by Brandon Miguel Valdivia (drums, percussion), and Nick Storring (cello, guitars, woodwinds, electronics). Picastro creates stark, brooding, discordant song which draw on folk and psych traditions, noise, and post-rock. The band has released four full-length albums on such labels as Pehr Records, Polyvinyl and Blocks Recording Club." [label info] http://brokenspineprods.wordpress.com "A split release by Nadja, well-known in the pages (and outside I guess) and Picastro, a Canadian group around Liz Hysen's (guitars, vocals, piano, violin), with a fleeting membership, but here a trio of Hysen with Brandon Miguel Valdivia (drums, percussion) and Nick Storring (cello, guitars, woodwinds, electronics). Nadja of course is a duo Aidan Baker (guitars, vocals, woodwinds, drum machines) and Leah Buckareff (bass, accordion, vocals). There is however an overspill between both bands as they play on each other tracks - semi-split.There is something to say to put both of them on a disc together. Picastro plays music that is also 'heavy', but also with an interest for folk like music, psychedelics and post-rock. The violin and cello wail about, and the band plays on. This CD is cleverly constructed: via two psych rock pieces we arrive at 'Darnia', a more meditative piece of percussion and strings and a mellow song for acoustic guitar and strings in 'A New Souls Benediction'. The tinkling takes over for 'Venom' - the twenty-three minute excursion carried out by Nadja, which starts out with equal low strumming and whispering vocals, before slowly erupting into a wall of sound which is the trademark of Nadja, complete with drum overload towards the end of the piece. It marks a full and complete album." [FdW /Vital Weekly] 2011 €15.00
NAGAMATZU Neural Interval do-CD " ”Neural Interval” collects all the three tape albums from Nagamatzu: ”Shatter Days” (1983), ”Sacred Islands of the Mad” (1986) and ”Igniting the Corpse” (1991). It also adds ”Space Shuttle Shuffle” 12'' (1987) and an unreleased version of ”Lift Off” as bonus tracks. It gives you an insight into still little known work by this excellent duo (or trio at times) who should have been a mainstay of 4AD, Beggars Banquet or Factory back in the 1980s. We hope that thanks to the vinyl reissues of Dark Entries and Zoharum CD anthology the band will achieve such a kind of recognition they truly deserve. The CDs are housed in a digipak with an additional poster booklet inside. This edition is strictly limited to 500 copies. ”Neural Interval” was mastered by Łukasz Miernik and George Horn. The whole production process was overseen by Michał Porwet." [label info] www.zoharum.com 2014 €14.00
NAM-KHAR & SIELWOLF Oppressfield CD "Ebenfalls mit Sielwolf sind Nam Khar vor etwa zwei Jahren mit „Atavist Craft“ an meinem akustischen Horizont erschienen, an dem sie sich auch mit der Kollaboration mit „Alone in the Hollow Garden“ problemlos halten konnten und an dem sie nun mit „Oppressfield“ erneut erklingen. Mit „Platinum insert“ beginnt das Album zunächst sehr leise, doch etwa in der zweiten Hälfte des Track drängt sich der unbarmherzige Maschinenrhythmus, der zunächst wie entfernt zu hören war, in den Vordergrund, bis er gegen Ende wieder verebbt. Die nun folgenden „Cron tabs“ erinnern mich an einen Dialog zweier Maschinen über eine Klangebene hinweg, die voller elektrischer Spannung zu sein scheint und stellenweise nach den grandiosen „Elph“ klingt. Etwas mehr als sechs Minuten sorgen hier abwechslungsreiche Sounds dafür, dass keine Langeweile, sondern vielmehr fantastische Bilder vor dem vielbeschworenen Auge aufkommen. Der Titeltrack des Albums beginnt wieder leiser und erneut kommt es einen so vor, als geschehe etwas in der Entfernung und womöglich in einer Art Nebel. Dann schneidet sich ein irgendwie ‘nagelnder’, recht schneller Rhythmus durch das Ganze: Weiterhin erklingen klagende (?) Töne in der Entfernung, doch – meditative (?) – Ruhe kann sich beim Hörer hier nur einstellen, wenn er die komplexen werdenden und immer noisigeren Geräusche integrieren kann. Auch diese indes verklingen und der Hörer wird in in die „Failed states“ entlassen: Hier schlagen harte Töne durch eine rauschende, wehende Hintergrundfläche und ich meine sogar, gegen Ende etwas wie Schreie zu hören. Der Titel tut ein Übriges, angenehme wie beunruhigende (Klang-)Landschaften zu evozieren. Der sich langsam entwickelnde und längste Track „Crypt trap“ führt diese Atmosphäre gewissermaßen fort: Es gibt zunächst genug Stille, um auch die leisen Töne zu hören, doch wird man auch immer wieder mit Maschinenklängen konfrontiert: Rituale? Attacken? Irgendetwas scheint sich auch bei „Exorial“ durch eine dystopische Landschaft zu bewegen, Genaueres mag sich jeder selbst vorstellen oder sich auch ganz auf die Musik einlassen. Dazu fordert einen Sielwolf & Nam Khar hier immer wieder auf: Quasi mitzugestalten, wenn sich die Stücke zusammensetzen, hinzuhören, versuchen zu verstehen und sich sicher auch immer wieder auf seine Assoziationen zu verlassen. Kein „easy“, sondern irgendwie „analytical“ listening, dabei nicht nur „oppressive“, sondern „impressive“ und daher Freunden des nicht einlullenden, sondern ansprechenden und aufweckenden „(Industrial) Ambient“ zu empfehlen." [Flake777, Black Mag] 2017 €12.00
NECKS, THE Mosquito / See through do-CD "On the one hand, they seem to be releasing too many CDs - on the other, they are so different and so good you really need to have them. This time they offer two long pieces, both exquisite, of which Mosquito is, in my opinion, destined for greatness. Since the demo arrived in the office it's been on continuously. Minimal, with every sound perfectly imagined and perfectly placed, it achieves almost total timelessness. Essential." [label info] www.rermegacorp.com "The Necks: are they inspiring or monotonous? This is the most commonly asked question with regard to their music. Unlike traditional jazz groups, this Australian trio opts for single songs that span the entire radius of their discs. The question, though, of whether they're inspirational or not is insignificant, because they've been regarded as the most sought-after jazz musicians in all of Australia. Between the three of them -- Chris Abrahams (keyboard/piano), Tony Buck (drums), and Lloyd Swanton (bass) -- they have contributed to over 150 albums. That's quite an impressive number, considering how reasonably unknown they are; or perhaps that's only here in the United States. Nonetheless, I have a feeling that the critical acclaim of their last few albums has slowly started to diminish this oversight. Their latest offering, which is a double-disc set called Mosquito / See Through, should fit in nicely with the rest of their catalog and continue to gather new supporters. They will simultaneously keep those existing fans happy since their basic concept has not been too heavily deviated upon. In the same fashion as the rest of their work, these two songs are slightly over an hour long in duration. And like a Robert Ryman painting, The Necks present them in very minimal fashion. First in line, "Mosquito" is a hypnotic song that moves along at a leisurely pace until slight variations are allowed to flourish from within. Reflective piano is the highlight of this song, but there are gentle pulses of bass, a sometimes non-existent ride cymbal, and hanging wood chimes to accompany it. The inexorable subtlety of Abraham's piano is enough to lull you into a mindless state of sedation. Only during Talk Talk's best moments have I heard the piano sound so warm and charming. "See Through" is the next long piece. Unlike its predecessor, it has oddly been broken up into several segments. During certain moments, there is at least a one-minute gap of complete silence before we are reintroduced to the song again. That aside, it's unquestionably the more interesting of the two songs. Where "Mosquito" focuses on lighter situations, "See Through" is a much darker and complex affair. The sound of jazz is almost completely concealed, and in its place we are left with stimulating atmosphere. The piano is still the focus here, and the drums, once again, fill in the empty space. Heaven only knows where this album will take you if you allow it to do so. My only suggestion is that it not be behind the wheel of a car, for fear that you'll fall asleep and hit a road sign. I imagine that if you ever have the chance to take a train ride where you can view the countryside, Mosquito / See Through would be the ideal soundtrack. It has a way of blending in with its surroundings while never becoming overwhelming. And though most people might label this music as pretentious and self-indulgent, I would argue that it's some of the most stirring minimal jazz I've heard." [Tiny Mix Tapes] 2004 €18.00
NEHIL, SETH Bounds LP On “Bounds”: „Bounds“ consists of 11 electro-acoustic compositions, whose first versions were constructed by Seth Nehil for the “Concerts in the Dark” series at Moers Festival 2012 curated by aufabwegen. In 2013 Seth did the final versions and added some new pieces. “Bounds” is an exciting trip through sound manipulation, treated drums and very detailed textures. The overall atmosphere is dark but the way the sounds are arranged and connected speaks of an almost scientific clarity. Bounds is a new, more synthetic direction for Seth Nehil. Originally composed for a festival of music in complete darkness, these pieces treat recorded sound as infinitely malleable and transformable. Starting with acoustic percussive sources (drums, gongs, cymbals, vibraphones, etc.), recordings were warped beyond recognition, exploring the juncture between rhythm and pitch. Sonic impulses were subjected to micro-editing techniques to produce new, alien forms which were then fragmented into grains, pulses and tones or built up into rhythms, loops and cycles. Convolution reverb was used extensively to color timbres and place sounds into unusual spaces. These eleven short tracks are full of expanses, interruptions and repetitions. These are dynamic compositions that sound like nothing else. Seth Nehil – Biography 2014 Seth Nehil (b. 1973) is a sound and video artist making concerts, performances and installations. Nehil meshes manipulated acoustic recordings, voices, instruments, granular synthesis and field recordings into richly detailed spaces. His compositions draw equally from classic musique concréte, film sound design, hip hop production and noise to form a uniquely hybrid sonic world, full of off-kilter rhythms, sudden junctures and explosive bursts. “…A shapliness that’s unusual in abstract music… hugely satisfying.” – Brian Marley, The Wire In addition to recorded and live-mixed sound, Seth Nehil has collaborated with dance and video artists, choreographers, and theater companies to produce original sound scores, multimedia performances and video installations. He has created his own original performance pieces, bringing together multi-screen video, multi-channel recorded sound and live performers to explore quasi-narrative spaces between cinema and dance. He is currently conducting research for an experimental documentary on the use of “attack therapy” and the historical roots of child behavior modification. Seth Nehil has released over 15 albums of experimental sound on international labels, including Sonoris (France) and Senufo Editions (Italy). He has given concerts across Europe, Japan and the US. Nehil received an MFA in Music/Sound from Bard College. He teaches sound design, sound art and video at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, Washington State University and Portland State University. www.sethnehil.artdocuments.org www.aufabwegen.com 2014 €18.00
NERELL, LOREN Taksu CD „Fourth World Ambient“ nennen die liner-notes die Musik von LOREN NERELL, der wieder aus einem reichen Fundus an field recordings schöpft, die er auf BALI gemacht hat... Musik in „ewiger Gegenwart“, ohne Anfang oder Ende, ohne Vergangenheit oder Zukunft, als reine atmosphärische Schwingung. “ Loren Nerell's association with Soleilmoon Recordings dates back to his 1996 release "Lilin Dewa", as well as the more recent "Indonesian Soundscapes". "Taksu" takes cues from both of these albums, blending environmental sounds and Balinese instruments together into a glowing, amorphous cloud of spine-tingling sound. Two musicians come to mind when listening to "Taksu": Jon Hassell, who popularized Fourth World music, and Brian Eno, the father of Ambient music. While sounding nothing like the work of either artist, Loren Nerell's music takes inspiration from both of them. His music is evocative of mist-covered mountains and slow-motion waterfalls, so it owes something to Hassell. But it also pays tribute to the patient genius of Eno, with its endlessly evolving atmosphere, in which there is no beginning or end, only the present. The crowning touch on this project came from Steve Roach, stalwart Ambient Music pioneer and long-time friend of Loren's, who came in to provide the final spacial treatments and mastering of the CD. In his liner notes for the CD booklet, Djam Karet founder Chuck Oken, Jr. describes the music as a "sound pool" that the listener is immersed in. His words couldn't be more accurate, and it's no exaggeration to say that putting this record on is like waking up at sunrise, deep in the tropical Balinese rainforest, surrounded on all sides by the sounds of the jungle. To describe ambient or atmospheric music as "a soundtrack" is clichéd, but it's really the best way to talk about "Taksu". It truely is a very special album, and one that asks to be seen, not merely heard.” [label info] 2003 €12.50
NERVE NET NOISE Meteor Circuit CD Japanisches Duo mit einem dynamischen Mix aus Stille und analog-synthetischen Sounds, die sich in seltsamen Klick- und Pfeif-mustern anordnen. Weder harsch noch ambient, klingt teils nach mutierten Vögeln, .. oder so... extrem in seiner Konsequenz und oft hart an der Grenze zum Erträglichen. IN SEARCH OF EXTREMISTS-POP? here you are.. "Following two albums on Kazunao Nagata's cult Zero Gravity label and last year's stunning "Various Amusements" CD on Hronir (and, of course, the infamous "160/240" on Meme), "Meteor Circuit" is the first Nerve Net Noise CD published in the US. Nakamura records more accessible techno-pop under the alias Tagomago. He also records using the alias Toki-Meki Science for Nobukazu Takemura's Childisc label. The band describes their sound as "electric noise music, but not academic, not mere noisy sound. We think that our music is not so much noise music as new kind of pop music"." 2003 €10.00
NEUROSIS Fires within Fire (white vinyl) LP "Of all that humankind has inherited through our ancestry, no single language has transcended every age as powerfully as music. For those few who channel that inheritance of sound today, none have wielded its command and authority like Neurosis. Showing their discontent with convention from the very beginning, Neurosis revealed what would become an instinct for transformation in sound and scope. With each release, the sound became interchangeable with vision. A vision of the conscious and unconscious coexisting in an audial spectrum that challenged not only the constraints of what listeners expected but of the listeners themselves as beings. Over the collective’s past ten albums, Neurosis have invited listeners to join them on the path their music carved. Going beyond the remarkable, Neurosis became unforgettable. Throughout the last 30 years, the journey of their music has found the band relishing the unpredictable and embracing the unknown possibility of where the music was capable of taking them. This year finds Neurosis taking their most dominant step yet with their eleventh full-length, Fires Within Fires. Three decades in the making, Fires Within Fires is a testament both to the history and future of Neurosis. Striking the band's signature balance between light and dark, beauty and repulsion, Fires Within Fires gives due to its predecessors while progressing forward into the unfamiliar and formidable. Featuring exquisite album artwork from the renowned Thomas Hooper and the stellar recording work of the group's longstanding engineer Steve Albini, Fires Within Fires is at once a beautiful and forbidding work of mastery. For members Scott Kelly, Steve Von Till, Jason Roeder, Noah Landis, and Dave Edwardson, the album is a welcomed companion to what’s now been a 30-year-long trek into the infiniteness of sound and sight coalescing into consciousness. An all-encompassing reminder that transfiguration in sound remains their most commanding and inimitable strength, Fires Within Fires is the next powerful step towards a destination that has long been and continues to be the very heart of "becoming" for the mighty Neurosis." neurotrecordings.com 2016 €33.50
NEZNAMO Aiwyâstô CD "If somebody still doesn't know, behind the Neznamo project stands the Moscow-based musician Dmitry Shilov who stepped on the path of ritual ambient music in 1996 under the stage name of Unknown. After releasing five albums on the "Strely Peruna" ("Perun's Arrows") label, the project temporarily fell in a lethargic sleep but woke up again in 2006 with a renewed name and approach. As Neznamo Dmitriy has released several mini-albums on his own label Moonsun Productions, as well as a number of collaboration works with several other acts from the Russian drone underground: Misery, Bardo, Lunar Abyss, Siyanie, etc… For those interested in the project's roots and branches we can give some more keywords: Temnozor', Medve Na Meche, Peal Grim, Magickal Things. "Aiwyâstô" is Neznamo's first full-length album and first "factory-pressed" CD. The album consists of one 42-min long composition recorded in a deep transcendental state. Covered in ornaments of unhasting vibrations, flickering and parallel sound layers, dense string drone permeates the whole track. This music is for lovers of deep inner self diving. Towards the depths of pitch-dark sound where one can see all forms dissolving in emptiness and being reborn by it again in an endless game of space and imagination." [label info] zhb.radionoise.ru/eng/releases.html "The shadowy figure behind Neznamo is the same Muscovite who offered up the Peal Grim cd from a couple months back. That was the album sporting the disclaimer "This record is not recommended to listening for depressively inclined persons" and Aiwyasyo is a blackened ambient record of a similar disposition. This album is not as exasperatedly bleak as the Peal Grim album, but it makes for another really amazing entry in the canons of contemporary Russian dark ambient works. Synth, guitars, and spectral emanations may or may not be in the mix for the bleak electrical pools of Aiwyasto. Sawtooth hums and buzzes gird the semi-melodic fugues that swirl, rumble, and brood over 40 minutes into this overwhelmingly sublime expanse of Ur-drone majesty that's not all that far from the likes of Troum / Maeror Tri, Aidan Baker's more turbulent solo works, and the cosmological grimness of Inade. Very nice, indeed." [Aquarius Rec.] 2015 €13.00
NIBLOCK, PHILL Exploratory I LP Matière Mémoire present the new work of Phill Niblock: EXPLORATORY. One of the most beautiful and powerful works that Phill Niblock has ever offered. Phill reinvents and probes the oceans of drone music possibilities deeper than ever. This piece has been performed and recorded for over a year by many great musicians around the world, under the supervision and direction of Phill: Arditti String Quartet, David Watson, Lucy Railton, Phoenix Ensemble Basel, David Maranha, Ben Richter, David First, Andre Goncalves, and many more. Matière Mémoire is now releasing the first two volumes by Arditti String Quartet, David Watson (Vol. 1) & Phoenix Ensemble Basel (Vol. 2). https://www.matiere-memoire.com/page-d-articles/phill-niblock-exploratory-vol-1 SOUNDOHM: Phill Niblock "Exploratory l & II" (2LP in bundle / CD) Only a handful of years after their launch in 2018, the Belgian Imprint, Matière Mémoire, has quickly ascended to become a label to watch. Focused on releasing new works by some of the most important figures in contemporary experimental music - Carlos Casas, Susana Santos Silva, Torbjörn Zetterberg, Hampus Lindwall, Charlemagne Palestine, Jim O'Rourke, Oren Ambarchi, and numerous others - their catalog features a thrillingly diverse array of ambitious sounds. Among the artists offered a more dedicated focus within central Matière Mémoire’s output, is legendary minimalist composer Phill Niblock. 2019 witnessed the label’s release of Music For Organ, followed by his collaboration with Franck Vigroux and Kasper T Toeplitz, BestiaIRE, in 2020, and then Browner his contribution to their ambitious MMXX ‎series, later that year. Now they’re back with a stunning double bill of LPs from Niblock, Exploratory I and Exploratory II, comprising a sprawling set of sonic exploration performed and recorded over the course of an entire year by Arditti String Quartet, David Watson and Phoenix Ensemble Basel. Issued in limited editions on transparent and clear red vinyl respectively, as well as in a CD edition that collects both, in his 88th year Niblock remains as visionary and ambitious as he ever was. A composer, filmmaker, photographer, and tireless supporter, Phill Niblock is a pillar of American experimental music. For the last fifty years, there hasn’t been a time when he wasn’t there. Few haven’t, in one way or another, been touched by his music - carefully crafted, constrained works of durational tonality and shimmering harmonics - and his many efforts. For much of his career, Niblock has been focused on live performance acoustic phenomena, refraining to release his music in recorded form until the early 1980s, and then at an incredible slow and considered pace. Consequently, while more constrained that most artists of his generation, his output has been defined by a remarkable sense of clarity and depth, with each album album amounting to near perfection. Thankfully, over the last five years, pace of releases has begun to quicken, nearly doubling his discography during that period. Matière Mémoire’s latest double batch, the LPs Exploratory I and Exploratory II, takes us deeper into the incredible world, further expanding our access to his work for acoustic instruments, first unveiled by seminal albums like Nothin To Look at Just a Record, Niblock For Celli / Celli Plays Niblock, and Four Full Flutes, and increasingly returning to occupy a central place in his practice during recent years. Exploratory I and Exploratory II belong to a larger body of extended works performed and recorded, under the close supervision and direction of Niblock for more than a year, by a remarkable cast of international players including, but not limited to, Arditti String Quartet, David Watson, Lucy Railton, Phoenix Ensemble Basel, David Maranha, Ben Richter, David First, and Andre Goncalves. The first instalment, Exploratory I, features two distinct iterations - each offered a full side of the LP - one by Arditti String Quartet - the famous UK based ensemble founded 1974 by Irvine Arditti, Levine Andrade, Lennox Mackenzie and John Senter, focussed for nearly half a century on supporting contemporary composers by rendering their works in the closest possible way to their original vision - and the second by David Watson, the seminal New Zealand, New York based, experimental musician and bagpiper. Like so much of Niblock does, the LP unveils a startling sense of scope - especially via the interplay and contrast by the renderings - from incredibly constrained means, each built from layers of sustained tones that reconfigure the notions of drone in real time. Imbued with remarkable tension and intensity, subtle shifts of harmonics bend time, moving at such a glacial pace that it’s sometimes impossible to know if they are tricks of the ear, creative considerations embedded within the work, or byproducts of mental and physical states of the players, with Arditti String Quartet’s side occupying a lower register and thicker sense of range, standing in contrast to Watson’s, that bristles in its spareness in ways that only his instrument can produce. Of the three rendering, Exploratory II has what is arguably the broadest timbral range. Created under Niblock’s supervision by Phoenix Ensemble Basel - currently one of the most important contemporary music groups based in Switzerland, running for more than 20 years with a cast of roughly 25 musicians in its ranks - the half hour long piece (also the longest of the three featured across the Matière Mémoire’s two LPs) swells with oceanic depth, moving subtly between the appearance of stasis, beneath which remarkable power and diversity lays, and moments that build with tension, like a storm about to explode. With Niblock’s work over the last 40 years occupying such a high bar of quality, it’s impossible to have favorites or designate one as better than the next, but Exploratory I and Exploratory II are easily some of the most exciting of his recordings to have emerged in recent years. Imbued with the power, depth, and range that only acoustic instruments can unleash, they are a stunning immersion into of world of brilliant creativity via the constraints of durational tone. Issued by Matière Mémoire in two editions of 300 copies - Exploratory I on transparent vinyl and Exploratory II on clear red vinyl, as well as in a CD edition that collects the material from both LPs, they’re impossible to recommend enough. 2021 €26.00
  Boston/Tenor/Index LP Boston/Tenor/Index, presents for the first time some of the earliest works by the American composer Phill Niblock, including three never before released pieces: "Index" (1969), "Tenor," and "Boston III" (both from 1972). Until now, it's been impossible to encounter Niblock's compositions from earlier than the 1960s, a reality thankfully rectified by the long overdue publication of this Boston/Tenor/Index LP on Alga Marghen. "Tenor" (1972) represents the first evolution of Niblock's musical thought towards the aesthetics of microtones, overtones, and drones which the composer would develop in following decades. The piece was recorded by the photographer Martin Bough on tenor saxophone and gradually dubbed back and forth by the composer in his New York studio. "Boston III" (1972) was recorded at the Intermedia Sound studio in Boston with Rhys Chatham (flute, voice), Martin Bough (tenor saxophone), and Gregory Reeve (viola, voice); the composer himself also contributed with his voice. The LP also includes "Index" (1969), an improvised sound performance by the composer himself. Guitar (both its body and strings), fingers and fingering fuse in a vehement action around which barely listenable sounds and resonances vibrate. Considering the extended pulsation as an organic blend of impulse, rhythm, drive, strength, vitality and passion, the end of this sole solo in Niblock's complete oeuvre is not defined by the fixed duration of the piece but as the consequence of the tiredness of the performer. The music changes according to the loudness of playback. The interaction of the upper harmonics changes especially, with much richer overtone patterns being produced at louder levels. Edition of 450 copies, including an insert with liner notes and photo. [press release] ######### "Alga Marghen returns with what might just be their most historically significant release to date, “Boston Tenor Index”, comprising three, never before released compositions - “Index”, from 1969; and “Tenor” and “Boston III”, both from 1972 - by Phill Niblock, that represent some the earliest works in his catalogue to have ever appeared. Truly stunning in audio terms, and an absolute revelation toward understanding how Niblock arrived where he did a few short years down the road, it’s easily one of the best things we’ve heard all year. Over the course of nearly three decades of activity, the Italian imprint, Alga Marghen, has continuously cast light into the shadows of historical sound practice, offering particular focus to underappreciated artefacts at the juncture of visual art, sound-art, experimental music, and sound-poetry. With each subsequent release, the label has helped to reform our understanding of the 20th century, and the voices that made it what it was. Over the years, they’ve brought forth an unprecedented range of early and archival material by seminal composers like Charlemagne Palestine, Walter Marchetti, Philip Corner, Henri Chopin, Robert Ashley, David Behrman, Max Neuhaus, Eliane Radigue, and numerous others. While surprising to think, until now they have yet to touch upon the towering legacy of Phill Niblock. Their latest LP, “Boston Tenor Index”, takes a deep dive into some of the earliest work ever released by the American composer, comprising never before released works three works in his catalogue, “Index”, from 1969; and “Tenor” and “Boston III”, both from 1972. Creatively striking, while casting crucial light on Niblock’s beginnings as a composer, it’s a truly remarkable body of sound and easily among the most important archival releases that we’ve encountered so far this year. After roughly a decade of working as a filmmaker and photographer, during the late 1960s, while collaborating with the Judson Dance Theater in New York, Phill Niblock embarked upon a new career as a composer. Over the coming decade, he would begin to slowly assemble a singular body of works that layered microtonal drones - meticulously recorded from acoustic instrument - that culminated as some of the most remarkable gestures of tape collage and musical minimalism to appear during the second half of the 20th century. With a small number of exceptions, the earliest of these to appear as albums - “A Trombone Piece”, “A Third Trombone” (“Nothin To Look At Just A Record”, 1982); “Second Two Octaves And A Fifth”, “First Performance” (“Niblock For Celli / Celli Plays Niblock”, 1984), "P K", "S L S", "P K & S L S", "Winterbloom Too" (Four Full Flutes, 1990) - were composed and recorded during the late 1970s. Until now, it’s been almost impossible to encounter Niblock’s compositions from earlier than that period, a reality thankfully rectified by the long overdue appearance of the works that comprise “Boston Tenor Index”. We jumped for joy when we saw this one announced, and are still overjoyed, numerous listens in. Alga Marghen has done us a great service with this one, bringing some of the earliest known pieces by Phill Niblock to our ears. As far as archival releases go, "Boston Tenor Index” is as good as it gets and as essential as they come. A revelation of the highest order." [Soundohm] 2023 €22.50
NICHOLS, PASCAL Nihilist Chakai House LP "Blow ‘Love Sweet Love’ out yr ass. What the world needs now is more solo drumming albums! Pascal here is happy to oblige with Nihilist Chakai House; two sides of one-man drumming action that swings like a goofy magnetic pendulum. History lesson: Pascal Nichols is a fully fledged ceramist, beard-wearer and drummist in ozone-scraping duo PART WILD HORSES MANE ON BOTH SIDES along with non-beard Kelly Jayne Jones. For this disc he’s all alone and riffling the pack to better feel the texture. Nihilist Chakai House Side One: It’s crystal clear like an ECM joint yet huffed with a sweaty Javanese energy. The bronze pots get thunked bad and vibrate, shifting units of time, Bene Gesserit style. A massive station clock weeps small brass cogs until the stutter of fudge-footed mice scramble all smeary, dazzling with dry-snare. Between times you hear the most amazing sonorous cowbell work this side of a Trouble Funk block-jam tailing off into resinous wooden bumps. Nihilist Chakai House Side Two: Opens up all hot, with frittering and hummingbird-quick trap work. Ed Blackwell loans Pascal his sticks (made from hollow heron’s legs) adding that extra venerable edge to the membranous drones and crisp celery crunch. At one point hard hands, rough as sandpaper, jigger and jolley moans out the drum skins creating a Tie-Fighter dogfight. This segues into a resonant metallic chitter; all chipped chrome and dangerous ricochet. Pascal chooses to close this beautiful record in a dignified manner...amplified wool being wound round a Djembe in freezing fog. The taut fibres crush the breath out the goblet bowl, the drum speaks! File alongside those Chris Corsano bootleg CD-Rs, Eli Keszler’s Endgrove tape and Paul Hession’s Giant Soft Drum Set." [label info] www.discombobulaterecords.com 2014 €18.00
NIEDOWIERZANIE Paradies CD " 'Paradies' is the latest Niedowierzanie album. This is the first CD release in rich discography of the project, after three vinyl releases and two cassettes. It is a unique project with a Polish name run by a Frenchman who lives in Berlin. The sounds presented on Niedowierzanie albums are equally cosmopolitan. The influences of modern classical, electronic music and folk can be heard here. This album is a dramatic soundtrack, ranging from slow and lazy patterns to abstract noise crescendos and drowning melancholic loops, using mostly cello, accordion and mandoline along electronic treatments. It was composed and recorded in Berlin, as a memory of the south, the Mediterranean coast, the lost wanderings under the burning summer sun. This is probably the most cinematic and melodramatic Niedowierzanie album to date. The CD is housed in gatefold sleeve in the vein of Japanese-style vinyl replica and is strictly limited to 300 copies. The album is mastered by Demian (O Paradis)." [label info] www.zoharum.com 2015 €12.00
NILSEN, BJ [BJ NILSEN] Focus Intensity Power LP For his inaugural LP for Moving Furniture Records the Amsterdam based Swedish sound artist BJ Nilsen turns his intense aural focus and compelling narrative power away from his well-known and much lauded predilection for field recordings of organic nature or the urban built environment. The five pieces presented on this record capture Nilsen during a short residency he did in the Fall of 2017 at Willem Twee Electronic Music Studio in Den Bosch, The Netherlands – five documents these are of improvised sessions using modular synthesizers, tone generators and test and measurement instruments. Nilsen, ever the exploratory sound experimenter, de facto exchanged his wax rain coat for the white laboratory mantle. On Focus Intensity Power he lets the machines rule supreme. Although BJ says there's no underlying major concept to the record, the quintet of recordings is tied together to form a sturdy sonic package, tied with a red thread of analog pulse, droning waves and subtle and surprising noise interventions. Washes of natural wind or condensed bustle of London traffic as we have come to know and highly appreciate from his previous works have found their machine-counterparts in sessions that retain the flâneur's touch of slowly moving, roaming open ears with keen interest in texture and timbre. And at the same time these indoor improvisations yield a tremendous poetic freedom for both artist and listener; boundless walking through layers of pure sound – freed from time and place and space. Sven Schlijper-Karssenberg, July 2018 credits released August 24, 2018 Music by BJNilsen recorded at Toonzaal, 's-Hertogenbosch, NL. engineerd at Odd Phasting and Echoes, Amsterdam, NL. Mastered by Jos Smolders at EARLabs. Published by Touch Fairwood Music. Artwork by Zeno van den Broek. https://movingfurniturerecords.bandcamp.com/album/focus-intensity-power "From his first dark ambient project Morthound which had releases on Cold Meat Industry during the early 1990s, BJNilsen moved over to the Hazard moniker in the late 1990s, and from around 2004 onwards opted to record under his own name. Generally speaking, over the last 15 years BJ’s approach has been characterized by an experimental approach to sonically processing various natural and urban-based field recordings. However with Focus Intensity Power being the solo new album, it marks a decided shift away from the use of field recordings as it is a purely studio-based album, which according to the promo notes provides: ‘documents of improvised sessions using modular synthesizers, tone generators and test and measurement instruments’. Sonically this album has greater alignment with early Hazard albums than recent solo output and is certainly welcomed from these quarters. The 15-minute album opener Beam Finder is an elongated exploration of minimalist unceasing mid to lower range bass tones, coupled with micro-tonal static and machine idling drones which appear late in the track. This approach continues with The Sound Of Two Hands, although this is slightly more forceful and varied with the introduction of a ‘ticking clock’ element and other minimalist scattered electronics. The relatively short Flattened Space embodies a muted sub-orchestral tone blended with mechanical menace, while Table of Hours fits cleanly within a dark ambient drone frame of reference. The final of the five tracks, The Limits of Function, starts slow but gradually elevates with layered machine drones, and the second half of the track is driven forwards by a central rhythmic loop. In essence Focus Intensity Power is an effective celebration of sustained tonal atmospheres, which amounts to evocative sounds in their purest form. Sublime." [Noise Receptor] 2018 €16.50
NILSEN, BJ & STILLUPPSTEYPA Passing Out CD Dritter Teil der nordischen "Drone & Alkohol-Intoxikation"-Trilogie, die den Zustand des Wegtretens zwischen Wachheit und Dämmerzustand klanglich adäquat wiederspiegelt; im tiefen Drone-Morast erscheinen Traumbilder, -gedanken & akustische Sequenzen der Realität auf. In paradoxer Weise ist man dann in der Lage, sowohl unbewusste wie bewusste Geistes-Inhalte zur gleichen Zeit wahrzunehmen...(sagen die Erzeuger dieses Albums). PASSING OUT ist ein One-Tracker von fast 70 Minuten, tiefgrummelnd-bassig und sonor und von mysteriösen, atmend-ächzenden Sounds durchzogen.... "The first chapter found the drink. The second came after a night of intoxicated shouting. The third chapter is inevitable: Passing Out. The Nordic sound artists BJ Nilsen & Stilluppsteypa have authored the last component to a trilogy of isolationist compositions for barren field recordings and lumbering electric drones, thematically linked in the psychotropic effects of alcohol. In doing so, they have issued a brief statement in defense of their research: "It's been four years and three studies, Passing Out being the final. Even in its most general, colloquial usage, Passing Out indicates the occurrence of a state that is incompatible with active behavior. It is possible that the individual could experience both consciousness and unconsciousness at the same time while encountering Passing Out." Yes, Passing Out is a crepuscular recording, with the flickering of twilight further dimmed by the distant Arctic sun in wintertime and the blackened numbness of too much drink. With one singular track that spans 60 minutes, a nearly constant thrum and rumble of monochromatic low frequencies casts a grim pall upon the precisely dialed-in modulations and vibrations. Spectral guitars, maudlin tunes from haunted radios, angrily growling voices, and field recordings of wind-whipped snow and ice bury themselves deep amidst these subharmonic drones. All of these tease at the edge of perception, sculpting the narrative of the drone into a vehicle for unhinged expressionism of varying degrees of horror, melancholy, beauty, and oblivion. The Swedish born BJ Nilsen defines his work as "focused upon the sound of nature and its effects on humans, and the perception of time and space as experienced through sound." He has numerous recordings on Touch and has collaborated with the likes of Chris Watson, Christian Fennesz, and Z'ev. The Icelandic citizens Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson and Helgi Thorsson are Stilluppsteypa, whose electronic abstractions engage absurd theatrics that mar the pristine surface of minimalism..." [label info] "....The complete and total isolation of the music, the long passages of seemingly no action (there is just one piece, clocking it at 68 minutes), with then a sudden break, a melody filters in, the radio starts humming and field recordings - that backbone of so much in Vital Weekly and certainly here - make this an album of not just pure drones or just processed field recordings, but the strange elements thrown in, give this album a stranger, almost alien feel to it. If it's the equivalent of passing out is a bit hard to say: the act of passing out on alcohol prevents you from remembering anything. This is however their best album to date and makes a strong trilogy." [FdW / Vital Weekly] "...Deep resonant vibrations abound, with some creepy breathing in your ear whisperings that may be those Leif Elggren vocals that Benny was talking about. Gradually, all of these deep drones and shadowy overtures glide into a slumbering descent. But the Icelandic weirdoes in Stilluppsteypa couldn't just let the album drift away without their absurdism forcing through the door, as they blurt with a clinical repetition of blooping electronics smashed and grabbed from Raymond Scott circa Manhattan Research. It's an unsettling climax to the album, but one that works brilliantly through Stilluppsteypa's expert use of electro-acoustic black humor. But it's drone that dominates the album, as angelic wash and devilish rumble collude to end this magnificent album. Oblivion never sounded so good. Passing Out is beautifully packaged with letterpressed and silkscreened artwork. Very nice." [Aquarius Records review] www.helenscarsdale.com 2008 €13.00
NLC / EISENLAGER / OCCUPIED HEAD / WILFRIED HANRATH Thing CD-R In 2022, attenuation circuit starts a new series of four-way split albums called THING. The aim is to provide a medium for exchange and presentation of a great variety of artists. As each artist spreads the copies to their network, listeners also get to know the other artists featured on the same disc. The title references the fact that the CDs are physical objects – things! – but also refers to the 'thing' or 'ding' in old Norse and other Germanic languages, which designates the place of a popular assembly or the assembly itself and thus alludes to the 'meeting-place' character of the albums on (or around) which the four artists and their audiences meet, if only virtually. With the second instalment of the THING series, attenuation circuit presents four artists that offer their various, but always rather deep and spacious takes on ambient. EISENLAGER have previously released download albums on attenuation circuit; both Occupied Head and Wilfried Hanrath have released on the label and were also featured live at attenuation circuit's “re:flexions sound-art” festival. In addition to these three German-based artists, Nouvelles Lectures Cosmopolites from France make their first appearance on the label with their contribution to this compilation. A continuous presence in the international experimental music underground for decades, Julien ASH of NLC first inspired label head Sascha Stadlmeier to open attenuation circuit – up until then only a release platform for his own music – to other artists in 2010. Therefore, attenuation circuit is very happy to welcome Nouvelles Lectures Cosmopolites to the label roster with this new track in their new duo line-up of Julien ASH and Alois L., which started in 2021 after NLC had stopped their activity for more than a decade. https://emerge.bandcamp.com/album/thing-2 2022 €8.00
NON TOXIQUE LOST (NTL) Chrrroooooom ! CD "NTL are one oft the most important bands of the German Industrial scene of the 1980's. Most of their albums were released as cassettes only - six of those can be found on this CD. All material here has never seen a release outside these tapes: "Made on Cuba", "NTL", Rekonstruktionen", "Tavo Ctas Esna", "Ware11" and "Wladiwostok 111984". Compiled by Sea Wanton, this CD is filling an essential gap in the band's discography. Very harsh Industrial sounds from the Golden Age of German 1980s, traces of Einstürzende Neubauten and Sprung aus den Wolken. A perfect companion to the SBOTHI CD released in October this year - both featuring Achim Wollscheid. Limited to 300 copies only." [label info] www.klanggalerie.com 2010 €15.00
NORTHERN VALENTINE The Distance brings us closer CD Band aus Philadelphia mit drei (!) Gitarristen (sowie Synths & Streicher), die sehr subtilen & warmen, fast "flüssigen" Gitarren-Drone-Ambient machen mit leichter experimenteller & geräuschhafter Note, Anklänge an LABRADFORD, ULTRASOUND, ULTRA MILKMAIDS, WINDY & CARL.. "Northern Valentine is husband & wife Robert & Amy Brown along with friends who join them from time to time. They have been writing & recording music since 1997 & have released material previously on acclaimed label Gears of Sand as well as on their own label Baresound. We are glad to have them added to the Silber roster. They are from Philadephia, Pennsylvania & they love to play live shows. Depending on the performers, live shows can range from quiet and meditative drones to loud & fuzzy instrumental post rock, often within the same set. Recommended if you like: Labradford, Windy & Carl, Ennio Morricone, Eluvium, Mogwai, Seefeel, Earth, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Spacemen 3" [label info] "So this is one of those records where the cover totally gives away what’s hiding inside. These Philadelphia drift-heads sent us this disc a few weeks ago, and we were totally blown away. The music so nicely reflects the cover photograph: beautiful, expansive oceanic horizons, almost glowing with a looming grayness. With keyboards, violin, three electric guitars and a bass, this five piece really hone in on a super liquidity, an organic, fluid type of drone composition. Their third album out of four, The Distance Brings Us Closer resonates with long, lush tones and delicate melodies that seem to blend and form chords in mid air. Always moving and turning like fog creeping along the forest floor, Northern Valentine has a distinct sound that kinda reminds us of a more darkened and coastal Windy and Carl playing with Rameses III in some giant cathedral. Very dark and mysterious, the record travels through blissed out walls of trance inducing drones and into more textural noisy Fennesz-like atmospheres. Though they call themselves a post-rock band, the guitars and instruments used are so dripping with reverb and delay that it might be more accurate to describe Northern Valentine as a dark and drifting ambient group. At least that’s how they sound on this particular record, as word on the street is their other albums have drums and are more propulsive and less drifty. Either way we dig what they’re doing A LOT, and couldn’t wait to share it with all of you! If you like anything Type records related or that recently reviewed Elegi, you’ll love this too! Completely and utterly recommended!! " [Aquarius Records review] www.silbermedia.com 2009 €12.00
NOX Opus Unending CD Croatian artist Jurica Santek joins the Winter-Light label with his project 'Nox' and the release of his 'Opus Unending' album. 'Opus Unending' is traditional dark ambient, focused on low, sub tones with touches of industrial and horror recordings. Downtune and lo-fi, the feel shifts more towards that of the original dark ambient and death industrial artists from the early period of these genres. The project was born in 2019 as a collection of previously recorded experimental and field sounds. The album is composed as a randomisation of those sounds that were carefully collected for that specific purpose; later to be used for the construction of an entire album. The main focus is on dark, isolationist soundscapes but also as music without distraction, that can be used as a background meditative for various purposes. The aim is to reach a fluid dark atmosphere that is pleasant and meditational to listen to, but that is also having dark and unnerving moments. Lovers of dark ambient, will be familiar with Jurica's 'Aegri Somnia' project, having released two albums on the Cryo Chamber label. He has also recently released a pure dark ambient album 'Dead Pact', on the much respected Kalpamantra label, under his Efil project. The album was recorded between 2019/2020 in Zagreb/Čakovec, Croatia. All tracks written, produced and recorded by Jurica Santek. https://winter-light.bandcamp.com/album/opus-unending 2020 €13.00
NULL, K.K. Atomik Disorder CD Very powerful new work for the NEUROSIS-Label, ultra-fast pulsating harsh elecronic patterns, fiercing sound-effects, metallic clanks, abrasive ambience-fields, manic percussion.. this is Industrial for the new Millenium ! “From the mind-eye of KK Null, a sonic warfare battling for future human consciousness. Fans of Scorn and Merzbow, join ranks now. The latest offering from the legendary and prolific KK.Null, renowned for his solo works and his "progressive hardcore trio", Zeni Geva (which has produced more than 10 albums, recorded two Peel Sessions for the BBC). Over the course of his 20 year career, KK Null has produced collaborative works with musical innovators like Steve Albini, Merzbow, John Zorn, Fred Frith, James Plotkin, Jim O’Rourke, Keiji Haino, Seiichi Yamamoto, Jon Rose, Atau Tanaka, Zbigniew Karkowski and Masonna.” [label info] 2003 €15.00
Oxygen Flash CD "Richtig beschäftigt habe ich mich nie mit KK Null aka Kazuyuki Kishino aus Tokyo, Japan, allerdings ist mir sein Schaffen bei Zeni Geva bekannt. Umso überraschter war ich dann, wie gelungen "Oxygen Flash" ist. Vielleicht liegt es daran, dass KK Null nach über 20 Jahren Beschäftigung mit Gitarrensounds und über 100 Veröffentlichungen nun einen Schritt hin zu mehr elektronisch animierten Soundkollagen getan hat. Gebrochene Rhythmen, zersetzt von fieseren Noise Attacken und minimalistischen elektronischen Klangspielereien sorgen dafür, dass "Oxygen Flash" eine spannungsgeladene, abwechslungsreiche Angelegenheit ist, die man bei den ersten Hördurchgängen kaum durchschaut. Zu undurchsichtig, gebrochen und vielfältig sind die tonalen Experimente, angesiedelt in den weiten Feldern von Electronica, Noise, Drone und Ambient. Störgeräusche wie Detonationen, Knacken, nerviges Fiepen schrecken ab, aber lassen immer wieder offenbar werden, wie erstaunlich zugänglich "Oxygen Flash" trotzdem gehalten ist. Zwar ist die Aufmachung des Albums nicht sehr spannend und aufwändig gestaltet, aber die Visualisierung der Klangwelten auf "Oxygen Flash" schafft sie dennoch: Man fühlt sich an fremde Welten aus alten Science-Fiction Movies erinnert. "Cosmic noise maximal/ minimalism", treffend formuliert." [Creative Eclipse] "K.K. Null (a.k.a. Kazuyuki Kishino) was born in Tokyo, Japan. The composer, guitarist, singer, mastermind of Zeni Geva, and electronic wizard is one of the top names in Japanese noise music and, in a larger context, one of the great cult artists in experimental music since the early '80s. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with musical innovators such as Merzbow, Z'ev, Chris Watson, Daniel Menche, Keiji Haino, Seiichi Yamamoto, Jon Rose, Bill Horist, Philip Samartzis, Alexei Borisov, Zbigniew Karkowski, James Plotkin, Jim O'Rourke, Fred Firth, John Zorn, to name a few. After playing the guitar as his main instrument for some twenty years, K.K. Null has gradually moved toward a more electronic approach. In recent years, he has concentrated his efforts on his solo and collaborative recordings, exploring the outer territories of electronica via intense, clashing waves of noise, structured electro-acoustic ambience, broken-down rhythmics, scattered pitch sculptures, and droning isolationist material which one could loosely describe as cosmic noise maximal/minimalism. At present, K.K. Null has appeared on more than 100 titles. The nine-track Oxygen Flash is the most recent addition to this remarkable catalog." [label info] www.neurotrecordings.com 2008 €13.00
Akumu CD "Japanese experimental music legend Kazuyuki Kishino now presents his new CD album entitled Akumu (Nightmare). On this album Kazuyuki tests his own limits into the darkness and focus all his artistic skills on creating a personal cinematic audio nightmare. Akumu is like being caught in a spiderweb that sticks and creeps to your skin, there is no escape. Akumu is a truly imaginative and terrifying electronic album that gives us a new and unique edge on the artist and sound master Kazuyuki Kishino's universe. This is the dark masterpiece of K.K. Null...Deluxe 6 panel digipak comes with beautifull stylish design/photography by Salt." [label info] "Akumu finds KK Null once more dragging the listening into a heady, shifting and highly effective audio movie for the mind with his distinctive mix of electronica, ambience, noise matter, field recordings & heady cinematics. As the albums artwork of frozen spiky organic matter and thawing firns suggest this has a very cold, barren yet alien beauty to it. And to my mind the album it rather brought to mind a soundtrack for travels through a strange isolated high radiation zone- like something from Tarkovsky Stalker but with more of twisted sci-fi angle. A few examples of this come with the opening track that switchers between eerier gong/ bell tone laden gothic ambience & sudden seering sound oveloads. This pictures in ones mind a deserted & overgrown market square that's still strangely ringing with the towns bells, with the sudden power-up’s and boil tones akin to been engulfed by radiation high spots that make your Geiger counter go mad. Track five is an building and kaleidoscopic audio slice of cold, mechanical, gone-haywire electro dread and intensity bringing to mind walking through a deserted car factory that’s starts operating on it’s own. As Null buildings up a detailed & at times jarring sound tapestry of purring, buzzing, scuttling, static hits, circuit board mournfulness and stale radiation heavy drone feeds. Really through out the album walks wonderful between tension, dread, jarring moments and general very heady and detailed audio scaping. Another masterfully structured and built slice of internal soundtracking from KK Null which with repeat listens reveals more sonic facets and deeper atmospheric emersion." [Roger Batty, Musiquemachine.com] www.hentai-vital.com 2008 €15.00
  Extropy Ground Zero CD "In Extropy Ground Zero, Kazuyuki Kishino displays an intriguing approach towards the genre of experimental noise. Deviating from his usual genre style, he unleashes new material of percussive blast beats which take dominance in the 2 tracks (one studio and one live) contained within. The juxtaposition of electronic percussive noise tempo against layers of interweaving swooshes and electronic bleeps provide an interesting ambience of sound, which strongly reflect KK Null’s unique creative process in noise experimentation." https://4ibrecords.com "KK Null is a legend in the noise/power electronics scene. Moreover, he is a master of chaos creation. We have for you, his latest work courtesy of 4ib Records, Extropy Ground Zero. From 4ib Records: “Kazuyuki Kishino displays an intriguing approach towards the genre of experimental noise. Deviating from his usual genre style, he unleashes new material of percussive blast beats which take dominance in the 2 tracks (one studio and one live) contained within. The juxtaposition of electronic percussive noise tempo against layers of interweaving swooshes and electronic bleeps provide an interesting ambience of sound” Track 1, “Extropy Ground Zero” starts off with some rapid, distorted conic bullets. What follows is absolute madness and chaos. There are so many things going on and so many dimensions and dynamics, it’s ridiculous…but in a good way. Trust me on that. After the rapid distorted cyber-strikes and a series of what sound like computer glitches, we then find ourselves behind a wall of harsh noise and again, those distorted rapid percussive beats. KK then mixes this with some upper-frequency harshness. Then after a short, dark ambient break… utter bloody chaos erupts; the sonic equivalent of breaking glass and fierce storms; the pinnacle of all that I just mentioned combined. That then tapers off like rain at the end of the storm and the storm begins again just before 9:00. Very destructive, uncomfortable cyber-noise madness. Great stuff and really unique in terms of noise artistry. I’ve always been a huge fan of noise albums that were recorded live. They just add other dimensions in terms of experimentation/improvisation for the artist and sonic dynamics vast vs. claustrophobic for the listener. Track 2, “Tokyo Ground Zero” is live. If you thought track 1 was maddening, you haven’t heard anything yet. Ok, I’ll step out on a limb and say it. It’s tracks like “Tokyo Ground Zero” that make Merzbow look like a drone artist. Now, please don’t get me wrong, I love Masami’s work and no one can deny his place in noise as a true pioneer..no one. But KK Null is really pushing some boundaries here, like serious goose bump-inducing chaos and sonic bloody anarchy. Super-speed distorted cyber-blast beats, glitches and blips, multi-dimensional harsh noise walls and shards and a whole other pile of chaos – shifting, speeding, slowing abruptly and uncomfortably. I think I even heard some buried samples and discordant piano strikes. It’s really very challenging to describe. It’s like a category 9 hurricane with so many things in the path of its destruction-lifting and dropping, tossing and smashing. Not many noise tracks give me chills but this one sure did. Really… you’ll just have to hear it. If this track indicates the direction KK is going, he really nailed a cornerstone on this one. I really can’t even find the words other than that. I think we’re going to interview KK soon. We’ll have to find out how the hell he pulled that track off live. I can’t imaging being in that venue." [Noise Beneath the Snow] 2017 €13.00
NULL, K.K. / Z'EV Brombron 17: Extra Space, Extra Time CD "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." [label info] www.kormplastics.nl "Next and 17th album in the Brombron-series is an interesting collaboration between two legends of the noise and industrial-scene. Z'EV (aka Stefan Joel Weisser) has been around in the experimental music scene for a long time already. His brand of scrap-metal and found object percussion originates back to the early seventies. Creating his own instruments from various metals and plastics, he has placed himself at the forefront of the movement that became known as "industrial". He was among others one of the described forefront industrial pioneers in the legendary "Industrial Culture Handbook" (1983). In the more recent years, he has returned to working with electro-acoustic manipulations. Fellow artist at the extrapool studios is one of the top composer's of Japanese noise scene. Starting his career in the early 80's by performing guitar improvisations in the clubs and streets of Tokyo, Kazuyuki Kishino a.k.a. K.K. Null continued by collaborating with among others Merzbow and others from the extreme noise scene of Tokyo. The two quite different noise artists has come out with a very interesting album as the result of their studio-days at the Extrapool. The expression on the album "Extra space, extra time" seems like a very nice combination of the style of both artists. Percussion patterns derived from metal materials and other sorts of acoustic banging circulates hand in hand with rumbling noises changing between full throttle and subtle. What makes this release certainly interesting is the way that the twosome manage to blend noisy textures with handmade percussive patterns. Hordes of noise drones and pulses moves alongside the intense tribal drum patterns of Z'EV. The main parts of the six works of the album carrying the title "Extra space, extra time", opens slowly with distant sounds that builds over time until powerful drum patterns set in to create a trancelike atmosphere. Thus despite the abrasive nature of the album, the works has a great appeal thanks to the excellent rhythm textures created by one of Industrial music most steady-going percussion artists, Z'EV. A masterful collaboration on this one!" [NM/Vital Weekly] 2010 €12.00
NURSE WITH WOUND Huffin' Rag Blues CD "Nach Plattentiteln wie »Funeral Music For Perez Prado« oder »Livin’ Fear Of James Last« zieht es Steven Stapleton nun auch musikalisch in Gebiete, die von Drone und Industrial so weit entfernt scheinen, wie es überhaupt nur geht: »Huffin’ Rag Blues« (Jnana) nämlich präsentiert Nurse With Wound mit unerwarteter Schlagseite Richtung Lounge. Es handelt sich dabei um eine überaus humorvolle Angelegenheit, für die die dargebotenen Stilmittel recht ordentlich durch den Wolf gedreht wurden und nur selten die typische Verschrobenheit anderer NWW-Releases vermissen lassen. Der Umgang mit Funk und Exotica erfolgt so, dass die Musik wie ein schwülheißer Fiebertraum erscheinen kann – komplett mit Schmachtgesang und Tiergeräuschen. Gegenüber Stapletons besten Projekten der vergangenen Jahre – etwa dem hypnotisch monotonen »Salt Marie Celeste« (2003) – ist »Huffin’ Rag Blues« freilich ein ganzes Stück luftiger und letztendlich auch weniger gewichtig geraten: Zuweilen ist der Spaßanteil der vorliegenden Platte recht gewöhnungsbedürftig, erneuert zum anderen aber den Glauben an eine vordergründig unverbissene Kunstmusik." [Kai Ginkel / SPEX] "Nurse With Wound is the main recording vehicle for British musician Steven Stapleton. Since 1978, with collaborators such as David Tibet (Current 93), John Balance (Coil), Colin Potter and Matt Waldron (Irr. App [Ext]), Nurse With Wound has released dozens of albums that draw on nearly every genre of music. The only constant is that one never knows what the next album will sound like. Stapleton and Andrew Liles form the core of the band on Huffin' Rag Blues, and the direction to which they are heading is the lounge! Huffin' Rag Blues is unlike any Nurse With Wound album in recent memory as they veer into the space-age bachelor pad. Guest vocalists Lynn Jackson and Freida Abtan channel Peggy Lee, while Matt Waldron also lends his golden pipes to one song. This is truly exotica as imagined by the twisted genius that is Nurse With Wound." [label info] www.dirter.co.uk 2008 €15.00
Chromanatron pic-LP "Chromanatron is the new album from Nurse with wound, collages of no less than 5 albums by the mythical German band from the late 60s SAND. These five psyche-experimental-krautrock albums include their first oddity Golem, that NWW discovered a long time ago and represented straight away a great source of inspiration for him. A great dedication to Sand, and hat-in-hand, chapeau bas ! to Nurse with wound for this once again unique masterpiece. Chromanatron is part of the series INXODEM released by Rotorelief. It is a series of new albums from Sand as well as a reissue of their obscure and rare album Golem. This series of albums is called INXODEM, the series title having one letter for each album. Current 93 is also part of the project with When the may rain comes, cover versions of the original track from Sand. All paintings and collages of the INXODEM series are created by Babs Santini aka Steven Stapleton." [label info] www.rotorelief.com 2013 €24.50
Chromanatron CD "Chromanatron is the new album from Nurse with wound, collages of no less than 5 albums by the mythical German band from the late 60s SAND. These five psyche-experimental-krautrock albums include their first oddity Golem, that NWW discovered a long time ago and represented straight away a great source of inspiration for him. A great dedication to Sand, and hat-in-hand, chapeau bas ! to Nurse with wound for this once again unique masterpiece. Chromanatron is part of the series INXODEM released by Rotorelief. It is a series of new albums from Sand as well as a reissue of their obscure and rare album Golem. This series of albums is called INXODEM, the series title having one letter for each album. Current 93 is also part of the project with When the may rain comes, cover versions of the original track from Sand. All paintings and collages of the INXODEM series are created by Babs Santini aka Steven Stapleton." [label info] www.rotorelief.com 2013 €15.00
Sinister Whimsy to the Wretched do-CD 2 x CD set in beautiful gloss laminated double digipac, with Babs Santini artwork. This set contains the long out of print albums, “Sugar Fish Drink” and “Large Ladies With Cake in the Oven”. Both discs are remastered by Andrew Liles. You will never hear these better. 2018 €17.50
Homotopy to Marie BOOK / 2 x CD Double-CD version includes 30-page metallic hardcover book (15 x 20 x 2cm) containing color and black-and-white art by Babs Santini (Steven Stapleton). Rotorelief present a reissue of Homotopy To Marie. the fifth album by Nurse With Wound, originally released in 1982. Music and sleeve created by Steven Stapleton. The album is "a step on from the Dadaist rock of Merzbild Schwet, with much use of tape manipulation and classical avant-garde techniques". The album, which combines tape edits with resonating gong tones and disembodied children's voices to create a sonic collage, is far removed from the harsh improvisations of the group's early albums. The title of the brief closing track derives from a passage from "Les Chants de Maldoror" (1869), a surreal poetic novel written by Le Comte de Lautréamont. This appropriation of a phrase from Maldoror is shared in common with the title of Nurse With Wound's debut album, Chance Meeting on a Dissecting Table of a Sewing Machine and an Umbrella (1979); both phrases appear in Lautréamont's work. The album was first issued on Stapleton's own United Dairies label on vinyl, cassette, and later in remastered compact disc including an extra track "Astral Dustbin Dirge". This masterpiece reissue is the official full, double album from the original recording sessions. The four tracks from the original LP are accompanied by additional recordings from the same period. 2018 €27.50
Homotopy to Marie do-LP Vinyl silver & black + deluxe metallic gatefold limited to 700 copies. Homotopy To Marie is the fifth album by Nurse With Wound, released in 1982, created by Steven Stapleton, music and sleeve. The album is “a step on from the Dadaist rock of Merzbild Schwet, with much use of tape manipulation and classical avant-garde techniques”. The album which combined tape edits with resonating gong tones and disembodied children’s voices to create a sonic collage far removed from the harsh improvisations of the group’s early albums. The title of the brief closing track derives from a passage from Les Chants de Maldoror, a surreal poetic novel written by Le Comte de Lautréamont. This appropriation of a phrase from Maldoror is shared in common with the title of Nurse With Wound’s debut album Chance Meeting on a Dissecting Table of a Sewing Machine and an Umbrella; both phrases appear in Lautréamont’s work. The album was first issued on Stapleton’s own United Dairies label on vinyl, cassette and later in remastered compact disc including an extra track “Astral Dustbin Dirge”. This masterpiece reissue, is the official full double album from the original recording sessions. The 4 tracks from the original LP plus additional recordings from the same period. This second, double album masterpiece in the Silver Collection of Nurse With Wound albums, is a technically better, crystal clear performance, in comparison to the original 1982 cut. 2018 €38.50
Opium Cabaret CD "Contains the full Opium Cabaret album plus an additional 40 minutes previously unreleased studio material. Housed in deluxe full colour digipack with new art by Santini. 4 tracks, 74 minutes. Nurse With Wound are Steven Stapleton, Andrew Liles & Colin Potter. 1. Floating Body 2. Sleep Sweeping Down 3. Pigment Drift 4. Zonked. Tracks 3 & 4 reassembled by Colin Potter & mastered at IC Studio, London 2021 REVIEW OF THE ORIGINAL OPIUM ALBUM FROM DISCIPLINE MAGAZINE (No. 2 albums of the year): Over two drone-afflicted tracks, this album harkens back to the moods explored and perfected in the drone masterpiece, Soliluquoy For Lilith. But rather than falling further down the endless spiral of Lilith, Opium Cabaret functions as a distorted simulation of a familiar experience. The loud, colourful, and psychedelic album cover (with NWW's signature collage work) seems fitting enough to represent a cabaret themed event. Although, a step inside reveals that the sounds present are a distant inebriated haze from any kind of conventional performance. This is a record that moves in slow motion. It unfolds into a floating nothingness to appease broken minds so drenched in opiates, time and place are but frivolous footnotes in a wider narrative of distorted reality. More than his other recent works, Stapleton's latest effort hits a similar note to that of his '80s output. Speaking of this era, as the surviving acts from England's esoteric underground of industrial stalwarts get fewer and fewer, the importance of new Nurse With Wound music cannot be understated. Contains the full Opium Cabaret album plus an additional 40 minutes previously unreleased studio material. Housed in deluxe full colour digipack with new art by Santini. 4 tracks, 74 minutes Steven Stapleton, Andrew Liles & Colin Potter 1. Floating Body 2. Sleep Sweeping Down 3. Pigment Drift 4. Zonked Tracks 3 & 4 reassembled by Colin Potter & mastered at IC Studio, London 2021 https://icrdistribution.bandcamp.com/merch/opium-cabaret-cd-nurse-with-wound 2021 €16.00
  Thunder Perfect Mind (special ed.) 3 x pic-LP One of the most essential works from Nurse With Wound, coming in an extended luxury 3x picture LP and 2CD edition, with many unreleased, alternative versions and songs. This album is the sister album to Current 93’s same titled album and it’s a crownjewel for collectors of avantgarde and experimental music. The original release of Nurse with Wound’s gargantuan “Thunder Perfect Mind” in 1992 coincided with that of Current 93’s homonymous genre-defining album. Legend has it that the gnostic name initially appeared to Steven Stapleton in a dream as the title of Tibet’s then still nameless upcoming album. Both records feature contributions from David Tibet, Colin Potter, Rose McDowall, John Balance of Coil, Alan Trench of Orchis and Joolie Wood amongst others. The title and the partial overlap of the personnel on both albums isn’t quite where the similarities end, both albums have since become undisputed milestones in their respective artists’ oeuvre. At the core of the definitive 2023 Infinite Fog re-release fully overseen by Steven Stapleton are the two original tracks “Cold” – a classic unsettling rhythmic Nurse collage-fest, significantly closer to jittery psychelia than the oft-cited “industrial feel” and the epic “Colder Still”, easily one of the most mind-bending breathtaking NWW compositions up to this point and well beyond. The track soothes ghostly atmosphere and reveals new surprises with every listen, not least of which is a direct link to its sister release from c93 as well as the first appearance of the signature rhythm loop that would mutate and re-emerge on several later tracks. The album also is the first full-length collaboration with genius sound wizard Colin Potter who has since become a ubiquitous sidekick both on Nurse albums as well as in live performances. As a follow-up to what is widely acknowledged as one of the best-loved exercises in drone of the 20th century “Soliloquy for Lilith”, TPM is a much more varied but at least equally rewarding experience. Infinite Fog are beyond pleased to be able to offer a significantly enhanced, remastered and extended 3 LP version for old and new fans alike. Songs: 1. Cold 2. Colder Still 3. Zero Neither No (Andrew Liles mix) 4. Crank 5. Steel Dream March Of The Metal Men 6. The Dadda’s Intoxication 7. Dead Cold 8. Cold (Miss Ticker Mix) 9. Spooky Loop 10. Alien 11. Colder Than 12. Colder Than 13. Bad Trip In Berlin https://infinitefog.bandcamp.com/album/thunder-perfect-mind 2024 €88.00
O YUKI CONJUGATE OYC25 CD + DVD "O Yuki Conjugate: 25 Years of Willful Obscurity Soleilmoon Recordings announce the release of “OYC25”, a CD & DVD celebrating a quarter century of UK ambient pioneers O Yuki Conjugate. In October 1982 the youthful O Yuki Conjugate played their first gig at the now-defunct Newshouse pub in Nottingham, England to seven people and a dog. Three incarnations, seven albums and 25 years later all members past and present got together in a West London studio to record an album in an afternoon as a way of marking this unlikely anniversary. The result- lovingly remixed by producer Rob Jenkins- is OYC25, five tracks of post-industrial, fourth world-ish, dirty ambience. OYC25 finds the band in fine form, with an abundance of dub-like bass, micro processed rhythms and plangent pads. The package includes a full length DVD of live recordings and rare footage that offer a unique insight into the band’s history, together with a complete alternate mix of the album. The whole thing comes in a gatefold sleeve beautifully designed by Fitzroy&Finn and includes a specially commissioned essay on the band by Dr Philip Shaw, Senior Lecturer in English at Leicester University. NOTE: The DVD is a region-free double-sided disc with NTSC on one side and PAL on the other. It is fully compatible with all DVD players worldwide. Find O Yuki Conjugate on the web at www.oyukiconjugate.com." [label info] www.soleilmoon.com "A while ago I had to move everything from one side to the room to the other to put a new floor in. Then then everything back. The first thing I did was re-connect the CD player and when I more or less blindly took the first CD from a pile, which I thought would be nice to play when dragging around piles of CDs and it turns out to be 'Sunchemical', a CDEP by O Yuki Conjugate. I liked it so much that I had it on repeat for a while that afternoon and even stuck it to my ipod. I am hardly surprised that this band exists twenty-five years when recording 'OYC25' in 2007 (I presume), as I already seen a note about a box set of works from the past. O Yuki Conjugate's releases over those years have not been many but they had truly a great sound of their own. An excellent combination of ambient music along the lines of Brian Eno and Jon Hassell, ethnic music percussion, a bit of industrial music and later on techno/house. The members were all active in various other bands such as A Small Good Thing and Sons Of Silence, and still get together every now and then to record. For this recording all members from the past and the present came together to record an album during an afternoon. This album was then mixed by Rob Jenkins into a very fine piece of music. The improvised nature of the music is all gone and replaced by a great mixture of slow percussive moods, ambient tapestries of synthesizer sounds, flutes and flowing guitars, feeding through a bunch of sound effects, and a bit of weirdness to prevent it from becoming a new age cliche. O Yuki Conjugate are still, after twenty-five years, masters of the genre. And as a bonus (?) there is also a DVD inside this package with archive material. We see O Yuki Conjugate on tour in 1993-1994 (like a home video tourist movie actually with excerpts from concerts and interviews), a great concert from 2007 of OYC as a trio and a video about the recording of the 'OYC25' album, which looks great too. An alternative mix really, and a fine interaction. In the extra (extra bonus?) section more live stuff, but then from 1982 (without film of course), a strange short comic like thing plus another alternative mix of 'OYC25' - which of course is a bit much if you first heard the CD, then saw the live recording of it, but just one day you might grab this and want to check it out - just like any good bonus on a DVD, I guess. A project loaded with just great music, and some funny background images. Just the sort of way a jubilee should be done." [FdW, Vital Weekly] 2009 €17.50
The Euphoria of Disobedience CD + object "Just one short decade after making their last album, UK ambient pioneers O Yuki Conjugate release a new CD called “The Euphoria of Disobedience” on their OYC Limited label. This calls for a celebration, and indeed an explanation. O Yuki Conjugate have released four studio albums and innumerable spin-off and side projects since their first gig in Nottingham in 1982. Currently in their third incarnation, the ever-youthful OYC have cancelled their hip replacements and are going all-out for superannuated ambient glory with their latest CD. Started in 2002 and completed in late 2005, “The Euphoria of Disobedience” explores an area OYC have christened “dirty ambient”, multi layered, hyper textural and distinctly gritty. Less obviously ethnic than previous OYC releases, the perfumed garden of Eno’s classic ambience is replaced by rough edges, noxious odours and abrasive textures. The result is a jagged beauty. “The Euphoria of Disobedience” is available only as a numbered limited edition of 1000 in a unique digipak fronted with a hand cast resin “ice” tile. With all its cracks and roughness it’s not like anything you’ve ever seen before. “The Euphoria of Disobedience” marks a new period of activity for OYC who are making their long deleted back catalogue available as downloads via iTunes and their own site (www.oyukiconjugate.com) as well as completing more releases in this unusual spate of activity." [label info] 2006 €20.00
  Sleepwalker CD First new album for over a decade Sleepwalker (auf abwegen aatp69) documents O Yuki Conjugate's recent live shows, doubling as a soundtrack to a film of the same name by founder member Andrew Hulme. Comprising 10 new tracks taken from 24 live shows in nine countries across Europe, Sleepwalker captures OYC's current musical direction, a blend of plangent keyboards, abstract guitars and electronic rhythms, presented in OYC's inimical style. About O Yuki Conjugate OYC were formed in Nottingham in 1982 on the wave of experimental music that emerged out of Post Punk. Quickly moving on from their early industrial and electronic influences, OYC began exploring the then-unfashionable 'ambient' genre, a lonely furrow they've ploughed ever since. Today OYC are in their 38th year and fourth incarnation based around core members Andrew Hulme and Roger Horberry. Over the years they've released nine albums of wilfully obscure ambient-influenced music that together have earned them literally hundreds of pounds - from Scene in Mirage (1984), Into Dark Water (1987) and Peyote (1990) through to Tropic (2017). Largely ignored in the UK, they've consistently found audiences in the US and Europe more receptive to their work. OYC have a somewhat relaxed work ethic and have frequently gone into hibernation for years at a time without ever going so far as splitting up. In 2017 they discovered they enjoyed touring and have played more gigs in the last two years than in the previous 20. They've also overseen a series of reissues on Emotional Rescue, as well as a remix 12" of their 1995 album track 'Insect-Talk'. attracting a new barmey army of listeners to their unique sound. Further reissues are planned. OYC have also found time to create their own alter ego Ocean Youth Club who have just released their first 12" on Barcelona's Hivern Discs. Produced by Colin Potter it's entitled 'Divided Self' and is a conceptual entity based around OYC's desire to explore their own alternate history. In other words, what they would have sounded like if, in 1984, they'd opted to take an electronic route instead of an ambient one. "Basierte das 2018 veröffentlichte Album „Tropic“ auf ursprünglich Mitte der 90er Jahre komponiertem Material, das später be- und überarbeitet wurde, handelt es sich bei „Sleepwalker“ um eine komplett neue Veröffentlichung. Aufgenommen während einiger Auftritte in den Jahren 2017 bis 2019, sind die auf „Sleepwalker“ enthaltenen Stücke Soundtrack des gleichnamigen Films (von Gründungsmitglied Andrew Hulme), über den es heißt, er habe eine „loose dream-like narrative“. Im umfangreichen Booklet (was – so profan es auch klingen mag – in Zeiten sinkender Verkaufszahlen leider keine Selbtsverständlichkeit mehr ist) finden sich neben Bildern aus dem Film Textpassagen, die verschiedene (Alp-)Traumszenarien zu beschreiben scheinen: „There is a building under water/As you look down into the water it rises up in front of you“. An anderer Stelle liest man: „Suddenly you’re very afraid“. Das Album beginnt mit „Clockish“, das mit seinen flächigen Sounds durchaus einen somnambulen Charakter hat.„In Flux“ integriert schleppende Beats in das Klangbild, „The Air Is Alive“ ist von flirrenden, flächigen Passagen geprägt. Auf „Eyelids Burn“ taucht eine Frauenstimme aus dem Äther auf; den Linernotes ist zu entnehmen, dass ein Stück von Keeley Forsyth integriert wurde, die demnächst ihr Debütalbum veröffentlicht und für die Hulme auch schon Videos gedreht hat. „Beyond Control 4“ beginnt mit einem Sprachsample, auf denen die Selbstverbrennung von Thích Quảng Đức thematisiert wird. Man hört dezente Pianotupfer und melancholische Flächen. Sehr schön ist „Forgotten Summer“ mit entrückten Gitarrenpassagen, Beats und Flöte (?). Auf „Black Magic Box“ dagegen sind die Geräusche fast nicht mehr wahrnehmbar: In der Ferne knirschst es, Wasser plätschert. Das abschließende „The Madness Below“ lässt irgendwo eine Trompete erahnen. Der letzte Satz aus dem Film, der im Booklet zu lesen ist, lautet “You are in motion”. Das ist vielleicht nicht die schlechteste Beschreibung der auf “Sleepalker” zu hörenden Musik, denn insgesamt sind die zehn Stücke so variantenreich, dass man fortwährend den Eindruck von Bewegung hat." [MG, African Paper] 2019 €14.00
O'ROURKE, JIM The Visitor CD "JIM O’ROURKE returns with his first new solo album since 2001. All the classic O’Rourke-isms are here, for you musicologist types: percolating banjos, smooth electric leads, organic, kicking drum sounds, the flickering of shakers to the left and right, mellow but ominous woodwinds, sounds that indicate “vintage” (before turning left and running out the door), sonic jokes, sonic tear-jerkers, sonic jerkoffs, all wrapped in spacious yet subtle left to right placement of everything in the picture. There’s moments of low comedy next to high drama and juicy melancholy with a seeming lack of regard for proximity. Plus—sudden surging rhythms! The Visitor is sort of “O’Rourke Does O’Rourke”—Jim re-contextualizing everything he’s done over the years, and throwing out the bullshit. The one thing you won’t hear is his voice—perhaps another O’Rourkian self-examination? Or maybe he’s just saving it for all the name-calling on his next album." [label info] "You probably can't find a musician with a wider breadth of sound, or more sonically varied releases, than Mr. Jim O'Rourke. During his vast career he's made everything from harsh noise to delightful pop, was part of one of the more influential groups of the last few decades, Gastr Del Sol, collaborated with Nurse With Wound, became a member of Sonic Youth, was at the forefront of the '90s experimental electronic renaissance, made some crunchy rock albums with his Wilco pal Jeff Tweedy, and the list just goes on and on. These days O'Rourke has slowed down his output considerably so a new release is both much more anticipated as well as a total unknown as to which side of Jim O'Rourke will be on display. With The Visitor, O'Rourke emerges with his first new full length in many years and wow the wait was worth it! The Visitor is one long track clocking in at around 37 minutes but it almost serves as some kind of early morning daydream song cycle with a spectrum of nuanced sounds that make us think of Van Dyke Parks arranging a John Fahey album or what a more restrained James Blackshaw record might sound like. The record starts with very hushed noodling guitar and as the piece goes on the sounds expand in richness as extra flourishes of bells, piano and other lushness flesh out O'Rourke's delicate guitar playing. Hard to avoid this cliché, but The Visitor really is a total journey, at first you don't really know where it's going and you're not sure if you necessarily want to follow but as the piece evolves it completely grabs a hold of your attention until you are lost in its slowly unfurling sonic voyage. Highly recommended!" [Aquarius Rec.] www.dragcity.com 2009 €13.00
To Magnetize Money and Catch a Roving Eye 4 x CD BOX "A four-hour work, recorded at Jim O'Rourke's studio, Steamroom, between 2017 and 2018. Detailed and delicate electronic layers, processed instruments, and ambiguous field recordings come together in a slow-moving, fascinating kaleidoscope with multiple reflections and wrong turns, always in a constant state of flux. The finely crafted art of subterfuge. The four-CD set To Magnetize Money and Catch a Roving Eye is a hypnotic, multi-faceted, labyrinthine piece which flows as slowly as a river while speeding back through memory. Composer, performer, and multi-instrumentalist Jim O'Rourke was born in Chicago in 1969. He is a veritable chameleon working at the frontiers of very diverse musical genres." [label info] "O’Rourke’s latest drone project, running to over four hours, is darker and more dreamlike than his Steamroom series, and one of his most meditative releases yet. For more than a quarter century now, Jim O’Rourke has been sculpting shadows. For some, the American musician is best known for the lush, psychedelic Americana of albums like Bad Timing, or his production work for bands like Wilco, Stereolab, and Sonic Youth. (He was also a member of the latter for a spell, during the Murray Street and Sonic Nurse years.) But since the early 1990s, beginning with albums like Scend and Disengage, the secret heart of O’Rourke’s music has been dedicated to pure electronic abstraction. To call this minimalist output “ambient” or even “drone” doesn’t capture the subtleties of his broad expanses of shimmer and hum. Listen carefully to these pieces, and it sometimes seems that he is molding feedback into storm clouds, or milking frequencies out of thin air. In recent years, O’Rourke’s drone activities have begun to assume center stage. His practice appears intense, even monastic: He typically devotes five or six hours a day to recording on the Serge, an arcane modular synthesizer from the 1970s; he might spend weeks editing a given session down, mixing it with homemade field recordings, and massaging it all into the desired shape. (“I wish the days were longer,” he has said.) Since 2013, the fruits of his labor have been trickling out under the Steamroom imprint, the digital-only Bandcamp series named after his Tokyo studio. It’s an evocative name, and not so far off from the sounds he achieves. That there are currently 46 releases after just six years—some of them reissues, but most of it new and previously unreleased—says something about his dedication. To Magnetize Money and Catch a Roving Eye is a kindred spirit to that series. Even by O’Rourke’s standards, it is a mammoth undertaking. Steamroom releases typically consist of a single track that’s somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes in length, but the new album, a four-disc affair, totals nearly four and a quarter hours. The sounds within can be just as daunting. These are not the soft, consonant tones of Streamroom 40, a fan favorite; this music is woven together from ominous rustling noises, glowering low-end throb, and white-hot waves of piercing feedback. The dividing line between musical tone and pure atmosphere is porous: O’Rourke’s synthesizers are more gestural than melodic, and at their edges they dissolve into a vivid, four-dimensional soundscape. There is an unmistakably dreamlike quality to the music, with hints of birdsong and distant traffic, old trains creaking to life and spaceships powering up, boots in snow and high-voltage power lines overhead. It sounds not just haunting but haunted—not malevolent, necessarily, but terrifying nonetheless. In places, it sounds like O’Rourke came across Grouper’s Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill and decided to take the title literally, coaxing from his matrix of tapes and circuitry a sound equal to that of blood drying on matted pine needles. There are few repeated motifs, but for the most part, elements rise into the mix, spread out like inkblots, and are subsumed back into the murk, never to appear again. Some nine minutes into “Part II,” there is an unexpected eruption of feedback, a sustained explosion of surprising force, as though O’Rourke had set fire to Sunn O)))’s backline, but otherwise, recognizable events are few and far between. Seismic rumble melts into glassy shimmer, and vice versa; the music is constantly shape-shifting, yet it all converges into a low, sustained hum. City-dwellers may recognize this as the standard frequency of the modern metropolis. It is as though O’Rourke had captured and amplified the sounds of everyday life, from the inaudible (magnetic fields, cell-phone signals) to the visceral (rainfall, rumbling subways), rendering them almost womblike. Despite the album’s intimidating scale, it is a strangely welcoming, even enveloping listen. “It’s not a question of patience,” O’Rourke has said, when asked why he likes longform composition so much. “It’s just my taste. I like longer music. It all really comes down to breathing.” In its controlled pacing and deep interiority, To Magnetize Money and Catch a Roving Eye also resembles a kind of breathwork. It is one of his most meditative pieces yet." [Pitchfork] 2019 €32.00
  Hands That Bind LP "In addition to his day job transforming pop music with his own records, as well as those of Gastr del Sol, Loose Fur and Sonic Youth over the past few decades, Jim O'Rourke has been contracted for several dozen film scores over the years as well. It makes sense -- his abilities as an improviser, composer and producer allow him to interpret cinematic moments with a unique understanding for their construction and how they work. It doesn't hurt that Jim's a well-versed cineaste, a complete and total fan of watching films, which has given him a preternatural understanding of the role of music in movies. What doesn't make sense is how Hands That Bind is the first film soundtrack of Jim's to ever receive worldwide release! He's worked with filmmakers of international repute, like Olivier Assayas, Allison Anders, Werner Herzog and Kôji Wakamatsu! He served as music consultant on Richard Linklater's 2003 laff-fest, School of Rock! He's played in ensembles of award-winning documentaries and films alike! ... Made for an indie film that's been seen by festival audiences and not enough others, the soundtrack for Hands That Bind is a moody, atmospheric delight. Jim's roots in composition via tape-editing have evolved into a sophisticated assembly of found-and-processed sounds that achieve highly musical, near-orchestral majesty as they hang in the very air of the drama that unfolds in Kyle Armstrong's Hands That Bind. Described as a 'slow-burn prairie gothic drama' set in the farmland of Canada's Alberta province, and starring Paul Sparks, Susan Kent, Landon Liboiron, Nicholas Campbell, Will Oldham, and Bruce Dern, Hands That Bind is a spellbinding trip to the existential bone of rural working life in North America. As conflict rises over the hard-worked patches of land that provide a mere and mean existence, a desperate air settles in, as a series of mysterious, often supernatural occurrences rock the small community. O'Rourke's vaporous, serpentine musical backdrops and atmospheres reflect the obsessions and distractions of the film's principles; moods of all sorts seen or otherwise implied. Additionally, the music highlights cinematographer Mike McLaughlin's closely observed accounting of the farmers' environment, as well as the striking widescreen images of the big sky country with unnerving flair. For fans of Jim's ongoing steamroom series as well as collectors of soundtracks, Hands That Bind will provide hours of engrossing listening..." [press release] https://jimorourke.bandcamp.com/album/hands-that-bind-original-motion-picture-soundtrack ################################################# "The experimental producer and composer’s score for the prairie gothic film is luminous, faintly menacing, and clouded with uncertainty. In Kyle Armstrong’s Hands That Bind, horror is hiding in plain sight. The film, which premiered in 2021 and is due for theatrical release this fall, is set amid desolate Alberta farmlands—a space whose relentless flatness you might assume allows for few mysteries. Straight roads stretch endlessly toward the horizon; barns outnumber trees by a wide margin. Any approaching threat ought to be visible from miles away. But in the world of this carefully paced prairie gothic, unsettling events arrive from out of nowhere, leading to more questions than answers. Who, or what, is mutilating the farmers’ cattle? Who’s in the black sedan making ominous drive-bys? And what are those lights swirling in the sky? The crucial question, which drives the film’s grippingly human drama as well as its more cryptic events, is philosophical in nature: whether we can ever truly be certain about anything. “My opinion isn’t going to solve anything for you, because my opinion is that I don’t know,” remarks a bartender played by a scene-stealing Will Oldham, as he turns off a Scratch Acid song on the stereo. “Certainty is the rare exception to the rules of life. Whatever’s easiest to swallow is what most folks gravitate towards. Even if you lie to yourself, as best as you can, and look for something you call true, well, whatever your theory is, it’s probably wrong.” Jim O’Rourke’s soundtrack is perfectly calibrated to this unforgiving space squashed between parched fields and blown-out sky. His palette—detuned piano, watery vibraphone, and a muted, amorphous shimmer that might be harmonium or synthesizer—matches the film’s dusty tones of beige and pewter and mobile-home brown. A high-end fizz resembles the incessant whine of crickets; the occasional spritz of static mimics the strange electrical phenomena on screen. Closer in spirit to the longform drone works of his Steamroom series than the fingerpicked Americana of Bad Timing or the mischievous classic rock of Simple Songs, O’Rourke’s instrumental score is, much like the landscape of the film, flat, faintly menacing, and miserly with its details. (Another comparison point might be the Boxhead Ensemble’s 1997 soundtrack to the film Dutch Harbor: Where the Sea Breaks Its Back, featuring O’Rourke alongside Chicago luminaries like Ken Vandermark and Douglas McCombs.) It begins gently enough, with a high, lonesome harmony reminiscent of a freight train’s distant whistle. An acoustic bass plucks out a tentative melody. These opening passages move with pastoral ease. But the music quickly sours, clouded with uncertainty, as dark, shapeless figures clamber up from the lower register to disturb the tranquil upper reaches. Light is one of the film’s unspoken subjects—the implacable sun beating down on sere crops, the bokeh-like orbs cutting curlicues in the night sky—and O’Rourke’s soundtrack has similarly luminous properties. He favors soft attacks that come on like a backlist mist, and streaks of dissonance that flash out and disappear, swallowed up in the dull radiance. The 38-minute score cycles through just a handful of themes and motifs, stirring them occasionally, as though to keep them from sticking. Halfway through, with “A Man’s Mind Will Play Tricks Upon Him,” brushed cymbals and plucked bass kick up a groove beneath a chiming piano melody; it’s one of few places where the record approaches anything resembling a song. But the moment is fleeting. In the concluding “One Way or Another I’m Gone,” the drumbeat returns, but this time there’s no lightness to it. It plods sullenly as jabbing tritones, a constant throughout the album, hint at a nameless evil. The soundtrack ends as it began, hovering in a nebulous interzone, neither major nor minor—ambiguous, ambivalent, unresolved.\\\" [Pitchfork] ############## Eight years after “Simple Songs”, his last solo outing with the label, the towering talent of Jim O’Rourke returns to Drag City with “Hands That Bind”, the first LP in his long career to offer a proper release to his soundtrack work. Composed for the director Kyle Armstrong’s 2021 film of the same name, the album\'s eight sublime musical complements interweave subtle melodic elements, bristling electroacoustic structures, and moody ambiences, collectively bridging the distance between O’Rourke\'s experimental work and his deft hand in the realms of pop. As absolutely brilliant as they come. On the occasion of the release of “Hands That Bind” we are glad to announce a promotional sale with 15% off for members and 10% off for everybody on all available Drag CIty items, valid until Sunday at midnight or while stocks last. The endlessly fruitful relationship between Jim O’Rourke and the Chicago based imprint, Drag City, traverses the better part of the last thirty years, with the label providing platform and support for one the great musical voices of our age. Beginning with his band Gastr del Sol\'s seminal second LP, “Crookt, Crackt, or Fly”, and running through his legendary suite of pop masterstrokes, - “Bad Timing”, “Eureka”, “Halfway to a Threeway”, and “Insignificance” - his involvement with projects like Loose Fur, The Red Krayola, and Mimidokodesuka, and a great deal more, his output with Drag City is a truly remarkable thing to behold, providing a snapshot into a restless creative mind within a collective body of intoxicating sounds. His last, 2015\'s “Simple Songs” build on the instrumental trajectory established by its predecessor, “The Visitor” (2009), but his latest, “Hands That Bind”, however, charts a new, surprising path. Composed as the soundtrack for the director Kyle Armstrong’s 2021 film of the same name, the album’s subtle melodic elements, played against bristling electroacoustic structures, bridge the distance between his more experimental work, largely housed in recent years on his own Steamroom imprint, and the pop-oriented work historically located on Drag City. Absolutely stunning from its first sounding to the last, “Hands That Bind” is yet another creative milestone from Jim O’Rourke that’s impossible to get off the turntable once the needle drops. Ten out of ten and not to be missed! Jim O’Rourke is among the great voices of his generation. He is a true musical polymath, whose diverse efforts, since his emergence within the Chicago scene during the late 1980s, have continuously altered the creative landscape. Across more than a hundred albums, he has carved a relentless path, refusing conceptual stasis and the boundaries of genre and idiom, producing a body of work with such a profound impact and influence, that is so striking, forward-thinking, and important - while displaying a consistently unparalleled bar of quality - that it transcends the basic notions of art; becoming a network of sound, mirroring the pathways of an endlessly curious and uninhibited mind. O’Rourke’s music is thought unfolding in real time. Unbridled creativity in pursuit of the unknown. Since his move to Japan during the late 2000s, O’Rourke’s recorded works have generally veered toward two polarities - direct, jointly billed, conversant collaborations with peers like Haino Keiji, Peter Brötzmann, Oren Ambarchi, Giovanni Di Domenico, Mats Gustafsson, Akira Sakata, Kassel Jaeger, and Fennesz, among numerous other, and privately created solo efforts falling under the banner of Steamroom - increasingly only issued as direct digital downloads. There has, however, been another body of work rumbling below the surface that has yet to receive a single proper release. Over the last few decades, O’Rourke has been composing several dozen film soundtracks for widely celebrated filmmakers like Olivier Assayas, Allison Anders, Werner Herzog and Kôji Wakamatsu. At long last, this mysterious area of the artist’s creative explorations begins to be more accessible with the release of “Hands That Bind”, composed for the director Kyle Armstrong’s 2021 film of the same name and his first film soundtrack to receive a proper release. Anyone who knows much about O’Rourke is aware of his deep passion for film. Since his teens on the outskirts of Chicago, he has remained a devoted cinephile, which naturally, being the person and artist that he is, has cultivated an intimate understanding of the place and operation of music within the idiom. Any doubts to this end will be quickly laid to rest by the profound beauty and subtlety of “Hands That Bind”, composed for a “slow-burn prairie gothic drama” set in the farm-land of Canada’s Alberta province, that stars Paul Sparks, Susan Kent, Landon Liboiron, Nicholas Campbell, Will Oldham, and Bruce Dern, within which a series of mysterious, often supernatural occurrences, rock the small community. Into these narratives and happening, O’Rourke composed eight sublime musical complements ranging from moody and atmospheric electroacoustic marvels that interweave long-tones and textural elements, drawn from diverse resonant sources, to more explicitly musically melodic and percussive pieces like “A Man\'s Mind Will Play Tricks On Him” and “One Way or Another I\'m Gone”, that return the ear to O’Rourke’s roots in post-rock and jazz. Joined collectively, these works evolve at glacial pace into a freestanding journey of startling proportions, building bridges within a single structure across the versatility and range that the artist has historically reserved for more discreetly located works, notably his poppier efforts for Drag City, and his more experimental works released on Steemroom. Immersive and intoxicating, while displaying an understated elegance that only O’Rourke is capable of, whether regarded as a complement to moving image or a freestanding musical gesture, “Hands That Bind” is an absolute musical masterstroke of unparalleled brilliance, building on his long history of tape collage to construct a profoundly sophisticated assembly of found-and-processed sounds into orchestral majesty. Issued by Drag City as a beautifully produced LP, this is O’Rourke at his best. Ten out of ten and impossible to recommend enough. [Soundohm + press release ] 2023 €27.50
OBJEKT4 Mindscars do-CD Material rec. 2005 to 2006 from this swedish "experimental drone" and dark ambient project, that combines its floating soundscapes sometimes with trip hop beats for an interesting effect.... in fact these seem to be two full albums combined, "Other side of light" and "Realms or Rust, domains of decay". label: www.regimentalrecords.com 2007 €8.00
OJERUM (øJERUM) When Birds Fly, the Eyes of Heaven can Rest LP Released by Aurora Borealis Recordings, 2017 Post-Production on Part 1 by Andrew Chalk Description by the label: As fans since 2014, we’re very excited to be releasing the debut vinyl from Danish multi-disciplinary artist øjeRum. Titled ‘when birds fly, the eyes of heaven can rest’, the LP features two extended tracks of aetherial, haunting and otherworldly beauty. The cover art is a hand-cut collage, part of an ever growing body of incredible work from this talented Dane. The artwork expresses the audio perfectly. A floating, drifting haze of light, subtly shifting, organic. This is a world to lose yourself in. credits released January 30, 2017 "Denmark’s øjeRum makes a sublime vinyl debut with the anaesthetising ambient tones of When Birds Fly, The Eyes of Heaven Can Rest for London’s Aurora B [...] Veritably curling off the platter like opium smoke, the two sides of When Birds Fly… place the listener in a gorgeous state of suspended animation akin to the blissful serenity encouraged by Kevin Drumm’s Imperial Distortion, but perhaps massaged with Elodie’s special oils, which should maybe come as little surprise as Elodie’s Andrew Chalk is responsible for post-production on Part I. That first side is a real beauty, unfurling some 17 minutes of thee most languid, golden synth and choral harmonics and shivering partials with a patience and steadiness of hand that’s just an absolute pleasure to undergo. Likewise, Part II is a pure dream sequence, but this time riding dense, phosphorescing waves of organ drone with a deeply blue, melancholic quality that places it in a very special category on our shelves. Don’t sleep on this one!" - Boomkat "[...] OJERUM ascends toward the heavens out over a sea of bliss (again, both sonically and visually), establishing a more distinct connection to the classical ambient model than ever existed in previous works - measured ebb and flow of gentle tones finding contemporary relatively sunny side up comparison to DAVID ANDREE, KYLE LANDSTRA and WILLAMETTE - i might think of this as OJERUM's moonshot, "a world to lose yourself in" indeed, exquisitely presented on neatly full color labeled clear vinyl with glorious "hand-cut collage" cover art AURORA BOREALIS also did a cassette edition "in keeping with the artist's previous catalogue" but also in keeping with OJERUM's catalog it didn't last long - but rest assured this is as about as good as it gets for me in terms of a "proper vinyl debut" so might as well enjoy it as such, sure to be one of my absolute favorite ambient albums of the year." -PSI Lab https://oejerum.bandcamp.com/album/when-birds-fly-the-eyes-of-heaven-can-rest-2 2017 €27.50
OM God is Good CD "Nichts hat sich verändert, ist man versucht zu denken, beim Hören des vierten OM-Albums. Dabei hat sich sogar eine ganze Menge getan: Mit Schlagzeuger Chris Hakius hat 2008 direkt das halbe Line-up das Duo verlassen (GRAILS-Drummer Emil Amos kam als Ersatz), OM haben zum zweiten Mal das Label gewechselt, sind von Southern Lord zu Drag City gegangen und erstmals hat sich Bassist und Sänger Al Cisneros (wie Hakius einst bei SLEEP) zwei Jahre Zeit mit einem neuen Album gelassen. Davon abgesehen aber: nichts hat sich verändert. Wobei ... Mit „God Is Good“ scheint die Transformation von einer autark agierenden Rock-Rhythmusfraktion hin zu einer Art, nun ja, musikalischen Gebetsmühle endgültig abgeschlossen zu sein. Trotz des Albumtitels ist zwar nicht davon auszugehen, dass Cisneros und Amos jetzt an ein Gott-Konstrukt glauben, die Struktur ihrer Musik nimmt aber zunehmend die Form religiöser Chantings an. Dass das extrem basslastige Schlagzeug dabei Drone-Charakter hat und Cisneros’ Stimme zu den einlullendsten überhaupt gehört, unterstreicht das Hypnotische in OMs Musik nur noch. Auf der Bühne können OM zwar immer noch extrem laut werden – sind dann aber nicht weniger paralysierend – auf „God Is Good“ passiert das aber noch seltener als zuvor." [André Bohnensack, © by Ox-Fanzine / Ausgabe #86 (Oktober/November 2009] "It's been years now -- just about two, judging from the sun. OM have done their time in the desert, and ever-changing, are returned. Today, they say, God is Good. Are you surprised? Perhaps you've haven't understood what OM was saying to you. But perhaps you felt something... It's true that the one way pursued by OM leads in many different directions. It is a mystic path. Songs come from innumerable sources, filtering through the external and the internal. OM albums are rituals, personal convictions transcripted into verse. Playing the music is visceral, emotional, a catharsis of soul and spirit. As the ghat liberates soul from body to the ultimate, so too do OM strive to disengage from the finite object of their objective mortal self to rest in the empty and timeless witness. And in doing so, they seek to release you as well. As ever, dynamic relationships and the slow building of mood are attenuations that shape the structures of God is Good. With careful microscopic increase, the energy grows through the four songs, leading towards moments that one could interpret...revelation? Oblivion? Awakening? Since 2004, OM have burned their name into the annals, trolled the fertile crescent, faithfully made more out of what little was put into their hands, forged three full-length albums from white-hot evaluations of the infinite. The duo that is OM is composed of bass and drums and whatever else comes into their mind that will serve the song and do it justice. Al Cisneros has been pursuing the pure note as OM (and previously with Sleep) for many years now, but this is the first OM record to feature the battery of Emil Amos, who replaces Chris Haikus in the chair. You can go to the shelf and study it: there are comparative religions, philosophy, metaphysics, mythology, and history. Turn around, and there is OM. Their vibrations of the philosophical and the physical are meant to move you. Believe." [label info] www.dragcity.com 2009 €14.50
ONDO Sol CD-R "ONDO started in 2007 under the rule of C-J Larsgarden who had been performing under name PACTA before that. Since then the project has released several albums ranging from good to excellent. Style of the project is varying from work to work from raw Drone Doom with Industrial touch to abstract Drone Ambient with melodies and melancholy. Sol album is filled with bells, reversed sounds, spectre piano melodies and other hissing and whistling beauty of unknown source as well as sounds of bonefires and voices from afar. The most similar projects as we see it are OMENYA, raison d'etre and, of course, some tracks of TROUM. Format: CD-r Edition: 100 copies." [label info] www.abgurd.com 2010 €9.00
ONODERA, YUI Entropy CD Wiederveröffentlichung des ersten ONODERA-Albums von 2005 (als CDR erschienen auf seinem eigenen kleinen Label), zu dem wir vermerkten: "A new project from Tokyo with minimal “concrete” & drone-compositions....extremely nice & dense......hyper-subtle stuff.... ..derived from field recordings, guitar-sounds, electronics. Definitely Recommended ! 10tracks/total time 47m11s." "A new label from Japan, this Trumn and the presentation is nice: sturdy card stock, like a small folder. The first one is by Yui Onodera, no stranger in the land of the weekly (see for instance the weeklies 590, 608 and 611), with his carefully constructed sonic silence. He uses field recordings, electric guitars and computer processing for his music - lots of computer processing. The result is a work in ten parts, all untitled, all flowing right into eachother. Each is a block by itself - static without many moving around and each has a similar built up, fade in, fade in and stays where it is, so small gaps of silence appear between the songs, but essentially, I think, its a one unified work. Highly microsound, and nothing new as such in that particular line of music, but Onodera does things pretty well, I think. 'Entropy', in all its silence-ness is a great work." [FdW / Vital Weekly] www.trumn.com 2009 €13.00
OPIUM Etere mCD-R "Known for his solo albums on respected ambient labels like hic sunt leones or silentes, as well as numerous collaborations with stefano musso/alio die (sola translatio) or francesco paladino (nosesoul), italian ambient master teo zini describes opium sound as "a river of different frequencies". a perfect definition of "etere": luxurious ambient with multiple layers & samples, ethnic percussion and field recordings... " [label info] 2008 €5.00
ORCHIS A thousand Winters CD "ORCHIS is an English Dark Folk band consisting of Tracy Jeffery (who also sings with Cunnan and J Greco's SQE), Amanda Prouten and Alan Trench (Cunnan, SQE, Twelve Thousand Days(with Martyn Bates), Temple Music). We have so far managed to release four albums to date starting in 1994 with The Dancing Sun (cryptanthus /World Serpent), which was more a collection of formative pieces than anything else, then in 1997 the concept album that was A Thousand Winters (cryptanthus / World Serpent). Mandragora (Trisol), an alchemical album based around the themes of life, death and the transmutation of the soul followed in 1999 and in 2001 Trait (a ‘best of’ released through the Russian Brudenia label). Relocation and various tedious problems put ORCHIS on the back burner for a while whilst we buried ourselves in other projects like the busy bunnies we are; we raised our heads out of the mire again in 2007 with the ‘Other Days’ download ep via the (now sadly defunct) Woven Wheat Whispers legal folk download service... There have been numerous compilation album appearances over the years, with some tracks turning up on the ‘Trait’ album. We like to think, as the Fairports had it, that we are Nicely Out Of Tune - there was the odd perfect take, but those were never the ones that went on the albums - rather it was the ones that kept to the True Spirit.... For now, we are happy, to inform you about the important, re-release of the second long-play, from this Esoteric Dark Folk band!. A TOUSAND WINTERS it is improbable result of the deep mystical experiences embodied in studio work! It's a сonceptual album, with Grand Theme: The story of one part of Europe is extraordinarily like every other part; a thriving pagan culture that at first laughs in derision at the priests of the desert messiah, and then is slowly submerged by the rising tide of christianity until all that remains is folk memory and old tales and songs. The cult of the Nazarene has built many truly awe-inspiring cathedrals from the blood of the people of Europe whilst incorporating and subverting their culture into that of the Blood of the Lamb. We can to tell that on music, it is mystical dark folk with an impurity of a classical English psychedelia of the end 60th or "Psychic TV" pouring "Allegory and Self" / "Trip Reset", probably to draw parallels with early works In Gowan Ring, but these words and comparisons it will be final a little what to describe music of great group! This inexpressible travel one way... Now this album also the important part of history Neo-Folk of music to which we again have possibility to touch... So, ORCHIS again with us and returning begins with "A THOUSAND WINTERS" which we with pride represent in 6 pannel-digiCD with a bronze stamping." [label info] www.infinitefog.ru 2011 €12.00
  Trjejt CD "Brudenia/Cryptanthus released this great compilation of the British neofolk act, handnumbered to 1000 copies, some years ago and due to the raising demand for ORCHIS material, we are glad to be able to offer you this jewel. It contains 16 tracks from the first 3 Orchis albums and rare tracks from 3 compilations." [label info] 2001 €10.00
ORGANUM ELECTRONICS Organum Electronics CD In the birth of the universe Time stands still amidst a wild and untamable energy Radiant light bathes and purifies solid stone pillars Both ancient and modern Wild vibrations touch our most innermost core and perception Organum Electronics exists in the clear moment of the present But its mysterious compositions lay hidden in a timeless past Modulating oscillations mirror our most fundamental sense of being As though a living and breathing entity would Communicating with a life-force and language we have all but forgotten sirenrecords.blogspot.com/2019/11/organum-electronics-siren-29.html "David Jackman’s music, both as Organum and under his given name, is typically characterized by repetition, brevity and a deadpan aloofness. He’s made plenty of extremely short (sometimes one-sided) 7” singles, albums containing multiple slight variations on a single piece, and albums of compositional (if not sonic) minimalism. It’s Jackman’s typical move to provide very little information beyond a word, or sometimes an image. Lately, he’s been predisposed to not even providing an image; just as few words as possible on a white background, nothing more. Naturally, he does not seem to do interviews and has no web presence. As listeners, we’re left to apprehend the music as itself. No guidance into his hermetic world. I find it refreshing. Whatever your experience of an Organum album is, that’s all you get. Thankfully, each emission is thought- provoking enough to get lost in and monolithic enough to encourage both passive and active engagement. In the case of the flatly titled Electronics”, the music is as evocative and singular as anything Jackman has produced. The three 15-minute untitled pieces are monoliths of surging drone bathed in mammoth reverberation. The title says everything you need to know and nothing at all. Same with the cover art, merely the title and name in a black print cross pattern on white background. The design is nearly (or perhaps exactly?) identical to Jackman’s relatively more active and mellow “Herbstsonne” album; is there an implied relationship between the two? I’ve given both albums some deep listen and I cannot tell what the relationship could be. And so again, the sound is all one gets. “Electronics” is dense and huge; a roiling swamp of electric din that would appeal to fans of Jackman’s early collaborations with The New Blockaders (“Salute” and “Wrack”), though this is more atmospheric than aggressive. It’s a slow boil of fierce control, not a chaotic attack. Few actual events happen, and there isn’t much difference between the three tracks… it’s almost as if Jackman set some sounds in motion, then stepped back and allowed the pieces to generate themselves. It’s relentless and heavy, uniform in mood across all 45 minutes. No build-up, no denouement, just a steady mysterious churn to get lost inside of." [HS, Vital Weekly] 2019 €14.00
Solitude CD “In the everlasting silence of the universe Dark clouds reflect upon shimmering water The voiceless radiance of solitude Dissonant overtones in dark clouds Pierce the eternal veil of night The rivers rage ceaselessly Burst Swiftly, cloud-shadows and sunbeams White flames burning through a dark sky Wrapped in its own eternity Wild and forsaken No sound is tamed Release and rebirth, revolve, subside and swell Inescapable and incessant in motion The path of that unfailing sound A harmony Ancient and solemn The voiceless radiance of solitude” David Jackman’s music, both as Organum and under his given name, is typically characterized by repetition, brevity and a deadpan aloofness. He’s made plenty of extremely short (sometimes one-sided) 7” singles, albums containing multiple slight variations on a single piece, and albums of compositional (if not sonic) minimalism. It’s Jackman’s typical move to provide very little information beyond a word, or sometimes an image. Lately, he’s been predisposed to not even providing an image; just as few words as possible on a white background, nothing more. Naturally, he does not seem to do interviews and has no web presence. As listeners, we’re left to apprehend the music as itself. No guidance into his hermetic world. I find it refreshing. Whatever your experience of an Organum album is, that’s all you get. Thankfully, each emission is thought- provoking enough to get lost in and monolithic enough to encourage both passive and active engagement. 8Howard Stelzer] "In Vital Weekly 1216, HS reviewed 'Electronics' by Organum, which was quite the change for Organum’s David Jackman. In the last decade or so, Jackman used quite a lot of real instruments to construct a bizarre composition that may or may not be the same. After that came 'Stillness', not reviewed on these pages, and the name was changed to Organum Electronics, which is also the banner for 'Solitude', a thirty-six-minute piece of harsh electronics. Oddly enough, the artwork didn't change and is still similar to the artwork of his 'quieter' phase and which I think is pop art without the images. I have no idea if David Jackman acquired a set of modular electronics to do this, or if this is something he always had but not used a lot. The loud character of the music brings back memories of the very first record I heard from Organum, 'In Extremis'. I always thought that was made with acoustic instruments played with mechanical objects and slowed down, and I might be wrong. It had that density of ringing sounds that I enjoyed a lot back then and still do; Organum is one of the three or four musicians of whom I own a lot of records. That sort of density I also find in 'Solitude', even when it might be all electronics. It sounds like being trapped in the machine room of a large ship. The more you concentrate, the more little nuances appear in the music, an odd sense of movement in a standstill notion. The music might be loud, but it has not the similar aggression I find in some noise records. There is, odd as it may sound, a soothing aspect to the music. I am a fanboy, I admit that, and that means Organum can't do wrong. It was a bold move to change the style of music for David Jackman, but most enjoyable!" [FdW / Vital Weekly] 2021 €14.00
Quietude CD "Organum Electronics ‘Quietude’ is another intense aural experience. A dense work, consisting of buzzing washes of electronic sounds, reminiscent of the very first Organum recordings. In common with other recent works, the piece uses a carefully chosen set of sound sources, overlaid and structured to form a tapestry of shifting textures. Recorded in 2021 and edited by Alan Jones at RMS Studios South London, the CD comes in a 4-panel Digisleeve with graphic artwork by Jonathan Coleclough. UK-based composer and visual artist David Jackman began his career in the late 1960s in the experimental group Scratch Orchestra, co-founded by Cornelius Cardew. He started recording solo work in the late 1970s, mostly on self-released cassettes in very small numbers. In the early 1980s he established his main project, Organum, which evolved into a new version under the name Organum Electronics in 2019. Five OE albums have been released by Japanese imprint Siren Records. ‘Quietude’ (DS128) is the first OE release on Die Stadt.. This is the second of seven albums scheduled for release on Die Stadt up until the end of 2024. As well as several albums under the OE moniker these will include works under David Jackman’s own name." [press release] "David Jackman sprach einmal bzgl. seiner sogenanten „Holy“-Trilogie davon, diese Arbeiten seien geprägt von „a lot of repetition; more accurately, near repetition. It is a quality which I find most elegant.“ Dieses Motiv der (Fast-)Wiederholung zeigte sich auch auf Alben wie dem 2018 erscheinenen Organum-Album „Raven“ oder auf den unter eigenem Namen erschienenen Alben „Herbstsonne“ und „Silence In That Time“. Die dort zu hörenden verhallenden Klavierakkorde, manchmal mit Glockenläuten, Orgeldrones oder dem Krähen von Vögeln, waren eine fast schon zirkuläre, vielleicht auch meditative Musik. Dann erschien plötzlich mit Organum Electronics 2019 ein Album, das dieses Zurückhaltende, Meditative rabiat beendete. Über den Nachfolger „Stilness“ aus dem Jahr 2020 konnte man hier lesen: „Frühere Organumaufnahmen (z.B. die auf L.A.Y.L.A.H.) waren geprägt von einer Unruhe, die neuen Aufnahmen sind auf gewisse Weise etwas statischer, ganz so, als wolle Jackman seine eigene Interpretation von Wall Noise spielen. Auf 35 Minuten wird der Hörende von einem massiven Drone umgeben.“ Hier klang Jackman plötzlich wieder, wenn auch unter „elektronischer“ Fokussierung, so „noisy“, wie auf seinen frühe(re)n Aufnahmen. Nach insgesamt fünf Alben unter diesem Projektnamen auf Siren Records kündigte Die Stadt aus Bremen vor einiger Zeit eine umfangreiche Reihe mit weiteren Veröffentlichungen an: Im Abstand von drei bis vier Monaten werden bis 2024/2025 insgesamt sieben Jackman/Organum-Alben (von denen zwei Doppel-CDs sind) veröffentlicht werden. Gerade erschienen sind die ersten zwei Alben dieser Reihe: Die Tradition der (manchmal kurios geschriebenen) Einworttitel fortführend, sind „Quietude“ und „Darcknes“ – natürlich, möchte man sagen – von Ästhetik wie auch vom Klang sehr eng miteinander verbunden: Auf „Quietude“ gibt es einen langen Track (hier 40 Minuten lang), der den Hörer unter sich zu begraben droht (ganz im Gegensatz zu der im Titel angesprochenen „Ruhe“). Es gibt immer wieder leichte (Ver-)Änderungen, kaum wahrnehmbare Verschiebungen in der Textur, so dass diese Lärmwand – das Label spricht nicht unzutreffend von „buzzing washes of electronic sounds“ – sich durchaus (ver-)ändert. Was im Gegensatz zu den fünf vorhergegangenen Alben auffällt, ist, dass tatsächliche neue (bzw. alte) Elemente hinzukommen. Plötzlich tauchen auf „Quietude“ nämlich inmitten des Surrens und Dröhnens Glocken auf, die auf früheren Aufnahmen zu finden waren. Das gleichzeitig veröffentlichte Album „Darcknes“ besteht aus einem 48 Minuten langen Track, auf dem neben dem Läuten von Glocken auch noch das Krähen von Raben zu hören ist. Es ist mit Hinblick auf David Jackmans Zurückhaltung hinsichtlich öffentlicher Äußerungen letztlich müßig, herauszulesen zu wollen, was seine Konzeption hinter diesen Aufnahmen ist, aber letztlich spielt das auch keine Rolle, schließlich sagte er selbst einmal vor vielen Jahren in einem Interview mit Paul Lemos: “Really, there’s no mystery to the music; I just make it because I want those sounds to exist. There’s no other reason.” Ich habe in einer früheren Besprechung von Jackmans Arbeit einmal – in Anlehnung an eine Studie zum literarischen Expressionismus, in der u.a. die Prosa Benns dieses Attribut bekam – diese als “absolut” bezeichnet. Man kann gespannt sein, was die nächsten Veröffentlichungen bringen werden." [MG / African Paper] "It's never easy to review music by David Jackman, not work under his own name, or work as Organum, or as it is these days, Organum Electronics. He used the latter on five releases by Siren Records, and when they announced the fifth would be the last, I assumed (for no particular reason) that would be the end of that name. Maybe because Die Stadts hasn't been too active with new releases, I didn't realise they could release more work, as basically it's the other go-to place for Jackman to release his music. They announced a series of seven works by Jackman, and their announcement didn't say whether they'll all be by Organum Electronics. The first two are. I didn't return to the five previous albums, partly out of the usual lack of time and maybe because I thought of this as making a fresh start. Listening to these two new releases, I remember what the previous ones sounded like. Here also comes what I find 'difficult' about reviewing Jackman's work, and that's a lot of it is very similar, but then, if you see the cover, four panels with the band name and the title, and nothing else, you know the man likes repetition. And yet, most curious indeed, one is never too sure if the repeat is a one-on-one copy or a slight variation thereof. These two works may sound the same, but they aren't. In 'Darckness', some field recordings pop up, church bells, among the dense mass of electronic sound, whereas 'Quietude' seems all electronic throughout. Both seem to have been cut from more extensive work, ending quite abruptly. The overall sound design is quite similar in both pieces, and they share a general grimness about these works, as with many of his works. Think of this as being locked up in a factory, with sounds buzzing everywhere, and reminding me of the early harshness of Organum, sans electronics: dense, minimal and dark. Can I finish with 'another excellent work'? It's most likely I have used that before in connection with Jackman's work, and I will probably repeat that in the future." [FdW / Vital Weekly] 2023 €15.00
  Darcknes CD "Organum Electronics ‘Darcknes’ is the sibling album of ‘Quietude’ (DS128). It is a similarly dense work, consisting of buzzing washes of electronic sounds, reminiscent of the very first Organum recordings. In common with other recent works, the piece uses a carefully chosen set of sound sources, overlaid and structured to form a tapestry of shifting textures. Recorded in 2021 and edited by Alan Jones at RMS Studios South London, the CD comes in a 4-panel Digisleeve with graphic artwork by Jonathan Coleclough. UK-based composer and visual artist David Jackman began his career in the late 1960s in the experimental group Scratch Orchestra, co-founded by Cornelius Cardew. He started recording solo work in the late 1970s, mostly on self-released cassettes in very small numbers. In the early 1980s he established his main project, Organum, which evolved into a new version under the name Organum Electronics in 2019. Five OE albums have been released by Japanese imprint Siren Records. ‘Darcknes’ (DS130) is the second OE release on Die Stadt. This is the second of seven albums scheduled for release on Die Stadt up until the end of 2024. As well as several albums under the OE moniker these will include works under David Jackman’s own name." [label info] "It's never easy to review music by David Jackman, not work under his own name, or work as Organum, or as it is these days, Organum Electronics. He used the latter on five releases by Siren Records, and when they announced the fifth would be the last, I assumed (for no particular reason) that would be the end of that name. Maybe because Die Stadts hasn't been too active with new releases, I didn't realise they could release more work, as basically it's the other go-to place for Jackman to release his music. They announced a series of seven works by Jackman, and their announcement didn't say whether they'll all be by Organum Electronics. The first two are. I didn't return to the five previous albums, partly out of the usual lack of time and maybe because I thought of this as making a fresh start. Listening to these two new releases, I remember what the previous ones sounded like. Here also comes what I find 'difficult' about reviewing Jackman's work, and that's a lot of it is very similar, but then, if you see the cover, four panels with the band name and the title, and nothing else, you know the man likes repetition. And yet, most curious indeed, one is never too sure if the repeat is a one-on-one copy or a slight variation thereof. These two works may sound the same, but they aren't. In 'Darckness', some field recordings pop up, church bells, among the dense mass of electronic sound, whereas 'Quietude' seems all electronic throughout. Both seem to have been cut from more extensive work, ending quite abruptly. The overall sound design is quite similar in both pieces, and they share a general grimness about these works, as with many of his works. Think of this as being locked up in a factory, with sounds buzzing everywhere, and reminding me of the early harshness of Organum, sans electronics: dense, minimal and dark. Can I finish with 'another excellent work'? It's most likely I have used that before in connection with Jackman's work, and I will probably repeat that in the future." [FdW / Vital Weekly] 2023 €15.00
ORGHANON Figures in slow Motion CD "Sergio Calzoni's talent in chiselling electronics like a master craftsman has already been made very clear in COLLOQUIO's albums. This time he flies alone, and what a flight this is.... ORGHANON's debut album offers a melancholy-filled trip through a congealed world where figures slowly drift in the thick air. Gentle melodies, superbly constructed electronic patterns, experimental passages create vast sonic scenarios that would perfectly fit in a Jim Jarmusch/Alejandro Inarritu's movie. Not only the sheer, marvellous quality of the songs but also a very strong feeling of walking into a brand new, undiscovered sonic territory will leave you breathless. Only a few times in our entire "career" we've been so completely dragged into a record like into "Figures in slow motion". Miss it at your own risk." [label info] www.eibonrecords.com 2015 €12.00
ORO!ORO! Sastingis CD "The latest oro!oro! album is dedicated to the eternal winter. To the everlasting glacial stagnation. Just imagine it is one and the same season - the season of winter - all year round. That is the true core of the stagnation. Excessively deep meditative sounds remind ether, the habitat of spirits. Reluctantly you ask yourself if you are still alive? In terms of style, the album harks back to the cult ambient albums of Current’93. Those who still recall The Stars Are Marching Sadly Home may expect the same atmosphere. Perhaps now is the time when the waiting for the spring will never end?" [label info] www.autarkeia.org 2013 €12.50
ORSI, FABIO Uncharted Waters CD With more than 30 albums under his belt, Fabio Orsi has been one of the leading figures of the Italian electronic scene for over 10 years now. In his work he experimented with folktronica, drones, field recordings, minimalism, and sampling. As the title itself indicates, his latest album (and the first one released on Zoharum) is a journey into previously unknown areas. "Uncharted Waters" is a pulsating, multi-layered, multi-coloured 36-minute composition that can surprise current fans of the artist. It proves you can expect the unexpected from Fabio Orsi. At the same time, the melancholy hovering over the melodies and the atmosphere of this album links "Uncharted Waters" with previous releases of this Italian artist. https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/uncharted-waters "Background/Info: In a bit more than years Italian artist Fabio Orsi has released an impressive number of productions. “Uncharted Waters” is his first work released by Zoharum Records. Content: “Uncharted Waters” is an invitation to dream away. The work takes off a pure space-style. The track is progressively evolving towards darker passages. After more or less 20 minutes you’ll notice electro sequences accentuating the electro-ambient approach of the composition. “Uncharted Waters” features one single cut of more than 35 minutes. + + + : I like this typical space-like atmosphere hanging over the composition. It’s a relaxing experience, which progressively moves into a darker sound. The second half of the song is the most fascinating one. There’s a kind of exciting space-dub touch leading the listener into a transcendental journey. – – – : When listening to a single piece with such a long during time it’s nearly impossible to remain fascinated from start till the end. The first half of the composition is relaxing, but not exactly exciting Conclusion: Music can be synonym of travelling and that’s precisely what this album is all about! Put the disc in the CD player, close your eyes and dream away throughout unknown, imaginary places." [Side-Line] 2019 €12.00
OTZEPENEVSHIYE / VIR' За Ножом / For A Knife CD "Otzepenevshiye were formed in 2006 and by now have already recorded a conceptual split-album with Allerseelen and Neutral (2008, Ewers Tonkunst / Indiestate), have taken part in a series of releases of the Heliophagia label and contributed to several compilations. The band consists of members of the well-known Russian post-industrial projects Sal Solaris and Reutoff... Vir' dates from 1996, having released some self-made demos, split-releases and two full-length albums: "Lower Forest" (2006, Indie-Go!) and "Horna" (2008, Mosquito Records)... The creation of a collaboration album was conceived by the members of both bands during their collective gig in Kazan'. Through the mutual exchange and editing of material they managed to record not just a split but something more that combined the planes of both acts and surpassed their traditional sound, not always resembling the individual works of both projects. The style of the album is really hard to define but to mark the relative field we could use such tags as sludge / drone doom / industrial / dark ambient... Roaring guitars and the powerful drive of a live drum kit turn into measured industrial drum-machine rhythms, a clatter of iron sheets, synthesizers and field recordings, then again giving room to overdriven strings and profound insane vocals of Sergey Milushkin (Vir')... Metaphysically this album is a kind of optical device, a magic lantern with opaque glass - matching the anguish and desperation of Russian life. However looking more closely one can distinguish amazing patterns on the black soot of this glass behind which shines the everburning living fire." [label info] "There’s no surprise in that Otzpenevshiye and Vir’ succeed in producing together something fine and new: the latter is a well-established name by now, and the former constitutes from members of Sal Solaris and Reutoff. The album starts with dark ambient that turns into guitar-drone driven, almost doomy layer, to which is then added a set of matching drums and screaming vocals. The result is nevertheless not exactly doom metal, but something between that and ambient, and simultaneously something different from artists like Sunn O))). As the disc moves to the second track, a leap takes place, to instrumental, Megaptera-like post-industrial. After that comes guitar-led, spacey wave-sound, reminiscent of a mixture of Troum and drum machine. Later on there’s for example noise-spiced dark ambient, and at the magnificent end, the disc returns to the early doom moods. Everything is excellently done, but the jumps from one genre to another every track eat away the power of the record. It sounds more like a compilation from various bands than a singular album. Really good tracks, but more suitable for listening in small segments than as a whole." [Jiituomas @ Kuolleen Musiikin Yhdistys] 2013 €12.00
OUR LOVE WILL DESTROY THE WORLD I hate even Numbers LP "Parallel universes mangle and mash into a superheated cloud of galactic debris and non-recyclable plastic. After a slew of genre-confounding 7" releases, Our Love Will Destroy The World unravels his own history of nearly everything in this, the mere third full length offering under his world destroying moniker. Smearing the already dotty line between twinkle-toed rave music and excoriating drone cacophony, "I Hate Even Numbers" weighs in like a three-legged gargantuan in a one-man morris dance. Blessed with a deep conviction that 'nowhere' is somewhere definitely worth going to, crippled, hobbling, clunkbeats and bubblepulses contest every frequency to the death underscored (overscored?) by mega-electrified guitar tuning exercises, shattering a passage to a brand new India. Everything louder than everything else, everything dissolving in the powerful acid of the sound next to it - a frybrained avalanche of audio M&Ms. Profound, elevating, and mercilessly, relentlessly UP! Our Love Will Destroy The World is the new one-man project by New Zealander Campbell Kneale after disbanding BIRCHVILLE CAT MOTEL. In the past Kneale has released albums on Ecstatic Peace, Corpus Hermeticum, Last Visible Dog, Conspiracy and his own Celebrate Psi Phenomena label. He has colllaborated with Lee Ranaldo, Neil Campbell, Bruce Russel, John Olson (Wolf Eyes), Yellow Swans, has toured throughout Japan, Europe, America and Australia and also records und the names BLACK BONED ANGEL and Ming. "I Hate Even Numbers" is the 2nd LP by this new project for the Dekorder label (his 4th altogether) after last year's monolithic "Stillborn Plague Angels" album. Limited edition of 400 copies!" [label info] www.dekorder.com "A quartet of new releases on Dekorder display the label's nicer senses of finding interesting new names as well as keeping the old. The old is represented by Campbell Kneale, previously working as Birchville Cat Motel, now trading as Our Love Will Destroy The World. The music also saw some changes, which are even more apparent on this third album under the new guise. Kneale dances the vitus dance here. The five pieces are all evolving around revolving sounds. Hectic, nervous, jumpy, this hardly classifies as 'dance' music. There is a bit of drum computer in here, but not a 4/4 one and there is a total chaos in all these jumpy sounds which are looped together. Occasionally we hear some guitar noise underneath all of this bumping stuff, a vague reminder perhaps of the more droney and noisy days of Kneale. I thought this was a pretty nice record, a decisive step forward (or side-ward is perhaps a better word), and do something new and do that well. This album reminded me of the album Richard Youngs put out on Dekorder: that same wicked sense of rhythm." [label info] 2010 €13.00
OUSTAD, KRISTOFFER Filth Haven CD "As one half of Swedish/Norwegian industrial duo K.N.O., Kristoffer Oustad is no stranger to the Malignant roster, and yet within the broader context of the K.N.O. sound, his exact contributions were never fully known, or at least immediately recognizable. Listening to his debut solo recording, it becomes evident that the more emotive and moody qualities within those recordings seemed to be his primary responsibility. The 7 tracks that comprise Filth Haven operate on a palpable psychological level and are perhaps some of the most personal and deeply emotional recordings Malignant has released. Oustad shows an innate ability to craft intricate and detailed pieces of grey hued, analog darkness that feel suspended in time… dreamlike and meditative, yet always hinting at something ominous on the horizon, as gradually shifting textures, drifting tones and haunting melodies intersect in a hazy, somnambulant procession. While the method for composition (analog synths, guitar, and field recordings) may have been the same, each track is uniquely different than the next, but in the end, feels tightly bound together by a cinematic framework that sinks deep into your consciousness. An absolutely astounding and rewarding work for those that appreciate all manner of dark music." [label info] www.malignantrecords.com "Filth Haven is the first full length release published by the Norwegian Kristoffer Oustad under his own name. In the past Oustad has offered several albums and compilation works under the moniker of Kristoffer Nyströms Orkester (a power industrial duet formed with Peter Nyström of Megaptera) and Plague Machinery and the post-metal, avant-garde industrial project V:28. Filth Haven is an ultimate bleak, demonic and epic soundscaping inferno. Massive, absorbing and grimy, the dark instrumental music rituals offered here are made of brooding droney chords, treated found sources, ultra-sonic electronic assaults, micro signals, harsh noises, disembodied chants and treated hypnotic-like percussive elements. The whole orchestration is amazingly captivating and exceptionally turbulent, as if we enter in complete nightmare-ish hallucinations which send us back to primordial origins or to some forgotten cosmic events. ‘Filth Haven’ is a tremendously hell-ish narrative album, a sublime illustration of infernal scenes of extravagance and final desolation we can appreciate in terrifying painting visions of John Martin, John Charles Dollman or Adolf Hiremy-Hirschl, just to name a few. The apocalyptic mood is interrupted by rare field recordings as in the otherworldly Acheron-like droning sound tapestry of “Row me over.” Mesmeric splendor, compelling musical procession and dark contemplative estates that will ravish addicted fans of isolationist ambient music and anything related to post-industrial experimentalism. With this album Malignant Records proves one more time that they figure among the most iconic producers of shimmering industrial ambient music. Filth Haven is definitely a recommended album for collectors as well as beginners in the genre." [Philippe Blache, IGLOO MAGAZINE] 2015 €12.00
OÖPHOI / TAU CETI Subterranea CD Schon das zweite Album mit wahrhaft wallender Klang(a)morphologie – amorphe, tief-meditative hauchzarte Sounds die in der Unendlichkeit verschwinden... und wieder geht es um die Umsetzung mythischer Themen aus der unbewussten Vergangenheit des Menschen. Anklänge an GRASSOW, ALIO DIE,.. "After their acclaimed debut CD release "Celestial geometries" released in 2001 on Amplexus, considered as one of the best space albums ever, Italian sound sculptors Oöphoi and Tau Ceti are back with the long awaited second CD "Subterranea", inspired by a book about the myth of Agharti, the hidden realm located in central Asia. Vast sonic explorations with synths, flutes, stones and shells, ranging from subtle and mysterious atmospheres to highly dynamic passages, describe this out of reach underworld. The last part of the long suite "The chamber of eternity" features the unique sound of the tibetan singing bowls of Klaus Wiese. After the outer space adventures of their first CD, "Subterranea" deals with the inner space." [label info] www.nextera.cz 2003 €13.00
P16.D4 Distruct LP LP version. Reissue, originally released in 1984. P16.D4 was a German electronic noise music collective, active primarily from 1980 to 1988. P16.D4 embraced tape cut-ups, musique concrète, endless recycling, and transformation of previously published material, and many long-distance collaborations with like-minded artists such as DDAA, Vortex Campaign, Nurse With Wound, and Merzbow. Their active participation in the international industrial tape scene yielded collaborative output such as their release Distruct, where bands such as Nurse with Wound, Nocturnal Emissions, Die Tödliche Doris, and The Haters provided the source material. The longest-term collaboration was with the installation and conceptual artist Achim Wollscheid, who used P16.D4 sounds as the basis for LPs he recorded under the name SBOTHI. Ralf Wehowsky, the only constant member of the group, later released solo material under the alias RLW. Members of P16.D4 were also involved with Selektion, a collective of people involved with sound as well as the visual arts. Selektion published LPs, CDs, books, visual art and design. The collective worked in a strongly improvised, spontaneous and anti-professional way, using acoustic and electronic instruments, using existing sound fragments, duplicating and alienating them, using repetition, distortion, changes in speed and playing direction. For this they used not only sounds of other artists but also their own material from earlier productions. Late works of the collective are associated with musique concrete. "On this, their second LP, P16.D4 solicited tapes from several artists from Europe, England, the U.S., Canada, and Japan, and mixed that with their own material. Though in the current digital age collaborations from artists thousands of miles apart is quite normal, this was a quite radical approach back in 1982, when work on this LP began -- an interesting concept that actually works quite well, since these artists, which include Bladder Flask, DDAA, the Haters, Merzbow, Nocturnal Emissions, Nurse With Wound, and several others -- work in a similar free-ranging experimentalism as P16.D4, and their particular elements, usually just vocals or one instrument or noise implement, blend well without diluting P16.D4's own peculiar brand of avant-garde post-industrialism, but merely give it another facet. One of the best tracks, 'Aufmarsch, Heimlich,' consists of a choir submitted anonymously from Eastern Europe phasing in and out of static while a skronky alto sax bleats away. Most of the pieces exist somewhere just beyond the borders of free jazz, industrial, and even classical avant-garde, full of jarring noises and strange transitions and with a heavy overlay of electronics. What started out as an experiment yielded one of P16.D4's best albums." --Rolf Semprebon/AllMusic https://www.sonoris.org/product/p16-d4-distruct-lp/ 2022 €20.00
  DISTRUCT CD Assemblage of transformed, organized and (re)structed sound material submitted by: Bladder Flask, Déficit Des Années Antérieures, De Fabriek, The Haters, Philip Johnson, Hiroki Kocha, Merzbow, Fredrik Nilsen, Nocturnal Emissions, Nurse With Wound, Onnyk, Harold Schellinx, Die Tödliche Doris, Vortex Campaign. P16.D4 was a German electronic noise music collective, active primarily from 1980 to 1988. P16.D4 embraced tape cut-ups, musique concrète, endless recycling and transformation of previously published material, and many long-distance collaborations with like-minded artists such as DDAA, Vortex Campaign, Nurse With Wound, and Merzbow. Their active participation in the international industrial tape scene yielded collaborative output such as their release Distruct, where bands such as Nurse with Wound, Nocturnal Emissions, Die Tödliche Doris, and The Haters provided the source material. The longest-term collaboration was with the installation and conceptual artist Achim Wollscheid, who used P16.D4 sounds as the basis for LPs he recorded under the name SBOTHI. Ralf Wehowsky, the only constant member of the group, later released solo material under the alias RLW. Members of P16.D4 were also involved with Selektion, a collective of people involved with sound as well as the visual arts. Selektion published LPs, CDs, books, visual art and design. The collective worked in a strongly improvised, spontaneous and anti-professional way, using acoustic and electronic instruments, using existing sound fragments, duplicating and alienating them, using repetition, distortion, changes in speed and playing direction. For this they used not only sounds of other artists but also their own material from earlier productions. Late works of the collective are associated with musique concrete. https://www.sonoris.org/product/p16-d4-distruct-lp/ ############################################# “On this, their second LP, P16.D4 solicited tapes from several artists from Europe, England, the U.S., Canada, and Japan, and mixed that with their own material. Though in the current digital age collaborations from artists thousands of miles apart is quite normal, this was a quite radical approach back in 1982, when work on this LP began – an interesting concept that actually works quite well, since these artists, which include Bladder Flask, DDAA, the Haters, Merzbow, Nocturnal Emissions, Nurse With Wound, and several others – work in a similar free-ranging experimentalism as P16.D4, and their particular elements, usually just vocals or one instrument or noise implement, blend well without diluting P16.D4’s own peculiar brand of avant-garde post-industrialism, but merely give it another facet. One of the best tracks, “Aufmarsch, Heimlich,” consists of a choir submitted anonymously from Eastern Europe phasing in and out of static while a skronky alto sax bleats away. Most of the pieces exist somewhere just beyond the borders of free jazz, industrial, and even classical avant-garde, full of jarring noises and strange transitions and with a heavy overlay of electronics. What started out as an experiment yielded one of P16.D4’s best albums.” Rolf Semprebon / AMG “Distruct is organized around sounds provided by the cream of experimental musicians of the early ’80s, from Nurse With Wound to Nocturnal Emissions, via De Fabriek, Die Todliche Doris, The Haters, Merzbow, and others. Obviously, there is no question of remixing here, and at no time do P16.D4 seek to hide its sources, clearly identifying the contribution of each artist in the liner notes. It would be futile to try to find the paw of each artist, the trio operating vis-à-vis its collaborators the same methods as in their own work. Reworked, distorted by various effects, cut, edited, aggregated with other sounds, produced by P16.D4 themselves, reprocessed. Exchange, communication, two other data that will constantly recur in the work of P16.D4, rich in external contributions and encounters of all kinds. Musically, and despite the diversity of sources treated, Distruct escapes the heterogeneous character, which often marks this type of collaboration, to offer a coherent whole: fragments of opera, Soviet speeches, out-of-tune guitar, saxophone, tattered violins, overdriven and metallic noisy attacks, jackhammers, field recordings, battered choirs, and many other less identifiable sounds. In addition to the desired dialogue between the artists, Distruct also offers a real reflection on listening, and on the expectations of the listener.” Dissolve P16.D4 was a German electronic noise music collective, active primarily from 1980 to 1988. P16.D4 embraced tape cut-ups, musique concrète, endless recycling and transformation of previously published material, and many long-distance collaborations with like-minded artists such as DDAA, Vortex Campaign, Nurse With Wound, and Merzbow. Their active participation in the international industrial tape scene yielded collaborative output such as their release Distruct, where bands such as Nurse with Wound, Nocturnal Emissions, Die Tödliche Doris, and The Haters provided the source material. The longest-term collaboration was with the installation and conceptual artist Achim Wollscheid, who used P16.D4 sounds as the basis for LPs he recorded under the name SBOTHI. Ralf Wehowsky, the only constant member of the group, later released solo material under the alias RLW. Members of P16.D4 were also involved with Selektion, a collective of people involved with sound as well as the visual arts. Selektion published LPs, CDs, books, visual art and design. The collective worked in a strongly improvised, spontaneous and anti-professional way, using acoustic and electronic instruments, using existing sound fragments, duplicating and alienating them, using repetition, distortion, changes in speed and playing direction. For this they used not only sounds of other artists but also their own material from earlier productions. Late works of the collective are associated with musique concrete. 2022 €13.00
PALESTINE, CHARLEMAGNE / GRUMBLING FUR TIME MACHINE ORCHESTRA ggrrreeebbbaaammmnnnuuuccckkkaaaiiioooww!!! LP "In 2013, when Daniel O'Sullivan was invited to curate the sixth installment of Ravenna, Italy's Transmissions festival, his first request was for Charlemagne Palestine, the shamanic world-maker, sacred toy emissary, and one-time student of Pandit Pran Nath associated with the New York '60s minimalist scene and known primarily for extended performances with Bösendorfer piano, cathedral organs, and falsetto voice. After Transmissions O'Sullivan invited Palestine to play a two-night residency at London's Cafe OTO, the second night of which was a collaboration with Grumbling Fur, the duo of O'Sullivan and Alexander Tucker. The performance at OTO was a ritualistic union of crystalware, processed strings, live tape manipulations, Indian harmonium, shimmering piano clusters, bleating cattle, a Japanese orgy, disembodied vocal harmony, and rousing choruses often led by sing-a-ma-jigs (singing Fisher-Price toys affectionately referred to as "the singing assholes"). A continuous flow of overtones and plainchant sieved through mutant simulations of processed pulses, orbiting strings, and heliotropic vocal mantras. Following 2013's Glynnaestra and 2014's Preternaturals, both of which The Wire listed in its top avant rock albums of their respective years, this is the first incarnation of the Grumbling Fur alter-ego Time Machine Orchestra, an alias put together to explore extended drone works, improvisation, and automatic composition. Recorded at Cafe OTO and Fur Island and assembled by Grumbling Fur. LP pressed in an edition of 500 copies." [label info] www.importantrecords.com 2015 €25.00
PALO ALTO Difference and Repetition - A Musical Evocation of GILLES DELEUZE do-LP "This new album (the tenth in their discography) was born from two ambitions: to pay tribute to Soft Machine's Third on form (4 sides / 4 titles) and to philosopher Gilles Deleuze (Difference and Repetition is the title of his thesis) on the contents. The 4 long pieces of this double concept album were developed over 2 years and each has a different style and climate. Bold and kaleidoscopic, Difference and Repetition perfectly synthesizes the musical and literary obsessions of Palo Alto. Palo Alto Formed in Paris in 1989, Palo Alto released his first album (a cassette) on the Italian label Old Europa Cafe in 1990. The year 2020 is therefore an opportunity to celebrate the 30th anniversary of this first stone, the founder of a discography rich with 10 albums. The band is now composed of Jacques Barbéri (also a science fiction author), Laurent Pernice (ex-member of the French industrial band Nox) and Philippe Perreaudin (also coordinator of several compilations and reissues: Legendary Pink Dots, Un Département, Nino Ferrer Revisited, Ptôse, Hardy Fox…). Literature, and particularly science fiction, is a leitmotiv in the band's work. Antoine Volodine, Thomas Pynchon, Philip K. Dick, Lewis Carroll or J. G. Ballard have been invoked many times. In recent years, Palo Alto has multiplied musical collaborations with, among others, The Residents, Ptôse, Klimperei, Tuxedomoon... From industrial music to inextricable electronic ramifications, by making a detour through improvisation, the musical universe of Palo Alto is multifaceted. Their new album is no exception to this rule… " https://subrosalabel.bandcamp.com/album/difference-and-repetition-a-musical-evocation-of-gilles-deleuze "Palo Alto aus Paris gibt es seit 1989 und mit "Le Clos" erschien 1990 ein erstes Album (auf Tonbandkassette), dem bisher ein gutes Dutzend weitere gefolgt sind. Das Projekt um Jacques Barbéri nennt als Einflussgeber Tuxedomoon, Art Zoyd, The Legendary Pink Dots, Coil, The Residents, Can und Cabaret Voltaire, und betätigt sich vornehmlich in experimentell-elektronischen Gefilden, verunreinigt seine Musik aber auch mit Punkig-Schrägem, New-Wave-Artigem oder Modern-Kammermusikalisch-Klassischem. Ich machte erstmals mit dem 1998 beim Musea-Unterlabel Gazul Records erschienenen Album "Transe Plan" Bekanntschaft mit der Formation, und auf jenem geht es auch weitestgehend elektronisch und experimentell zu. Zum 30sten hat man dann das wohl bisher ambitionierteste Projekt verwirklicht. Ein Doppelalbum hat man sich vorgenommen, von der Form her wie "Third" von Soft Machine, also mit vier seitenlangen Nummern, welches sich mit dem Werk des 1995 durch Selbstmord verstorbenen französischen Philosophen Gilles Deleuze befasst. Dazu hat man sich einige musikalische Gäste gesucht: Den von Deleuze beeinflussten SF-Schriftsteller Alain Damasio als Vorleser, Richard Pinhas, der einstmals bei Deleuze studiert hat, an der E-Gitarre, Thierry Zaboïtzeff am Cello und Rhys Chatham an der Trompete. Das fertige Werk wurde schließlich Ende 2020 vom Belgischen Label Sub Rosa als 2xLP oder CD veröffentlicht. Mit Soft Machine hat die Musik eher wenig gemein. Aber, es ging ja auch nur darum ein ähnlich ausladendes und gestaltetes Album zu veröffentlichen. Ein paar jazzig-rockige Spuren sind auf "Difference And Repetition - A Musical Evocation Of Gilles Deleuze" aber auch auszumachen. Ansonsten ist dies eine Art von elektronischer Musik, oft rhythmisch voran schreitend, bestimmt von programmierter Perkussion, vornehmlich aber dominiert von allerlei Synthesizererzeugnissen und bisweilen heftigst verfremdeten Saxophonklängen, in die je nach Stück weitere Blasinstrumente, Cello, Bass, E-Gitarre und Textrezitationen eingewoben wurden. Vor allem im dreiteiligen "Triptych" verliest Damasio Texte, einen eigenen bisher unveröffentlichten über Deleuzes Tod (der auch im Inneren des Digipacks abgedruckt ist), aus Deleuzes Buch "Capitalisme et Schizophrenie" (1980) und aus seinem Roman "Les Furtifs" (2019), durchaus engagiert und intensiv, ganz im Stile des "Concerto Delle Menti" von Pholas Dactylus. Man kann, auch wenn man den französischen Text kaum folgen kann, nur gebannt zuhören. Die restlichen Stücke sind vorwiegend instrumental gehalten, nur im einleitenden "The Tears of Nietzsche" wird kurz ein Text von Richard Pinhas’ verlesen (aus "Les Larmes de Nietzsche – Deleuze et la musique“, 2001), und sind recht stark von den jeweiligen Gastsolisten geprägt. Im eben genannten ersten Track ist Pinhas’ E-Gitarre klangbestimmend und die Nummer klingt dann über weite Strecken wie das recht typische Gitarrendröhnen, welches auch auf den Soloalben des Franzosen meist zu hören ist. Palo Alto, insbesondere Berberis Sax, sorgen aber für eigenen Charakter. In "Rhizom" knarzt Zaboitzeffs Cello erst bedächtig, dann immer wüster, eingebettet in eine hypnotisch dahin schreitende Space-Elektronik, in der das 'Tibetanische Horn' Barberis aber auch exotische Akzente setzt. Im abschließenden Titelstück ist dann Rhys Chatham tonangebend, allerdings nicht an der E-Gitarre, sondern mit einer heiser-krächzenden Trompete, übrigens oft begleitet von einem Damenchor (genannt 'Les Bottines'), der stellenweise fast für Zeuhl-Atmosphäre sorgt. Eine recht schwer zu kategorisierende Musik ist auf "Difference And Repetition - A Musical Evocation Of Gilles Deleuze" zu finden. Als dynamischen Avant/Kammerprog, dröhnenden E-Gitarren-Elektrorock, krautige Elektronik oder als pulsierendes Electronicagemenge könnte man das bezeichnen, oder als eine dichte Verschmelzung dieser Ingredienzien, angereichert mit allerlei freiem Klangbasteln. Das Ergebnis ist jedenfalls reichlich originell, intensiv, voluminös, packend und auf jeden Fall sehr progressiv. Ich denke einmal, dass Avantprog-Freaks bzw. Zaboitzeff- und/oder Pinhas-Fans, die zudem die weiter oben genannten Vorbilder (oder einige derselben) schätzen, von "Difference And Repetition" (übriges auch ein Buchtitel Deleuzes) begeistert sein sollten. Ein später Höhepunkt des Progjahres 2020!" [Babyblaue Seiten] 2021 €20.00
PAPIRO Avventure lontane LP PAPIRO is a "Swiss Sicilian" with a cellar full of antique synthesizers. This record brings you weird electronica with an easy-listening touch, full of strange artificial 70's sounds and sinus-tones and a nice drone-piece at the end, reminded us on stuff from FELIX KUBIN, the label-owner said "somewhere between PEREY & GERSHON KINGSLEY, ENNIO MORRICONE and HIGH LLAMAS. For those of you who like the ancient early synth-sounds. Comes in a "glow in the dark" -handpainted cover, on the same label that brought us MIRROR & IN CAMERA. "....-Papiro's music owns much to the works of Roedelius, Asmus Tietchens (on his Hematic Sunset albums) or even Bruce Haack, but comes off original enough to stand on its own. As a whole, this album is perfectly suited for any retro-styled party. All hail therefore to the groovy glow-in-the-dark cover, which fits the music like a dream." [FK / Vital Weekly] 2006 €17.50
PARLANE, ROSY Iris CD Three movements of dense magic ambience with concrete / microtonal element from this New Zealand-artist, known from his SIGMA releases. "Rosy Parlane lives in New Zealand; he began playing music with the avant-garde rock trio Thela. Thela released two CDs, Eponymous and Argentina on the label Ecstatic Peace! He subsequently began working with abstract electronic based music, both as a solo artist and as Parmentier with fellow Thela collaborator, Dion Workman. His full and intricate soundscapes are comprised of sample-loops, pianos, guitars, and field recordings manipulated via digital means. Parlane has released two solo albums on Sigma Editions, and a collaboration with Christian Fennesz on the Australian label, Synaesthesia [Live, SYN001]. Iris is the result of a concentrated period of activity and artistic development that will introduce Rosy Parlane to an audience hungry for innovative music. He both challenges and invigorates the current bias towards immersive sound, without ever losing sight of the human touch." [press release] 2004 €14.00
PARMEGIANI, BERNARD Les Soleils de l'Ile de Paques and La Brulure de Mille Soleils do-LP WRWTFWW Records is overjoyed to announce the release of two never-released-before soundtracks by French award-winning composer, audio experimenter, electroacoustic and musique concrète magician, and all-around sound visionary Bernard Parmegiani, sourced from the original reels, and neatly packed together in a gatefold sleeve double LP with English and French liner notes. The 2 albums are also available in an all-in-one digipack CD. Les Soleils de l’Île de Pâques (1972), by French director Pierre Kast, is a sci-fi feature which secured itself a well-deserved place in the pantheon of mysterious cult films thanks to hallucinatory (and superb) cinematography, exploration of supernatural phenomenons and occult symbolism, and one hell of a trippy atmosphere. La Brûlure de Mille Soleils (1965) also comes from Pierre Kast, but this time with the help of none other than writer, photographer, multimedia artist, homme à tout faire Chris Marker (notably known for films La Jetée, A Grin Without a Cat and Sans Soleil) who edited this bizarre short to brain melting results that live up to the promises of its synopsis: A depressed millionaire poet, accompanied by his cat Marcel and a sign language robot, travels in time to shake a persistent feeling of ennui and falls hopelessly in love with a woman from another planet. Nuff said! A renowned member of the prestigious GRM (Groupe de recherches musicales, the French equivalent of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop) and frequent collaborator of Pierre Schaeffer, Iannis Xenakis, and Pierre Henry among others, Bernard Parmegiani does what he does best with these two rare soundtracks: creating moods with electroacoustic experimentation, elevating the weird and hypnotic with soundscapes from other dimensions, and cementing his status as a true innovator. https://wrwtfww.com/album/les-soleils-de-l-le-de-p-ques-la-br-lure-de-mille-soleils-double-album 2018 €32.00
Les Soleils de l'Ile de Paques and La Brulure de Mille Soleils CD WRWTFWW Records is overjoyed to announce the release of two never-released-before soundtracks by French award-winning composer, audio experimenter, electroacoustic and musique concrète magician, and all-around sound visionary Bernard Parmegiani, sourced from the original reels, and neatly packed together in a gatefold sleeve double LP with English and French liner notes. The 2 albums are also available in an all-in-one digipack CD. Les Soleils de l’Île de Pâques (1972), by French director Pierre Kast, is a sci-fi feature which secured itself a well-deserved place in the pantheon of mysterious cult films thanks to hallucinatory (and superb) cinematography, exploration of supernatural phenomenons and occult symbolism, and one hell of a trippy atmosphere. La Brûlure de Mille Soleils (1965) also comes from Pierre Kast, but this time with the help of none other than writer, photographer, multimedia artist, homme à tout faire Chris Marker (notably known for films La Jetée, A Grin Without a Cat and Sans Soleil) who edited this bizarre short to brain melting results that live up to the promises of its synopsis: A depressed millionaire poet, accompanied by his cat Marcel and a sign language robot, travels in time to shake a persistent feeling of ennui and falls hopelessly in love with a woman from another planet. Nuff said! A renowned member of the prestigious GRM (Groupe de recherches musicales, the French equivalent of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop) and frequent collaborator of Pierre Schaeffer, Iannis Xenakis, and Pierre Henry among others, Bernard Parmegiani does what he does best with these two rare soundtracks: creating moods with electroacoustic experimentation, elevating the weird and hypnotic with soundscapes from other dimensions, and cementing his status as a true innovator. https://wrwtfww.com/album/les-soleils-de-l-le-de-p-ques-la-br-lure-de-mille-soleils-double-album 2018 €15.00
  Memoire Magnetique Vol. 2 LP Transversales is very glad to announce the release of « Mémoire Magnétique, vol.2 » spanning 1966-1993, revelatory collection of short and secret music by electronic music pioneer Bernard Parmegiani. The second volume of this compilation allows us to discover some of unreleased rarities from Bernard Parmegiani’s personal archives and unpublished recordings which were composed for the screen or the performing arts. Remastered high-resolution audio transferred directly from the original tapes. Exclusive liner notes and pictures. Musique originale composée, interprétée et enregistrée par Bernard Parmegiani. Production exécutive : Jonathan Fitoussi & Sébastien Rosat. Mastering à partir des bandes originales : Jonathan Fitoussi. Direction artistique & graphisme : Jean-Philippe Talaga. Traduction : Michèle Parent. (P) 2021 Transversales Disques ® sous licence exclusive de Claude-Anne Parmegiani A1 / "Témoignages" - 1972. Générique pour la série télévisée de Pierre Houdain. A2 / "Pop secret" - 1970. Version remixée pour concert de la musique créée avec le groupe "Third Ear Band" au Royal Festival Hall, Londres. A3 / "Voyage Conseil" - 1970. Musique pour la publicité de : "Voyage Conseil". Version non utilisée. A4 / "Lion d'or" - 1988. Générique pour l'émission radio de Georges Léon diffusée sur France Culture le 22/02/1988. A5 / "Flash sports" - 1975. Indicatif de l'émission télévisée éponyme diffusée sur Antenne 2. A6 / "Spot pub" - 1971. Spot publicitaire non identifié, non utilisé. A7 / "Journal TV 2" - 1981. Indicatif du journal télévisé d'Antenne 2. A8 / "Stade 2" - 1976-1986. Indicatif de l'émission : "Stade 2". Antenne 2, émission sport. Animation : Peter Foldès. A9 / "L'art au monde des ténèbres" - 1982. Série documentaire télévisée de Mario Ruspoli. A10 / "Sonal Roissy" - 1971-2005. Signal sonore de l'aéroport Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle. B1 / "Bongo fuego" - 1967. Film d'animation de Peter Foldès. B2 / "Electrorythmes" - 1966. Version remixée pour concert ; film de Peter Foldès avec la chorégraphe Marpessa Dawn. B3 / "E Pericoloso sporgersi" - (élément) - 1991. Musique radiophonique ; commande de France Culture. B4 / "Une mission éphémère" - 1993. Film d'animation de Piotr Kamler. B5 / "Une honorable partie de Gô" - 1978. Série documentaire télévisée de Jean-Emile Jeannesson, "Lettres du bout du monde". B6 / "Sonal Roissy" - (inédit) - 1971. Maquette de signal sonore pour l'aéroport Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle. Version non utilisée. https://bernardparmegiani.bandcamp.com/album/m-moire-magn-tique-vol-2-1966-1993 "Belonging to a growing body of previously unreleased work culled from the archives of Bernard Parmegiani, the always incredible Transversales Disques returns with “Mémoire Magnétique, Vol. 2”, the second instalment in their series of albums focusing on the composer’s work for film, television, and the performing arts. An inevitable revelation for even the most devoted of Parmegiani’s fans, we’re also making it available as part of a specially priced bundle with brand new represses of “Mémoire Magnétique, Vol. 1” and “Rock (Bande originale du film, 1982)” for those who missed them the first time around. So good. Over the last few years, the Paris based imprint, Transversales Disques, has set a remarkable standard for archival releases, bringing us a treasure trove of previously unreleased recordings by Pierre Henry, Archie Shepp, Pharoah Sanders, Luc Ferrari, Igor Wakhevitch, Philip Glass, Ariel Kalma, François Bayle, Ennio Morricone, and numerous others. While by no means the limit of their focus, the imprint has offered special attention to works by French pioneers of electronic music, particularly those associated with Groupe de Recherches de Musique Concrète (GRMC) and Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM). Central to this modus operandi is the work of Bernard Parmegiani. Back in 2017, they brought us the composer’s incredible 1982 soundtrack, Rock, created for Michel Treguero’s film of the same name, followed by the LP, Mémoire Magnétique, Vol​. 1 in 2018. After three years of waiting, the label is back with the second instalment of rare sounds by Parmegiani, Mémoire Magnétique, Vol.​ 2, accompanied by brand new represses of Mémoire Magnétique, Vol.​ 1 and Rock (Bande originale du film, 1982), which have been out of print since their initial release. As a special celebration, we’re offering them individually or together as a specially priced bundle. They’re 20th Century electroacoustic music at its absolute height, hugely historically important, and not to be missed. Bernard Parmegiani’s contributions to electronic and electroacoustic practice are now regarded as among the most important in the history of 20th Century Music, but this wasn’t always the case. For much of his career, the composer lingered in the shadow of his more famous peers at Groupe de Recherches - Pierre Schaeffer, Luc Ferrari, François Bayle, etc. Some of this was a consequence of circumstance and idealism. Gifted with a deep belief in access and humor, Parmegiani believed in the profound potential of electronic and electroacoustic sound, seeking to integrate it into everyday life, particularly through forms of mass distribution activated by radio, film, and television. A great deal of his output was created for these contexts - remaining unreleased on physical formats - while he supported himself as a sound engineer and as the head of the Music/Image division of French television. It is into this rarely heard body of recordings which Transversales Disques takes us once again. Like the first instalment, Mémoire Magnétique, Vol. 2 culls its material form the composer’s personal archives and unpublished recordings of material created between 1966 and 1993, focusing specifically on his output for the screen and the performing arts. Standing as a largely unacknowledged counterpoint to more famous works like De Natura Sonorum, La Roue Ferris, Dedans Dehors, Chants Magnétiques, and Chronos - created during same period covered by the collection - these works unveil a lesser-known vision of Parmegiani, one that embedded himself in the subconscious landscape of the French public, with sounds that were often heard without acknowledging their genius or source. Comprising 16 revelatory tracks, of relatively short lengths - from 13 seconds to just over 8 minutes - Mémoire Magnétique, Vol. 2 covers a brilliant range of material, from sci-fi tinged arpeggiating synths, brooding minimalist expanses, semi psychedelic meanderings away with free-flowing texture, pastoral meditations, playful, percussive musique concrète, pieces that flirt on the edges of kosmische and Berlin school electronics, and so much more. Encountering the composer in the throes of his deepest passion - working alongside the visual realm - just when you’d thought you’d heard it all, Transversales Disques digs up more gold from the archives of Bernard Parmegiani, expanding our vision of the astounding talent and range of one of the most important sonic artists of the 20th Century. These previously unreleased rarities have been remastered from the original tapes in high-resolution audio, and come complete with exclusive liner notes and pictures. As engrossing as records come, and an absolute blast to listen to. Not to be missed! Across 17 despite works, Mémoire Magnétique, Vol. 1 spans 24 years of Parmegiani’s output of music designed to integrate with the screen, drawing on a framework the composer developed for research and mutual exchange between sound and image. It should come as no surprise, given the overwhelming creative talent which Parmegiani possessed, that these efforts more than stand on their own when separated from the images with which they were designed to speak. The LP is an overwhelmingly powerful body of revelatory sound. Not unlike his soundtrack for Rock, Mémoire Magnétique, Vol. 1 pushes the boundaries of what the work emerging from Groupe de Recherches is often perceived to have been, if not the very notions of what qualifies as avant-garde. Imbued with Parmegiani’s overwhelming humor and playfulness, it offers nods to a countless range of musical idioms and fields of practice - often painting a dark, dystopian technological, rhythmic landscape with aural touchstones ranging from techno, Kraftwerk, and John Carpenter soundtracks, with a peppering of the clown show, reminding us that Parmegiani began his career as a mime. There’s no question that Transversales Disques is taking the high road, bringing us into wild, wonderful, and often overlooked bodies of organized sound which rewrite almost every standard narrative of history. These works are some of a Bernard Parmegiani which all too few heard, belonging to a way of working which captures the idealism closest to his heart. Absolutely brilliant creatively - a challenging field of imagination and an endlessly thrilling listen. Transferred directly from the original tapes with exclusive liner notes, if you missed the first pressing, don’t sleep. This is an absolute must for any fan of Parmegiani, GRM, soundtracks, and electronic music at large." [Soundohm] https://bernardparmegiani.bandcamp.com/album/m-moire-magn-tique-vol-2-1966-1993 2021 €26.50
PARMERUD, AKE Growl CD "Composer Åke Parmerud is from Göteborg, which is also the home of underground labels such as Fang Bomb, Release The Bats, and Beläten, names on which we can always rely to provide solid blasts of depressive post-industrial noise and drone music. Parmerud isn’t exactly cut from the same cloth, being as how he’s a prize-winning and classically-trained electroacoustic maestro, but there are moments of tasty darkness on his Growl (empreintes DIGITALes IMED 15132) collection which appeal to a macabre chap like myself. La vie mécanique, for instance, is a pretty effective critique of modern industrialisation, or at least an observation on it, and takes the hoary old dystopian cliché of “modern man becoming machine-like” and dusts it down for an update that involves samples of machinery blended with Techno music. In this lively composition of clattering beats and metal, it’s far from clear where the factory machines leave off and the dancefloor begins; it’s intending to convey something about the body being broken down into smaller units, much like the cogs of a machine being taken apart. Parmerud also makes a commentary on the contemporary use of machines (laptops, presumably) for making music. I wish he’d be a little less equivocal about it, both in his notes and his music, but it’s a nifty statement. Maybe serious composers shouldn’t dabble with Techno. However, if you think men of Parmerud’s generation should leave the kids’ music alone, you’ll be even more appalled by the idea of Growl itself, where he drily observes “metal music is big in Sweden” from his lofty position, and borrows some ideas from his youngest son who plays in a metal band. This might be Aron Parmerud who plays his “axe” for Marionette, a Death Metal band who made a couple of albums for Listenable Records. What the composer has done here is zero-in on the throat-shredding vocals that characterise a lot of the music in this genre, and through arranging samples of voices shrieking “Hell Is Us! Die We Must!”, has built a virtual “growlers choir”. With the dark techno backing, electronic effects, and gloomy ambient tones, this works surprisingly well, even if it sounds too “expensive” and well-produced for a genuine metal album and has far too many interesting dynamics. He also misses the claustrophobia and genuine sense of doom. But even so Parmerud turns in a strong piece of work, and in any case he wasn’t setting out to produce a metal album. What else are the “young people” interested in these days? Vinyl records, of course! So listen in to 2011’s Grooves if you want to hear what Parmerud can do when sampling the black stuff. The source material for this was the vinyl collection of his friend Kai Hanekken; in fact the composition seems to have been a by-product of a digitisation project requested by said Hanekken, who urged the composer to pick up the gauntlet and create a composition. He gave in. What gets sampled are run-out grooves and vinyl “noise”, i.e. crackles and clicks and such; Parmerud seems to have been only too aware that doing this was already something of a well-worn cliché, but again he liked the challenge and wanted to see if he could invert it and bring new life into the idea. Although best heard at high volumes and played back through a multi-channel system, Grooves still succeeds on your home CD player and delivers a suffocating density which is clearly one of this composer’s trademarks. Continuity is severely disrupted by the multiple edits, and the speed with which the layers of abstract noise pile up is incredibly alarming. You’ll feel like you’re trapped on an enormous spinning black disc of death. Also here: 2014’s Electric Birds derived from birdsong samples (yet another instance where Parmerud had promised himself he would never make a piece like this), and Transmissions II, the most recent composition. It derives from a multi-media work where, if seen live, a singing choir are able to manipulate sound signals in real time. Some fascinating complex electronic layers result, and it sounds a lot more contemporary than some of the formal music that often gets released on this label, and is every bit as convincing as any given Mego release from the last few years. Sometimes proper composers make a ninny of themselves when they try and get “with it”, but Åke Parmerud has nothing to be ashamed of here." [The Sound Projector] 2015 €14.50
PARSONS, DAVID Puja CD "Perhaps mainly known for his panoramic and almost cinematic Himalayan soundworlds, on Puja David continues his more recent tradition of travelling the inner horizon. And in so doing, he also invites us listeners to undertake similar journeys of our own. Puja is a mysterious and magic constellation, fuelled by the spirit and discipline of the age old Asian cultures and philosophies." https://gterma.bandcamp.com/album/puja "This is one of those albums where it’s difficult to single out one track, or even one moment that will stay with you longer that the other ones. It’s rather something that you absorb in its entirety and don’t really want it to end, even if you don’t listen to it carefully and attentively for the whole seventy four minutes. David Parsons (do not confuse with Alan Parsons) returns with his second offering for the gterma label. The first recordings of this composer from New Zealand date back to the early eighties. He released some albums for the legendary Fortuna Records and its sister-label Celestial Harmonies. Well, honestly speaking, I wasn’t in a rush to get familiar with this one. I was rather expecting some New Age mumbo-jumbo with an Eastern touch and perhaps a few ambient incrustations here and there. And you know what? I wasn’t that wrong, except for the fact that the ambient layers are more intense and cover the New Age frames, so they do not dominate the work that is called “Puja” (in Sanskrit it means “ritual prayer”). What surprised me the most were the occasional darker trips, like in “Offerings 3” where the deep drones having something in common with aliquot singing are merged with ritual bells and sequences that even Lustmord would be proud of. It’s a peculiar combination that introduces a feeling of anxiety into this sublime communion with the gods. A fear of them perhaps? The artist is juggling with moods from track to track, as another “Offering” is a peaceful and ethereal composition with samples of female chanting, but not in the way you’d expect – it’s intermittent, delayed and reverbed, but still nicely fitting into the calming textures. You can meet these contrasts more often within the space of the whole album, but you don’t feel confused, as it’s all gives the impression of a very coherent and thought out work. That is also why I discussed distinguishing certain tracks or fragments. Because of the sound and the mood that is a derivative of the concept, it all sounds quite monolithic and dense. Focused like a ritual that requires patience, stillness and self-meditation. Of course, you can use “Puja” as muzak as well, and I doubt David Parsons would be particularly disappointed with such a treatment – but it works both ways. Consciously or unconsciously you can feel that something has changed in the environment. That a touch of mystique has penetrated into your regular day like any other day. Since it’s a gterma release you know what to expect from a technical point of view. A CD only, no digital version. And, as always, a booklet with some beautiful photos completing the musical side." [Santa Sangre] " “Puja” (started by the composer with nothing particular in mind) is David Parsons’ first album using software synths only, as he decided purchasing a fine collection of soft-synths in years previously eventually making his studio now reside in a Mac Mini. The depth and versatility of a lot of current software quite astonished him, as did the ability to manipulate samples and oscillators in completely surreal ways, which all proved quite inspirational (as also happened for “Stupa”). David spent about a year programming the software with hundreds of sound patches and from this new library “Puja” is the first to emerge. The name of the album only suggested itself after the project was completed. The track names, simply “Offerings” 1 thru 7, are offerings in the sense of a Hindu/Buddhist puja (prayer ceremony) and feel most descriptive of the 73-minute most subtle constructed and captivating sonic content. In the mesmerizing, gradually evolving, elevating and rather hypnotizing textural waves/drone tapestries, many enchanting sounds pass by such as those of praying monks, sampled sitar and a few refined, subtle rhythmic elements. Soon, a sense of mystery and spiritually simply reveals itself to and washed over the listener. There actually are many sounds buried fairly deeply in the mix of this inward journey so that with repeated listening new things will be discovered depending on where the listener’s attention is centered at any given moment. As David let me know, the mix itself is very much biased towards headphone listening. The Gterma label refers to “Puja” as a charming piece of work, something I can only fully agree upon." [Sonic Immersion] 2016 €13.00
PATERAS, ANTHONY Collected Works Vol. II (2005-2018) 5 x CD "A 5-disc overview of exploratory works written between 2005 and 2018, including long-form ensemble pieces, idiosyncratic trio combinations and a collection of 10 solos investigating various potential interactions between instrument and tape. Anthony Pateras is an Australian composer, pianist and electronic musician whose current work focuses on electro-acoustic orchestration, temporal hallucination and sound phenomena. Pateras has created over 75 works, receiving performances from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Australian Chamber Orchestra and BBC Symphony, commissions from INA-GRM, Slagwerk Den Haag and Südwestrundfunk Baden-Baden, residencies from ZKM, Akademie Schloss Solitude and La Becque, and fellowships from Creative Victoria, and the Ian Potter and Sydney Myer Foundations. He has released over 40 albums including collaborations with Mike Patton, Chris Abrahams and Valerio Tricoli, guested on records by Oren Ambarchi, Sunn O))) and Fennesz, as well as working in film with director Pia Borg, producer François Tetaz and literary critic Sylvère Lotringer. Aside from solo concerts, Pateras currently performs with eRikm, Jérôme Noetinger and North of North. Operating independently, he initiated the Immediata series in 2012 as a music and text project to create a dialogue around contemporary music making in the early 21st century. This is the 15th and last release in the Immediata series, containing close to five and a half hours of music, beautifully presented in a silver box with black hotstamping, 24 page booklet and a ribbon. Mastered by Lachlan Carrick at Moose Mastering, with production generously supported by the Robert D. Bielecki Foundation." https://immediata.bandcamp.com/album/imm015-collected-works-vol-ii-2005-2018 2018 €55.00
PBK & TELEPHERIQUE Noise-Ambient Connection CD "Noise music exists for many years, but there are still some individuals who are assiduously following their own approach, avoiding any external influence, creating something new and inspiring to get rid of any standards, giving us the idea of unique sounding. Phillip B. Klingler (PBK) is the one such musician. In his 20 years of activity, he walked against the number of noisescapes, painting them over with some secret traces of beauty and beyond. He released some solo works but also collaborations with Dirk Serries (vidnaObmana), Slavek Kwi (Artificial Memory Trace), Asmus Tietchens, Jeph Jerman (Hands To) and even Artemy Artemiev (the son of famous Russian ANS-synth explorer). PBK proposes premium quality music with manifold edges: some hypnotic ambient pieces, some crazy noise collages, but mostly just unclassifiable abstract sound-sculptures. His early works were released on tapes by his own PBK Recordings label and sold out for many years, in the early 90s N D Records published his first couple of CDs: endless labyrinths of dissonances, amorphous soundscapes unfolding from the complex schemes of machine improvisation and stochastic processes. Telepherique is the seminal German project existing since the late 80s and exploring the grey area of the electronic underground. The main person behind it is Klaus Jochim who also was responsible for now defunct tape label Drahtfunk Productions. Besides his own production under various monikers like Technostria and Das Konzentrat, he released some great collaboration tape albums with artists like Brume, Kapotte Muziek, S.Core, Tesendalo, De Fabriek etc. Telepherique uses a lot of synthetic sound sources and sequences, creating unsettling atmosphere from the structured electronic patterns ranging from intense rhythmic work to creepy ambient out-of-body soundscapes. They got initial support from labels like Ant-Zen and Noise Museum, later released some albums through Old Europa Cafe, S.S.S.M., Afe Records and Waystyx. The name Telepherique means "funicular railway" in French, but indirectly also the intention gaining a view from a higher level. This particular album is the first ever collaboration between PBK and Telepherique, it represents yet another breakthrough in the search for a music that is comprehensively exploring 21st century ambient music." [label notes] www.monochromevision.ru/ 2008 €13.00
PEAL GRIM same CD Peal Grim is one of the names of Dmitriy Shilov known for the projects Unknown, Neznamo and Magickal Things. Peal Grim explores the theme of dramatic experiences of the human life using acoustic and electric guitars, overdrive, distortion and spatial effects. Their sound creates clouds of guitar drone, noise and ringing, assuming different shapes in the acoustic atmosphere: sometimes floating like an impenetrable fog, sometimes rolling like a gigantic front of thunderclouds, sometimes creeping over a dark pit of overwhelming melancholia… These five compositions were recorded over the course of three years from 2007 to 2009 and were mastered by Sergey Bulychiov (kshatriy.pro) in 2014. "This record is not recommended to listening for depressively inclined persons". [label info] "So, this album begins with the caveat: "This record is not recommended to listening for depressively inclined persons." Now, that is far more enticing than "may cause drowsiness" (which has been affixed to less than inspiring new age / ambient records in days gone by) or Pulp's reverse psychology of "Please do not read the lyrics whilst listening to the recordings" or any number of unimaginative variations on "play loud or not at all, motherfucker!" There is also something rather charming about this translation about "depressively inclined persons" which may just be an utterly commonplace trigger warning in the Peal Grim's native Russian. What we have behind this is a pretty fucking bleak album of crumbling, corrosive blackened ambience that actually morphs into an ominously tranquil, making for an album that could be rather soothing in a dark, wintery kind of way. Peal Grim is the work of Dmitry N. Shilov, who has orbited in the pagan neofolk and mystical ambient underground of Moscow for a good part of the last two decades. In spite of this background, this album has all of the feel of the ambient passages from the best of the best black metal albums, making us think that he must have been buzzing riff with corpse paint instead. Nonetheless, this is a densely layered album of skeletal guitar figures that are blasted out in blackened fuzz, while spiralling down a soul-sucking maelstrom with a stately minor key lament throughout all the atmospheric depression. A properly replicated cd in an edition of 100 copies." [Aquarius Rec.] 2015 €12.00
PENDULUM NISUM same LP "Pendulum Nisum are Reto Mäder (Ural Umbo, Sum Of R, RM74) and Mike Reber (Herpes Ö DeLuxe) from Bern, Switzerland. The 8 pieces on their debut album are built on majestic organic drones and hypnotic, sinister melodies - a complex structured sound built from horns, organ, piano, analogue synthesizers, shades of guitar sounds, voices, found objects, electro-acoustic processes, and, most of all, an unusual strong presence of field recordings. The powerful but warm and gloomy sound, based on acoustic instruments and electronic sound treatment clashes in a challenging way with the carefully selected natural sounds (thunderstorms, rain, city noises) chosen from the huge sound databank that Reber has collected within the last decade. Reto Mder works solo as RM74 and in the groups Ural Umbo (with Steven Hess from Chicago) and Sum Of R. 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 Mder has run the label Hinterzimmer Records together with Roger Ziegler. Mike Reber is member of the band Herpes Ö DeLuxe. Since 1995 they have worked in a musical field between atmospheric noise, electronica bruitiste, sombre soundscapes and harsh drones. Hinterzimmer Records released their two last proper albums Kielholen and Ember. Reber also used to work as performance artist during the 80ies and 90ies and has acted in several theatre pieces." [label info] www.hinterzimmer-records.com 2011 €17.00
PER ASPERA Nil Desperandum CD Drittes Album dieses uns bisher noch unbekannten polnischen dark ambient-Projekts, das auf NIL DESPERANDUM eine ureigenste Vision von dunkler elektronischer Ambience entwirft, wo sehr minimal & bedächtig instrumentierte Synth-Parts of ebenso spärlich eingesetzte Sakral-Gesänge stoßen, es später aber Bezüge zu 9/11 gibt und die Klänge rauher & experimenteller werden. Ingesamt wirkt das alles sehr ausgereift & überlegt komponiert, 7 Stücke die aufeinander aufbauen. Sehr ambitioniert und fesselnd ! "The third and the most complete release by one of the most talented ambient artists hailing from Poland these days. Unifying vast array of elements, Per Aspera once again achieves remarkably introvert but vibrant style. Eerie industrial atmosphere seamlessly blends with serene harmonies of almost orchestral form. Cinematic, monstrous drone formations morph into pulsating abyss of dissonant disturbances and uncompromised sonic experiments, overlaid by subtle beauty of human voice and minimalist acoustic instrumentation. All those skillful, multiformal explorations establish Nil desperandum one of those albums of complex yet stable musical concept—reflecting the incoherencies of human nature and its immanent affection to chaos and order merged together. Per Aspera tends to render tragically compound heritage of the mankind, being constantly shaped by cultural, ethnic and religious or ideologic discrepancies. Definitely not your average dark–ambient buzz, this album stands out of the dull cliche. The sound may appeal to the admirers of T. Köner, Parca Pace, Nocturnal Emissions or Neubautens to name a few but still, expect no pattern follower. Complemented with special A5–sized glossy digipak designed by Ibsen studio, this CD is limited to 500 copies only." [label info] ".... Whilst it’s ridiculously difficult to be overly innovative within the dark ambient genres, one of the skills a composer must demonstrate is the ability to keep the listener engaged whilst producing a sound that doesn’t show immediate comparisons to one or another artist from within this genre. Thankfully Per Aspera does a fantastic job at both and has created a set of recordings that smack of originality whilst containing a myriad of well executed compositions, rich textural sounds and a wonderfully imaginative evolving plethora of atmospheres that flow from the album. As a dark ambient release this is as good as it gets and sets an impressively high standard immediately, with a faultless album being produced from start to finish. For those who relish in the shadowy undercurrent of rich dark ambient soundscapes ‘Nil Desperadum’ delivers a fabulous journey into this style of music and is welcomed addition to the genre itself and as such is a near prefect introduction for a relatively unknown artist and a label which promises great things, if this is anything to go by." [Judas Kiss] www.newnihilism.com 2008 €13.00
PERRY, BRENDAN Eye of the Hunter / Live at the ICA do-LP Out of print since release in 1999, Dead Can Dance"s Brendan Perry"s debut solo album "Eye of the Hunter" is being reissued this summer and has been expanded to now also include his 1993 live show as part of 4AD"s infamous 13 Year Itch week of concerts at London"s ICA, a live show that has to date only been available as a very rare promotional cassette. Having mutually disbanded Dead Can Dance so he and Lisa Gerrard could focus on their own material (a hiatus that would last seven years between live shows and sixteen between albums), Brendan"s debut built on his renown as a solo performer, having often played just he and an acoustic guitar during his band"s otherworldly live shows. Indeed, Dead Can Dance"s first official live album, 1994"s Toward The Within, captures just this with three Brendan solo tracks helping to set the scene for what came next. Backed by the band of Liam Bradley (drums), Glen Garrett (bass guitar) and Martin Quinn (pedal steel), Brendan performs the guitar, a 12-string guitar, mandolin and keys to achieve a rich, gothic sound while the album"s incredible production elevates his vocals to Scott Walker and Tim Buckley levels of delivery; two clear influences, the latter"s "I Must Have Been Blind Here" is thoughtfully covered here. A record that has been out of print on vinyl since its release in 1999, people have been asking for it to be repressed for long enough. Having been remastered at Abbey Road, fans will be delighted to hear that not only is Eye of the Hunter finally being reissued but that it"s also being expanded to include Live at the I.C.A.. A true collectible, this extra album has previously only been available on a rare as hen"s teeth promotional cassette, recorded during the 4AD label"s infamous 13 Year Itch residency at the storied London venue in 1993. Chris Bigg"s fantastic art remains front and centre, upgraded to a gatefold sleeve for the LP with the transparent teal coloured vinyl matching the album"s palette. https://brendan-perry.bandcamp.com/album/eye-of-the-hunter-live-at-the-i-c-a 2023 €44.50
  Eye of the Hunter / Live at the ICA do-CD https://brendan-perry.bandcamp.com/album/eye-of-the-hunter-live-at-the-i-c-a Out of print since release in 1999, Dead Can Dance"s Brendan Perry"s debut solo album "Eye of the Hunter" is being reissued this summer and has been expanded to now also include his 1993 live show as part of 4AD"s infamous 13 Year Itch week of concerts at London"s ICA, a live show that has to date only been available as a very rare promotional cassette. Having mutually disbanded Dead Can Dance so he and Lisa Gerrard could focus on their own material (a hiatus that would last seven years between live shows and sixteen between albums), Brendan"s debut built on his renown as a solo performer, having often played just he and an acoustic guitar during his band"s otherworldly live shows. Indeed, Dead Can Dance"s first official live album, 1994"s Toward The Within, captures just this with three Brendan solo tracks helping to set the scene for what came next. Backed by the band of Liam Bradley (drums), Glen Garrett (bass guitar) and Martin Quinn (pedal steel), Brendan performs the guitar, a 12-string guitar, mandolin and keys to achieve a rich, gothic sound while the album"s incredible production elevates his vocals to Scott Walker and Tim Buckley levels of delivery; two clear influences, the latter"s "I Must Have Been Blind Here" is thoughtfully covered here. A record that has been out of print on vinyl since its release in 1999, people have been asking for it to be repressed for long enough. Having been remastered at Abbey Road, fans will be delighted to hear that not only is Eye of the Hunter finally being reissued but that it"s also being expanded to include Live at the I.C.A.. A true collectible, this extra album has previously only been available on a rare as hen"s teeth promotional cassette, recorded during the 4AD label"s infamous 13 Year Itch residency at the storied London venue in 1993 2023 €16.00
PETER BRÖTZMANN OCTET, THE Machine Gun LP Recorded in May 1968 at Lila Eule in Bremen, here's one of the most important albums from Europe's entire free jazz history, reissued on wax in the Cien Fuegos series! 2018 €29.50
PHARMAKON Contact LP "The release date of Contact marks the ten-year anniversary of Margaret Chardiet’s project, Pharmakon. While working on her newest release, she began to evaluate the project as a whole. Though the content of each record has been very different and specific, the pervading question, which has underlined them all, is what is means to be human. Her last album, Bestial Burden, focused on the disconnect between mind and body, looking at the human as an isolated consciousness stuck inside of a rotting vessel. For Contact, she wanted to look at the other side of the spectrum – the moments when our mind can come outside of and transcend our bodies. Because an album is itself an object, she struggled with how to convey the transcendence of the physical, through a physical medium. She started to study trance states and equate her live performances to them. In trance states, music and the body are used to transcend the physical form and make contact with some outside force. In the live setting, she used sound and her body to create an exchange of energy and make contact with outside forces - humanity, empathy, the audience. This energy/empathy exchange has always been at the heart of a Pharmakon performance, but she felt that on records, it wasn’t translating. They were one-sided and flat – declarations rather than conversations. She decided to structure the compositions of each side of Contact after the four stages of trance: preparation, onset, climax, and resolution. By using these stages as a biorhythm for the album, she animates it, and instills the intention of communion into the music. Release date: 3/31/2017" [label info] www.sacredbonesrecords.com "Each track of the new Pharmakon LP can be heard as a violent scuffle between mind and body. Even when her visceral noise achieves moments of transcendence, it still strikes you in the gut. Through a decade of performing and recording as Pharmakon, Margaret Chardiet has made music that heaves, throbs, and decays. Harnessing the drilling power of electronics and the elasticity of her screams, she’s concocted visceral noise in New York since she was a teenager—first on small-run tapes and CD-Rs, then on more widely-available albums for her hometown label Sacred Bones. As her profile has grown, her sound has remained physical, the aural equivalent of organs pumping life into a body while nature takes a toll on its flesh. The physicality of each Pharmakon album emerges in Chardiet’s choices of cover art. Her 2013 LP Abandon showed maggots swarming on her lap, suggesting a theme of bodily decomposition. For 2014’s Bestial Burden—influenced by an illness that required emergency surgery—she placed animal organs on her chest and torso, as if her own innards had broken through her skin. On the cover of the third Pharmakon full-length, Contact, Chardiet is no longer alone. A mesh of greasy fingers cover her face, her hair tangled in between them like a spiderweb catching flies. Perhaps Contact, then, is about reaching out and connecting with others. Alongside the heavier, more claustrophobic Bestial Burden, this new collection sounds spacious. Chardiet has opened her psychic soundscapes to give the outside world more room to enter. And that’s a well-timed goal, given how current political strife has pushed people to work together rather than turn inward. In press materials, Chardiet says Contact is about “when our mind uses the body in order to transcend or escape it.” (Or, as she recently expanded, it’s “about stepping outside your experiences as a human and looking at humanity in an objective way.”) The ultimate objective, she writes, is “Empathy! EMPATHY, NOW!” Achieving that isn’t easy. The music on Contact is stressful and tense, rife with conflicts that aren’t always resolved. At one point, Chardiet even seems ready to admit defeat, singing that “Despite all our scrambling rejections/We cannot transcend all of our instincts/Just animals, lost in a confused dream.” But she never gives up. Each track can be heard as a violent scuffle between mind and body, and Chardiet compellingly mines that primal contest for drama and catharsis. The music hammers with industrial heft, vibrates with nervous pulse, and envelops with tactile atmosphere. Even when her songs achieve moments of transcendence, they still strike you directly in the gut. Contact benefits from Chardiet’s agile voice, which feels more prominent than ever. Her howls and screeches are central to four of the album’s six tracks, naturally humanizing the music while standing strong inside the electronic clatter. On “Nakedness of Need,” ominous noise is shifted by her blasting shrieks, while during “Transmission” her screams bounce around the din like wolves surrounding prey. That song’s lyric comprises just five lines, framing communication as paramount: “I had a conversation/It lasted nearly an hour/Held no words/And carried the weight/Of the state of things so held.” Chardiet’s sounds are in a constant tug of war on Contact, and that clash seems to be the point. Just as there’s often more to learn from a journey than its destination, for Pharmakon the battle outweighs the result. Perhaps that’s why Contact’s closer, “No Natural Order,” actually resembles a battlefield. Crashes and pounds rattle while Chardiet peals out angry breaths, undaunted by the sonic assault. In the end, her chants could pass for political slogans—“No divine law, escape!/No positive law, revolt!/No natural law pertains:/Only empathy, untamed”—and it sounds like a victory." [Marc Masters / Pitchfork] 2017 €20.00
Devour LP https://pharmakon.bandcamp.com/album/devour Devour marks the fourth full-length record from Margaret Chardiet's project Pharmakon and her most intense output to date. Like her previous albums, Devour comes with a strong concept that is exorcised throughout the five demolishing tracks on the album, using imagery and language of self-cannibalism as allegory for the self-destructive nature of humans. Each of the five songs echoes a stage of grief associated with this cyclical chamber of self-destruction and the chaos surrounding us that leads us to devour ourselves in an attempt to balance the agony. The album was recorded by Ben Greenberg (Uniform) and is the first Pharmakon album recorded live in studio. The A and B sides were each recorded as a continuous take with vocals from start to finish, marking a totally new process for the artist that allows the ferocity and immediacy of her live performance to resonate throughout. Devour also explores new sonic territory, with denser electronics, groovier hooks, and moments of her most unhinged vocal deliveries to date. As one of the premiere vanguards of modern industrial and power electronics, Chardiet continuously pushes the genres and everyone involved in them, and with the release of Devour, she has once again changed the game. Artist Statement: "Devour" uses self-cannibalization as allegory for the self-destructive nature of humans; on cellular, individual, societal and species-wide scales. In our cells, our minds, our politics and our species, humans are self-destructing. But this behavior does not happen in a vacuum. It is an instinctive inward response to a world of increasing outward violence, greed, and oppression. Turning these wounds toward ourselves can be seen as an attempt at "balancing feedback", within a never-ending positive feedback loop of cause and effect. With this view, the blame is placed not within the individual, but with the world they must contend with, and a society that is designed to fail them - to keep them gnashing and wailing, inflicted with an all-devouring hunger that inevitably turns in on the self. Those that pit them against each other grin from the sidelines, bellies full. Those who see beyond the veil need to obscure the horrid sight by any means necessary, but respite is always brief- nothing can dampen the glare from behind the veil. This album is dedicated to all who were lost to their own demise, all who have been institutionalized; whether in prison, psychiatric facilities, or drug rehabilitation. It is for all those ostracized by and isolated from a totality which chews them up alive in a self-cannibalizing caste system. Here, where martyrs, slaves, and pharmakos are not eradicated, but simply called by another name. "ABOUT THE SHALLOWNESS OF SANITY"... To be well adjusted in this system is to be oblivious and unfeeling. This is for the rest of us, who understand that chaos, madness, pain and even self destruction are natural and inevitable responses to an unjust and disgusting world of our own making. 2019 €20.00
  Devour CD Devour marks the fourth full-length record from Margaret Chardiet's project Pharmakon and her most intense output to date. Like her previous albums, Devour comes with a strong concept that is exorcised throughout the five demolishing tracks on the album, using imagery and language of self-cannibalism as allegory for the self-destructive nature of humans. Each of the five songs echoes a stage of grief associated with this cyclical chamber of self-destruction and the chaos surrounding us that leads us to devour ourselves in an attempt to balance the agony. The album was recorded by Ben Greenberg (Uniform) and is the first Pharmakon album recorded live in studio. The A and B sides were each recorded as a continuous take with vocals from start to finish, marking a totally new process for the artist that allows the ferocity and immediacy of her live performance to resonate throughout. Devour also explores new sonic territory, with denser electronics, groovier hooks, and moments of her most unhinged vocal deliveries to date. As one of the premiere vanguards of modern industrial and power electronics, Chardiet continuously pushes the genres and everyone involved in them, and with the release of Devour, she has once again changed the game. Artist Statement:"Devour" uses self-cannibalization as allegory for the self-destructive nature of humans; on cellular, individual, societal and species-wide scales. In our cells, our minds, our politics and our species, humans are self-destructing. But this behavior does not happen in a vacuum. It is an instinctive inward response to a world of increasing outward violence, greed, and oppression. Turning these wounds toward ourselves can be seen as an attempt at "balancing feedback", within a never-ending positive feedback loop of cause and effect. With this view, the blame is placed not within the individual, but with the world they must contend with, and a society that is designed to fail them - to keep them gnashing and wailing, inflicted with an all-devouring hunger that inevitably turns in on the self. Those that pit them against each other grin from the sidelines, bellies full. Those who see beyond the veil need to obscure the horrid sight by any means necessary, but respite is always brief- nothing can dampen the glare from behind the veil. This album is dedicated to all who were lost to their own demise, all who have been institutionalized; whether in prison, psychiatric facilities, or drug rehabilitation. It is for all those ostracized by and isolated from a totality which chews them up alive in a self-cannibalizing caste system. Here, where martyrs, slaves, and pharmakos are not eradicated, but simply called by another name. "ABOUT THE SHALLOWNESS OF SANITY"... To be well adjusted in this system is to be oblivious and unfeeling. This is for the rest of us, who understand that chaos, madness, pain and even self destruction are natural and inevitable responses to an unjust and disgusting world of our own making. https://pharmakon.bandcamp.com/album/devour 2019 €14.00
PINHAS, RICHARD Rhizosphere LP Richard Pinhas is one of the most important French electronic space rock musicians. Following five albums with HELDON, his band, he released his first solo record in 1977. Backed by Heldon’s congenial drummer François Auger but no longer bound by the group dynamic, he explores his freshly purchased Moog Modular system in search of new sounds. It marked a departure into new realms! Out Feb 2nd, 2018 soundcloud.com/bureau-1/sets/richard-pinhas-rhizosphere-album-preview 2018 €20.00
PLURALS TriTone LP "Tri Tone is Plurals' first studio recording as a trio following the most recent releases which feature live or session material. The last studio release was 2014's Bugenès Melissae - two tracks of calmer, more reflective music, standing aside from the bulk of the group's output which tends towards noise as the ultimate splitting-point after a period of collected density. On Tri Tone that density is an end in itself. It is slow music that maps out its space carefully in coming together. It may be the gentlest and most patient of Plurals' albums, though it required the longest and most detailed sonic wrangling to complete. Two pieces were chosen from three hours of recorded music, and were contracted and expanded again by turns until eventually the finished versions took shape. Plurals' studio improvisations typically expel a significant amount of aggression and intensity in their early stages, holding closer resemblance to live performances. With such force expunged however, the following material sees them exploring lengthy passages of audio cogitation rarely delivered live. Mastered & cut by Frederic Alstadt at Ångström Mastering, Brussels." [label info] "Silken Tofu seems to be taken by the music of Plurals; as a follow-up to a double CD 'Atlantikwall' (see Vital Weekly 1076), they now release a LP. This LP is the first studio recording of them as a trio, and the first studio recording to be released since 2014. This trio of improvisers (Daniel Mackenzie, Michael Neaves and David Hamilton-Smith) use a variety of tools (guitar, synthesizers, keyboards, vocals, tape machines, radio and reed and string instruments) and then go about to do their improvised work. For this record they recorded some three hours of music and extracted forty-eight minutes spread out over the two sidelong pieces. I can't judge if that is a lot or not. The music on both pieces is quite dense, rich with sound and also mostly not too loud. That seems to me a bit of break with what I know from them so far, which was always bit more towards the noise of lo-fi drone music. Like always the changes within the pieces is quite minimal; Plurals take their time to slow go from one point in their piece to the next. In 'Sun Lock' for instance a simple drone starts out and little by little they add more and more sound, while the original drone lingers on, and towards the end it is very much changed and no longer recognizable. It ends as quiet as it started. Hard to say how much post-production and editing took place here. Surely something, I would think, but for all we know, it is released as it was played back then. ‘Bas Fond' on the other side is more from the drone rock side of Plurals with mildly distorted guitars played long form drones. A record with two sides, obviously, showing two different sides of Plurals, not as obvious. From what I heard from them, this is the most refined work." [FdW/Vital Weekly] 2018 €16.00
POOK, JOCELYN Untold Things CD "The Real World Gold version of Untold Things includes two bonus tracks: Adam's Lullaby and Ave Maria, sung by Natacha Atlas. "I wanted Untold Things to reflect the live work I'd been at the time," says the classically trained, thirty-something Londoner. Pook sees the recording as a natural progression from her long association with Real World, where she'd been a keen participant in the legendary creative jams that are Recording Weeks and worked as a string player and arranger for Peter Gabriel. (As a former member of The Communards and co-founder of the all-female sextet Electra Strings she has also helped flesh out the sounds of PJ Harvey, Paul Weller, Morrissey, Nick Cave and Siouxsie Sioux). Where her previous albums, 1997's 'Deluge' and 1999's 'Flood', were written specifically for theatre and film - the former for Canadian dance company O Vertigo, the latter for Stanley Kubrick's 'Eyes Wide Shut' - 'Untold Things' is very much Pook's own creative vision. Encouraged by Real World's penchant for blurring boundaries, she channelled her trademark combination of classicism and innovation into an exhilarating gem of an album, one which pulls off that rare coup of putting listeners in touch with their deeper feelings. 'Untold Things' will, no doubt, be the source of many an epiphany. You could say that it has a spiritual, even magical, quality, as befits one who is constantly changing artistic shape - and whose surname is the Celtic word for fairy. Pook's soft speech, translucent skin and Pre-Raphaelite curls might fit the stereotype of a classical musician (and, if you like, a latter-day Titania), but they belie a background in performance-based work that's seen her create 'atmospheres' from found objects like answer-machine messages and corrugated iron. And though Pook insists she is proudly rooted in the formal, classical music tradition, she still hankers after the cutting edge. Her influences - Laurie Anderson, Steve Reich, Holger Czukay and her friend Michael Nyman - are also shared by her like-minded ensemble. "Most of my string section are friends who go way back and who, like me, are also composers. I tend to work with people I've got chemistry with and then build around what they play. That means all sorts of instruments and voices creep in." "There's a juxtaposition of vocal styles," states Pook, who has always favoured eccentric opposites. On 'Untold Things', she pits her English choral plainsong and early music leanings against multi-ethnic traditions, and offsets the spacious, tranquil nature of some tracks with the pulsing, dervish-style rhythms of others. It turns out the vocals are not words at all. "Because words are so incredibly powerful," Pook explains, "I tend not to use them. I prefer to treat voices like instruments. So we've used a made up language on two of the songs; there's one piece which developed from a phrase Parvin Cox once sang to me over the phone. On others I've recorded texts backwards, because I love the strange, kind of uneasy quality you get. I find it really peaceful." 'Saffron' is the title track for 'In A Land of Plenty', a major new BBC TV drama series which aired at the time of the album's release. "It's about a family who are my generation, born in the Sixties and growing up into the present day. It's very beautifully shot, very impressionistic, which is unusual for television" Pook states. But it started out as a poem written by a mother for her daughter, its lyrics reversed by Pook and Pappenheim before being featured in a short dance film. All of the songs on 'Untold Things' have been reshaped and sculpted to perfection. Or at the very least, as near to it as Pook will admit. "I could go on fiddling with all these pieces for years," she grins. "But with what I've learnt over the past year, especially from doing 'Eyes Wide Shut', I've been able to go back and rework some of them. I'm more confident in what I'm doing now, which has really helped me to develop. And Stanley (Kubrick) was just so amazingly positive and flattering about my music. The experience of working with him was truly powerful." "I'm not somebody who conceptualises," she offers. "I just do it and see the connections afterwards. I know people will think there's a religious element to this, which isn't something I want to comment on. But I do think there's a sense of faith, of loss and yearning, which is inherent in the music. Hopefully, it moves you." And in keeping with her Celtic surname, Jocelyn Pook has made an album with translucent wings." [label info] www.realworldrecords.com 2013 €10.00
POTTER, COLIN The Sights of the Drowned Fable CD-R Jessas! Ungewöhnlich noisig-rhythmische Klänge am Anfang dieses Mitschnitts (eines Konzertes vom July 2007 in Preston UK), dessen Klangstrom dann immer droniger & geisterhafter wird, wo tiefergestellte Stimmen durch den Äther zischeln, Frequenzmodulationen aus dem Nichts erscheinen, meditative Gongs auftauchen und field recordings von Regen & Donner.... "The first couple of minutes of this live recording seemed to have been designed to get the blood boiling and the heart pumping. Colin Potter (the technical foil to Steve Stapleton's macabre psychedelia in Nurse With Wound) opens with an agitated set of electro-bleep rhythms which double upon each other into a squiggling dervish. After these few minutes though, the sidereal ambience and barren dronescapes which Potter has brought to the recent NWW productions slip into focus. Ghostly fragments of echo and reverberation glide around chiming drones from harmonium, gongs, field recordings, and bowed strings, all displaying Potter's polychromatic, oil-slick production which has such a peculiar, funhouse warble modulating each and every sound, ever so slightly. Some 15 minutes into the piece, there are a series of metallic bangs and ominous metallic clicks, puncturing a bed of low-end frequencies. One of these repeating bangs is quite similar to the ones used on John Duncan's River In Flames. Along with the signposts of Duncan and the NWW Shipwrecked Radio series, Potter's live set from the 2007 Resonator Festival in Preston, England also resembles the late period Zoviet France albums InVersion and Digilogue. Limited to just 100 copies, and certainly will not last for very long!" [Aquarius] www.icrdistribution.com 2007 €12.00
PROPELLER Rame CD Debut-Album des Solo-Projekts von “ex-Zoviet France”-Mitglied MARK SBYBEY, war lange vergriffen, wieder erhältlich !! „Propeller is a Vancouver based collective of no fixed membership save the hands of Mark Spybey. Spybey is known for his work as Dead Voices On Air, who have released several albums for Invisible Records. He also worked with Download and Zoviet France. Rame was a quick fire collection of sonic fragments, isolationist doodles, half truths, archived recordings and low fi ambience..... Propeller started it's life in England, 1992. It was there that Spybey recorded with his childhood friend Richard Sanderson, who is a mainstay of London's vibrant free improvisational scene. The pair recorded versions of songs that they had worked on in the late '70's, as well as numerous pieces inspired by their fascination with spontaneous composition and noisy improvisational music. It is hoped that these recordings will be cleaned up and released. Spybey resurrected Propeller's Do It Yourself Disposable Music ethos when he was invited to submit a 30 second piece for a CD Rom project in 1995. Why become so fascinated by first take spontaneity? Propeller seeks to create compact music. Music that expressively captures a moment in time or a dynamic (between the musicians, between the musicians and their instruments and between the music and the listener ). It's deliberately ambiguous in intent. You won't find deceptive melodies or catchy hooks here. It's not gratuitous noise either. It's carefully sculpted once recorded and laid out for the listener to play with. To explore.“ [label info] 1996 €13.00
PRURIENT Casablanca Flamethrower do-LP Casablanca - A hiding place and escape route. Flamethrower - A weapon designed to drive people out of hiding places. Casablanca Flamethrower is Prurient's first proper full length for Tesco Organization. Thirteen tracks of doom electronics crowded by voices of industrial cynicism focused on four theatres (corridors of violence): Ural tracers, Guadalcanal Necrophilia, Normandy Reaper, Casablanca Flamethrower… Casablanca Flamethrower deals with alternative histories. About hidden allied war crimes. The wild and ferocious airborne divisions once they passed the beachhead and their fateful encounters with civilians. About forgotten victims and known memorials. We deal here with the memorials we see that were created after the fact. By ’hiding what is known’ we see another history, another past... a past without a future! Additional atmospheres: Paratroopers mutilations as psychological warfare Unspoken necrophilic activities in the Pacific Human ‘trophies’ sent home to loved ones before atom day Memories of the black raven under Uncle Joe Human smuggling, fatalistic hedonism and triple-crossing in Morocco’s propaganda establishments These are the songs from torture chambers across hateful american shores. TRACK LIST: A Black Iceberg Peace and Bread Humilation D-Day Rape Normandy Reaper - Snow on the Atlantic B Fucked by Tracers Beneath the Wheels of the black Raven Most Cannibals were Women C Dead you are already Corn Cop Pipe Butcher Guadalcanal Necrophilia D The Thrust of the Spear Sphere from Christ´s side Directionless World Tesco 140 credits released March 31, 2020 https://tescogermany.bandcamp.com/album/casablanca-flamethrower "As Dominick Fernow’s main project, Prurient is somewhat of a sonic chameleon which has explored a myriad of underground noise and industrial styles over a huge number of releases and span of years. While Prurient have also had a close association with Tesco Organisation for some time, Casablanca Flamethrower is the formal debut album for Tesco given other releases to date have been reissues on Tesco’s sub-labels. To quickly mention those reissues*, each were within an industrial/power electronic/heavy electronics frame of reference, therefore closely aligned with the Tesco’s prevailing style and sound. In a similar context Casablanca Flamethrower follows suit and is very much a Prurient album, and with its broader thematic focus on the hidden stories and forgotten victims of war, it definitely feels at home on Tesco. In terms of the arc of Prurient’s main/core albums, Casablanca Flamethrower follows the massive seven LP Rainbow Mirror (self-described as ‘doom electronics’). Casablanca Flamethrower is notable by the fact that although not too far removed from the sprawling and mellow tone of Rainbow Mirror set, that sound has also been repurposed with a focused attention on a European heavy electronics/industrial sound. This may then be partially explained by the involvement of Kris Lapke of Alberich (who is credited as providing loops, percussion and synths), whose own project takes clear influence from a European heavy electronics sound, which has perhaps further cemented the sound and direction of Casablanca Flamethrower. Black Iceberg open the album with a squelching bass throb, distant scrap metal tones and angst-ridden rasped vocals, while Peace and Bread Humiliation is a short track of hollow radio scanning static, whistling noise and semi-buried radio broadcast announcements. The following D-Day Rape is then an early album highlight, featuring bulldozing bass, mid-toned insectile noise squalls, while the spoken vocals are featured upfront but rendered undecipherable due to the treatment with an off-kilter warbling effected. Marvelous stuff. Fucked By Traces maintains momentum with static squalls, thick bass drones, vague rhythmic backing and charred echo chamber vocal barrage. Beneath The Wheels of the Black Raven is also an excellent track of stalking menace, where the tone is one of militaristic death industrial involving droning bass, slow shuddering rhythm, and vocals delivered as agonized chants and treated spoken fragments. Late album track The Thrust of the Spear is another highlight. Opening as a low droning and treated vocal piece it soon evolves into a minimalist yet highly hypnotic track of militaristic tinged rhythmic loops and swirling rotor blades. The track title then obviously then cross references the collage image of the Spear of Longinus shown on the back cover (contributed by The Grey Wolves). Yet when the spear collage is considered in context of the adjacent phrase: ‘the risen Christ holds the spear of destiny in his side’, it shrouds the intended meaning, which is at least consistent with Dominick’s established approach to abstracted thematic presentation. Sphere From Christ’s Side also uses similar militaristic rhythmic loops for brooding result, while the close to ten minute Directionless World rounds out the album in subdued fashion with minimalist tonal rumbles and radio scanning static (but perhaps could have been half as long without foregoing ideas or loosing impact). From my own perspective Casablanca Flamethrower is an an intense yet brooding take on a heavy electronics/industrial sound, and is inherently more listenable, engaging and digestible than the sprawling Rainbow Mirror set. Yet even so, not all tracks reach the same peak level as the album’s standouts, meaning if it were paired down to a single rather than double LP, it would have increased immediacy and impact, and duly elevated the album from being good to great. Regardless, that is really quite a minor observation and is hardly a reason to not seek out this album, which is stunningly presented in a full colour gate-fold sleeve." [Noise Receptor] 2020 €33.00
QUATTRO BRAVO EBALLIEROS 1995-2005 CD REUTOFF zeigen hier ihre verborgene, humorvolle Pop- & drogenschwangere Seite: die verschiedenen Stücke ihres Seitenprojekts QUATTRO BRAVO EBALLIEROS wurden inspiriert von solch bewusstseinsverändernden Praktiken und Substanzen wie Schlafentzug, Vodka, Bier, Absinth, etc.. sie klingen wie eine weirde russische Version von NOVY SVET oder DDAA, oder frühe 80erJahre Homerecording-Projekte....obskurer Gesang, südländische Melancholie, sehr unterhaltsam und definitiv zur Regression einlandend! Credits in russisch & englisch. “First official CD from this Reutoff side-project known for their brilliant track on "Tutti A Casa - a tribute to Ain Soph" compilation. This is a special compilation to celebrate 10 years of QBE existence. Formed back in 1995, long before Reutoff started, this weird urban-folk/apocalyptic-chanson project with a touch of psychodelia and russian alcoholic madness have recorded more than a dozen albums for private use which are now waiting to see the daylight. Each album is a documentary of a night alcohol fuelled session. The 22 best tracks from those albums chosen by the fans have been included in this compilation, 4 of them have been remixed and rearranged especially for this release. The music reminds of Novy Svet, Mushroom Patience, late Ain Soph and sometimes even NWW, but it has more tragic russian feel and weirdness inside. This compilation could be considered as a herald for the complete album releases on Steinklang and Indiestate which are planned for 2006. The first edition of "1995-2005" is limited to 300 copies in a special package printed silver on black.” [label nfo] 2005 €10.00
RADIOHEAD The King of Limbs CD "Unbezwingbare Größe: achtes Studioalbum der englischen Alternative-Rock-Helden. Sie gelten als stilprägendste britische Band der 90er-Jahre und haben sich mit Alben wie "The Bends" und "OK Computer" in jede 90er-Jahre-Best-of-Liste gespielt. Die Rede ist natürlich von Radiohead. Die 1986 in Oxford von Sänger Thom Yorke gegründete Band veröffentlicht mit "The King Of Limbs" ihr achtes Studioalbum. Die acht Stücke des Albums wurden erneut vom Erfolgsproduzenten und Quasi-Bandmitglied Nigel Godrich betreut, der bereits "OK Computer" produzierte. Die Internetplattform "Laut.de" urteilte: "Mit jedem Durchlauf wächst der tiefe Schatten, den Radiohead mit ihrer zeitdiagnostischen Qualität samt eigenbrötlerischen Veröffentlichungswillen auf die Musikindustrie geworfen haben, bis zur unbezwingbaren Größe heran." [label info / Indigo] www.xlrecordings.com 2011 €16.00
RAMLEH It's never alright 7inch For many years now Fourth Dimension Records has forged a strong relationship with both Gary Mundy and Anthony Di Franco of Ramleh by virtue of support for their respective solo endeavours, Kleistwahr and JFK. After having released a large proportion of their albums under these guises it then only made sense that a Ramleh record itself for the label would be mooted. This single grew out of these discussions and follows on from 2019's critically acclaimed The Great Unlearning 2LP on Nashazphone, which itself saw Gary and Anthony not only reunited with Stuart Dennison, Martyn Watts and Philip Best, but also collaborating with Philip's wife (and Consumer Electronics partner) Sarah Froelich and delivering perhaps their most immediate and surprising work to date. Made available as a good old fashioned double-A side on 'punk rock green vinyl', both 'It's Never Alright' and 'Kerb Krawler' maintain these high level proceedings, too. If you ever wondered how Noddy Holder might sound if fed through the Ramleh mangler, then 'It's Never Alright' will help flesh out that thought with its city-destroying stomp attack colliding head on with the kinda untamed keyboard splurge the group is more generally renowned for exorcising. Before you then begin to prod at those question marks arising from the melee, 'Kerb Krawler' helps to reel you back to a psychedelic orbit nobody but Ramleh know how to navigate. Proof positive, should it be necessary, that these boys won't be donning mirror adorned top hats any time soon. Typical for Ramleh as they stand now, both songs represent just two of the many sides they're now given to exploring. Bold, serious, playful and once again illustrating exactly how easily they straddle the line of being great musicians never afraid to turn that notion on its head by rising to new challenges, this single pays testament to their current upward curve. Limited to 500. Due in November 2019. 2019 €8.00
RAPOON Alien Glyph Morphology DVD ”Robin Storey, better known as Rapoon, is well known in ambient music circles for his extensive catalog of recordings, presently exceeding 40 albums, singles and collaborative projects released over the last 13 years. Rapoon has always stood for more than music, however. Visual arts have long been important to Robin. His paintings grace many of his album covers, but until today his filmmaking has been done in relative obscurity. "Alien Glyph Morphology" is the name of a suite of six short movies, set to his music, of course, that make up the primary focus of his DVD release. Using montage, slides, and slow-motion techniques Robin produces the visual counterparts to his unique and atmospheric soundtracks. A short film, "Shadow", and two slide shows round out the collection. A limited edition set of 20 sturdy Tarot cards painted by Robin Storey accompany the first 1000 copies.” [press release] “....Rapoon's music has a strange timewarping effect, a Deep Listening wormhole that puts you in a blissful perpetual state of cognitive play. Rather than attempting to replicate the mantra quality with some sort of hypnotic, retina burning lightshow, the defining quality of his films is luscious texture and suggestive symbolism. Warm, analogue background hues flicker like ghosts caught on film; the Miro-like moving sketches on top are floating markers of unconscious energy. The visual dimension of Alien Glyph Morphology gives the music even more licence to roam - spare, enlightened Jon Hassell-like passages sit side by side with sample transmissions akin to Cabaret Voltaire's Attic Tapes. The main challenge of this marvellous release is how to tune out the outside world and properly immerse yourself in Storey's dislocated trance states; rather than having to peer into a TV or monitor, it would be even better if these images could flow unrestrained across cinema screens and gallery walls.“ [THE WIRE] 2005 €15.00
The Bush Prophet CD "We are happy to present you the third Rapoon release on Ewers Tonkunst. “The Bush Prophet” is a brand new album from this legendary and highly influential project, which unique style of blending industrial, ethno-rhythmic and cut-up techniques has gained international recognition and made Rapoon one of the main artists in its genre. This work has an accent on more dark, hard and anxious sound constructions than most of its recent albums, it is full of tension and scepticism, but with no lack of inner hope though. Like it’s last year Soleilmoon release “Melancholic Songs Of The Desert”, it deals with isolationism and the myth of democracy. Manipulated by media and bombarded with political spin we live in a world where our political choices are reduced to almost zero. Faced with a hostile world and lies from every direction is it any wonder that there is a need to retreat to try and find some peace and humanity. The voices on the television make promises and soothing noises then wage unjust wars in our name. The lies fall like honey and nothing changes. These songs are a retreat into the one place that no government has yet found a way into, the free and open spaces of the mind. They are spontaneous and mediative reflections looking for an inner peace in a world made ugly by hatred and war. They symbolize a kind of "walkabout" and a reconnection with a lost sense of belonging spiritually, intellectually and physically with the world we inhabit. The music here looks for a sense of inner being that one can only find in quiet isolation. The release is limited to 500 copies and comes in a stylish digisleeve with artwork by Robin Storey." [label info] 2010 €13.00
The Fires of the Borderlands do-CD "It's been 16 years since the release of Rapoon's masterpiece entitled "The Fires of the Borderlands". This special edition is comprised of two discs. The first is the main album which is mastered from the original tapes, therefore, it sounds significantly better to the 1998 version. The bonus disc is a 40-minute live recording for the San Francisco-based radio KFJC which again proves that Robin Storey has mastered the ability to creating haunting sonic atmospheres. This expanded edition of the album is packaged in a digipak sleeve and is limited to 500 copies worldwide." [label info] www.zoharum.com "In the wake of so many dreadfully digital concoctions of insipid ambient music from the mid to late '90s, a good Rapoon album was a breath of fresh air. The warmth of his analog processes, tape-loop and delay mechanics, and some good-old cassette grit thrown in for good measure was a gnostic beacon to the days of a post-industrial zeitgeist from a previous decade, or century, or millennium for that matter when it came to the best albums from Rapoon. Any sense of timeloss and historical displacement would be considered a victory for most artists; but for Robin Storey and his long-standing Rapoon project, that's been a common parlance from his work. The Fires Of The Borderlands may be Rapoon's best known album, as it was put out originally through the Relapse subsidiary Release back in 1998. It's long been out of print; and it also ranks as one of his better releases. Here, we've got the Polish 2cd reissue of that album, fleshed out with a remastering job from the original tapes and a bonus disc featuring an hour long performance on KFJC down in Silicon Valley. The album is flush with slow-motion billowings, night-ocean tidal wash, and sibilant blurs, all crafted from Storey's refined use of tape-loops and delay pedals. There's nary a reference to anything infernal or hellish to the hypnogogic cascade of Rapoon despite the album's title. At times, Storey engorges his reverb-drenched loops into a galvanized thrum of drone portent equivalent to the bunker hermeticism of Maeror Tri. But as with most of Storey's work he transcends a gothic nihilism through his application of ghostly dub reflections that could harken to the echoes of some pneumatic lung wheezing in the corner or a derelict monk chanting to a long-forgotten deity. Beautiful stuff. The live in the studio session is equally as good with Storey lining the wash with distant tribal rhythms and wooden flute gestures thrown in for good measure." [Aquarius Records] 2014 €16.00
Seeds in the Tide Vol. 3 do-CD "Third part of "Seeds in the Tide" out now. The third volume in our ongoing series of albums collating Rapoon's rarities from 2003 and 2004. As always it's composed of 2 discs. The first one features two rare releases; number one is ”Monomyth: Par Avion” CDR (limited to 199 copies only) is a source material for a collaborative album with Birds of Tin, and number two is ”Jane from Whitley Bar” 7” vinyl plus a number of tracks from compilations. The second disc is a real treat as it contains a previously unreleased recording from a 2004 gig in Vienna. The CDs is housed in a digipak sleeve and the album is strictly limited to 500 copies. The cover was designed by Maciej Mehring based on Robin Storey's paintings. "Seeds in the Tide Volume 3" was mastered by Łukasz Miernik. The whole production process was overseen by Michał Porwet." [label info] www.zoharum.com 2014 €16.00
Blue Days CD "After three well-received, new albums ("Time-loop Anomalies" [2012], "To West and Blue" [2013] and "Fall of Drums" [2014]) and a series of reissues and archive collections, Rapoon returns to Zoharum with a brand new album. "Blue Days" is completely different from those previous releases. While on those three albums long, slowly developing compositions dominated, here there are as many as fourteen of them with the longest being less than eight minutes long, and the two shortest only forty seconds long. This is a record of ideas, sketches. The album is dominated with conciseness; however, all the songs compose one bigger piece. They show that Robin Storey is constantly looking for new artistic paths." [label info] www.zoharum.com " „Blue Days“ ist eines von ganzen vier neuen Alben, die 2015 von RAPOON veröffentlicht wurden, sodass den Hörer angesichts der Masse des jährlich neuen Materials doch zusehends Bedenken beschleichen könnten, ob man dem allem noch in Gänze folgen soll. Will man das Album atmosphärisch einordnen, so kommen einem aufgrund der an die dunkle, melancholische Winterzeit gemahnenden Titel wie „Winters Chime Deep“, „On Frozen Air“ oder „Long Time Ago Now“ Gedanken an eben diese. Die Kälte und Tristesse dieser Zeit, auch als Spiegelbild der eigenen Gemütsverfassung, werden dann auch nicht mit luftigen Ethno-Rhythmen und exotischen Gesängen musikalisch ausgekleidet, sondern es dominieren, raue, kantige, auch mal etwas unrund erscheinende Loops, dunkle Chöre und glatte, frostige Synthesizerpads. Natürlich tauchen auch hier und da Samples von exotischen Instrumenten und ethnisch angehauchte Rhythmen auf („In Black“, „With Dance Of Trees“, „Black Shadows“), die das Ganze klanglich etwas auflockern – aber leider auch teilweise eher unpassend zum Rest wirken und die Stimmung brechen. Neben der Instrumentierung bringt sich ROBIN STOREY allerdings auch stimmlich mehr ein als sonst schon einmal. Hier und da wird die Musik mit seinem Raunen unterlegt bzw. beim absolut gelungenen Titelstück „Blue Days“ kann man fast schon von Gesang sprechen, wobei die Tracks mit dem raunenden Sprechgesang wie „Long Time Ago Now“ auch ansonsten positiv auffallen. Angenehm ist außerdem, dass die Stücke maximal 7-8 Minuten lang sind – oft auch kürzer – sodass ein dynamischer Eindruck des Albums verbleibt. Dem guten Eindruck wirkt lediglich das doch unterkomplexe bis allzu simple Klangkonstrukt „On Frozen Air“ das unglücklicherweise auch noch direkt an zweiter Stelle nach dem Intro platziert ist, entgegen. Davon sollte man sich allerdings nicht abschrecken lassen, auch wenn natürlich nicht alle Tracks durchgehend zünden bzw. manchmal etwas unfertig im Raum stehen („With Dance Of Trees“, „Black Shadows“). Am Ende ist „Blue Days“ ein solides, aus meiner Sicht eher leicht zugängliches, klanglich nicht zu minimales RAPOON-Album geworden, dem es hier und da allerdings an atmosphärischer Geschlossenheit fehlt und an der Person, die schwache Stücke oder sinnfreie Fragmente auch einfach einmal aussortiert. Das scheint gerade im Ambient- und Electronica-Sektor aber manchmal schwer zu sein, wie mir scheint." [Tony F. für nonpop.de] 2016 €13.00
Waiting by the River CD "Klanggalerie are very happy to announce a new collaboration with Rapoon after a far too long 12 year break. Waiting By The River is the all-new album by Robin Storey that takes the project into previously uncharted territory. Founded in 1992 after Storey left Zoviet France, Rapoon soon became an outstanding ethno-dark ambient project that has gained a cult following all over the world. More than 50 albums have been released over those 25 years, some more beat driven, others more playful and with ambient sounds and ethnic influences. Rapoon has never stopped evolving - think of Cultural Forgeries, an album full of unplugged acoustic music. Or Downgliding, full of compositions on the piano. In 2016, Rapoon presents you an album full of songs. You will hear guitars, vocals, stories are being told. A very different approach to Rapoon and one you've never heard before. Needless to say, the trademark Rapoon sound is still there. But this time you get a little extra. Another milestone in the band's discography. Low stock. "After the austerity of the 1950’s we entered the 1960’s with huge optimism and the belief that anything was possible. We had a new world opening out in front of us. A world of rapid technological advancement. A world of new foods. A world of new cars, new jobs, new possibilities. We were going to the moon. We were promised holidays on the moon. It was to be a world of plenty. You believe these things when you are five years old. The booming sixties came and went. We landed on the moon. The seventies saw a decline in economy and in hope. First Thatcher, then Blair, then Cameron went on to destroy everything that had been built for the people after the second world war. Now it was all for the privileged The moneyed. The few. An old lady sits by a billabong under a clear blue sky. She talks with her ancestors who wait by the river. As they have waited for millennia. She sings an ancient song. The water trembles." [label info] www.klanggalerie.com 2016 €14.00
Wanderlust CD Winter Light is proud to announce the release of Rapoon ‘Wanderlust' CD, a brand new studio album containing 10 all new and original tracks. Robin Storey aka Rapoon needs no introduction, having released around 60 albums alone under his avant-garde project. Robin has collaborated with many artists over the years and for this release additional vocals for the album have been supplied by the Russian folk singer Tatyana Stepchenko aka TOLOKA. As the title indicates. ‘Wanderlust’ is the endless yearning, the search for questions and for answers, the horizon ever drawing onward with the lure of what lies beyond. The pull of the mountains and the deserts and the infinitive light of the stars, shining from the distant past. We travel….. The album is released in a full colour, 6-panel digipack. Artwork and cover design by Midnight Sun Studio with original paintings from Robin Storey. The CD is comprised of 10 original tracks with a running time of 70:08. Strictly limited to 400 copies. www.winter-light.nl "During the cold and eerie autumn season, the best thing that could happen is a record which could easily transform bad weather and dark emotions into something dreamy and wonderful. Rapoon is a fine example of this dreamy atmosphere, and its new record, Wanderlust, is the biggest gift for anyone who wants to participate in this magical travel through a state of wandering. Wanderlust has been released by a small and obscure Dutch label, Winter-Light. The imprint has released some other releases including two from Seetyca and some other bands. The atmosphere and sound of Wanderlust perfectly describes the goals of Winter-Light as I see them: to spread highly somnambulant music usually in ambient or drone form, refusing anything radical or anything political, instead just focusing on someone else’s dreams or nightmares and exploring that kind of emotion in audio form. The mind of someone sleeping is rather obscure, led by unconscious, filled with many different layers, and Wanderlust is just like that too. It’s hard to simply describe this album in simple terms, but it’s crucial to say that this Rapoon effort is about a lot of things; it’s filled with many elements and every song seems like a different dream. Rapoon One big aspect behind the music of Wanderlust is rhythm. The album starts with a beat which pulses like an ocean and leads to an evolution of cascading samples. The structures behind each individual song seems to remain similar throughout the album, with seemingly only samples driving it to the end. Speaking of samples, it’s difficult to recognize their origins, and that seems to be a good element—to a fault. In that way, samples seem to be much more obscure and strange, which is definitely unique. In other songs of Wanderlust, simple synth melodies are used with an equally straightforward yet effective rhythm, creating a stronger style of that ethereal sound. Sometimes, Robin Storey‘s music even sounds sacred, especially with the addition of classic instruments. In other cases, songs on Wanderlust sound more playfully mystical—almost cinematic in scope, like vintage film scores. Gloomy synthesizer sounds create a mood of desolation. Listening though the album, you get the impression that the whole thing is alternating between elevated emotions, ethereal visions, and genuine melancholy. ‘Calling Ghosts’ is unique to the album as it begins with something similar to female Slavic chanting and works its way into a violin performance, distant samples, and some other instruments. Listening to Wanderlust, it‘s difficult to miss just how varied it really is, which is a quality that unveils itself in its fullest glory through Storey’s patented epic atmospheres, especially on ‘You Look Like Something’, whose twelve-plus minutes are filled with strange ambient artifacts. Rapoon’s Wanderlust is a dreamy landscape full of majestic vibes, strange but suitable samples, and sounds of exotic instruments. Its general atmosphere and the sounds that create it are often so foreign that they feel almost alien in nature—something that Storey is becoming exceedingly talented with at his age. It is the perfect album for this autumn as we work our way into winter, and it‘s intended to be played by a listener every evening just before sleep. The effect of it should be unforgettable." [Heathen Harvest] 2016 €13.00
Sanctus Equinox (Mercury Rising 1 ) CD We welcome back Rapoon for this, his second release, on our Winter-Light label. Many people will already be familiar with Robin Storey. Not just for his pioneering work as founder of the industrial group :zoviet*france: in 1979, but also of course for his solo-project Rapoon, which began life in 1992. Now, 25 years after the inception of his solo ambient project, Rapoon is still very much with us and still very much active. In celebration of this, his 25th Silver Anniversary, we are releasing a triptych of new work from Rapoon entitled ‘The Mercury Rising Trilogy’. The Mercury Rising Trilogy will comprise of three brand new studio albums, all with exclusive material. The albums will bring a new feel to Robin’s work, that of a more off world spacious feel, jazzy in parts with a ceremonial thread running throughout. Each album interlinked by this feel and theme, as the titles suggest, but with each one still having it’s own unique identity. Here we present to you the first part of the Mercury Rising Trilogy, ‘Sanctus Equinox’. What if you had created a race of sentient beings and then simply abandoned them, having no further use left for them? What might become of them and what sort of world would these replicants create for themselves, if left to their own devices? ‘Sanctus Equinox’ is a portrayal of that world, a painted landscape of the secret rites and ceremonies practiced by it’s inhabitants. Celebrations and rituals created to overcome the sense of loss and abandonment, after being discarded by their creators, deemed to have no further worth. Scattered across the many moons in their new solar system, they gather en masse to worship under alien skies, bathed in the fractured light of moons and suns. Dressed in splendid costumes, they sing and dance along great winding, standing stone pathways; a procession of vibrant colours and chants moving hypnotically towards stone circles raised high to the heavens. As the solar winds blow across now empty plains, time stands still as chants of ‘Sanctus Saves….’ echoes through the air. Processed vocals, atmospheric pads, sub bass patterns, strings and old school sci-fi sounds all exquisitely layered to produce an album of intense beauty. The feel is one of ceremonial celebration and ritualistic joy. A ray of shining hope in the lives of a forgotten people. winter-light.bandcamp.com/album/sanctus-equinox 2017 €13.00
Sol Laude (Mercury Rising Trilogy 3) CD Rapoon returns once more to the Winter-Light label.... In celebration of his 25th Silver Anniversary, we have released a trilogy of new work from Rapoon entitled ‘The Mercury Rising Trilogy’. The Mercury Rising Trilogy comprises of three brand new studio albums, all with exclusive material. The albums will bring a new feel to Robin’s work, that of a more off world spacious feel, jazzy in parts with a ceremonial thread running throughout. Each album interlinked by this feel and theme, as the titles suggest, but with each one still having it’s own unique identity. The trilogy began in November 2017 with 'Sanctus Equinox', which was then followed by 'Offworld OP1 Equs'. The Mercury Rising Trilogy now draws to it’s conclusion with 'Sol Laude' thundering it’s way through the universe, leaving it’s impression trailing across the cosmos like a giant comet’s tail. Deep industrial, space ambience and majestic choral bursts are interspersed with retro sci-fi electronica, emotive piano elements and off-world jazz. Rapoon's signature sound and structures are still very much evident on this release, but yet again Robin brings a different feel to the listener that has beautifully evolved across this triptych of his latest work. The replicants have followed a well known path. Disagreements and divisions began to grow and sectarianism proceeded to develop. Soon it was an all out war of religious intolerance. Fighting took place and many died. Quietly , and without being noticed, those who held no radical religious beliefs gathered their things and slipped away in small ships and set course for a new life somewhere far away from the division and hatred that had developed in what was once a united community. They journeyed for many years and eventually found somewhere new. An indigenous lifeform of primitive primates seemed to be the most advanced species on the warm planet with blue seas and green forests. It was almost Utopia. Some of the replicants sang a song of thanks for safe passage and arrival. A white moon shone down. https://winter-light.bandcamp.com/album/sol-laude-mercury-rising-3 2019 €13.00
Darker by Light CD https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/darker-by-light Here's another one in the reissue series of rare and sought-after albums by Robin Storey, entitled "Darker by Light". Originally released in 1996, it is a document of the early period of Rapoon's work. It was full of strong rhythmic emphasis hidden behind the wall of ambient dust. This desert period of Rapoon's work falls on the 1990s, from which we have already released three CDs: "Vernal Crossing" (1993), "The Kirghiz Light" (1995) and "The Fires of the Borderlands" (1998). "Darker by Light" is also a part of this exploration which consists of static walls of sound coming as if from the distance and processed rhythms inspired by ethnic music, sometimes complemented by the sounds of flutes and pipes. This great album, unavailable for many years, is worth another spin. The CD is housed in a digipak sleeve and the album is strictly limited to 500 copies. The cover is designed by Maciej Mehring based on Robin Storey's paintings. The album is mastered by Łukasz Miernik. The whole production process is overseen by Michał Porwet. “Absolutely fantastic album that begins on a track which features emerging ambient soundscapes over a big drum heartbeat, slightly accelerated, with the encroaching mist of synths and whooshes gradually taking up more of the mix with a very atmospheric mix of celestial, spacey, ethereal and mysterious. As the CO goes on, the rhythms take much more of a back seat and by about half way through are virtually entirely absent as the ever traveling mass of synths, celestial choral voices/synths, electronic textures and booming bass undercurrents, all largely free of any particular structure and one of the most haunting yet solid examples of their unique brand of essentially space music that you will hear and just as good as anything else they've done. “ [Andrew Garibaldi] 2018 €12.00
  Skulls on the Plains of Turkey CD On the latest album, Robin Storey once again invites us to a musical journey closer to the exotic world of the Orient, sparkling with many delicately woven miniatures, based on fragments of melodies, heard as if in the deep sleep phase, when sounds and images reaching us from a distance gently fill the space, giving the impression of an integral part of it. Out of nine tracks filled with tribal rhythms, vocals and a wide palette of colors, an extremely coherent, slightly pulsating ambient emerges in the spirit of the best Rapoon albums. "Skulls On The Plains of Turkey" is also a kind of musical story, inspired by one of those moments when the surrounding space and seemingly ordinary events make us reflect deeper, and which the musician remembers more or less like this: Sitting at a table in front of a bar by the sea in Chania, watching the crashing waves and enjoying the beauty of this place, I watched a ball of white light moving from behind the eastern headland and disappearing behind the west. She was moving at speeds impossible for a boat or plane. I looked around to see if anyone else noticed ... but everyone was just staring at the glass screens of their phones. In Terminator 2, young John Connor asks the terminator "we're not gonna do this, are we?" I mean people. All this can be read somewhere in the small phrases and compositional structures on which this meditative, slightly reflective concept was based. Album available on CD and in digital version. https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/skulls-on-the-plains-of-turkey 2022 €13.00
RE-DRUM S CD "An excellent piece of work by Pavel Aleshin whose drone soundscapes were released by Oophoi's record label Umbra and Slovakia-based Black Orchid Productions. The album explores the area of sacral and infinite, hence the title. S can be seen as the symbol of them. Re-Drum was founded in 2002 by Pavel Aleshin. The sound of Re-Drum varies from deep drone/noise soundscapes on the first albums to light, warm, even melodic textures in the last works. For fans of Robert Rich, Lustmord, Troum, Maeror Tri, Lull, Yen Pox DISCOGRAPHY 'Fragments of the Faith Forgotten' MC 2003 (Black Orchid Productions) 'In the Shadow' CDR 2004 (Black Orchid Productions) "_" CDR 2005 (Black Orchid Productions) 'Four Whispers for the Bees' CDR 2005 (Umbra) 'Inhalation' CDR split with Rattus 2008 (Black Orchid Productions / Minorlabel / Ambsine) 'S' CD 2009 (Zoharum)" [label info] www.zoharum.com 2009 €13.00
REFORMED FACTION I am the Source of Light, I am not a Mirror 3 x CD-box Das dritte Werk der ehemaligen 2/3 von ZOVIET FRANCE, die sich nicht mehr "REFORMED FACTION OF Z.F." nennen dürfen und nun kurzerhand als "REFORMED FACTION" weitermachen. SOLEILMOON hat sich wieder eine besondere Artwork / Verpackung ausgedacht: Eine schmucke Alu-dose mit Prägung, darin drei CDs, ein Button mit dem ans RAF-Logo angelehnten R.F.-Zeichen, ein Klamottensticker, Farbbooklet, und eine golden bedruckte Inlaykarte. Auf den 3 CDs sind ganze 52 (!) Stücke verteilt, das wirkt manchmal wie ein hochkreatives, experimentelles Potpourri, eine Wundertüte aus Ideen, Fragmenten & Skizzen und ist wohl (wie auch früher bei ZOVIET FRANCE) in langen Sessions entstanden. Neben gesampelten Material jedweden Ursprungs & Synths kommen vielerlei Instrumente, auch Drums, Bass & Gitarre zum Einsatz, oft wird es rhythmisch oder loopig (manchmal tribal, dann wieder eher Electronica-lastig), orientale Anwandlungen (Sitar) sind vorhanden, die Fülle von Stilen & Genren, die hier berührt werden ist schlicht überwältigend, irgendwo im multidimensionalen Musikraum zwischen RAPOON, ZOVIET FRANCE und den chaotisch-rhythmischen Sachen von DOWNLOAD oder BEEHATCH. Wow. "Reformed Faction are Robin Storey and Mark Spybey. Their new release “I Am The Source of Light, I Am Not a Mirror” follows their 2007 Soleilmoon release “The War Against”, and is their third album. Their debut release “Vota” was released in 2005 by Austrian label Klanggalerie. The band has played live in both North America and Europe. Reformed Faction did not set out to record a triple album, but that is exactly what they have done. Reformed Faction do not talk about making music. They make music. They assemble and record and use improvised material to stimulate the development of composed pieces. The music was assembled in the same way that the CD package was: through active collaboration. “What folks probably don’t realize is that we have always embraced technology. We use technology, we aren’t governed by it. We have to learn how to use equipment in our own way, which means that instruction manuals are never referred to. We make music. We try not to theorise, and we avoid interpretation or analysis of our music like the plague.” This is an homage of sorts, to the last 40 years of music making. Robin began as a guitarist, Mark as a drummer. Throughout their careers they have neither deliberately nor consciously eschewed the use of conventional instruments or traditional compositional techniques. They do not regard themselves as an “experimental” band, preferring to leave the laboratory safe in the hands of physicists and technicians. A long time ago :zoviet-france: declared that they could, if they wished, create the perfect pop record or the archetypal country record. Both Mark and Robin were profoundly influenced by the music of rock bands in the seventies while boldly assimilating ideas from world music in the belief that all musical sources exist to be appropriated. In the same way, over the years, they have embraced technology. This is “anti-restictivist” music. “We realized a long time ago that as soon as we left :zoviet-france: our cover was blown. We could no longer hide under the false mantle of anonymity.” For Reformed Faction, each album is an attempt to develop ideas. The three CDs that comprise “I Am the Source of Light, I am Not a Mirror” are collages, each intended to be listened to in their entirety. The contributions of various friends have been assimilated into the recordings. The East German band Scatology and the American band Not Breathing both contributed to the process. Tommy Grenas of the Los Angeles band Anubian Lights, who Mark met through Damo Suzuki, came to stay with the band and also joined in the recording sessions. The recordings took on a life of their own. Picture the backdrop: the rainy landscape of northern England, the collection of classic seventies albums from the likes of Faust and Can, and the band’s preoccupation with the cultural and political legacy left by the dissolution of the eastern block countries. Reformed Faction spent time in the city of Dresden, where they met the artist Ira Tannheuser, who supplied the images used in the booklet accompanying the CD. The finishing touches were generated by Shaya, an enterprising Afghan trader and fan of Reformed Faction who trekked through the fabled Thar desert in the Sind province of southern Pakistan, and there discovered a long-forgotten depository of hand made metal boxes that had been manufactured 30 years ago in the town of Mithi. They were initially made for storing detonators but had never been used. Shaya had them embossed with the Reformed Faction logo by a local metal worker and then shipped them half-way around the world to Soleilmoon and told us to do something with them. The boxes are still partially encrusted with the sand of the Thar desert. “I Am The Source of Light, I Am Not a Mirror” is released in two configurations. Both come with three CDs in screen printed slipcases, a 12 page full-color booklet featuring the work of East German artist Ira Tannheuser, a screen printed insert describing the edition, a metal badge and a sew-on cloth patch.The first edition is limited to 100 copies and is available exclusively via Soleilmoon’s mailorder service. Besides the aforementioned goodies it includes a 3 inch CDR with an unreleased track presented in a hand numbered screen printed slipcase. The box is made entirely of sand-cast aluminum, and features the Reformed Faction logo on the lid. The second edition, which comes with everything included in the first edition except for the 3 inch CDR, is limited to 300 copies and is presented in a box made from sand-cast aluminum sides attached to a sheet metal top and base. The lid is embossed with the Reformed Faction logo. We are Reformed Fraktion. We are from the North of England. We travel. With open eyes." [label info] www.soleilmoon.com 2009 €44.00
RESGESTAE Etat d'Urgence CD "RESGESTAE is the project of Nicholas P., an experimental musician living in Athens, Greece. Using samples, field-recording, etc. he creates post-industrial, cinematic soundscapes, incorporating true political, social and economic elements. "Etat d'Urgence" is no more than a social control soundtrack, an experience in our daily lives of fear. Recommended to all those who like POST-SCRIPTUM and PROPERGOL. RESGESTAE is the project of Nicholas P., an experimental sound-artist living in Athens, Greece. He started creating post-industrial music in 2005 with a dark-ambient project called [distopia] which released a couple of full-length albums, split-releases and a few EP's on various independant labels. From 2010, being infatuated with the dark-ambient and "horror" concept, Nicholas started experimenting using wave editing software, working with field-recordings and other sound samples. RESGESTAE was born. The name could be translated to "things done", or the space of time that occurs from commiting a crime to the sentencing for that crime. RESGESTAE is influenced by contemporary politics viewed from a social prism. Nowadays, everything ranging from a discovery of a virus to the theoretical definition of a new field of economic competition is a political act that affects everyone's social life. He's also influenced by the works of W.S.BURROUGHS, F.NIETZSCHE, Aldous HUXLEY, CRITICAL ART ENSEMBLE, Jacques MESRINE and various street articles. RESGESTAE's purpose is to compose contemporary power-electronics with both "cultural terrorism" and an esoteric aesthetic. For him, the "typical" power-electronics sound , mixing harsh electronics and up-front vocals has gone into hiatus. His purpose is to use extreme frequencies, samples and drones to form a deep sub-sonic landscape. This creates a cinematic experience incorporating true political, social and economic elements. That's why this first release deals with media control, the deep state, technoscience and biotechnology. "Etat d'Urgence" is no more than a social control soundtrack, an experience in our daily lives of fear." [label info] www.nuitetbrouillard.com 2015 €12.00
RESIDENTS Not Available CD "Aufgenommen 1974, ursprünglich 1979 veröffentlicht und jetzt als Re-Issue mit sieben zusätzlichen Minuten, die ursprünglich herausgeschnitten wurden. Während es mindestens eine Million Geschichten über die RESIDENTS gibt, gibt es eine über die Entstehung ihres zweiten Albums ,Not Available", die heraussticht. Die Karriere der Band war noch jung, als der deutsche Avantgardist N. Senada der Band seine ,Theorie der Obskurität" darlegte. Sein Plan umfasste die Vervollkommnung von Projekten, die von niemand anderem als dem Schöpfer selbst gehört werden sollten. Die RESIDENTS sahen den Kern dieses Ideals: dass es nicht einfach ist, Musik aufzunehmen, ohne die Zielgruppe dafür im Kopf zu haben. Die Band beschloss, dass ein solches Projekt ihnen dabei helfen würde, selbständiger an die Musik heranzugehen. ,Not Available" wurde 1974 aufgenommen und gelagert. Einige Jahre später, 1978, gerieten die RESIDENTS in Zeitdruck, als darum ging ihren Opus ,Eskimo" aufzunehmen. Die Plattenfirma holte ,Not Available" aus den Archiven und veröffentlichte es. Überraschenderweise störten sich die RESIDENTS gar nicht daran, da die Aktion ihrem ursprünglichen Plan in keinster Weise entgegenlief. www.myspace.com/theresidents" [label info] 2011 €13.00
REUTOFF Regno Di Pianta CD CD-Wiederveröffentlichung der ersten REUTOFF CDR von 1999! "Endlich, die erste CD-Veröffentlichung des russischen Trios, nach der 7" auf Drone (DR-46)! REUTOFF could be seen as one of the followers of a "real" industrial-approach, aesthetically and soundwise, but without just copying any of the old classics. As with previous cassette-only albums, this is a surprise again, as they move mostly in ambient industrial fields (dark synths, speech-samples, chorals, sound-effects), but sometimes they break in with very experimental or noisy rhythmical tracks, to cover the whole spectrum of industrial as we knew it. The overall atmosphere is again dark & gloomy, sometimes even melancholic and yearnful. 10 tracks, for industrial-lovers something to discover!" [Drone info 1999] 2004 €13.00
RICHTER, MAX The Blue Notebooks CD "Following releases by Set Fire To Flames and Sylvain Chauveau, Max Richter’s ‘The Blue Notebooks’ was the fourth release on FatCat’s 130701 imprint, established as an outlet for more more orchestrated, instrumental material. Richter is a British-based, German-born pianist and composer. Following 2002’s highly-acclaimed ‘Memoryhouse’ - performed by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and released on the BBC’s classical label, Late Junction - ‘The Blue Notebooks’ is his second solo album, a distinctive and adventurous work that is beautifully recorded and cinematic in scope. Opening with a text from Franz Kafka over a sparse piano melody, the album moves through gorgeous, heart-wrenching string swells of ‘On The Nature Of Daylight’ (which quotes a tune from ‘Memoryhouse’); through to sparse but lyrical piano pieces; hazy, swirling atmospherics, avalanche pulse-beats and partially occluded melodies that recall Aphex twin’s ‘Ambient Works’ albums; and to reverberant organ / choir recordings. Utilising piano, cello, violin and viola, alongside electronic beats (made using a variety of antique electronics and Reaktor), spoken word passages and the occasional field recording, other sounds were generated via old guitar pedals and vocoders. The organ music was made for a chapel near Tourtres in South-West France, whilst the environmental sounds are mainly recorded around London. The tone of the album is generally domnbeat – a series of bittersweet articulations that seem suspended somewhere between a certain dreamy sense of wonder / awe and a heavy melancholia. Peppered across Richter’s music like diary entries (and backed with attendant typewriter clatter) are a number of literary texts or ‘shadow journals’ (lifted from Kafka’s ‘the Blue Octavo notebooks’, and from Polish author Czseslaw Milosz’s ‘Hymn Of The Pearl’ and ‘Unattainable Earth’). Apparently chosen by Richter on instinct, they were recorded by acclaimed British actress, Tilda Swinton, who has starred in films including ‘Adaption’, ‘Orlando’, ‘The Garden’, and ‘The Beach’. These brief passages muse over time, memory, and the impermanent nature of things. With Richter playing piano, the other featured players here are his regular collaborators, Louisa Fuller (violin), Natalia Bonner (violin), John Metcalfe (viola), Philip Sheppard (cello), and Chris Worsey (cello). Born in 1966, Max Richter trained in composition and piano at Edinburgh University, at the Royal Academy of Music, and with with Luciano Berio in Florence. The Richter family moved to the UK from Germany when Max was a young child, leaving the wider part of his family distributed around Germany. This sense of a lack of roots had an effect on his musical formation - “I have always had a sense of belonging, in some way, to the middle of Europe but not specifically to any one place…” he explains. On completing his studies, Richter co-founded the immensely successful contemporary classical ensemble Piano Circus, where he stayed for ten years, commissioning and performing works by Arvo Pärt, Brian Eno, Philip Glass, Julia Wolfe and Steve Reich. Richter was also pro-active in developing the group’s use of live sampling. “I have always listened to a broad range of music. In my early teens I was listening to a lot of classical standard repertoire as well as 20th century work. During this time I also built and customised a number of analogue electronic instruments and was immersed in the early electronic music scene.” In 1996 he worked closely with The Future Sound of London on their release ‘Dead Cities’. Initially involved as a pianist, he ended up co-writing a track (which they subsequently titled ‘Max’). Following this, Richter collaborated with FSOL over a two-year period on the album ‘The Isness’, with his input ranging from programming or piano playing to arranging, mixing, co-producing and co-writing various tracks. Max’s orchestrations have also graced ‘In The Møde’ by drum’n’bass pioneer Roni Size." [label info] www.fat-cat.co.uk 2004 €15.00
RIECHMANN Wunderbar CD "Hypnotisch und sphärisch: das einzige Soloalbum des Düsseldorfer Elektronikers: Die Musikerlaufbahn von Wolfgang Riechmann (1947-1978) begann in den 60er-Jahren. Unter anderem arbeitete der Sozialarbeiter schon 1967 mit Michael Rother (Neu!) und Wolfgang Flühr (Kraftwerk) in der Schülerband Spirits Of Sound und später in der Düsseldorfer Amateurband Phön-x. Mit der Gruppe Streetmark veröffentlichte er zwei Alben: "Nordland" (1976) und "Eileen" (1977). Im November 1977 begann er, sein erstes und leider auch einziges Soloalbum aufzunehmen. "Wunderbar" enthält Elemente der Berliner (Tangerine Dream) und der Düsseldorfer Schule (Kraftwerk, La Düsseldorf, Neu!), erinnert stellenweise (Titelstück) aber auch an Pink Floyd. Trotz der Einflüsse kreiert der Multiinstrumentalist seine eigenen hypnotischen und sphärischen Qualitäten. Wolfgang Riechmann starb im August 1978, drei Wochen vor Erscheinen des Albums, nachdem ihn ein Betrunkener in Düsseldorfs Altstadt grundlos erstach. "Riechmann hat erkannt, dass die elektronische Musik eine spezifische Ästhetik hat. Er nahm ihr die Kälte, indem er einfühlsame Melodiebögen schuf", schrieb die "Rheinische Post" 1979." [label info] www.bureau-b.com 2009 €17.00
RIVULETS You are my Home CD "Long-delayed 3rd album by internationally acclaimed solo artist Rivulets. Featuring guests Jessica Bailiff (Kranky), Chris Brokaw (Codeine, Come, the New Year), Christian Frederickson (Rachel's), Fred Lonberg-Holm (Boxhead Ensemble), & Bob Weston (Mission of Burma, Shellac). The contributions of these remarkable musicians adds snowy layers of wintery texture to Nathan Amundson's beautiful recordings. Like Nick Drake smothered not with layers of orchestration, but subtle textures to truly compliment the mood of the album. Rivulets is the project of minimalist singer-songwriter Nathan Amundson. Born in Colorado, Amundson grew up in Alaska before leaving home at age 16 and moving frequently throughout the United States. He started performing as Rivulets in 1999, and currently resides in Bloomington, IN. Rivulets is a prolific songwriter, with releases out on several labels, including Acuarela, BlueSanct, Silber, and Chair Kickers'' Union. This is Rivulets'' 3rd full length album, and 1st for Important Records. Rivulets'' first 2 full-length albums, r i v u l e t s (2002) and Debridement (2003), were both recorded by Alan Sparhawk of Low, and released on Low''s own label Chair Kickers'' Union. These albums feature guest appearances from the likes of Jessica Bailiff , LD Beghtol (Magnetic Fields), Jon DeRosa (Aarktica), Marc Gartman (No Wait Wait), Brian John Mitchell (Remora), Aaron Molina (if thousands), and Mimi Parker (Low). Extensive touring overseas has garnered Rivulets intensely loyal fanbases across Europe. We''re hoping this, Rivulets 1st album on Important records, will help the US to take notice as well. A few of the artists Rivulets has shared bills with in the past include: Haley Bonar, Chris Brokaw, Cerberus Shoal, Cocorosie, Mark Eitzel, Daniel Johnston, Low, Mirah, My Morning Jacket, the New Year, Scout Niblett, Piano Magic, Radar Bros., Stars of the Lid, Songs: Ohia, Swearing at Motorists, Willard Grant Conspiracy, Shannon Wright, and Xiu Xiu. Rivulets'' discography also includes numerous compilation appearances and several EPs: the aforementioned Thank You Reykjavik EP on BlueSanct; The Alcohol EPs on Silber; the Rivulets / Marc Gartman split CD (featuring Jarboe of Swans) on Tract; and the You''ve Got Your Own EP on Acuarela (the bestselling EP Acuarela have released, out-selling EPs by the Album Leaf, the Clientele, and Tara Jane O''Neil!). This is not a folk album. This is an album about hearts breaking, tearing it down, and moving on." [label info] www.importantrecords.com 2006 €13.00
RLW / PAAK Zur Arbeit I LP "Ralf Wehowsky and Peter Kastner, aka RLW and PAAK, present their third collaborative album in a series of concept albums dedicated to various subjects. This record, their first on attenuation circuit, is about work, and as on the previous records (about food and religion, respectively), the titles, liner notes, and the sound itself suggest a rather sarcastic take on work, or more precisely, the situation of working people today. Ralf Wehowsky has been a fixture on the international experimental scene since his 1980s work with P16.D4 and related projects on the Selektion label. The fusion of electronic sounds and non-musical, musique concrète material is characteristic of much of his work. Peter Kastner, working both in improvised sound and visual arts, brings a low-fi approach to jerrybuilt sound objects to the collaboration. By contrasting everyday noise that might well have been recorded in a factory, or factory canteen, with startlingly artificial, almost deliberately cheesy harpsichord and mellotron sounds, they create a tension between a nostalgia for beauty and the barrenness of everyday life, in three pieces, or perhaps movements. The liner notes leave no doubt as to what the three movements stand for: The 19th century with its mass exploitation of industrial workers (courtesy of a quote by Karl Marx), the 20th century with its progress toward more social security for working people, and the 21st century, which sees an erosion of solidarity as neoliberal policies take away social benefits such as rent-controlled housing. File under: electronica, musique concrète" [label info] www.attenuationcircuit.de 2016 €17.00
RLW / RICHARD FRANCIS R CD "First collaboration between Ralf Wehowsky (Germany) and Richard Francis (New Zealand) On a trip from Auckland over Worpswede to Eggenstein Richard Francis visited Ralf Wehowsky on the weekend of September 28th and 29th, 2013. For the recording sessions taking place during these two days Richard used his analogue synth and electronics, while Ralf had a desktop and a laptop for producing digital electronic sounds at hand. For bridging the anatgonistic sound worlds the input of one sound system was fed with the output of the other and vice versa. For this release two of the tracks (Piece 1, Untitled 1) are presented as they were recorded, with only slight pan and volume adjustments. The third track (Piece 3) is composed of fragments of a longer improvisation, time-shifting the contributions of the two artists against each other to constitute a system of non-simultaneity. RLW/Ralf Wehowsky Ralf Wehowsky is a german experimental composer, active since the 80s (with the group p16.d4 then). his work is split between solo releases (under the moniker rlw) and collaborations, exploring all fields between media exchange and realtime presence recordings. collaboration partners include among others Lionel Marchetti, Merzbow, Jim O´Rourke, Bruce Russell, Das Synthetische Mischgewebe, Anla Courtis, Contrastate, Kohei Matsunaga, Annette Krebs - and Richard Francis. Richard Francis Richard Francis is a sound artist from New Zealand working with electronics and found recordings. He's released solo and collaborative albums on Senufo Editions, Entr’acte, Glistening Examples, Korm Plastics and Aufabwegen. Recent collaborators include Ralf Wehowsky, Frans De Waard, Anla Courtis, Bruce Russell, Mattin, Jason Kahn and Francisco Lopez." https://aufabwegen.bandcamp.com/album/r "In 2013, Richard Francis travelled from his hometown Auckland to Worpswede, where he was invited for a residency. He did a stop-over in various places to work, such as Worm (Rotterdam), Extrapool (Nijmegen), and the German town of Eggenstein, where he met Ralf Wehowsky, also known as RLW. They spend two days together recording music. Francis, at the time, had a small mobile modular synthesizer, some electronics, and RLW behind his desktop and laptop. Both systems were connected via in- and outputs. Of the three pieces, the two longer ones were recorded in September 2013, and I assume they also mixed these at the same time; perhaps we could see this as live-in-the-studio music. The third piece, 'Piece 3', is a recomposition by RLW, using the original recordings from 2013. As I hear the two longer pieces, I wonder whether that live-in studio thing results from extensive editing and mixing of an improvised recording. In all honesty, I couldn't say which it is. It has that complexity that we know from RLW, the aspect of multi-layered sound, the collage approach we know from musique concrète, a world of music to which RLW owes much. Francis modular electronics move around like snowflakes, like corroded spaceships, or simply recall what we call 'early electronics'. The collage principles are no strangers to both men, although more applied by RLW than Francis (certainly in recent times), and it takes the material all over the place. The rusty spaceship and explosions of dark matter cause massive disruption, as noise isn't kept out of the equation. These two long pieces make up for a bumpy ride, neatly going all over the place, from strict noise to sheer silence, from densely orchestrated nightmares to single lines floating about. In the 2020 rework of the source material, some of the density of the 2013 material disappears, and it all becomes an opener. Here the music becomes almost like a cosmic synthesizer scape or something working with sine waves. I was surprised this piece was the opener of the CD, but because it's over seven minutes and much shorter than the other two, the spaciousness of this piece works very well as an introduction to what's coming. In my Thursday Afternoon Talk (link below), Jos Smolders and I talk about a previous RLW release, 'Satanic Inventions' (Vital Weekly 1365) and I mention that RLW doesn't seem too prolific in recent years. My mistake: take a look at his releases on Discogs and you'll see otherwise." [FdW / Vital weekly] 2023 €13.00
RNGMNN Arctic Interference CD Winter-Light welcomes Germany's RNGMNN to the fold, with his new work entitled 'Arctic Interference'. Having previously released albums on Noctivagant and Reverse Alignment, as well as a collaborative release on Cryo Chamber with Dronny Darko, RNGMNN aka Ronny Engmann now delivers on 'Arctic Interference' 8 new tracks of icy Arctic ambience ranging from cold, drifting pieces to stark, rhythmic, pulsating sound scapes. Field recordings, percussive elements, sampled sounds, dark electronic pads, scrapes and stabs all combine creating a sense of drifting isolation, disorientation and knee-deep, jagged movements across vast snow blown and storm battered mind-scapes. Rest assured there are plenty of variations on this album, to peak the interests of even the most wind swept and experienced Arctic travellers. The tracks were recorded in the month of December, over a period of years in 2014, 15, 16, 17 and 18. Here the artist sets the scene ..... "The moon appears behind the dense clouds, as the nomads are passing and wave their goodbyes. They have shown me which is the safest place to stay this night; a shelter where I will survive the Arctic climate without harm. Uncertainty arises. I hear their mischievous laughter in the distance, as if they knew that this night will not be easy for someone who is not used to these cold circumstances. The snow around me is covered in dust and faint traces that indicate that I am not the first person to have stumbled around here. The ongoing winter storm is gradually sending its waves of frost my way. The night sky swallows the already dark mountains. The freezing cold is increasingly clouding my perception. I reach the snowed-in shelter that is the remnants of a small cave of frozen magma. The tips of burnt pieces of wood protrude out from under the snow. Confirmation that I'm definitely not the first person to have stayed here overnight. This lonely and abandoned place is eerily quiet and unnerving. The only thing I can hear from outside is the rhythmic sound of the icicles, which every now and then clash against each other and subsequently fall to the ground. The memory of how I came here at all is slowly beginning to fade. Everything is getting dark. Everything goes numb." https://winter-light.bandcamp.com/album/arctic-interference 2019 €13.00
ROACH, STEVE & JORGE REYES The Ancestor Circle CD Conjuring images of a primal futurism, this alchemical blending-of-sound is a ceremonial offering to the forgotten gods. The Ancestor Circle is a new tribal-ambient-electronic collaboration, the first recording from Roach & Reyes since Vine ~ Bark & Spore (Timeroom 2000). This is the lost chapter of a long soulful journey that has taken twists and turns in its unfoldment. The music feels steeped in a frothy mind-altering blend, waiting for years as the potency increased. Roach & Reyes combined their instinctual nature — developed over almost a decade of worldwide live and studio adventures — leading up to the core of what became The Ancestor Circle. It is in this circle that their sound is unearthed from deep within their primordial soundworld, where prehistory meets future-tech creating a sound impossible to carbon date. Like the audio artifacts of a lost tribe, the studio source recordings that form this album’s foundation were uncovered in 2013 on a cryptically-marked set of tapes. Created the week before Roach & Reyes’ May 2000 concert at Tucson’s Temple of Music and Art, this is their last joint studio project as Reyes passed on to The Ancestor Circle in 2009. Roach comments, “Jorge is still very much alive here in the circle where we always met with an unspoken language of sound constantly moving through us. As I completed this music now, adding new elements and evolving the arrangement, I could feel Jorge’s spirit listening and interacting with me in the studio, offering feedback or sometimes making his guttural sounds of agreement like he would do in the past when we were deep in the process of carving on a mix. Just as in previous magical studio and stage experiences, we are in the circle once again.” For thousands of years, music was created to assist entrance to expanded states of consciousness, support a passage of life, birth and death and invoke the gods, spirits, and allies. While the abundance of today’s entertainment-music has lost this powerful inner core, on The Ancestor Circle it is fully reinstated. This is a new “medicine music” as it should be: a probing visceral experience with the power to illuminate and shroud in mystery, digging deep into zones hidden within the psyche. It offers a potent realm of renewal for those seeking an unfiltered, cathartic rinse-down of today’s technological, modern world; it helps hit the reset button of perception. Rising up from a dark shroud of night to embrace life, an ancient voice chants in serpentine ecstasy only to subside and hover next to a slow realm of eternal time drawn from electronics, percussion, prehispanic flutes, ocarinas, other acoustic instruments and silence. When the sound dissolves beyond recognition, a subconscious landscape arises, whispering of faded visions painted on stone, echoing on studio walls, of times gone by and times to come. Roach & Reyes are still here bringing us messages from the infinite. Artist Bios Jorge Reyes took an ethno-musicological approach to music-making on 20 solo albums; released throughout the late 80s, 90s, and 00s these albums all has a special emphasis on indigenous and shamanic traditions from Reyes’ native Mexico. After years of tirelessly performing across Europe, he met Roach in the early 90s at a festival on the Canary Island of Lanzarote. Along with the Vine ~ Bark & Spore collaboration with Roach, Reyes & Roach teamed with Spanish electric guitarist Suso Saiz for two mid-90s albums from their group project, Suspended Memories (Music From The Hearts of Space 1993 & 1994). Reyes passed away on February 7, 2009. Steve Roach is a pioneering cornerstone of ambient-atmospheric-electronic music with over 100 albums to his name. Since the early 80s, Roach has approached music like a medicine man approaching the void: engaging the challenge, uncovering new mysteries, and bringing them back to share with the world. From the expansive, time-suspending spaces reflecting his spiritual home in Arizona to the fire breathing, ethno-ambient expressions woven from all things electric and organic, Roach’s long list of groundbreaking recordings are fueled by his prolific nature and uncompromising approach. https://projektrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the- ancestor-circle 2014 €15.00
ROBINSON, EUGENE S. & PHILIPPE PETIT Chapel in the Pines CD "Chapel In The Pines is the latest set of collaborative work by Oxbow front man Eugene Robinson and master of sonic architecture, Philippe Petit, featuring Percy Howard on additional vocals. The five pieces here are built around brooding spoken word accompanied by a range of electronics, guitars, percussion, piano and metallic sounds molded into suitable backdrops. Anybody familiar with the previous collaborative albums -- The Crying of Lot 69 (2011) and Last of the Dead Hot Lovers (2012) -- will be able to grasp the sometimes-ravaged nature at work here. Utterly commanding, Chapel In The Pines ebbs into a space where the literary meets contemporary abstract sound in absolute harmony. Includes booklet of Eugene's words. Mixed and mastered by Petit." https://jelodanti-records.bandcamp.com/album/chapel-in-the-pines 2017 €13.00
ROGERSON, DIANA & ANDREW LILES No Birds do Sing CD "... vom neuen album behauptet ehemann Stapleton, es sei das beste, das je eingespielt wurde. an der seite seiner frau tritt Aandrew Liles ins rampenlicht. er zählt zu den experimentierfreudigsten der gegenwärtigen elektrobastler und klangkünstler. soundcollagen, drone music sind sein metier und er wird in eine reihe gestellt mit größen wie heemann, chalk, basinski. so bildet sich ein duo, das kaum interessanter sein könnte, dem man mutiges und zugleich bewegendes, weil bisher nicht dagewesenes zutraut... konzentrationsfordernd ist es, daneben gilt es körperliche berührtheit zu ertragen, dem ansinnen zur flucht zu trotzen, dann wieder müheloses hin-hören, also eine mehr als dynamische rezeption einfordernd. launige samples neben aggressiver stimmung, hier geht so einiges zusammen, was scheinbar nicht zusammen gehört." [Das Klienicum] "Everyone’s belle de jour Diana Rogerson and Andrew Liles got together to create what we regard as one of the most considered and well conceived albums Liles has been part of. 'No Birds do Sing' can only be described as a hallucinogenic voyage of disconcerting mysticism and cosmic pandemonium and is a recording he's very proud of. This disc is a completely black and comes in a stunning super high gloss digipack with wonderful artwork by Babs Santini." [label info] 2008 €14.00
ROSS, DAVID & CLIVE BELL Recovery Suite LP "David Ross plays here a customized analog oscillator, baptized drosscillator. Among others, he has worked in the past with Evan Parker. He is also known as the drummer for the instrumental combo Kenny Process Team. He has previously released another critically acclaimed duo album with Clive Bell, 'Mystery Lights / Nightflower'. Clive Bell studied the shakuhachi (Japanese flute) with Kohachiro Miyata in Tokyo. In 2005 he took part in the British Council Beijing project, Sound & The City, alongside Brian Eno, David Toop and Peter Cusack. He has played on numerous albums by Jah Wobble, plus records by a.o. Paul Schutze, Jeff Beck, Bill Laswell and David Sylvian. This is their 2nd album on ini.itu, the first one being as members of Twinkle , with Richard Scott. The project for this LP started when David Ross suffered a back injury and had to lie in bed for several weeks, a time where one of the few instruments. Some sketches later gave the opportunity to further improvise and compose some tracks with Clive Bell. This unusual record will take you through some derouting mazes, evoking at times the perplexity and obfuscation of the experience of ill ness and slow, uncertain recovery. It's free music, but not in the free jazz way. Maybe it's dystopic lounge ambiance, with evanescent melodic lines on the shakuhachi and circular undertones. Sometimes bleak, brooding, fractured and gloomy; at other moments rather delicate, elaborate and lush. A nocturnal record, where melancholy and aching is slowly dissolved by a sprawling confidence, where mental landscapes are built on the contemplation of opioid numbness and extraction therefrom. File next to : Popol Vuh's Garten Pharaos, Cluster, Kosmische Musick in general, or Brian Eno & John Hassell 'Fourth world vol 1'. All clicks, pops and shuffles are intended. The LP was mastered by Taylor Deupree." [label info] www.iniitu.net 2014 €15.00
S.Q.E. Wahid (SOLD OUT) 7inch Zwei fantastische, orientalisch-esoterisch anmutende Stücke vom URE THRALL-Mitspieler J.GRECO aka S.Q.E., der optimaler Begleit-Release zur neuen CD „The Abyss Stares Back“ ! “S.Q.E. is the solo-project of J.GRECO now residing in New York City, who has worked with URE THRALL, KRIS FORCE, ALAN TRENCH, and others and released three full albums so far, now pointing into a more ‘song-oriented’-direction than before ... The title of this EP WAHID means something like “independent” (also “alone” or “solo”) in arabic language. The title-track on Side A is build on powerful oriental percussion, mixed with mesmerizing floating flute, drone- and e-bow-guitar-sounds, forming layers of harmonic overlapping... EPITAPH 3, the B-side, is less rhythmically structured and creates enormous space with backwards-sounds from cymbals and voices, deep drones and synth-layers at the base... two deeply mesmerizing tracks.... Filed under: Oriental & Esoteric Drones BLACK & WHITE MARBLE - VINYL. WHITE COVERS WITH WONDERFUL CALLIGRAPHED “WAHID”-SYMBOL. “ [press release] 2005 €7.00  
SAINTE-MARIE, BUFFY Illuminations CD "Illuminations, released in 1969, is the sixth album by Buffy Sainte-Marie. Though most of the tracks did away with the backing she had used on her previous two albums, Illuminations had a completely different sound from anything she had previously done. From a basis of vocals and acoustic guitar, Sainte-Marie and producer Maynard Solomon used electronic synthesisers to create a sound that was much more experimental music than folk. Indeed, Illuminations was the first quadrophonic vocal album ever made, and on songs like the album's only single "Better to Find Out Yourself", her voice is completely altered by a Buchla synthesiser. Peter Schickele, however, did provide arrangements to "Mary", "Adam" and "The Angel", whilst the four tracks "Suffer the Little Children", "With You, Honey", "Guess Who I Saw in Paris" and "He's A Keeper of the Fire" were her first work to be not produced by Vanguard boss Maynard Solomon. Instead, they had a stripped-down rock sound and were produced by little known folk-jazz songwriter Mark Roth. Bob Bozina played guitar, John Craviotta drums and percussion and Rick Oxendine played bass." [Wikipedia] 2000 €13.00
SAKELLARIOU, YIORGIS Silentium CD Silentium is an electroacoustic piece based on sounds of bells and church organs that where recorded during a residency at gallery Školská 28 in Prague, in December 2015. The title was inspired by the “Silentium” signs that were regularly displayed in the churches where these recordings were made. Entering the temple requires the visitor to be quiet, to keep the noise down. This thoughtful silence is an intense and active condition essential for profound listening. It creates a liminal state between the natural and the supernatural world. In this work, the properties of the churches’ sonic atmospheres subtly emerge; echoes of quiet interiors created by the whispers reverberating, the crackling of wooden chairs, a door closing, the water dripping down the pipelines. It should be noted that the title is not a hint at the piece being quiet. Some passages are indeed really silent, reaching the realms of the barely audible; other parts are rather loud. Yiorgis Sakellariou is a composer of experimental and electroacoustic music. Since 2003, he has been active internationally being responsible for solo and collaboration albums, having composed music for short films and theatrical performances, leading workshops and ceaselessly performing his music around the globe. He is a member of the Athenian Contemporary Music Research Centre and the Hellenic Electroacoustic Music Composers Association. Since 2004 he has curated the label Echomusic. https://www.pogus.com/21088.html This release packaging comes folded into quarters, ending up as a 5 ½” x 5 ½” brochure style booklet (liner notes inside), with the CD in a paper sleeve, all inserted into re-sealable plastic sleeves. 2016 €13.00
SALA En-trance CD Zweites Album dieses Projekts auf AUTARKEIA, dem litauischen Label. Wilder und perkussiver als „Shcut ente..“, werden hier schamanistische Tänze & Ekstasen aufgeführt, alles handgespielt und ungeordnet, Blasinstrumente, beschwörende Vocals & Geschrei.... im gleichen Geiste wie Z’EV, 23SKIDOO, alte PSYCHIC TV, aber auch VIBRACATHEDRAL ORCHESTRA oder wilde MAEROR TRI oder rituelle HYBRYDS kommen einem in den Sinn... und wieder duftet die CD nach MANDELN. “En-trance” was recorded, but still wasn’t released by the magic-practising artists almost a decade ago. This album compiles two lasting live-recorded tracks. Ritual pulsing, archaic sound of wind instruments, deep-dark “ambient” and surrealistic, unexpected music bends immersing the audience to the swirl of phantasmagoric moods. There are some movies classified as of the “noir” stylistics, the main feature of which is highly forcible and strong atmosphere. If the records also have the classification of the “noir”, “En-trance” could be considered one of the most emphatic works of this style. Emotions generated by the “En-trance” music could be compared with the psychedelic atmosphere of the first albums of NWW, Hybryds. Interesting record and mystic ritual having sustained the challenge of social disregard during the years. Album's tracks listing: 1. neophile gets ex-sited 2. and now s-he starts laughing Album lasts for 40 min. 36 sec. It’s packed in a nontypical black plastic DVD case. Limited edition 500 copies. CD is covered with special lackuer which smells like an almond.“ [label info] www.autarkeia.org 2005 €12.00
SALOMAN, GABRIEL Movement Building Vol. 1 LP "Over the past few years Gabriel Saloman has developed a reputation for releasing penetrating works of haunting beauty in his new role as a solo performer and composer. Known for his part in the seminal electronic-noise duo Yellow Swans (alongside Pete Swanson), Saloman has taken the sweeping drones and fried electricity of his former band and embedded them within an expanding pallette of bowed strings, martial percussion and resonant piano. The majority of his work to date has been developed as music for contemporary dance, exemplified by two recent solo albums with Miasmah, 2012's melancholic Adhere and last years celebrated ode to mud and decay Soldier's Requiem. As he continues to prolifically produce music for dance, Saloman has developed a new series with Shelter Press to make these works available: Movement Building. The first of two volumes to be released individually on vinyl and together on CD, The Disciplined Body is a 34 minute work that moves through ghostly minimalist drones, poly-vocal drumming and culminates in an aching climb through sheets of shimmering guitar chords before erupting in a violent spurt of harsh noise. While at its climax it may be evocative of transcendental string manglers ranging from My Bloody Valentine to Godspeed You Black Emperor, in its more subtle moments it wades through the kind of blackened water that suggests the outer boundaries of ambient metal, or the ghostly remnants of a cassette dub of beatless electronics. Composed for Daisy Karen Thompson's 'Re-Marks on Source Material', the music shares that dance's Foucault influenced questioning of the limits imposed on our bodies by technology and labor, reaching for an ecstatic escape from discipline and control. Listeners may want to reach for the same - to do so we suggest they play this recording very very loud. Mastered and cut by Elmut Herler at D+M (Berlin) and pressed in a limited edition of 500 copies worldwide." [label info] www.shelter-press.com 2014 €17.00
Movement Building Vol. 3 LP Shelter Press has made good on its promise to deliver the third and final volume of its series featuring Gabriel Saloman, released both on vinyl and collected with Movement Building Vol. I (2014) and Vol. II (2015) as a double CD. For fans of Saloman’s post-Yellow Swans work – an already dense catalog of darkly cinematic compositions mostly conceived as accompaniment to some of Vancouver’s edgier contemporary dance companies, Movement Building Vol. III is not only a much anticipated conclusion to this trilogy, it is the most fully realized album in years. Where as Movement Building Vol. I & II acted primarily as documentation of time-based artworks, Movement Building Vol. III offers a more coherent and narratively rich album that will appeal to admirers of Soldier’s Requiem (Miasmah, 2013). Listeners will recognize the emotive bowed strings, militant percussion and searing guitar eruptions that evoked memory and trauma in that previous album. Joining this pallet are other familiar Saloman sounds: shoegaze washes of distorted guitar, minimalist piano attacks, melancholic appregiated melodies, and a patina of harsh noise. Added to this is a more 21st Century approach to drums and bass, perhaps an effect of his collaborations with producer Michael Red in their dub-ambient project Chambers. Saloman’s music has never sat comfortably in any genre, sharing with a select cohort of other artists (Stephen O’Malley, Lawrence English, Grouper, Kreng, Tim Hecker, among others) an ambiguous position between “modern classical”, “electronic music”, and the more outer limits of metal. Movement Building Vol. III doesn’t clarify as much as it expands Saloman’s oeuvre further into an idiosyncratic musical no-man’s land that fails to be faithful to any popular musical trend – contemporary, retro or futurist. Movement Building Vol. III’s themes are taken from the dance it was composed for, 2015’s What Belongs To You, created by longtime collaborator Vanessa Goodman (Adhere, Soldier’s Requiem). That work sent its dancers through a physical journey exploring the needs of the body, for shelter, for love and for self-actualization, roughly aligned to Abraham Maslow’s “hierarchy of needs”. The resulting album seems to achingly soundtrack the struggle for survival, not simply for bare life but for something greater and more transcendent that would make survival have meaning. It holds dread and hope in equal parts, never quite giving away the end of the story. Though this record was recorded two years ago Movement Building Vol. III could be the perfect album for our current era of civilizational near-collapse, whether at the hands of maniacal politicians, the slow burn of the Anthropocene or the constant enclosure of the corporate driven, social media enabled surveillance state. Movement Building Vol. III arrives both as a stand alone vinyl release, and as part of a collection of all three volumes packaged in one double CD. The collection of these works allows one to see clearly Saloman’s techniques and approaches to a relatively limited number of instruments – guitar, percussion, occasional piano and tape. Movement Building Vol. I is presented as one continuous piece, moving through an extended set of drone and loping drum play before climaxing in the kind of glorious guitar chording most often associated with My Bloody Valentine, GSYBE or Mono. Movement Building Vol. II explores various combinations of drum and drone, ASMR inducing high end clatter and the now infamous take on Miles Davis’ classic My Funny Valentine. The digital versions of these albums, mastered by Helmut Erler at Berlin’s Dubplates & Mastering, restore to them their full range of frequency and dynamics, providing a deeper glimpse into the theatrical origins of their composition. Movement Building Vol. III is not only the final installment in Shelter Press’ series but also represents the culmination of a prolific period of creation for Saloman that began with 2012’s Adhere. From 2011-2016, Saloman produced dozens of recordings in collaboration with various dance artists. Currently living in Santa Cruz, California, and working on a PhD concerning noise and protest, it’s unclear how a new home and a new political reality will shape the music he makes next. One thing is for certain: it’s unlikely that Saloman will be silent for long. shelter-press.org/gabriel-salomanmovement-building-vol-3/ 2017 €20.00
  Movement Building do-CD Shelter Press collect all three volumes of the compelling Movement Building works for dance by Gabriel Saloman (Yellow Swans) in a handy double CD set, providing a first opportunity to listen and immerse yourself in the noise deity’s most refined and touching body of work since going solo after Yellow Swans’ demise. Since 2014 Shelter Press has been steadily releasing a multi-volume series of documents showcasing Gabriel Saloman’s music for contemporary dance. Under the title of Movement Building, these albums have covered a wide breadth of themes and approaches, all of them coalescing around Saloman’s darkly cinematic approach to contemporary guitar music. Known for his part in the seminal electronic-noise duo Yellow Swans (alongside Pete Swanson), Saloman has taken the sweeping drones and fried electricity of his former band and embedded them within an expanding pallette of bowed strings, martial percussion and resonant piano. Shelter Press has now made good on its promise to collect all three volumes of this vinyl only series – Movement Building Vol. I (2014); Vol. II (2015); and Vol. III (2017) – as a double CD featuring two hours of music, new artwork, previously unreleased tracks, a new digital master by Helmut Erler of Berlin’s Dubplates & Mastering, and an extensive essay on dance, politics and the themes of each album written by Saloman. These collected volumes provide an absolutely necessary document for any fan of Saloman’s work, past or present. The first disc collects Movement Building Vol. I and Vol. II, the former a sprawling 36 minutes epic that had previously been separated into two discreet tracks for vinyl and is collected here as one continuous piece, moving through an extended set of drone and loping drum play before climaxing in the kind of glorious guitar chording most often associated with groups such as My Bloody Valentine, GSYBE or Mono. Movement Building Vol. II explores various combinations of drum and drone, ASMR inducing high end clatter and Saloman’s infamous take on Miles Davis’ classic My Funny Valentine. The second disc collects Movement Building Vol. III, including two tracks not available on the concurrently released vinyl version. Vol. III shares with earlier albums the emotive and disorienting bowed guitar, militant percussion and searing guitar eruptions that was so evocative of memory and trauma. Joining this pallet are other familiar Saloman sounds: shoegaze washes of distorted guitar, minimalist piano attacks, melancholy guitar melodies, and a patina of harsh noise at just the right moments. Added to this is a more contemporary approach to drums and bass, perhaps an effect of his collaborations with producer Michael Red in their dub-ambient project Chambers. Saloman’s music has never sat comfortably in any genre, sharing with a select cohort of other artists (Stephen O’Malley, Lawrence English, Grouper, Kreng, Tim Hecker, among others) an ambiguous position overlapping “modern classical”, “electronic music”, and the more outer limits of “ambient metal”. The recordings collected in Movement Building doesn’t clarify as much as it expands Saloman’s oeuvre further into an idiosyncratic musical no-man’s land that fails to be faithful to any popular musical trend – contemporary, retro or futurist. 2017 €17.00
SAMARTZIS, PHILIP Mort aux vaches CD Highly abstract digital processing music with a wide range of moods, sounds & spheres, nearly undescribable. Concentrating listening necessary. Comes in luxury cardboard-paper-covers with embossing, lim. 1000. “ Philip Samartzis is a Melbourne based composer with a long history in experimental sound production and performance. He formed Gum in 1986 with Andrew Curtis releasing several albums and singles independently and through Korm Plastics (NL) and RRR Records (USA). Since 1995 he has primarily worked solo, releasing Residue (1998) & Windmills Bordered By Nothingness (1999) through Dorobo (Aust), both of which highlight his explorations in recording and processing acoustic and spatial environments through digital technologies. More recently Samartzis has extended his studio based techniques to incorporate live performance working both solo and in collaboration. Over the last two years he has performed with Kozo Inada, Gunter Muller, KK Null, Sachiko M, Voice Crack & Seiichi Yamamoto. An upcoming release in the Mort Aux Vaches series released by Staalplaat (NL) contains elements of these collaborative and solo performances. Samartzis is also responsible for curating Variable Resistance: Ten hours of sound from Australia, a contemporary survey of Australian sound culture, presented at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 2002, and the Transmediale Festival in Berlin in 2003. Philip Samartzis' 'Mort Aux Vaches release' is the 40th release in the series... “ [label info] 2002 €13.50
SATORI Kanashibari CD "Das Cover dieses Satori-Albums ziert ein Gemälde von Henry Fuseli namens "Der Nachtmahr". Um einen Albtraum geht es auf "Kanashibari" auch, sogar um einen real existierenden. Das japanische Wort "Kanashibari" steht für den Begriff Schlafparalyse, den Zustand der Bewegungsunfähigkeit während der Traumphasen. Diese Unfähigkeit sich zu Bewegen ist ein unbewusster Zustand. Es gibt aber Menschen, die sich dieser Paralyse durchaus bewusst werden und das ist wahrhaft ein echter Albtraum. Diesen haben Satori, man kann es nicht anders sagen, perfekt in ihrer Musik festgehalten. Düster und brodelnd gestaltet sich das Album, Drone Ambient mit tiefschwarzer Attitüde. Aber "Kanashibari" begnügt sich nicht mit bloßen, tiefen Tönen, nein, rituelle Trommeln beschreiben den dramatischen Kampf, sich bewegen zu wollen, es aber nicht zu können. Rauschen, Zischen und andere ähnliche Geräusche transferieren direkt einen beklemmenden Eindruck. Die nicht zu entziffernden, entstellten Stimmen könnten Traumfetzen sein. Aber zusammen mit den Geräuschen dürften sie eher für die halluzinogenen, auditiven Wahrnehmungen stehen, die mit der Schlafparalyse einhergehen können. Wie man es auch dreht und wendet, Neil Chaney (Pessary) und Justin Mitchell (Cold Spring Chef) haben ein herrlich düsteres Stück Musik geschaffen, das bei nächtlicher Rezeption wiederum zu Albträumen führen könnte. Nach ihrer Japan-Tour im April 2007 mit Sutcliffe Jügend veröffentlichte das japanische Label Dogma Chase "Kanashibari" auf einer auf 300 Stück limitierten LP. Cold Spring zog dann Ende 2008 nach und veröffentlichte das Album auf CD und spendierte sogar noch einen Bonustrack, "Pavor Nocturnus"." [Veit, Medienkonverter] "CD version of the 2007 album from UK dark ambient/Fortean electronics act Satori - Neil Chaney (Pessary) and Justin Mitchell (Cold Spring boss), originally issued on LP by Dogma Chase, Japan. "Kanashibari" is the Japanese term for sleep paralysis (literally "bound or fastened in metal"). The album explores this phenomena, manipulating Fortean sounds and deep dark ambience." [label info] 2008 €13.00
SAVAGE REPUBLIC Customs CD "Recorded in Thessaloniki, Greece, Nov 1988 ######## The fourth of four new reissues of the classic studio albums from seminal industrial-art-punk group SAVAGE REPUBLIC. ########### "Customs" was the final studio album from Savage Republic, recorded under considerable duress in Greece during an ill-fated 1988 tour in which all of their gear was confiscated by Greek customs! Thus, "Customs" was recorded entirely on borrowed equipment. The resulting album is not dissimilar to the usual Savage Republic sound of expansive songs that build up through the increasingly aggressive riffs of "monotone" guitars, but has been augmented with a handful of traditional Greek instruments such as hand drums and bouzouki. And, as a potentially useful piece of trivia, you might want to know that this album features Savage Republic's "Birds of Pork," which for years has been the preamble played before each and every Neurosis live show!" [label info] www.mobilization.com 2002 €14.00
Sword Fighter / Taranto!!! (RED vinyl) 7" Limited edition including an insert. Very special package with die-cut cover with silk-screened printings designed by Andrea Scarfone (Skarfo/Julie's Haircut). First 200 hand-numbered copies comes is solid RED vinyl. Hailing from the Los Angeles underground of the 1980s, Savage Republic forged an astonishing reputation for themselves with their legendary performances. Their brand of ritualistically tribal exhibitions blurred the boundaries of Post-Punk and Industrial music. Their music incorporates minimalist bass rumbles, exotic and/or militaristic drumming, Arabic melodies, primal chants and even a bit of surf guitar. Now A Silent Place is honoured to release a limited vinyl 7" single with two amazing exclusive tracks recorded expressly for this release after '1938' cd album release on Neurot Recordings! Both tracks are with SR distinguishing elements: tribal drumming, hypnotic and raga-like guitar lines with pulsating bass, Post-Punk and Industrial music with a sort of exotic atmosphere." [label info] www.asilentplace.it SR Biography: Figures of considerable repute within the Los Angeles post-punk community of the 1980s, Savage Republic grafted tribal percussion, industrial drones, and raga-like guitar lines together to craft an idiosyncratically moody sound with flashes of both desolation and eloquent grandeur. Capable of both harsh dissonance and shimmering textures, the band's guiding force was guitarist Bruce Licher, a founder and constant presence in their shuffling lineups. Alternating between cyclic instrumentals and quasi-industrial assaults with gruff, chanted vocals, their records were unavoidably inconsistent, but most contain some enduring highlights. Savage Republic was founded by former UCLA students Licher and drummer Mark Erskine in the early '80s. Adding new members, the group originally called themselves Africa Corps, changing the name to Savage Republic just before releasing their first record in 1982. Exotic percussion would always play a big role in Savage Republic -- even in the early days they were using oil cans, metal pipes, and 55-gallon drums. Their early singles, and their debut LP Tragic Figures (1982), show the group at their least accessible, though there are hints of the more mysterious and melodic elements to come. After some personnel changes (some members went off to form 17 Pygmies), Savage Republic regrouped with new elements (Thom Fuhrmann and Ethan Port) and a more guitar-oriented sound. On Ceremonial (1985), the band shifted their focus to mostly instrumental material, usually piloted by oddly tuned guitars (the group sometimes used guitars with six identically tuned strings). They'd never wholly abandon those droning, angst-driven chants, though. Combined with the fact that their instrumental material wouldn't break much new ground over the course of the decade, that can make their studio albums uneven listening. In any case, the band was best experienced live, where they would burn trash cans of pampas leaves, play on Los Angeles' Skid Row, and use all sorts of unexpected objects for percussion in their quest to make each concert a unique event. Savage Republic's albums, which were individually hand-letterpressed and numbered by Licher himself, received as much attention for their packaging as their music. Licher would perform the same services for other bands on his Independent Project label, even getting a Grammy nomination for his work on the first Camper Van Beethoven LP. Savage Republic was not destined to become nearly as big as Camper (not that this was ever their intent), and disbanded around 1990. A small reunion tour brought the band back in the fall of 2002, but the band only played a few random dates. After relocating to Arizona, Licher continues to run the Independent Project label, and design sleeves (his most famous work in that department has been for an R.E.M. Christmas fan club single). Musically, he resurfaced with the trio Scenic, which plays entirely instrumental material that blends the exotic flavor of Savage Republic with influences from Ennio Morricone and southwest border music. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide 2009 €12.50
Sword Fighter / Taranto!!! 7inch "Limited edition including an insert. Very special package with die-cut cover with silk-screened printings designed by Andrea Scarfone (Skarfo/Julie's Haircut). Hailing from the Los Angeles underground of the 1980s, Savage Republic forged an astonishing reputation for themselves with their legendary performances. Their brand of ritualistically tribal exhibitions blurred the boundaries of Post-Punk and Industrial music. Their music incorporates minimalist bass rumbles, exotic and/or militaristic drumming, Arabic melodies, primal chants and even a bit of surf guitar. Now A Silent Place is honoured to release a limited vinyl 7" single with two amazing exclusive tracks recorded expressly for this release after '1938' cd album release on Neurot Recordings! Both tracks are with SR distinguishing elements: tribal drumming, hypnotic and raga-like guitar lines with pulsating bass, Post-Punk and Industrial music with a sort of exotic atmosphere." [label info] www.asilentplace.it SR Biography: Figures of considerable repute within the Los Angeles post-punk community of the 1980s, Savage Republic grafted tribal percussion, industrial drones, and raga-like guitar lines together to craft an idiosyncratically moody sound with flashes of both desolation and eloquent grandeur. Capable of both harsh dissonance and shimmering textures, the band's guiding force was guitarist Bruce Licher, a founder and constant presence in their shuffling lineups. Alternating between cyclic instrumentals and quasi-industrial assaults with gruff, chanted vocals, their records were unavoidably inconsistent, but most contain some enduring highlights. Savage Republic was founded by former UCLA students Licher and drummer Mark Erskine in the early '80s. Adding new members, the group originally called themselves Africa Corps, changing the name to Savage Republic just before releasing their first record in 1982. Exotic percussion would always play a big role in Savage Republic -- even in the early days they were using oil cans, metal pipes, and 55-gallon drums. Their early singles, and their debut LP Tragic Figures (1982), show the group at their least accessible, though there are hints of the more mysterious and melodic elements to come. After some personnel changes (some members went off to form 17 Pygmies), Savage Republic regrouped with new elements (Thom Fuhrmann and Ethan Port) and a more guitar-oriented sound. On Ceremonial (1985), the band shifted their focus to mostly instrumental material, usually piloted by oddly tuned guitars (the group sometimes used guitars with six identically tuned strings). They'd never wholly abandon those droning, angst-driven chants, though. Combined with the fact that their instrumental material wouldn't break much new ground over the course of the decade, that can make their studio albums uneven listening. In any case, the band was best experienced live, where they would burn trash cans of pampas leaves, play on Los Angeles' Skid Row, and use all sorts of unexpected objects for percussion in their quest to make each concert a unique event. Savage Republic's albums, which were individually hand-letterpressed and numbered by Licher himself, received as much attention for their packaging as their music. Licher would perform the same services for other bands on his Independent Project label, even getting a Grammy nomination for his work on the first Camper Van Beethoven LP. Savage Republic was not destined to become nearly as big as Camper (not that this was ever their intent), and disbanded around 1990. A small reunion tour brought the band back in the fall of 2002, but the band only played a few random dates. After relocating to Arizona, Licher continues to run the Independent Project label, and design sleeves (his most famous work in that department has been for an R.E.M. Christmas fan club single). Musically, he resurfaced with the trio Scenic, which plays entirely instrumental material that blends the exotic flavor of Savage Republic with influences from Ennio Morricone and southwest border music. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide www.asilentplace.it 2009 €5.00
Meteora CD Hailing from the Los Angeles underground of the 1980s, Savage Republic forged an astonishing reputation for themselves as art-punk and industrial pioneers with their legendary performances. Their brand of ritualistically tribal exhibitions blurred the boundaries of Post-Punk and Industrial music. Their music incorporates minimialist bass rumbles, exotic and/or militaristic drumming, Arabic melodies, alternate tunings, primal chants and even a bit of surf guitar. Savage Republic released four full length albums in the 1980s, plus several live records and compilation tracks. 1989 everything went quiet as the republic scattered to pursue other interests and their labels and distributors folded. After reuniting in 2002 for a brief U.S. tour supporting the boxed-set reissue of their five studio albums by Mobilization Records, several of the members began sharing ideas for new songs, reviving the band officially in 2005. In 2006/2007 Savage Republic added drum professor Alan Waddington (the Unforgiven) to the line-up and released "1938" on Neurot Recordings, the band's first studio recording in 18 years. The limited edition "Siam" EP was also released on Neurot Recordings featuring alternate mixes of some of the "1938" material. With their first full-length album in seven years, Savage Republic return with some of their best work yet! Self-recorded in a secret cavernous location, their mix of tribal textures, political anthems and Morricone-esque surf instrumentals once again transport the listener to faraway lands at turns both sinister and beautiful. One of many highlights of "Meteora" is the pandemic inspired piece "Unprecedented"written by Wire's Graham Lewis that is sure to become a staple in their set list. This longest-lasting lineup of Thom Fuhrmann, Ethan Port, Alan Waddington and Kerry Dowling have infused all the power of their legendary live performances into a cinematic sonic dreamscape. "Very few artists can stand as being actually unique. Artists who make sound that fills the holes in your soul that nothing else touch. Savage Republic is one these very few. As a founding member of Neurosis I can say that we are very aware and vigilant of all things that happen around us. There is no tolerance for disruption in our ritual. For the last 13 years we have played one band and one band only for our preshow music, Savage Republic is the soundtrack that sets the tone for whats to come and what existed before." - Scott Kelly / Neurosis https://savagerepublic.bandcamp.com/album/meteora 2021 €14.00
Meteora LP (Lathe-cut) Hailing from the Los Angeles underground of the 1980s, Savage Republic forged an astonishing reputation for themselves as art-punk and industrial pioneers with their legendary performances. Their brand of ritualistically tribal exhibitions blurred the boundaries of Post-Punk and Industrial music. Their music incorporates minimialist bass rumbles, exotic and/or militaristic drumming, Arabic melodies, alternate tunings, primal chants and even a bit of surf guitar. Savage Republic released four full length albums in the 1980s, plus several live records and compilation tracks. 1989 everything went quiet as the republic scattered to pursue other interests and their labels and distributors folded. After reuniting in 2002 for a brief U.S. tour supporting the boxed-set reissue of their five studio albums by Mobilization Records, several of the members began sharing ideas for new songs, reviving the band officially in 2005. In 2006/2007 Savage Republic added drum professor Alan Waddington (the Unforgiven) to the line-up and released "1938" on Neurot Recordings, the band's first studio recording in 18 years. The limited edition "Siam" EP was also released on Neurot Recordings featuring alternate mixes of some of the "1938" material. With their first full-length album in seven years, Savage Republic return with some of their best work yet! Self-recorded in a secret cavernous location, their mix of tribal textures, political anthems and Morricone-esque surf instrumentals once again transport the listener to faraway lands at turns both sinister and beautiful. One of many highlights of "Meteora" is the pandemic inspired piece "Unprecedented"written by Wire's Graham Lewis that is sure to become a staple in their set list. This longest-lasting lineup of Thom Fuhrmann, Ethan Port, Alan Waddington and Kerry Dowling have infused all the power of their legendary live performances into a cinematic sonic dreamscape. "Very few artists can stand as being actually unique. Artists who make sound that fills the holes in your soul that nothing else touch. Savage Republic is one these very few. As a founding member of Neurosis I can say that we are very aware and vigilant of all things that happen around us. There is no tolerance for disruption in our ritual. For the last 13 years we have played one band and one band only for our preshow music, Savage Republic is the soundtrack that sets the tone for whats to come and what existed before." - Scott Kelly / Neurosis Vinyl is cut by Uncle Gusstaff in the real time in Studio im. Witolda Gombrowicza. https://gusstaffrecords.bandcamp.com/album/savage-republic-meteora 2021 €26.50
  Live in Wroclaw January 7, 2023 do-LP + 8" lathe "Hailing from the Los Angeles underground of the 1980s, Savage Republic forged an astonishing reputation for themselves as art-punk and industrial pioneers with their legendary performances. Their brand of ritualistically tribal exhibitions blurred the boundaries of Post-Punk and Industrial music. Their music incorporates minimialist bass rumbles, exotic and/or militaristic drumming, Arabic melodies, alternate tunings, primal chants and even a bit of surf guitar. Savage Republic released four full length albums in the 1980s, plus several live records and compilation tracks. 1989 everything went quiet as the republic scattered to pursue other interests and their labels and distributors folded. After reuniting in 2002 for a brief U.S. tour supporting the boxed-set reissue of their five studio albums by Mobilization Records, several of the members began sharing ideas for new songs, reviving the band officially in 2005. In 2006/2007 Savage Republic added drum professor Alan Waddington (the Unforgiven) to the line-up and released "1938" on Neurot Recordings, the band"s first studio recording in 18 years. The limited edition "Siam" EP was also released on Neurot Recordings featuring alternate mixes of some of the "1938" material. In 2021 Savage Republic released the album "Meteora" on Gusstaff Records and during the tour promoting this album in January 2023, the band also played a concert in Wroclaw, Poland. It became not only a document of this route, but also a kind of summary of their entire history. The album is released in CD format (the entire concert), as a black LP (over half of the concert) and as a limited red vinyl with an 8-inch vinyl record (lathe-cut) added with a few remaining songs from the concert. Both LP versions were pressed on thick 200g vinyl. Vinyl versions include download codes with the entire concert. 2023 €33.50
SCHNITZLER, CONRAD & WOLFGANG SEIDEL Music is not Language. Neither is it Painting. Just Music LP "A posthumous duo LP featuring text and music by Conrad Schnitzler, music by Wolfgang Seidel, and artwork by Matt Howarth! Conrad Schnitzler and Wolfgang Seidel have been musical collaborators since the early 1970s when Seidel performed in Schnitzler's free-form group Eruption that had been founded as a successor to Kluster and featured a revolving cast of members. In the 1980s, they produced the duo albums Consequenz, Consequenz II and Con 3 where Seidel performed under his alias Wolf Sequenza. Shortly before Schnitzler's death in 2011, he handed Seidel a hard disk of his archive including a huge collection of music originally recorded to CD-R, subdivided into "solos" and "mixes", where solos are building blocks to be blended with other solos in a performance, and mixes are recordings of such performances. One of those solos turned out to be a spoken-word CD-R, aptly titled "CONtext", where Schnitzler gives an account of his musical philosophy – in a performative lecture with a lot of humour. It is not known what he intended this recording for, but its unique character made it a natural choice for a building block of a new piece. Instead of making a collage with other solos from Schnitzler's archive, Seidel decided to record his own music to accompany the text, inspired by the early-1970s Eruption recordings. The resulting 8-channel piece was mixed down to stereo for side A of this LP and features Schnitzler's voice and English text-to-speech subtitles for his non-German-speaking fans. Side B contains an instrumental posthumous duo for which Seidel used excerpts from Schnitzler's EMS synthesizer performance at the Gallery House in London in 1972. The cover artwork was created by US comic artist Matt Howarth and features Con, a character from his Savage Henry comic book series who is a "German synthethist" and member of the premiere insect-rock group, the Bulldaggers. "Any combination of sounds is just as valid as any other. Any means for the production of a group of sounds is just as valid as any other means. [...] Music is not what reaches our ear as a sound wave. It's not the sounds that are music, but what we've made out of them and what has been heard from them." (Conrad Schnitzler) Edition of 300 with printed inner sleeve and insert containing a transcript of side A and liner notes." www.edition-telemark.de/923.06.html 2021 €20.00
SCOTT, SIMON (SIMON SCOTT) Floodlines CD Recorded live at Cafe Oto as part of “Touch presents…” on 31st January 2016 Simon Scott is a sound ecologist and multi-instrumentalist from Cambridge, England. His albums ‘Insomni’ (Ash International) and ‘Below Sea Level’ (12k / TouchLine) are out now (see above). His work explores the creative process of actively listening, the implications of recording the natural world using technology and the manipulation of natural sounds used for musical composition. He plays the drums in Slowdive and has recently collaborated with artists James Blackshaw, Spire, Taylor Deupree (Between), Isan + many more. This is his first physical release for Touch. Source material recorded in The Fens, East Anglia. Simon Scott's blistering live set from London follows his 2015 album ‘insomni’ but features his field recordings of areas of The Fens in East Anglia that cartographically are below mean sea level. They’re complimented by underwater hydrophone recordings taken on field research trips, making the unheard audible and brings the unseen to the surface. It’s a flat landscape that was devastated by the draining of The Fens in the 17th century. The ecosystem was damaged but these areas have been left to reflood and re-establish it’s vernacular wildlife, replete with its own instrumentation and orchestras. Tapping into these, Scott's vision encourages us to explore the fertility of the flatlands of England. www.touchmusic.org.uk 2016 €11.00
SEARCH ENSEMBLES Prescient / Legend CD The second Search Ensembles artifact sees the return of Cédric Peyronnet (Toy Bizarre, Kaon / Ingeos, Sechres Mound,), Cyril Herry (Ninth Desert, Sechres Mound), Phil Legard (Xenis Emputae Travelling Band, Hawthonn), Michael Northam, Alan Courtis (Anla Courtis, Reynols), Jani Hirvonen (Uton), Slavek Kwi (Artificial Memory Trace), Jon Tulchin and Dale Lloyd (and/OAR, Seattle Phonographers Union, Lucid), plus first time involvement from Eric Lanzillotta (Eye Music, Ri Be Xibalba, Anomalous Records), Mark Reynolds and Mike Hallenbeck (Archive, Junior Birdman Audio). Whereas the first album mostly presented unrefined aural snapshots of elusive and impenetrable civilizations and phenomena, the second album continues along similar lines with longer pieces while also presenting an increased utilization of electronic instruments and processes. The title is partially in reference to what were initially two different albums gradually becoming combined into one after a long process of being reworked and revised into one integrated whole. Furthermore, the title points toward a mental state of foretelling and recollection which in turn illustrates the idea that everything really exists in the eternal present (on an infinite number of time lines) rather than on one locked linear time line. Many indigenous people around the world have traditionally perceived life this way. Limited to 150 copies. Alan Courtis: field recording Cedric Peyronnet: bass guitar, electronics, field recording, objects, percussion, synthesizer, voice Cyril Herry: objects, voice Dale Lloyd: bass guitar, field recordings, vocal sounds, objects, percussion, plexiglass, production, recorder (flute), synthesizer Eric Lanzillotta: synthesizer Jani Hirvonen: electronics Jon Tulchin: field recording Mark Reynolds: percussion Michael Northam: field recordings, flute Mike Hallenbeck: field recording Phil Legard: flute Slavek Kwi: percussion, synthesizer https://soundcloud.com/and-oar/search-ensembles-prescientlegend-excerpts 2019 €13.00
SEASONS (PRE-DIN) Your Eyes The Stars and Your Hands The Sea LP "You might not be familiar with the work of Seasons (pre-din), but the shadowy northerner has been honing his craft for some time now, covertly issuing a slew of stunning albums while the world ticked on. He cut his teeth performing and collaborating with Richard Skelton and Xela, but over the last couple of years has busied himself prepping a range of hand-made releases on his own label. Often gone in a matter of hours, these lovingly crafted curios caught the attention of astute listeners worldwide and it is now our pleasure to announce the first widely available album from Seasons (pre-din). ‘Your Eyes The Stars and Your Hands The Sea’ is a collection of tracks crafted from hours of field recordings and instrumental takes. Using a small hand held recorder and a collection of string instruments, Seasons set about using ‘spaces’ – recording sounds in different areas to create a certain sound or mood. These rooms, fields and abandoned buildings form the backbone of the sound and give a curious cinematic quality to the record. You can almost place yourself in each space, and while it isn’t always obvious beneath the chatter and manipulated radio static, there are always skeletons of real life just around the corner. It is eventually the artist’s humanity that sets these compositions apart from those of his peers; rather than simply dry recordings, they are merely starting points for layering and sculpting. The result is thick, detailed pieces which, while subtle, pack a clout more readily associated with the contemporary noise scene. Restrained and totally enveloping, this is an album which resides somewhere in the undergrowth, emerging slowly before drifting gently out to sea. Turn down the lights, lower the needle and let it pull you away. You might not want to come back." [label info] www.typerecords.com 2009 €16.50
SECRET PYRAMID Embers LP Secret Pyramid is the nom de nocturne of Vancouver, BC’s resident ambient explorer Amir Abbey. Having perfected his brand of elegant elegia over the past decade heard on albums released by illustrious imprints as Students of Decay, Ba-Da-Bing!, and Nice Up International and collaborated with the likes of Loscil, Abbey makes his Geographic North debut with Embers, Secret Pyramid’s most sincerely solemn and curiously calming work to date. Embers’ six pieces find Abbey furroughing a few of his most trusted tools (including Ondes Martenot, sampler, Space Echo, two tape machines, and a computer), while taking a more compositional approach than his past works. This method opened entirely new aural possibilities and allowed Abbey to consider, manipulate, and re-consider each passing tone. The end result is an exquisitely enveloping work of contemporary ambient music that is equally inspired by and spiritually linked to influential French composer Olivier Messiaen, the progenitors of Dub, and a number of ephemeral oddities in between. Sonically, Embers reveals some of Secret Pyramid’s most minimal and open works yet. Certain pieces (such as “Pins,” “Particles,” and “Ohms”) employ a single instrument or sound source with only a modicum of manipulation. This “less is more” approach gave each sound actual room to breathe and find a balance of beauty and dissonance, and the magical transition between the two. Emotionally, the music was created during a particularly turbulent time in Abbey’s life, allowing him to process things musically. In his own words, “It’s a reflection of the impermanent, shifting, and fleeting aspects of our lives, both the good and the bad, that often spark something inside of us. Aspects of our daily existence, and the self (whether our emotions, surroundings, relationships,) that are constantly morphing, disappearing, reappearing, burning out, reigniting, and so forth, metaphorically like flares or embers.” https://secretpyramid.bandcamp.com/album/embers 2020 €25.00
SEETYCA Zwischenwelten CD We are once again delighted to welcome seetyca to our label, for the release of his new CD album Zwischenwelten. ‘Zwischenwelten’ is an immensely deep journey, characteristic of seetyca’s music. The listener is pulled between worlds, shrouded in dense layers of fog or pinned to the edge of a scene, forced to watch as an observer, while the part plays out. Interspersed with environmental sounds, and both electronic and traditional instruments, ‘Zwischenwelten’ is a beautiful, hypnotic album switching between what is real and what is perceived to be real by the listener. The album is laced with lush melodies, light ambient touches and otherworldly samples which bring to this piece a welcome sense of detachment. For this release, seetyca has been joined by a number of contributing artists including Thom Yeesland (ambiant guitar sounds), Julian Eckstein (trombone) and Kris Caelis (glockenspiel and environmental sounds). seetyca himself plays an array of instruments including e-maschinen, samplers, ocarina, recorder, zither and acoustic guitar to name but a few. seetyca certainly likes to pack his albums to the hilt, and this release is no exception. The cover design and layout has been created by Midnight Sun Studio, based upon original artwork from Edward Valerans III. CD comes in a 6-panel full colour digi pack. 9 tracks with a total running time of 79:35 mins. 1. magnitogorsk 2. the clouds form a smile 3. der schwimmer in dunckel 4. im schragen wahn lebt sichs am schonsten 5. wem trauen? 6. hide my phace, hide my heart 7. before it’s dark, before it rains 8. verstrahl.to 9. jennyssey www.winter-light.nl 2016 €13.00
SEKTOR 304 Subliminal Actions CD "The follow-up to the highly acclaimed Soul Cleansing CD finds Portugal's Sektor 304 expanding on all aspects of their debut, once again channeling the essence of the old school guardians (Test Dept, SPK, Crash Worship), while simultaneously exploring new, uncharted territory. Comparatively speaking, Subliminal Actions is a more complete and focused album, with an even better flow than Soul Cleansing and more attention paid to detail, unleashing a cacophonic whirlwind of buzz saw grind, loops, power tools, and scraping, junk metal debris, clashing head on with exertive tribal percussion, clanging oil barrel rhythms, and industrial clamor resonating over a sprawling, post apocalyptic wasteland. Some tracks, such as the opener, "A Carving on Metallic Flesh", heap on the scorching noise, while others, such as the resounding, rhythmic driven "By The Throat", "A Vessel of Guilt", or "Vultures" are delivered with factory-line precision, laced with grimy layers of bass-heavy dirge, bleak, reverbed squall, and distortion filled, atmospheric drone. Among the many highlights, is the albums closer, "A Prismatic Sun", a 10 + minute epic excursion into a nightmarish world, populated by whispered vocals and uneasy drift that slowly rises and grows in intensity, climaxing into a blissfully dark and sweaty orgy of low slung bass, ominous, ceremonial drumming, and suffocating darkness. Subliminal Action not only compliments Soul Cleansing, but takes the Sektor 304 sound to new heights, delivering yet striking record sure to solidify their standing as one of premier, truly industrial acts in operation today. 10 tracks, 63 min., in 6 panel digipak, mastered by James Plotkin." [label info] www.malignantrecords.com http://soundcloud.com/malignantrecords/sets/subliminal-actions-by-sektor 2011 €12.00
SELAXON LUTBERG Simboli Accidentali LP "SELAXON LUTBERG ist das Ambient Projekt des zurückgezogen lebenden italienischen Künstlers Andrea Penso. Nach zwei Alben, einem weiteren Album in Kollaboration mit Subinterior und verschiedenen EPs, erscheint mit SIMBOLI ACCIDENTALI (Zufallssymbole) sein drittes Album und die dritte Veröffentlichung bei Denovali Records. Wie viele seiner Arbeiten, steht auch das neue Album in enger Verbindung mit Andreas Biographie. 'Während ich das Album komponierte, habe ich versucht mich auf Zufallssymbole zu konzentrieren, die meiner Kindheit entstammen und näherte mich ihnen an - nicht um sie im Detail zu studieren, sondern damit ich ihre Essenz herausfiltere. Diese 'subjektiven Sounds' des Albums gehen aus eben jenen Gedanken und Erwägungen hervor." Um dieses Motiv zu unterstützen, beinhaltet auch das Artwork eine impressionistische Geschichte aus Andreas Kindheit. Simboli Accidentali besteht aus acht Tracks, die allesamt zwischen 2010 und 2012 bei Andrea zu Hause aufgenommen wurden. Die typisch warmen und umhüllenden Songs sind größten Teils auf bearbeiteten, kaum wiederzuerkennenden Gitarren, einer alten billigen Orgel sowie Loops aus zerstörten Tapes und Schallplatten entstanden. Der daraus resultierende Sound findet sich wieder in der weiten Landschaft aus Ambient/ Postrock, bekannt durch Musiker wie LABRADFORD und SLOWDIVEs Pygmalion Ära, den analogen und verfallenen Loops bei PHILIP JECK und WILLIAM BASINSKI oder auch dem cineastischen Gefühl von STARS OF THE LID oder DAVID LYNCHs Drones. Es ist an der Zeit in all dies einzutauchen." [label info] www.denovali.com 2013 €20.00
SEMPERVIRENS Dirge of the dying Year CD-R "Few individuals have mastered the art of soundscaping to a similar degree to the Estonian ambient artist Margus Mets, aka Sempervirens. His, largely unreleased, output of 6 full length albums and numerous other uncompiled material has been an exemplary effort to create soundworlds where boundaries are only set by the imagination of the artist, and where field recordings, deep drones, distant transmissions of some classical music broadcast, or even acoustic guitar breakdowns are found under precise multi-layering , flowing seemlessly as if they were never separate in the first place. "Dirge Of The Dying Year" uncovers eight realms filled with unfettered beauty and pure thought, eight worlds stretching out as the eight fatal directions of the compass, all engulfed under an insatiable fog. Somewhere between Biosphere's "Substrata", Northaunt's "Barren Land" and the early recordings of Brian Eno, "Dirge..." is the last and most mature recording of the Sempervirens catalogue, and a promise to far greater things in the future." [label info] www.newagedawn.co.uk 2008 €8.00
SERRIES, DIRK Microphonics XXI-XXV do-10inch & CD "with the conclusion of other remaining projects and collaborations, there’s no focus other than dirk serries’ ongoing exploration of minimalism. four years in the making and undoubtly fuelled by his 2009 debut and previous mainstays vidnaObmana and fear falls burning, this second microphonics studio album is a heartbreaking symphony of echoing themes, wailing overtones and beautiful desolation. microphonics xxi-xxv, subtitled ‘mounting among the waves, there’s a light in vein. the burden of hope across thousands of rivers’ does hint towards an emotional statement, one that boldly goes beyond what previously achieved. microphonics xxi-xxv will be out on march 16, as a limited edition double 10inch in a numbered gatefold sleeve (150 copies on white vinyl, 300 copies on black vinyl), complete with a cd copy of the album, and a cd in a deluxe mini album gatefold sleeve." [label info] www.tonefloat.com "At the end of 2008 microphonics I - V saw the daylight. Time has come for Dirk Serries to play music under his own name and say good-bye to his alter-egos vidnaObmana and Fear Falls Burning. The design of that album was minimalist in structure. Quiet guitar patterns built up and flowed away and a calm, meditative ambient atmosphere with adventurous harmony was created. Five live albums and a 10 " were released at Tonefloat. Meanwhile appeared the last album of Fear Falls Burning, what can be called a stunning album, which led to an acoustic aftershock of an era ended. For more than four years later arrived the second studio album by the musical project microphonics, microphonics XXI - XXV with the subtitles Mounting among the waves, There's a light in vein, The burden of hope and Across thousands of rivers, which are the titles of the four tracks on the album. Elements of Fear Falls Burning, vidnaObmana and of course microphonics can be found in the compositions. The sound of the guitar is dirtier, unpolished, seeking feedback and underneath the many layers of repeating sounds in which Serries is a master. The discrepancy between the heavy bass lines, distorted guitars, layered chords and delicate strumming seek each other, collide and blend together. Cheerfulness is hard to find in this album. It is true quest in which somewhere hope flickers. In this way the album ends with open chords and a rolling drone. The album is a pleasant surprise twist in the microphonics project, in which the ambient atmosphere reigned supreme. The double 10?is coming out with a book of city photography of Martina Verhoeven, the partner Dirk Serries. She plays bass in 3 Seconds or Air (a side project of Dirk Serries) and is responsible for the cover photography of Serries. The photography of the book, I haven?t view it yet, but given the pictures I've seen her before, it will be aesthetically pleasing and appropriate to the album. Often there is a desolate atmosphere in carefully composed black and white photos. Tonefloat knows to release another wonderful compilation of image and sound, which is a delight for the eyes and ears."(JKH/Vital Weekly] 2013 €27.50
SEVERED HEADS Clifford Darling please don't live in the Past do-LP "Severed Heads are one of the longest surviving bands to emerge from the Australian post-punk independent music scene. They began in Sydney in 1979, incorporating elements of ‘industrial’ noise-generation, tape cutting & looping and electronic sound synthesis. As the project developed song-structures and vocals were employed in a more-or-less recognizable mutant electro pop style. After many line-up changes featuring Garry Bradbury and psychedelic guitarist Simon Knuckey, Severed Heads was the vehicle for composer Tom Ellard. In 1985 their record label asked them to release a retrospective, so they dragged out bits that we had lying around from 1979 up til 1983. The compilation was titled “Clifford Darling Please Don’t Live In The Past”, spread out into a montage over four sides of vinyl. Bradbury and Ellard would fuss each bit and sling it on their new digital recorder, and since they still have the digital recorder, this reissue is made directly from the bits assembled twenty years ago. This compilation includes live recordings, raw demos, unreleased studio recordings and solo pieces from each member of the band during from the first five years. Their early music was characterized by the use of tape loops, noisy arrangements of synthesizers and other dissonant sound sources in the general category of industrial music. After several releases in that vein, Severed Heads began incorporating various popular music tropes, such as a consistent 4/4 rhythm, strong melodic lines, resolving chord arrangements and the occasional vocal. This move was underscored by the incorporation of mimetic devices, such as drum machines and bass synthesizers. The result was a striking hybrid of the avant-garde industrial and pop. All songs are remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. Housed in a jacket featuring brightly colored, distorted, VHS graphics output by Stephen Jones’ video synthesizer created by Tom Ellard video piece “Kato Gets The Girl” in 1985, designed by Eloise Leigh. Each copy includes a fold-out poster with a color video still photo on one side and liner notes and credits on the other. 30 years later Severed Heads’ perverse creativity is still paving the way for powerful imaginative challenging music far and wide." [label info] www.darkentriesrecords.com In 1985, Severed Heads were commissioned to collect a retrospective of their (then) six years in existence. Instead of the standard 'best of' anthology, Tom Ellard and Co. took the opportunity to create a sprawling collage of a whole slew of material never heard before, with cutting room edits, tape loop assemblages, live tracks, and numerous experiments that never found their way onto any of their albums. That approach is emblematic of the subversive manner in which Severed Heads produces and contextualizes their heavily mediated electronics, tracks that boisterously flaunt new wave pop structures butted against chunks of machined voltage-control noise and volatile industrial rhythm. On this release, more than pretty much anywhere else in Severed Heads catalog, do comparisons to Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle make the most sense. (Aquarius Rec) 2015 €28.00
SHINJUKU THIEF Sacred Fury CD "Leaving aside the sheer viciousness of “Black Ice”, the delicate abstraction of “Black Frost” and the calm asphyxiation of his “Matte Black” albums, Darrin Verhagen on his latest release re-embraces all the dramatic theatricality his Shinjuku Thief project is best known for. Hovering midway between gothic orchestral horror and contemporary cinematic narrative, “Sacred Fury” presents us with a score from the midst of judgment. Reflective cinematic odes are strafed by brutal sound design, whilst elsewhere, bombastic homages to In Slaughter Natives pound out a march to the apocalypse in 31 beats. This is the quintessential soundtrack for when all your best military plans turn to shit in your hands, and each new oncoming palletload of reason, ideology and faith seems more combustible than the last." [label info] www.findesieclemedia.com 2005 €13.00
SHOEMAKER, MATT Mercurial Horizon CD "Previously unheard brilliance from the late Matt Shoemaker. Work on "Mercurial Horizon" was largely completed during an incredibly fruitful period from 2008-2012, during which Shoemaker produced albums for The Helen Scarsdale Agency, Ferns Recordings, Mystery Sea, and Elevator Bath. He went on to finalize the material which would become "Mercurial Horizon" in 2015. Though unreleased until some five years after completion, "Mercurial Horizon" is undeniably a fully-formed declaration; a meticulously crafted display of layered grotesqueries, as elegant as it is disturbing. This is classic Shoemaker at his most mesmeric: elongated metallic resonances, metamorphosed field recordings, expertly harnessed modular electronics... These elements may seem familiar, but Shoemaker's strange magic lay in his ability to imbue these disparate pieces with a kind of natural tension, fusing them into a seamless puzzle. The results are both startling and beautiful, and always with a tangible sense of unease. "Mercurial Horizon" may well be the last new music to emerge from Matt Shoemaker's extraordinary aesthetic. It is an assemblage to be explored, interpreted, and treasured. "Mercurial Horizon" is released as a compact disc by Elevator Bath in an edition of 200 copies. Matt Shoemaker's probing and mysterious ice photography graces the six-panel digipak, inside and out." https://mattshoemaker.bandcamp.com/album/mercurial-horizon 2020 €13.00
SIGHTINGS Terribly Well LP "The noise rock parade that defies definition, set out on a mission of pure volume worship that is the post-decade pilgrimage of NY-based Sightings. After eight instinctive albums, the Sightings guys show no mercy with endless annihilation of their newest material on Terribly Well. All parts destruction measured against their abrasive songwriting. Jagged, collapsing rhythm based mayhem, guitars that can be mistaken for a freight train being ripped for scrap metal, only to be held together with panic stricken bass patterns that keep their voice from the edge of insanity. An accessible album for the unacceptable; their finest record to date. Each song saws through the humanity, taking no hostages with this hectic industrial rock masterpiece. Edition of 500." [label info] www.daisrecords.com 2013 €20.00
  Michigan Haters LP "When Sightings second album not only crushed everything that they had done prior, but revealed the band to be sonic explorers of Magellanic proportions. Sightings' overblown intensity was joined by abrasive twists and subtle unconventionality, a combination of sounds which one reviewer likened to 'a storm of knives.' Or something like listening to Terry Riley and Steve Reich through a Big Muff at 110 decibels. With Michigan Haters, Sightings started on what would become nearly a decade long reinvention of the rock & roll song. First through volume and now through invention, Sightings has given up a series of great albums: Absolutes, which clearly builds on what Michigan Haters created, Arrived in Gold, the coolly brilliant Through the Panama, and the fantastic City of Straw. Originally released on CD in 2002 by Psych-O-Path, didn't get a proper vinyl release. So after years of Sightings and SS talking about doing a single, I finally said 'Hey, Michigan Haters needs to be on vinyl. Let me do it!'" [label info] www.s-srecords.com 2011 €16.00
SIGMARSSON, SIGTRYGGUR (BERG) A little lost CD Zarteste Massagen-Drones auf dieser dritten solo-Arbeit des Isländers.. “solo cd from this stilluppsteypa after successful albums on trente oiseaux, ers and fire inc. his new cd features 3 new tracks that show the diverse possibilities of his talent” [label info] www.bottrop-boy.com 2003 €13.00
  Into the Second Half LP Icelandic artist and musician Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson is known not only for his work with Stilluppsteypa but also numerous solo albums and collaborations with Swedish composer BJ Nilsen as well as several other artists. On Into the Second Half, his new solo album, recorded in 2022, Sigmarsson takes the listener into a calming yet mysterious world of sound. Starting from almost silence he creates a different state of listening that we could only find elsewhere when concerned with works of Robert Ashley. Carefully composed textures as subtle as the changes of light in the forbidden zone in Andrei Tarkovsky"s Stalker weave in and out of each other to make for a hypnotic ride. The cover and label photos were taken by Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson. Mastered for vinyl by Jim O"Rourke 2024 €30.00
SIGUR ROS Svefn-G-Englar mCD “Formed in January, 1994, Sigur Rós are an Icelandic four-piece band who, if the startled reactions to the pre-release CDs of this 12” are anything to go by, look set to be huge. Although until now Sigur Rós have remained unreleased outside of their native country, to date they have released 3 albums in Iceland (all on the Smekkleysa label) – ‘Von’, their debut in 1997; a remix of this, ‘Vonbrigð’, a year later; and a month ago, the awesome new ‘Agætis Byrjun’, which has been number 1 in Iceland since, garnering some amazing press reviews. First spotted playing live at a Gus Gus party in Reykjavik, at which FatCat were Dj-ing, the band forge a stunning brand of beautifully-orchestrated, deeply atmospheric music. Layering a huge, rich and emotional space through a mixture of guitars, keyboard, flute, accordian, bass, drums and vocals, their tracks become extended soundscapes that shift and slide, flowering in massive crescendos, hooking the listener and dragging him /her with them. If you’re looking for reference points, check God Speed You Black Emperor or Rachel’s (and yes, they are really that good). What marks out a major difference though, is singer Jonsi’s distinctive vocal style. Sung in a mixture of Icelandic and ‘Hopelandish’ (the band’s own made-up language – recalling Liz Fraser’s babytalk in The Cocteau Twins), his voice slips across the music, following its rises and falls. Just as impressive are the band’s live performances. Two tracks on the CD single bear witness to their power as a live force: ‘Nýja Lagið’ and ‘Syndir Guðs’ (both exclusive to the CD). **PLEASE NOTE THAT CD IS A REPRESS VERSION AND NOT IN THE ORIGINAL SLEEVE” [label info] 2006 €8.00
  Von CD "Wieder lieferbar, die erste SIGUR ROS von 1997, damals noch weitaus experimenteller und droniger als heutzutage...in einer hyper-sphärischen, frei fliessenden Art und Weise verbinden sich auf vielen Stücken dunkles Grummeln, field recordings, Instrumentalklänge und z.T. mehrstimmige Elfen-Gesänge zu geräuschhaften Dronescapes... daneben gibt es Stücke die schon typische Song-Strukturen und klassische SIGUR ROS Harmonien andeuten ... aber vieles klingt noch reichlich anders, rauher, z.T. auch heftiger rockend, mit extremen Studioeffekten & Cut-Ups versehen, wunderschön das folkige Titelstück VON." [Drone Rec.] "I remember the feeling that enveloped me the first time that I heard Sigur Ros - a copy of Agaetis Byrjun played over the loudspeakers at Vintage Vinyl in Fords, New Jersey (bless 'em) - my knees quivered, my jaw dropped, and I had one of those all too rare musical epiphanies. Subsequently, I worried that once acquainted with their lovely and idiosyncratic music, it would never elicit quite the same genuine and fresh response again. The reissue of the group's elusive debut, Von, on One Little Indian, puts those misgivings to rest. It may be Sigur Ros's debut, but it is as ambitious as albums come. Yes, Von is a sprawling work - 72 minutes of sprawl - reveling in sonic experiment, diverse in texture, and somewhat ambling in formal design: so what? When layers of choir-boy vocals are added to the group's singing ("Hun Joro"), when feeble, naturalistic sounds are used in questing improvisations ("Sigur Ros"), or when acoustic instruments coalesce with a swath of electronics ("Dogun"), you'll find your jaw on the floor, too, stunned as ever." [Christian Carey / Junkmedia] www.xl-recordings.com 2014 €14.00
SIJ & ITEM CALIGO Queer Reminiscence CD "Since 2015's album "The Lost World" Vladislav Sikach ambient project SiJ released "Reflections Under the Sky" in February 2016. This time together with Textere Oris and under the banner of the Cryo Chamber label. With "Queer Reminiscence" SiJ returns to Reverse Alignment, teaming up with Item Caligo. As you can expect, "Queer Reminiscence" deliver drifting ambient to get carried away with. Limited edition of 200 copies in 6-panel digipack." [label info] ralignment.tictail.com "This new collaboration is an excellent example of dark ambient/neo-classical collaborations gone right. SiJ and Item Caligo are both known for their sounds that often float from ambient, to dark ambient, to neo-classical, and then back again. As is to be expected of these two artists, we have a nice combination of drone, piano, and various other lesser elements. SiJ and Item Caligo combine to craft a sound that is undeniably listenable. There is nothing harsh here, at many times its not even particularly dark. Tracks like “It Was Good To Destroy Once Again” showcase a lot of the diversity presented. There are moments when the track is peaceful, with gently sweeping drone-work. Yet, as it progresses it moves into areas of looping and a faint but steady percussion. Reminding of something which generally falls into more experimental and ambient musical outings. It can be something almost akin to the sounds of some artists on the Ultimae or Glacial Movements labels, with their minimalistic yet structured usage of percussion and drones. The cold feeling Queer Reminiscence evokes is another reason to make this connection to Glacial Movements. The pervading themes throughout Queer Reminiscence are melancholia and frigid temperatures. One can easily find themselves imagining a winter spent in some cold and isolated region, sitting beside the hearth in a tiny log cabin. This feeling of isolation will bring on a sense of longing for the past or some idealistic yet unwritten future. The sadness of Queer Reminiscence is woven into the music. There are no blatant cues to direct one’s emotions in any certain direction nor are their any noticeable field recordings. This hypnotic suggestion stems from the pure minimalism on Queer Reminiscence. There certainly are some active elements here, as already mentioned about the percussive sections peppered through the album. Yet, this variety of styles and instrumentation still hold a stripped down and minimal feel because of the sparing use and perfect placement of the various sounds. Unlike so many collaborative albums in the ambient realm, Queer Reminiscence makes it extremely hard to label any specific sounds to the musician responsible for the sample. There is never the moment where one thinks, “oh, this is certainly done by SiJ and not Item Caligo“. This is a testament to their individual skills and their years of experience writing music. But it is, even more so, a sign of their natural connection. They don’t seem to be fighting one another for the lead. They manage to give listeners the sense that Queer Reminiscence was created by one mind channeling its concepts into reality. Queer Reminiscence is an album that should be pleasing to many diverse musical appetites. There is something here for the ambient fans, something for the dark ambient fans, and something else that naturally makes it accessible beyond these boundaries. Having fully focused their attention on concept over stylistic execution, SiJ and Item Caligo bring forth something beautiful and serene. It should be able to evoke a sense of longing from each listener, in their own personal way. This all leads to my suggestion that Queer Reminiscence is one of the strongest releases on Reverse Alignment since its revival. An album which could be recommended to almost anyone." [Michael Barnett/This is Darkness] 2017 €13.00
SILVERMAN Blank for your own Message CD "Available late Feb. 2008. First ed. of 500 copies in a full color book bound case. Silverman should be given a degree in bio-melodics. This most recent body of collaged constructions pulsates with aspects of a living system. Slurred drones rush sonic corpuscles through electronic capillaries, imparting breath to each track. An obscured, parenthetical heart beat occasionally comes through as an unexpectedly metallic panging in the background, mostly drowned out by the fluid dynamics of localized subsystems playing out their various vital functions. Perhaps each one of us DOES sound a little like a Javanese gamelan orchestra inside if you hit the right spot. Cutting to find out is not advocated. Silverman’s fantastic voyage sounds like a spiritual dissertation on degrees of scale. The musical camera obscura sometimes finds purchase on an atomic level, aurally zooming into the humming orbits of individual atoms and even creeping up on the sounds of the electrons, protons and neutrons themselves. With this beautifully ambient series of orchestral maneuvers in the dark, Silverman may have found a tonal replacement for Gray’s Anatomy." [label info] "The Silverman aka Phil Knight is one of my favorite musicians in the experimental ambient/drone scene. Over the past decennium he has been responsible for some of the most beautiful ambient/meditative music I've ever heard. His previous LP/CD for BLRR Nature Of Illusion is one of the best albums in this genre I have heard in many-a-year. The Silverman's solo albums have always been slightly overshadowed by his work for the Legendary Pink Dots. This is a shame, as his solo work deserves a place of its own. Perhaps this new CD Blank For Your Own Message will do the trick. Starting off life as a "zen-opera" in seven parts, the music here is more varied than Nature Of Illusion. BLRR drops the term "bio-melodics". For once I have to agree. This actually fits the music and the world of The Silverman. Although the music has seven parts, the 43 minutes that make up this album are programmed into one track. It is hard to tell the origin of some of the sounds; there are traffic tapes and acoustic sounds (percussion, cow bells) of a more ethnical nature, all mixed up with synthetic sounds. These combined make up a very strong album. Packed in one of those typical BLRR deluxe hard-carton sleeves, this is a great addition to the already great discography of The Silverman." [FK / Vital Weekly] www.blrrecords.com 2008 €15.00
SISTER IODINE Venom do-LP "Sister Iodine’s Venom is a pure and raw, energy-powered album performed like an audio exorcism. Each track contains its own intense physicality to radiate sound illuminations of light inside of darkness. Venom is a powerful album of potent spells that Sister Iodine have conjured and captured as sonic shamans.” Cameron Jamie. Paris, France. January 2018.#French noise scene spearheads, Sister Iodine, return with their sixth album; “Venom”. Active since the Nineties, Sister Iodine which involve Erik Minkkinen, Lionel Fernandez, and Nicolas Mazet, have not lost one milligram of their radical and uncompromised approach in sound exploration and limits stretching. Following two studio albums on Parisian Label, Premier Sang, released in 2009 and 2013 respectively, it took almost 5 years to shape up “Venom”. #It is with the advent of the 21st century – more than ever – that the decisive path of Sister Iodine has taken a fascinating route. From their debut album, ADN115, released in 1994 which was strongly influenced by the original New York No Wave scene (Mars, DNA, Red Transistor) to their more recent works which are augmented by “newer poisons” such as black metal, or the most abrasive end of industrial music and power electronics, as well as experimental electronics (Editions Mego has reissued an extended version of Premier Sang’s “Flame Desastre” on CD), the band has managed to survive through the years from the inhospitable French squats of the nineties to nowadays’ established venues and proper tours. Today, the band’s music has changed recipients and has attracted younger generations with their organized radioactive chaos, never conceding anything from their initial intensity. Over the years, Sister Iodine will have also created their own idiosyncratic language, for which sound exploration matters and pure beauty seem to count as much as pure explosive ferocity, while intense violence and energy gets deployed in live shows. #The last few years witnessed an increasing number of collaborations such as the recent sessions with Meyhna’ch (Mütiilation) or the ones with Masaya Nakahara (Violent Onsen Geisha / Hair Stylistics). “Venom” includes two tracks featuring the vocal contribution of Stephen Bessac, the deviant frontman of the cult French hardcore band Kickback. #Sister Iodine produces today a music that is actually unique and unheard anywhere else. One of eternal youth and audacity." 2018 €32.00
SKELETON CREW Learn to Talk / The Country of Blinds do-CD "With 10 extra tracks. A reissue of two timeless classics. On the first CD it's just Fred Frith and Tom Cora, the legendary two man crew who somehow - in real time, not with endless overdubs - managed to play all their own instruments (cello, bass, electric guitar, violin) and sing - as well as, between them, constructing the drum parts - dislocated into elements, with each of them having bits of the kit. This made for some fantastic, and normally unplayable, parts - most drummers having only one brain. No one sounded like Skeleton Crew, ever. Devious, complicated, brutally simple, always unexpected, turning on a dime, this was not just a pop band then, but a tocsin, a call to arms - and a catalogue of invention that is remains breathtaking today. On the second album, the inspired addition of Zeena Parkins (keyboards, accordion, more drums, more vocals) led to some of the best music of the decade. The recording was rawer, more urgent, the songs stand out in sharp relief; every part essential. And yet it's a puzzle almost impossible to unravel: how on earth did they ever evolve those dislocated parts and still make them fit so brilliantly together? Did I mention the texts? So to the point, so good. So where are the Skeleton Crews today when we really need them? Both CDs are here, in full, re-mastered by Fred and with 10 extra tracks - each as good as anything on the official albums. Just give in to the urge: if you have any pennies left, spend them on this." [label info] www.rermegacorp.com 2005 €19.50
SKULLFLOWER Tribulation CD Ekstatische Noise-Meditation pur, die keineswegs statisch erscheint, sondern im Feedback-Lärm erstaunlich vielfältige Muster & Klänge bereithält... SKULLFLOWER bleiben auch 2006 SKULLFLOWER, aber der Trash-Faktor weicht allmählich vor dem ZEN-Faktor zurück: eine Moloch-artige Klangblase umschliesst einen und haucht donnernd & mit stinkendem Odem "OM". [Drone Rec] "Richten wir uns nur nach der Übersetzung des Albumtitels so erwarten uns Not, Leiden, Bedrückung, Qual oder kurz Drangsal und das in musikalischer Form. Dass zwischen Albumtitel und den musikalischen Absonderungen des legendären Matthew Bower nicht viel Raum ist, wird jeder wissen, der Skullflower oder zumindest die letzte Platte "Orange Canyon Mind" kennt. Bower geht den auf "Orange Canyon Mind" eingeschlagenen Weg konsequent weiter und sorgt für ein Klanginferno,das nun wirklich so was von zerstörend, trostlos und niederschmetternd ist, dass man nach über einer Stunde lauten Hörens von "Tribulation" nicht unbedingt beschwingter durch den Tag marschiert. Wirkte das Vorgängeralbum viel zu abgehackt und jedes Stück stand eher für sich alleine, so schafft es "Tribulation" deutlich besser den Bogen zu schlagen und bis auf wenige Aussetzer (z.B. das Ende des Albums) gerundeter, homogener zu erscheinen. "Tribulation" weckt etwas im Hörer, auch wenn es nur die totale Verweigerung ist oder der dringliche Wunsch sich aus dieser klaustrophobischen Klangwelt schnell wieder zu befreien. Rückkopplung um Rückkopplung . White Noise. Dieser total berstende, nervende Klang, meist monoton über Minuten und die vielen repetitiven Elemente, wecken zeitlose Ureindrücke. Bis ins kleinste zerfahrene Power- Drones, Feedbacks wohin das Ohr reicht und eine herrlich schwarzes Aufressen der Verstärker. "Tribulation" ist eine dynamische, wie weltverschobene Meditation mit Melodieansätzen wie Rasierklingen. Musik für Lumpensammler, und ich gebe gerne zu, ich bin ein hingebungsvoller beim Hören von "Tribulation"." [Creative-Eclipse] www.crucialblast.net 2006 €10.00
SKY BURIAL Corranach CD "As a means of giving music an expression unbound to narrowly defined genres, Michael Page created Sky Burial in 2006. Mainly dealing with noisy power electronics with project Fire in the Head, Sky Burial entered the realms of dark ambient and sonic experimentalism. Since it's start this outfit has released several albums and we're proud to have the opportunity to release it's new opus "Corranach". The three mesmerizing tracks which comprise "Corranach" play a dichotomous dirge both grounded and ethereal. Sky Burial takes us unto a journey through internal structures and outer spaces, immersed in the Kosmische ethos. With "Corranach" Michael presents his most focused and refined work so far with a unique blend of industrial and ambient elements." ralignment.tictail.com "Sometimes you know something is going to be painful to listen to but you know that somehow it will be worth it. I often feel that way with industrial ambient. I’m very much a nature guy so when I listen to something that is essentially the complete opposite I get antsy. I’ve learned, though, that if I just sit and listen, allow myself to be immersed in the story and the effects, rather than the sounds themselves, that the experience is a very unique one. When I first listened to Sky Burial’s 2016 opus “Corranach” I knew that I was in for a listen like no other. I can honestly say that the “music” of Sky Burial is the most unique, strange, and outlandish that I have ever had the privilege of listening to. That being said it was one of the craziest, exhilarating journeys I’ve ever taken when listening to dark ambient. Have you ever had that dream where you were flying high enough you never saw the land? Corranach was the soundtrack to that dream. As I listened I could close my eyes and feel the ground give way. I could feel myself drifting through the air, and completely unaware of time passing. Upon first pushing play, I immediately felt myself getting swept up in the drone, not the soft, dulcet drone that fills the air with a lot of dark ambient vibes, but piercing, unsettling drones that made me want to turn the sound down (I listen to my music at a very high volume). I knew that if I gave in I’d lose the experience so I kept faith. I could quite literally feel the soundscape in my bones. It was a crazy esoteric experience that I will not soon forget. The songs, despite not really having “music” had a very classical, orchestral dynamic. They progress with certain themes that are primitive at the beginning and by the end have fully matured, with added production, field recordings, and loops. The production itself is very clear, allowing many of the nuances and quirks in the sound to have full range and exposure. This was a wild lucid dreaming experience, one that I would recommend. It’s vibrant and mechanical yet, at the same time, it has an organic quality transcending the industrial nature of the music. It’s not esoteric but it’s definitely surreal. Well worth adding to the collection!" [Resounding Footsteps] 2016 €12.00
SLAVES, THE Ocean on Ocean do-LP "The mystical drone-folklorist Jon Porras introduced us to the luminous sound of The Slaves, so we thought it fitting that he should expound upon their radiant shoegazing heaviness. Here speaks Mr. Porras: "A shadow moves beneath the water. Ocean On Ocean: two abysmal surfaces echoing into one another. Mutually reflecting an endless geologic score to a post-apocalyptic litany. Planes of ambivalence obliterated by light, voices eclipsed by devotional low end, synthesized stereography spiraling from an eternal core. Hovering above the weighted disposition of Doom and below the consolation of Shoegaze, the duo transmit a burdened grace that unfolds like a radiant mammal writhing in black water. We discover an object heavy and obtuse until placed into the sea. Lines of light swell and dissipate behind hushed lyrics. Feedback and whitenoise ebb and flow, the mammal's breath hollowed, tumbling below the surface. The hum offset and displaced by water that surrounds. Holographic accord materialized by invalidated hopefulness. We are unsure and skeptical of what this optimism holds. What lies waiting at the depths carved between these two reflective surfaces? Ocean On Ocean implies a tangible province exists between these mirrored planes. A staircase built from reflective feedback, extending horizontally into bliss. A bliss that is fleeting and simultaneously petrified in the present. A paradox realized by the duo's distillations of urgent ambiance and luminescent melancholy. Conjuring environments that billow out from instrumental restraint, Ocean On Ocean is an exercise in disciplined abstraction. Initially a cd-r, Ocean On Ocean reaches its supreme possibility today. An acoustic artifact cast into alchemical tangibility, these recordings are finally at peace on vinyl. Now the relics hidden between these Oceans can be crystallized." The Slaves are Barbara Kinzle and Birch Cooper, who hail from Portland, Oregon and who have released other works on Digitalis and Paradigms to considerable acclaim, drawing favorable comparisons to the likes of Grouper, Slowdive, Earth, and Barn Owl. The 2LP of Ocean On Ocean is limited to 400 copies, and the recordings were mastered for vinyl by James Plotkin." [label info] www.helenscarsdale.com "Fuck, yeah! Here, we have the double lp reissue of the aQuarius favorite Ocean On Ocean by The Slaves, the Portland duo of Birch Cooper and Barbara Kinzle. We got the cd-r of this album back in early 2011, upon the enthusiastic request from the former aQ-staffer Jon Porras, known to some as one half of of drone-doom duo Barn Owl. The rough sound of the cd-r has been considerably improved via remastering by James Plotkin, with the vinyl cut at 45 rpm so that all the heavy / dreamy / shoegazy loveliness is even richer and more radiant. Still one of our favorite albums, made even better! We love bands whose music-making formula appears, on the surface, simple and intuitive, yet the sounds they create are huge, engulfing and seemingly complex. Using two synthesizers and echoing vocals, The Slaves inhabit a sound that is as lush and dense as it is mysterious and minimal. Their debut album, Ocean on Ocean, is the perfect showcase of a group that can conjure up bountiful sounds within a restrained approach. Honestly, we can’t get enough of Ocean on Ocean, something about those enormous, dreamy, engulfing songscapes just leaves us wanting more. Their oozing brew of minimal pop melts and blurs with the melodic thickness of MBV's Loveless or early Slowdive, but surrenders to a contemplative mode that falls somewhere between Gregorian hymn and pagan ritual. The duo spin a radiant web of sustained vocals and heavy synth, each chord drawn out and smeared into a neon haze while indecipherable lyrics suggest longing, loss and submission to oblivion. "Seventeen" unfolds with a slow arching chord progression that grows and dissipates like a coastal tide. Female vocals creep into the oceanic haze while fluttering noise and cosmic wash hover in obscurity. And though the rhythm-less wash may appear to be aimless improv, a close listen reveals a defined structure beneath the veil of long tones and heavy atmospherics. And yes, The Slaves are heavy. And it's not a "down-tuned guitars through a wall of amps" kind of heavy. It’s more evident in the slow movement of the songs, and the visceral effects felt by each musical gesture. The duo have perfectly crafted a searing offering of "soft doom", so gorgeous and mesmerizing we’ve had Ocean on Ocean on repeat for the past week. "Shadows" is another noteworthy track. We love the push and pull of heavy synth and whispery vocals, whirls of female voice echo into the night then dissipate into huge swells of HEAVY distorted synth. Crumbling low end amid ethereal dream chants, what else could we ask for?? One of our favorite records in recent memory and highly recommended!" [Aquarius Records] 2012 €22.50
SLEAFORD MODS Spare Ribs CD "Die motzenden Electro-Punks mit weiblicher Verstärkung. 2020, wir müssen reden! Corona, Brexit, Johnson, Trump und jede Menge andere Scheiße, die in der Welt vor sich geht. Für Jason Williamson und Andrew Fearn aka Sleaford Mods bietet dieses Seuchenjahr natürlich reichlich Material für ein neues Album. Jason Williamson spricht dabei die Sprache der Menschen auf der Straße, hat ein Gespür für ihre Sorgen sowie Nöte und trägt sein Herz stets auf der Zunge. Der Titel des sechsten Albums "Spare Ribs" bezieht sich auf die Corona-Krise in England, wo manchen politischen Eliten das Leben ihrer Mitmenschen verzichtbar erscheint. Erstmals bekam Williamson bei den Aufnahmen weibliche Unterstützung: auf dem Album findet man gleich zwei Duette, einmal mit der britischen Newcomerin Billy Nomates, zum zweiten mit Amy Taylor, Sängerin der australischen Punkband Amyl & The Sniffers. Poised to blow the cobwebs off life and unleash some much-needed wit and charm upon us, Sleaford Mods are back with their astonishing 6th studio album, entitled Spare Ribs. Recorded in lockdown in a furious three-week studio blitz at JT Soar in July, the polemical Jason Williamson and dexterous producer Andrew Fearn kick against the pricks with unrivalled bite, railing against hypocrisy, inequality and apathy with their inimitable, scabrous sense of humour. And Spare Ribs, featuring Amy Taylor of Melbourne punks Amyl and the Sniffers and the British newcomer Billy Nomates, finds the duo charged with ire at the UK Government’s sense of entitlement, epitomized by its devil-may-care approach to the coronavirus crisis. Commenting on the new album Jason says, “'Our lives are expendable under most governments, secondary under a system of monetary rule. We are stock if you like, parts on a shelf for the purposes of profit, discarded at any moment if fabricated or non-fabricated crisis threatens productivity. This is constant, obviously and notably in the current pandemic. The masses cannot be present in the minds of ill-fitting leaders, surely? Or else the realisation of their catastrophic management would cripple their minds. Much like the human body can still survive without a full set of ribs we are all 'spare ribs’, preservation for capitalism, through ignorance and remote rule, available for parts.” https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/sleaford-mods/spare-ribs 2021 €12.00
SLOAN, JASON Deluge CD If we have any StillStream fanatics here chances are you might remember this performance, which originally streamed live on the Sadayatana show back in 2011. Although then presented without title, Jason intended for this piece to capture the aftermath of our world after having suffered through a grand deluge. gterma are very happy to bring back to life again this emotional recording. Jason has also kindly composed for us a brand new epilogue which now closes the album. Comes in jewel case with 16-page booklet. gterma021to040.blogspot.com/p/gterma039-jason-sloan-deluge.html "Jason Sloan is a US-based new media & sound artist, electronic musician, composer whose sonic creations explores immateriality and its connection in memory, systems and the virtual world. “Deluge” contains his performance, which was originally streamed live on Stillstream’s Sadayatana program August 2011, which intended to capture the aftermath of our world after having suffered through a grand deluge. For the cd-release, the 60-minute dark-ambient recording though has been extended by a brand new epilogue which now closes the album. The continuous live-set is an inner world ambient affair drifting into ethereal lands as it smoothly changes shape and reveals intrinsic motion along the way. Headphones are essential to discover the many fine details and hypnotic realm embedded in the carefully molded, overtly minimalist atmospherics, which all received the balanced, delicate and refined mastering touch of Anders Peterson. The epilogue is a soft and warm soundscape wandering, opening up melancholic farscapes as it drifts and evolves onward. All in all, “Deluge” makes an impressive and imaginary ambient listen. Recommended. Website: www.jasonsloan.com" [Sonic Immersion] "In the case of “Deluge” by Jason Sloan we’re dealing with a recording of a live performance on StillStream Radio on the 5th of August 2011. From what I read in the booklet, the broadcast was transmitted in a non-legal (let’s not beat about the bush, just pirate) way in Baltimore and the surrounding area. Guerilla ambient – I like it. For many years, Jason Sloan has been bouncing on the edges of the ambient scene releasing several albums, most of them in his own label SloBor Media. Perhaps his contact with gterma will cause that he’ll reach this fifty or hundred people more – as for a minimalist ambient it’s quite much anyway, and the material contained on “Deluge” or rather “Live On Sadayatana – Deluge” indicates that the musician definitely deserves it. “Blue Star” is a long, slowly developing set of drones, bathed in soft sound haze. Torn from the impression of space-time and drifting aimlessly in the night sky. Although I may be wrong with this “space” term as it has a specific American taste. In my mind’s eye I see strange lights flashing in the sky over the Arizona desert, and in the back of my head the name of Steve Roach begins to form. At the beginning and at the end (not only in this piece) there are some pieces of radio transmission somewhere in the background, which further enhances the sense of non-existence and emptiness, where past, present and future meet. “ElevenEleven” continues this minimalist journey, where it ‘s difficult to talk about a destination. Although it seems like the music has taken a bit darker direction. As if somewhere in the distance a vortex of unknown provenance appears, absorbing everything it encounters on its way, no matter whether it is a material being or not. Oh, this music fits to my taste, oh it fits. Teetering on the verge of dark ambient but not throwing itself into the dark void, so that I should have advised Jason to send the music to Cyclic Law or Malignant. Low drones can be found in “The Fifth World”, but at the same time there is more contrast between them and the fetching synth melodies, so I have the impression that this track has the richest sound in the whole CD. “Deluge” is somehow the closest to “The Fifth World”; it’s added to extend the album’s length, but it is not a bad track, on the contrary. It sounds a bit better than the other ones, but not different enough that the album can’t be treated as a homogeneous journey into the unknown. As always in gterma releases, the booklet contains several atmospheric photographs, which in my opinion this time not entirely correspond to the images projected by my mind. But in fact this is a little thing that cannot affect my overall positive opinion. I would take such trips more often." [Santa Sangre] 2014 €13.00
SLOWDIVE Everything is Alive (Crystal Clear vinyl) LP Sechs Jahre nach dem monumentalen Comeback mit dem selbstbetitelten Album, finden slowdive - bestehend aus Rachel Goswell und Neil Halstead (beide Vocs und Git.), Christian Savill (Git.), Nick Chaplin (Bass) und Drummer Simon Scott - auf "everything is alive" immer mehr Konturen ihres eindringlichen, elementaren Sounds. Das fünfte Album der Shoegaze-Giganten enthält die Dualität einer vertrauten inneren Sprache, gemischt mit der Exaltiertheit von Neuanfängen. "everything is alive" ist transportierend, suchend und leuchtend, das Werk einer klassischen Band, die ihre unverwechselbare Stimme weiter in die Zukunft richtet. Das neue Album begann mit Halstead in der Rolle des Autors und Produzenten, der zu Hause an Demos arbeitete. Halstead experimentierte mit modularen Synthesizern und stellte sich "everything is alive" ursprünglich als ein "minimaleres elektronisches Album" vor. Die kollektive Entscheidungsfindung von slowdive führte die Band schließlich zurück zu ihren charakteristischen, mit Hall durchtränkten Gitarren, aber dieses erste Konzept sickerte in die Kompositionen ein. "Wenn wir als Band alle damit zufrieden sind, ist das tendenziell das stärkere Material. Wir sind immer aus leicht unterschiedlichen Richtungen gekommen, und die besten Stücke sind dort, wo wir uns alle in der Mitte treffen", sagt Halstead. "slowdive ist vor allem die Summe seiner Teile", fügt Goswell hinzu. "Wenn wir fünf in einem Raum zusammenkommen, passiert etwas Undefinierbares." Der mehrjährige Aufnahmeprozess begann im Herbst 2020 im Courtyard Studio, wo die Band schon immer aufgenommen hat, setzte sich dann in Oxfordshire und in der umliegenden Heide von Lincolnshire fort, um dann wieder zurück in Neils eigenes Studio in Cornwall zu gelangen. Anfang 2022 holte die Band Shawn Everett (The War On Drugs, Alvvays, SZA) ins Studio, um sechs der acht Tracks des Albums abzumischen. "everything is alive" ist genau das, was der Titel andeutet: eine Erkundung der schillernden Natur des Lebens und der universellen Berührungspunkte darin. Mit seinen psychedelischen Klanglandschaften, pulsierenden 80er-Jahre-Elektronik-Elementen und John Cale-inspirierten Reisen wirkt das Album sofort wie etwas, das für die Zukunft gemacht ist; das passt, denn die Fangemeinde der Band ist im Laufe der Zeit immer jünger geworden, und ihr Einfluss auf vorwärts denkende Musik-Künstler*innen ist ungebrochen. Für ein Genre, das oft als spalterisch angesehen wird und oft Introspektion rechtfertigt, zeigen slowdive hier, dass sie ihr Handwerk beherrschen, indem sie es über das Singuläre hinaus vorantreiben; das Endergebnis ist eine Platte, die sich ebenso emotional und kathartisch wie optimistisch anfühlt. The fifth album from shoegaze giants Slowdive contains the duality of a familiar internal language mixed with the exaltation of new beginnings. everything is alive is transportive, searching and aglow, the work of a classic band continuing to pitch its unmistakable voice to the future. Six years after the group’s monumental self-titled album, everything is alive finds Slowdive—vocalists and guitarists Rachel Goswell and Neil Halstead, guitarist Christian Savill, bassist Nick Chaplin, and drummer Simon Scott—locating evermore contours of its immersive, elemental sound. The new record began with Halstead in the role of writer and producer, working on demos at home. Experimenting with modular synths, Halstead originally conceived of everything is alive as a “more minimal electronic record.” Slowdive’s collective decision-making ultimately drew the group back towards their signature reverb-drenched guitars, but that first concept seeped into the compositions. “As a band, when we’re all happy with it, that tends to be the stronger material,” Halstead says. “We’ve always come from slightly different directions, and the best bits are where we all meet in the middle.” The convergence of five unique characters has made the sound. “Slowdive is very much the sum of its parts,” Goswell adds. “Something unquantifiable happens when the five of us come together in a room.” The group’s projected studio sessions for everything is alive, in April 2020, were naturally scrapped, and when the group finally did meet up, six months later, at Courtyard Studio, where they’ve historically recorded, the mood was jubilant. (Finally, they had a proper reason to leave the house.) That was the beginning of a multi-year recording process, which moved from Oxfordshire and into the Wolds of Lincolnshire and back to Neil’s own Cornish studio before extending into February 2022, when the band brought in mixer Shawn Everett (The War On Drugs, SZA, Alvvays) to mix six of the record’s eight tracks. Owing to their deep history, there’s a palpable familial energy to Slowdive in 2023. everything is alive is dedicated to Goswell’s mother and Scott’s father, who both died in 2020. “There were some profound shifts for some of us personally,” Goswell says. Those crossroads are reflected in the many-layered emotional tenor of Slowdive’s music; everything is alive is heavy with experience, but each note is poised, wise, and necessarily pitched to hope. Its unique alchemy subtly embodies both sadness and gratitude, groundedness and uplift. Reflecting on “kisses,” which may be Slowdive’s surest pop moment yet, Halstead said, “It wouldn’t feel right to make a really dark record right now. The album is quite eclectic emotionally, but it does feel hopeful.” everything is alive, is exactly what the title suggests: an exploration into the shimmering nature of life and the universal touch points within it. Spanning psychedelic soundscapes, pulsating 80’s electronic elements and John Cale inspired journeys, the album lands immediately as something made for the future; which figures, as their fanbase has grown younger and younger as time has gone on, and their influence on forward thinking musical artists continues to prevail. For a genre that is often thought of as divisive, and often warrants introspection, here Slowdive show their craft as the masters of it by pushing it outwards, beyond the singular; the end result being a record which feels as emotional and cathartic as it is optimistic. https://slowdive.bandcamp.com/album/everything-is-alive 2023 €26.50
  Everything is Alive MC Sechs Jahre nach dem monumentalen Comeback mit dem selbstbetitelten Album, finden slowdive - bestehend aus Rachel Goswell und Neil Halstead (beide Vocs und Git.), Christian Savill (Git.), Nick Chaplin (Bass) und Drummer Simon Scott - auf "everything is alive" immer mehr Konturen ihres eindringlichen, elementaren Sounds. Das fünfte Album der Shoegaze-Giganten enthält die Dualität einer vertrauten inneren Sprache, gemischt mit der Exaltiertheit von Neuanfängen. "everything is alive" ist transportierend, suchend und leuchtend, das Werk einer klassischen Band, die ihre unverwechselbare Stimme weiter in die Zukunft richtet. Das neue Album begann mit Halstead in der Rolle des Autors und Produzenten, der zu Hause an Demos arbeitete. Halstead experimentierte mit modularen Synthesizern und stellte sich "everything is alive" ursprünglich als ein "minimaleres elektronisches Album" vor. Die kollektive Entscheidungsfindung von slowdive führte die Band schließlich zurück zu ihren charakteristischen, mit Hall durchtränkten Gitarren, aber dieses erste Konzept sickerte in die Kompositionen ein. "Wenn wir als Band alle damit zufrieden sind, ist das tendenziell das stärkere Material. Wir sind immer aus leicht unterschiedlichen Richtungen gekommen, und die besten Stücke sind dort, wo wir uns alle in der Mitte treffen", sagt Halstead. "slowdive ist vor allem die Summe seiner Teile", fügt Goswell hinzu. "Wenn wir fünf in einem Raum zusammenkommen, passiert etwas Undefinierbares." Der mehrjährige Aufnahmeprozess begann im Herbst 2020 im Courtyard Studio, wo die Band schon immer aufgenommen hat, setzte sich dann in Oxfordshire und in der umliegenden Heide von Lincolnshire fort, um dann wieder zurück in Neils eigenes Studio in Cornwall zu gelangen. Anfang 2022 holte die Band Shawn Everett (The War On Drugs, Alvvays, SZA) ins Studio, um sechs der acht Tracks des Albums abzumischen. "everything is alive" ist genau das, was der Titel andeutet: eine Erkundung der schillernden Natur des Lebens und der universellen Berührungspunkte darin. Mit seinen psychedelischen Klanglandschaften, pulsierenden 80er-Jahre-Elektronik-Elementen und John Cale-inspirierten Reisen wirkt das Album sofort wie etwas, das für die Zukunft gemacht ist; das passt, denn die Fangemeinde der Band ist im Laufe der Zeit immer jünger geworden, und ihr Einfluss auf vorwärts denkende Musik-Künstler*innen ist ungebrochen. Für ein Genre, das oft als spalterisch angesehen wird und oft Introspektion rechtfertigt, zeigen slowdive hier, dass sie ihr Handwerk beherrschen, indem sie es über das Singuläre hinaus vorantreiben; das Endergebnis ist eine Platte, die sich ebenso emotional und kathartisch wie optimistisch anfühlt. The fifth album from shoegaze giants Slowdive contains the duality of a familiar internal language mixed with the exaltation of new beginnings. everything is alive is transportive, searching and aglow, the work of a classic band continuing to pitch its unmistakable voice to the future. Six years after the group’s monumental self-titled album, everything is alive finds Slowdive—vocalists and guitarists Rachel Goswell and Neil Halstead, guitarist Christian Savill, bassist Nick Chaplin, and drummer Simon Scott—locating evermore contours of its immersive, elemental sound. The new record began with Halstead in the role of writer and producer, working on demos at home. Experimenting with modular synths, Halstead originally conceived of everything is alive as a “more minimal electronic record.” Slowdive’s collective decision-making ultimately drew the group back towards their signature reverb-drenched guitars, but that first concept seeped into the compositions. “As a band, when we’re all happy with it, that tends to be the stronger material,” Halstead says. “We’ve always come from slightly different directions, and the best bits are where we all meet in the middle.” The convergence of five unique characters has made the sound. “Slowdive is very much the sum of its parts,” Goswell adds. “Something unquantifiable happens when the five of us come together in a room.” The group’s projected studio sessions for everything is alive, in April 2020, were naturally scrapped, and when the group finally did meet up, six months later, at Courtyard Studio, where they’ve historically recorded, the mood was jubilant. (Finally, they had a proper reason to leave the house.) That was the beginning of a multi-year recording process, which moved from Oxfordshire and into the Wolds of Lincolnshire and back to Neil’s own Cornish studio before extending into February 2022, when the band brought in mixer Shawn Everett (The War On Drugs, SZA, Alvvays) to mix six of the record’s eight tracks. Owing to their deep history, there’s a palpable familial energy to Slowdive in 2023. everything is alive is dedicated to Goswell’s mother and Scott’s father, who both died in 2020. “There were some profound shifts for some of us personally,” Goswell says. Those crossroads are reflected in the many-layered emotional tenor of Slowdive’s music; everything is alive is heavy with experience, but each note is poised, wise, and necessarily pitched to hope. Its unique alchemy subtly embodies both sadness and gratitude, groundedness and uplift. Reflecting on “kisses,” which may be Slowdive’s surest pop moment yet, Halstead said, “It wouldn’t feel right to make a really dark record right now. The album is quite eclectic emotionally, but it does feel hopeful.” everything is alive, is exactly what the title suggests: an exploration into the shimmering nature of life and the universal touch points within it. Spanning psychedelic soundscapes, pulsating 80’s electronic elements and John Cale inspired journeys, the album lands immediately as something made for the future; which figures, as their fanbase has grown younger and younger as time has gone on, and their influence on forward thinking musical artists continues to prevail. For a genre that is often thought of as divisive, and often warrants introspection, here Slowdive show their craft as the masters of it by pushing it outwards, beyond the singular; the end result being a record which feels as emotional and cathartic as it is optimistic. https://slowdive.bandcamp.com/album/everything-is-alive 2023 €11.50
SOLTAU, THORSTEN Gewächse im Zwielicht CD full press release: This Friesian multi media artist with two works on one CD: his compositions combine drone-ambient and electroacoustic elements and passages in a wonderful way (sometimes spheric, sometime bizarre, sometimes melancholic) = various instrumental, vocal and electronic sources are building a hypnotic and poetic web, very complex and with many unexpected twists and surprises in the mix... this album is like a little wonder! The CD combines two complete works by the artist: "Gewächse im Zwielicht", consisting of 4 pieces (2019-2021), dedicated to the hidden phenomena becoming recognizable only after closer examination, and "An End. An One Another" (2021-2022), an installation work for the art gallery 'De Groen' in Arnhem, Netherlands, for this he worked with a choir. Five long pieces with a total time of over 62 minutes, revealing many details with repeated listening... as the author notes: "My goal is the creation of rich sounds with layers only reachable by multiple listening. Each work exposes itself over time with each consciously made playback / perception: Repetition becomes a reward for the listener." listen to a track: https://soundcloud.com/drone-records/thorsten-soltau-das-begehren ########################### THORSTEN SOLTAU: Self-taught artist since 2006. Working under his given name as well as Femurl [ˈfiːmjuːl]. Strong interest in sonic disintegration, conceptualism and dualism (philosophy / gender). Thorsten Soltau is a citizen of KonungaRikena Elgaland-Vargaland. He resides in Friesland, Lower Saxony. MUSIC.ART.MORPHOSIS. A reflection. I call myself a listening person – I am constantly listening to and into environments. This has lead to a refined sense able to picking up things that may slip the attention of others. My ears are trained to scan the places I visit – crowded metropoles, remote spots in nature or even familiar surroundings of office or home. My way of listening can be divided in two modes: the perception of sound on an unconscious level or the deliberate focus on sonics. Becoming a sort of scanning antenna had a profound effect how I compose. The experience of my listening is reflected in my sound works. As an example several compositions feature barely noticeable overdubs. They can only be heard with specific settings of loudness and spatial room (and are therefore easy to recognize with headphones) or equalizer settings. Another example is the creation of dense clusters of sound resembling information streams or (over-)crowded places. My goal is the creation of rich sounds with layers only reachable by multiple listening. Each work exposes itself over time with each consciously made playback / perception: Repetition becomes a reward for the listener. On sounds. My compositions are either electronic or electroacoustic. A commonly used sound is the human voice or excerpts of complex synthesis. As a composer I choose my source material wisely. The starting elements have to inhabit the desired mood and intensity later formulated into full compositions. Nevertheless I am open for developments by surprise or error during sound design. One important factor is randomness. Sounds or sound manipulating factors are mapped to random forces which allows for unexpected results. Some of my composing techniques are deliberately executed against their primary intention as well. This allows for an ever-morphing character of my works until the final touch is added. On sonic morphosis. My compositional ethic has strong ties to morphosis. To reflect different degrees of sonic shifting / transformation / transitions I apply several techniques and methods. As explained above the use of complex treatments and randomness allows for a sound that constantly shapes into an liquid and organic sculpture. The sonics I create are further exposed to imperfections and errors – like body and mind aging or perishing over time. Errors are integral and welcome. Most of them occur as a glitch in the analogue or digital domain during sessions or setup changes. They give a further layer to the music resembling small failures made by the composer – adding a human touch despite their virtual origin. On concepts. My solo work has always been underlined by concepts. My canon includes albums with apparent or less apparent concepts. Often works can be seen as cornerstones of things I research at that time of their genesis. Several compositions reflect situations from personal life. Thus all works can be seen as intimate and highly personal sonic artifacts. Conception can be seen as the base of each work without outweighing the listeners experience. Each of my pieces can be explicitly heard as a sole composition as well. https://thorstensoltau.de 2022 €13.00
SONOLOGYST Interdimensional CD The new Sonologyst album, Interdimensional, explores the paraphysical dimension of cosmic music. It completes the dilation process of his sound, which began with the albums Silencers (CSR 253CD, 2018) and Ancient Death Cults And Beliefs (CSR 270CD, 2020), forming an ideal trilogy inspired by what is beyond the boundaries of science. Interdimensional is inspired by the scientist Michio Kaku who theorized what could be the remote future of the human species, beyond matter, the stars, and known dimensions. A future that could lead you to the victory over the end of everything, beyond the foreseen and inevitable death of the universe known to us. Also, a cosmic record in terms of sound, Interdimensional is pervaded by a sense of stasis reminiscent of Thomas Köner's isolationist electronics, but still characterized by the use of electrified instruments, analog synthesizers, and recordings of resonant metal objects. Unlike the previous records, however, the typical dark experimental/post-industrial sound of Sonologyst is filtered through hazy warping reverberations, and infinite delays, which musically depict the intergalactic journey of a civilization in search of a possible future beyond death. https://coldspring.bandcamp.com/album/interdimensional-csr305cd 2022 €13.00
SOPHIA Unclean CD New opus from Sweden’s Industrial Ambient project from Peter Bjärgö (Arcana). Bringing together some of the original collaborators which were featured on earlier albums, Per Ählund, Stefan Eriksson and Ia Bjärgö, “Unclean” is again an outstanding piece of sonic force. Pounding percussions, commanding vocal parts and expanding ambient passages all merge to give us and absorbing, diverse and forward thinking journey. “Unclean” is an excursion into the folly of man’s self destructive tendencies, with a slight hope of a possible awakening before the last gasp is taken. www.cycliclaw.com 2016 €13.00
SPECIAL INTERESTS (MAG) No. 9 mag SPECIAL INTERESTS #9 (June 2013) B5/84 pages Cover Artists Coelho / Sektor 304 Essential albums MK9 Prurient Recommended books: -MK9 -J.Jerman Interviews: – Jaakko Vanhala – Sektor 304 – Das Synthetische Mischgewebe – Pogrom – Mikkel Rorbo (Alleypisser etc) – Foetus Live noise feature with Haters, Con-Dom, Keränen + artwork by Tisbor harsh noise 2013 feature With The Rita, Being, Tourette, Developer, Alogirl. Massive 84 pages B5 size issue!!! Interviews: Jaakko Vanhala. Sektor 304. Das Synthetische Mischgewebe. Pogrom. Mikkel Rorbo (Alleypisser. etc..). Foetus. Cover Artists: Coelho / Sektor 304 Essential albums feature with: MK9 and Prurient. Recommended books by MK9 and J.Jerman. Live noise feature with Haters. Con-Dom. Keränen. Harsh noise 2013 feature with The Rita. Being. Tourette. Developer. Alogirl. Reviews. 2013 €10.00
  No. 11 mag INTERVIEWS: AGENCEMENT CONTRASTATE SALAKAPAKKA SOUND SYSTEM CIRCLE OF SHIT BACTERIA FIELD WORTH NEW ALBUMS: TORBA BIZARRE UPROAR THE ESSENTIALS: Will / Worth Will I Stash TERÄSSINFONIA 2019 €9.00
SRMEIXNER (STEPHEN MEIXNER) A Silent War CD Artist: srmeixner Product Title: A silent war Format: CD Cat no: BRCD 21-1018 / CDROT097 Release Date: October 2021 Style: Abstract, Experimental Electronics, Ambient Black Rose Recordings and Oxidisation present the new album from Stephen Meixner (Contrastate). Initial inspiration for this project came from the 1980s recycling projects such as “Captured Music” and “Destruct”, both released on the Selektion label who described recycling as “a procedure concentrating on materials already existing on their own or as separate sources as a practical base for further reworkings”. As the project was progressing news was sent across the world of the death of George Floyd whilst in police custody. Sadly, not a new phenomenon, but a repeat of past events highlighting the unfinished business of needing to change the future. I decided to incorporate the events into the initial theme using words and specific references to carry on a dialogue that interacts with the re-interpretations of previous sound sources. It has been said that we cannot tackle the past by re-writing it. Maybe we can. This releases features contributions from Ralf Wehowsky (rlw/P16 D4), Steve Pittis (Band of Pain), Jonathan Grieve and Stephen J Pomeroy (Contrastate), Leyden Jars, Adrian Morris, Lee Pomeroy and Simon Wray. "There must be something in the air. Two weeks ago, I reviewed three releases from Howard Stelzer. He worked with sound material fellow musicians mailed him, which in return was based on Stelzer's primary sound material. I mentioned P16.D4's 'Distruct' (Vital Weekly 863), from 1984, which worked along similar lines. The same record is mentioned on the cover here (though misspelt as 'Destruct'), along with 'Captured Music', which also worked with the recycling of sound, more specific live recordings from a festival of the same name. Stephen Meixner, one-third of Contrastate, does have a similar approach here. He received sound material from his Contrastate buddies Jonathan Grieve and Stephen J Pomeroy and also from Ralf Wehowsky (one of the leading players of P16.D4), Steve Pittis (Band Of Pain), Leyden Jars, Adrian Morris, Lee Pomeroy and Simon Wray. I don't know these last four. Meixner added the death of George Floyd as part of the narrative in the music, something that P16.D4 would not have done, staying away from overtly political messages. The message is not really in your face (whether good or bad, I leave it up to you). There is vocals/text in only a few pieces here, such as in a 'cover' of Nina Simone's 'Singing About Revolution'. Musicwise, Meixner doesn't copy the musique concrète approach of P16.D4 too much, even when the studio-as-instrument' method is present here. The results are pretty different for Meixner. The sounds are part of the overall composition, working from one idea and making it a 'song' rather than a cut-up or collage. Some sounds are used as guiding lights for a piece via sample/loop, and then Meixner spins the rest around. In 'Unfinished Business', this is indeed a more collage-like form, but n 'We Demand Tomorrow (Or Business A Usual)', the percussion is the glue that holds drones and electronics together. Meixner has an excellent ear to make the right connections between this disparate sound material. It makes a fine homogenous album with subtle variations. Most of the time, I had no idea this was from various unrelated sources, which I would think is a great thing. This is quite different from the recent Stelzer albums, with both of them using friends' sounds as starting points." (FdW) ––– Address: blackroserecordings@yahoo.co.uk "This is the work of Stephen Meixner, who is also a member of Contrastate as well as the man behind Black Rose Recordings. This disk was a direct response to the death of George Floyd while in police custody. As the artist states, “Sadly, not a new phenomenon, but a repeat of past events highlighting the unfinished business of needing to change the future. I decided to incorporate the events into the initial theme using words and specific references to carry on a dialogue that interacts with the re-interpretations of previous sound sources.” That said, let’s dive into the music and see what this sounds like. This is kind of an odd album. The opening track, A Silent War,” features heavily processed vocals and synth drone with snippets of beat and other random noises thrown about. You can only make out bits and pieces of the vocals, such as “the police were called” that give this track a disconcerting feeling. It's ominous without being heavy-handed. Next up is “Breathe,” which is particularly unsettling with its constant incantation of “I can't breathe” and “please let me up, I can't breathe.” The subject of this track is unmistakable with its origin in Eric Garner’s murder, which then led to “I can't breathe” becoming a rallying cry within the Black Lives Matter movement. What makes it interesting is the almost mechanical way that he keeps intoning “I can't breathe,” almost as if you're listening to a public service announcement or something in an airport where they're saying that you must stay to the right. The disconnect makes this track work particularly well. “Virtue Signaling” is a synth drone composition with bits of beat drum beats thrown in randomly. It's noisy, but never quite descends into noise. One thing that makes this fun is that you can tell this intentional. This isn't a “stick a brick on a synthesizer and make drone music” composition. This is composed and well put together. “Unfinished Business” is some peaceful, mellow drone, but even here there are bits of grinding metal noise. “We Demand Tomorrow (Or Business As Usual)” keeps this feeling going with additional bits of sound that sounds like a growing mixed with metal xylophone or pipes and heavily distorted voice like listening to a radio station between stations. Finally, we have a short piece, “Singing About Revolution,” with lyrics by Nina Simone. But in this version, imagine that someone watched 27 hours of Schoolhouse Rock, smoked a ton of hash, and then decided that they were going to recreate one of the videos, but a little different with hallucinogenic vocals. Solid. Overall, this is an interesting disc and well worth checking out." [Chain DLK] "Stephen Meixner of Contrastate has been recording and releasing music under this solo guise for many years now and generally speaking it involves a more abstract and darkly experimental sound than that of the main project (yet some indirectly similar sonic threads too can be noted too). With reference to this latest work the liner notes highlight A Silent War had its nexus in 2020 UK Covid lockdowns and was intended as a working basis for further recordings, but obviously evolved into this standalone work. Likewise, the liner notes provide further detail on the working methodology, which was inspired by 1980’s recycling projects and involved recontextualising sound sources contributed by close associates. Six tracks make up A Silent War which includes an element of social commentary but is which is also not overtly emphasised. This is weaved within the crisply refined electronics which slot neatly under a ‘dark ambient / experimental / post-industrial soundscape’ descriptor. The title track opens the album exudes a performance art angle, which is mostly due to the tone provided by manipulated spoken word vocals, while the minimal shimmering soundscape is occasionally interrupted with moments of melodic percussive strikes. Breathe continues and is framed around multiple electric to semi-orchestral drones coupled with a centrally placed jittery tonal texture, while further vocal cuts up referencing the track title and its thematic aspect. The instrumental track Virtue Signalling brings more interweaving melancholic drones but also includes a wonky pitch-shifting tonal framework blended with vague mechanical rhythmic elements and other manipulated tones (piano note stabs perhaps?). In maintaining the prevailing sonic theme the minimalist but incessant plodding pulse of Unfinished Business characterises the first segments before shifting off into melancholic drone territory with fragile tonal respite. We Demand Tomorrow (or business as usual) slightly differs, given it contains some forceful electricity-toned textures, while late in the track it morphs into musically playful and percussive-driven elements. As for the final track Singing About Revolution, it is a short two-minute cut and the oddest and surreal offering of the lot, to the point of being quite jarring against the tone of the balance of the album (and therefore well-positioned at the album’s conclusion). Here there is a clear nod to Contrastrate thanks to vocals provided by Jonathan Grieve, and notable the lyrics are credited to Nina Simone to close the thematic loop. A six-panel double gatefold cover with extensive liner notes rounds out the packaging of an expertly crafted yet equally understated album of experimental ambient & post-industrial sonics." [Noise Receptor] 2021 €13.00
SRVTR I INTERNAL FUSION I DARDIS I A.MAIAH Thing CD-R n 2022, attenuation circuit starts a new series of four-way split albums called THING. The aim is to provide a medium for exchange and presentation of a great variety of artists. As each artist spreads the copies to their network, listeners also get to know the other artists featured on the same disc. The title references the fact that the CDs are physical objects – things! – but also refers to the 'thing' or 'ding' in old Norse and other Germanic languages, which designates the place of a popular assembly or the assembly itself and thus alludes to the 'meeting-place' character of the albums on (or around) which the four artists and their audiences meet, if only virtually. https://emerge.bandcamp.com/album/thing-4 With the fourth issue of the THING series, attenuation circuit unites newcomers to the label roster – sound artist and poet Dardis from Northern Ireland and post-psychedelic guitar experimenter A.Maiah from Spain – with the French-based acts SRVTR and Internal Fusion, who were previously featured on the label. The four tracks of the album could be considered a study in how loops/rhythms can evolve into drones and the other way around. Whenever a 'beat' appears, however, it's not a programmed drum-machine sound, but always loops created from found sounds. This makes a compelling case for repetitive rhythms as a method for experimental music, or experimental hearing: if you hear a sound repeated often enough, sometimes it takes on an aspect that would remain unnoticed at first hearing. File under: electroacoustic, ambient 2022 €8.00
STANISLAVSKY, K. End of all Things CD Zoharum opens new serie IYHHH-CDs in limited edition 444 pieces. The main idea of this serie is to show interesting, remarkable music projects, which usually have their debut by this release.But we also wish to remind You about rare, unavailable materials of these projects, which have been existed on the music scene from longer time and their side-projects etc. We can say that the main purpose is to protect this wonderful, original music from the oblivion, but also to recall and refresh it to new audience and collectors.. Albums signed as IYHHH are released on CDs, packed in unconventional ecopack in format similar to occasional card with added post card. Each part of the serie will be the same design but different cover and catalogue number. "Debut material of polish composer Krzysztof Stanislawski- the artist who says that he’s inspired by movie music. There’s no doubt that in his works we can hear the echo of: Clouser, Zimmer or Goldenthal. All orchestral sounds are mixed with industrial bits and grates which gives new quality. „End of All Things” could be it the same line with soundtracks of „Pi”, „Saw” or „Even Horizon” and there’s no exaggeration in it. Imagination of this musician and his own insight in illustrative music leads listener to new, different dimension of thriller. In his works you will find no exaggerated pathos and boredom. This album is full of emotions, passion, action, tempo changes, surprising atmosphere changes. We recommend this material to those who like classical soundtracks but also to everyone who like industrial music." [label info] www.zoharum.com 2010 €12.00
STANISLAWSKI, KRZYSZTOF End of all Things CD "Debut material of polish composer Krzysztof Stanislawski- the artist who says that he’s inspired by movie music. There’s no doubt that in his works we can hear the echo of: Clouser, Zimmer or Goldenthal. All orchestral sounds are mixed with industrial bits and grates which gives new quality. „End of All Things” could be it the same line with soundtracks of „Pi”, „Saw” or „Even Horizon” and there’s no exaggeration in it. Imagination of this musician and his own insight in illustrative music leads listener to new, different dimension of thriller. In his works you will find no exaggerated pathos and boredom. This album is full of emotions, passion, action, tempo changes, surprising atmosphere changes. We recommend this material to those who like classical soundtracks but also to everyone who like industrial music. Out on 31th March 2010 Zoharum opens new serie IYHHH-CDs in limited edition 444 pieces. The main idea of this serie is to show interesting, remarkable music projects, which usually have their debiut by this release.But we also wish to remind You about rare, unavailable materials of these projects, which have been existed on the music scene from longer time and their side-projects etc. We can say that the main purpose is to protect this wonderful, original music from the oblivion, but also to recall and refresh it to new audience and collectors.. Albums signed as IYHHH are released on CDs, packed in uncoventional ecopack in format simlar to occasional card with added post card. Each part of the serie will be the same design but different cover and catalogue number." [label info] www.zoharum.com 2010 €12.00
STATISCHE MUSEN Diskretion . Funktionsmusik Für Verrichtungsboxen CD https://aufabwegen.bandcamp.com/album/diskretion-funktionsmusik-f-r-verrichtungsboxen Nach dem Ende des selbst so betitelten „death lounge project“ Hematic Sunsets mit dem Album „Aroma Club Adieu“ folgt mit Statische Musen ein weiteres ebenfalls aus weitgehend anagrammatischen Alter Egos Asmus Tietchens‘ (neben ihm Senta Steumisch, Suse Mittach sen. - M’Pei fällt da etwas heraus) bestehendes Projekt. Der (Unter-)Titel des Albums wird in bierernster Diktion in den Linernotes erklärt: „Der Senat der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg begann 2021 nach dem Vorbild anderer Großstädte mit der Aufstellung von Verrichtsungsboxen.“ Von dem „Staatsrat Dr. Kurt Euler“ sei angeregt worden, „die Verrichtungsboxen mit therapeutisch wirksamen Klangtapeten auszustatten.“ Von den vier, zwischen 12 und 16 Minuten langen auf der CD enthaltenen Stücken wurde lediglich eine Version („Box 2“) akzeptiert, die anderen drei abgelehnt. Die angenommene Version habe „auf alle Beteiligten außerordentlich wohltuend und anregend“ gewirkt. Auf „Box 1 (abgelehnt)“ hört man in Hintergrund ambientes Dröhnen und im Vordergrund fast so etwas wie erratischen Rhythmus. Das Stück ist durchzogen von einer gewissen Unruhe, so als ob sich undefinierbare Entitäten an verstimmten Gitarren versuchten. Bei der (angenommenen) „Box 2“ wird man zwischendurch durchaus an die sogenannten Hydrophonien der “Seuchengebiete“-Reihe erinnert, was vielleicht bzgl. der “Funktion” der Klänge nicht unpassend ist, vor allem dann, wenn man an den oben angesprochenen „anregenden“ Charakter des Stücks denkt. „Box 3 (abgelehnt)“ knüpft an die Vorgänger an, beeindruckt auch hier im Changieren zwischen Abstraktion und Melodik. Beendet wird das Album von „Box 4 (abgelehnt)“, einem Track, der leiser und zurückhaltender beginnt. Die Hematic Sunsets-Aufnahmen waren voller kurioser, aber zum Teil natürlich durchaus „catchy“ Tracks“. Verglichen damit ist die Musik von Statische Musen näher an anderen Werke Tietchens der letzten Jahre. (MG) AFRICAN PAPER "You never heard of Statische Musen? Me neither, but see it as an anagram (wait for it, think about it), and then it will read Asmus Tietchens. It's not the first time Asmus has used an anagram for a side project, as there was the Hematic Sunsets project, which he ended some time ago. The new project is not along the lines of Hematic Sunsets but more along the work he carries under his own name, but with a difference. The music is more ambient here, with more transparent sound, complex layers, and a bit of what is probably not a synthesizer but an abundance of sound effects. Maybe also ingredients you'll find in his regular music, but over there, it is usually very sparse and here, well, it's not sparse at all. Each of these pieces is a slow burner with slow development. Musc you start playing, which you ignore or enjoy - just as Brian Eno once proclaimed ambient music should be. As such, Tietchens succeeds very well. I was working on my boring accounts stuff because a new quarter started, and I had this CD on repeat all along. I may not have always discovered new things in there, but I found this music the perfect backdrop to an otherwise tedious chore. It is an interesting new development for Tietchens. Of course, I have no idea if this is a temporary thing or if this is something he intends to develop a lot, but time will tell. So far, I am enjoying this a lot, and I would love to see further developments." [FdW / Vital Weekly] 2023 €13.00
STELZER, HOWARD How To CD New material from the master cassette manipulator Howard Stelzer. "How To" is 46 minutes of collage ranging from drones to harsh noise. Not to be missed for any fan of Stelzers work. Mastered by James Plotkin and art by Lasse Marhaug. If your not familiar with Mr. Stelzer here is what TinyMixTapes.com has to say about him. "Don’t let the disappearance of his label Intransitive Recordings fool you; Howard Stelzer has kept himself as busy as ever. The New York-born tape manipulator may no longer have an outlet of his own, but even before closing Intransitive Recordings down back in 2012, he had been releasing albums pretty much everywhere. He has recently announced a new album on Phage Tapes, How To, which follows the still-fresh Narrow Escape and At Ease, a collaboration with Joe Bastardo. Active since the mid-90s, Stelzer has made cassette tapes his trademark platform to craft complex collages of noise, found sounds, and synthetic textures. Yet he is best known as an all-around devotee of tape as a medium, collecting hundreds of cassettes, writing about sound art and tape culture, and curating an amazingly ambitious catalog of experimental music for Intransitive Recordings. Based in Boston and active for over a decade, the label released music by Jason Lescalleet, Nerve Net Noise, Jason Talbot, C. Spencer Yeh, and Brume, among many others. Nevertheless, it would be unforgivable to overlook 1998’s Bond Inlets, Stelzer’s crowning achievement; an album where he was able to pick the inherent limitations of consumer-grade tapes apart, laying out a foreboding work of rare emotional power." https://phagetapes.miiduu.com/howard-stelzer-quothow-toquot-cd 2015 €10.00
STIEBLER, ERNSTALBRECHT / VARIOUS ARTISTS Reworks LP Frank Bretschneider, Bérangère Maximin, Jasmine Guffond, Phonosphere, and Kammerflimmer Kollektief celebrate Ernstalbrecht Stiebler's 85th birthday with exclusive reworks of compositions by the German minimalist composer. Ernstalbrecht Stiebler (born March 29th, 1934) is one of the first German composers involved with minimalism and ranks among the pioneers of reductive, repetitive, sound-oriented music. Although honored with several prizes (e.g. the "Bach-Preis der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg"), up to the current day only true connoisseurs of contemporary music are familiar with his oeuvre. On the occasion of his 85th anniversary this year, Karlrecords launches a series of albums with original pieces by Stiebler who besides his compositional work served as director for new music at Hessischer Rundfunk for over 25 years (where he supervised recordings of Morton Feldman, John Cage, Alvin Lucier, Giacinto Scelsi, amongst others) and published numerous essays in Musik-Konzepte, MusikTexte, and other music journals. The new Stiebler series, however, kicks off with Reworks -- five artists from different musical backgrounds present their approach to and understanding of Stiebler's minimalist aesthetics for which he cites "sonority, rhythm, and duration" as his three principal compositional concerns. Mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin. 180 gram vinyl; includes download code. 2019 €18.00
STOA Silmand CD Seelenmonat. Viertes Album der Neo-Klassik / Sakral-Ambient / Mittelalter-Folk Pop-Band und Mitbegründer des "Heavenly Voices"-Genres, hier mit Verstärkung von Mitgliedern von LOVE IS COLDER THAN DEATH und CLAN OF XYMOX. 13 Stücke voller dunkel-romantischer Momente, musikalisch hochwertig arrangiert & von erhabener & fragiler Schönheit, zudem scheinen die meisten Instrumente original eingespielt zu werden. Melancholische Streicher sind omnipräsent, emotionaler geht es kaum ! "The first new sign from STOA in 7 years! Fans will be happy that the STOA mastermind stays true to himself with his fourth album. Besides the usual melancholy, unusual pop rhythms found their way on the various albums, but the typical STOA sound is still distinct. The vocal lines harbour some surprises as well. For once theres the angelic voice of singer Mandy Bernhardts, known from the live performances of the band; on the other hand, the voices of three guest singers sound on Silmand. The first voice belongs to the Australian multi-instrumentalist Louisa John Krol. The Dutchman Peter Nooten (Ex-Clan of Xymox) could be engaged for Silmand as well as the Leipzig-based Ralf Jehnert (Love is Colder than Death)." [label info] "For lovers of melancholic music, it probably doesn't get much better than Silmand." [Heathen Harvest] www.darkdimensions.de 2008 €15.00
STOREY, ROBIN & DEAD VOICES ON AIR With an Ear and a Why 7inch "03. is a collaboration with fellow Reformed Faction member Robin Storey under the name, “With a Why and an Ear.” Robin and Mark first played together in the late eighties in Zoviet-France. Later Robin formed Rapoon and has released many albums. He continues to collaborate extensively. With Spybey he has released four Reformed Faction albums, with others in the pipeline. Robin is a gifted visual artist and his works appear in numerous collections worldwide." [label info] www.touretterecords.com 2011 €10.00
STRATVM TERROR Love me tender or I will cause Pain CD Now they are back after 15 years with their new assault: 'Love me tender, or I will cause Pain'.Stratvm Terror had just gone underground, hiding for their next terrorising attack. But no, that would have been too easy. Rumoured said there will be no more albums and the project is dead.§ Massive layers of corrosive darkness with occasional injections of ominous noise sounds and claustrophobic vocals makes this an utterly end-of-life experience.This album is filled with seven oppressive and depressive weird obscurities to ease or cause you pain, depending on your inclinations. With 'Love me tender, or I will cause Pain' the project celebrates their 30 years anniversary with no happiness, only sweet pain. They started the band in 1993 and released a great number of albums in the late 90's and early 00's, on Old Europa Cafe, to finally take a longer break around 2008.The Swedish doom ambient industrial noise project Stratvm Terror consists of doom metal guru Tobias Larsson (Ocean Chief) and dark ambient master Peter Andersson (raison d'être). Mastering and Layout by Peter Andersson 2023. https://raisondetre.bandcamp.com/album/love-me-tender-or-i-will-cause-pain 2023 €14.00
STROM, ANNA PAULINE Trans-Millenia Music do-LP Otherworldly and anomalous, hushed and hallucinatory, Pauline Anna Strom’s unique style of inner space music reaches across time to futures and pasts far from our own. Trans-Millenia Music compiles 80 minutes of Strom’s most evocative work, composed and recorded between 1982 and 1988 across seven albums released in minimal vinyl and cassette editions. Strom’s heightened sensitivity to sound and spirited sensibility with the pioneering synthesizer tools of her trade elevates this music beyond the catch-all containers of New Age and ambient music into a realm of its own. rvng.bandcamp.com/album/trans-millenia-music 2017 €28.00
SUN RA Disco 3000 do-CD "first release of the full concert recording. This is a reissue of one of the great Sun Ra albums - documenting a rare outing for a small ensemble comprising John Gilmore, Michael Ray (trumpet) and Luqman Ali (drums). June Tyson is also credited on the sleeve.. Ra himself plays piano and electronic keyboards - including the mysterious Crumar Mainman (undocumented by the company itself), which Ra describes as 'like a piano, organ, clavichord, cello, violin and brass instruments' in one, and which offers, in addition, pre-programmed bass-lines and electronic percussion - used to great effect in this small grouping, and seldom, if ever, used by Ra elsewhere. This fact alone makes these this release especially interesting. The LP version was an ear-opener when it came out, and amongst the LPs we most frequently had pressed for us at the time by Ra - alongside Media Dream, Black Horizon and The Sound Mirror). Most of the material is outside the familiar repertoire - another feature that singles this session out. The newly mastered double CD contains the entire concert from which Disco 3000 was taken, adding more than an hour of previously unheard material, setting the LP selections in their original context. There are also excellent new sleevenotes by trumpeter Michael Ray who describes Ra's work method and reminisces about the tour and the recording session. Nicely packaged." [label notes] www.rermegacorp.com 2007 €20.00
SUNN O))) Kannon CD "Kannon is an album which was composed in the aftershadow of SUNN O)))’s most recent successes in immersive collaboration (the group worked with Scott Walker on Soused, Ulver on Terrestrials in 2013 and 2014) and also from the broad and influential wake of their epitimous Monolith’s & Dimensions . Kannon emerged both independently as a conceptual entity and with roots in the legacies of those projects, yet was fully realised years later, in 2015. The album is 36 minutes in length and consists of three pieces of a triadic whole : Kannon 1, 2 and 3. The album celebrates many SUNN O))) traditions ; Kannon was recorded and mixed with SUNN O)))’s close colleague and coproducer Randall Dunn in Seattle, in Studio Litho, Aleph and Avast!; and the LP includes performances by long term allies and collaborators Attila Csihar, Oren Ambarchi, Rex Ritter, Steve Moore and others. And at the core the composition centers around the dynamic and intense guitar and bass interplay of SUNN O)))’s founders : Stephen O’Malley & Greg Anderson. It’s possibly the most figurative album SUNN O))) has created, which is unusual as they usually dwell in layers of abstraction and subjectivity. On the other hand the album is the most outright “metal” in years, drawing personal associations and memories of cherished albums like Panzerfaust and Twilight of the Gods again to the forefront of consciousness. At the third time it is very close to the cyclical character of mantra which the band has evolved into as a living creature, the enormity of intense sensate detail and manifestation of the live in concert face of SUNN O))), the organism that has flourished, metamorphosed and transcended tremendously over the past ten years. The literal representation of Kannon is as an aspect of Buddha: specifically “goddess of mercy” or “Perceiving the Sounds (or Cries) of the World”. She is also sometimes commonly known as the Guanyin Bodhisattva (Chinese: 觀音菩薩) amongst a plurality of other forms. There is a rich lineage behind this idea tracing back through many asian belief systems, with as many names and cultural personifications of the idea. SUNN O))) commissioned critical theorist Aliza Shvartz to write a text / liner notes around these ideas and topics. She also explores the relations and perceptions to their approach to these ideas via the metonym of music and SUNN O)))’s place/approach within the framework of music and metal overall. SUNN O))) also commissioned Swiss designer/artist Angela LaFont Bollinger to create the cover artwork, an abstracted sculpture of vision of Kannon, and the French photographer Estelle Hanania to capture portraits of the core trio (Csihar, Anderson, O’Malley) in the impressive and obscurant Emanuel Vingeland mausoleum in Oslo. The LP is packaged in immaculate tip on gatefold sleeve by our long time comrades Stoughton Printing, and pressed at Cascade in Portland, Oregon. CD, download and coloured vinyl versions are also available. – Stephen O’Malley & Greg Anderson / SUNN O))), 11 September 2015" [label info] credits: Released December 4th 2015 Attila Csihar - Vocals Stephen O’Malley - Guitar Greg Anderson - Guitar, Bass Guitar Oren Ambarchi - Guitar, Oscillator (K1,K2) Randall Dunn - Korg MS 20 (K1, K2) Rex Ritter - Moog (K2) Brad Mowen - Concert Bass Drum (K2) Steve Moore - Juno 106 (K2) Conch trio : Dempster, Priester, Moore Recorded at studio Litho, Avast! and Aleph, Seattle by Randall Dunn Mixed at Avast! by Randall Dunn Assistant recording engineer (Litho) : Mell Dettmer Mastered by Jason Ward at CMS Kannon 1, 2, 3 written & arranged by SUNN O))) Lyrics by Attila Csihar Produced by SUNN O))) with Randall Dunn SUNN O))) art direction : Stephen O’Malley Cover and typographic design by Allison Lafont Bollinger Text by Aliza Shvarts Band portraits by Estelle Hanania / Detail from mural Vita at the Emanuel Vigeland Mausoleum, Oslo © Emanuel Vigeland Museum / ARS 2015 www.southernlord.com "Those grimrobed ambient metal overlords O'Malley & Anderson (here with guests including Oren Ambarchi and vokillist Attila Csihar) add a new opus to their extensive discography of doom/drone masterwerks! The three part Kannon, which may have germinated from the track "Cannon" found on their live Domkirke double lp from 2008, is art to play loud. All deep drones, deep voices, doubtless deep thoughts (check out the liner notes by critical theorist Aliza Shvartz). And here are OUR notes: Abyssic atmospheres of vast grinding drones. Layered, liturgic cavernous ritual. Gorgeously sculpted feedback flowmotion. Along with moments that remind us of the wide open Western spaces twang of more recent Earth (or Barn Owl) as well." [Aquarius Rec.] 2015 €13.00
METTA, BENEVOLENCE. BBC 6MUSIC do-LP In late October 2019, following a successful UK tour ending in a sold-out concert at the mythical Roundhouse in London, SUNN O))) entered studio 4 of the BBC Maida Vale. On invitation to record a live session for Mary Anne Hobbs to be broadcast on Samhain via her excellent radio show on BBC6. To enter the legendary John Peel studios was to enter a temple of music and experimentation, liberty in ideas and sound. The band was nearing the end of a long touring year around the 'Life Metal' and 'Pyroclast' albums. SUNN O))) had developed the compositions extensively, embracing the formative concepts of the 'Life Metal' album conceptually and emotionally, but actualised and evolved into vast, open and bright hypersaturated arrangements. Particularly the pieces the band chose to perform on this recording: 'Troubled Air' and 'Pyroclasts'. The former enriched into a total aspect of the band's ethos and form in many ways, and 'Pyroclasts' had evolved to become all-inclusive radiation of O))). The radiation embraces collaboration and freedom of interpretation by each player, within a structural format of the massive monuments of sound and distortion which define SUNN O))). Anna Von Hausswolf and her band had accompanied SUNN O))) on the UK leg, and Anna joined SUNN O))) in the studio on synths and with her tremendous voice on the 'Pyroclasts' pieces. TRACKS: A. Pyroclasts F B. Pyroclasts C# C. Troubled Air D. Troubled Air (continued) https://sunn.bandcamp.com/album/metta-benevolence-bbc-6music-live-on-the-invitation-of-mary-anne-hobbs 2022 €30.00
METTA, BENEVOLENCE, BBC6 MUSIC (coloured vinyl) do-LP In late October 2019, following a successful UK tour ending in a sold-out concert at the mythical Roundhouse in London, SUNN O))) entered studio 4 of the BBC Maida Vale. On invitation to record a live session for Mary Anne Hobbs to be broadcast on Samhain via her excellent radio show on BBC6. To enter the legendary John Peel studios was to enter a temple of music and experimentation, liberty in ideas and sound. The band was nearing the end of a long touring year around the 'Life Metal' and 'Pyroclast' albums. SUNN O))) had developed the compositions extensively, embracing the formative concepts of the 'Life Metal' album conceptually and emotionally, but actualised and evolved into vast, open and bright hypersaturated arrangements. Particularly the pieces the band chose to perform on this recording: 'Troubled Air' and 'Pyroclasts'. The former enriched into a total aspect of the band's ethos and form in many ways, and 'Pyroclasts' had evolved to become all-inclusive radiation of O))). The radiation embraces collaboration and freedom of interpretation by each player, within a structural format of the massive monuments of sound and distortion which define SUNN O))). Anna Von Hausswolf and her band had accompanied SUNN O))) on the UK leg, and Anna joined SUNN O))) in the studio on synths and with her tremendous voice on the 'Pyroclasts' pieces. TRACKS: A. Pyroclasts F B. Pyroclasts C# C. Troubled Air D. Troubled Air (continued) https://sunn.bandcamp.com/album/metta-benevolence-bbc-6music-live-on-the-invitation-of-mary-anne-hobbs 2022 €36.00
  METTA, BENEVOLENCE, BBC6 MUSIC CD In late October 2019, following a successful UK tour ending in a sold-out concert at the mythical Roundhouse in London, SUNN O))) entered studio 4 of the BBC Maida Vale. On invitation to record a live session for Mary Anne Hobbs to be broadcast on Samhain via her excellent radio show on BBC6. To enter the legendary John Peel studios was to enter a temple of music and experimentation, liberty in ideas and sound. The band was nearing the end of a long touring year around the 'Life Metal' and 'Pyroclast' albums. SUNN O))) had developed the compositions extensively, embracing the formative concepts of the 'Life Metal' album conceptually and emotionally, but actualised and evolved into vast, open and bright hypersaturated arrangements. Particularly the pieces the band chose to perform on this recording: 'Troubled Air' and 'Pyroclasts'. The former enriched into a total aspect of the band's ethos and form in many ways, and 'Pyroclasts' had evolved to become all-inclusive radiation of O))). The radiation embraces collaboration and freedom of interpretation by each player, within a structural format of the massive monuments of sound and distortion which define SUNN O))). Anna Von Hausswolf and her band had accompanied SUNN O))) on the UK leg, and Anna joined SUNN O))) in the studio on synths and with her tremendous voice on the 'Pyroclasts' pieces. TRACKS: A. Pyroclasts F B. Pyroclasts C# C. Troubled Air D. Troubled Air (continued) https://sunn.bandcamp.com/album/metta-benevolence-bbc-6music-live-on-the-invitation-of-mary-anne-hobbs 2021 €13.00
SUPERSILENT 11 CD "This is the eleventh release in the Supersilent series. These recordings are taken from the very fruitful sessions that resulted in Supersilent 8 (RCD 2067CD), but are no mere leftovers. Indeed, Supersilent 8 was originally scheduled as a triple release, but producer Deathprod (Helge Sten) finally decided to split it. This is also the first vinyl-only release from the band. Supersilent 8 was recorded during a 5-day studio session at Athletic Sound in Halden, Norway, the all-analog facility where other Rune Grammofon albums like Supersilent 1-3 (RCD 2001CD), Scorch Trio (RCD 2025CD), Luggumt (RCD2040CD/RLP 3040LP) and Raus Aus Stavanger (RCD 2049CD) were recorded. From the monumental hardcore blizzard storm of 1-3 to the elegant electro-jazz of 4 and from the quiet soundscapes of 5 to the epic 6, Supersilent yet again re-invented themselves with 8, an album that to a certain degree explored more abstract and mysterious pathways beyond categories and comparisons. In fact, these sessions turned out to be so fruitful, that producer Deathprod finished 5 hours of music and at one point considered making it another triple CD. In the end, 68 minutes ended up on Supersilent 8, but it was always understood that more of the excellent music that didn't make it to the final cut would appear in one way or another at a later time, and indeed, here it is as a vinyl-only release. This was also Jarle Vespestad's final studio session. This 180 gram audiophile vinyl edition was carefully mastered by Bob Katz and cut by Paul Gold at Salt Mastering. Members include: Helge Sten (audio virus, electric guitar), Ståle Storløkken (synthesizers, keyboards), Arve Henriksen (trumpet, voice, electronics), and Jarle Vespestad (drums)." [label info] www.runegrammofon.com 2014 €15.50
  14 LP Arve Henriksen - Trumpet, voice and electronics. Helge Sten - Electronics. Ståle Storløkken - Keyboards and electronics. "Produced by Helge Sten (Deathprod), ’14’ is the latest blinder from his avant-jazz-supergroup with Arve Henriksen and Ståle Storløkken, a.k.a. Norway’s Supersilent... Arriving more than 20 years since the trio’s debut, ’14’ finds their improvisational formula of trumpet, voice, keys and electronics generating some of the most phantasmic sound images imaginable. At only 33 minutes wide, ’14’ is also one the shortest Supersilent albums in memory, revolving around 12 succinct pieces ranging in length from 1 minute to nearly 6, and tiled like an abstract, tessellating mosaic of ideas, rent in 3D by Sten’s bespoke Audiovirus system of analog oscillators and vintage tape machines. Incredible,evocative and fuucked up music for late nights and isolation - a huge recommendation." [Boomkat] 2018 €22.00
SVASTI-AYANAM Sanklesa CD Wer sich schon immer eine Melange aus tibetischer Ritual-Musik und perkussiver ambient Industrial-Trance und dunklen Maschinen-Drones gewünscht hat, liegt bei SVASTI-AYANAM genau richtig ! Dies ist die Wiederveröffentlichung eines lange vergriffenen Albums von 1998 vom RAISON D'ETRE-Seitenprojekt, enthält 2 Bonus-Tracks! "Svasti-ayanam is Peter Andersson's foray into dark, Tibetan-Nepalese ambience. Andersson is well known for his work as Raison D'etre, Atomine Elektrine etc. In this incarnation, his signature Raison D'etre sound has been modified in an incredibly pronounced, and effective way. Sanklesa is marked by strong tribal rhythms that draw the listener into distant, foreign, ritual soundscapes. Andersson has released a prolific catalogue of music, that includes many CD's, limited vinyl and countless compilation appearances. Album incl. 2 exlusive bonus-tracks." [label info] www.eternalpride.ru 2007 €13.00
SWANS White Light from the Mouth of Infinity / Love of Life 3 x CD "Swans continue their remastered reissues series on Mute / Young God Records with the release of White Light from the Mouth of Infinity and Love of Life on 4 December 2015. The two albums will be initially released as a limited vinyl box set and presented in the original restored artwork, which includes paintings by Deryk Thomas. The 2500 micron black lined box - with original logo in silver foil block in black paper - will also include 2 rare posters, a CD of outtakes, rarities, contemporaneous live recordings and a download code for both albums. The vinyl issue will include the track »Blind«, not included in the original release. Love of Life, the band's eighth studio album, followed soon after in 1992. According to Allmusic's Ned Ragget, »Love of Life continues the astounding creative roll Swans found themselves on … yet another Swans masterpiece.« The vinyl version of this album has also been unavailable since its original release. Michael Gira recently announced that Swans are currently working on their last album in this »current incarnation«. The basic tracks and vocals were completed last month at Sonic Ranch studio in Texas with John Congleton as engineer, with Michael Gira producing. Further work will continue in Seattle and Berlin and the new album is expected to be released on Mute / Young God Records in late spring 2016." [label info] 2015 €22.50
The Glowing Man (special ed.) do-CD & DVD The final album by the Swans. Finally, Peace. www.mute.org "Swans neuestes Studioalbum, The Glowing Man, erscheint Mitte Juni via Mute auf 2CD+DVD, 2CD und 3LP+MP3. Der Veröffentlichung des neuen Albums, die Sänger und Swans-Kopf Michael Gira als letztes Album der Swans in ihrer "gegenwärtigen Inkarnation" verstanden wissen will, wird eine extensive Welt-Tournee folgen, die die Band auch in unsere Breiten führt. Die Band formierte sich 1982, löste sich 1997 auf und fand ab 2010 erneut zusammen. In ihrer letzten Phase veröffentlichten sie die Alben "My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky" (2010), "The Seer" (2012) und "To Be Kind" (2014). Das neue Album wurde zum Großteil in El Paso, Texas aufgenommen, weitere Aufnahmen entstanden in Seattle und Berlin, abgemischt & gemastert wurde es in New York. - 2CD inklusive Bonus DVD (Swans Live 2015) im Digipak! - Standard 2CD im Digipak! - 3LP im Doppel-Gatefold inklusive Poster & Downloadcode!" [german press info] 2016 €20.00
Leaving Meaning do-CD SWANS Leaving Meaning is the band’s fifteenth studio album, the follow up to 2016’s The Glowing Man and due for release by Mute / Young God Records (N America) on 25 October 2019. Leaving Meaning will be released on double vinyl in a brown chipboard sleeve, double CD in a brown chipboard digipack and digitally. Listen to the first track from the album, ‘It’s Coming It’s Real’: https://youtu.be/3ZVZo30M8Lc Written and produced by Michael Gira, the album features contributions from recent and former Swans, members of Angels of Light as well as Guest Artists Anna and Maria von Hausswolff, Ben Frost, The Necks, Baby Dee, and a Hawk and a Hacksaw – full personnel list below. Michael Gira explains, “Leaving Meaning is the first Swans album to be released since I dissolved the lineup of musicians that constituted Swans from 2010 – 2017. Swans is now comprised of a revolving cast of musicians, selected for both their musical and personal character, chosen according to what I intuit best suits the atmosphere in which I’d like to see the songs I’ve written presented. In collaboration with me, the musicians, through their personality, skill and taste, contribute greatly to the arrangement of the material. They’re all people whose work I admire and whose company I personally enjoy.” “Here below are the primary contributors to Leaving Meaning: Michael Gira – Vocals, words, acoustic/electric guitar, production. I started Swans in NYC in 1982 and have been the primary songwriter, singer and producer throughout the years. In the early years I played bass, but later switched to guitar. During the years of Swans hiatus (1999 – 2010), I released several albums by and toured with a group called Angels of Light. Kristof Hahn – Lap steel, various guitars throughout, backing vocals, generous and insightful advice on mixes and arrangements. Kristof first became involved with Swans in 1989, was a principal contributor to Angels of Light, and a core Swans member 2010 – 2017. Kristof’s other musical ventures have included the Rock ‘n’ Roll Noir band Les Hommes Sauvages and Kool Kings (with Alex Chilton). He’s currently working on an instrumental record for Lawrence English’s label, Room 40. He holds a master’s degree in Political Science, and when Swans doesn’t pay the bills, he translates books for a living. Kristof’s presence, on and off tape, is pivotal to this record. Kristof lives in Berlin, Germany. Larry Mullins – Drums, vibes, orchestral percussion, Mellotron, various keyboards, backing vocals. Larry (AKA Toby Dammit) is a trained symphonic percussionist and all-around consummate musician. He played through the 90s with Iggy Pop and later with The Stooges. He played with Swans in the late 90s and was a main contributor to Angels of Light. He is rumored to have been involved with The Residents. His varied and numerous credits also include a stint with Silver Apples as well as recently, Shakespears Sister. His current main job is playing keyboards with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. I decided immediately to ask Larry to contribute to Leaving Meaning after watching the German TV series Babylon Berlin, and suddenly, unbeknownst to me, there was Larry as the main focus of various cabaret scenes, drumming behind a huge kick drum in his inimitable style. After laughing in shock for perhaps half an hour, I decided to contact him. We hadn’t been in close touch for a long time and I’m elated I reached out. Larry lives in Berlin, Germany. Yoyo Röhm – Electric bass, double bass, various keyboards, piano, backing vocals. Yoyo came to my attention through his work with Kristof and Larry in Berlin. In addition to his excellent bass playing, Yoyo’s ears were invaluable in helping to sort out many of the arrangements. Yoyo plays with numerous left field musicians around Berlin and also works with Mick Harvey on his Serge Gainsbourg recordings and tours. Yoyo, Larry, Kristof and I rehearsed in Berlin for 3 weeks prior to recording. Yoyo is a true Berliner – gruff and determined on the outside, a marshmallow inside. He was a great musical resource for this record. The Necks – (Chris Abrahams – piano, organ; Tony Buck – drums, percussion; Lloyd Swanton – double bass). I have been an avid Necks fan since I first saw them perform at a Big Ears Festival in 2010. They subsequently played with Swans at a few shows in Australia. Their live performances and recordings are just about any superlative you can think of – mesmerizing, transcendent, sublime. Their music is entirely improvisational – it’s my understanding that they have no idea what they’re going to play before they start. And yet, mostly using rudimentary jazz trio instrumentation, they manage to fashion burgeoning and ever-evolving, immersive clouds of sound that utterly envelop the listener as the music unfolds. I’m beyond honored and humbled that they agreed to perform the basic tracks for 2 of my songs (The Nub and Leaving Meaning). Their performances were then delicately, and (I hope!) tastefully further orchestrated upon in Berlin. Tony lives in Berlin, and also played drums on the song Some New Things. Anna and Maria von Hausswolff – Choral backing vocals. Anna is blessed with a soaring voice, lyrical acuity and increasing facility with the church organ. I was impressed recently to learn that she often travels around Europe and visits churches unannounced, where she talks her way into being allowed to use the resident organ – some of them rather massive, I imagine – and plays and explores for hours. Her searing records and live shows reflect the courage of her imagination and have garnered her increasing, much deserved recognition. Maria is an accomplished Swedish cinematographer and director of photography. In 2017 I heard Anna and Maria singing together at a sound check for a special song they were doing in Anna’s set, was instantly enthralled, and resolved at that moment to ask them to participate together on a Swans recording. I’m delighted they agreed to come to Berlin and record for me. They were a joy to work with! They live in Scandinavia. Ben Frost – Guitar, synthesizers, sound manipulations. Ben’s adventurous sound-craftings, sometimes harrowing and sometimes delicate and quite musical, and his powerful live shows, have afforded him much recognition of late. I’ve also been highly impressed with his soundtrack work for the HBO series, Dark. He’s an extremely talented arranger and composer. His mission for this record was intentionally ill defined. I basically wanted his ears and sensibility, with no particular part or instrument in mind. I arrived at his studio in Reykjavik, Iceland, put up the songs, and he played what he thought a song needed. I was pleasantly surprised to discover his unique approach to the electric guitar as well as his synth work. Ben also was quite helpful with arrangement and mixing ideas. Ben lives in Iceland. Baby Dee – Lead vocal on The Nub, supported by her friends Fay Christen and Ida Albertje Michels, and Jennifer Gira. Dee has released numerous records (one produced by Bonnie Prince Billie, I think), and if you don’t know them, you should! The first time I saw her she was riding a unicycle in circles outside the now-defunct Avant club, Tonic, in NYC, playing a ukulele (or accordion?) and singing with great mirth. I saw her set that night and was won over. She’s since toured with Swans several times. Her music could loosely be called neo cabaret, but more accurately she’s totally unique and a great performer and songwriter, graced with a powerful voice and high-end ability on the piano, accordion and more. I wrote The Nub specifically for her to sing. I was stymied for words to the main guitar figure to the song, and suddenly she popped into my mind, floating through the universe in diapers, sucking milk from the stars. The song wrote itself. Dee lives in The Netherlands. Jeremy Barnes and Heather Trost – Jeremy: Santur, hi-hat, fiddlesticks, accordion, engineering; Heather: Stroh violin, violin, viola, fiddlesticks, engineering. Together, Jeremy and Heather comprise the band A Hawk and a Hacksaw. (Jeremy played at one time with the bands Neutral Milk Hotel and Beirut). Again, if you don’t know their music, you should! They’ve released several records. It’s Balkan/Gypsy influenced, somewhat psychedelicized, with great singing, playing and melodies. They’re each multi-instrumentalists and they intrepidly travel the world, both touring and simply exploring the Balkans, in search of adventure and master musicians of the region, some of whom they simply befriend, others whom they record. They toured with Swans a while ago, and I’ve had it in the back of my mind to ask them to record on a record since. I travelled to their home studio in Albuquerque, New Mexico, presented the songs, and did the same thing I did with Ben – I said, “Now what?” You can hear them on several songs on the record, sometimes subtly, at other times more pronounced. In any event, it’s great to have such a pair of wonderful humans on the record. ADDITIONAL MUSICIANS: Dana Schechter – Dana played bass on the song ‘Some New Things’. Dana was a core member of Angels of Light. Her current band is Insect Ark. It’s rather heavy and great. Will be working with Dana more soon in the future and very pleased we reconnected recently. Jennifer Gira – Backing vocals throughout and cameo vocal on Sunfucker. Jennifer has sung backing vocals on the past few Swans albums as well as lead vocal on the song When Will I Return? on the last Swans album, The Glowing Man. She’s also of invaluable help on mixing and arrangement decisions. Cassis Staudt – Accordion and harmonium. Cassis was a core member of Angels of Light. She moved to Berlin some time ago and we lost touch. Cassis is a composer of music for films in Berlin. I’m very happy to be working with her again. Norman Westberg – Electric guitar. Norman played on a few key moments on this record. Norman has been in and out of Swans since the beginning (mostly in) and was a core Swans member in 2010 – 2017. We’ll continue to work together into the future, absolutely. Norman releases solo instrumental records through Lawrence English’s Room 40 label. We’re touring (each solo) together in Eastern Europe soon. Christopher Pravdica – Bass guitar, sounds. Chris played at pivotal moments on this record. He was a core Swans member in 2010 – 2017. We’ll continue to work together in the future, absolutely. Chris has recently been enlisted by Jamie Stewart for his band Xiu Xiu. Phil Puleo – Phil played hammer dulcimer on the song Amnesia. This might be considered a severe underutilization of his considerable talents as a drummer, but there’s more to come quite soon. Phil was a core member in Swans 2010 – 2017 and played as a member of Swans in the late 90s and contributed to Angels of Light. Thor Harris – percussion, trumpet, clarinet, sounds, bells, gizmos, additional vibes. Thor drove up from Austin to record for me at Heather and Jeremy’s place in Albuquerque. Always a highpoint to be in the presence of this committed musician and friend. Thor was a core member of Swans in 2010 – 2016 as well as Angels of Light. Certainly, more to come! Thor has his own happening combo, Thor and friends, and they make seductive and beautiful records and tour often. He also has recently been recruited by Jamie for Xiu Xiu. Paul Wallfisch – Paul played piano to great effect here and there on the record. Paul was a touring member of Swans in 2017. He works with the glorious human chanteuse Little Annie. He’s also a musical director for theater productions in Germany, and recently landed a very fancy-pants job as musical director/composer for a theater production at a historical theater in Vienna. Thanks to All!!!! MG” 2019 €18.50
  The Beggar do-LP listen: https://swans.bandcamp.com/album/the-beggar https://younggodrecords.com/products/the-beggar SWANS have announced details of their sixteenth studio album, The Beggar, due for release on Mute / Young God Records (N America) on 23 June 2023. In addition, Swans have announced further dates for a tour across the UK, Europe and North America – full details below. The Beggar is released as double vinyl in a brown chipboard sleeve with a download card for accessing an additional 44 minutes of music (a 44 minute piece of music called The Beggar Lover (Three) that is included on the CD), and as a double CD in a brown chipboard digi-pack. The Beggar was recorded and mixed at Candy Bomber Studio, Berlin, engineered by Ingo Krauss and mastered by Doug Henderson at Micro-Moose, Berlin. The album was written and produced by Michael Gira and features contributions from recent and former Swans, members of Angels of Light, as well as Guest Swan Ben Frost. “After numerous pandemic-induced cancellations of tours for the previous Swans album leaving meaning, and an apparent bottomless pit of waiting, waiting, waiting, and the strange disorientation that came with this sudden but interminable forced isolation I decided it was time to write songs for a new Swans album and forget about everything else. They came relatively easily, always informed by the suspicion that these could be my last. When I finally was able to travel, songs in hand, to Berlin to work with my friends recording this record, the feeling was akin to the moment in The Wizard of Oz when the film changes from Black and White to Color. Now I’m feeling quite optimistic. My favourite color is pink. I hope you enjoy the album.” – Michael Gira Primary contributors to The Beggar: Michael Gira – Vocals, words, acoustic guitar, production. Gira started Swans in NYC in 1982 and has been the primary songwriter, singer and producer throughout the years. During the Swans hiatus (1999 – 2010), he released several albums by and toured with a group called Angels of Light. Gira recently published a book of his short stories, journals, and words for music, called The Knot. He lives in New Mexico. Kristof Hahn – Lap steel, various guitars, vocals. Kristof first joined Swans in 1989 and was a principal contributor to Angels of Light, and a core Swans member 2010 – 2017. Kristof’s other musical ventures have included the Rock ‘n’ Roll Noir band Les Hommes Sauvages and Kool Kings (with Alex Chilton). When not making music Kristof translates books. He lives in Berlin, Germany. Larry Mullins - Drums, vibes, orchestral percussion, Mellotron, various keyboards, backing vocals. Larry is a trained symphonic percussionist. He played through the ‘90s with Iggy Pop and later with The Stooges. He played with Swans in the late ‘90s and was a main contributor to Angels of Light. His current main job is playing drums with The Bad Seeds. Larry lives in Berlin, Germany. Dana Schechter – Bass guitar, lap steel, keyboards, vocals, piano. Dana played bass in and was a core member of Angels of Light. She subsequently released music and toured as Bee and Flower. Her current band is the power-duo, Insect Ark. Dana is also an animator and designer in the film industry and currently lives in Berlin, Germany. Christopher Pravdica - Bass guitar, sounds, keyboards, vocals. Chris played bass as a core Swans member in 2010 – 2017. Chris has played with the bands, The Gunga Din, Flux Information Sciences, Xiu Xiu, Yonatan Gat and Medicine Singers and has a project of his own called We Owe. Chris is a sound designer and lives in Brooklyn, NY. Phil Puleo – Drums, percussion, vocals, piano, exotic wind instruments. Phil played drums with Swans in the late ‘90s and was a core member in Swans 2010 – 2017 and contributed to Angels of Light. Phil’s early NYC musical venture was Cop Shoot Cop and has since played with Human Impact, among others. Phil is an extremely talented illustrator and lives in Chicago, IL. Ben Frost - Guitar, synthesizers, sound manipulations. In his own work, Ben’s adventurous sound-craftings are sometimes harrowing and sometimes delicate and quite musical. His numerous albums and his powerful live shows have afforded him much recognition. He is also an accomplished composer and arranger of music for film and television. Ben lives in Reykjavik, Iceland. Backing vocals are provided by Jennifer Gira, Lucy Kruger and Laura Carbone. Organ illustrations by Nicole Boitos The Beggar 2CD tracklisting CD1: The Parasite (8:27) Paradise is Mine (9:23) Los Angeles: City of Death (3:29) Michael is Done (6:08) Unforming (5:55) The Beggar (10:15) No More of This (6:55) Ebbing (11:04) Why Can\\\'t I Have What I Want Any Time That I Want? (7:38) CD2: The Beggar Lover (Three) (43:51) The Memorious (8:38) The Beggar 2LP tracklisting + The Beggar Lover (Three) included on download card Side A Paradise is Mine (9:23) The Beggar (10:15) Side B Los Angeles: City of Death (3:29) The Parasite (8:27) The Memorious (7:53) Side C Michael is Done (6:08) Why Can\\\'t I Have What I Want Any Time That I Want? (7:41) Unforming (6:10) Side D Ebbing (11:25) No More of This (6:55) 2023 €45.00
SYBARITE Dolourous Echo 7inch Dass BRAINWASHED auch immer ein Faible für gut gemachte Popmusik hatten, beweist diese Single von SYBARITE mit zwei warmen, weich melancholischen, harmonisch-fliessenden aber interessant gestalteten Elektro-Pop / IDM - Stücken.... “Two instrumental songs from Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist Xian Hawkins. As Sybarite, he's released full-length albums on labels like Temporary Residence and 4AD and has had a number of singles and compilation tracks from labels all over the world. He is currently working on his second full-length album for 4AD. It's upbeat, amazingly well crafted and never wears out its welcome. www.brainwashed.com/sybarite blue vinyl !” [press release] 2005 €6.00
SYNAPSIS Materia CD Zoharum opens new serie IYHHH-CDs in limited edition 444 pieces. The main idea of this serie is to show interesting, remarkable music projects, which usually have their debut by this release.But we also wish to remind You about rare, unavailable materials of these projects, which have been existed on the music scene from longer time and their side-projects etc. We can say that the main purpose is to protect this wonderful, original music from the oblivion, but also to recall and refresh it to new audience and collectors.. Albums signed as IYHHH are released on CDs, packed in uncoventional ecopack in format similar to occasional card with added post card. Each part of the serie will be the same design but different cover and catalogue number. "Second part of serie IYHHH. Zoharum presents new project of Dawid Chrapla (Nojens / Antibiotix) and Andrzej Turziak (:Wulgata: , Multipoint Injector). The album shows compilation of various styles: industrial, dark ambient and noise Limited edition to 444 pcs" [label info] www.zoharum.com 2010 €12.00
SYNTA[XE]RROR [.]DOT CD synta [XE] rror is a duo of Bartosz “Kostia” Jakubicki and Artur “Blacha” Błaszczyk hailing from Wroclaw in southern Poland. Project came to life in the late ‘90s. Guys officialy released 2 albums – “Abyad” in 2006 on Polish War Office Propaganda and “Final” on Italian Ars Benevola Mater. Among 9 tracks of the album Kostia and Blacha present their skills of sound design and quite intricate arrangement. Artificial sounding and non-obvious rhythms are enriched by very emotional, melodic pads and synths giving a great impression of symbiosis of a man and machine. Album recalls early 2000s IDM sound in a great way, bringing back memories of projects like Gridlock or Somatic Responses of Hymen fame - cold and synthetic on one side, warm and very humane on the other. CD edition of 300 copies comes in 6 panel ecopack. https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/dot 2021 €12.00
TABOR RADOSTI Havamal CD Tábor Radosti is a fantastic band from the Czech Republic. Their debut album came out in 2001 as a self-released CDR that is now totally impossible to find. Tábor Radosti have created a very unique sound that includes drone, voice, samples, but also beats and analogue instruments. Their visuals and lyrics are very much centered around occult themes, if you have ever seen them live you will have been stunned. Klanggalerie is now very proud to start a re-issue program for the first two albums. Many of you have probably not heard of them before, but it is time that they gain popularity outside of their home country. The vocals are spoken in Czech - to Western European or American ears there is a certain similarity to early Laibach, they share the same roughness, but Tabor Radosti also include electronic beats which again is reminiscent of present day Laibach. On this re-issue, we bring back the second album Havamal with also updated artwork and some bonus tracks. NB: We at Klanggalerie stumbled across Tabor Radosti at Castle Festival in Moravia and were so impressed by their performance that we signed them immediately. https://klanggalerie.bandcamp.com/album/h-vam-l 2018 €14.00
TALVIHORROS And it was so LP "Talvihorros is London based composer Ben Chatwin's study of guitar and electronics. Numerous techniques are used to coax a myriad of sounds from both acoustic and electric guitars. Home-made and vintage electronic equipment are used to loop, process and manipulate improvised material into dense and dark sound collages. What started out as a personal challenge to make an album in 7 days grew into something else entirely. Over a year in the making, and expanding his trademark guitar sound with drums, strings, bells, organs and synthesisers, 'And It Was So' features contributions from fellow label mates Field Rotation (violin) and Petrels (cello) along with tour partner Jordan Chatwin (drums/percussion) and long time collaborator Anais Lalange (viola). If last years album 'Descent Into Delta' was reminiscent of plunging into the murky depths, his latest offering 'And It Was So' evokes the expansiveness, dynamicism and density of the cosmos. Attempting to find order in chaos is something Talvihorros has been striving to achieve over the past three albums and he has never balanced these elements so beautifully. Merging the textural noise of Tim Hecker with psychedelic, guitar sound-sculpters such as Barn Owl and Sun Araw. Vinyl: thick sleeves + thick printed inner sleeves; 180g vinyl; free download code." [label info] www.denovali.com 2012 €20.00
  And it was so CD "Talvihorros is London based composer Ben Chatwin's study of guitar and electronics. Numerous techniques are used to coax a myriad of sounds from both acoustic and electric guitars. Home-made and vintage electronic equipment are used to loop, process and manipulate improvised material into dense and dark sound collages. What started out as a personal challenge to make an album in 7 days grew into something else entirely. Over a year in the making, and expanding his trademark guitar sound with drums, strings, bells, organs and synthesisers, 'And It Was So' features contributions from fellow label mates Field Rotation (violin) and Petrels (cello) along with tour partner Jordan Chatwin (drums/percussion) and long time collaborator Anais Lalange (viola). If last years album 'Descent Into Delta' was reminiscent of plunging into the murky depths, his latest offering 'And It Was So' evokes the expansiveness, dynamicism and density of the cosmos. Attempting to find order in chaos is something Talvihorros has been striving to achieve over the past three albums and he has never balanced these elements so beautifully. Merging the textural noise of Tim Hecker with psychedelic, guitar sound-sculpters such as Barn Owl and Sun Araw. Cd: nice digipak packaging." [label info] www.denovali.com 2012 €14.50
TANKRED, KENT There is Nothing to Attain do-CD Kent Tankred (b.1947) is one of the true hidden masters of Swedish electro-acoustic and experimental music. Tankred studied at Elektronmusikstudion in Stockholm in the early 70s and he has released a sparse catalogue of fine works, mainly for his and Leif Elggren’s Firework Edition Records as well as Ash International. In 1995 he put out the extremely strong album ”Ordinary Things” on Fylkingen Records. ”THERE IS NOTHING TO ATTAIN” is his first albums since the 2010 CDr with the same title. - iDEAL. * Music is not like people. Nonetheless most music tries to pretend it is human, imitating their movements, feelings, attributes, even opinions. Kent’s music doesn’t pretend to be anything. One quickly forgets there could be a human behind it, even though it may have arisen from some profound game, a concentration on some discovery, combination, principle. The music is naked, or rather unclothed, inhuman, at the first encounter reminding you of everything you would prefer to avoid: leaf-blowers, neighbours drilling the wall, machinery grinding, a screwdriver stripping the thread with a careless move, electric warning signals, all on top of each other. A recent radio programme was discussing whether the phrase “human error” should be replaced by the less recriminatory “human contribution”. Meanwhile a submarine has sunk into an ocean chasm and the 53 aboard who might still be alive will run out of oxygen before they can be reached. A struggle between man and machine. But here there is no struggle, the machine is likened to any other natural phenomenon. It just is, does what it does, or doesn’t, in its own time which is neither fast nor slow since it doesn’t have to be compared with anything, has no purpose, no significance, is neither good nor evil. A god like Einstein’s, indistinguishable from nature in its entirety. A galaxy does not rotate in order to be beautiful or strong. A fan does not make something flap about randomly in order to trace a certain pattern. In the starkly dystopic early science-fiction film On the Beach (1959) a Morse signal is detected from a region where all life should have been eradicated by the atomic winter. An expedition is sent to resolve the mystery. In a completely lifeless industrial zone they find that someone, before the radiation wiped them out, had hung a coke bottle on a string from a roller blind balanced so that the random flapping of the blind caused the bottle to press the telegraph key, producing a haphazard stream of code which inevitably from time to time formed meaningful words and phrases. I am hard put to explain what it is than can suddenly make the music so entertaining, so jocular in the midst of this objective, mundane mangling. Yet one does get reminded at some point that someone is behind all this, has discovered or molded, has chosen this; perhaps not a joke but pure serendipity. Just as things originate so must they vanish, by one decision or another – a handbrake, a puncture, a flying catch. The process “concludes”, or purports to, as when someone suddenly wakes you from a dream which you forget immediately but retain the echo of a feeling. Or you are surprised by your parents opening the door when you’re in the middle of a game where you can’t remember whether what you’re doing is supposed to be secret or not. And so the cauldron or the ventilation pipes spill out a bus garage, a swarm of drones, or those flying bicycles Leonardo had a mind to make. Johannes Bergmark. https://idealrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/there-is-nothing-to-attain 2021 €17.50
TAPHEPHOBIA House of Memories do-CD As Reverse Alignment was established in 2007 we also made our first contact with Ketil Søraker. His guitarbased drone project Taphephobia had just a moment ago released it's first opus "House of Memories" through the belgium label Nothingness Records. From there on we've been in touch more or less, (in a more constant period) when putting out "Anomie" and "Black City Skyline", (and more or less) over the years when new production's emerged. Since Taphephobia's first release in 2007, Ketil's project is now a permanent act under the banner of Cyclic Law and has since it's start released six albums, and a load of collaborative albums and compilation tracks. Now, 10 years after it's publication, Reverse Alignment release House of Memories again, with new artwork and design from Haerleif Langås and mastered by Frédéric Arbour. As a special treat follows eleven selected compilation tracks put together for this release. All a good way to summarize ten years of Taphephobia, from how the project sounded in the early days to today. reversealignment.bandcamp.com/album/house-of-memories 2017 €16.00
  Blue Hour CD New album by Norway’s Cinematic Drone project Taphephobia. On is now 8th full length, we’re offered a dreamlike experience based upon personal emotional states and reflections of both the immediate environment and far reaching “outer” world. Not a concept album but rather a collection of feelings and visual impressions that revealed themselves in the compositional process. “Blue Hour” is dedicated to the unique atmosphere of the northern landscape. Artwork by Nihil. Edition of 300 copies in 4 panel Digipack. 8 Tracks. Running Time 46:31 https://cycliclaw.bandcamp.com/album/blue-hour "This new album guarantees static musical excursions and textured oceanic experiences of crystal purity and chilling beauty. With his project Taphephobia the sound artist Ketil Søraker is rigorously following the path of deep ambient music with clear reverence to most representative classicists of the genre. After a slow debut in this musical sphere, Taphephobia finally made a name and a growing reputation thanks to a contract with the indie dark ambient / post-industrial music label Cyclic Law. Solid albums as Ghostwood were released in relative discretion but elaborated with passion and obvious compositional skills. This project is inclined to smoothly layered sequences, timbral explorations with a fancy for cinematic qualities that invite the listener to enter mythical worlds where the ordinary sense of temporality is vanished. Humming drones meet shimmering atmospheric soundscapes, the whole thing luring the listener in one extra-sensory slow motion immersion. This new album guarantees static musical excursions and textured oceanic experiences of crystal purity and chilling beauty. As for Ghostwood we can appreciate the occasional presence of transfigured and deeply sorrowing guitar lines in a dream-pop/ shoegazing style, floating between glimmering drones and a deep vastness. All in all Blue Hour is a quiet, charming, soothing and spacious ambient release with moments of forlorn stillness."[Philippe Blache, IGLOO mag] 2020 €13.00
TARAB Strata CD "Strata has been constructed from recording made in a series of vacant lots and their immediate surrounds in the north-west of Melbourne. These vacant lots are backed onto by various factories and warehouses on one side and a train line and Moonee Ponds creek (perhaps more aptly described as a concrete storm water drain) on the other. Running some 20 meters above all this is a large multi-lane highway overpass. This area has interested me for some time, the creeks and their walking paths act as a thoroughfare of sorts somewhat removed from the rest of the city. Somewhere to move through but not to stop and spend any real time. This collection of empty lots in particular has become an overlooked pocket, acting as a trap and dumping ground for rubbish or as a safe out of the way location for homeless people to live. It is a place where the industrial meets nature to create a zone which is strangely neither. It has a odd feeling of emptiness while being both sonically and physically dense with traffic noise, over grown weeds, hidden dwellings and rubbish. As discussed in the introduction to Francesco Careri’s book Walkscapes: Walking as an Aesthetic Practice (Editorial Gustavo Gili, 2002) there is a common held view of the urban landscape as full with small pockets of emptiness (be it parks or demolition sites), as opposed to the rural landscape which is seen as empty with small areas of density. A view which holds within it much of the associated baggage regarding centres, peripheries and social marginalisation. What is thought of as empty is often simply that which is not seen or heard, the majority of people wilfully choosing to ignore. As for many others, these areas of cities hold great fascination for me, acting as a sort of hidden zone, full of the traces and debris of various past and present human activity, whether commercial, domestic or nefarious. All the while being slowly eroded by weather and reclaimed by the now unrestrained plant and animal life. Rather than attempting to document this location I set out to construct a sound piece from the place itself through my direct interaction with it. Somehow collecting together all the existent traces I could unearth to form the work. Not only through walking, observing and recording the various areas and sounds but also by crawling and scratching around in the dirt; sifting through the piles of discarded objects; listening to the solid vibrations of the concrete pylons and traffic noise from inside the creek; by burying microphones and dragging them through the dirt and rubble. Strata attempts to respond to ideas of urban density and emptiness, and to show how these states blur and overlap each other. I have tried to highlight the small hidden details and with them create a condensed hyper-real version of my many wanderings through this area. But perhaps more simply put, Strata is the result of a process of attempting to, if only fleetingly, inhabit somewhere. To see, hear, smell and touch it." ]Eamon Sprod, September 2013] www.unfathomless.net "Vacant store fronts, abandoned buildings, and empty lots are increasingly harder to find in San Francisco these days. Even the former wastelands well to the east of our Mission location are filling in with all manner of development, from modern office spaces to sleek steel & glass apartments. Complaints of gentrification can hardly be made when such buildings are constructed on purportedly mitigated toxic sludge or the settled landfill of crumbled highways from the '89 earthquake. These dead zones in the urban landscape nevertheless are thriving ecosystems of feral plants and animals that can exist sprouting through broken asphalt and plumping themselves on the scraps of whatever can be pulled from nearby garbage cans. Few would pine over the loss of such spaces, and the Australian sound artist Eamon Sprod (aka Tarab) is one who would actively explore vacant lots instead of ignoring them. Over the years, Sprod has released a small catalogue of brilliant, if understated albums that reflect these dead spaces in the urban landscape, often with apocalyptic foreshadowings through his compositions. He patiently builds this work through layers of sparsely processed field recordings and found object manipulation often recorded directly in such environments - empty warehouses, military bunkers, dry sewer ducts and the like. For Strata, Sprod has documented something of a concrete island on the outskirts of Melbourne, bordered by train tracks, highways, and drainage ditches. In collecting his recordings, he would dig and claw through the broken concrete, construction refuse, bum trash, and aggregated debris, amassing a whole array of crumbled textures and noises that would also echo with the distant din of cars and trains roaring by, many miles away. What is always impressive about Sprod's albums is the incredible clarity of detail which pops into focus, as the bright frequencies of found metal debris take the shape of obsidian shards with possible diabolically mystical qualities. The compositions coalesce into churning swarms of texture that snap into expansive rumbles paralleling the desolation of Thomas Koner's polar treks, giving way to doppler-effected field recordings of trains with the grinding of brakes and the pulsing thunder of the engines. It's that rich attention to detail that warrants comparisons to Chris Watson's impeccable phonography, but the compositional approach strikes a balance between the psychological implications of Luc Ferrari and those damn-near perfect collages by Small Cruel Party. As with all of Tarab's work, this is very highly recommended! Limited to just 200 copies!" [Aquarius Records] "Not the most active when it comes to releases by Eamon Sprod always gets around with his music, and has been releasing music on 23Five Incorporated, Naturestrip and most recently on Semper Florens (see Vital Weekly 866). Here he has a thirty-four minute piece based on a recording in a 'series of vacant lots and their surrounds which back on the Macaulay Station and Moonee Ponds Creek, North Melbourne, Australia', so train sounds are part and parcel of this. Although it's not entirely clear what he does, I'd say Tarab uses an excellent balance between pure, untreated sounds - here's where the trains drive right through your living room - and the treated versions there of, but it's never really that clear what is what indeed. Maybe Tarab stuck some contact microphones of the tracks as to pick up some far away signals, or rummages through the dirt along the tracks, which makes a very dynamic piece of music. Sometimes very loud and present but then as abruptly switching off and staying is this low audible audio rumble of amplified gravel. Sometimes, as say around eight minutes, there is a deep end bass sound which must be something the computer coughed up, but then, I might be entirely wrong here. This is a great release of music that comes to us a soundscape and not as a pure documentation of sounds; exactly the kind of thing I like. Much enjoyable release from down under." [FdW/Vital Weekly] 2013 €14.00
TAUMEL In Pieces - Volume One 10inch "in pieces - volume one" - taumel trifft das ensemble adapter - - - im winter 2016 haben sich 'taumel' und das 'ensemble adapter' zu mehreren improvisativen sessions getroffen um einen musikabend zu entwickeln, bei dem die gegensätze und grenzen zwischen komposition und improvisation, freiheit und festlegung, chaos und struktur verschwimmen oder kollidieren. im mittelpunkt der sessions stand die entwicklung einer spezifischen, klang-gestischen musiksprache. jeder musker hat gewissermaßen auf seinem instrument einen charakter und seine jeweils eigene spezifische klang-gestik entwickelt. diese sessions haben wir mitgeschnitten und für "in pieces" als grundlage genommen. "in pieces" besteht aus den remixes dieser sessions, sowie zusätzlich von taumel produziertem studiomaterial. "in pieces" kann als sureales klanggedicht verstanden werden, als eine abstrakte klang-geschichte, die durch die verschiedensten zustände wandert - von größtem glück bis hin zu raserei und wahnsinn. in den 2 mutierenden klangfeldern kreist die assoziative geschichte um das thema der sprachlichen unveräußerbarkeit und damit auch um das thema 'chaos und ordnung'. diese doppelbödigkeit, der versuch zur schönheit und dessen umkippen in zerstörung und versagen. schreibversuche, sprechversuche, gestammel, gestotter, geschrei, einengung, wegdriften, gesumme... in der mutation der zustände treffen heterogene klangereignisse aufeinander oder werden vermengt zu einer neuartigen masse zwischen lied, sprechen, melodie, harmonie, geräusch, beats, riffs, wort, elektronik und verfremdung. die aktion des instrumentalisten (das instrumentenspiel) steht auf der gleichen ebene wie jede andere klangerzeugende handlung oder stimmliche veräußerung sowie jede elektronische klangerzeugung und ist immer gestisch gedacht, performativ, als handlung, als akustischer tanz. "volume one" ist der erste teil eines als zweiteiler geplanten musikalischen zusammenhangs ("in pieces - volume two). in zwei klangteilen (seite a, seite b) ist "in pieces - volume one" kein liederzyklus wie unsere anderen serien, z.B. TRAUM, sondern eher ein musikalischer 2-akter, später insgesamt 4-akter. hier teilt sich die gesamtform der musik-serie nicht auf in alben und songs, sondern in alben und deren a+b seiten, wie akt 1, 2, 3 und 4. vielleicht kann man daher "in pieces" auch als akustisches theater hören, oder als hörspiel ohne worte, oder als soundtrack ohne film, oder als film ohne bild, oder eben einfach als eine ordnung sich verändernder klangereignisse. "off the record" in "off the record" trifft taumel auf andere musiker und entwickelt alben in kolaboration. hier können verschiedenste formen der musikalischen interaktion ausprobiert werden. in diesem fall von "in pieces" bestand die zusammenarbeit mit dem "ensemble adapter" in den besagten sessions, die das grundgerüst und skelet für das gesamte album bilden. - - - INFORMATION: "in pieces - volume one" by taumel and ensemble adapter label: dronerecords https://www.dronerecords.de taumel: jakob diehl / sven pollkötter https://www.taumel.net publisher: https://www.la-chunga.com/en/ ensemble adapter: Kristjana Helgadóttir / Ingólfur Vilhjálmsson / Gunnhildur Einarsdóttir / Matthias Engler http://ensemble-adapter.de instruments: voice, drums, percussions, guitars, tipewriter, flutes, harp, clarinets, prepared piano, keyboards, synthesizer, loops and samplings, electronics, fxs on instruments. - - - - - - "in pieces - volume one" - taumel meets ensemble adapter in winter 2016, 'taumel' and the 'ensemble adapter' met for several improvisational sessions to develop an evening of music in which the contrasts and boundaries between composition and improvisation, freedom and determination, chaos and structure were to blur or collide. the sessions focused on the development of a specific, sound-gestural musical language. in a way, each musician developed kind of a character on his instrument and its own specific sound-gesture. we recorded these sessions and used them as a basis for "in pieces. "in pieces" consists of the remixes of these sessions, as well as additional studio material produced by taumel. "in pieces" can be understood as a sureal sound poem, an abstract sound story that wanders through the most different states - from greatest happiness to frenzy and madness. in the 2 mutating sound fields, the associative story revolves around the theme of linguistic inalienability and thus also around the theme of 'chaos and order'. this ambiguity, the attempt at beauty and its overturning into destruction and failure. attempts at writing, attempts at speaking, stammering, stuttering, screaming, constriction, drifting away, humming... in the mutation of states, heterogeneous sound events meet or are mixed to a new kind of soundmash between song, voices, melody, harmony, instruments, noise, beats, riffs, words, electronics and alienation. the action of the instrumentalists (the instrument playing) is on the same level as any other sound producing action or vocal expression as well as any electronic sound production and is always meant gesturally, performatively, as action, as acoustic dance. "volume one" is the first part of a musical context planned as a two-part work ("in pieces - volume two). in two sound parts (side a, side b) "in pieces - volume one" is not a song cycle like our other series, e.g. TRAUM, but rather a musical 2-act, later altogether 4-act. here the overall form of the musical series is not divided into albums and songs, but into albums and their a+b sides, like act 1, 2, 3 and 4. perhaps, therefore, "in pieces" can also be heard as an acoustic theater, or as a radio play without words, or as a soundtrack without a film, or as a film without a picture, or simply as an order of changing sound events. "off the record" in "off the record" taumel meets other musicians and develops albums in collaboration. here different forms of musical interaction can be tried out. in this case of "in pieces" the collaboration with the "ensemble adapter" consisted in these sessions, which form the basic framework and skeleton for the whole album. https://soundcloud.com/drone-records/taumel-in-pieces-vol-one "For various reasons, this is an oddball release for the Drone Records' subdivision of Substantia Innominata. Firstly, because one of the musicians is a relatively well-known actor, who played a role in the excellent German TV series 'Dark', a must-see if you like that sort of thing with time travel. He's also a composer for various films. With Sven Pollkötter, he is the duo of Taumel. I am sure Diehl's participation will raise a few unusual eyebrows in the direction of this record. More importantly, the music is not what we know from this series, a subdivision of Drone Records, which, by and large, deal with the more droney end of the musical spectrum, music for the subconsciousness. Taumel teams up with Ensemble Adapter, a four-piece group of percussion, clarinets, flute and harp, along with a ton of effects, tapes, and voices. The six of them recorded a couple of improvisations, which served as the basis of further mixing, remixing and processing by Taumel (who play keyboards, voices, guitars, typewriter, tapes, percussion, sampler, and such like). On this record, there are eight pieces, which in itself is also a thing you don't see a lot with releases on this imprint. The result is still much rooted in improvised music than you would think or even jazz, but with that streak of darkness, that is more common here. A most remarkable record, I'd say, and one that took some time here before it sank in. The resulting pieces of music are just that, pieces of music, rather than soundscaping or long-form pieces. There is excellent clarity here regarding the instruments, which are all pretty well defined within the result. However, the four pieces per side can be seen as one long story, moving from place to place, albeit a more abstract one, of course, but maybe I am distracted by the fact that there is an actor at work here. Also, it has an excellent film character. I can easily imagine visuals to go along with this, and it comes close to the world of soundtracks. Perfect record, but not one that quickly reveals its secrets." [FdW/Vital Weekly] 2021 €16.00
TEARDO, TEHO & BLIXA BARGELD Nerissimo LP Sie sind zurück! Drei Jahre nach ihrem Debüt „Still Smiling“ veröffentlichen Teho Teardo und Blixa Bargeld ihr neues Album „Nerissimo“. Darauf zeigt sich erneut ihre langjährige, künstlerische und persönliche Verbindung. Während viele gemeinsame Projekte zeitlich befristet sind, haben Teho und Blixa ihre Beziehung neu definiert und erkunden gemeinsam neue musikalische Territorien. Zum Artwork des Albums wurden sie vom Gemälde „Die Gesandten“ inspiriert, das Hans Holbein der Jüngere 1533 schuf. Darin sind Referenzen zur Philosophie, Religion, Sterblichkeit und Illusion eingebettet – Themen, die ebenfalls auf dem Album aufgegriffen werden. „Nerissimo“ ist der italienische Superlativ für schwarz – und das ist dieses Werk durch und durch. Dabei ist jedoch mitnichten „dunkel“ gemeint, wie die Farbe sonst gerne assoziiert wird. Schwarz enthält alle erdenklichen Farben und ebenso bietet auch die Musik unzählige Möglichkeiten. So spielen sich in den Songs mikroskopisch kleine Dramen wie in einer Petrischale ab ("Ulgæ") und erstrecken sich zu einer surrealen und kosmischen Siebenminutenreise in „Animelle“. Der Titeltrack eröffnet das Album auf Englisch, beendet es auf Italienisch und wirkt so wie eine Buchstütze, die eine wertvolle Sammlung literarischer Werke umklammert. Neu ist der Einsatz von Holzblasinstrumenten. Umgeben von Tehos Baritongitarre, Glocken und dem Arrangement klassischer Streichinstrumente spielt vor allem die Bassklarinette eine signifikante Rolle. Wie eine Schutzhülle umarmt sie zärtlich Blixas tiefe und gleichzeitig liebliche Stimme. Die Sprache verbindet auch die beiden Städte Rom und Berlin, in denen das Album aufgenommen wurde und legt den Grundstein für eine emotionale Reise durch die letzten drei Jahre des gemeinsamen Arbeitens. Die mannigfaltigen Facetten der verschiedenen Schwarztöne bilden ein Tagebuch von Geistererscheinungen. Von Farben, die – einmal beim Namen genannt – das ganze Universum verändern können. Sie gleichen einem Flug durch die Nacht, bei dem die vielen einzelnen kleinen Lichter der genannten Hauptstädte von oben sichtbar werden und ein ganz neues Bild ergeben. https://neubauten.org/de/releases/nerissimo 2016 €20.00
TELEPHERIQUE Slowmotion CD "Telepherique, one of Germany's most recognizable names, has returned with another masterpiece. After almost one-hundred releases over the last eightteen year on many respected labels like Ant-Zen, MSBR and Old Euroupa Cafe, Force of Nature is honored to present 'Slowmotion'. Telepherique's new album 'Slowmotion' is not the first album in which a critical view on society is presented to the listener. For example with the project Telerotor they released 'Modern Times' and 'Mobility', two highly conceptual albums with a vision on the hasty life and connectivity in modern times. But in contradiction with their earlier social conscious albums, 'Slowmotion' has a ritualistic ambient flow which enforces the listener to take it a step down; To see and live things in 'Slowmotion'. It is well said on the inlay: "This CD is dedicated to all the people who try to simplify their life in modern times, marked with materialism, business, stress and sickness". The eight tracks have notitles but they are divided into three 'steps', being "Out of balance", "Down shifting" and "Fountain of flow". The whole results in a ritualistic, flowing album with moments of rhythm, ambience and complex soundscapes." [label info] "...but it is safe to say that 'Slowmotion' is well chosen title: the music is mostly ambient in approach, with long washes of synths, but it's never the big A ambient. Telepherique also uses rhythm, a lot of it, but it's a slow pulse, whenever it is used. Not exactly dance music, but a sort of driving pulse, a heart beat if you want, or the steady bump of a train ride. You watch outside and the landscape slowly changes, with altering colors and sceneries. The rhythms have a sense of tribalism, which is not far away from some of the mechanical beats of Muslimgauze. Excellent production of music that is best heard when traveling. Leave what you are doing behind and start a journey with this as its soundtrack." [FdW / Vital Weekly] label website: www.forceofnature.cc 2007 €14.00
TEST DEPARTMENT / TEST DEPT. Disturbance LP In an ideal world, Disturbance, the new album from industrial pioneers Test Dept, would not exist. It wouldn’t need to. Britain would not stand divided by xenophobia. Working class communities would not be under siege. Capitalism would not have created a climate change crisis pushing the planet towards a dangerous brink. And the Thatcherite ideals that Graham Cunnington and Paul Jamrozy spent Test Dept’s early years raging against would not be so terrifyingly back in political vogue. Back in1981, Cunnington, Jamrozy and a revolving door of talented artists from disparate disciplines and backgrounds formed Test Dept, forging an incendiary new sound from a squat in New Cross that made them underground heroes, landing the group under surveillance by the British government. 37 years later, on Disturbance, that sound is as incendiary as ever. “It began with a project to do with our archive,” recalls Cunnington. It was the early 2010s and Test Dept had been dormant for years. The pair wanted to sort through Test Dept’s old recordings to “re-establish our history and get our music out there again” after record label red tape left many of their 14 albums out of print. When attention turned to the “next logical step of a new album”, an idea emerged – taking germs of ideas from old songs and turning them into new, sledgehammer-heavy sonic experiments full of powerful protest poetry. Politics had come full circle. It felt fitting to do the same with their music. The result is an album that at once peers into the past and roars into the future, across eight tracks that conjure the raw power of Test Dept in their original, 1980s incarnation while adding new elements. “We’re different people now – not spring chickens anymore,” laughs Jamrozy. “We’re still angry but it’s tempered by a slightly different wisdom. We tried to upgrade the sound, to soup things up further.” “Art is not a mirror to reflect reality, but a hammer to shape it,” the poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht once wrote. It’s a mantra that continues to drive Test Dept. who return to their past on this eviscerating new album in order to move into a bold new future. They hope Disturbance can soundtrack a society doing the same. music merch Disturbance by Test Dept Wishlist supported by dauvit thumbnail dauvit Test Dept. have always sounded like Test Dept. and nobody else sounds like Test Dept. Another fantastic release. jvvoda thumbnail jvvoda Not a case of sentimental cash-out reunion call, quite the opposite. This record will keep you pushed to the edge of your comfort zone, and true to the title, it will leave you disturbed - in the best possible way - as a wake up call from your apathy and ignorance back to action. mipsen thumbnail mipsen What a great interpretation of my favorite track of the "Unacceptable Face of Freedom"! The whole album is extremely recommended! Favorite track: Gatekeeper. R5N thumbnail R5N Just a fucking brilliant album. 🤘Glad to see such a great return. Bryon Wilson thumbnail Bryon Wilson Love the album! I honestly can’t say what my favorite track is. I keep listening to the entire thing straight through. Great work. Synthonic thumbnail Synthonic You don`t listen to Test Dept, you feel them. If you have a heart, that is. 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Landlord 00:00 / 04:41 Streaming + Download Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. £5.99 GBP or more Record/Vinyl + Digital Album package image package image Single black vinyl in gatefold sleeve with artwork designed by David Altweger Includes unlimited streaming of Disturbance via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. ships out within 3 days £17.99 GBP or more Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album package image CD in 6 panel digipack with artwork designed by David Altweger Includes unlimited streaming of Disturbance via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. ships out within 3 days £8.99 GBP or more 1. Speak Truth To Power 06:21 2. Landlord 04:41 3. Debris 04:33 4. Full Spectrum Dominance 07:27 5. Information Scare 04:50 6. Gatekeeper 05:32 7. GBH84 04:21 8. Two Flames Burn 07:53 about In an ideal world, Disturbance, the new album from industrial pioneers Test Dept, would not exist. It wouldn’t need to. Britain would not stand divided by xenophobia. Working class communities would not be under siege. Capitalism would not have created a climate change crisis pushing the planet towards a dangerous brink. And the Thatcherite ideals that Graham Cunnington and Paul Jamrozy spent Test Dept’s early years raging against would not be so terrifyingly back in political vogue. Back in1981, Cunnington, Jamrozy and a revolving door of talented artists from disparate disciplines and backgrounds formed Test Dept, forging an incendiary new sound from a squat in New Cross that made them underground heroes, landing the group under surveillance by the British government. 37 years later, on Disturbance, that sound is as incendiary as ever. “It began with a project to do with our archive,” recalls Cunnington. It was the early 2010s and Test Dept had been dormant for years. The pair wanted to sort through Test Dept’s old recordings to “re-establish our history and get our music out there again” after record label red tape left many of their 14 albums out of print. When attention turned to the “next logical step of a new album”, an idea emerged – taking germs of ideas from old songs and turning them into new, sledgehammer-heavy sonic experiments full of powerful protest poetry. Politics had come full circle. It felt fitting to do the same with their music. The result is an album that at once peers into the past and roars into the future, across eight tracks that conjure the raw power of Test Dept in their original, 1980s incarnation while adding new elements. “We’re different people now – not spring chickens anymore,” laughs Jamrozy. “We’re still angry but it’s tempered by a slightly different wisdom. We tried to upgrade the sound, to soup things up further.” “Art is not a mirror to reflect reality, but a hammer to shape it,” the poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht once wrote. It’s a mantra that continues to drive Test Dept. who return to their past on this eviscerating new album in order to move into a bold new future. They hope Disturbance can soundtrack a society doing the same. credits released March 1, 2019 Graham Cunnington - Percussion, Electronics, Vocals Paul Jamrozy - Percussion, Electronics, Vocals Zel Kaute - Drums Lottie Lou - Electronics, Live Sound David Altweger - Visual Director Rob Lewis - Additional Drums Ashley Davies - Bass / Percussion Laura Thompson - Additional Vocals on 'Gatekeeper' Roz Corrigan - Piano on 'Debris' Michelle Outram - Cello on 'Truth' Jordi Blanchar & Ilenia Bombardi - Additional Vocals Recorded: Flesh & Bone Studios, Hackney The Shed, Nunhead Mixed & Produced: The Shed Engineered: Lottie Lou Mastered: Giovanni Versari at La Maestra Mastering, Tredozio (FC) GBH84 Is dedicated to The Orgreave Truth & Justice Campaign Artwork by David Altweger Photos by Michael Kötter 2019 €20.00
  Disturbance CD In an ideal world, Disturbance, the new album from industrial pioneers Test Dept, would not exist. It wouldn’t need to. Britain would not stand divided by xenophobia. Working class communities would not be under siege. Capitalism would not have created a climate change crisis pushing the planet towards a dangerous brink. And the Thatcherite ideals that Graham Cunnington and Paul Jamrozy spent Test Dept’s early years raging against would not be so terrifyingly back in political vogue. Back in1981, Cunnington, Jamrozy and a revolving door of talented artists from disparate disciplines and backgrounds formed Test Dept, forging an incendiary new sound from a squat in New Cross that made them underground heroes, landing the group under surveillance by the British government. 37 years later, on Disturbance, that sound is as incendiary as ever. “It began with a project to do with our archive,” recalls Cunnington. It was the early 2010s and Test Dept had been dormant for years. The pair wanted to sort through Test Dept’s old recordings to “re-establish our history and get our music out there again” after record label red tape left many of their 14 albums out of print. When attention turned to the “next logical step of a new album”, an idea emerged – taking germs of ideas from old songs and turning them into new, sledgehammer-heavy sonic experiments full of powerful protest poetry. Politics had come full circle. It felt fitting to do the same with their music. The result is an album that at once peers into the past and roars into the future, across eight tracks that conjure the raw power of Test Dept in their original, 1980s incarnation while adding new elements. “We’re different people now – not spring chickens anymore,” laughs Jamrozy. “We’re still angry but it’s tempered by a slightly different wisdom. We tried to upgrade the sound, to soup things up further.” “Art is not a mirror to reflect reality, but a hammer to shape it,” the poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht once wrote. It’s a mantra that continues to drive Test Dept. who return to their past on this eviscerating new album in order to move into a bold new future. They hope Disturbance can soundtrack a society doing the same. released March 1, 2019 Graham Cunnington - Percussion, Electronics, Vocals Paul Jamrozy - Percussion, Electronics, Vocals Zel Kaute - Drums Lottie Lou - Electronics, Live Sound David Altweger - Visual Director Rob Lewis - Additional Drums Ashley Davies - Bass / Percussion Laura Thompson - Additional Vocals on 'Gatekeeper' Roz Corrigan - Piano on 'Debris' Michelle Outram - Cello on 'Truth' Jordi Blanchar & Ilenia Bombardi - Additional Vocals Recorded: Flesh & Bone Studios, Hackney The Shed, Nunhead Mixed & Produced: The Shed Engineered: Lottie Lou Mastered: Giovanni Versari at La Maestra Mastering, Tredozio (FC) GBH84 Is dedicated to The Orgreave Truth & Justice Campaign Artwork by David Altweger Photos by Michael Kötter https://testdept.bandcamp.com/album/disturbance 2019 €13.00
THE ONE ENSEMBLE OF DANIEL PADDEN Wayward the Fourth LP "Now also available on vinyl –very limited edition of 300 copies!-, thanks to Clear Spot's very own Daffodelic label! The One Ensemble from Scotland (led by highly regarded musician Daniel Padden) blend European folk, narrative, popular and chamber forms to create modern compositions that provide attention-grabbing hooks and thought-provoking challenges. At times formal and at others improvisational, it is difficult to pin down the One Ensemble's sound. Influences range from the classic pop-psychedelia of Robert Wyatt to the deep experimental drone of Third Ear Band. Blissful free jazz, delicate acoustic out-folk, tape collages, Eastern raga and mystical modern minimalism all peacefully coexist in the One Ensemble's unique and beautiful universe. (The CD version of this unbelievable album was released earlier this year by Secret Eye Records.)" [label info] "... As with the recent Live at VPRO CD-R (Brainwashed), Wayward the Fourth is the work of a genuine ensemble, quartet to be exact, captured in a studio. The songs are gorgeous, twisted amalgams of European and American ethnic musics, free jazz, chamber music, minimalism and experimental plateaus rarely glimpsed in the western world, dispersed with just the right emotional — ranging from giddy to somber — intensity. There’s vocals on a few tracks, a few bizarre deconstructions on some others, but what strikes me most about this is the sheer musicality, the deliberate attention to space, detail and compositional structure. One Ensemble albums have always sounded like this, but just as with Volcano the Bear’s brilliant Classic Erasmus Fusion (Beta-Lactam Ring), the ensemble approach has reached new depths of cinematic, multi-hued brilliance. Easily one of the best ‘07 has coughed up so far.” [Womblife] www.clearspot.nl 2007 €10.00
  Oriole LP " 'oriole' is the new album by the one ensemble. bolder and more dynamic than previous albums, it showcases the one ensemble's ability to combine thrilling live playing with compositional elegance, shifting between hard-nosed rhythmic workouts and string miniatures, between wayward waltzes and open-throated song. oriole features the core quartet of shane connolly (drums and percussion), peter nicholson (cello), daniel padden (guitar) and aby vulliamy (viola and accordion). the one ensemble started life as the solo project of volcano the bear's daniel padden, but after two albums it became a live band, taking padden's experimental folk and expanding it into a fuller, more orchestrated sound. under padden's leadership, the ensemble developed a curious and strident brew of eastern european folk, chamber music, a pinch of robert wyatt and some kind of earthy psychedelic primitivism." www.altvinyl.com "This LP sees Daniel Padden's One Ensemble laying down some Eastern European-sounding folk business with accordions and fiddles and stuff. It's all quite dusky and repetitive and there's sometimes some vocals. It's not a straight folk record by any means, though, with the ensemble free to play around in more jazzy and experimental territory when they want to. It's not a million miles away from Leeds's finest chamber jazz-folk troupe 7 Hertz actually, and there's shades of A Hawk and a Hacksaw in its warm, bubbling fusion vibes, and Phil reckons there’s a bit of an Alexander Tucker-esque medieval feel here too, and when they take it down a notch like in ‘Chicken on a Raft’ it’s reminding me of Lungfish’s Dan Higgs. Padden is of course best known for his work with Brit oddballs Volcano The Bear, and that's no surprise listening to this record either, as the band he's put together seem perfectly happy to switch from bustling gypsy folk to disorienting neoclassical to even more disorienting free expression without so much as a hiccup, and some of the most effective moments see them taking repeato-rock ideas and throwing folk textures all over them. It works really well and is thoroughly charming, with the physicality of the traditional instruments really shining through in the strained, warm tones. In fact I think as far as charm and listenability go it’s the equal of his other band. Well worth investigating." [Norman Records] 2012 €16.50
THE [LAW-RAH] COLLECTIVE & CINEMA PERDU Invocation CD "in our lives we meet various people and we get to spend some quality time with a couple of them. depending on who we spend our time with and in what state of mind the time together is spent, we talk about friendship. and the more honest and unconditional this friendship is, the more it adds to the quality of our respective lives. it's a rare thing when you meet someone and right from the first moment you know you add to each others lives. it only happens a few times - and maybe not even that often - but we have all been there and we all recognize those moments; as well as the people it concerns. and yes, those times bring back a warm and fuzzy feeling. but then there are the many ways a friendship can end: a wrongfully interpreted word, a misunderstood thought, incompatible visions or simply because it started to cost more energy then it gave back. as incomprehensible a friendship can begin, it can also end. sadly there are also true and deep friendships that have never ended, even when said friend has left this dimension. the feeling that we're left with is just about the worst feeling ever ... with 'invocation' the [law-rah] collective and cinema perdu present a split album with personal views and interpretations of the emptiness that remains. finding closure in a process of grief. not the most happy of feelings, but it's a feeling we all recognize, an emotion we can all relate to and maybe the one thing we all have problems with giving it a place in our lives. the process of composing, writing, producing and finishing 'invocation' has helped us seeing things in perspective again after loosing loved ones. 'invocation' - simply to have that final conversation, to share that final drink, or just to say you care ..." [label info] "So today we will be looking at (and listening to, of course) some darkly pulsing ambient and asking, “just what is it about this music that makes it so great for processing inarticulate emotions?” Well before I answer that, and while I try not to ‘zone out’ entirely, let me just articulate my feelings right now by saying: This... Is... Great. And, furthermore, it pulses darkly and in all the right places. Ahhh… It’s a collaborative effort, this, between The [Law-Rah] Collective (Bauke van der Wal) and Cinema Perdu (Martijn Pieck) -- each performing and contributing two individual tracks and a fifth track wherein they combine their compositional efforts. Opening track, ‘1’, by [Law-Rah], pleasantly and gently throbs like the aural equivalent of a deep red Rothko painting. For musical touchstones, think Nurse With Wound and Locust. His second individual track, ‘5’, drones slightly more ominously and is accompanied by a glitchy ‘popping’ sound which is not unlike that made earlier when we were preparing the post here at Norman and a trolley rolled over a long sheet of bubble wrap. These sounds phase in and out and pan woozily to leave the listener a little disorientated. Cinema Perdu similarly explores the empty psychological spaces which remain once you are all cried out. Really, this is perfect for the final part of the day when this reviewer has precious little more strength to muster. The two tracks Martijn Pieck brings to this disc are as sublime as the previous two by Bauke, in that the music is the contemplative, irresistible, seemingly boundless evocation of space, of internal conflicts easing and resolving themselves outside of time. Plus, his second track features metallic chiming under mallets. I’m a sucker for resonating metal and mallets. Martijn and Bauke’s collaborative track, ‘4’, is possibly the most affecting of all. What sounds like a sample from a long lost choral masterpiece is used as a bed for found sounds and plucked electroacoustic instruments, with an industrial throb underpinning it all… there’s an organ playing. For a minute there, I thought it was coming from the cathedral in my mind. Then silence. The CD whirrs its death throes and I feel a little more alive." [Norman Rec.] "THE [LAW-RAH] COLLECTIVE ist ein mehr oder weniger loser Zusammenschluss von Künstlern rings um den niederländischen Musiker BAUKE VAN DER WAL, der das Projekt mit dem enigmatischen Namen um das Jahr 2000 herum gründete. Bevorzugt tummelt man sich im Experimental-, Drone- und Dark Ambient-Sektor, zeigt aber auch keine Berührungsängste mit harscheren, ja dezidiert noisigen Spielarten, was exemplarischen Ausdruck in Kollaborationen mit NAVICON TORTURE TECHNOLOGIES (Box Edition von "The Gospels Of The Gash" und "Your Suffering Will Be Legendary") findet. Überhaupt ist man, was die stilistischen Details betrifft, um relativen Abwechslungsreichtum bemüht, und so reicht das bei discogs aufgespannte Genre-Spektrum von "Elektronik, Pop" über "Experimental, Abstract" bis hin zu "Dark Ambient, Drone". Seiner Grundrichtung bleibt das Kollektiv nichtsdestoweniger treu; nicht umsonst hat man schließlich – nomen est omen – der eigenen Homepage die Adresse "darkambient.net" verpasst. Entsprechend gerne arbeitet man freilich mit stilistisch benachbarten Künstlern wie CISFINITUM oder eben CINEMA PERDU zusammen. Der Mann dahinter, MARTIJN PIECK, ist langjähriger Freund VAN DER WALs, seit 2008 Vollmitglied von THE [LAW-RAH] COLLECTIVE und seit 2011 unter dem nom de guerre CINEMA PERDU aktiv, unter dem er bislang mehrere Alben im File- und Tape-Format veröffentlicht hat. Die vorliegende CD "Invocation" ist nach dem gemeinsamen Split mit WOODBNDR, "Blue Ruins Under Yellow Skies" von 2014, die zweite dezidierte Zusammenarbeit mit CINEMA PERDU und folgt stringent jener kontemplativen Drone-Programmatik, die im Großen und Ganzen das Leitmotiv für die Arbeit VAN DER WALs mit dem [LAW-RAH] COLLECTIVE abgibt, hier allerdings in ganz besonders vielschichtiger, facettenreicher Form zelebriert wird. Das Thema der CD fordert eine gewisse Besinnlichkeit freilich nachgerade heraus, beschäftigt sich die inhaltliche Ebene von "Invocation" doch mit dem Zerbrechen, Erlöschen, in jedem Fall aber mit dem Ende intensiver Freundschaften und enger Beziehungen, sowie insbesondere mit jener gähnenden Leere, die eine solche, mehr oder weniger gewaltsame Trennung einer tiefen emotionalen Verbindung nach sich zieht – egal, ob sie "nur" einem menschlichen Zerwürfnis, einer individuellen, existenziellen Krise oder gar dem physischen Ableben eines der Beteiligten geschuldet ist: "Invocation" versteht sich, so führt der Promotext aus, als "split album with personal views and interpretations of the emptiness that remains. Finding closure in a process of grief." Vor diesem Hintergrund erschließt sich denn auch ganz zwanglos der Hintersinn jener Sentenz, die sich auf der Innenseite des CD-Kartonschubers findet: "Some things were never meant to change but here we are" ... Das beim Berliner RAUBBAU-Label erschienene Album enthält sechs unbetitelte, lediglich durchnummerierte Tracks zwischen knapp acht und knapp zwölf Minuten Länge – etwas Zeit, Muße und Geduld sollte der interessierte Hörer also schon mitbringen, möchte er sich mit dieser, ohne Worte auskommenden, "conversation about what really matters" auseinandersetzen. Wer nun allerdings vom leidlich bekannten, sich über die komplette Laufzeit spannenden, mediokren Einheitsgebrumme ausgeht, das so betrüblich oft unter der Bezeichnung "Dark Ambient" firmiert, wird erfreulicherweise eines besseren belehrt: Lediglich das erste und das letzte Stück, beide von THE [LAW-RAH] COLLECTIVE eingespielt, präsentieren sich als ausgesprochen dronige, tiefenentspannte, einzig durch allerlei Rascheln, Knistern und anderweitige Störfrequenzen in minimale Regung versetzte, dabei jedoch niemals langweilige Soundmeditationen, während die von CINEMA PERDU beigesteuerten Beiträge 2 und 3 deutlich experimenteller und collagenhafter daherkommen – streckenweise fühlte sich der Rezensent durchaus ein wenig an NURSE WITH WOUND erinnert. Die eigentliche Zusammenarbeit zwischen den beiden Outfits, Track Numero 4, gibt denn auch das interessanteste Stück des Albums ab und entwickelt sich, ausgehend von einem sakralen, durch rotorartiges Flattern fragmentierten Choraleinstieg, hin zu einem, schon fast treibend-rhythmischen Mittelteil, um schließlich in einem amorphen, alle Strukturen wieder einschmelzenden Klangbad zu verhallen. Nicht alles auf "Invocation" ist also gar so meditativ, wie es auf den ersten Eindruck und nach Lektüre des zitierten Begleittextes scheinen mag – nach einigen Hördurchgängen entpuppt sich das versammelte Material in der Gesamtschau vielmehr als erfreulich abwechslungsreich und immer wieder für das eine oder andere überraschte "Oho!" gut. Fazit: THE [LAW-RAH] COLLECTIVE & CINEMA PERDU legen mit "Invocation" ein rundum gelungenes Werk vor, das routiniert mit den Genregrenzen spielt, sie ausweitet und bisweilen beinahe transzendiert, ohne dabei jemals bemüht zu klingen, sich in Beliebigkeiten zu verheddern oder in akademischen Frickeleien zu verlieren. Beide Projekte interagieren perfekt miteinander und realisieren so ein bemerkenswertes, ebenso meditativ-hypnotisches wie dramatisch dichtes Album, das durch seine implizite Programmatik und die unprätentiöse Art & Weise, in der diese präsentiert wird, noch zusätzlich punktet: "the process of composing, writing, producing and finishing 'invocation' has helped us seeing things in perspective again after loosing loved ones. we hope it can do the same to you." – Irgendwie ist die ganze Veröffentlichung ... einfach ... sympathisch. Und wer kann schon etwas gegen sympathische Musik haben? Der Autor dieser Zeilen jedenfalls nicht." [Endsal/NON-POP] 2016 €13.00
THEE SILVER MT. ZION MEMORIAL ORCHESTRA Fuck off get free we pour Light on everything LP "THEE SILVER MT. ZION haben über sieben Alben seit 1999 hinweg einen stacheldrahtbewehrten Bogen der Protest Music gespannt. Erst kürzlich haben sich THEE SILVER MT. ZION MEMORIAL ORCHESTRA auf nur fünf Musiker zurückgestutzt. Menucks massive E-Gitarre fungiert hier als Rückgrat, um das zwei Geigen, ein Bass (dieser Tage öfter elektrisch als akustisch) und das Schlagzeug rotieren. "Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything" ist das erste definitive Dokument des neuen Sounds und Stils der Band als Quintett. Das Kernstück des Album, ,Austerity Blues" mit seiner Abschlusszeile "Lord let my son live long enough to see that mountain torn down" gesungen in verschiedenen Spielarten über die zweite Hälfte des 14-minütigen Epos, personifiziert den unerschrockenen Blick Menucks auf eine Welt voller Erbärmlichkeit, Gier und Ungerechtigkeit, betrachtet durch die Linse von Elternschaft, Sterblichkeit, Durchhaltevermögen und Trotz. Dies ist keine fröhliche Musik, aber sie kann auch nicht einfach so als apokalyptisch und weltmüde abgestempelt werden. ,Fuck Off Get Free" wütet voller Zorn und Hoffnung und ist zugleich absolut leidenschaftlich und bewusst unromantisch. THEE SILVER MT. ZION MEMORIAL ORCHESTRA zeigen einmal mehr, das es so viel gibt, gegen das sich kämpfen lässt. Im Unterschied zu anderen Bands haben THEE SILVER MT. ZION die passenden Kampfsongs im Gepäck. // Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra (SMZ) has traced a barbed-wire arc of genre-defying protest music since its inception in 1999. Formed by Efrim Menuck, with Thierry Amar and Sophie Trudeau, the initial iteration of the band was a predominantly instrumental trio that forged a more intimate and ragged chamber-punk than Godspeed You! Black Emperor, the other group in which all three founding SMZ members also played (and continue to play). Through seven albums from 2000-2010, SMZ expanded its line-up and shifted towards an increasing use of lead and group vocals, with Menuck penning politically-charged lyrics to anchor long-form multi-movement compositions that juxtaposed electrified guitars against a 4-piece string section of violins, cello and contrabass. Most recently, SMZ has pared back to five players, with Menuck's massive spectrum-spanning electric guitar sound emerging as the spine around which two violins, bass (now more often electric than acoustic) and drums are deployed. SMZ have managed a handful of short tours in the past couple of years (in the gaps between GYBE commitments) and as anyone who has seen the band in its recent incarnation can attest, their current sound is more honed, laser-guided and bone-rattling than ever, melding hardcore, blues, garage and dark metal influences that have nothing to do with anything so quaint as “post-rock” (a tag the group has always and rightly rejected). Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything is the first definitive document of the band's newfound sound and style as a quintet. It’s also their first single LP-length work since the band’s debut record as a trio almost 15 years ago, and features road-tested pummeling rock-outs “Fuck Off Get Free (For The Island Of Montréal)”, “Take Away These Early Grave Blues” and “What We Loved Was Not Enough” alongside the previously unheard lullabyes/minuets “Little Ones Run” and “Rains Thru The Roof At Thee Grande Ballroom (For Capital Steez)” and the album centerpiece “Austerity Blues” with its closing lyric “Lord let my son live long enough to see that mountain torn down” sung in varying incarnations throughout the second half of this 14-minute epic. This lyric in many ways encapsulates Menuck's unflinching take on a world replete with shabbiness, greed and injustice, seen through the lens of parenthood, mortality, endurance and defiance. There are few other musicians who deliver social critique with the courage and honesty of lines like “All our cities gonna burn / All our bridges gonna snap / All our pennies gonna rot / Lightning roll across our tracks / All our children gonna die”. Feel-good music this is not; but neither can it reductively be tagged apocalyptic or world-weary. Fuck Off Get Free rages with scorn and with hope, utterly passionate but pointedly unromantic. Thee Silver Mt. Zion once again demonstrates, like few other bands working today, that there is much to fight for and against, and plenty more fight songs to sing." [label info] www.cstrecords.com 2014 €21.00
  Fuck off get free we pour Light on everything CD "THEE SILVER MT. ZION haben über sieben Alben seit 1999 hinweg einen stacheldrahtbewehrten Bogen der Protest Music gespannt. Erst kürzlich haben sich THEE SILVER MT. ZION MEMORIAL ORCHESTRA auf nur fünf Musiker zurückgestutzt. Menucks massive E-Gitarre fungiert hier als Rückgrat, um das zwei Geigen, ein Bass (dieser Tage öfter elektrisch als akustisch) und das Schlagzeug rotieren. "Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything" ist das erste definitive Dokument des neuen Sounds und Stils der Band als Quintett. Das Kernstück des Album, ,Austerity Blues" mit seiner Abschlusszeile "Lord let my son live long enough to see that mountain torn down" gesungen in verschiedenen Spielarten über die zweite Hälfte des 14-minütigen Epos, personifiziert den unerschrockenen Blick Menucks auf eine Welt voller Erbärmlichkeit, Gier und Ungerechtigkeit, betrachtet durch die Linse von Elternschaft, Sterblichkeit, Durchhaltevermögen und Trotz. Dies ist keine fröhliche Musik, aber sie kann auch nicht einfach so als apokalyptisch und weltmüde abgestempelt werden. ,Fuck Off Get Free" wütet voller Zorn und Hoffnung und ist zugleich absolut leidenschaftlich und bewusst unromantisch. THEE SILVER MT. ZION MEMORIAL ORCHESTRA zeigen einmal mehr, das es so viel gibt, gegen das sich kämpfen lässt. Im Unterschied zu anderen Bands haben THEE SILVER MT. ZION die passenden Kampfsongs im Gepäck.// Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra (SMZ) has traced a barbed-wire arc of genre-defying protest music since its inception in 1999. Formed by Efrim Menuck, with Thierry Amar and Sophie Trudeau, the initial iteration of the band was a predominantly instrumental trio that forged a more intimate and ragged chamber-punk than Godspeed You! Black Emperor, the other group in which all three founding SMZ members also played (and continue to play). Through seven albums from 2000-2010, SMZ expanded its line-up and shifted towards an increasing use of lead and group vocals, with Menuck penning politically-charged lyrics to anchor long-form multi-movement compositions that juxtaposed electrified guitars against a 4-piece string section of violins, cello and contrabass. Most recently, SMZ has pared back to five players, with Menuck's massive spectrum-spanning electric guitar sound emerging as the spine around which two violins, bass (now more often electric than acoustic) and drums are deployed. SMZ have managed a handful of short tours in the past couple of years (in the gaps between GYBE commitments) and as anyone who has seen the band in its recent incarnation can attest, their current sound is more honed, laser-guided and bone-rattling than ever, melding hardcore, blues, garage and dark metal influences that have nothing to do with anything so quaint as “post-rock” (a tag the group has always and rightly rejected). Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything is the first definitive document of the band's newfound sound and style as a quintet. It’s also their first single LP-length work since the band’s debut record as a trio almost 15 years ago, and features road-tested pummeling rock-outs “Fuck Off Get Free (For The Island Of Montréal)”, “Take Away These Early Grave Blues” and “What We Loved Was Not Enough” alongside the previously unheard lullabyes/minuets “Little Ones Run” and “Rains Thru The Roof At Thee Grande Ballroom (For Capital Steez)” and the album centerpiece “Austerity Blues” with its closing lyric “Lord let my son live long enough to see that mountain torn down” sung in varying incarnations throughout the second half of this 14-minute epic. This lyric in many ways encapsulates Menuck's unflinching take on a world replete with shabbiness, greed and injustice, seen through the lens of parenthood, mortality, endurance and defiance. There are few other musicians who deliver social critique with the courage and honesty of lines like “All our cities gonna burn / All our bridges gonna snap / All our pennies gonna rot / Lightning roll across our tracks / All our children gonna die”. Feel-good music this is not; but neither can it reductively be tagged apocalyptic or world-weary. Fuck Off Get Free rages with scorn and with hope, utterly passionate but pointedly unromantic. Thee Silver Mt. Zion once again demonstrates, like few other bands working today, that there is much to fight for and against, and plenty more fight songs to sing." [label info] www.cstrecords.com 2014 €14.50
THEODOR BASTARD Bossanova_Trip CD "BossaNova_Trip" is the highlight of the early experimental period of Theodor Bastard. A non-vocal electronic album recorded by Fedor Svolotch (Alexander Starostin) in 2002 several years before the formation of the band’s key line-up. 14 original utterly minimalistic tracks of the album were on the cutting edge of the avant-garde trends of that time and are worth comparing to the best glitch releases of such labels as Mego, Raster-Noton and Sonig. Aimed at the most sophisticated music lovers, "BossaNova_Trip" has completely fulfilled the ambitions of Fedor Svolotch as a skillful master of sound design and had a strong influence on the unique sound of the later well-known albums of Theodor Bastard. It was on this recording that the track "PU's_Tota" originated in its initial electronic proto-version which, in highly modified form, became the band's first major hit two years later. This reissue features a bonus track – the vocal version of "PU's_Tota", originally released on the compilation that came along with the BulDozer#2 magazine. The melody and the lyrics sung by Yana Veva, which are now so familiar to the fans of Theodor Bastard, appeared in this version for the first time. zhb.radionoise.ru/eng/zhbd-17.html * * * * * * * "BossaNova_Trip" – вершина раннего экспериментального творчества Theodor Bastard. Безвокальный электронный альбом, записанный Фёдором Сволочью (Александром Старостиным) в 2002 году за несколько лет до формирования основного состава группы. 14 оригинальных крайне минималистичных треков альбома находились на острие авангардных тенденций того времени и достойны сравнений с лучшими глитчевыми релизами лейблов Mego, Raster-Noton и Sonig. Расчитанный на самого искушенного меломана, "BossaNova_Trip" в полной мере реализовал амбиции Фёдора Сволочи как утончённого мастера саунд-дизайна, оказав сильное влияние на уникальное звучание последующих всем известных альбомов Theodor Bastard. Именно на этой записи зародился трек "PU's_Tota" в своей изначальной электронной протоверсии, который спустя два года в сильно изменённом виде стал первым самым главным хитом группы. В качестве бонус-трека на переиздании представлена вокальная версия трека "PU's_Tota", первоначально выпущенная на сборнике-приложении к журналу "БульDozer#2" – в этой версии впервые появилась так хорошо знакомая поклонникам Theodor Bastard мелодия с текстом в исполнении Яны Вевы. https://zhbd.bandcamp.com/album/bossanova-trip 2018 €13.00
THIS HEAT Out of Cold Storage 6 x CD-Box Monumentale Box mit ALLEN offiziellen Releases & dickem Booklet sowie einer CD mit bisher unveröffentlichten Aufnahmen von der legendären britischen Band um CHARLES HAYWARD, die aus verschiedensten Einflüssen von Industrial bis Jazz in genialer Weise einen ganz neuen, eigenen Stil kreierten, der bis heute absolut einmalig geblieben ist! “Where do you start with something like this? With a history lesson and a 9.0 review up at Pitchfork this week I suppose... Born out of the UK crucible that existed in the period immediately post punk (before it earned capitals and morphed into genre all of its own...), This Heat formed through the restless response of three twenty-somethings who felt impelled to document their corner of 1970's London. Already faces at the more severe end of the prog-rock scene, Charles Bullen and Charles Hayward were joined by non-musician Gareth Williams - a catalyst that would see them recording vast quantities of work then editing the results down into consumable chunks of aural fortitude. Spread over a massive six discs and further bolstered by a pretty darn exhaustive book that interviews the surviving members (Williams passed away in 2001), 'Out Of Cold Storage' is testament to the unbridled virility of This Heat - with all the music very much rooted in its era, yet also utterly timeless. Comprised of their five studio albums ('This Heat', 'Deceit', 'Health and Efficiency', 'Made Available' and 'Repeat') plus an incendiary set of live action culled from their 1980/81 heyday, 'Out Of Cold Storage' allows everyone to get hold of these classic recordings in pristine form - a real treat given the eroded bootlegs and mp3s that have been doing the rounds for years. Ranging in style from the avant-rock of their eponymous debut, through to the political polemic of 'Deceit', This Heat are spiky without the need to resort to high-kicking comparisons with the likes of Orange Juice et al., with their output always a couple of steps removed from their retrospective peers. Unafraid to disrupt their reputation through creative right-angles, the likes of 'Repeat' and it's central 20 minutes of looped drones and rhythms (think Can in a chiller cabinet) are seemingly at odds with 'Health And Efficiencies' melody etched high - yet rather than cause tension, these juxtapositions merely heighten the band's appeal and allow you a glimpse into moments of creative perfection. Vast, comprehensive and thoroughly indispensable, 'Out Of Cold Storage' is the kind of collection that reasserts your faith in the music and proves that the endless vault combing perpetrated by labels can sometimes come good. Six shades of fantastic....“ [Boomkat] 2006 €75.00
THIS MORTAL COIL Blood CD Third and last album from the 4AD-supergroup. "This group was essentially the creation of Ivo Watts-Russell, the co-owner of 4AD Records, a highly successful Wandsworth, London-based independent label. This Mortal Coil was actually a collaboration of musicians recording in various permutations, overseen and directed by Watts-Russell. The first single, an epic cover version of Tim Buckley 's 'Song To The Siren', was originally intended as a b-side. However, bolstered by the considerable talents of Robin Guthrie and Elizabeth Fraser (Cocteau Twins), it saw its own release and became a near-permanent fixture in the independent charts as a result. The album that followed set the pattern for the occasional outings to come.(...) Featuring a selection of artists from the 4AD roster plus various outsiders, the albums included several cover versions of works by Watts-Russell's favourite songwriters (Buckley, Alex Chilton, Roy Harper, Gene Clark and Syd Barrett )." [unknown source] 1991 €15.50
THUJA Hills LP Thuja's 2002 album, Hills, emerged out of a particularly productive phase for the loose assemblage of musicians known as the Jewelled Antler Collective. Glenn Donaldson and Loren Chasse, who had recently formed Thuja alongside Steven R. Smith and Rob Reger, were dialling down the volume, moving away from the instrumental rock interludes of previous groups like Mirza, and exploring more rugged terrain - laminal improvisation, wistful wide-eyed folk songs, field recordings and home-recorded electro-acoustics. By 2002, Jewelled Antler had developed a certain notoriety for unstintingly releasing excellent, small-run CD-R releases,. Thuja's albums had been picked up by Craig Stewart's visionary Emperor Jones imprint, but Hills was released on a small-scale American CD-R label, Last Visible Dog, run by Chris Moon. One of four albums (and two more mini-CDs) Thuja released that year, it's a startling document, a collective of eviscerated dream tones and cavernous psychoacoustics. The unforced, luxuriant development of Thuja's music - a misty fold of keyboard drones, tinkling piano, clusters of percussives, shuttling and scrabbling strings and other things - often asks for metaphor from the natural world. But this is also distinctly city-based music, as Donaldson described it: "insular warehouse music from a still affordable city, before the internet dominated everything. No intention of getting noticed or 'streamed', just making sounds for the sake of it. A rejection of rock things: clubs, structure, volume." The music on Hills and other, loosely contemporaneous releases often played on broken instruments and non-instruments, with small, sensual details captured by contact mics, was "all improvised," Donaldson recalls, "but no 'jamming' or soloing [was] allowed, just a slow evolution towards a mood." In that respect, Thuja can lay claim to a heritage of all-in-one, group-mind improvisation that arcs back to AMM and Musica Elettronica Viva, but also connects with other, less immediately recognisable precursors - there are shades here of groups like Biota, or composer Sofia Gubaidulina's improvisatory outfit Astreja. There's a relaxed yet questing folksiness too. https://rosehobart.bandcamp.com/album/hills 2019 €20.50
TIETCHENS, ASMUS Biotop CD Zweiter re-release in der Serie von Wiederveröffentlichungen des TIETCHENschen Oeuvres – BIOTOP erschien 1981 und ist pure analoge Elektro-Pop-Musik mit nicht zu vernachlässigem Obskur-Faktor, klingt nach 80ern wie irgendwas ! „Second in the rerelease series presenting the first of four albums that were issued by Sky Music in the early 80's. Incl. 2 unreleased bonus tracks. 1000 copies with poster booklet in jewel case. Playing time: 51:34 min.” [press release] “ With the release of this album, a 3 year interlude began which was dominated by the use of Roland 'CompuRhythm' drum-machine. In addition, I discovered new sounds and playing possibilities on the Moog which considerably expanded my creative armoury. I also added a conceptual self-limitation: no track should be more than four minutes long. In the end, the majority of the pieces on the first two Sky albums actually clocked in at under three minutes each. In the opinion of my musical mentor Okko Bekker, their sparseness and short lenght evoked the impression of radio time-signals (Radio-Zeitzeichen), a form of acoustic station identification which was already obsolete by then. This reference provided me with the name for my accompanying orchestra, which consisted solely of musicians from the experimental music scene in Hamburg. Because of the total absence of bass lines the commercial potential of the pieces was virtually non-existant. The album was recorded on an 8-track Otari tape-machine. The Eventide digital harmonizer and the Ursa Major 'Space Station' reverb-machine also played a part. All of the pieces were recorded in 1980. They were not commissioned by any label, the contact with Sky Records only happening in 1981. The two bonus tracks from 1979 mark a decisive break with previous work ('Nachtstücke'). 'Futurum Drei' was recorded between 6th and 9th of July 1979. 'Fast Food' came three weeks later. While the first of the pair does not totally make the break with the old way of working, the second points clearly into a new direction. I would particularly like to thank Günter Körber (Sky Records) for his kind permission to re-release 'Biotop' and the three other Sky albums, and for allowing me to use the orignal labels in facsimile.” [from the liner notes - Asmus Tietchens] 2003 €15.00
Geboren um zu dienen CD “8th part in the ongoing re-release series of all early Tietchens albums between 1980—1991. Described by Tietchens himself as his «Industrial» album, «Geboren, um zu Dienen» was originally released on the spanish ESPLENDOR GEOMETRICO label in 1986. The CD version incl. three unreleased bonus tracks from the same period and comes with a full colour fold-out booklet incl. liner notes by Tietchens himself.” [label info] „If I'd ever recorded an «Industrial» solo album, it must be «GEBOREN, UM ZU DIENEN». Although I obviously wasn't one of the inventors of «Industrial Music», I clearly felt an affinity to it. So I tried to learn my lessons well adding my own musical aspects to the general apocalyptic noises of this genre. My main concern was to dive deep into the canonical topics of fear, hysteria, claustrophobia, machine and threat. The end was imminent as hundreds of Pershings and SS20 all pointed in the direction of the march up area called West Germany, the seals of the read buttons were already broken. Even the conventional alternative — a tank war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact — sounded like utter apocalypse. Would we really have welcomed our brothers from the east with open arms? This particular background has to be seen as the main influence on GEBOREN, UM ZU DIENEN. I believe that many of my colleagues also recording «Industrial» albums felt the same at that time. IF there would have been a «Bang» it — without doubt — would have been global. Fear, emptiness and the futility of the aesthetical, were not alien to me, but until then I moved inside a carefully tested zone which was defined by a spectrum of experimental forms. GEBOREN, UM ZU DIENEN was an experiment in itself which first fruits I set free immediately. As if I'd to work under a deadline I recorded the tracks hastily, not wasting much thoughts about dynamics, duration, precision and construction. In the same way I resolutely did rough mixes of the seperate tracks of the pieces: what sounded dirty stayed dirty. Essentially the raw and the unsculptured were a part of the dogma of «Industrial». The original nine tracks plus five more (three which appear as Bonustracks on this CD) all developed in a very short period of time. The album was released on the spanish «Esplendor Geometrico» label, run by Andres Noarbe, in the same year. Originally a tape only label EG released a series of radical albums during the mid 80's, also albums by the «Industrial» group of the same name, many which are much sought after items today. Of course only 500 copies of the album were pressed, which still meant a considerable financial risk given the small circle of potentionally interested listeners. But the enthusiasm and dedication of everyone involved lead to a self-evident «Nevertheless». Looking back at these years it has to be noted that I established a daring attitude then, which luckily developed positively and stayed with me until today. The fact that a german attorneys general confiscated a small number of the LP in 1990 deeming the cover as being immoral («A Call for abortion»), was registered with satisfaction. A case like this corresponds with the mark of quality granted by the «Stiftung Warentest». Go on Germany! “ [Asmus Tietchens, 2006] Editorial notes: The original masters of all the pieces incl. the bonus tracks are in perfect condition and were used 1:1 for the transfer onto CD. Only the fade-out at the end of «Mein erstes Erlebnis» was slightly corrected. 2006 €15.00
Leuchtidioten 10inch “This new release features two 'rhythmic' tracks that were recorded during the 'Teilmengen' sessions (which appeared on CD as 'a-Menge' and 'b-Menge'on Ritornell) but were not used for these albums as Tietchens regarded them as too different to the other pieces and therefore decided to have them released on their own.” [press release] www.diestadtmusik.de 2002 €11.50
Litia CD “Fifth part in the ongoing rerelease series of all early vinyl albums by Tietchens on CD. This one from 1983 marks the end of his Sky 'phase' and was the last to feature his very own version of 'Synthesizer Pop Music' for some time (he'd only return to this music with the release of his HEMATIC SUNSETS albums in the late 1990's). The CD also feat. the rare 'Rattenheu' 10inch only release plus one unreleased archive track and comes in a transparent jewel-case with full colour poster booklet feat. a reproduction of the original cover art and extra photos. Edition of 1000 copies. Total playing time: 63:01 min.” [press release] “The years 1982 and 1983 proved to be a time of extreme musical schizophrenia for me. On the one hand I could not let go of the rhythmic synthie-etudes. On the other, and at the same time, I had already turned to 'Industrial Music'. The latter manifested itself in the release of four cassettes between 1981-1983. But for one last time I was intrigued by some new gadgets. I felt that with their help I could take my rhythmic work much further: namely, one of the first digital, programmed rythmn machines (MFB521) and the Korg Polysix polyphonic synthesizer. With the help of these two machines I was able to create structures, I simply could not make with the other machines available at the time. But while working on LITIA, I reflected on the growing imbalance between my own creative input and the possibilities of the factory sounds (presets, sequencer, sound colours, ect.), with the result that my early fascination with these gradually disappeared and a more thoughtful attitude emerged. More and more I was impressed by the machines but less and less was my own creativity involved. It was high time for me to re-consider and to come to terms with this situation with regard to my own view of human dignity. Nevertheless, I wanted one more album to be released on Sky, and with the above instruments and an even more complex studio set-up it was recorded in no time. This had to be the finale, though. The bonus tracks 11-15 on this CD, which belong to the LITIA series, and which were released in 1996 as a 10inch entitled "Rattenheu", are to be viewed more as a kind of musical joke, one which would only be heard again at the Aroma Club in 1998. With the issuing of LITIA a four-year release period reached its end, a period which was marked by the use rhythmic and harmonic preset sounds and by flashy-coloured LP sleeves. The above-mentioned and long-ago completed aesthetic shift to an utterly different musical attitude, coupled with a partial throw-back to musical experiences of the late 1960's, would be made public in the album releases which followed. Again, I would like to give my warm thanks to Günter Körber (Sky Records) for his friendly co-operation. Take care, Günter!” [Asmus Tietchens, 2004] 2004 €15.00
Spät-Europa CD Nummer Drei der Re-Release-Orgie auf dem feinen Bremer Label. SPÄT-EUROPA ist eines der vier frühen SKY Records Alben und beinhaltet 20 Miniaturen mit unnachahmlichen frühachtziger analog-Elektronik-Sounds... “Part Three in the ongoing rerelease series of all early vinyl albums from 1980 - 1991, this is Tietchens second album for SKY Records recorded in 1981 documenting his search for his own style of'pop music'. Edition of 1000 copies in jewel case with poster booklet feat. the original cover artwork. Liner notes: Asmus Tietchens 'Spät-Europa' (Sky Records 070) 1981 Even more consistently than on 'Biotop' I kept all of the tracks on this album deliberately short. Originally, all of them were supposed to be exactly two minutes in length but, back then, without a computer, this was not really possible and the idea could not be carried ot precisely. Nonetheless, this strict concept gave the listener a total of twenty miniatures, four more than on 'Biotop'. The technical standard of the studio had improved rapidly. It was possible for me to indulge in as many tracks as I wanted ! However, these two aspects presented me with a creative problem: I either had to respond in a very appropriate way, or would end up producing somewhat useless 'filler' material. The first I was not yet capable of and the second would have been embarrassing. 'The shoemaker should stick to his last'! I decided to stay with a maximum of eight tracks as this would give me no problems at all. New synthesizers (Polymoog, ect.) and an enlarged array of additional equipment (EMS Vocoder, Ring Modulator, Sampler, ect.) forced me to learn a lot of new things, but I worked my way through it all quickly and thoroughly. The results found their way into the music on this album. The jubilant sound of 'Schöne Dritte Welt' was created by the late Andreas Hoffmann, a.k.a. C.V. Liquidsky. Parallel with this album I worked on a series with the working title of 'Experimentelle Geselligkeit', a string of musical sketches which I was wanting to use with my regular electronic equipment. I then realised that the relative inflexibility of the rythmn machine made it impossible to transform these sketches into complete works. The rythmic patterns proved to be incompatible. As a result, that work came to a halt, leaving the sketches unreleased. Two of them are included as bonus tracks on this CD. 'Soirèe' and 'Zum Tee bei Frau Hilde' were intended, in a re-arranged form, to be the basis of an album with the previously mentioned title of 'Experimentelle Geselligkeit'. The series was never completed, and the fragments were put aside. Only thirteen years later, when the 'Aroma Club' opened its doors, did I return to the idea. I would particularly like to thank Günter Körber of Sky Records for his permission to re-release 'Spät-Europa' and the other three Sky albums, and to use the LP labels in facsimile.” [press release] 2004 €15.00
Zwingburgen des Hedonismus / Mysterien des Hafens CD "Part 9 of the ongoing re-release series of all early Tietchens albums from 1980 - 1991 on CD. This combines two seperate releases from 1987 ('Zwingburgen des Hedonismus') and 1988 ('Mysterien des Hafens' on FACE TO FACE, VOL. 1'). 'Zwingburgen des Hedonismus' was originally released as a one-sided LP on swedish label Multimood and features a singles 21 min. long track composed on a Fairlight CMI. 'Mysterien des Hafens' was part of a split LP (the other side feat. DIE FORM) originally released on french label Odd Size and feat. recordings made by Tietchens using under-water microphones. The Bonus track 'Faircomp 1K' on this CD is a different version of the first track and previously unreleased. First edition of 600 copies in jewel case with full cover artwork and poster booklet also feat. the original album covers. Total playing time: 56:41 min." [label info] 2006 €15.00
Aus Freude am Elend CD Wohl eine der ungewöhnlichsten & schönsten Tietchens-Alben, die augenzwinkernde Verwendung von vokalem Material war hier der Fokus, found sounds & field-recordings werden eigentümlichst verfremdelt, aus Schlager- oder Volksliedern die abartigsten Töne rausgekitzelt, absolut unkategorisierbare Klänge entstehen... ein wunderbares-wundersames Re-Kontextualisierungs-Projekt! JA WIR LIEBEN ES! 2 Bonus Tracks! "11th part in the ongoing re-release series of all early Tietchens albums between 1980-1991. AUS FREUDE AM ELEND is based on the human voice as a primary sound source and was originally released in edition of 500 copies on Dom America in 1988. The CD includes two previously unreleased tracks and comes in a jewel case with full color artwork and poster booklet also feat. the original front and back cover. First edition of 600 copies. Asmus Tietchens AUS FREUDE AM ELEND (Dom America Dom US LP 02) 1988 "Following my research of piano and water sounds (DS102, DS88) it didn't come as a surprise that my next project was about the human voice as a sound source. The great masters of Plunderphonics already showed the way in the early 80's, when they plundered the gigantic junk-shops packed full of already recorded material, which was stolen by them to use it for their own aesthetic targets. This album only consists of such stolen goods. Each track (with the exception of 'In memoriam P.F.') was based on voices of people who I naturally didn't ask their permission to use these recordings in the first place. So you can hear the voices of ecstatic religious people as well as other people making love. You'll also hear someone singing to Annette and Peggy out of the trash bin of a publishing company. Even the screams of furious teachers came in handy while I made loops from them. Especially loops: Rarely before this album and only once after it (on Stupor Mundi) did I made use of the structural means of loops to such an extent. I was fascinated by the rhythmical and harmonic permanence, in the same way as many of my musical colleagues at the time. The aspect of the 'Ritual' was a self-evident common formulation in difficult music during the 80s, so loops and tape voices, monotonous rhythms and LoFi became obvious means to shape the music. AUS FREUDE AM ELEND too was strongly spiced with these ingredients and therefore can be seen as a prototype album of this specific view of music during the time. This tendency was supported - even partly inspired - by a new generation of sound machines, which also made it possible for new aesthetic goals to appear at the horizon. The 90s were near at hand and sound art music would develop drastically in many ways in the years to follow. Samplers, digital editing, hard-disc recording and the first PC's opened new doorways. Half of the material on AUS FREUDE AM ELEND was already created with these digital tools. I never quite understood how the labels Dom America (run by Jon Carlson) and Dom here in Germany were connected. Did Carlson used to be a fan of Dom which was founded by Christoph Heemann and Achim Flaam. Did he simply liked the release politics of this label. And what became of Dom America ? Actually I don't know. I guess it was one of the small enthusiastic independent labels which released a handful of titles and which disappeared after being active for a couple of years during the 80s. However AUS FREUDE AM ELEND had vanished shortly after its release. I only used 'stolen' voices twice again ('Stupor Mundi', 1990 and 'Das Fest ist zu Ende. Aus', 1993) after this album by the way." [label info / credits] "... Much like some his previous records, most notably 'Formen Letzer Hausmusik' and 'Seuchengebiete', its foremost a work of electro acoustic or musique concrete. There is an element of repetition that one wouldn't easily spot with the original 'masters' of the genre, but Tietchens uses them in his own, highly personal, way, adding his own fine blend of electronics and in order to make a creepy sound, a sinister play of vocals. The people whose voices are used sound like they are singing in a far away cage, in isolation, a cry to get out. After all these years this record hasn't aged at all, and is a highlight in Tietchens career." [FdW / Vital Weekly] 2008 €13.00
Adventures in Sound / Nachtstücke do-CD Das Bremer Label DIE STADT startet eine Wiederveröffentlichungs-Serie von nicht mehr erhältlichen TIETCHENS-Scheiben – hier der Anfang mit der allerersten LP ‚Nachtstücke’ von 1980, die noch Früh-Achtziger Charme aufweist, dazu schier unglaubliches Material aus den Sechzigern auf der zweiten CD !! “First in a series of 18 CD's aiming to make available all early vinyl albums by ASMUS TIETCHENS between 1980 - 1991 on CD. Each release feat. the original tracks (sometimes extended / original versions) + unreleased bonus tracks from the same recording period, original artwork + accompanying texts by TIETCHENS. This - the only 2CD in the series - feat. his very first album 'Nachtstücke' from 1980 (incl. 4 bonus tracks) + a 2nd CD with archive material recorded with his long time friend Okko Bekker between 1965-1969. These are the first works in TIETCHENS long career as a sound artist and were never released before. Edition of 1000 copies in jewelcase with full color poster booklet. About the artist: ASMUS TIETCHENS started recording music as early as 1965 (documented here on 'Adventures In Sound') though his first release only appeared 15 years later ('Nachtstücke'). Ever since then he stayed very productive and had numerous cassette, vinyl and CD releases on numerous labels (Sky, United Dairies, Dom, Staalplaat, Ritornell and Die Stadt to name just a few). He has collaborated with various other like minded artists such as Okko Bekker, Cluster, Conny Plank, Terry Burrows, Liquidski, David Lee Myers (Arcane Device) and most recently with Thomas Köner who is one half of their ongoing collaborational project KONTAKT DER JÜNGLINGE (who so far released 3 CD's DS34/DS39/DS48 on Die Stadt).” [press release] 2003 €18.00
Abfleischung CD Auch "Abfleischung" gehört zu den "irgendwie legendären" TIETCHENS-Alben (1989). Das tolle Cover, die Titel, das unglaubliche CIORAN-Zitat, das alles ist "klassisch Tietchens" und noch immer gibt es wenig Musik die sich daran messen kann, noch immer klingen diese 20 Skizzen (zum ersten Mal recyclete TIETCHENS altes Material seiner selbst) so rätselhaft nicht-menschlich wie von einer gänzlich fremden Welt stammend. Collagige Cut-ups, teils flächig unterwandert, elektronisch verfremdet bis ins Deformierendste hinein und doch mit Blick für jedes kleinste Detail des Klangs, dabei sind die Tracks so kurz dass die Aufmerksamkeit nie versiegt, der Geist hat keine Chance zur Routine, nur zur Fokussierung.... "12th part in the ongoing re-release series of all early Tietchens albums between 1980-1991. ABFLEISCHUNG is based on material recorded by Tietchens as early as 1967-1970. These recyclings made in 1989 became the 20 short tracks on this album which was originally released in edition of 500 copies on Hamster Records in 1989. The CD includes two previously unreleased tracks and comes in a jewel case with full color artwork and poster booklet also feat. the original front and back cover. First edition of 600 copies. Total playing time: 49:18 min." [label info] "....It was released in 1989 on Hamster Records as part of a four record series: 'Watching The Burning Bride', by Asmus Tietchens and Terry Burrows (owner of Hamster), then 'Abfleischung' by Asmus solo, then 'Whispering Scale' by Terry solo and the fourth one 'Burning The Watching Bride' (by the two of them again) was released in 1998, on Disaster Area. On 'Abfleischung' Tietchens goes back to his old reel to reel tapes from the period 1967 to 1970. Not a remix where one particular sound is remixed but the track in its entirety is reworked. Asmus calls this 'recycling', a much more appropriate word for what he does. He uses the techniques of 1989 to recycle the sounds of twenty years before. No less then twenty pieces are presented on this album (plus two bonus pieces) which last from forty-eight seconds to almost five minutes, but mostly between one and two minutes. Short pieces which were change for Tietchens too. Different methods of treating of the basic material, lead to a variety of similarly titled pieces, such as Mineral 1 to 4 and Modal 1 to 5. This album shows Tietchens at his peak of musique concrete, working with a limited set of sound in a limited frame of time. A fascinating journey of sound with the crackling of tooth combs, metallic rusty sounds and many more highly obscured sound sources. The only thing that makes this a bit dated is the sometimes excessive use of reverb, which perhaps in those days made a lot of sense, but not these days - at least not with me. But throughout a very well needed re-issue on CD." [FdW, Vital Weekly] 2008 €14.00
Stupor Mundi CD "Part 14th in the ongoing re-release series of all early Asmus Tietchens Vinyl albums between 1980-1991. 'Stupor Mundi' (Discos Esplendor Geometrico EGD 018) was originally released in 1990. This re-release comes with another poster booklet and feat. 4 Bonus tracks of unreleased material from the same period. Joint release with AUF ABWEGEN. 600 copies. 1. Pflegekammer extern 1'00" 2. Stimmen der Vernunft 3'08" 3. Konvoy 3'01" 4. Tollerort 2'53" 5. Fron 5'10" 6. Pflegekammer intern 1'00" 7. Schacht Hera 2'53" 8. Pflegekammer Mitte 1'00" 9. Aufs Maul 2'44" 10. Aufstand der Massen 3'31" 11. Xenophobie 2'48" 12. Mammi Money 3'38" 13. Pflegekammer West 1'00" 14. Heimholung 4'12" Bonus 15. Pleuel 3'29" 16. Krill-Schatten 1'12" 17. Heimstatt des Betons 3'20" 18. An alle 2'54" Asmus Tietchens about the album: The opener of the album cites: 'Gitarren spielen kann ich leider noch nicht...' ('Unfortunately I can't play any guitars yet...'). Today, 23 years later, I could reveal the name of the person confessing this, but nothing would be more unfair, even two and a half decades later. Only this: It's not the voice of a Punk (a Punk would have omitted the 'yet'), and it's also not my own voice, even though I can't play guitar either. Maybe it was this flaw though that was responsible for the general construction of all the tracks here, which consist of short looped samples and further adaptions of the same. In the end 'Stupor Mundi' was my last LP on the label Esplendor Geometrico and also my last solo LP until 1995. The very next release of mine was already a CD. At lot changed at the time. Esplendor Geometrico wasn't doing well financially, a fate, many more small enthusiastic Labels shared with them, as the real Independents were always in danger of facing financial ruin. As a result EG was looking for someone to co finance 'Stupor Mundi'. The person who helped out is a colleague of mine with a well known name today, but only just started his first musical attempts back then at the end of the 80's. He asked not be mentioned in the credits of the album cover, but requested to have the schematic diagram of an insect placed in the lower right hand corner of the cover. There's yet another, third name, I won't reveal. The final words on the LP are: 'My friends'. For piety reasons I won't explain the original context of the voice, nor reveal the identity of the woman, who speaks these words. Besides, it's a damn long time ago anyway, and mystifications were no longer a part of my repertoire after 'Stupor Mundi'. [Asmus Tietchens 2012] " [label info] www.diestadtmusik.de Editorial notes: Contrary to the original LP, where there were no breaks, the CD feat. a 7 seconds pause inbetween each track. The original tape with the intro ( Gitarren spielen kann ich leider noch nicht...') could not be located, so a mint LP copy was used for the transfer. The order of the 4 'Pflegekammer' tracks was changed for this CD. Although the release date of the album was stated as 1989, and also listed the same in my discography, the actual release date was May 1990. This was due to numerous faulty test pressings which caused a delay of 6 months. Hence the labels were not changed accordingly because they had already been printed. 2012 €15.00
Biotop LP "Scheppernd, künstlich und plärrend bunt: Reissue des 81er-Albums des Hamburger Elektronikers. Asmus Tietchens ist einer der bekanntesten deutschen Künstler im Bereich der abstrakten Musik. Fünf seiner Frühwerke, die grob im Bereich Avantgarde-Synthiepop zu verorten sind, werden nun beim Label Bureau B wieder veröffentlicht. "Biotop" war 1981 Tietchens’ erste LP bei Sky Records (u. a. Cluster, Rother, Roedelius, Moebius, Plank, Riechmann). Es mag rückblickend wie eine bewusste Irreführung erscheinen, dass die ersten musikalischen Hervorbringungen von Asmus Tietchens als schräg tönender Pseudopop daherkommen. Vier Alben aus den Jahren 1981-83 sowie diverse Einzelstücke bilden die "Zeitzeichen"-Phase, die sich mit den Worten ihres Urhebers durch den Einsatz von "rhythmisch-harmonischen Versatzstücken und quietschbunten Schallplattenhüllen" auszeichnet. Die Stücke auf "Biotop" sind mit ihren insektoiden Fiepstönen, der bollerigen Perkussion und der verschleppten Kinderliedhaftigkeit so scheppernd, künstlich und plärrend bunt, wie es den Vorstellungen eines Künstlers entsprach, der reguläre Unterhaltungsmusik weder herstellen konnte noch wollte. // Asmus Tietchens is one of the best known German artists in the field of abstract music. His early works though are finest avant-garde synthesizer pop. "Biotop" was Tietchens' first release on the German label Sky Records (Cluster, Michael Rother etc.). It is inhabited by insectoid squeaks, banging percussion and echoes of displaced nursery rhymes. These blaring, crashing tracks glare with artifice, mirroring the ideas of an artist lacking the inclination and capacity to compose straightforward easy listening music. "Spät-Europa" also conveys a banefully distorted pseudo pop soundscape of disjointed rhythms and oblique melodies, defined by nervous pulses, cool alacrity and croaking toots; tongue in cheek it most certainly is, but the musical arrangement again affirms its own identity. Here, shadowy, rumbling industrial elements cut into the neon coloured pieces indicative of the artist's parallel lines of development. Both reissues are available on CD (Digipak), vinyl (180g) and for download." [label info] www.bureau-b.com 2013 €18.50
Nachtstücke LP "Nachtstücke owed its publication to former Tangerine-Dream member Peter Baumann,who was asked by the French label Barclay/EGG to produce three albums focussing specifically on German electronic music. He was working with Hans-Joachim Roedelius at the time, who had been given a few Tietchens tracks on cassette. When Baumann heard Roedelius play them in the studio during a break in proceedings, they sparked his interest and he met up with Tietchens some time later; they agreed that he would go over the material again and edit or abridge it in places. A release date was pencilled in for the latter part of 1978. The commissioning label, however, doubting the commercial potential of the project (Tietchens: “How right they would turn out to be”), postponed the release and had to be reminded of contractual commitments on more than one occasions. When the Nachtstücke LP finally appeared, almost two years later, it bore the unauthorized subheading Expressions et Perspectives Sonores Intemporelles and featured a completely different cover. Originally, the album was to depict a leathery embryo with a laser beam shooting through its eye (Tietchens: “I liked the idea of sta rting with something so gruesome”), but now three blurred figures danced on the sleeve: “I was pretty disgusted when I opened the package containing my copies”, Tietchens reports, taking the rerelease as his cue to create completely new artwork. Nachtstücke has surprisingly little in common with the pseudo-pop of the ensuing Sky Phase, but shines a light further ahead to the gloomy, spectral aspects of Tietchens’ later works. Created between 1975 and 1978, the Nachtstücke pieces reveal a deliberate approach, avoiding dissonance and discord wherever possible. Still, the release saw the album “fall right out of time” as Tietchens frankly admits: “Gentle rhythm and harmonic beatitude did not suit the concert of advanced pop music as it was then being played.” Nevertheless, the Nachtstücke tracks remain important to the artist, as they document his early encounters with the Moog Sonic Six and Minimoog. With this in mind, the material is presented here in its original, unadulterated form." [label info] www.bureau-b.com 2014 €19.50
Der fünfte Himmel LP "Between 1981 and 1983 Asmus Tietchens released four albums on the Sky Records label, fusing rhythmic set pieces and off-kilter sounds into gaudy escapades of saccharine artificiality. The “pseudo-pop” epithet reflected their frequently ironic air. All four records have been reissued by Bureau B in their original form. What remained may be found on this collection. Der fünfte Himmel (“The Fifth Sky”) retrieves those pieces which were denied a place on the original LPs, although clearly cut from the same contextual cloth. Quality control was not behind their relegation to the archive, but rather their eccentric and, at times, outlandish character. Futurum drei is patently a bridge to Tietchens debut album Nachtstücke, recorded back in 1978, whilst Soirée and Zum Tee bei Frau Hilde were riginally—in a completely different guise- designed to form the basis of the experimentelle Geselligkeit album, ultimately shelved. The titles themselves are interesting: Aus dem Tag was initially earmarked to open up In die Nacht but was deemed too extravagant. Würgstoffe (“Wirkstoffe”) and Niedermacher (“Liedermacher”) are further evidence of Tietchens’ penchant for wordplay, even though the composer today admits that these rather corny jokes no longer seem quite so witty. In addition to this promenade through the outskirts of the “Zeitzeichen phase” (or “Sky phase“), Der fünfte Himmel includes tracks which could have constituted a further album on Sky Records. Tietchens was working ahead of himself as his contract covered just four albums and sales were in sharp decline. Zudem hatte sich die musikalische Ausrichtung verändert. Moreover, his musical direction had shifted to accommodate a far less rugged sound and a broader range of musical tools. If these pieces share a link in to the strategies of previous works, it is a tenuous one. This would probably have been enough in itself to preclude a continuation of the series, as the material veered so far away from the Sky label line." [label info] www.bureau-b.com 2014 €21.50
Dämmerattacke CD Asmus Tietchens is a sound artist and composer from Hamburg, Germany. He got interested in Musique Concrete by listening to a German radio programme when he was 10 years old. In 1965, at the age of 18, Asmus started experimenting with tape loops and turned them into musical collages. Soon, the use of synthesizers was added. In 1980 his debut album Nachtstücke was released, produced by Peter Baumann of Tangerine Dream. This was soon followed by a series of albums of electronic pop music for the Sky label, home of many Krautrock bands. Tietchens often uses special source materials for his compositions such as water (Seuchengebiete), human voices (Von Mund zu Mund), paper (Papier ist geduldig). He is associated with the Industrial music scene through his collaborations and releases on labels such as United Dairies, Esplendor Geometrico or Dom Records. Tietchens never studied composition, he has no academic background, everything he does is self taught or learnign by doing. Nevertheless, he was professor for sound design in Hamburg in recent years. The album Dämmerattacke was originally released on Dutch Korm Plastics label in 1997 as a limited edition vinyl LP only. It was later reissued as a double CD with Eisgang. For this latest edition, we have added another bonus track making the CD 20 minutes longer than the LP. Full track list: 1. Zweite Dämmerattacke 2. Erster Nachtschatten 3. Zweiter Nachtschatten 4. Dritter Nachtschatten 5, Schlagschatten 6. Franz-Joseph-Land. www.klanggalerie.com/gg251 2017 €15.00
Linea + CD "Asmus Tietchens is a sound artist and composer from Hamburg, Germany. He got interested in Musique Concrete by listening to a German radio programme when he was 10 years old. In 1965, at the age of 18, Asmus started experimenting with tape loops and turned them into musical collages. Soon, the use of synthesizers was added. In 1980 his debut album Nachtstücke was released, produced by Peter Baumann of Tangerine Dream. This was soon followed by a series of albums of electronic pop music for the Sky label, home of many Krautrock bands. Tietchens often uses special source materials for his compositions such as water (Seuchengebiete), human voices (Von Mund zu Mund), paper (Papier ist geduldig). He is associated with the Industrial music scene through his collaborations and releases on labels such as United Dairies, Esplendor Geometrico or Dom Records. Tietchens never studied composition, he has no academic background, everything he does is self taught or learnign by doing. Nevertheless, he was professor for sound design in Hamburg in recent years. Linea was originally released on cassette on Dutch Korm Plastics label, later re-issued as a CDR in 1999. It is one of Tietchens's most minimal compositions, and has a special place in our music hearts here at Klanggalerie. For our new edition, Asmus Tietchens has dug deep into his archive and unearthed two further Linea pieces that have so far never seen the light of day. Full running time now 75 minutes. Remastered and repackaged. Full tracklist: 1 Linea 1 2. Linea 3 3. Linea 12 4. Linea 13." [label info] "Linea+ represents some of the composers most minimal works. The opener, Linea 1, offers a taut repetitive beat/rhythm that slightly blurs and bounces over time. It is a circular, hypnotic rhythm that is drawn into a bit of an oblong shape as it crosses from the left to the right channel ever so slightly. Musique Concrete at its finest, Tietchens takes sweet time to add minor electronic effects which throw the steady beat off some, making the listener pay closer attention to the conversation between the up and down layers. (...) The original release was a diamond in the rough, and this reissue has expanded its karat size two-fold and given this excavated classic the full restoration it deserves. Now Linea+ can be re-presented to new audiences looking for a futuristic sound that was way before its time, here reserving its timeless place." (Toneshift, September 2018) "This is not a review at all; this is a personal observation. About thirty years ago I started to meet Dolf Mulder, who was slightly older than me and about every once in 2 weeks we would meet up and he would play me weird records. Or I'd play some weird cassettes, as this I was I already much into. These days Dolf still writes for Vital Weekly about weird music, just as I do. I'm sure at one of those occasions he played me a record by Asmus Tietchens, I'd like to think one of the Sky Records or 'Formen Letzter Hausmusik' and Dolf told me he was in contact with Tietchens and that there was unpublished work, refused by Ladd-Frith on the basis it was too monotonous. For the small cassette label I had this seemed to me like sure-fire hit, selling more than the usual thirty copies. I wrote to Tietchens, got the master tape, liked it, and had a very professional cover printed, unlike all the Xerox business so far. A decade later, when CDRs became household, I re-issued all of the cassettes I did on Korm Plastics on that format and gave 'Linea' a second life. Not bad for a boring piece of music, indeed. Now it gets a third life, including two lengthy bonus pieces, both from the same series, but with 'Linea 12' and 'Linea 13' a bit further down the line. If Tietchens doesn't release a particular composition it is probably not good enough. On the original we have 'Linea 1' and 'Linea 3'. The fist is a very straightforward rhythm machine and sequence along with a repeating loop. It is very much at the tail end of Tietchens' Sky Records phase; very electronic, nothing concrete and yet also very minimal indeed. 'Linea 3' is also minimal yet with a stranger attack on the keyboard and rhythm machine pushed a little to the background. In both pieces there is very little development but it slowly shifts around. 'Im Atelier Zu Hören' is the tip Tietchens gives us, 'listen in your workspace' and that's where this works well indeed. In the two bonus pieces, Tietchens gives something away from the working methods behind 'Linea', which I didn't hear to the same extent as before. In these pieces the rhythm machine has disappeared and it's only arpeggio synthesizers, playing repeating lines and feeding through various delay lines, so sometimes we only hear the residue of the delay of the original line, chasing each other on end. Again this is all very minimal and again it works very well. 'Linea 12' has a darker touch and 'Linea 13' is the lighter side of things. Excellent re-issue." (FdW/Vital Weekly) 2018 €14.00
Raum 318 CD "Asmus Tietchens is a sound artist and composer from Hamburg, Germany. He got interested in Musique Concrete by listening to a German radio program when he was 10 years old. In 1965, at the age of 18, Asmus started experimenting with tape loops and turned them into musical collages. Soon, the use of synthesizers was added. In 1980 his debut album Nachtstücke was released, produced by Peter Baumann of Tangerine Dream. This was soon followed by a series of albums of electronic pop music for the Sky label, home of many Krautrock bands. Tietchens often uses special source materials for his compositions such as water (Seuchengebiete), human voices (Von Mund zu Mund), paper (Papier ist geduldig). He is associated with the Industrial music scene through his collaborations and releases on labels such as United Dairies, Esplendor Geometrico or Dom Records. Tietchens never studied composition, he has no academic background, everything he does is self-taught or learning by doing. Nevertheless, he was professor for sound design in Hamburg in recent years. Raum 318 was originally released on cassette only in 1991 on the E'ostrate label in France, in an edition of only 138 hand-numbered copies. It is a part of Tietchens' more Industrial sounding body of work and was remastered for this edition. In addition, a long previously unreelased bonus track has been added." 2020 €15.00
Ptomaine 1 CD \"Asmus Tietchens is a sound artist and composer from Hamburg, Germany. He got interested in Musique Concrete by listening to a German radio programme when he was 10 years old. In 1965, at the age of 18, Asmus started experimenting with tape loops and turned them into musical collages. Soon, the use of synthesizers was added. In 1980 his debut album Nachtstücke was released, produced by Peter Baumann of Tangerine Dream. This was soon followed by a series of albums of electronic pop music for the Sky label, home of many Krautrock bands. Tietchens often uses special source materials for his compositions such as water (Seuchengebiete), human voices (Von Mund zu Mund), paper (Papier ist geduldig). He is associated with the Industrial music scene through his collaborations and releases on labels such as United Dairies, Esplendor Geometrico or Dom Records. Tietchens never studied composition, he has no academic background, everything he does is self taught or learnign by doing. Nevertheless, he was professor for sound design in Hamburg in recent years. Ptomaine was originally released on RRRecords in 1996 as a 3 LP set. This is the first volume of the first ever CD re-issue\" https://www.klanggalerie.com/gg388 2021 €15.00
Schatten ohne Licht CD "Black Rose Recordings are proud to present the exceptional new album by Asmus Tietchens. E.M. Cioran plays a very important role in most of Tietchen's work and this release is no different. For this release Cioran has a fellow anthropofugal thinker: Ulrich Horstmann. The theme of this release deals with a return to a mineral world without any organic species, and therefore uninhabitable for human beings. This very radical dystopia serves as a foil to the six chapters of "Schatten ohne Licht". There is something profound about the music. It can be slow and is certainly contemplative. Maybe the music is a sign of the state of our times? As a pioneer of electronic composition his work spans over four decades and doesn't fit easily into any one category. Early recordings ranged from experiments with tape machines and electronic sound through to experimental pop. Later works were a more sculptural blend of abstract microelectronics, industrial sounds and musique concrete. Never straightforward or obvious, always unpredictable and innovative. His ground-breaking music influences many working in today's electronic music scene. He has worked almost exclusively as a solo artist, but other releases have seen him collaborate with well-known and diverse artists such as Dieter Moebius (Cluster & Harmonia), Thomas Koener, Richard Chartier, and Merzbow." [press release] "The previous CD by Asmus Tietchens for Black Rose Recordings was 'Fast Ohne Titel, Korrosion' (Vital Weekly 907), which was quite a diversion from his usual quiet music. For 'Schatten Ohne Licht' (shadows without light), there is no such diversion, and Tietchens stays firmly in his silent world. Next to the usual E.M. Cioran quote, the information tells us that Tietchens takes inspiration from the works of Ulrich Horstmann and that the theme for this release is about "a return to a mineral world without any organic species, and there inhabitable for human beings". Also no ray of sunshine in this thinking, but considering the sorry state of the world, one could say it's not the worst idea. With this information in the back of my mind, I started this release and saw images of an empty world; no life at all, just rocks, caves, and minerals; is there a sea? Can it exist without life in it? My knowledge of the natural world is pretty limited, so I don't know. But Tietchens' music here sounds like stale wind over barren land. Wind rustling... well, not leaves and branches, probably, but there is a strong feeling of desolation within this music. As always, I have no idea what kind of sounds Tietchens uses in his music, as the level of processing is quite high, but it works very well. There is a bit of industrial droning in 'Anthroposaurus', which is not something I heard this strong in his other recent releases. In other pieces, this is less evident, so this new release is not a most radical break. It is, however, an excellent release, on par with almost all of Tietchens' releases, but safe to say, as a fanboy, I am probably quite biased. Towards the end of the final piece, 'Kolosse', the volume increases considerable and ends with silence; I believe that is quite a sign, but for what?" [FdW/Vital Weekly] "Fast jedes Album des Hamburgers wird geziert von einem Zitat des großen Pessimisten und Misanthropen E.M. Cioran. „Schatten ohne Licht“ verweist zusätzlich auf den inzwischen emeritierten Anglisten Ulrich Horstamnn, der Anfang der 80er mit seinem anthropofugalen Traktat „Das Untier“ Optimisten und andere Verblendete vor den Kopf stieß: „Vermonden wir unseren stoffwechselsiechen Planeten! Denn nicht bevor sich die Sichel des Trabanten hienieden in tausend Kraterseen spiegelt, nicht bevor Vor- und Nachbild, Mond und Welt, ununterscheidbar geworden sind und Quarzkristalle über den Abgrund einander zublinzeln im Sternenlicht, nicht bevor die letzte Oase verödet, der letzte Seufzer verklungen, der letzte Keim verdorrt ist, wird wieder Eden sein auf Erden.“ Tietchens sprach noch anlässlich seines (auch hier besprochenen) Albums „Bleiche Brunnen“ passenderweise von „[m]enschenferne[n] Klänge[n]“." [African Paper] 2022 €13.00
  Ptomaine 2 CD \\\"Asmus Tietchens is a sound artist and composer from Hamburg, Germany. He got interested in Musique Concrete by listening to a German radio program when he was ten years old. In 1965, at the age of 18, Asmus started experimenting with tape loops and turned them into musical collages. Soon, the use of synthesizers was added. In 1980 his debut album Nachtstücke was released, produced by Peter Baumann of Tangerine Dream. This was soon followed by a series of albums of electronic pop music for the Sky label, home of many Krautrock bands. Tietchens often uses special source materials for his compositions such as water (\\\'Seuchengebiete\\\'), human voices (\\\'Von Mund zu Mund\\\'), paper (\\\'Papier ist geduldig\\\'). He is associated with the industrial music scene through his collaborations and releases on labels such as United Dairies, Esplendor Geometrico or Dom Records. Tietchens never studied composition, he has no academic background, everything he does is self-taught or learning by doing. Nevertheless, he was professor for sound design in Hamburg in recent years. Ptomaine was originally released on RRRecords in 1996 as a 3 LP set. This is the second volume of the first ever CD re-issue.\\\" https://www.klanggalerie.com/gg415 2023 €15.00
TIETCHENS, ASMUS & TERRY BURROWS Watching the burning Ride - Burning the watching Bride do-CD "The two collaborative albums by Asmus Tietchens and Terry Burrows, Watching The Burning Bride and Burning The Watching Bride have just been reissued on double CD. The works originally appeared on vinyl in 1986 and 1998 respectively. The double CD is jointly released be Die Stadt and aufabwegen forms part of the Asmus Tietchens reissue series. The double CD features two short bonus tracks plus a lengthy text by Terry Burrows explaining how the collaboration came about." 2017 €17.50
TIETCHENS, ASMUS + CV LIQUIDSKY Monoposto CD 17th and final part in the re-release series of all early Tietchens albums between 1980-1991 Originally released on Dragnet, Dom Elchklang in 1991. This new version incl. 3 Bonus tracks and is another joint release by German labels Die Stadt and aufabwegen. Jewel case with full color artwork and poster booklet also feat. the original front and back cover. First edition of 600 copies. Track listing: 1. 'Junge Hoden' 3'01 2. 'Drangsal am Hauptbahnhof' 3'09 3. 'Der Appelbeker Kreis' 3'14 4. 'Schlotzen' 2'47 5. 'Mit dem Zombiebus ins Totenreich der Killermumien' 10'07 6. 'DDR' 4'01 7. 'Frauenhygiene' 3'12 8. 'Vergessene Jungens' 3'40 9. 'Einfach Helden' 3'09 10.'Aus heiterem Himmel'2'07 Bonus tracks: 11. 'Prinzip Hoffmann' 2'49 12. 'Schwachholz vorsetzen' 2'06 13. 'Liquidsky spricht' 0'22 Asmus Tietchens + CV Liquidsky 'MONOPOSTO' (Dragnet & Dom Elchklang, Dradomel 03) 1991 It was just before the end of the so called heroic times when CV Liquidsky and I decided to record a studio album together. Almost a bit late considering that Liquidsky had already lived and worked in Hamburg since 1979. Our ways had crossed many times and a mutual friendship developed. Actually we discussed a possible collaboration several times. Liquidsky was a graphic designer, journalist, musician and someone who really moved things in all these areas. I got to know Liquidsky's musical side as him being one half of the industrial music duo 'Cinema Verite', and at the same time through his journalistic skill's, writing excellent reports about the Hamburg and International music and cultural scenes. As a trained artist he also did record covers and posters, illustrated Fanzines and created some disturbing free works. It was no secret that his chosen artist name derived from both ,Cabaret Voltaire'(CV) and 'Liquid Sky'(Liquidsky). His real name was Andreas Hoffmann. The recordings for 'Monoposto' were made between 1988-1990. The mention of the years 1981-1990 on the cover was deliberately misleading. Our work scheme was to try and record one track per nightly session, and when ever we met in the studio we clung to this strict working method. It was our intention to avoid making a perfect studio album. Improvisation, chance, errors and spontaneous decisions were the game plan. After a track was recorded it was mixed the same night or even early the next morning, so it was finished. No softening out and no corrections were made, no matter if the raw diamonds we created started to shine or not. It was Liquidsky (the "mover") who persuaded me to accept this almost Dadaistic concept, as I'm basically someone who takes longer to create a track. He concentrated on his guitar and myself on the electrical treatments. Later a good friend of ours described the music as a mixture of apathy and ecstasy, beauty and ugliness. In fact I never worked on an album with such a melancholic note before or ever after. The cover was created by Liquidsky within a couple of hours. The word 'Monoposto' has actually no meaning. It's a Blindtest to show the actual look of a certain typography common in the analog world back then. Liquidsky was fast and he always stood on the right side. Andrea Hoffmann died on 6th of September 1998. Editorial notes: All recordings were transferred from the original tapes, but in a different order than on the LP. The title 'Mit dem Zombiebus ins Totenreich der Killermimen' on the original album is actually written incorrectly. The corrected title is 'Mit dem Zombiebus ins Totenreich der Killermumien'. The track 'Liquidsky spricht' was taken from the compilation 'Das digitale Vetrauen' (Soleilmoon, SOL 54)." [label info] diestadtmusik.de/DS120.html "Die große, 2003 begonnene 18-teilige Wiederveröffentlichungsreihe von Asmus Tietchens’ früheren Arbeiten kommt mit Nummer 17 langsam an ihr Ende; in einer erneuten Zusammenarbeit veröffentlichen Die Stadt und Auf Abwegen das mit CV Liquidsky zwischen 1988 und 1990 entstandene und ursprünglich 1991 erschienene Album „Monoposto“. In den Linernotes schreibt Tietchens, dass er Andreas Hoffmann, so der bürgerliche Name des 1998 verstorbenen Musikers, Journalisten und Graphikers, schon lange kannte, bevor sie sich endlich dazu entschlossen, ein gemeinsames Album aufzunehmen. Es sei nicht darum gegangen, ein „perfektes Studioalbum“ aufzunehmen, sondern „Improvisation, Zufälle[...], Fehler[...] und spontane[...] Entscheidungen“ hätten eine wichtige Rolle gespielt. Das führte dazu, dass die einzelnen Stücke recht schnell entstanden und noch in der gleichen Nacht gemischt wurden. Nichts weiter wurde mit den Aufnahmen gemacht. Das Zusammenspiel von Liquidskys Gitarre und der elektronischen Bearbeitung von Asmus Tietchens führt “ zu ganz unterschiedlichen Ergebnissen. Insgesamt ist „Monoposto“ allerdings ein stark von Wiederholung geprägtes Album, wie gerade der fast schon rhythmische Opener „Junge Hoden“ mit seinen immer nur leicht variierten Loops zeigt. Ähnlich konzipiert scheint „Drangsal am Hauptbahnhof“, das mit seltsamen kreischenden Passagen im Hintergrund etwas düsterer und variabler ist. „Mit dem Zombiebus ins Totenreich der Killermumien“, vielleicht der Titel eines verlorengegangen Drehbuchs von Don Swan, ist eine anfangs verrauschte, fast schon nach Ambient klingende Nummer mit dunklem Dröhnen und leichtem Pochen. Auf dem verglichen damit profan betitelten Track „DDR“ hört man Loops, Heulen und Dröhnen, seltsame Stimmen und im Hintergrund eine Hymne. “Fraueninnenhygiene” hat eine merkwürdige Westernatmosphäre, „ Auf „Einfach Helden“ glaubt man ein dissonantes Klavier zu hören und das Stück „Aus heiterem Himmel“ ist ein Cover von Neil Youngs „My my, hey hey (Out of the blue)“, das im Original die legendäre Zeile „It’s better to burn out/Than to fade away “ enthält. In Tietchens’ und Liquidskys Interpretation lässt sich das Original durchaus noch erahnen, von der Herangehensweise passt es aber gut zum Rest des Albums. Stampfende, primitive Rhythmik hört man auf den Bonustracks „Prinzip Hoffmann“ und „Schwachholz vorsetzen“ und gerade diese Tracks situieren dieses in Passagen monotone und ruppige Album durchaus an den Rändern des Industrials. (MG) 2020 €15.00
TIETCHENS, ASMUS + FRANS DE WAARD Oordeel CD On „Oordeel“ This collaboration was bound to happen someday! Out of mutual respect and admiration for each other’s work Asmus Tietchens and Frans de Waard decided to work on some music together. The result is “Oordeel" (dutch for "judgement") – eleven tracks of diverse character and subtle beauty. From distorted groans and gritty pulses to delicate and abstract sound layers Tietchens and de Waard have created a fascinating sound world of bizarre beauty. Frans de Waard Frans de Waard (1965) has been producing music since 1984 (Kapotte Muziek, Beequeen, Goem, Zebra, Freiband, Shifts, Modelbau, etc.). In 1984 he started his own record label Korm Plastics, releasing music from Arcane Device, Asmus Tietchens, Jim O'Rourke among others. He has worked for the pioneering Dutch tape label Staalplaat (1992-2003) and since 1986 as a reviewer for his own publication Vital (now Vital Weekly), a magazine which has been an online source for underground music since 1995, and which celebrated its 1000th issue in 2015. In 2016 Timeless published in France his first book, an autobiography of life in Staalplaat titled This Is Supposed To Be A Record Label. His interests in music creation ranges from ambient to noise to what he describes as 'silly disco music'. He has played concerts in Europe, USA, Canada, Russia and Japan, and collaborated with Steven Wilson, Jaap Blonk, Andrew Liles, Radboud Mens, Keiji Haino, Pan Sonic and others. Asmus Tietchens Tietchens was born in Hamburg in 1947. Since 1975 he has been working as an independent musician; in 1980 he released his first solo record Nachtstücke. After producing a series of rhythmic and harmonic albums for the Sky label in the early 1980s he released his first industrial record Formen letzter Hausmusik in 1984 on United Dairies. Here Tietchens articulated his musical interests clearly: everyday noises were treated and at times deformed beyond recognition and placed into new contexts. Until now Asmus Tietchens has released more than 80 albums on international labels where he continues to explore the posibilities presented to him by specific sound sources (ranging from water sounds to pure sine wave tones). He has a more rhythm-oriented fake band project called Hematic Sunsets. Tietchens’ work is rooted in a deeply sceptic gesture, marked by frequent quotes from the works of philosopher E.M. Cioran on his album covers. Asmus Tietchens has been awarded with the prestigious Karl Sczuka Prize of the Südwestrundfunk (SWR) twice: in 2003 for his work Heidelberger Studien 1-6 and in 2006 for Trois Dryades. He lives and works in Hamburg. https://aufabwegen.bandcamp.com/album/oordeel "As everyone knows by now, I am the world’s foremost authority on Frans de Waard Record Reviews. Do you think you’ve written more Frans de Waard record reviews than I have? You are incorrect. Go ahead, count all the Frans de Waard record reviews that you’ve ever written and tell me how many there are. Oh, is that all? I’ve written more. You cannot win. Looking at my recent contributions to the subgenre of music journalism of which I am the indisputable champion, I notice that my critical expertise is most frequently turned towards de Waard’s solo albums as Modelbau and Quest/QST. However, as the Reigning King of Frans de Waard Reviews that we all agree I am, I happen to know that the (unofficial) Mayor of Nijmegen thrives on collaborations. This latest pair of albums show off his versatility with two very different, yet equally excellent, pieces of electronic music made with the cooperation of two very different composers. It’s amazing to think that “Oordeel” is the first album-length album that de Waard and veteran German composer Asmus Tietchens have done as a duo. Both are prolific and enthusiastic collaborators, so it seems natural that they’d come together at some point. Both gents share a disinclination to explain themselves, preferring to follow their musical instincts wherever they lead and to let an image or a title stand as the only signpost to guide listeners. The way that the title “Oordeel” is pronounced in English, the word describes something difficult to endure; a protracted unpleasant or traumatic experience. The Dutch word, however, means “judgement”. I suspect that neither interpretation is intended to frame this music literally, and that the title was more likely selected for it’s aesthetic appeal. I could be wrong, but then again I’m the greatest reviewer of Frans de Waard records on the planet, so… let’s just assume I’m right, okay? Indeed, this music is not in any way an ordeal to sit through, nor does it seem to be judging anything. The album’s sequence of short, discrete pieces offers no clues as to a concept or even compositional strategy, and yet it sounds very specific. Every piece seems to be created from similar materials united by a background ambience of incorporeal breath, which makes it hang together as a single idea. There’s a cool hermetic quality to all eleven vignettes, each one offering sharp clicks and carefully sculpted hums that skip lightly over a surface haze. I’m reminded of smooth 1970s plastic, mercilessly austere and yet vaguely sinister in its indifference. Only one piece breaks up the set: “VII” temporarily shatters the reverie with a buzzing whine of dial-up modems and hostile radio static. Once “Oordeel” gets that out of its system, though, it returns to the holodeck and stares out at the cosmos for awhile." [HS/Vital Weekly] 2019 €13.00
TOOP, DAVID Entities Inertias Faint Beings LP From David Toop: The music existed already, spores maybe or dormant clusters of digital files. Out of three periods of solitude the germination began. The first was in Queensland, on Tamborine Mountain (an aboriginal name), so silent at night that I listened to recorded music – Japanese gagaku, Buddhist ritual from Bhutan, Korean Confucian music – as if drifting into cavernous black space. Stepping into sleep I saw a hypnagogic image - a transparent swimming pool suspended over the mouth of a volcano. I read Stephen Mansfield’s book on Japanese stone gardens – “Successful stone arrangements seem almost alive, the elements conversing among themselves with an occult vitality, the call and response that has been noted between well-placed rocks resembling the chanting of Buddhist sutras” ; Daylight listening in chill air, hearing whip birds, butcher birds, noisy mynahs, kookaburra chatter, rainbow lorikeets; catapult elastic, I wrote, radio waves in a kettle, electric buzzers. On Queensland’s Gold Coast I gazed at a distant humpback whale breaching out to sea, watched Yasujiro Ozu’s 1934 silent version of A Story of Floating Weeds, listened to cicadas burst into life as a helicopter flew overhead. Back into society and driving with Lawrence English I asked him, why would anybody release music in the 21st century? He laid out his philosophy; I was convinced. Then in St Ives, Cornwall, solitary again, drawing, reading Timothy Morton’s Hyperobjects and Clarice Lispector’s Agua Viva (her beautiful sentence: “dry keys echo in the dark and humid early hours”), gazing at ocean flux, music trembling into life from secreted audio files, music becoming living entities. Phantoms rose up out of sea mist, images of black light and blistered skin from photographers (Takuma Nakahira and Tomatsu Shomei), the fermenting of sounds. From a distance I heard voices – the extraordinary painter Mariko Sugano reciting ancient Japanese garden texts on the taboos associated with stone setting; Emi Watanabe’s flute as if a ghost from the Noh; the sounds of underwater creatures in my pond; Sylvia Hallett’s sarangi crying (in cavernous black space); the fervent drumming of Rie Nakajima’s small mechanical beings (like cooking with paper, wire and batteries); John Butcher’s reeds, music as a scientific exploration of the body, the instrument. Rie talked about the properties of objects, soft or hard. In the Noh play Aoi no Ue, the spirit is compelled with drum and plucked string (the catalpa bow). In solitude I contemplated death, decay, the gush of life. Back in the car, Lawrence told me, when you die you’ll leave many projects unfinished. I laughed. Unspeakable truths, notes for a language to come, maybe not this world. 
 room40.bandcamp.com/album/entities-inertias-faint-beings "Composer/performer/improviser David Toop’s latest release traces the seam between sound and music, paying attention to the hidden sounds that surround us and turning silence inside out. In a lot of ways I’ve come to dislike music,” David Toop told The Wire in 2003. “I love sound, I love silence, but music as a whole I don’t like anymore.” You might assume that would have troubled him, given that Toop, then 54, had been deeply involved with music for most of his life, in virtually every role imaginable: performer, improviser, composer, critic, theorist, archivist, curator, and label owner. But if it represented any sort of crisis for him—six years before, burnout and “indifference to contemporary music” had led Toop to hang up his hat as a music journalist—it didn’t hold back his output. Since making the statement, Toop has continued to perform and lecture, released a half-dozen albums, and written two books, including the recently published Into the Maelstrom: Music, Improvisation, and the Dream of Freedom. But Toop’s turn away from music, that complicated category of organized sound, has been crucial in one very important aspect: It has allowed him to ask probing questions about the nature of listening. Those questions come to a head on Entities Inertias Faint Beings, his first studio album since 2007’s Sound Body. Offering a vibrant array of rustle and hum, the new album traces the seam between sound and music, between the intentional and the incidental, between expression and mute abstraction. A partial index of its sounds would include the whine of rubbed wineglass rims; shortwave radios on the fritz; the electric buzz of the forest canopy at night; the languid click of fingernails across guitar strings; the whirr and flap of a 16mm film projector’s take-up reel. It is an album about paying attention to the hidden sounds that surround us, about turning silence inside out. And it is an album about using sound to find one's own bearings. Entities Inertias Faint Beings got its start as an autobiography—or, more precisely, it is the result of what turned out to be an abortive case of writer’s block. Its genesis lies in three periods of solitude: first a stay on Tamborine Mountain in subtropical Queensland, Australia (“so silent at night that I listened to recorded music—Japanese gagaku, Buddhist ritual from Bhutan, Korean Confucian music—as if drifting into cavernous black space,” Toop writes in his introduction to the album), and then on Queensland’s Gold Coast, where cicadas harmonized with helicopters. Back in Cornwall, trying and failing to write his life’s story, he began sifting through several years' worth of personal recordings he had stored on his computer: small, percussive thunks; filament-like drones; the crinkling of paper. Shuffling, layering, and arranging—not so much composing as feeling his way through the material, as if improvising—he added new sounds to the mix, like a quiet passage of acoustic guitar from one of his daily practice sessions, and a hydrophone recording from his garden pond. And in London, he fleshed out the pieces with the help of musician friends. The improvising saxophonist John Butcher lends trilling, bird-like sounds to two tracks; Rie Nakajima's battery-powered motorized objects rattle and whirr, suggesting insect colonies in upheaval. The overall result—thematically, anyway—is something like one of W.G. Sebald’s literary peregrinations: a palimpsest of place, memory, and accident, although its precise route is unknown to all but its creator. There is little to tell us what any of these clicks and pings might actually be. Several of the album’s track titles suggest cryptic headings scrawled on notecards in dusty filing cabinets: “dry keys echo in the dark and humid early hours”; “pieces of wood and iron, phials of odours”; “sea slug.” They function as indices of possible experiences, and if they explain little—do the bassy gurgles of “sea slug” really come from a gastropod mollusk?—they offer unusual and inviting travelogues consisting of little more than white noise and feral throb. But Toop can’t quite resist sneaking music—that most elegantly ordered aspect of organized noise—back into the equation. Again and again, understated wisps of melody, harmony, and rhythm surface briefly and disappear just as quickly, sending out ripples that supercharge every corner of this lovely, engrossing album. In the album’s centerpiece, “ancestral beings, sightless by their own dust,” Sylvia Hallett’s sarangi, a bowed string instrument from Hindustani classical music, weaves an eerie, mournful air over slow, methodical pulses. Then, at the track’s end, a jungle’s worth of growling, chirping, buzzing sounds swells and is swallowed in turn by the steady gush of a tropical rainstorm. Toop has compared his compositional processes to traditional Japanese stone gardens—one track, “setting stones,” quotes a thousand-year-old passage on the subject—and at its most engrossing, Entities captures the uncanny qualities of inanimate objects in conversation with one another. It is a way of suggesting that the music exists independently even of its creator; it is a product of the act of listening itself. By the act of focusing our ears, we bring it to life—and vice versa." [Pitchfork] 2016 €23.50
TREMBLAY, PIERRE-ALEXANDRE Alter ego DVD-A Autoportrait (2001). au Croisé, le silence, seul, tient lieu de parole (2000). Binary (Virtual Rapper Remix) (1998). fugue; qui sent le temps? (1997). la cloche fêlée (2004) "The other self - Finding in music an accomplice, the other, without whom nothing is possible, without whom one cannot grow. Better: through his contact, one really exists, since one plainly sees oneself. A mirror. the other me - My music as an intimate insight, naked, subject to the world's judgement: an act of humility. Through it I present a hidden side of my torment, in my name, alone to take on the poetry of its imperfection. Of my imperfection. the other you - Proposing dreams fragments, paths for wandering, where others can hopefully loose themselves and self-identify to the extent of purging their humanity. Or just to enjoy the road. the other thing - work, not as a superficial exercise of aesthetic seduction, but as an attempt to transcend differences toward the Übermensch. Strong arguments, amoral, music as a vehicle of reflections, Expressionist and Romantic, inducing an effervescence, an urgency to live. Perhaps simply beautiful? other." Pierre-Alexandre Tremblay. First initiated to the world of classical guitar at an early age, Pierre Alexandre Tremblay subsequently dedicated body and soul to composition and bass guitar during his adolescent years. With the support and guidance of Jean-Guy Larin, Michel Tétreault, Michel Donato and Marcelle Deschênes, the young composer forged his unique language in Montréal's teeming cultural life of the '90s and, in 1998, completed his bachelor's degree in composition at the Université de Montréal. Pierre Alexandre Tremblay continued to explore further musical endeavours in the creative atmosphere of England at the beginning of the millennium. He was awarded his PhD in Electroacoustic Composition from the University of Birmingham (UK) in 2005, under the supervision of Jonty Harrison. Since then, Pierre Alexandre Tremblay teaches composition at the University of Huddersfield (UK). In parallel with his academic path, Pierre Alexandre Tremblay formed, in 1996, the contemporary jazz ensemble [iks], which he still leads and with which he continues to tour Europe, America, and Africa. With this ensemble, that has released six albums to date, he practices improvisation on his instrument and, more recently, on realtime processing devices. He is also frequently in the studio for popular music artists, both as producer and session bassist. Well versed in these aesthetic approaches that he considers complementary, Pierre Alexandre Tremblay now seeks to unite them into a single coherent poetic language. He spends his spare time, pursuing his interests in reading and photography, and with his family. In addition, as founding member of the no-tv collective, he does not own a working television set. [label info / credits] www.empreintesdigitales.com 2006 €12.00
TREPANERINGSRITUALEN Deathward, To The Womb LP "Trepaneringsritualen's long out of print debut release, Deathward, To The Womb (2012) finally sees a proper reissue. An invocation not so much of Babalon herself, but of the tormented elemental of Frater T.O.P.A.N., and his fervent attempts to usher in the Æon of Horus. In the lyrics - based on the texts of Frater T.O.P.A.N. on the Babalon Working - the perilous flame that is Babalon is called upon to ravage creation. She is asked to scorch the earth clean for the coming cosmic renovation. The Eternal Virgin would spring from Her womb. From Her love, the new divine man would be born. 70 years after the Bablon Working was deemed successfully concluded, its utter failure is painfully apparent. "All love songs are of me" She says. This is certainly true of the first five songs of Deathward, To The Womb. The final songs, "All Hail The Black Flame", seem different altogether. In this guise, Babalon brings not solely love, but cataclysm; a holocaust brought upon the domain of Man. Manifested as the Black Flame, She reaches from a time before time, formless chaos, and rips apart the very fabric of the created worlds. Such is Her nature: two opposing principles; that of the nurturing mother, and that of the callous destroyer. "She is flame of life, power of darkness - She destroys with a glance - She may take thy soul. She feeds upon the death of men." Babalon was summoned at Winter Solstice 2015 under the sign of n, with assistance from Alone In The Hollow Garden, A.I.L of Arktau Eos, Michael Idehall, KzR of Bölzer, Nÿland ii of Hadewych, and Æther. To destroy and to give life. This ritual has concluded and was successful. Appended to the six original songs is a specially commissioned 12 minutes and 57 seconds long ritual work entitled "I Remember When I Was God", and attributed to Teeraal Räum Pheynix." www.coldspring.co.uk "Seit "Perfection & Permanence", dem letzten regulären, 2014 erschienenen Studioalbum von TREPANERINGSRITUALEN kümmert man sich beim neuen Hauslabel COLD SPRING offenbar verstärkt um das Aufforsten vergriffener Werke des umtriebigen Okkult-Post-Industrial-Kuttenträgers aus Göteborg, und so ist nach "Veil The World", der Reissue eines Tape-Boxsets aus dem Jahre 2011, nun "Deathward, To The Womb" dran. Das Original erschien 2012 als eine der allerletzten Veröffentlichungen des, noch im selben Jahr verschiedenen, schwedischen Label RELEASE THE BATS im 10''-Format in einer recht übersichtlichen Auflage von 275 Stück. Damit sich die Anschaffung der, nunmehr als CD und LP erhältlichen Wiederveröffentlichung auch für jene Klientel lohnt, die das gute Stück im Original ihr Eigen nennen, hat man seitens COLD SPRING noch den knapp 13-minütigen Track "I Remember When I Was God" obendrauf gepackt, der 2015 in genretranszendierender Zusammenarbeit mit allerlei illustren Zunftgenossen wie MICHAEL IDEHALL, ÆTHER oder dem BÖLZER-Frontmann KZR aufgenommen wurde. Auf der CD prangen zwischen dem letzten regulären Stück der Original-10'' und dem besagten Bonbon übrigens zwölf, jeweils viersekündige "Silent Tracks" – was genau das letztendlich nun soll, erschließt sich dem Rezensenten nicht wirklich, und daran ändert auch eine entsprechende Anmerkung auf der discogs-Seite der CD – "Tracks 7-18 contain no music, but are part of the T × R × P ritual" - rein gar nichts, doch was soll's: dass THOMAS MARTIN EKELUND, der Mann hinter TREPANERINGSRITUALEN, eine ausgeprägt paramystizistische Ader und ein erklärtes Faible für okkultistische Umtriebe hat, ist ja nun hinlänglich bekannt, und insofern wird sich der Mann schon irgendwas dabei gedacht haben, was dem Endergebnis dienlich ist bzw. war. Der Verbraucher muss schließlich nicht alles wissen & verstehen, was zum Produkt beigetragen hat, und entscheidend ist ja, nach des Altkanzlers Helmut Kohl weisen Worten, am Ende immer nur, was hinten 'rauskommt: im vorliegenden Fall weiß das jedenfalls durchaus zu gefallen. Nach dieser kurzen Einleitung dürfte dem Leser bereits klargeworden sein, dass es sich bei "Deathward, To The Womb" um ein dezidiert "rituelles" Werk handelt, weshalb derjenige an dieser Stelle bereits vorgewarnt sein soll, der primär auf nach vorne losbratzende Gassenhauer wie "Judas Goat", "Papist Pretender" oder "Castrate Christ" schielt: Abgesehen von der geradezu atemberaubend treibenden Quasi-T × R × P-Hymne "All Hail The Black Flame", einer todsicheren Bank während jeder Live-Darbietung des Schweden, ist's mit dergleichen nach vorne losgehendem, rumpeligen Black-Post-Industrial auf dem vorliegenden Album ansonsten eher Essig. Es dominiert jene konzentrierte, fiebertraumartige Lo-Fi-Gruselatmosphäre, die die Phantasie des Hörers auch ohne expliziten Hinweis in nachtfinstere Bereiche namenloser In- & Evokationen lenkt, wie sie Meister EKELUND so gerne thematisiert. Und ganz in diesem Sinne rekurriert "Deathward, To The Womb" auf die so genannten "Babalon Workings", eine Serie magischer Rituale, die 1946 vom späteren Scientology-Gründer L. Ron Hubbard und dem Raketeningenieur (sic!) und Autor Jack Parsons – okkulter Ordensname "Frater T.O.P.A.N" – durchgeführt wurden, um eine Inkarnation der thelemitischen Entität Babalon – einer Art archetypischen weiblichen Gottheit auf Basis der mythomagischen Modelle Aleister Crowleys – zu manifestieren. Wie die Fama munkelt, warnte "Ipsissimus" Crowley Parsons vor den schwer kontrollierbaren Effekten seines Unternehmens, und das nimmt wenig wunder, bezeichnet Babalon doch ein Konzept, das seine passendste Analogie wohl in der hinduistischen Göttin Durga bzw. deren dezidiert "dunklem" Aspekt Kali hat: es vereinigt in sich die Polarität des Hervorbringens und des Verschlingens, mithin des Lebens und des Todes. Parsons jedoch war guter Dinge, erklärte nach einiger Zeit den ersten Teil des Rituals für erfolgreich abgeschlossen, um unmittelbar danach seine spätere Frau Marjorie Cameron kennenzulernen, bei der es sich seiner Überzeugung nach prompt um ebenjene Manifestation der Babalon handelte, die Hubbard und er beschworen hatten. Nachdem Parsons aufgrund eines tödlichen Unfalls verstorben war (ursächlich war eine Explosion in der heimischen Küche während des Hantierens mit allerlei hochsensiblen Substanzen, die das halbe Haus in Schutt und Asche legte – wahrlich ein, eines Raketeningenieurs würdiges Ende!), verrannte sich seine Witwe in die Theorie, ihr Göttergatte sei von finsteren Mächten ermordet worden, blieb ihrem magischen way of life aber treu und spielte noch bis ins hohe Alter eine illustre Rolle in thelemitischen Künstler- und Okkultistenkreisen. Zu ihrem Freundes- und Bekanntenkreis zählte von KENNETH ANGER (in dessen Kurzfilm "Inauguration Of The Pleasure Dome" sie die Rolle der Scarlet Woman aka Babalon bzw. der Kali übernahm) über ANTON LA VEY bis zu GENESIS P. ORRIDGE so ziemlich alles, was in der einschlägigen Szene Rang & Namen hatte. Marjorie Cameron verschied 1995 im Alter von 76 Jahren, nachdem sie auf dem Sterbebett im Krankenhaus die letzten thelemitischen Sakramente durch eine Hohepriesterin des O.T.O erhalten hatte. Der vergleichsweise ausführliche Exkurs über die Dame ist durch die thematische Agenda von "Deathward, To The Womb" bedingt: "An invocation not so much of BABALON Herself, but of the tormented elemental of Frater T.O.P.A.N., and his fervent attempts to usher in the Æon of Horus." Die Lyrics, so die labelseitige Auskunft weiter, seien anhand der Schriften des Frater T.O.P.A.N alias Jack Parsons entstanden und thematisieren das Babalon-Konzept als schwarze, den Erdkreis kathartisch reinigende, Flamme, nach deren segensreichem Großreinemachen aus der Asche der alten Welt ein neuer Quasi-Gott-Mensch hervorgeht. Die fragliche eschatologische Powerfrau sah Parsons, wie gesagt, in seiner Marjorie bereits idealtypisch verkörpert, womit der Erfolg der gesamten Veranstaltung für ihn außer Frage stand – schon Crowley war da skeptisch, und im Lichte der Erfahrung haut der Promotext in exakt dieselbe Kerbe: "70 years after the Bablon Working was deemed successfully concluded, its utter failure is painfully apparent." Und in der Tat – blickt man in der Weltgeschichte so um sich, ist man spontan geneigt, zuzustimmen: weit & breit nüscht zu sehen vom "new divine man", ganz im Gegenteil. So gesehen verlegt "Deathward, To The Womb" den Focus von PARSONSs schwachbrüstiger Happy-End-Finalität auf den wesentlich lebenswirklicheren, nämlich verschlingenden, kaliesken Aspekt Babalons, der exemplarisch im bereits erwähnten "All Hail The Black Flame" zum Ausdruck kommt: "In this guise, BABALON brings not solely love, but cataclysm; a holocaust brought upon the domain of Man. Manifested as the Black Flame, She reaches from a time before time, formless chaos, and rips apart the very fabric of the created worlds. Such is Her nature: two opposing principles; that of the nurturing mother, and that of the callous destroyer." Rein musikalisch handelt es sich hier zweifellos um den T × R × P -Klopper schlechthin: unterlegt von martialischem, treibend-wummerndem Getrommel und rhythmischem Metallschlagwerk krakeelt sich EKELUND die schwarze Seele aus dem Leibe und beschwört das Jüngste Gericht – herrlich, einfach herrlich! "»All love songs are of me« She says. This is certainly true of the first five songs of Deathward, To The Womb", so der Promotext, wobei, naja, von "love songs" im engeren Sinne hier sicherlich nur die wenigsten sprechen würden, doch insofern die ersten fünf Stücke sich alle durch ihren rituell-kontemplativen, teilweise devotionalen und bisweilen gar hymnischen Charakter auszeichnen, kann man sie in einem sehr weiten, übertragenen Sinne tatsächlich so bezeichnen. "The Birth Of Babalon" und der anschließende Titeltrack klingen wie Meditationssessions am Grunde des Hades – hier wie zumeist ist es freilich insbesondere EKELUNDs gutturales Gegurgel, das diesen speziellen, dämonischen Mehrwert maßgeblich generiert. "Osiris, Slain & Risen" (der Bezug zum Babalon-Konzept ergibt sich durch Osiris' Ehefrau Isis, die die Einzelteile des von seinem Bruder Seth Ermordeten und Zerstückelten einsammelt und neu zusammensetzt) wirkt durch den monotonen, trockenen und dumpfen Grundrhythmus, über dem EKELUNDs Gezeter dahintreibt, fast noch eine Spur finsterer. "She Is Flame Of Light" ist ein weiterer Höhepunkt des Albums und als solcher treibender und hypnotischer als die vorangegangenen Tracks, wobei es insbesondere die stimmig übereinandergeschichteten Vocals sind, die für den morbiden Charme ursächlich sind. "Sacrament & Crucifixion", obgleich ebenfalls keineswegs übel, geht danach etwas unter und hinterlässt insgesamt einen vergleichsweise indifferenten Gesamteindruck. Danach folgt "All Hail The Black Flame": toll, toll, toll – aber davon hatten wir's ja schon mehrfach. Bleibt zu guter letzt noch der Bonustrack "I Remember When I Was God", doch, um's kurz zu machen: obgleich der Rezensent insbesondere die langen, rituellen Stücke von TREPANERINGSRITUALEN – so z.B. "ÅKALLAN: Mímir" vom DEATHSTENCH- oder "Edifice Of Nine Sauvastikas" vom ÆTHER-Split – ausdrücklich zu schätzen weiß, so haut ihn das hier jetzt nicht so wirklich aus den Latschen. Irgendwie klingt die Nummer im Ganzen ein klitzekleines bisschen disparat, man vermisst diese gewisse innere Spannung, die die einzelnen Elemente zusammenhält und zu einem kohärenten Ganzen zusammenfasst. Mag am Ende vielleicht auch an der Vielzahl der Beteiligten liegen, denn, wie sagt das Sprichwort doch so schön: "Zu viele Köche verderben den Brei". Und bei "I Remember When I Was God" haben möglicherweise wirklich zwei oder drei Köche zu viel mitgemischt. Wobei der Brei freilich trotzdem nicht unbedingt verdorben, sondern durchaus genießbar ist, nichtsdestoweniger hat man dergleichen von TREPANERINGSRITUALEN schon mal besser gehört. Summa summarum rubriziert "Deathward, To The Womb" trotzdem ohne Wenn & Aber unter "Pflichtkauf": zum einen, weil es sich dabei schon jetzt um so etwas wie einen zeitgenössischen Klassiker des Genres handelt, zum anderen, weil es einfach ein spannendes, fesselndes Album ist, das selbst in seinen ruhigen Passagen so mitreißend und stimmungsintensiv ist wie wenig andere. Obendrein bekommt derjenige, der vor dem Hintergrund der vergleichsweise schmissigen 2014er Scheibe "Perfection & Permanence" Lust bekommen hat, sich in die etwas abgelegeneren Gefilde des EKELUNDschen Oevres einzuarbeiten, mit dem hier versammelten Menü eine hervorragende Einführung an die Hand. Im übrigen macht diese Neuauflage Lust auf mehr. Und wer "A" sagt, muss bekanntlich auch "B" sagen. Ganz in diesem Sinne fiebert der Autor dieser Zeilen jetzt schon prophylaktisch möglichen Reissues von "Roi Perdu" oder "Septentrional" entgegen: ist das nicht 'ne super Idee, Herr EKELUND? Bei COLD SPRING wenigstens wäre man dafür bestimmt Feuer & Flamme – schwarze Flamme!" [Endsal / NON-POP] 2017 €19.00
  Algir; Eller Algir I Merkstave CD Trepaneringsritualen return to Cold Spring with an album-long ritual working entitled ᛉᛦ — Algir; eller Algir i Merkstave. On this record — constructed from a series of rituals designated to guide the last ceasing of ᛏᛇᚱᚫ ᚾ ∴ ᚾ ∴ ᚾ — T × R × P is manifest in its most obscure form. Sonically minimal yet devastating in emotional impact, this working lets the listener grasp the last vestiges of Nifl and Múspell, and with them as weapon and beacon traverse the Night. ᛉᛦ reveals a barren landscape where crooked paths lead onward, through soot black veils to a point of radiant light where all that is is Union & Dissolution. Dedicated to our sister, ᛏᛇᚱᚫ ᚾ ∴ ᚾ ∴ ᚾ. T × R × P channelled through the forms of ᚦᛟᚦ ᚷᛁᚷ, ᚾᛟᚺ ⩝⚭⩝, and ᛏᛇᚱᚫ ᚾ ∴ ᚾ ∴ ᚾ at the 63rd Link, 4 & Rising, and Zone Rouge December 2017 e.v. — July 2018 e.v. Mastered by Martin Bowes. Artwork by Nullvoid. ___ I tordön rister marken och i ett enda andetag rämnar alla världar. Den arma kropp som en gång med knapphet höll samman faller nu itu, och itu, och itu. Tills varje beståndsdel blir till Ingenting. Likt en vålnad utan hud och blod och anda — utan köttets förtvivlan — kastar jag mig — handlöst och av vanvett vredgad — i ditt vidunderliga gap. Här, i gudars sotsvarta skymning, där natt och dag förgås, hörs alla ord och stäv för första gången tydligt. Här tar alla vaga förnimmelser sin sanna form och stiger ur ett disigt skimmer. Här, i alla solars gyllne gryning, strålar tusen — åter tusen, pilar av det mest förblindande ljus, mot en enda punkt. Skapandet, och varandet, och blivandet löses upp där prisman splittrar ljuset. Framför mig syns vägen klar och uppenbar. Vi Vandrar Vidare V ∴ V ∴ V CD in 6-panel digipak LP - Limited first edition of 500 copies on 180g black vinyl. Printed inner sleeve with reverse board outer sleeve. Official teaser: youtu.be/8bTlXaUPpzI https://coldspring.bandcamp.com/album/algir-eller-algir-i-merkstave-csr275cd-lp "After a run of strong albums framed around vocal driven, rhythmic death industrial compositions, Trepaneringsritualen ‎(TxRxP) has chosen to take an abrupt left-hand turn (onto the left hand path?) to deliver an extremely minimalist ritual dark ambient album, thus harks back to an earlier phase of the project. In fact this new instrumental album is so minimal and ritualized in style, it would not at all be out of place on the Aural Hypnox label. Compositionally this album consists of two lengthy nineteen-minute tracks, each titled with the algiz rune, but noting for the second track the algiz rune has been inverted. To glean meaning from this, in its upturned position, the algiz rune can be interpreted as a human with upraised arms to received the protection, guidance and wisdom from the Universe. But in its inverted position can be interpreted as meaning hidden dangers for the self and the need to reflect and look within as part of the process of gaining strength and connecting with higher self. Yet even with the cover image of the algiz rune formed by tree branches, based on the spartan artwork and text in Swedish, how the algiz runes should be interpreted in context of this album remains unclear. Sonically speaking the atmosphere is one of bass driven tonal depth and catacombic echo, where blackened washes of archaic drones blend with reverb drenched ritual percussive sounds, including: deep catatonic drum hits; sparse gongs; wailing horns; ritual chimes; singing bowls, low atonal piano notes etc. Yet for all of its apparent minimalism, this album is one that immediately draws you into its sinister clutches and does not loosen its grip for the entire album duration, particularly given the ample tensile sonic elements which keep interest and engagement throughout. Although cut into two separate tracks, the sound effectively plays out at an album length track as the sound between the two pieces bridges the same pace and articulates visions in the mind’s eye of a ritual ceremony being conducted in the falling twilight on the damp forest floor, while tree limbs creak and sway in response to the winds gusting through treetops far above. Also of note is the deep shuddering thud featuring at the start and end of the album album, as if sonically representing the opening and subsequent closing of a ritual cycle. Prior to the release of this album, perhaps I had assumed that TxRxP would continue to forge ahead with a song-based approach. That impression has been proven to be completed incorrect, but at the same time, ᛉᛦ – Algir; Eller Algir I Merkstave is an exceptional example of minimalist and strongly meditative ritual dark ambient music, and completely takes me back to the earliest days of when I started listening to this type of music. Recommended." [Noise Receptor] 2019 €13.00
TRICOLI, VALERIO Misery Lares do-LP "It has been 7 years since 'Metaprogramming from within the eye of the storm', the last solo full length release by Valerio Tricoli. In the years between he has established himself as a formidable presence on the international experimental live circuit and released acclaimed collaborations with Antoine Chessex, 'Coi Tormenti' (Dilemma Records, 2010) and Thomas Ankersmit, 'Forma II' (PAN, 2011) along with the fifth full length release by his band with fellow Italian cohorts 3/4HadBeenEliminated, 'Oblivion' (Die Schachtel, 2010). Throughout these shows, collaborations and ongoing explorations Valerio has developed on his signature style of beautifully unsettling Musique Concrète. The result of his tireless explorations, 'Miseri Lares' is his magnum opus, a multilayered and heavily nuanced work which epitomises the uncanny in the realm of sound. 'Miseri Lares' explores a variety of interlocking themes and sonic tapestries that combine in a quietly disturbing and deeply existential work. As a contemporary take on Musique Concrète Tricoli utilises his full explorations of the Revox taperecorder alongside digital processing whilst retaining all of the mystery and surprise elements found in the classic approach of pioneers such as Bernard Parmegiani, Eugeniusz Rudnik and Michel Chion. Themes of the internal, represented by both the psychological and the physical, play throughout the record. As a symbol of spirits preying on the grief within, haunting wisps of sound swirl around a throbbing bass in 'Hic Labor Ille Domus et Inextricabilis Error', whereas ÔLa Casa Deviata' emphasises the paranoid structure as looming creaks make way for abandoned pipes and a cloud of escaping water. Here, the tension at play is injected with a treated dictaphone recording: 'Tell me what happened','I can't remember THE SMELL!!! There was a tape recorder, where is the tape'? Spoken text (Italian and English) appears throughout the record, mostly as texture or as a dehumanised floorboard - a play on the albums themes of the psychological, emotional and irrational horror within. Texts by Italian poets Dante and Guido Ceronetti appear alongside excerpts from The Ecclesiastes (in hebrew, Qohelet), H.P. Lovecraft, E. M. Cioran, and writings by Tricoli himself. These add an extra weight to the recording, making it reminiscent of Robert Ashley or even the comedic tragedy of later day Scott Walker (baritone aside). Valerio Tricoli's release for PAN adds another piece to the puzzle of narrative-based concrete music, yet deviating from all conventional forms and playing out like a literary form of unsettling sound sculpture. 2LP mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at D&M, pressed on 140g vinyl. Vinyl set packaged in a pro-press jacket which itself is housed in a silkscreened pvc sleeve with photography by Traianos Pakioufakis and artwork by Bill Kouligas." [label info] www.pan-act.com 2014 €28.50
TROUM Ryna CD Wiederveröffentlichung des Debut-Albums von 1998, mit neuer Artwork von TILMANN BENNINGHAUS (Berlin). Re-release of Troum's long sold out first album from 1998 with new artwork by Tilmann Benninghaus. Digipack. "...Die acht Stuecke greifen sehr gekonnt ineinander, steigern sich von Minute zu Minute. Praesentieren sich die ersten Tracks sehr einheitlich, ambient, setzen dann leichte Rhythmusstrukturen ein, um im Finale Riurja" ihren Hoehepunkt zu finden. Alle, die sich mit auditiven Aphrodisiaka berauschen, sollten diesen Edelstein besitzen: Ein begeisterndes Noise-Ambient-Werk!" [Der Schrei] "Vielmehr versetzen sie Gitarrensaiten in harmonische Schwingungen, um damit sinnlich erfahrbar zu machen, dass Begriffe und Ideen Herrn & Damen ohne Unterleib bleiben müssen, wenn sie sich nicht entpuppen zu Flügelwesen, Tänzern und Sängern. TROUMS Dröhnwellen singen von der Einheit von Pneuma, Psyche & Soma. Eine Einheit, die ständiger Modulation ausgesetzt ist. Beispielhaft für einen Modulator steht bei TROUM der ‚Thalamus‘, der wörtlich ‚Schlafzimmer‘ genannte Teil des Zwischenhirns, der die ein- und ausgehenden informativen Erregungen des Großhirns moduliert. Muss man das wissen? Es kann zumindest nicht schaden, sich dessen bewusst zu sein, dass TROUM im Klang & Fleisch gewordenen Wort ‚Traum‘ die psycho-physischen und environmentalen Fundamente vibrieren lässt." [Rigobert Dittmann, Bad Alchemy] "...The general feel of the sounds here is reminiscent of the earth moving, tectonic plates in constant shuffle, the tracks building and then either shifting or worn away via attrition. Its as if Maeror Tri learned to fly through ingenuity, smoke and mirrors, while Troum has taken the ingenuity, smoke and mirrors and, somehow, grown wings. Amazing stuff!" [JC Smith] "I believe it was 1997 when a small posting came my way stating that Maeror Tri had dissolved. At the time, this German trio had become one of my (Jim's) favorite ensembles alongside the likes of Organum, Skullflower, and :zoviet*france:. Maeror Tri's dedication to grimly focused atmospheric music harbored all of the things that succeeded in the campaigns of industrial and ambient music; and the Maeror Tri anonymity (or at least a mysteriousness about the group that lead to such a reading of their collective persona) certainly enhanced their charm. Albums such as Emotional Engramm and Multiple Personality Disorder had achieved heavy rotation status on my stereo (and still get pulled from the shelves quite often in this day and age); so the news that Maeror Tri was no more was met with sadness. Fortunately, two thirds of the Maeror Tri ensemble had decided to continue on but under the moniker Troum. While the name of this duo was an archaic German word for dream, Troum's pursuit of unconscious symbolism through their heavily processed guitar drones still maintained the ashen darkness that Maeror Tri perpetuated, as was evident on their first CD release Ryna, which originally came out in 1998 on the Belgian label Myotis. It should be noted that Ryna is not the first Troum recording; that honor is held by a cassette called Dreaming Muzak that came housed in a tiny pillow. Ryna quickly went out of print, along with much of the Maeror Tri back catalogue; but thankfully, Troum have repressed this early gem through their own Transgredient imprint. An album of constantly billowing black clouds, Ryna achieves the same dark ambient / dronescape signature that had marked so many great Maeror Tri / Troum releases. On occasion, cracked / decayed loops of rhythmic surging emerged from beyond the horizon of Troum's guitar suites, alluding to a Norse mythological bellow of impending doom and apocalyptic battle. While I've not done the side-by-side taste test of the two albums, the 2007 redux of Ryna appears to much louder and cleaner. Regardless, it's a pleasure to hear this record once again!" [Aquarius Records] 2006 €12.00
  Mare morphosis CD "'Mare morphosis' forms the third & final part of TROUMs so called 'Power Romantic' trilogy that started with 'Mare Idiophonika' in 2010. The basic materials & arrangements for this one long epic piece were created from 2009-2013 (partly based on the recordings for the 'Bach Eingeschaltet, Dritter Band' 7" dealing with experimental reworkings of J.S.BACH pieces) & to some extent used live in different live-programmes: A piece like an 'Ocean of Transformations', morphing through various stages of intensity. 'Mare morphosis' stands out in the history of TROUM studio-albums as their most symphonic, refined and orchestral effort so far. Cover photography by Paul Takahashi, graphic design by Tilmann Benninghaus (8 panel fold out digipack). First edition: 1000 copies. 'Mare morphosis definitely gives Troum’s music a new dimension, reflecting ancient waves, amplifying the power of Sehnsucht, drumming the drowning heart." [Denis Boyer / Fear Drop] "Mare morphosis" ist eines der stimmungsvollsten und abwechslungsreichsten Werke von TROUM, die ich kenne. Die einzelnen Abschnitte wirken tatsächlich wie Sätze einer Sinfonie, ohne dass die Gesamtanmutung vernachlässigt wird: Es geht hörbar um die mächtigste aller Naturgewalten, das Wasser, in seinen unterschiedlichen Ausprägungen. Von ästhetisch über melancholisch bis düster und bedrohlich; vermutlich sind die 'Veränderungen' im Titel so zu deuten. Wunderschön und mit vielen Details zum Mehrfach-Hören gespickt.' [Michael We / nonpop.de]" [label info] "What comes with the Power Romantic trilogy (which pt. 1 and 2 are: Mare Idiophonika, Grote Mandrenke) is brooding from the core of Troum’s universe. Relating Troum with strong Romantic tropisms is like sewing an endless canvas. In every musical piece they work, the two musicians BarakaH and Glit[s]ch navigate a vast sea of sound, recalling the Romantic feeling in front of deep landscapes that reflect the very soul, threatening in a voluptuous appeal the observer to dissolve in the totality. Troum’s attraction to the notion of Dissolution is felt every time that the sound waves inflate to shape a luminous drone, every time that the pulsation melts into a magmatic rumbling. And what about the beauty of sadness, celebrated since the days of Maeror Tri… That sea of sound, of profound melancholic drones and waves gets its monument with the Power Romantic trilogy in which Troum show their skill in harmony, but not only. Drones and harmony still reign but a clear way is designed for melody and rhythms (as it already was in Tjukurrpa pt. 3). The oceanic feeling is fueled by new movements, like a storm upon and under the fluid. Mare morphosis, pt. 3 of the Power Romantic trilogy, opens as the very building of a Sunken Cathedral, with heavy rhythms like stone columns gently embraced by subtle sharpened melodic phrases. The whole soundscape navigates then by the tide and lets the strong motion of sound rumbling and driving to surface the heavy layers of undercurrents, bringing up to light their deep melancholic germ of melody. Mare morphosis definitely gives Troum’s music a new dimension, reflecting ancient waves, amplifying the power of Sehnsucht, drumming the drowning heart." [Denis Boyer / Fear Drop] listen: http://troum.bandcamp.com/album/mare-morphosis-cd-2013 www.troum.com 2013 €12.00
TROUM & RAISON D'ETRE De Aeris In Sublunaria Influxu CD "...Troum und Raison dêtre, das Yin und das Yang des Unbewussten." [Sibylle Bölling] "Ever wondered how a mix of Troum and raison d’être would sound like? Here is the long awaited answer. Four years in the making – carefully forged between 2011 and 2014 -, De Aeris In Sublunaria Influxu showcases a magically crafted alchemy between these two titans of the drone and ambient realms. Troum navigate through cavernous, subterranean spaces where cyclical sounds reverberate towards impressive crescendos of icy noise, luminous drones and dramatic, guitar-driven ghostly melodies. Their truly unique gorgeous soundscapes shine in a perfect symbiotic movement with the Swedish dark ambient maestro Peter Andersson. Engulfed in a hauntingly beautiful kaleidoscope of grey-ish melancholia, raison d’être comfortably walks deeply into Troum’s vast territory, delivering his very own trademark of eerie tones, ominous sacral ambience and crystal clear constructions. Airy lush enigmatic atmospheres live together with dark breathing, reverberant transformative drones. Rich and gorgeously layered. Mastered using the K-14 level standard, the album comes lavishly assembled in a custom, sturdy 6-panel digisleeve packaging with amazing minimal artwork by the award-winning Spanish designer Ritxi Ostáriz. Limited to 700 copies." [label info] www.essence-music.com "Schön, wenn vorab kaum Worte nötig sind, weil allein die Tatsache der Zusammenarbeit zweier namhafter Künstler oder Bands für sich steht. Das deutsche Duo TROUM trifft auf den Schweden PETER ANDERSSON. Meine persönlichen Drone-Helden, die wie kaum eine andere Gruppe den Begriff 'Drone' mit Leben füllen, treffen einen der wichtigsten Dark Ambient-Workaholics mit seinem Hauptprojekt RAISON D'ÊTRE. Obwohl 'aufeinander treffen' eigentlich nicht das richtige Wording ist. Viel eher passt zum Beispiel 'aneinander schmiegen', denn entsprechend verwoben und organisch ist die über vier Jahre sorgfältig vorbereitete Zusammenarbeit ausgefallen. "Folia" (01), der Opener und eines der zwei kurzen Stücke, beginnt mit schwebenden Drones, die ich sofort TROUM zuordnen würde. Das Knistern und Knastern wiederum, welches unterschwellig für Unruhe und Grautöne sorgt, gehört zu RAISON D'ÊTRE. Diese Zuordnung lässt sich über weite Teile des Albums vornehmen. Nach dem dezenten Vorspiel entsteht mit "Alio Tempore" (02) das Bild einer riesigen Kathedrale: abwechselnd tönen schwere und leichte Gongs, Soundcluster im Stile eines Chores schieben sich langsam nach vorne. Im Untergrund ergänzt ein Klirren die Szenerie. Über spacige, flirrende (Gitarren?)Sounds ergibt sich ein ruhiger, gleitender Ausklang. Auch "Oculum Mundi" (03) arbeitet mit Kirchenglocken-ähnlichen Loops, wie überhaupt die Stücke oft sakral wirken. Hier folgt allerdings eine hektischere Wendung, mit Dramatik durch mehr Geschwindigkeit inklusive eines mächtigen Trötens. "Atmosphaera" (04) ist warm und weich, sehr dronig eben, mit diesem kleinen Maschinen-Rattern anbei. In "Meditationum" (05), dem längsten Track, bilden atmende, singende Drones eine chorale Fläche, sorgen für weites und gelöstes Ambiente. Konkretere, schnarrende Klänge schieben sich nach einigen Minuten hinein, und die im Verlauf zunehmend längeren, gleißenden Drones erinnern mich an Musik für (oder von) Eisberge(n), untermalt von an dieser Stelle sehr organischen Sounds wie Grillenzirpen. "Flammae" (06) ist mit seinen drei Minuten für mich das schönste und auch wehmütigste Stück des Albums, die Drones formen eine betörende Melodie. Und "Ad Infinitum" (07) wirkt zum Abschluss auf mich besonders mächtig, fast bedrohlich oder unheimlich. Der Track hat was von einer Verabschiedung, von Dahinfloaten, insbesondere am Ende mit eisigem Krächzen und Schieben, mit fast menschlichen, stöhnenden Drones. Als hätten TROUM und RAISON D'ÊTRE schon immer miteinander gearbeitet, klingt "De Aeris In Sublunaria Influxu" in der Summe seiner Bestandteile äußerst harmonisch. Die angesprochene Aufteilung der Sounds in deutsch und schwedisch, in flächige Drones und Dark Ambient-Geräusche ist zwar möglich, beides ergänzt sich aber durchweg hervorragend und ist so sauber aufeinander abgestimmt und gut produziert, dass die Atmosphäre dadurch gewinnt. Hypnotisierende Soundlandschaften, oder lyrischer: Ein Schweben in warmen Grautönen für dunkle Novemberabende. Das Album kommt auch in einer limitierten Box mit zusätzlichen Tracks auf den Markt..." [Michael We. für nonpop.de] 2015 €14.00
TUNDRA Tajnie i Glebie CD "Tundra - an electroacoustic project of Dawid Adrjanczyk and Krzysiek Joczyn - is a duo, whose inspiration is, first and foremost, space, both in its physical manifestation and the spiritual meaning. Beside samples, field recordings and sound manipulation, they use acoustic instruments. After 2 self-released EPs and 2 collaborative albums with Karpaty Magiczne (The Magic Carpathians), they recorded a full-length album, which is a manifestation of their journeys into places where peace and chill reign simultaneously. These are akin to more ethereal songs from the World Serpent realm, but also academic compositions or free improv. The sounds on "Tajnie i G³êbie" lose tracks and inspirations luring the listeners with an ambiguous atmosphere at the same time. This 3-panel ecopak release is strictly limited to 350 copies." [label info] www.zoharum.com 2014 €12.00
TUNNELS OF ĀH (TUNNELS OF AH) The Smeared Cloth do-CD "The Smeared Cloth" is a double CD compilation containing the TUNNELS OF ĀH recordings from 2012-2018, which have not yet been published on any medium. The first disc is filled with compositions from the period before the debut in Cold Spring and outtakes from the sessions for "Thus Avici", the next album for the British label. The second disc contains tracks recorded during and between the sessions for "Surgical Fires" and "Charnel Transmissions". Although they were created as loose compositions, out of the concepts clearly outlined on each of the mentioned albums, they sound incredibly coherent, giving impression of being part of a concept release, this makes them a pleasure to listen to; especially when we get carried away in the world created by Stephen Ah Burroughs with the sounds characteristic of his work. Sometimes they evoke associations with ancient rituals, intensifying the impression of Egyptian darkness, the feeling of coldness and emptiness coming as if from a deep dungeon, and with them an echo. All this is a superstructure for the 21 tracks filling both discs, outlined and maintained, in a convention that allows them to be stylistically located somewhere between isolating dark ambient and death industrial, where the gloom aura and dense, mechanical structures coexist as if in symbiosis, thanks to which the balance between building the atmosphere and reflecting the true nature of the industrial collision. This release is undoubtedly a must-have for TOĀH fans, but it can also delight those who appreciate death industrial at a high level. The album's released on two CDs folded in a six-panel ecopack. Tracks 1-11 taken from "The Smeared Cloth" CD1 Tracks 12-21 taken from "The Smeared Cloth" CD2 https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/the-smeared-cloth-2012-2018-unearthed "In den frühen 80ern gründete Stephen R. Borroughs zusammen mit Justin Broadrick und Dave Cochrane das Trio HEAD of David, das einen der noisigsten Grundsteine dessen legte, das später Industrial Metal genannt werden sollte. Im Lauf der Jahre konzentrierte er sich mehr und mehr auf Soloprojekte, und neben Frag war dies seit etwas über zehn Jahren Tunnels of Āh, mit dem er einen Ritualkosmos von fast räudiger Abgründigkeit entstehen ließ. Dass Tunnels of Ah trotz der starken Abstraktion seiner ästhetischen Konzepte ein konsequent verfolgtes atmosphärisches Thema hat, wird bereits deutlich, wenn man die mittlerweile sechs Alben, die seit 2013 auf Cold Spring und zuletzt Hypershape erschienen sind, im Vergleich hört, denn da fallen die verbindenden Elemente sehr deutlich ins Auge. Mehr noch beeindruckt einen die musikalisches Stringenz angesichts der jüngst auf Tape und Doppel-CD erschienenen Compilation “The Smeared Cloth 2012 – 2018 Unearthed”, denn hier lassen frühe Stücke und Outtakes aus verschiedenen Albumsessions ein überraschend zusammenhängendes Bild entstehen. “The Smeared Cloth” ist nichts für Hörer, die Probleme mit Beklemmung, Dunkelheit und niederdrückender Schwere haben. Eine finstere, bedrohliche Stimmung zieht sich durch die oft kreisenden Soundgebilde, lassen durch ambiente Dröhnung, Saitenrasseln oder sirrende Streichersounds filmreife Phasen der Spannung und durch paukende und prasselnde Takte und plötzliche Schuttlawinen aufwühlende Momente entstehen, steigern sich vom subtilen Hauch eines – nur oberflächlich sanft wirkenden, in Wirklichkeit höllischen – Windes zu infernalischen Szenen von hochtönendem, schleifenden Lärm. Klangfarben von Stein und noch stärker Metall prägt das Gesamtbild, doch ist in gewissen Abständen auch immer die Illusion des Organischen spürbar, als würde das harte und kalte Material mit dürren Reiserbesen und ähnlichem traktiert. Auch die entmenschlichte menschliche Stimme ist gelegentlich zu hören, mal in Rezitation, mal als finsteres Growlen und Keifen, mal in Form eines sakralen Gesangs. Wenn man in den 20 Stücken die Kohärenz betont, sollte man hinzufügen, dass in ihnen natürlich auch Raum für Variation ist. Sollte ich einige herausragende Stücke betonen, dann wären es wahrscheinlich “Keys King At Womb Door Again”, in welchem sich ein anfangs kaum spürbares lykanthropisches Hecheln langsam zu etwas (noch) Monströse(re)m steigert – eine Entwicklung, die vielleicht etwas vorhersehbar ist, doch die urige Soundgestaltung, die durchweg an etwas Altes, seit Urzeiten Verschüttetes denken lässt, fällt weitaus stärker ins Gewicht. Ferner “Fountain of Life”, das nach gängigem Verständnis wohl eher wie das Gegenteil seines Titels klingt und an einen zerbrochenen Brunnen erinnert, dessen Wasser ein paar Erdklumpen mit sich reißt und am Ende im Schlamm versiegt. Nicht zuletzt auch der Titeltrack, dessen Spoken Word-Passage wie das Monument eines sinnlosen Aufwands vor infernalischer Kulisse am Ende von einer Schuttlawine geschluckt wird. Nach den über zwei dystopischen Stunden scheiden sich wahrscheinlich die Geister: Während die einen fürs erste genug gelitten haben, sind die anderen nun gewappnet für die regulären Alben des Projektes, und “The Smeared Cloth” gibt da tatsächlich einen großartigen Einblick in einen Kosmos, den ich allen empfehlen kann, die frühe Coil, alte Broken Flag-Releases und ausgewählte Death Industrial-Platten nebeneinander im Regal stehen haben." [African Paper] "Eager to get back into the Tunnels. Not long ago, I gave 'Deathless Mind' another spin, and I had been looking forward to some new material from Burroughs. Still.. two whole CDs, dearie me. I'm curious if I can make it through in one go. Also, it is not exactly 'new' material, but rather excerpts and unused tracks from two distinct periods: the first CD collects all discards from the Lost Corridors and Thus Avici era; the second contains material from the period between Surgical Fires and Charnel Transmissions - compiled into this 2,5-hour lasting tour de force. Me, oh my. Though branded as 'dark ambient' on Discogs, we've come to know Tunnels of Āh for industrial ambient landscapes and complex saturated loops and textures that range timbrally from (seemingly) acoustic in origin to overtly synthetic. Also, the 'loops' here should mostly be taken less literally; there are elements that seem to repeat, but for the most part, the chopped-up complexity of the textures ensures we won't have the typical 'looper' kind of experience in which repetition is often an easy way of tricking our brain into believing it is listening to something musical. On CD 1, many sounds seem to have acoustic sources, which is much more noticeable than on the more recent albums. We also seem to get a lot more vocal delivery than usual, making tracks like 'Brute World' and 'To the Pschal Victim' almost have an early Current 93 or 'ambient Test Dept kind' of ring to them. It is also completely dissimilar in many ways, e.g., production-wise, but for fans of those bands, these tracks may be the right point of entry into the Tunnels. The vocals are often mixed in quite deeply, so you won't be listening to poetry with a noisy background. With the choppy granulated ambient of 'Lost Corridors', a track that did not feature on the eponymous 2013 album, there seems to be somewhat of a 'natural' ending to the first part of the first CD. The subsequent ambient track 'Fountain Of Life' ramps the intensity again with its swirling vortex of delayed grit. Both 'Great Darkness' and 'The Cloth is Smeared' really stand out as two of the more memorable pieces. Disc 2 starts with the interesting combination of 'To the Paschal Victim' and 'Circumcision', which seem to be variations on the same bass riff/loop - though the latter track slides off into a murky bass swamp about halfway through. 'Red Distribution' and 'White Distribution' wrap this disc up in a manner that reminded me of Charnel Transmissions. There is a certain kind of dense lo-fi elegance to them, which also made me fall for that album when it first came out. I've said this before, and I'll repeat it: What I love about Tunnels Of Āh is that though it is clearly tarnished with the brush of industrial and perhaps even reminiscent of some noise - due to its complex textures, it never becomes too harsh or punishing, which given the length of most tracks may be a very deliberate choice either during mastering or in the composition process. Moreover, a wise one, since especially with a leviathan of this length, balance is a thing to aim for. Does it work as an album, though, or is this merely a release for us to be complete? Tough question. The first CD is consistent, albeit on the long side. With 77 minutes, it is about half an hour longer than any Tunnels release on average, and I definitely had to listen to the whole release in phases. That said, when it comes to textures and intensity, there seems to have been some thought put into the dynamic distribution of the tracks and though longer than usual, I would say both these discs work as stand-alone albums. Another keeper in a long line of excellent works from the Tunnels." [LdW / Vital Weekly] 2023 €16.50
TURMAN, ROBERT Way Down CD "Originally released as a small cassette run in 1987, only to fall into tape label obscurity, ROBERT TURMAN's industrial genre-bending masterpiece 'Way Down' finally sees a proper vinyl reissue after 23 years in the shadows. This album solidifies Turman as a cut above the rest with respect to his talent and his natural ear for experimental composition. Turman first came onto the industrial scene in the late '70s as the ominous "other half" of legendary noise outfit NON, alongside BOYD RICE, together releasing the now classic first NON single, 'Mode of Infection' b/w 'Knife Ladder' in 1977. After parting ways, Turman went on an excursion of self-released cassettes to which he fused every possible influence at his disposal, culling together past habits of experimental know-how and going forward into uncharted terrain. This vinyl reissue of 'Way Down' serves as the blueprint of what Turman sought to render as a very accessible minimal synth/industrial album, yet keeping it just obtuse enough to make it one of the most brilliant and engaging albums to be ushered into the canon of '80s experimental culture." [label info] www.infinitefog.ru 2014 €13.00
TURNER, AARON & DANIEL MENCHE NOX LP "Daniel Menche is a prolific musician whose work in the fields of noise and experimentalism displays both savage tactile expressionism and masterful studio manipulations. Aaron Turner is an equally prolific artist whose output veers from violent guitar architectures to textural meditations. Consequently, their collaborative album Nox could have been a brutish exercise in punishing frequencies and aural assaults. Instead, Nox is what Turner describes as “a combo of Danielʼs more free-flowing form of impulsive music making and my more contemplative composition.” Consisting of one lone track over the course of two sides of an LP, Nox uses its allowance of time to patiently wind and unravel around Mencheʼs intuitive and free-associative vocal and drum treatments. Manipulated and wrought to the point of abstraction, this spontaneous underpinning served as the narrative backbone to Turnerʼs orchestral vocal arrangements. Over the course of the year-long development process, the two musicians maintained a continual dialogue on the direction of the album, taking turns adding their accents and embellishments to the composition. Field recordings, found sounds, and auxiliary instrumentation fleshed out the recording until Nox developed into a final ruminative experience. Menche and Turner had previously worked together on the Mamiffer/Menche collaborative album Crater, though Nox bears closer sonic relations to other endeavors in both artistsʼ canons. One can hear vestiges of Mencheʼs more percussion-based albums like Concussions or Turnerʼs more ethereal vocal-based work with Jodis on their most recent offering. And while the tactics and tools used for creating the album are very much of the modern age, the duo conjure the timeless elements of the transcendental hymns of Arvo Pärt or the tonal clusters of György Ligeti through their patient, economical approach. Ultimately, Nox creates a lush, inviting, and deeply dimensional world that belie the cold basements of Portland, OR and Vashon, WA where it was slowly brought to fruition. LP edition of 400 copies. The LP is housed in a letterpressed jacket designed by Daniel Castrejon with photography by Faith Coloccia. Turner and Menche worked over a period of 2 years to complete the album using voice, field recordings, electronics, guitar, etc. The album was then mixed by Mell Dettmer (Earth, Eyvind Kang, Jessika Kenney, Sunn0))), etc)." sigerecords.blogspot.de 2017 €23.00
TWELVE THOUSAND DAYS Insect Silence CD "MARTYN BATES (Eyeless In Gaza) & ALAN TRENCH (Orchis, Howling Larsons) return after a long hiatus with the fourth TWELVE THOUSAND DAYS album. From the opening “Death Went Fishing” (a free translation of “vgíke o cháros na psarépsei”, the classic rebetiko by Giannis Papaioannou) to the closing, haunting notes of “Red And Golden Fire”, the listener is taken on a journey made up of a thousand journeys, a thousand side trips, a thousand destinations, hinging around the sprawling central trip of “Pathless”, in which the ramifications of choices made swim into hazy view. The 13 tracks that make up “Insect Silence” are a concatenation of dulcimers, whistles, guitars, synths, disturbing digital background noise (“Night Harmonium”) and other instrumentation with slices of pure, aching melody echoing through strange darkened corners, all enlivened and enlit by the wondrous tones of Martyn Bates. MARTYN BATES is well-known for his brilliant long-time work with EYELESS IN GAZA, for his solo albums and for collaborations with MICK HARRIS and ANNE CLARK. ALAN TRENCH: co-founder of World Serpent Distribution and musician with brilliant projects/groups ORCHIS, HOWLING LARSONS, TEMPLE MUSIC." [label info] https://finalmuzik.bandcamp.com/album/twelve-thousand-days-insect-silence "It's been quite some time since Martyn Bates (Eyeless in Gaza) and Alan Trench (Temple Music, Orchis) have come together as Twelve Thousand Days. It's fair to say much water has passed under the bridge since their last album From The Walled Garden in 2006. Insect Silence follows a ditched compilation release with the same title scheduled for release a number of years back. Insect Silence continues with the folk based music provided by Alan Trench and fronted by the distinctive voice of Martyn Bates but Insect Silence more so than their previous albums doesn't dwell solely in folk music. It may be its starting point but Insect Silence differs with passages of psych guitar and its layering of synths and electronics, as well as in the ambient interludes which feature throughout and often open up the tracks way beyond its grounding in folk music. Lyrically Insect Silence is couched in an English familiarity and in the eternal themes of life, love and death. Just shy of 70 minutes it's a long winding path of 13 tracks involving a large assortment of instrumentation which are woven into a complex and intricate tapestry of sound. You will be surprised by the pathways Twelve Thousand Days roam on . Insect Silence opens to the spirited acoustic folk and percussive tambourine bashing of 'Death Went Fishing', outwitting death as it rushes onwards, weaving soaring psych guitars, which return throughout Insect Silence, as Bates implores that "he will return again". Its sets the scene for Insect Silence an album loosely based around folk music employing a rich multitude of instrumentation including guitars, dulcimers, harmonium, whistles as well as electronics. Twelve Thousand Days stretch the parameters of folk music with psych-guitar and ambient and instrumental interludes sprinkled throughout the 13 tracks. At times it likes listening to a Krautrock inspired psych-folk album with space rock leanings. In a good way, of course. Opening to an ambient interlude 'Mad As The Mist' is the first of three musical settings of the words of Irish poet W.B. Yeats. Dreamy folk guitars entwine twang and strum, as Bates in his pure folk tones recalls philosophers such as Plato, Homer, Tully and Cicero, swelling into another passage of soaring solo of psych guitar and back again to dreamy folk song. More restless psych-guitar features on 'A Coat'. There's more of an experimental edge to the Yeats setting here pitching Bates' strained (and occasionally treated) voice to the fore, embellished by the pluck of guitar notes augmented by glinting electronics, bass throb and a needling guitar casting vibrations of psychedelic proportions. 'Arrow', the final piece in the Yeats trilogy is starker and played more straightforward with the beautiful folk voice over ringing acoustic guitar and warm synth backing. Away from the Yeats tracks, a number of which Bates recorded with Troum in different musical forms, 'Errant Desires' moves to graceful ambience with flourishes of guitar notes. Bates' pure mournful tones add a sleepy lamentful melody, as faint electronics flicker behind the gentle flurry of guitar notes and assorted instrumentation. Beautifully atmospheric, it's one of my favourites on Insect Silence. Bates' voice is measured and melodic illuminating the sense of life passing in the evocative lyrics of rain falling, captured in our hands and gladly falling to the earth. More timeless folk arrives in the form of 'She Raises Her Eyes' where in captivating melodic tones Bates sings of a longing recalling long cold December months over duelling dulcimer chime. One of the more surprising tracks appearing in the first half of the album is 'Invoke Hecate' where over passages of whistle and rousing, beating strum, Twelve Thousand Days sounding not unlike Ostara invoke the Goddess of Witchcraft, through an assortment of occult techniques. Alan Trench in past endeavours has facilitated many musicians in the apocalyptic folk genre but this rare sojourn, even with it blistering psych solo, can still raise an eyebrow and something of a smirk. As mentioned earlier, Insect Silence is interspersed with instrumentals taking the music down alternate pathways, straying far off the beaten track. The first of these 'Night Harmonium' carries an air of arcane English mysticism with its loose folk stylings where strings chime and whistle billows merge over background synths and static clicks. The instrumental 'Old Ladies As Birds' is another brooding mystical moment where layers of whistles and flutes cast an age old melody over wheezing harmonium while loose guitar notes chime and ring out as distant electronics shudder underneath. While 'Old Ladies As Birds' is evocative of transforming souls and spirits, the jaunty folk offering of 'Fieldwork' is celebratory. Based on whistles and acoustic strum it comes across like a folk dance or Pagan procession. If 'Fieldwork' revels in a lost Englishness 'Descent' is dealing with nostalgia. A vintage crackling recording of 'See, The Conqu'ring Hero Comes' shrouds the descending organ scales of 'Descent'. Bates' voice is quiet, distant and softly murmured amidst the eerie disembodied voices of the choir as percussion rattles. You can almost picture the landscape on the pastoral 'Red and Golden Fire' another experimental offering mixing lulling electronics with whistles and flutes which closes the album. Insect Silence hinges around 'Pathless' an epic experimental 16-minute musical and lyrical journey which we all make on our travels through life. Set in the middle of the album it continues the theme first introduced on the opener 'Death Went Fishing'. With the huntsman at our heels, we try to outwit death to no avail. Travelling from ringing guitar with Bates' voice, wrapped in layered accompaniment, veering between passages of Krautrock electronics and wavering synths to psaltery, whistles and location recordings. All the elements of Insect Silence emanate from and come together on this track to great effect. As it flows together seamlessly it's difficult to pinpoint where 'Pathless Part I' ends and 'Pathless Part II' begins but it may be when a heartbeat bass pulses and acoustic guitars ring out and the spoken word of Lisa (I think this is Elizabeth S who features on releases from Eyeless In Gaza) surfaces amidst guitars and layers of spacey synths which lull, crash and wail, before Bates returns, to close this epic track in high registered tones. Insect Silence bustles with an immediacy, there's a sense of freshness of getting it all down on tape before the additional sound layers of instrumentation are added. Ambient, electronics, psych guitar, whistles, location recordings are all here embellishing the tracks making it intricate and complex. At the heart of it is an open-ended folk sound reflected in Bates' beautiful, distinctive voice which illuminate the timeless themes. Insect Silence is by far the best I've heard from Twelve Thousand Days and though the tracks are disparate there's an arching basis in folk music which traverses into other areas which holds it all together. As we said, Insect Silence is a journey, a pathway laid down just waiting for us to follow. Insect Silence is released digitally and on CD by Final Muzik in an edition of 500 copies. For more information go to Final Muzik and to download go to Final Muzik Bandcamp." [Compulsion Online] "Man neigt gerne dazu, Bands, die sich nur alle Schaltjahre oder seltener zu neuen Aktivitäten zusammentun, als klammheimlich aufgelöst zu betrachten, erst recht dann, wenn es sich dabei um noch anderweitig aktive Musiker handelt – so wie Sänger Martyn Bates mit Eyeless in Gaza und seinem Soloprojekt und Instrumentalist Alan Trench mit seinen Folk- und Psychedelic-Gruppen Temple Music, Orchis und Black Lesbian Fishermen. Nachdem mit ihrem Duo Twelve Thousand Days wahrscheinlich nur noch wenige gerechnet hätten, steht mit „Insect Silence“ nun ganz überraschend ein neues Album in den Regalen, das fast da anknüpft, wo die beiden vor gut zwölf Jahren mit „From the Walled Garden“ aufhörten. Fast, denn gerade bei Alan sind doch ein paar Spuren seiner neuen Arbeiten herauszuhören. Wie man es von früheren Aufnahmen her kennt, wechseln sich schmissige, fast frohsinnige Folksongs ab mit verträumt melancholischen Klageliedern und geheimnisvollen ambienten Soundscapes, und zusammen mit Bates’ unverkennbarer Stimme, die so klar und jugendlich wie eh und je klingt, kreiert die Musik ein verzaubertes Setting, das an ein langsam vor dem Auge verschwimmendes Jugenstilgemälde erinnert. „Death Went Fishing“ und „Invoce Hecate“ zählen zu den eingängigen Folkstücken, die mit feurigem Geschrammel und ekstatischen Rasseln nach vorn galoppieren – mystische oder makabre Töne schleichen sich über sanft gesungene Textzeilen in die Szenerie und bilden mit der harmonischen Musik eine heikle Mischung, und schon mit den allerorts spürbaren heidnischen Untertönen sind die Stücke vor jedem Indie- und Pop-Appeal gefeit. Impressionistische Tableaus wie „Mad as the Mist“, dessen anfangs noch ziellos umhertastendes Gitarrenspiel sich erst nach und nach zu einem anmutigen Stimmungsbild zusammensetzt, bilden einen Gegenpol dazu, ebenfalls das aus einer balladesken Märchenwelt herübergewehte „Old Ladies as Birds“ und das mit Knacken und Knistern leicht verfremdete Zwischenspiel „Night Harmonium“ – beide Stücke gewinnen noch an Charisma durch Alans berührendes Flötenspiel. In einigen dieser Tracks sind aber auch räudige Psych Rock-Elemente zuhören, die der Musik eine Kantigkeit verleihen, die in den klassischen Zeiten des englischen Folk nichts ungewöhnliches gewesen wären – zünftige E-Gitarrensoli und dröhnende Riffs, die die Folkmelodien, die sie spielen, gleichsam zerschreddern, als wären sie eine nationalhymne in Woodstock. Weder Eyeless in Gaza noch Orchis waren frei von solch rauen Beigaben, doch hier hat sich v.a. die Sprache jüngerer Temple Music in die Stilpalette geschlichen und gibt dem naturverbundenen Sound eine deutliche Prise Realismus. Es gäbe einiges, das sich in den einzelnen Songs hervorheben ließ, die anrührende Melodie in „Errant Desires“, die cinematischen Verfremdungseffekte in „Red and Golden Fire“ und der melierte Orgelsound in „Descent“, der in ein verwehtes Sample des Liedes „Hail the Conquering Hero!“ (im Deutschen die Melodie von „Tochter Zion, freue dich“) übergeht, sind nur einige davon, doch alles in allem funktioniert „Insect Silence“ am besten als zusammenhängendes Werk, das mit mehrmaligem Hören immer mehr zu verzaubern weiß." [U.S., African Paper] 2018 €13.00
  Field's End CD MARTYN BATES and ALAN TRENCH, energised by the hugely positive critical reception of the recent “Insect Silence” album (also available via Final Muzik), deliver an extraordinary new set of songs showcasing both virtuoso songwriting and an impeccable selection of covers. From the stunning interpretation of Black Sabbath’s “Planet Caravan” that opens this missive from the aethyr, to the darkly beautiful haunted whisperings of “Wistman’s Wood” that closes it, Bates and Trench take us on a musical tour of their mystical landscape that leaves the traveler breathless and transported. Bates’ voice, at once urgent and impassioned, delicate and graceful, is underpinned by an eclectic instrumentation of dulcimers, synths, piano, organ, mellotron, shruti and others that highlight the interplay of Trench’s fluid guitar lines with the soaring melodies. The recent folk history of England is incorporated with covers of songs by Alasdair Clayre, Bob Pegg (Mr. Fox) and Vashti Bunyan; the album revolves elliptically around the elegiac rush of the title track, where Bates sings: “the seas ride up the skies/and the stars fill yr eyes/I dream the rain’s long answer/I dream the sun’s responses”. Recorded and mixed over a period of less than three months between Nuneaton in England and Evia in Greece, this is TWELVE THOUSAND DAYS finest work to date! Presented in a beautiful digipak design with lyrics included. Limited edition of 500 copies. FM 26 MARTYN BATES is well-known for his brilliant long-time work with EYELESS IN GAZA, for his solo albums and for collaborations with MICK HARRIS and ANNE CLARK.
ALAN TRENCH: co-founder of World Serpent Distribution and musician with brilliant projects/groups ORCHIS, HOWLING LARSONS, TEMPLE MUSIC. Final Muzik mail order catalogue on Discogs: www.discogs.com/seller/Final-Muzik/profile Recorded at Bridge House Studios, Evia (Greece) and Hive-Arc, Nuneaton (England), 2019. Produced by Alan Trench and Martyn Bates at Bridge House Studios, Evia, 2020. https://finalmuzik.bandcamp.com/album/fields-end 2020 €13.00
UGGERI, MATTEO The Next Wait CD + CDR In 2013 my wife Gaia was pregnant. We were then waiting for our first born to come, expected for November of that year. A few little obstacles and troubles occurred during the nine months, so my anxious nature at the time generated in me the need to somehow express the feelings in a record, where I conveyed the worries that a father, especially a musician that needs his own moments for playing, may have in terms of an expected potential future lack of time and energies. I also decided to involve fellow musicians I got to know at the time, like Maurizio Abate (guitar), Enrico Coniglio (guitar and organ), with whom afterwards I would have made full albums - but you can find here the first traces of our collaboration. There were Andrea Serrapiglio (cello) and Cristiano Lupo (bass), that I knew for quite some time, and featuring female voices. I asked Dominique Van Cappellen-Waldock (that I discovered through her marvellous presence on a Doug Sharin solo album) if she wanted to sing on a track, and she did, providing her own lyrics. The American singer Jenny Oakley, aka Empty Vessel Music, did the same on track one, as well as a glitching sample from Nicola Ratti is also featured. The central piece of the whole album can be considered “Family Man”, a sort of cover from a song by Black Flag, totally reversed by my wife Gaia Margutti. She re-interpreted the lyrics her own way, and she performed it in an unforgettable session of home recordings, with my daughter Olivia, now finally born, hanging from her neck. Indeed, the album took quite a long time to be made, and then the ‘wait’ was over, transformed in the new life we were all three now living together. The second half pieces, actually a long track sliced in three parts, are dedicated to this transition period, where also tensions in the family are occuring. The tracks are built on a piano melody provided by the Japanese artist, Mujika Eisel, that collaborated with me on a previous album. Now it is 2019, and not only is Olivia 5 years old, but also Nora was born, in March 2017. This album, is now dedicated to both of them, and can in a away, be perhaps considered a bit too ‘direct’, (as a Henry Rollins song!) but it’s for me a sincere expression of feelings and sensations. The concept of waiting can be interpreted in different ways, and anyone can ask himself what the two dogs in the front cover (kindly provided by the Italian photographer Adriano Zanni) are expecting to come. Anyway, the album is finally released, thanks to the generous and neverlasting effort of US label Infraction, available in the three formats of LP/CD/DL, with an additional 7” containing two outtakes entitled “After the Wait” (exclusive to physical formats only), when the new life was becoming a new set of routines. I even made a video in 2018, featuring - guess who? - my family. It can be seen on Infraction Bandcamp and on my website as well. I hope that this long pathway of experiences, feelings, music and visual art will be shared with careful listeners all over the world. - Matteo Uggeri Album editions : 100 copies of clear blue water LP + 7 inch (after the wait) 150 copies of black vinyl 180 gram edition Each LP is housed in a Stoughton tip-on style heavy sleeve. The 7" is a clear vinyl. 250 copies of full-length CD. The first 100 copies will contain a bonus CDR with 2 exclusive tracks (entitled 'After the Wait'). The CD will be housed in a Stoughton style mini-lp gatefold sleeve. Maurizio Abate (guitar) Enrico Coniglio (guitar, organ) Andrea Serrapiglio (cello) Cristiano Lupo (bass) Dominique Van Cappellen-Waldock (vocals) Jenny Oakley (vocals) Nicola Ratti (electronics sample) Gaia Margutti (vocals) Mujika Eisel (piano) https://infraction.bandcamp.com/album/the-next-wait 2019 €16.00
  The Next Wait LP + 7inch In 2013 my wife Gaia was pregnant. We were then waiting for our first born to come, expected for November of that year. A few little obstacles and troubles occurred during the nine months, so my anxious nature at the time generated in me the need to somehow express the feelings in a record, where I conveyed the worries that a father, especially a musician that needs his own moments for playing, may have in terms of an expected potential future lack of time and energies. I also decided to involve fellow musicians I got to know at the time, like Maurizio Abate (guitar), Enrico Coniglio (guitar and organ), with whom afterwards I would have made full albums - but you can find here the first traces of our collaboration. There were Andrea Serrapiglio (cello) and Cristiano Lupo (bass), that I knew for quite some time, and featuring female voices. I asked Dominique Van Cappellen-Waldock (that I discovered through her marvellous presence on a Doug Sharin solo album) if she wanted to sing on a track, and she did, providing her own lyrics. The American singer Jenny Oakley, aka Empty Vessel Music, did the same on track one, as well as a glitching sample from Nicola Ratti is also featured. The central piece of the whole album can be considered “Family Man”, a sort of cover from a song by Black Flag, totally reversed by my wife Gaia Margutti. She re-interpreted the lyrics her own way, and she performed it in an unforgettable session of home recordings, with my daughter Olivia, now finally born, hanging from her neck. Indeed, the album took quite a long time to be made, and then the ‘wait’ was over, transformed in the new life we were all three now living together. The second half pieces, actually a long track sliced in three parts, are dedicated to this transition period, where also tensions in the family are occuring. The tracks are built on a piano melody provided by the Japanese artist, Mujika Eisel, that collaborated with me on a previous album. Now it is 2019, and not only is Olivia 5 years old, but also Nora was born, in March 2017. This album, is now dedicated to both of them, and can in a away, be perhaps considered a bit too ‘direct’, (as a Henry Rollins song!) but it’s for me a sincere expression of feelings and sensations. The concept of waiting can be interpreted in different ways, and anyone can ask himself what the two dogs in the front cover (kindly provided by the Italian photographer Adriano Zanni) are expecting to come. Anyway, the album is finally released, thanks to the generous and neverlasting effort of US label Infraction, available in the three formats of LP/CD/DL, with an additional 7” containing two outtakes entitled “After the Wait” (exclusive to physical formats only), when the new life was becoming a new set of routines. I even made a video in 2018, featuring - guess who? - my family. It can be seen on Infraction Bandcamp and on my website as well. I hope that this long pathway of experiences, feelings, music and visual art will be shared with careful listeners all over the world. - Matteo Uggeri Album editions : 100 copies of clear blue water LP + 7 inch (after the wait) 150 copies of black vinyl 180 gram edition Each LP is housed in a Stoughton tip-on style heavy sleeve. The 7" is a clear vinyl. 250 copies of full-length CD. The first 100 copies will contain a bonus CDR with 2 exclusive tracks (entitled 'After the Wait'). The CD will be housed in a Stoughton style mini-lp gatefold sleeve. credits released September 10, 2019 Maurizio Abate (guitar) Enrico Coniglio (guitar, organ) Andrea Serrapiglio (cello) Cristiano Lupo (bass) Dominique Van Cappellen-Waldock (vocals) Jenny Oakley (vocals) Nicola Ratti (electronics sample) Gaia Margutti (vocals) Mujika Eisel (piano) https://infraction.bandcamp.com/album/the-next-wait 2019 €28.00
UGGERI, MATTEO & MOURNING DOVE Does the Moon not Dream CD Elena Botts is American, lives in Washington DC. Matteo Uggeri is Italian, lives in Milan. When this album was conceived, in 2018, she was 22, he was 44. Three years after its conceiving, the album is now released in Spring 2021 by the historical ADN records (adnrecords.com), that since 1984 has published artists like Pascal Comelade, Merzbow, Pierre Bastien, Tasaday, Riccardo Sinigaglia, Cranioclast, Sigillum S, Christina Kubisch, Third Ear band and many others… Elena's works under her moniker Mourning Dove are primarily built on her voice and poems, Matteo's ones are usually instrumental releases in the so-called field of 'modern classical/experimental'. This joint album was made in an extremely spontaneous way, sending files across the Atlantic ocean: Elena recorded a set of spoken poems and three sung pieces, often outdoor, walking in streets and fields, and Matteo arranged them all grabbing mostly acoustic sounds often provided by his long time collaborators. Due to the strong and at the same time delicate timbre of Elena's voice, in spite of the relatively wide set of instruments, the album sounds minimal and rarefied, as a long gentle suite of sparse notes and occasional rhythms driven by female vocal chords. Mourning Dove (Elena Botts): lyrics, vocals. Matteo Uggeri: sounds, composing and mixing. My Dear Killer: acoustic and electric guitar. Andrea Serrapiglio: cello. Francesca Stella Riva: trombone. alessandro sesana: trumpet. Maurizio Abate: mandoloncello. Franz Krostopovic: piano and violin. Alberto Carozzi: electric guitar. Cristiano Lupo: bass. Made in Washington DC and Milan in summer 2019. Mastered by Marco Milanesio in January 2021. Photos by Elena Botts. Artwork by Matteo Uggeri. https://matteouggeri.bandcamp.com/album/does-the-moon-not-dream "Dass die Zusammenarbeit zwischen Matteo Uggeri und der Autorin Elena Botts alias Mourning Dove so spontan zustande gekommen ist wie es in den Liner Notes ihres gemeinsamen Albums “Does The Moon Not Dream” heißt, mag man sich kaum vorstellen. Meist sanfte Sounds verschiedener Umgebungen und Klangfarben, die bei genauerem Hören eine vielfältige Stimmungspalette entfalten, entspanntes Fingerpicking, stimmungsvolle Pianoparts und wehmütige Streicher, in ernsten Tönen vorgetragene Poesie und ein jazzig eingefärbter Sopran: All dies und einiges mehr fügt sich derart passgenau zum Narrativ eines musikalischen Hörspiels zusammen, dass man die dirigierende Hand einer alles im Griff habenden Personen vermutet. Umso schöner, wenn sich so etwas spontan ergibt. Die ruhige Gangart, mit der das Album startet, sollte nicht hinwegtäuschen über eine unterschwellige Aufgewühltheit, die nie ganz aus der Musik verschwindet und mit einem gewissen stoischen Charakter in den Dialog tritt. Im Opener, dessen Titel “Modular” bestens zu seinem kollagenhaften Charakter passt, gibt entspanntes, fast pastorales Gitarrenpicking den Hintergrund für den Sound zielgerichteter Schritte, für ein sanft leuchtendes Dröhnen, das bei genauerem Hinhören eher aufgeweckt als entspannt anmutet – und für eine fragile Stimme, die fast erschöpft eine Wahrnehmung beschreibt, die die so fragmetiert anmutet wie die Puzzelteile der Musik. Alles wirkt auf spröde Art organisch, auch der wie von einer alten Shellackplatte anmutende Sporan, der in “Ghosts of Sand” überleitet und diesem – entrückt, verschwommen und abgehoben im besten Sinne einen weitaus songhafteren Zug verleiht. Jeder der Tracks ist voller kleiner klanglicher und atmosphärischer Ideen: Auf Samples basierende Perkussion, die durch manche Stücke peitscht, mäandernde Sounds aus dem Fundus indischer Instrumente, glasklare Pianotupfer, Wind und quietschende Türen. Gedämpfte Bläser in “Bushwick”, Straßensounds in “An eleven Hour Sleep”, tropfendes Nass in dem berührenden “Mare Aperto” und “Bella Ciao“, von dem ich nicht sagen kann, ob es mehr als nur von Titel her auf das bekannte Partisanenlied bezug nimmt. Orientalisierende Gitarren in “Our Lady” von keinem geringeren als My Dear killer. Dann immer wieder die erschöpfte und doch resolute Rezitation. Viele dieser Details kehren in der einen oder anderen Abwandlung leitmotivisch wieder, und dies ist nur ein Grund, das Album als Ganzes, als gelungenes musikalisches Hörspiel zu rezipieren." [Uwe Schneider (African Paper)] 2021 €13.00
UHUSHUHU (Ухушуху) Onega MC "Together with the ΠΑΝΘΕΟΝ label we are happy to present the cassette reissue of the second album by Uhushuhu - "Onega". The first release was made by ΠΑΝΘΕΟΝ in January 2015 on CD-R, a small edition of 33 copies in beautiful handmade packaging. It was sold out very quickly and now we've decided to re-release this recording on cassette along with two other albums ("Long Songs Pleasant for Hearing" and "Geoscience"). The sound of "Onega" was described by ΠΑΝΘΕΟΝ as "archaic earth hum; water ripple near dusk; stones dancing in the dark; tales about moss and its inhabitants. Ease of predawn dew, heady spirality of snails." We can only agree with these laconic and concise characteristics. Besides the album itself the original disk contained a bonus track - a remix by Creation VI who stand behind the ΠΑΝΘΕΟΝ label. It is also included on the B-side of this cassette and even more - there is an exclusive 27-minute reshape version from Uhushuhu themselves mixed in a different tonality. Artwork - clear cassettes with stickers, two-sided full-colour cover, outer cardboard slipcase." [label info] zhb.radionoise.ru/eng/releases.html#zhb "Along with two reissues on cassette of quickly sold-out cdrs over the past few years, we have a new album from the enigmatic Russian collective Uhushuhu. These are drones to sink into - deep, thrumming tones, nocturnal field recordings, accreted electronic vibration, and wind-swept aeration that appear to emit from the depth of the Russian forest, all embued with a transcendent, mystically dark quality that immediately makes us think back to those early Andrew Chalk albums, especially his beloved Sumac disc with Jonathan Coleclough. As with the other cassettes, this too is limited to 55 copies; but unlike the others, the plastic casing is swaddled in an O-card." [Aquarius Records] 2015 €8.50
  Bones & Drones CD ”Drones & Bones” is the first release from UHUSHUHU on Zoharum. This successful drone/ambient project is one of the most interesting ones hailing from Russia. Pavel Dombrowski composes and improvises with many other musicians under this guise using their skills to head into various directions in both genres. His albums are characterised by a particular attentiveness to detail and the richness of monolithic tapestry out of delicate melodies. On his album UHUSHUHU successfully creates seemingly lazy, quite somnambulant atmosphere which acts as a signature for the project. ”Drones & Bones” is a logical extension of of the forementioned characteristics. In this 45-minute piece we have the development of tones and atomspheres. One can say that the composition is moon music with hints of ethnic sounds. All that is still not enough to describe what this album really is. You should stop, listen to the abyss and discover continuously. This adventure may last forever. The album is released in a 6-panel ecopak in a strictly limited edition of 250 copies. Release: 23.09.2019 https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/bones-drones 2019 €12.00
UN DRAME MUSICALE INSTANTANE A Travail Egal Salaire Egal CD " À Travail Égal Salaire Égal was Un Drame Musical Instantané's third album, originally released in 1982 on the group's own GRRR label. Since its creation in 1976, featuring Jean-Jacques Birgé, Bernard Vitet and Francis Gorgé, the group has decided to promote collective musical creation, co-signing their albums, which they consider as artworks in themselves, or their live shows which they try to renew every time they play. Un Drame borrowed their sources from rock (synthetizer player Birgé and guitarist Gorgé, both authors of the album, Défense de); jazz (trumpeter Vitet who founded the first free jazz band in France, together with François Tusques, as well as Michel Portal who played with many American and European jazzmen); classical modern music; as well as movies or world news; they were the first in France to give a new impetus to live music on silent films. Birgé and Gorgé also recorded a duo album that was mentioned on the infamous Nurse With Wound list, Défense De. On À Travail Égal Salaire Égal, you will hear their wild mix of styles, a very original, unclassifiable, inventive music, which drifts from jazz to electronic music and contemporary music. Remastered in 2016 and with a lot of bonus material. Track list: 1. On Tourne 2. Crimes Parfaits 3. Pourquoi La Nuit? 4. La Preuve Par Le Grand Huit 5. La Preuve Par le Grand Huit, One Year Later." [label info] www.klanggalerie.com/gg244 2017 €14.00
  L'homme a la Camera / La Glace a trois Faces CD Un Drame Musical Instantané were founded in 1976, featuring Jean-Jacques Birgé, Bernard Vitet and Francis Gorgé. Their aim was to promote collective musical creation, co-signing their albums, which they consider as artworks in themselves, or their live shows which they tried to renew every time they played. Their sound was created with many influences: They borrowed their sources from rock (synthesizer player Birgé and guitarist Gorgé, both authors of the album, Défense de); jazz (trumpeter Vitet who founded the first free jazz band in France, together with François Tusques, as well as Michel Portal who played with many American and European jazzmen); classical modern music; as well as movies or world news; they were the first in France to give a new impetus to live music on silent movies. After having improvised freely for many years, they led a fifteen piece orchestra from 1981 to 1986, and from 1989 onwards they produced multimedia shows (live video remix on a giant screen, fireworks, choreographies). Still their music was the most important technique, they called their recordings "blind cinema". The Drame used to mix acoustic and electronic instruments in real time as well as original instruments built by Vitet (a reed trumpet, a multiphonic French horn, a variable tension double-bass, a giant balafon with frying pans and flower pots keyboard, a fire organ, plexiglas flutes, etc.). After Francis Gorgé left the band in 1992, Birgé and Vitet went on recording and producing with other musicians close to the "family" such as percussionist, Gérard Siracusa, or multi-instrumentalist, Hélène Sage. Un Drame Musical Instantané always remained independent (they always owned their own recording studio and record label GRRR) and stopped its activities in 2008, with Birgé being the only one active until this day. L'Homme À La Caméra was originally released on GRRR in 1984 and features 15 musicians. In addition to the original album, we offer you a whole new section of previously unreleased music from the time entitled La Glace A Trois Faces which is another soundtrack to a silent movie from 1927 2020 €14.00
UNDERJORDISKA / SPECTRAL LORE split CD-R Zweimal qualitativ hochwertige "dark harmonic ambience" von Projekten aus dem Black Metal-Bereich... "Two experimental black metal one-man bands venturing into new and undiscovered territories: this split is a collaboration far different from your typical "let's throw some left-outs from our previous records, make a intro or two and off to the printing plant" mentality, instead being a concept split album which should be heard as one, rather than two albums on the same cd. It is a journey from the surface of the sea to the very depths of the ocean, and then back towards the surface again. Each musician undertakes one part of the journey; two compositions over 30 minutes, featuring actual underwater recordings, aquatic drones, unique instruments (from a mandolin to a duduk) and even melodic post rockish moments. There is a continual flow of movement to the music, as the listener, embodied within this audial environment, descents and ascends through the ocean, towards a deepest point that seems to bear a particular significance: but is it the goal, or the journey itself that matters more?" [label info] "... Hailing from the small but gradually growing group of Ambient Black Metal projects, Spectral Lore's Ayloss and Underjordiska's Dawid Dahl place consumptive Guitar- and Mandolin patterns alongside the foreboding electronic tapestry, integrating field recordings of lazy days at the beach into angelically ringing drones. And whenever they return into the oblivious void, the aforementioned bipolarity shines through even clearer. The overall impression of these two independently realised but astoundingly complimentary thirty-something-minute tracks is therefore timbrally rich and thematically diverse. While Dahl builds his piece modularly, taking it through a string of musical passages, the Spectral Lore contribution is rather shaped like a curve, slowly oscillating between anthemic noise and vaporous darkness. The stoic refusal of many genre-related releases to take their ostrich-like head from the sands of sadness is counterpointed by an approach which never rests on its laurels while placing seminal importance on ambient coherency: Diversity and darkness, they teach us, need not be a contradiction." [Tokafi] 2008 €12.00
UNIT 21 November CD "Unit 21 could, name-wise be mistaken for an industrial or gothic act, is one Stanislav Vdovin, who plays music since 2003, mainly doing techno and house remixes, and later 'non dance solo albums'. For 'November' he uses 'looped micro samples from soviet vinyl records, home microphone recording, drum pattern and processed white noise'. Although this CD is indexed with seven tracks, which are all quite different from each other, it listens as one pleasant, mildly experimental piece of music. At the first the static crackles of vinyl skipping is perhaps just a bit too easy, but as the CD progresses, and the other sound sources are added, we are uplifted in a spiral form of rotating sounds, a swirling mass of static hiss, a bit too much reverb, but also drum machine patterns that aren't exactly groovy, but which work quite relaxing and field recordings of a highly obscure nature. Quite a nice CD, not a really big surprise but nevertheless very nice. Ambient glitch, might be the best description, but less based on the digital variation." [FdW / Vital Weekly] www.lagunamuch.com 2007 €12.00
UR The Day of the Lord CD-R "Italian project started in 2005. UR has released a number of albums through Topheth Prophet, Afe Records, Mask Of The Slave. Music is mostly free-improvised in the style of Industrial of 1970’s. Four long pieces recorded in 2006 create a hellish maelstrom of black shadows, heartrending groans, bloodletting rave in a throng of ashletting horny and caudate entitites. Sometimes more scary than TG, early CURRENT 93 and STALLAGH." [label info] www.abgurd.com 2010 €8.50
V.A. (VARIOUS ARTISTS) (COMPILATIONS) Epitaph for John CD Über 3 Jahre nach seinem Tod erscheint diese Memorial-Compilation für den ursprünglich aus Berlin stammenden Komponisten JOHN WATERMANN, der nur 48 Jahre alt wurde. Neben dem über 13 minütigen Originalmaterial von WATERMANNs „Toowong Cemetary“ , welches zu seinen letzten Aufnahmen zählen dürfte, gibt es hier Bearbeitungen desselben Materials zu hören von FRANS DE WAARD aka FREIBAND und anderen, die engen Kontakt mit WATERMANN hatten: ASMUS TIETCHENS, RLW, und MERZBOW. Dies ist eine würdige Gedenk-Compilation mit grossartigem Material, hier zeigen diese Koryphäen der unabhängigen Geräuschmusik-Szene ihre ganze Klasse! Kommt mit kompletter Discographie und vielen weiteren Infos!! “CD only (compilation with Asmus Tietchens, RLW, Merzbow, Freiband and John Watermann). In late 2000, I received an e-mail from John Watermann. It was rather out of the blue, since we hadn't been in contact for maybe ten years. I don't have that e-mail anymore, but I remember that it started like this: "I hope you remember me? I have been diagnozed with cancer which is incurable", and then he went on to propose that I buy the remainder of his self-released CD-Rom, "A Rose Is A Rose". John also proposed that we do a musical collaboration together. I mailed him a CDR of field recordings that I had made in the summer of 2000 in Sweden, and he mailed me a CDR called 'Toowong Cemetary'. During the next year and in early 2002, John and I e-mailed about how we should approach this collaborative work. I did a fair share of processing on his sound material, but it seemed hard for me to finish. In my various e-mail communications with John, I didn't dare ask what would happen if he would die and the work was not completed. In the afternoon of April 3th 2002, I got an e-mail from Shannon O'Neill, telling me that John had passed away. Afterwards, I got in contact with Barbara Heath and Malcolm Cones, who were both dealing with John's estate. They send me a couple of CDRs containing all the recent soundwork John had been working on, but they contained nothing of our collaboration. I left my music unfinished, until mid-2003 when I thought of inviting Asmus Tietchens to do some work on John's original sounds. I knew that they were in close contact. After Asmus had finished, and I still wasn't ready with my piece, so I invited two more people, Ralf Wehowsky and Masami Akita. In the previous years Masami worked on an extensive collaboration with John and Ralf Wehowsky mentions Watermann as one of the few artists he was keen follower of. Once I had their contributions, I decided to start from scratch and take their finished works as new raw sound material, which is why my piece is now at the end of the CD.” [Frans de Waard – liner notes] “Over the course of his life John Watermann worked with almost every conceivable artistic medium. In many ways, he was the epitome of the "total artist"; almost every element of his life being in some way his own artistic project. As a young man in his native Germany he worked as a photographer and documentary filmmaker, also etching, painting and writing. His experience as a youth in Germany in the Second World War influencing his work from then right through until his death. Following his move to Australia Watermann worked as jeweller, opening a number of shops in Sydney with his longtime Australian partner Barbara Heath (an accomplished jeweller in her own right) and meanwhile continued to write, paint and even sculpt. Eventually, after traveling the east coast of Australia in a self-built sailing boat, Watermann settled in Brisbane and began to produce his music. He first released his music in 1989 in the form of the album "Warmth is the Fifth Room". Like most of his releases, the cassette appeared in a run of very few copies on his own label "Nightshift", and was consequently almost impossible to find. Over the next 10 years he released numerous albums and contributed to a number of compilations, both under his own name as a solo artist, in collaboration with others (such as Merzbow) and under a number of pseudonyms (including Radio Mull, Spinal Machine and Total Disease). Also, apart from his music, in the 1990s he created an interactive cd-rom work "Rose is a Rose" and published the webzine "Lean Yellow Supporting". Sadly, on April 2nd 2002 John Watermann died suddenly of an infection resulting from his ongoing treatment for cancer. Having in the final year of his life returned to painting and writing (alongside a burgeoning interest in cooking), he still had vast plans for future projects. Among these unfulfilled projects were plans to collaborate with Frans de Waard on a new release. Although only preliminary discussions on the collaboration took place and Watermann never completed any work towards the project, Watermann's source material that was to be the basis of the work now serves as a basis for this tribute release. Despite his vast artistic output, Watermann has been known almost exclusively for his music and even then his work remains largely undiscovered, perhaps for no other reason than its sheer unavailability. In many ways Watermann could be considered a classic example of the artists' artist, his work influencing many far more prominent sonic alchemists. And perhaps then this release serves as a record of Watermann and his influence, documenting the respect he reserved from his peers and, hopefully, introducing his work to a new audience.” [Ben Byrne] . tracklisting: 1. Asmus Tietchens - JWAT 1 (03:05) 2. Asmus Tietchens - JWAT 2 (02:37) 3. Asmus Tietchens - JWAT 3 (05:39) 4. Asmus Tietchens - JWAT 4 (03:55) 5. RLW: Seeking Perfection - Somewhere Else (12:52) 6. Merzbow - Untitled For John (05:28) 7. Freiband - Threnody (10:26) 8. John Watermann - Toowong Cemetary (13:32) [press-release] 2005 €13.00
Runeology 2 CD „Preisgünstiger Sampler mit Tracks von vor kurzem veröffentlichten, aktuellen oder erst erscheinenden Alben. Mit Tracks von DEATHPROD, ARVE HENRIKSEN, PHONOPHANI, SCORCH TRIO, FOOD, NILS OKLAND, ALOG, SHINING und ARCHETTI/WIGET..... Das Rune Gramophon Label wurde im Januar 1998 von Rune Kristoffersen gegründet mit der Intention gegründet, die Musik der abenteuerfreudigsten und kreativsten Künstler Norwegens zu veröffentlichen. SPECIAL LOW PRICE 70 MIN SAMPLER INLCUDING TRACKS FROM RECENT AND CURRENT RELEASES AS WELL AS TRACKS FROM FORTHCOMING 2005 ALBUMS. ARTISTS FEATURED ARE DEATHPROD, ARVE HENRIKSEN, PHONOPHANI, STRNEN/STORLKKEN, SCORCH TRIO, FOOD, NILS KLAND, ALOG, SHINING AND ARCHETTI/WIGET. COMES IN A SLIMCASE CARDBOARD SLEEVE WITH ARTWORK BY KIM HIORTHY. RUNE GRAMMOFON WAS ESTABLISHED BY RUNE KRISTOFFERSEN IN JANUARY 1998 WITH THE INTENTION OF RELEASING WORK BY THE MOST ADVENTUROUS AND CREATIVE NORWEGIAN ARTISTS.” [press release] 2005 €8.50
Penumbra EP Collection Vol. 8 CD-R The first 30 Penumbra-maxi CDRs are now deleted, but available as a collection on 10 full CDRs now. The eigth Volume contains the TAU CETI / L.E.M./ PERCEPTUAL DEFENSE albums "The windy shores of Awura", "Strata", "Reset to Zero part one". 2006 €12.00
Message from a Subatomic World CD "2008. Having not released any various-artists compilations in the past decade, Hypnos released in 2007 a new compilation Sounds of a Universe Overheard featuring a diverse array of ambient soundscape artists from around the world. We are proud to follow last year's release with its "mirror image" compilation, which we believe meets or exceeds that high standard. Here are another 10 exclusive tracks by 10 artists who have not appeared on Hypnos compilations before, though some of these artists will certainly be familiar to followers of our label. Message From a Subatomic World in comparison to its predecessor is perhaps a bit more abstract and deep-space, more mysterious and strange, whereas Sounds of a Universe Overheard is a bit more musical and structured overall. THE ARTISTS Austere - This elusive duo has released two albums with Hypnos in the past year, Solyaris on Hypnos and Pulse on Hypnos Secret Sounds. They've also ranged over a wide sonic territory with previous self-released projects during the past decade. Evan Bartholomew - Perhaps best known for the rhythmic electronica he records as Bluetech, Evan has just recently started releasing ambient work under his own name, and recently launched his own Somnia label. Relapxych.0 - is Anders Peterson from Sweden, experimenting with combining field recordings with musical instruments and approaches, creating musical ambience rather than ambient music. Visit www.ghostsounds.net Numina - Certainly familiar to Hypnos listeners, Numina has released 3 great CDs on our label, and he has been one of the great new names in the ambient music world this past 5 years. Jason Sloan - A partner in the Slo.Bor label with Matt Borghi, Jason creates uncompromising sound art using tools as diverse as electric guitars, synthesizers, and self-designed software algorithms. Phaenon - Real name Szymon Tankiewicz, his debut album was released on the Malignant label, and he has relocated from his native Poland to Maryland, USA. Stephen Philips - Also familiar to Hypnos listeners, Stephen runs the Dark Duck Records label on which he has many releases under several identities, in addition to his two releases on our label. True Color of Blood - Alter ego of Eric Kesner, who uses treated and layered electric guitars to craft unique and challenging ambient drone works, which he has released on labels like Gears of Sand, Eibon and Afe. Svartsinn - This Norwegian dark ambient artist has several prior releases, mostly on the Cyclic Law label, and is a frequent live performer around the world. Oophoi - No other name has gone from obscurity to such high regard among ambient listeners in such a short time, and this Italian master of the atmospheric drone has been greatly prolific, counting among his releases two projects on Hypnos, Athlit as a solo artist, and Distance to Zero with Paul Vnuk Jr. of Ma Ja Le." [label info] www.hypnos.com 2008 €13.00
TOUCH. 30 Years and counting do-LP "Compiled, edited, mixed and produced by Mike Harding & Jon Wozencroft, 14-15th October 2012. Cut by Jason at Transition, 16th October 2012. Artwork & Photography by Jon Wozencroft. Release date: 5th December 2012. Released to coincide with Touch's 30th anniversary celebrations at Beaconsfield, London, on December 5th and 6th 2012, all tracks are exclusive and original to this release With Fennesz, Bruce Gilbert, Rosy Parlane, Oren Ambarchi, ELEH, BJNilsen, Nana April Jun, Chris Watson, Mika Vainio, Carl Michael von Hausswolff, Jana Winderen, Philip Jeck, Francisco López, Z'EV, Hildur Gudnadottir, Biosphere. 30 years and counting is an echo of a time when the world was in a critical condition, and potentially about to blow itself into oblivion at the tail end of the Cold War. As such the title is a wry reflection on the situation we find ourselves in today, where the final curtain is less likely to close, but the stakes somehow seem to be more extreme and polarised than ever. As far as Touch is concerned, it is an expression of our youthful relationship to the work. Mike Harding and Jon Wozencroft invited each of the Touch artists to contribute a glimpse of their current practice to what is effectively a group show rather than a compilation. The brief was not only to celebrate a situation, but to remind each other why we are doing it, and make a kind of documentary realism. Some artists responded quickly with significant twists and returns to their signature sound and others left it to the last minute. The net result was that Mike and Jon mastered the LP/CD more or less as live performance in the cutting room, Transition, as an expression of the vitality of the project rather than some pre-ordained historical item. The history is built into the cover with two images of the first computer, the ‘Colossus’, built in Bletchley Park during the early 1940s as a means of cracking the Enigma codes… Here the pressure of time is at its most compressed. Two contra-punctal images were shot only recently, backstage moments of Touch 30 situations which as historical events, pale in comparison – they are just personal, memories in a flash. 30 years and counting is a filmic/time-based response from a collective of artists who have made a distinct impression on contemporary music and the way things go. Fennesz, Eleh, Hildur Gudnadottir, Chris Watson, Philip Jeck, Biosphere… We should really list everyone. That’s what they try and do on hip-hop albums. We started with cassettes; this project commenced as a dedication to vinyl rather than digital, a question concerning the art of recording. 30 years and counting is a manifesto after all these transformations. It is available on CD and download. The vinyl flares with the crackle of the present." [Jon Wozencroft, November 2012 / label info] www.touchmusic.org.uk 2012 €24.50
Incendium #4 CD "The fourth part in the LOKI/PAS label series! Tracks taken from latest releases plus 3 tracks from forthcoming albums and a mindblowing live version of Bad Sectors AMPOS which is unreleased so far. 001 NORTHAUNT If Only My Heart Were Stone (excerpt) 002 CIRCULAR Retreat From Reality 003 INADE The Collision Of Conscience 004 HERBST9 Kima Šuškalli Ukattimanni Šittu 005 FJERNLYS Revelation 006 S.E.T.I. Powder Canyon 007 BAD SECTOR Ampos – Live 008 FIRST LAW Low Spirits Meme (excerpt) 009 PREDOMINANCE Pandemonia Dawning 010 IONOSPHERE Polarized Light 011 SVARTSINN Ashes Of The Late World (excerpt) 012 LAND:FIRE Causing 013 BAD SECTOR October 4, 1957 014 S.E.T.I Final Trajectory (excerpt) 001 from The Borrowed World CD & LP PAS 34 002 from Radiating Perpetual Light CD LOKI 59 003 from Audio Mythology Two CD & LP LOKI 60 004 from Ušumgal Kalamma 2xCD LOKI 56 005 from forthcoming album 006 from Baikal CD PAS 31 007 unreleased live version / original track from Ampos CD PAS 17 008 from A Future so Bright CD LOKI 58 009 from forthcoming album 010 from forthcoming album 011 from The Borrowed World CD & LP PAS 34 012 from Incandescent Sonic Lodge CD PAS 36 013 from Kosmodrom 2xCD PAS 33 014 from Final Trajectory CD PAS 35" [label info] 2014 €4.00
Wieza Cisnien II CD " „Wieża Ciśnień 2” is a continuation of the first volume of the same title, which was released in 2010 under the auspices of CKiS Gallery "Tower". In a sense these two albums summarize nearly ten years of activity of the Gallery associated with the presentation of works of sound artists / musicians looking for innovative forms of creative articulation (individual performances, auditory part of three edition of Permutacje festival – curator: Roman Bromboszcz, three editions of Restytucje retrospective - curator Marcin Olejniczak) . The common denominator for both sets of tracks is the space where we held meetings of creators, recipients and sounds. The difference between these records refers to the aesthetic coherence of the recordings: in the first case repertoire diversity (or even eclecticism) was shown; in the second case, the selection of recordings belongs with the idea of Restytucje related to the accentuation and rehabilitation of sounds that are not typically treated as music. An additional advantage of the compilation is the fact that all the tracks on the album (both live and studio) have not been previously released. The compilation includes tracks by the following artists: Zenial, Sumpf, Demonszy, Monopium, Sambar, Bachorze, KaLeka, X-NAVI:ET, TER, Micromelancolié i Mirt. The album is released in a 2-panel ecopak with a 4-page booklet in a strictly limited edition of 500 copies. The cover is by Tomek Mirt. It is mastered by Robert Skrzyński (Micromelancolié/ForrrestDrones)." [label info] www.zoharum.com 2015 €12.00
Phra Rahu do-CD "A long time coming, we have worked zealously to present this offering to the dark entity known as Rahu. A vast demigod with a strong worldly influence, Rahu's might is perhaps best illustrated in his devouring of the sun, causing the Earth to sit in his dark shadow. We have assembled this dark mantra from material both new and old, creating a deep tribute featuring several of the profile artists of gterma. Massive double album in a jewel case with 16-page booklet." [label info] gterma.blogspot.de "Body in Sweden and soul soaring over the Himalayas, the gterma label is a lotus of ambient electronica, blossoming regularly ever since 2011, each album released in a format that does the otherwise tired old jewel case format proud – there´s always a booklet swollen with the breathtaking (mostly landscape) photography of its “tertön“, mr_rehn. As individual as the particular peaky-ness of every mountain peak, each is its own gateway into the mandala of a personal but shareable universe. Phra Rahu is a sprawling, double disc overview of the label´s feel. There are some stunning exceptions to the usual expectations, perhaps in light (or rather, “in shadow”?) of its dedication to a dark deity and the legendary tale woven about its most devious act. The twelve pieces are almost all previously unreleased, except a trio from other labels; another three were specially created for this anthology. Rahu is a demigod from Hindu mythology, whose might is such that he once devoured the sun. Each disc is a chapter dedicated to his story, the first entitled “Eclipse Event,” opening the volume with the suitably mood-setting gothic sweep and distant banshee howls of “Premonitions”, the first of two contributions by Last Industrial Estate bookending “The Black Hand Reaches Out” by Parikrama & The Newschubert, in which light bristles and flares against the darkness. That “hand” is otherwise the only human touch to this opus; Phra Rahu is a cosmic event, witnessed only by the windowless monads drifting in space. Space is said to abhor a vacuum, yet especially as we drift toward the close of the first chapter, this music creates an absolutely luscious one. Due to the monolithic time signature (a full eighty minutes per disc) it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish where one artist leaves off and the next is ushered in, so one can only take an educated guess when “The Devouring of the Sun” by LiST has drawn to a close and “Tormented Lands” by Seetyca & Etheocles Stevens commences. The rise of a dharma trumpet would seem to signal the beginning of “The Intervention of Lord Vishnu Part I & II” and ceremonial drumming seems to be telegraphing its approaching end, before the breathy, twinkling ambience of Mathias Grassow, credited with the last section, “Mohini the Enchantress”, becomes distinguishable against blackened heavens. Ultimately, attribution is irrelevant and what´s more, a credit to the seamless arrangement of the compiler. The second chapter, “Rahu Mantras” rolls out like one long, numinous but multivalent drone joining five pieces contributed in turn by A.P. (Anders Peterson, who also masters most gterma productions and appears earlier in the guise of Last Industrial Estate), eco-ambient veteran Mathias Grassow and Jiří Mazánek, Grassow solo, Earth Vibration and New Zealand´s David Parsons. Long airy and beatless, it shimmers like a mirage and pit-a-pats on tiptoe in the middle, after which it opens slowly and magnificently, like the maw of Rahu gaping, sun reemerging, pushed by tablas and solar winds. Phra Rahu is an awesome, perfectly paced astral journey, anything but meditation music, an instar struggling toward surface and light. gterma´s discography is an utter pantheon of thoughtfully executed, Subcontinental-inflected ambient, divulged lucidly in word and sound here. A personal favourite is the superior and mystic dub ambient of Urenga (Andras Kiss, who contributes to Phra Rahu as Indo), whose only physical releases among a shoal of digital albums have appeared with the gterma imprint. Mu (The Lost Continent) is pure Shangri-La, while After Rain is humid and kir-coloured." [Cyclic Defrost] 2014 €19.50
DRONE-MIND // MIND-DRONE Vol. 5 LP DRONE-MIND // MIND DRONE - Volume 5 The series shows the various sides of todays experimental drone-music. "In an era when so much content is driven by personality, we offer instead the challenge, or the respite, of interacting with sound on its own terms." [CLADE,] This LP-series from Drone Records is dedicated to the Drones of the World, and the Drones of our Minds. A kind of continuation of the Drone 7"-series, with artwork based on huge paintings by British artist PETE GREENING. Drone Music is seen as more than a mere 'music style', it expresses an approach to perceive and understand the world. DRONE-MIND and MIND-DRONE build a circle of diverse inter-relations. The Drone as a metaphor for everything that vibrates, that releases energy - from atoms and elementary particles to the hum of the earth and the universe. The Drone as an entity that connects everthing that exists within our own "mind-space", perception and self. Four "Drones" on one record! Volume FIVE (MIND-05) is OUT NOW (Oct. 2016) and features: GYDJA ҉ CLADE, MONOCUBE ҉ YRSEL GYDJA: (New Zealand) Enchanting female drone esoterica by an artist who is also known through her stunning artworks for COLD SPRING and other labels. Through magnetic winds and metallic clouds the long track "Gjallarbru" creates a wonderful secretful and sensitive atmosphere; very lonely and frosty, like a cold and clear consciousness released on a high mountain, on top of the world... CLADE, (Scotland / USA) Named after a notion taken from biology science (=Monophylum), this duo is based in Scotland and USA, alluring with very focused minimal drones on so far four releases. The two tracks presented here stand out with their use of somehow refractional, fibrous sounds, placed on monotonus drones with a very sedative and insistent effect... MONOCUBE: (Ukraine) This "ethereal drone" discovery from Ukraine moves musically through endless spaces, creating choral-like aural clouds and strange melodies => self-supporting drones with an incredible width, when even the smallest particles of concrete microsound encountering are exciting, entering into a heavenly "song of the sirens" choir.. YRSEL : (France) Another bi-national project is this French-Swedish collaboration of JULIEN LOUVET (2:13 PM, etc.) and C-J LARSGÅRDEN (ONDO),who released three albums so far. Their track "Krstnhmnbrtncrt" consists of very heavy, swallowing drones with atonal elements coming to the surface, diffus and poisonous but also lulling you into a deep (dead) sleep., slowly drowning in dense humming waves of cryptic drones... SOLID SILVER COLOURED VINYL, graphic design by ABBY HELASDOTTIR, using two paintings by British painter PETE GREENING (www.redbubble.com/people/petegreening); limited ed. of 400 copies listen: soundcloud.com/drone-records order: www.dronerecords.de 2016 €15.00
'... that first Season' - A Winter-Light Compilation do-CD We invited 16 specific artists from all corners of the globe to contribute exclusive tracks for “…that first season”. Many of the artists are favourite listens of ours, as well as the addition of one or two new and interesting ones. The resulting compilation of tracks offers the listener a unique perspective from each artist based upon the one common theme - the winter light. It was always an interesting idea to us to see how this theme would play out from different parts of the world, across both hemispheres and on different continents, with different styles of ambient and artistic approaches. All of the submitted tracks have been included on this double compilation and our expectations have been exceeded with the quality, the variety of rich sounds and depth of the music. Spanning across two discs, Heavy Snow and Long Shadows, Winter-Light and the participating artists are pleased to offer over 140 minutes of exclusive music, brought together for the first time on this, our first compilation. The artwork has been produced by Midnight Sun Studio and all tracks have been mastered by Simon Heath. All music recorded in 2016. We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to everybody who has contributed to making this release possible. Dedicated to our Ezzy. The DCD comes in a 8-panel full colour digi-pack and is also available as a digital download. Strictly limited to 500 copies. CD1: Heavy Snow 1.1 Seetyca - The Stars 1.2 Gydja - Krapadrífa ok snáka sótt 1.3 Phantom Ship - Entanglement (version) 1.4 Foetusdreams - Ignis Fatuum 1.5 Nexus Sun - Estive 1.6 ABBILDUNG - Om Ter Om 1.7 Charadriiform & Filivs Macrocosmi - Drifting Stations 1.8 VelgeNaturlig - Golden 1.9 Rapoon - Tal-Gel Isolde CD2: Long Shadows 2.1 Jeff Stonehouse 2.2 Havdis - Borea 2.3 Apocryphos - Sesam In Winter Lights 2.4 Strom Noir - Not Everything Dies 2.5 Kloob - A Special Glow 2.6 Michael Brückner & Mathias Grassow - ,,The Fall Of Leaves'' 2.7 Hakobune - Shimoyo www.winter-light.nl "Apart from the high quality of the music itself, this compilation is very special for at least two different reasons. One, the cohesive character of the whole thing which sounds, well, maybe not as if it has been composed by a single artist, but rather as a group of musicians from various parts of the world, gathered under one idea, understood 100% by each and every one of them. And two, the diversity of the projects presenting different approaches within the ambient framework. Where else would you find purely dark ambient outputs like Abbildung or Apocryphos going hand in hand with Hakobune or Strom Noir, which are not affiliated with the dark scene, plus the emotional drone masters like Havdis and Mathias Grassow on top of that. Most of them have been present on Santa Sangre with their full albums in the past. I don’t know if there’s a point in detailed descriptions of the tracks one by one, because here it’s all about nuances; nuances that sometimes are more significant, sometimes less, sometimes are very tiny, but it is they which make each project unique. Let’s try to point out these nuances then – just bear in mind that the atmospheric basis is the same for all of them. Organic drones by Seetyca that make you feel like you’re deep under water, warm microglitches and delicate synths by Gydja that make me like this composition more than her darker or more ritual offerings. Vast cosmic howls by Phantom Ship, that don’t have the most original feeling in the world, but they swallow your body and soul and take you straight into the void. The monolithic blackness of Foetusdreams which reminds me of the familiar monument from ‘2001: Space Odyssey’ hovering over the surface of the moon. The gloomy majesty of Nexus Sun which is reminiscent of the image of mountain summits touching the grey sky. The disturbing field recordings and dense bass backgrounds by Abbildung, sounding like a perfect aural illustration of the “Hell” segment of “The Garden of Earthly Delights” by Hieronymus Bosch. Slow synth melodies and surreal samples from some Russian radio broadcast by Charadriiform & Filivs Macrocosmi, which are like lost signals and transmissions floating over the Siberian nowhere. Semiacoustic solace by Velge Naturlig that reminds you that there’s a day after each night, and the sun will always appear after the harshest snowstorm. The Middle Eastern mystery of Rapoon which in five minutes tells the story of the thousands of uneasy years of that region. This is how “Heavy Snow”, the first half of this double CD ends, while the second half, entitled “Long Shadows”, begins with Jeff Stonehouse who has something in common with Seetyca: organic, influenced by the sea, though less dark. And even more minimal. After that, the sad beauty of ‘Arctic Nature’ by Havdis, who is probably the most underappreciated ambient artist on this planet. The longest and most beautiful piece on “…That First Season”. Apocryphos comes from the USA, but continues in the path taken by Havdis in the preceding track. The artist’s emotional, slowly forming melodies keep you frozen and in awe. Trance guitar drones by Strom Noir make me long for Autumn. Spatious and windy textures with subtle oldschool synth sequences by Kloob may recall some of Atomine Elektrine’s works. Combining ethereal drones with classic, space (quite Schulze-esque) electronica by Michael Brückner & Mathias Grassow prove that Mathias is simply the best in this spiritual ambient business, and that inviting his more Berlin school-oriented colleague to collaborate on this track wasn’t a misguided idea at all. Calming serenity by Hakobune, which makes “Shimoyo” an accurate ending of this almost two-and-a-half-hour long compilation. Nature, sadness, the interchange of seasons and weather conditions: this is why I like ambient music the most, and this is what I get here in excess. Surely one of the best compilations released over the past few years. And I consider it as a crowning of the first cycle of the Winter Light label’s activity. Why am I sure that only great things are to come from the Netherlands?" [Stark/Santa Sangre] 2017 €16.00
Your Reality is broken LP A compilation of covers, reinterpretations and/or transformations of Contrastate tracks in celebration of their 30th anniversary. The inivitation to participate was limited to a select few artists who have over the years, in some shape or form, worked with Contrastate. Track A1: Recorded in 2016. The original piece "The People Who Read The Books" was from 1997 concerts in Erlangen, Muenster and Nevers. Track A2: Recorded in 2016 Track A3: Recorded in March 2017. Sound sources: "As Time Began", "Thirst For Knowledge", "A Thousand Badgers In Labour" and a self played cover version of "An End marked By Pessimism". Track B1: Recorded in 2017. The track originates from the album "A Breeding Ground For Flies". Track B2: Recorded in 2017. Sound sources: English Embers/In Absentia - plus original material Track B3: Recorded in 2017. Includes a printed inner-sleeve. Front cover artwork: "Das Tier ist tod" Back cover artwork: "Perinatale Grundmatrix I" Insert artwork: "Tre uomini sulla croce" Tracklist Hide Credits A1 –Contrastate The Peolple Who Control The Information Recorded By – Contrastate 5:00 A2 –RLW Goodbye Great Nation 2016 Recorded By – RLW 7:31 A3 –Troum An End Marked, As Time Began Recorded By – Troum 6:21 B1 –Genocide Organ / Contrastate Son Of Sam Recorded By – Genocide Organ 5:46 B2 –Band Of Pain Re-establishing Beams (#9) Recorded By – Steve Pittis 6:09 B3 –État D'Urgence (2) Assassinate En Arrière-Plan Recorded By – État D'Urgence (2) 5:24 "Ever since their inception in the late 1980s, this UK project has simultaneously dabbled both in the worlds of musique concret and harsh electronics; two styles that are undeniably similar but have very few in the way of crossover artists, all with a distinct sense of irreverence. Active again after a lengthy hiatus in the early part of the 21st century, Your Reality is Broken is another piece of work that successfully blurs unnecessary lines; in this case if it is a tribute album to them, a remix collection, or a compilation of collaborations. In truth, it is all of these things at once, and it is excellent. There are only five artists who were invited to participate in this release, each providing one piece that is either a reworking of Contrastate material, a collaboration with them, or in the case of the opening piece, Contrastate covering themselves. The remainder of Your Reality is Broken are artists that also work between those two aforementioned stylistic poles: RLW, Troum, Genocide Organ, Band of Pain, and État D'Urgence. Contrastate’s self-reflexive contribution, "The People Who Control the Information," is built upon a different piece that was previously only performed live in 1997, "The People Who Read the Books." In its opening moments it is largely a spoken word performance, with ringing electronics filling the otherwise wide open spaces around the vocals. Sharp, grinding electronics tear through and hints of rhythm appear, which eventually solidify into an almost reggae like beat. By the time it all comes together, it is a bizarre combination of noisy electronics, spoken word, and dancehall beats; a strange combination no doubt, but also one that works very well. Troum's "An End Marked, as Time Began" is constructed by the legendary drone act from three existing Contrastate works plus their own cover of "An End Marked By Pessimism." Besides the aforementioned song, this is pretty much the other most musical piece here. Troum blend the existing recordings into a sustained wall of cavernous sound, making for a murky and somewhat oppressive sonic feel. With snatches of voice peppered throughout and swirling strings later introduced, it comes together in a surprisingly melodic and classical-tinged form. "Son of Sam" is a reworking of the same titled composition from the band's 2012 A Breeding Ground for Flies album that is credited to both Genocide Organ and Contrastate on the sleeve, so I am not sure if it is a collaboration or a reworking, but it is distinctly GO in sound. This is the modern day form of the legendary band, which is less about intentionally lo-fi noise and more atmospherically bleak. The treated and flanged vocals are of course there, as is the droning, abrasive Korg MS-10 synth, but the whole piece is very clean and well refined, more depressive than aggressive. Steve Pittis' Band of Pain uses material from English Embers and In Absentia to build "Re-establishing Beams (#9)": a mélange of echoing thuds and jarring, drill-like electronics that are at first right in line with old school noise sensibilities but eventually goes in to more restrained, subtle places. Ralf Wehowsky (as RLW) and État D’Urgence each supply the more disturbing, discomforting tributes on this record. The former's "Goodbye Great Nation 2016" is a pairing of churning sub bass and piercing high frequencies that, while somewhat minimal at first, convey a splendidly sinister mood. Fragments of voice and chimes are weaved in, and with the random voices and mangled piano, it is an entirely disorienting and uncomfortable sounding composition. The latter’s "Assassinate En Arrière-Plan" is another where vocals are up front and demonically processed, making for the most sinister and horror-esque moments of this record. Your Reality is Broken is a bit of an odd compilation, but one that is undoubtedly Contrastate, and the artists selected all reflect this idiosyncratic approach just as well. All of the artists contribute excellent reworkings or inspired pieces, but I also appreciate the classic compilation feel to the record. The mix of artists, the presentation, the style, it all reminded me of classic albums like the Rising from the Red Sands series or albums put out by RRRecords a few decades ago. It simply hits all the right buttons from beginning to end." [Creaig Dunton / Brainwashed] 2017 €20.00
TROUM TRANSFORMATION TAPES: The 20th Anniversary Celebration (1997-2017) do-CD with: ALLSEITS, CONTRASTATE, V.O.S.(YEN POX), VANCE ORCHESTRA, TARKATAK, RAISON D'ETRE, NADJA, MARTYN BATES w. TROUM, MULTER, QST (Frans de Waard/KAPOTTE MUZIEK), URE THRALL, MYRRMAN (SAL SOLARIS), INADE, DUAL, BAD SECTOR, CISFINITUM, REUTOFF, MOLJEBKA PVLSE, and MARKOW C. ORIGINAL INVITATION: "Dear Friends and Dreamers, Troum did the very first performance under this name (after the demise of Maeror Tri) in March 1997, so this year we reach our 20th anniversary. We have never done any anniversary "celebration" or "remix" projects of Troum material before, so we thought maybe it's the time now! You can choose any existing Troum material (also taken from multiple tracks) to cover, re-interpretate, re-work/process/arrange or collage it. You can also add your own sounds, create a new track-title, watever comes to your mind! (We are certainly NOT looking for a standard "remix", so we don't send out any specific material to everyone!). This invitation goes out to various musicians that have worked with us over the 20 years, which became friends or important for our evolution as a band." TROUM, March 2017 2. TRACKLIST: CD 1 1. ALLSEITS - Times 2. CONTRASTATE - The Silent Fish 3. INADE - The innermost Sun 4. VANCE ORCHESTRA - Giascei 5. TARKATAK - vs. Brinnan 6. RAISON D'ETRE - Ananke 7. NADJA - Mirrored in You 8. MARTYN BATES w. TROUM - An Untitled Protest 9. [MULTER] - Sela Saiwala MNX CD 2 1. QST - Kapotte Muziek by Troum (QST remix 2017) 2. URE THRALL - Krypte 3. 016 vs. MYRRMAN - Sen №350 (Psychic Automaton Rework) 4. V.O.S. (Steve Hall/YEN POX) - Breath Again 5. DUAL - TTN (Ursprung) 6. BAD SECTOR - Signedumiroir 7. MARKOW C. - Chaneism 8. CISFINITUM - Skaun[ei]s 9. REUTOFF - Hypoxia (Troum Spirare Cover) 10. MOLJEBKA PVLSE - Ennoia Liner Notes from JIM HAYNES: It was 1996 when the German industrial project Maeror Tri disbanded, and I recall being deeply saddened by the news. A few years earlier, I had discovered the project while working at a now-defunct distribution company in San Francisco. Fittingly released through Korm Plastics 'Introductions' series, Maeror Tri's Multiple Personality Disorder reflected an interested in psychological pathology as channeled through raw sound. Industrial culture has long used the metaphors of disease as a mirror to shine a light on any number of ills in contemporary society. This particular album addresses four aspects of the titular disorder, itself the most extreme form of schizophrenia which fractures the discrete personalities, which Maeror Tri identified in the general dissociative characteristics: The Administrator, The Anaesthetizer, The Revenger, The Protector. With each of these tracks, Maeror Tri orchestrated dense layers of heavily effected, sustained noise, back-masked growlings, and shimmering drones as emotionally resonant portraits to those four personality traits. With Industrial culture's penchant for sensationalized horror of autopsy and abbatoir footage, Maeror Tri's constructs were uniquely sympathetic to those who suffered from this debilitating disease. With the posthumous release of Emotional Engramm in 1997, Maeror Tri's compositional complexity began to blossom, relying less on the hypnogogic dislocation of time-lag effects and more on the poetics and the portent of the underlying melodies that rippled through their ghostly accretions for drone and noise. Right as they called it quits, the ideas of Maeror Tri had expressed a maturity that had much more to say through the collapse of sound into an crushed, all-encompassing, cathartic tsunami. What was to emerge in the wake of Maeror Tri's dissolution did not immediately seem clear. Founding member Stefan Knappe had already established his impeccably curated Drone Records, which initially focused on the improbable medium of the 7" single to release long-form works of dark ambient, heavy drone, and industrial din. Many of these artists that landed on Drone were unknown or under-appreciated projects, but without fail, these proved to be impressive documents and demanded that they be acquired upon sight with or without any idea of who exactly was behind the project. In this series, Knappe did commisson work from a number of highly acclaimed musicians including Inade, Francisco Lopez, Cranioclast, Aidan Baker, The Lotus Eaters, etc. but there were the lesser known acts such as the Hungarian experimental project Hideg Roncs, Holland's esoteric ambient outfit Indra Karmuka, and the hermetic tape machinist Abner Malaty. Drone released exactly 100 singles between 1993 and 2010, at which time the format switched to a four-way split LP format under the Drone-Mind // Mind-Drone banner, in addition to the 10" Substantia Innominata series, both of which maintain high calibre curation to this day. In 1998, Knappe reconvened with fellow Maeror Tri member Martin Gitschel to form Troum. The name for this new project was taken from an archaic German word for dream and provides clear insight into their investigations manifesting universal archetypes and symbols from a collective unconsciousness into an overwhelming flood of sound. The first recordings for Troum were published on a small cassette housed in a small pillow, ascribed with the title Dreaming Muzak. As with Maeror Tri, Troum sculpt their dronescapes mostly through heavily processed guitars along with an assortment of other instruments. If the intent of Troum was to put the listener to sleep, the lulling vibrating patterns certainly have the capacity; but the overall darkness of these sounds will never inspire the most pleasant of dreams. These are shadowy, bleak, and cold sounds which permeate the album, and lend themselves to images of desolate factories spewing a constant stream of black soot in some wintery post-Soviet country. At the turn of the millennium, Troum embarked on their ambitious Tjukurrpa trilogy, the title of which has its origin in the physical, spiritual, and psychological state of dreamtime for the Australian Aboriginals, symbolizing Troum's intention to divine transcendence through their hypnogogic compositions. They applied these ideas to the three compositional foundations to their music, in Harmonies, Drones, and Rhythms & Pulsations each of which are highlighted on the trilogies component albums. Harmonies for Troum relate to the cold ambient swirls of resonant timbres from Troum's interlocked guitars that cycle through minor-key chords bathed in a resplendent wash of effects and melancholy atmospheres. Troum's signature drones are heavy, lumbering propositions of earth-shaking rumbles and subterranean minimalism. The use of rhythm appears in Troum's work as percussive mantras with a ritualist approach to metal-bashed patterns and looped sequences. These fundamental tools - harmonies, drones, and rhythms - represent a set of pre-linguistic symbols that Troum employs to articulate to the primal emotional responses of various psychological states. More often than not, Troum turn towards ashen, sublime, nocturnal, and grim metaphors through their work, even though rapturously golden crescendos flourish on the rare occasion in their body of work. Sigqan (2003) is a harrowing album that plunges deep into an overwhelming gloom through sustained tones and drones. Like the project's name, the title harkens to a pre-medieval dialect of the Goths that roughly translates as the setting or sinking of the sun. Here, Troum addresses the Dark Ages fear that the sun might not rise again, leaving the world in permanent darkness. The Power Romantic trilogy (which include the albums Mare Idiophonika, Grote Mandrenke, Mare Morphosis released from 2010 - 2013) finds the duo embracing the oceanic metaphors that undulate upon the cycles of the tides through billowing shadows of mournful melody and subharmonic rumble. These too are drawn towards hostile metaphors, with Grote Mandrenke referring directly to a massive storm surge that devastated Northern Europe and the Britsh Isles in 1362, sweeping some 25,000 people out to sea and to their deaths. Through the Drone Records productions and ancillary distribution company, Troum have maintained a very healthy network of connections all across the globe. In doing so, they have also engaged in a select number of ongoing collaborations. Their first was with the occult American project Yen Pox whose collective low-frequency thumming stand at the pinnacle of the dark ambient genre. An enduring presence from the once mighty Cold Meat Industries, Raison D'etre has worked with Troum in transforming raw material through the existential lens of a vacant cathedral. Architectural reverberation and ghostly chorales flutter with a solemn, ethereal impressionism. The baroque post-punk singer-songwriter Martyn Bates of Eyeless In Gaza had long been an inspiration for Knappe and Gitschel in both Troum and Maeror Tri. In fact a dedication to Bates was ascribed to a track from the Tjukurrpa series. In 2006, Bates joined Troum for their collaborative album To a Child Dancing in the Wind, which girds Bates' beatific, lyrical vocalizations to a luminous, shimmering facet to Troum's aesthetic. This compilation with its remixes, deconstructions, and reconstitutions of Troum's back catalogue and raw material is a celebration not only to Troum's impressive body of work but also to their ongoing and active participation in the broader communities of the avant-garde, minimalism, drone-rock, and industrial culture with unflagging dedication. These propositions respectfully build upon the fluid dynamics of Troum's sound as well as the wordless symbolism of pre-lingusitic conditions that are fundamental to Troum's work. It should be noted that both Dual and Vance Orchestra reunited specifically for this project. Sibilant. Subaquatic. Serpentine. Ominous. Thunderous. Billowing. Haunted. Hypnogogic. Blossomed with sadness. Best Drones. JIM HAYNES 2018 €12.00
The Godfather of Odd: A HARDY FOX tribute CD "Hardy Fox grew up in Texas. After college he moved to San Francisco reveling in the free love days of 1967-68. He co-founded the much loved cult band, the Residents, where he was primary composer. The Residents recorded such groundbreaking albums as Eskimo, Duck Stab, Commercial Album or Fingerprince and continue to inspire, record and tour until this very day. They aren't only known for their avantgarde music, but also for their multimedia CD ROMs and their DVDs. Throughout the group's existence, the individual members have ostensibly attempted to operate under anonymity, preferring instead to have attention focused on their art output. Much outside speculation and rumor has focused on this aspect of the group. In public, the group appears silent and costumed, often wearing eyeball helmets, top hats and tails—a long-lasting costume now recognized as its signature iconography. In 2015 Hardy retired from the band, and two years later identified himself as the band's co-founder and primary composer. Hardy continued to record under various pseudonyms, best known as Charles Bobuck, until later he worked under his own name and released such seminal albums as Heart or Rilla contemplates Love. A week before his untimely death, Hardy recorded a very personal good-bye to his fans, a mini album entitled 25 Minus Minutes. For many of us, Hardy wasn't only a genius musician, but also a close personal friend. Philippe Perreaudin and Walter Robotka have thus put together a tribute album to him which collects specifically recorded music by former label mates, collaborators and friends, and also some musical admirers. The cover was made by Helge Wagner and it also features a piece of art by Liz R. Full tracklist: 1. Blaine L. Reininger - Autumn Shore 2. The Residents - If Only 3. Harry Lagoussis - Crossing Up In Space 4. Palo Alto - El Ralpho 5. Laurie Amat - He Said 6. Harvey & Nipple - Teddy 7. Carla Fabrizio - Inter 8. DDAA - Adios Come Again 9. Cult With No Name - I Hate Heaven 10. JG Thirlwell - Trouble Adore 11. Renaldo & The Loaf - Mahogany Wood 12. Steven Brown - The Yawn Song 13. Už Jsme Doma & Randy - Never Known Questions 14. Ptose - The Black Hound Shrine 15. Fred Frith - Almost Certain." www.klanggalerie.com/gg300 2019 €15.00
Made to Measure Vol. 1 LP Crammed's legendary MADE TO MEASURE Series of New Music was described at the time as the aural equivalent of a collection of art books. Charting a map of some of the most interesting instrumental music of the era, thirty-five albums came out between 1983 and 1995, including works by artists such as Hector Zazou, John Lurie (his soundtracks for the Jim Jarmusch films), Fred Frith, Arto Lindsay, Zelwer, Steven Brown, Peter Principle, Harold Budd, Brion Gysin, David Cunningham, Benjamin Lew, Ramuntcho Matta, Karl Biscuit, Daniel Schell, Aksak Maboul, Minimal Compact and more. The loose idea behind the title of the series was: this is music which has been or could have been "made to measure" as a soundtrack for other media (film, theatre, dance, video). We'll also be rolling out selected vinyl reissues of some of the series' classic early releases, starting with the inaugural volume, MADE TO MEASURE VOL. 1, the multi-artist album from 1984, containing music created by Minimal Compact, Benjamin Lew, Aksak Maboul and Tuxedomoon for films, theatre plays and dance performances. www.crammed.be/index.php?id=37&rel_id=514 2021 €18.00
NEKROPHILE REKORDS 1983-1990 10 x LP BOX "Symbolically limited to 666 copies, housed in a deluxe wooden box, and also including an exclusive t-shirt and a 240-page book, this magnificent set feature no less than ten LPs and two 7" vinyl records covering the entire Nekrophile Rekords original output, with the welcome addition of two unreleased full-lenght albums by Coming To Now and Metgumbnerbone. Comprehensive edition about the legendary Nekrophile Records tape label. Founded in Vienna by Michael Dewitt, also known as Zoe Dewitt, the label was specialized in occult / ritual industrial music (self-described as 'Martial Music for the New Aeon'). During its lifespan it released eight cassettes and various printed materials. The label was notable for releasing solo material from Throbbing Gristle member Genesis P-orridge (with Stan Bingo), and also for early material by the noted Industrial band Coil (with Zos Kia), with the participation of Peter Christopherson, another member of Throbbing Gristle. Dewitt released solo material on the label under two names: Korpses Katatonik, and Zero Kama. The Zero Kama album "The Secret Eye of L.A.Y.L.A.H." is purported to have been recorded in its entirety using human bones and skulls as musical instruments. The overall content and design of Nekrophile's releases clearly drew inspiration from the occult, with many references to Aleister Crowley and Thelema in particular." [Soundohm] LP01 NRC01 1983 Korpses Katatonik Subklinikal Leukotomy 1Lp LP02 NRC02 1983 Genesis P-Orridge / Stan Bingo What's History 1Lp LP03 NRC03 1983 Various The Beast 666 1Lp - Korpses Katatonik Choronzon 4:26 – Coil Here To Here (Double Headed Secret) 4:22 – Hunting Lodge Learn To Will I 4:28 – Kathan Spiss The Serpent 6:38 – Toy Muzik Introducing The Brides Of Christ II Part A 7:45 – Stigma Diaboli La Force Pas La Joie 10:18 – Hunting Lodge Learn To Will II 5:08 – Mr. Vile Thumb Introducing The Brides Of Christ II Part B 4:44 – Zero Kama V.V.V.V.V. 6:59 – Post Mortem: The Sea Of Cefalu 1:45 LP04 NRC04 1984 LAShTAL Thoum Aesh Neith 1Lp LP05 NRC05 1984 Zos Kia / Coil Transparent 1Lp LP06 NRC06 1984 Various The Archangels Of Sex Rule The Destruction Of The Regime 1Lp – Sleep Chamber W:O:M – Zero Kama Prayer Of Zos – Ain Soph Theme III – Ewald Spiss Gbvrh – Metgumbnerbone Death – Coming To Now Thy Call To Kia – Zero Kama Seven Nights Of Tantra – Ain Soph Theme II – Ewald Spiss NTzCH – Sleep Chamber Coven Of Angels LP07 NRC07 1984 Zero Kama The Secret Eye Of L.A.Y.L.A.H. ‎(Cass, C60) 1Lp LP08 NRC08 1985 Ain Soph Ars Regia ‎(Cass, Album, C60) 1Lp LP09 Coming to Now „Closer to Silence“ 1Lp LP10 Metgumbnerbone For the Raven“ Lp plus 7inch "Wait, some ritualistik musick in Vital Weekly, reviewed by FdW? That'll be some fine trashing! If you thought that, then I have to disappoint you. I am a fan here, which is a very personal thing. When in the early 80s I discovered Throbbing Gristle, I somehow got hold of a cassette by Genesis P. Orridge and Stan Bingo, 'What's History'. I assume I purchased it at Staalplaat. My musical partner bought 'The Secret Of L.A.Y.LA.H.' by Zero Kama, and together we headed out to the nearby town of Arnhem to see that band perform on what turned out to be one of the very few occasions they ever played live. We thought it was a disappointment. We were promised a concert with skulls and bones, but save for some flutes, all the drumming was on drums, plus some easy blood spatter on a naked girl. My friend asked one of the members what Zero Kama meant and got the dry reply 'zero karma'. Still, we both found the cassette a fascinating thing. Skipping a few years, I found myself behind the counter of Staalplaat. While I had very little interest in the world of death, industrial, and gothic, I found these CD reissues that Staalplaat had made of the Nekrophile Records quite interesting. As part of my research into 'what am I supposed to sell here', I took copies home of the available titles. Coil/Zos Kia had not been released yet, and we came close to doing it ourselves (or not? That story is somewhere else), Ain Soph was no longer available, but the rest was still there. For a few reasons, I liked this. It was a world of its own, a label that only released a handful of cassettes mysteriously disappeared and yet almost all of it was on CD. I still have the CDs, and I still take m out on occasion to play them in one row. When Vinyl On Demand announced a 10 LP/2 7" set, it was a no-brainer to spend my Christmas allowance on a box, mainly because there was also a book. Now books about record labels have my utmost interest, even if I don't like the music. This, obviously, is not the case here, as I enjoy the music. Vinyl On Demand delivers heavy books using heavy paper and is almost like an art catalogue. They aren't easy to read but look great. In this book, we find the story of Nekrophile Records well documented, first and foremost by Zoe deWitt, who ran the label in the early 80s (as Michael deWitt). We read of her interest in Psychic TV, magic and occultism as part of industrial music, rather than death and destruction. The music also changed, quieter, using bells, and flutes, next to synthesizers and electronics. deWitte first operated as Korpses Katatonik, later as Zero Kama, when the music became even more rhythmic. Skulls and bones were sourced at an old graveyard, and a legendary cassette came to fruition. As they do those days, deWitt was in contact with other musicians, and, also as they did, this leads to compilation cassettes, which included the first ever track by Coil, and music by Hunting Lodge, Stigma Diaboli, Toy Muziek, Sleep Chamber, Ain Soph, LashTal, and the aforementioned P.Orridge/Bingo tape. The book in this box details the various problems with these releases, such as musicians promising too much or forgetting what was promised. The book has some fine examples of letters from them, such as John Balance's fine writing (as recently also detailed in another book, 'The Abrahadabra Letters'), Steve Stapleton's blunt 'no' to an invitation, catalogues and pamphlets. All with excellent photo material, which made me sad that such things are no longer made (letters, booklets et al., I mean) in these days of digital communication. Of course, the music is not an insignificant portion of the material. There is an exciting variety here. There is the more experimental synthesizer/electronics side of the ritual industrial music on the one hand. Here we find Korpses Katatonik, LashTal and Ain Soph (the latter, to my surprise, as that one is missing from my old collection, and I was never too fond of their later work). In contrast, the ritual, rhythmic aspect is represented by Zero Kama, whose LP gathered quite a cult following over the past thirty-something years and Metgumnerbone. Their LP was initially not released by Nekrophile, but contacts were established back in the day. The group gained notoriety because of their gravedigging for skulls and bones and subsequent arrest. Another album planned at that time that only sees the light of day now is Coming To Now, a duo of Luther Howard and Andy H. Their music has a fine blend of ritualistic slow drums, flutes and voices and is also similar to the more ritualistic rhythm side, and charming naive quality. The compilations have material from both ends of the musical spectrum, and the Psychic TV influence on Coil, Zoskia, Orrdige/Bingo is a clear one, a little diversification. It is topped with two 7"s by Toy Muzik, quite an unknown entity from the UK in this story, and more Metgumnerbone, to top this off. A small label, whose overviews fit in one wooden box (coffin is the apparent reference), offers a beautiful insight into the ancient and arcane world. I love it!" [FdW / Vital Weekly] 2022 €299.00
  An Oblique Reference to Zeros do-CD "A budget-priced collection of tracks by artists who've had releases out on Fourth Dimension Records or whose music has entered the label's orbit and made a good impression. In an ideal world there'd be at least several albums by all concerned on Fourth Dimension Records, but the label operates from more or less the same dingy old basement it always has and subsequently has to limp along in usual fashion. It is precisely because of this that An Oblique Reference to Zeros has been assembled. The music always comes first and because Fourth Dimension Records does not focus on one particular area of music and instead works with a broad range of artists, the idea of bringing a number of them together on a compilation so that listeners can check out the previously unfamiliar made a lot of sense. Almost all of the tracks here are previously unreleased, remixes or recorded exclusively for this compilation, too. Packaged in a 6-panel digipak including stunning artwork by Puppy38 and a booklet with text even pointing to what inspired the title, this is an ideal purchase for anybody whose interests in music dovetail with Fourth Dimension's. And, no, the title had nothing to do with Eno! Artists include: Kleistwahr, Sudden Infant, Hand & Leg, Mad Masks, MAP 71, Alternative TV, Splintered, Hiroshimabend, Tabata Mitsuru, Richard Youngs, JFK + Klaska, Philippe Petit, Schrottersburg, White Pee, Helm, EXTNDDNTWRK, Zsolt Sores, Theme, Band Of Pain, Contrastate, Mahler Haze, Sion Orgon and Gad Whip." 2022 €13.50
VAN DER VLEUTEN, MAARTEN High Intolerance toward low Energies LP "Van Der Vleuten, 1967 geboren, veröffentlicht mit der "High Intolerance Towards Low Energies" LP sein erstes Album unter seinem Geburtsnamen, den er fortan für seinen musikalischen Output verwenden will. "High Intolerance Towards Low Energies" ist eine von Tonefloat sehr ansprechend gestaltete LP, limitiert auf 500 Exemplare, und auf 180g Vinyl gepresst. Das luxuriöse Gatefold Cover mit einem eher rostig anmutenden Artwork trifft gut den submarinen Charakter des Albums: Man meint von der Wasseroberfläche des Meeres langsam abzutauchen, Druck baut sich auf, je tiefer man sinkt. Dröhnen in den Ohren und plötzlich sieht man in der Tiefe ein altes, mächtiges Schiffswrack auf dem Grund liegen. Der Rost zeigt, dass es da schon gar Jahrhunderte liegt. Neugierig und interessiert umkreist man es, aber irgendetwas scheint nicht zu stimmen. Flüstern und Murmeln, wabernde Stimmen und rhythmisches, maschinelles Stampfen. Nervöse, pulsierende Bass- Frequenzen und seltsame, gebrochene Melodiefetzen. Halluzinationen? Tiefenrausch? Man weiß es nicht. Maarten Van Der Vleuten gelingt es auf "High Intolerance Towards Low Energies" ein eigentümlich dichtes Gewirr aus Drohnen und Ambiancen zu schaffen, das in seiner Gesamtheit zu überzeugen weiß. Dass Van Der Vleuten mit dieser LP ein anderes Bild im Kopf hatte als mein submariner Eindruck, ist nicht weiter schlimm. Er legt den Fokus der Interpretation eher auf eine radikale Darstellung unserer sich immer schneller beschleunigenden Umwelt und will diesen Eindruck mit "High Intolerance Towards Low Energies" eingefangen haben. Diese Intention passt auch wunderbar zu dem unruhigen, fast bedrohlich wirkenden Charakter des Albums. Die enthaltenen 4 Stücke offenbaren eine nervöse Welt in der man entweder immer wieder ob der Bildhaftigkeit paralysiert und staunend stehen bleibt oder eben wie im Fieberwahn durch einen Irrgarten voller unruhiger, fremder Stimmen stolpert." [Creative-Eclipse] "Amidst an infinite ocean of information, finding yourself is turning into a complex mission nowadays. On his latest full-length, ambient house pioneer Maarten van der Vleuten is returning to the memories of demolished Dutch monastery Regina Coeli, his head still spinning from the confounding excess of images and impressions. on his long and winding journey, he has come a long way from his early dance singles to being recognised as a widely respected, colourfully uncompromising personality. High intolerance towards low energies, pressed in a limited edition of 500 copies in a luxurious gatefold sleeve, has consciously been conceived as a radical representation of our rapidly accellerating environment: nervously pulsating bass frequencies and frenzied percussion are underpinning shattered sonic figments like the ground drone of a surreal urban raga, with shardes of song and prayer forming broken melodies. Finding his way through this menacing maze has certainly paid off for van der Vleuten: after releasing under 26 different pseudonyms over the last two decades, he has found his definitive musical identity on this haunting soundscape, with future works to be published exclusively under his common name. The album is pressed as a 180 grams black vinyl lp in heavy gatefold picture sleeve." [label info] www.tonefloat.com 2008 €16.50
VASILISK Acqua LP "Reissue of Japanese tribal/industrial pioneers, released back in 1989 on Musica Maxima Magnetica. Originally recorded and mixed in London, Napoli and Tokyo 1988, now remastered with additional bonus track. Comes on transparent green vinyl, limited to 150 copies." [label info] www.steinklang-records.at "Akin to William Bennett's Cut Hands or perhaps to the acoustic-leaning facets of Muslimgauze or to the slightly more obscure British project O Yuki Conjugate, Vasilisk were a well-regarded Japanese outfit of ritual-industrial musicians who released a handful of albums in the late '80s. Now, they've undergone a necessary reissue campaign thanks to the Austrian imprint Steinklang. Acqua (1989) was the third and final album from the band's first incarnation. And while they's since reformed, with a couple of albums that's we've not yet heard including one with the nihilist industrial project Dissecting Table, Vasilisk have long been lumped into the continuum of industrial culture (mostly since two members of Vasilisk started out in the brutalist punk-noise trio White Hospital with Jun Konagaya later christening himself Grim), but the music of Vasilisk falls more on the hypnogogic, dreamy side of tribal esoterica. Synths, organs, flutes, and guitars float through Acqua's processional tracks. This is especially true for the lengthy title cut which has much more of the kosmische atmospherics of a Popul Vuh or even a Motion Sickness Of Time Travel, before an ominous clamor from hand-drums turns the vibe in a completely different but wholly cinematic direction. The shorter tracks follow Vasilisk's mantra-based hypnosis through acoustic rhythms, moody flute drone, and suspended ambience; but the longest piece marks one of the earliest appearances from long-standing aQ-favorite Tatsuya Yoshida, aka the ringleader of the Ruins. This is a live session recorded with Yoshida behind a drum-kit and pushing the velocity at a considerably greater speed than what Vasilisk had typically performed. Around Yoshida's Charles Hayward / Jaki Leibezeit timekeeping, the rest of Vasilisk punctuates with tumbled percussion, time-warp electric drones and more of those ghostly flutes." [Aquarius Records] 2014 €20.00
VIBRACATHEDRAL ORCHESTRA Joka Baya LP "The ever-mysterious Vibracathedral Orchestra returns from another relatively quiet period with an uncompromising set of outre jams on a trio of limited-edition LPs. Slightly reorganized around a line-up of stalwarts Mick Flower and Adam Davenport with frequent collaborators John Godbert (Total) and John Moloney (Sunburned Hand of the Man), the band here stretches way, way out over these six sides. Joka Baya offers up a set of shorter pieces on the A-side in a high-fidelity style that contrasts the dark, smoky sound of the rest of the tracks. The percussive grooves are overlaid with Sunroof!-like shimmer, stabbing electric leads, gentle acoustic rain, and droning organ peeking through at opportune moments. The roaring side-long epic on the flip is a droning, phasing slice of psychedelia with Moloney's drums battering the tape in between long stretches of humming stasis." [label info] www.vhfrecords.com " It's been a while since we've heard from UK ur-drone spacelords Vibracathedral Orchestra, founder Neil Campbell took off on his own a while back, and now kicks up a ruckus as Astral Social Club, but the Orchestra is still going strong, fronted by long time members Mick Flower and Adam Davenport, who for this new set of THREE (!!) full length releases, is joined by John Moloney of Sunburned Hand Of The Man and the mighty John Godbert of the legendary Total. Each of the three, Joka Baya, The Secret Base and Smoke Song, function on their own as fully formed proper albums, but the three also seem to fit together into one expansive whole, a sweeping sprawling songsuite, that seems to drift from one lp to the next, and in fact, although we didn't try it, we imagine you could probably play these records simultaneously in various combinations and the results would be even trippier. Needless to say, most folks will most likely want all three, but no harm done in starting with one, and then grabbing the others later, unless they sell out that is, which seems very likely considering that these are quite limited. Up first is Joka Baya (in the black cover) beginning with a bit of African drumming, which gives way to some gorgeously glimmering and glistening prismatic dronemusic, swirling effects, all dreamlike and bleary eyed, with what sounds like birdsong mixed into the chiming notes and extended tones. The record shifts gears after that into something much heavier and more blown out, a full on psychedelic post Hawkwind spacejam, a heavy krautrock rhythm beneath a flurry of tangled psych guitars. The African drums return briefly before the band lock into a throbbing processed minimal looped dronescape, murky and washed out, dark and hypnotic. The flipside is a single side long epic, a slow burning cloud of processed guitars, cymbal shimmer, glitched out FX, building to a pounding psychedelic crescendo before slipping into a propulsive muted buzzdrone raga outro. The second lp is called The Secret Base (in the white and red cover) and begins immediately with a total Spacemen 3 / Loop styled drug rock jam, repetitive, mesmerizing, super hypnotic, the guitars smoldering and incendiary. The next track is an Eastern tinged spacekraut groove, strangely Southern sounding as well, a bit twang flecked, a little dubby even, melodic, and major key and surprisingly playful. Like the first record, The Secret Base also fills its second side with a single extended track, this time, it's all clattery and ritualistic and tribal, shakers, bells, hand drums, moaned and chanted vocals, very reminiscent of Avarus, NNCK, Sunburned Hand, eventually the sound locks into a skeletal groove, hypnotic and propulsive, but still abstract and way loose. Finally, the third art in the trilogy, Smoke Song (in the Orange cover), which begins with a sprawling bit of Clattery, twangy tribal free drift, fluttery flutes, lots of percussion, a sort of wild and wooly drum circle, laced with woodwinds and swirling effects, before slipping into a muted spacey jam, all subtle drumming, wheezing chords, little bits of guitar jangle, warm whirring keyboards, druggy, psychedelic, and just a bit Doors-y (or Wooden Shjips-y, for a more contemporary reference). Smoke Song too offers up a side long closer, this one ending the whole trilogy, and it's a doozy, full on droned out drug rock, cyclical, mesmerizing, sitar-like buzz wrapped around a simple, but pounding motorik beat, while all around it a swirling cloud of hiss and buzz and shimmer. Needless to say, all three are recommended, and again, not sure how limited these are, or how long they'll be around..." [Aquarius Records] 2009 €16.00
VIDNA OBMANA Spore CD Die DANTE'S INFERNO Trilogie markiert einen starken Bruch mit den Jahren des "Transzendental-Ambients" und ist einer der letzten Arbeiten von DIRK SERRIES unter dem Namen VIDNA OBMANA. Basierend auf der dunklen Poetik der Dante'schen Verse setzt er hier schon Gitarren, metallische Obertoneffekte, elektronische Rhythmen & diverse handgespielte Perkussion ein, aber auch Ethno-artige Flötensounds und die typischen ultra-sphärischen OBMANA-Drones... auf LEGACY gibt es Gastauftritte von STEVE VON TILL (NEUROSIS), STEVEN WILSON (BASS COMMUNION) und anderen.. - das ist weit mehr als der vorher so perfekt ausgeprägte aber vorhersehbare Ambient-Stil, das ist post-industrieller, abgründiger dark ambient mit überraschenden Stilmerkmalen.. Sonderpreis: die ganze Trilogie (3 CDs) zusammen für Euro 33.00! "Atmospheric music that induces trance states in listeners who understand the language of sound. The first Vidna Obmana recording in what will be a trilogy of albums drawing inspiration from the classic Dante poem // The second chapter in renowned ethno-ambient/electronic artist vidnaObmana's Dante trilogy, and follow-up to his critically acclaimed Tremor release, Spore is the apotheosis of vidna's fascination for Dante's Inferno poem. References to vidna's industrial past of the early 80's remain strongly present, while the fusion of his ambient soundscapes with bolder and less spatial combinations of harmonics, dynamics and experimentation is even more accentuated. // Legendary dark ambient sound sculptor vidnaObmana unveils Legacy, the haunting third chapter in the artist's Dante trilogy. The much anticipated Legacy supersedes vidna's critically acclaimed Tremor and Spore albums, interlocking with the two, while delivering a resounding communique all its own. Legacy bleeds other-worldly atmospherics, ghostlike industrial ambience and spiraling electrical waves, ushering the listener forever downward." [label info for the three chapters] www.releaseentertainment.com 2003 €13.00
The Face that must die CD Vidna Obmana – The Face That Must Die CD (OCCD32) Vidna Obmana is a pseudonym used by Belgian artist Dirk Serries. He has been one of the most significant names in the ambient scene for more than three decades, releasing over more than 50 solo albums and numerous collaborations. Apart from his main ambient colleagues, Vidna Obmana originates from the industrial cassette network scene in early eighties. ‘The Face That Must Die’ was recorded when Vidna Obmana was slowly transforming into his trademark ambient signature. In-between the noise outbursts and his melancholic ambient music Vidna Obmana produced a few albums which are industrial-oriented but more of an orchestral and percussion nature, in the vein of Autopsia. With turntables, shortwave radio, voice and synths Vidna Obmana recorded one of his most underrated albums full of tribalesque, doom-risen and dark ambient atmosphere. Originally released in a limited run on Vidna Obmana’s own Mechanical Orchestration Music and almost around the same time issued by Trev Ward’s The Order Ov Wolves, who also narrates the opening track, this is verily an indisputable masterpiece accompanied with four rare vinyl tracks from the same obscure era to turn the edition into a true collector’s precious document. Limited to 300 copies in a 4-panel matte-laminated black & white Digipak. Tracklist: 1 Prologue Voice [Introduction By] – Trev Ward 04:10 2 Doom Asylum 08:48 3 Angel Of Life 04:10 4 Grave Upon Body 07:20 5 Sweat Session Pt. 1 04:09 6 Almost Certainly 04:31 7 Proto Anguish 03:55 8 Entombed 01:41 9 Bring Out Your Dead 03:43 10 Second Praise For Little Hope 07:11 11 Hidden Voice 03:39 12 Sweat Session Pt. 2 01:59 13 Burnpassion 02:31 14 Inferno 05:00 15 Another Earth To Pass 02:19 16 Bondage Doom To Creator 05:19 credits released April 25, 2017 Original Tape Release : 1988 (Mechanical Orchestration Music, Belgium) Tape Reissue : 1988 (Order Ov Wolves, UK) BONUS TRACKS : 13.14. from A Thunder Orchestra/Vidna Obmana split 7” (Climax Productions 1988) 15. from Motop 1 LP (IF Records 1989) 16. from Cobwebs TAPE (Epitapes 1988) Vidna Obmana : electronics, loops, turntables, shortwave radio, voice. Introduction by Trevor Ward. https://oldcaptain.bandcamp.com/album/vidna-obmana-the-face-that-must-die 2017 €13.00
Soundtrack for the Aquarium CD "The next installment of VIDNA OBMANA in the Zoharum catalogue is the third album of the Dirk Serries' project, reissued here in a remastered form. It is a kind of continuation of the informal series bringing back to life long-forgotten albums of this Belgian artist. This is also a continuation of the releases created specifically for the needs of the Antwerp Zoo, the second after Hybryds' "Soundtrack for Antwerp Zoo Aquarium" CD. The album features a total of 7 ambient compositions made between 1992-1993, mastered again by the musician himself in 2019. The artwork is composed of the photographs by Martina Verhoeven. The album is released in a limited edition of 400 copies." https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/soundtrack-for-the-aquarium 2019 €12.00
  River of Appearance CD Looking through our publishing calendar recently, it is easy to notice that the Belgian artist's releases appear in it regularly. The 6 titles published so far are part of an informal publishing series, consistent by the layout, based on black and white photographs of flowers by Martina Verhoeven, Dirk Serries's wife. Today, "The River of Appearance" joins this series - a special album in the rich discography of VIDNA OBMANA, refined in every detail, both in terms of sound, composition and creating a favorable aura while listening to it. With every minute, the music seeps lazily, filling the entire environment with a rich palette of sounds from flutes, ocarina, harmonica and percussion, perfectly harmonizing with loops and electronic structures; pulsating delicately and setting the rhythm of our breathing while relaxing. In this way, feedback occurs - music is perceived in a favorable atmosphere. On "River ..." we touch the delicate, sublime musical matter, woven from eight miniatures, making up an exceptionally coherent concept. This album has all the elements that define ambient as a music genre. It is considered to be one of the most important albums in its category, along with the most recognized works for ambient music. This year marks the 25th anniversary of his first release by the Projekt label. On this occasion, we have prepared a special jubilee edition, which in addition to the basic version of the album includes additions, incl. a cassette with demo versions of the session "The River of Appearance: Outtakes", a few photo prints by Martina Verhoeven, a back bag / sack with a graphic referring to the release and a few other extras. All elements are folded in a hand-made and numbered wooden flower box, specially prepared according to the musician's suggestions. Limited edition in a wooden box to 50 hand-numbered copies. Standard edition in digipack limited to 450 copies. REVEALED BY COMPOSED NATURE was recorded and mixed between March 1995 and January 1996 at the Serenity Studio, Belgium. All tracks composed, arranged & played by Vidna Obmana. Vidna Obmana : electronics, loops, five rainsticks in different tunings, shells, claypot, click sticks, maracas, water bottles, Bolivian & bamboo flutes, ocarina and harmonica. Remastered for this edition by Dirk Serries, February 2021. https://zoharum.bandcamp.com/album/the-river-of-appearance-25th-anniversary-edit 2021 €12.00
VIVENZA Fondements bruitistes BOOK / do-CD "Deluxe double-CD book, 108 pages in three languages: French, English, Japanese. Included The Art Of Noises - Futurist Manifesto - by Luigi Russolo (1913). 'The Bruitist Foundations of Action' (French title 'Fondements Bruitistes d'Action'), which came out in october 1984, opens the period in Vivenza's work on Bruitist sound when he started to incorporate the question of the relationship that holds between the technological and mechanical industrial fabric Ð which makes up the reality of the modern world Ð and the human and social environment. It is released in double albums as two separate vinyl LPs in the context of the Archives of Industrial Music from France." [label info] http://rotorelief.com 2015 €26.00
VOICE OF EYE Substantia Innominata 10inch "geistermusik aus der wüste... oder der wind in den felsen... voice of eye's beitrag zur substantia innominata serie auf drone. voice of eye haben schon ganz am anfang dieser anderen serie auf drone-records, der 7” reihe (genauer: im november 1994; dr-09), einen beitrag bringen können, der das ganz eigene drone-verständnis von diesem us-duo noch immer perfekt mitteilen kann. einer der gründe dafür mag sein, dass voice of eye (immer noch) zum teil selbstgebaute geräte nutzen, oft in form von streichinstrumenten, deren klang, zusammen mit flöten, stimmen und fieldrecordings quasi aus dem stand eine eigenartige stimmung evozieren kann. vor allem aber vermeiden sie dabei jede art von bombast oder auch nur das endlose übereinanderschichten von einzelnen spuren. die beiden haben, mit anderen worten, einfach ein sehr gutes gespühr für aufbau und spannung und eine sehr eigene vorstellung von klangästethik: einzelne töne sind in ihrem sound in einer form texturiert, die unmittelbar anspricht und voice of eye erreichen das, meiner meinung nach, neben der nutzung dieser wirklich ausgefallenen, exotischen instrumente, gerade nicht durch geheime effektgeräte, sondern vielmehr durch eine eher fast karge bearbeitung, durch ein rohlassen des klangs. daran hat sich seitdem (zum glück) nichts geändert, die “substantia innominata” 10” baut in allen drei stücken (“vira”, “dhyana”, “purusa”) auf dieses klangverständnis und webt (und das ist hier mal fast wörtlich zu nehmen) ein sehr zartes und transparentes gespinst mit einer, technisch gesehen, für eine 10” geradezu unglaublich langen spielzeit. musikalisch / atmosphärisch dann mit diesem zeit-ausschalt-faktor, den nur wirklich packender ambient schafft. daher: volle empfehlung (auch wenn die superlange spielzeit ihren vinyltribut fordert)." [N, Unruhr.de] "This release marks the comeback of the legendary duo from New Mexico, USA, consisting of BONNIE McNAIRN and JIM WILSON! Over a decade ago (1992-1995) VOICE OF EYE released three albums with their unique style combining ethnic, ritualistic & folklore influences in an experimental and highly organic way to create a kind of "transcendental drone ambience", using only "real" instruments & self-built devices and an array of electronic effects. In November 1994 they released an EP entitled "Sprocket" on Drone Records (DR-09), which is still one of the absolute highlights in the Drone series. After this first phase of musical creation VOICE OF EYE focused on building an incredible "Earthship" house in the deserts of New Mexico. In 2007 they returned doing shows in the States, Germany, France & Italy and releasing two limited CDRs. This 10" has 3 tracks with NEW material (entitled "VIRYA", "DHYANA" and "PURUSA") inspired by the wisdom of Buddhist / Advaitic meditation & philosophy, where the contemplation within music & sounds appears as a tool to reach a higher consciousness & awareness of reality. This highly sublime & emotional "other-dimensional" ambience is based on lots of ethereal vocal material, flute-sounds and their typical self-built string-instruments, full of yearning and beauty - almost 39 minutes of material coming on clear vinyl with golden striae, with superb artwork by THOMAS DOHMEN. This is the celebration of the "Unknown", seen as a state of mind where the Ego dissolves into a timeless universal consciousness." [label description] 2008 €12.00
VOLCANO THE BEAR Classic Erasmus Fusion do-CD Was soll man zu dem britischen Quartett VOLCANO THE BEAR noch sagen? Wer auf der Suche nach überraschender & neuer, (noch) nicht klassifizierbarer Musik ist, die nicht am Computer entsteht, muss hier einfach mal reinhören!! Ihre Musik mit Einflüssen aus Folk, Drone, Avant-Rock & Impro-Jazz ist nicht nur oft irgendwie “weird” und verquer, sondern weist auch streckenweise grosse harmonische & elegante Schönheit auf... wie immer ist vokales Material omni-präsent! “.... zeigt Antifolk flippernd zwischen Didgeridoo und Handy, Daumenklavier und elektrischer Störung, als Folklore des Absurden, die es fertig bringt, in raffinierter Unschuld zerebralen Goldstaub aufzuwirbeln..” [Bad Alchemy # 51] „...Describing Volcano the Bear's music is about as difficult as identifying the instruments. The quartet's arsenal of gear is transcendant of time and space, culled from different cultures and different eras, from classically orchestral woodwinds (albeit sometimes just blowing through the mouthpiece) to African thumb piano, helicopter sounds, thunderstorm and rain and running water, medieval squeeze boxes, squeak toys, chirping or crying bird sounds, and Asian stringed things. While improvisation has been integral to the band's development, Volcano the Bear can always be counted on very cold-calculated and composed songs appearing on their official studio albums. Their arrangement is loose but never wanky or show-offey. Perhaps it's this lack of soloing and pretention that has kept them from appropriate recognition by some of the major experimental media in favor for a whole "free folk"/"weird rock"/"new weird America" obsession.“ [Brainwashed] "VTB have crafted a strange geometry in their musique concrete between celestial duck honks and what sounds like a flood in the living room, there are more than a few occasions of heads cocked at the speaker in mundus caninus. Of course, this bodes well for humans, too. Augmented by all the dog friendly moments is a double album of sprawling musical invention. Record one births gently into a lo-fi-adelic Comus-like saline that even might even win over the Devendra crowd, if the Devendra crowd had ingested just a little too much mushroom tea on that day and left their ironic trucker hats at the door. Song becomes fever dream and then pitches into a barren place of low estate and low chanting whose Residents might well be Eskimos. With typical minimalist pageantry, VTB mutate from piece to piece, punctuating along the way with surprise sounds that the aforementioned dogs love so well; the kinds of quirks that make Nurse With Wound and P16.D4 records such fun listens. VTB spin some very melodious tales, which are subliminally hooky, after a fashion. Spiritual and surreal are sisters. Quiet ritualism queues with dadaistic and with progressive harmonies, together on the same fractured, out world, sing-along journey. And that's just record one. Record two crawls slowly from the echoey ooze, grows legs and then presents as a different and, in many ways, more dramatic creature. A long, shifting organ drone becomes a deeply psychedelic statement that bleats loud and strong like an acid bleached Spiral Insana or a sneaky This Heat.” [label info] www.blrrecords.com 2006 €14.00
Golden Rhythm / Ink Musik LP "Das brandneue Studioalbum von VOLCANO THE BEAR ist eine kalkuliert-hysterische Verschmelzung von THIS HEAT, ROBERT WYATT, FAUST und THE RESIDENTS, aus Musique Concrete und Ethnofolk, gesehen durch ein Kaleidoskop aus theatralischer Improvisation. Gegründet 1995 waren es VOLCANO THE BEAR, die Steven Stapleton von NURSE WITH WOUND derart in Aufregung versetzten, dass er sein United Diaries Label wiedererweckte, nur um 2000 ihr erstes Album ,The Inhazer Decline" herauszubringen. Seitdem haben VOLCANO THE BEAR Alben auf einer ganzen Stange von Labels (und ihrem eigenen!) veröffentlicht, von denen ,Classic Erasmus Fusion" von 2006 ein definitives Highlight ist. Wenn die Band aufnimmt, dann geht es darum, krasse Absurditäten auf bizarr-schönste Weise darzustellen. "Golden Rhythm/Ink Music" ist ihr erstes "richtiges" Studioalbum seit "Amidst The Noise And Twigs" von 2007. Das neue Album konzentriert sich auf die soundtechnische Trennlinie zwischen Aaron Moore und Daniel Padden und dürfte das fokussierteste Album von VOLCANO THE BEAR überhaupt sein. Es zeigt ,Rockmusik" aus der leicht verdrehten Perspektive von VOLCANO THE BEAR und wartet mit mehr Schlagzeug/Gitarren Kombinationen auf als jemals zuvor. ,Golden Rhythm/Ink Musik" übersetzt die bizarre Energie der VOLCANO THE BEAR Liveperformance in die Umwelt des Studios. ######################################### Rune Grammofon presents the brand-new studio album from Volcano The Bear, a calculated, hysterical melting-pot of This Heat, Robert Wyatt, Faust and The Residents, of musique concrète and ethno-folk, all seen through a prism of theatrical improvisations and unhinged set pieces. Formed in 1995, and after several self-released tapes and CD-Rs, VTB so excited Nurse With Wound's Steven Stapleton, that he brought his United Dairies label out of cold storage to release their first album proper, The Inhazer Decline, in 2000. Since then they've released music on such labels as Misra, Beta Lactam Ring, Textile, Digitalis, Pickled Egg, Alt Vinyl as well as their own imprints Volucan and Volfurten with the exceptional Classic Erasmus Fusion from 2006 being a possible highlight. On record, VTB offer stark and stunning absurdities in the most bizarrely beautiful way. Recycling and re-contextualizing their material is an innate habit, and the variety of recording options they might choose (be it a highly-equipped professional studio or a second-hand dictaphone) allows their craft to be formed in a myriad of different ways. VTB have toured extensively throughout Europe and North America and in concert they are the duo of Daniel Padden and Aaron Moore. Absurd humor and eclectic ways of producing sounds are characteristic of their live performances and their extensive knowledge of the traditions of experimental and folk music makes the band difficult to categorize. The band record everything they play and will often use these recordings as raw material for their albums. VTB have released a number of records since the start, often mixing studio, live and home recordings. Golden Rhythm/Ink Music is their first more or less "proper" studio album since Amidst The Noise And Twigs back in 2007. Largely based on the sonic fault-line between Aaron Moore and Daniel Padden, it's also the most focused and driven of VTB's prolific output so far, showcasing the duo's unique musicality and interplay, while retaining their trademark eccentricity and humor throughout. It presents "rock music" as seen through VTB's skewed eye, featuring more of Padden and Moore's drum/guitar combination than on previous albums. Taking the bizarre energy of their live duo performances into a studio environment, and combining it with VTB's eclectic instrumentation and Clarence Manuelo's singular audio-work, GR/IM shows VTB making their most vital work to date. Includes mp3 download code." [label info] www.runegrammofon.com 2012 €20.00
  Commencing 5 x LP BOX "Leicester, England – mid 1990's. Aaron Moore, Nick Mott, Clarence Manuelo & Daniel Padden create a free form group named Volcano The Bear out of their frustration with standard musical limitations. Now, after 20 years of experimenting with improvisation, folk, Dada, Post Punk, Krautrock, noise, surreal comedy, pure avant-garde and more, the group has obtained a cult following and high critical praise across the globe. Reknowned for their highly theatrical and obscure live performances, as well as their mind-blowing catalogue of releases, VTB truly is a one of a kind group, consistently pushing forward with their own unique, experimental approach to sound making. Commencing manages to be both a retrospective of the group's 20 year history as well as it ´s own unique release filled with vast amounts of material. The 5 albums, 64 tracks & over 4 hours in length, presented here has been carefully put together over the last couple of years to become an entity – working as much by itself as well as a whole. Expect an abundance of unreleased material, alt-versions, tracks from early cassette albums never released on vinyl, live recordings, pieces from forgotten compilation appearances and more, all mixed and compiled together to form 5 stand-alone albums. The physical release also includes a book of writings, photos and flyers from their long history, along with a bonus download only album of tracks that didn't make the final cut. This is the ultimate VTB release for fans of the group and of surreal, experimental musical history in general. Deluxe Silkscreened Box-set, incl. 5LPs with individual covers & linernotes for each track on the back, 50 page book of photos, artwork, flyers and stories of the band´s 20 years of existence. Also includes a free download of all 64 tracks + 10 track bonus album. 2015 €90.00
VOLLMER, CARSTEN Arbeit Nr. 23 - Ich arbeite mit Frequenzen Teil 1 - 3 (ansteigend / abfallend / 2600 Hertz / Phreaking) 3 x CDR set The last part of the trilogy Ich arbeite mit Frequenzen forms a trilogy in itself: it is made up of three tracks while its two predecessors only contain one long track each. And while parts 1 and 2 work through a frequency grid of apparently mathematical rigour, this one focuses on the particularly distortion-rich frequency band around 2600 hertz. The two 2600 Hertz tracks are live recordings of a performance by Carsten Vollmer. Here, and on the opening track Phreaking, the first non-electronic sounds of the whole trilogy can be heard: the performer's screams put into relief the expressive quality of noise that was consciously underexposed on the 'antihumanist' parts 1 and 2. The fact that all of Carsten Vollmer's releases come as numbered Arbeiten (works), but in particular the verb arbeiten (to work) in the title of this release, emphasise the (physical) labour of building up his walls of sound. Thus, part 3 of Ich arbeite mit Frequenzen once more enacts the drama of 'man vs machine' or 'body vs bodily harmful frequencies and volumes' through which the noise genre time and again confronts existential and social alienation with an ecstatic, but 'parole-less protest' against it (to borrow a phrase from Carsten Vollmer's fellow noisician Anton Kaun aka Rumpeln). The first track of the album, Phreaking, also features a list, but not one of frequencies, but a list of textual references to Ron Rosenbaum's classic 1971 feature story The Secrets of the Little Blue Box about the hardware-hacking network of the Phone Phreaks, who built a counter-network within the official telephone network of the U.S.A. From the vantage point of the officially sanctioned telephone signals, these subversive actions were undoubtedly noise, and it is plain to see that Carsten Vollmer's Phreaking is a sympathetic homage. In a 'communication guerilla' practice such as this, Michel Foucault's basic tenet 'Where there's power, there's also resistance' meets the axiom of information theory: 'Where there's a signal, there's also noise'. The fact that this third and final album comes not as one monolithic track, but as an object fragmented within itself, is programmatic for ways in which noise can stand for the freeing of spaces in political contexts: instead of the monologue of an author(itarian) voice – 'I, and only I, work with frequencies' –, this album signals within itself the clamourous debate of different, dissenting voices, which in the political field is always preferable to the undisputed monologue of an absolute power. At the end of the live recordings, one eventually hears the voices of the audience; the author is no longer alone within his work, and someone says: 'It continues here, in the next room.' Thus the album ends with an invitation to claim new spaces of possibility. File under: Noise https://emerge.bandcamp.com/album/arbeit-nummer-23-ich-arbeite-mit-frequenzen-teil-1-ansteigend https://emerge.bandcamp.com/album/arbeit-nummer-23-ich-arbeite-mit-frequenzen-teil-2-abfallend https://emerge.bandcamp.com/album/arbeit-nummer-23-ich-arbeite-mit-frequenzen-teil-3-2600-hertz-phreaking *** Der letzte Teil der Trilogie “Ich arbeite mit Frequenzen” bildet selbst eine Trilogie in sich – anders als die beiden Vorgänger, die jeweils nur aus einem langen Track bestehen, umfasst er drei Stücke. Statt ein mathematisch-kalkuliert wirkendes Frequenzschema durchzuarbeiten wie Teil 1 und Teil 2, wird hier auf 2600 Hertz in einem in Sachen Verzerrung besonders effektiven Frequenzbereich gearbeitet. Die beiden “2600 Hertz”-Tracks sind Livemitschnitte von einer Performance von Carsten Vollmer. Hier, aber auch auf dem Opener “Phreaking”, sind erstmals auch nicht-elektronische Klänge zu hören: Schreie des Performers rücken jene expressive Qualität von Noise in den Fokus, die auf den beiden “antihumanistischen” Teilen 1 und 2 betont ausgespart blieb. Nicht nur die Titulierung von allen Veröffentlichungen Carsten Vollmers als durchnummerierte “Arbeiten”, sondern speziell das Verb im Titel dieser Veröffentlichung betont die (physische) Anstrengung, die in die Errichtung seiner Klangwände einfließt. So führt auch Teil 3 von “Ich arbeite mit Frequenzen” das Drama “Mensch vs. Maschine” bzw. “Körper vs. körperfeindliche Frequenzen und Lautstärken” auf, mit dem das Genre Noise immer wieder existenzielle und gesellschaftliche Entfremdung sowie den ekstatischen, aber “parolenlosen Protest” dagegen (eine Formulierung von Carsten Vollmers Noise-Kollegen Anton Kaun aka Rumpeln) inszeniert. Das erste Stück des Albums, “Phreaking”, führt ebenfalls eine Liste auf, allerdings keine mit Frequenzen, sondern eine mit textlichen Anspielungen auf Ron Rosenbaums klassische Reportage “The Secrets of the Little Blue Box” von 1971 über das Hardware-Hacker-Netzwerk der “Phone Phreaks”, die im offiziellen Telefonnetzwerk der USA ein Gegen-Netzwerk aufbauten. Aus Sicht der offiziell im Telefonnetz vorgesehenen Signale waren diese subversiven Aktionen zweifellos “Noise”, und es ist unschwer zu erkennen, dass Carsten Vollmers “Phreaking” eine von Sympathie geprägte Hommage ist. In einer “Kommunikationsguerilla”-Praxis wie dieser trifft sich Michel Foucaults Grundsatz “Wo Macht ist, ist immer auch Widerstand” mit dem Axiom der Informationstheorie: “Wo Signale sind, da ist immer auch Rauschen”. Dass dieses dritte und letzte Album nicht als ein monolithischer Track, sondern in sich fragmentiert daherkommt, kann dabei programmatisch dafür gelesen werden, wie Noise auch im politischen Raum für das Schaffen von Freiräumen stehen kann: Statt des Monologs der Autor(itäts)stimme – “Ich, und nur ich arbeite mit Frequenzen” – wird hier innerhalb des Albums der lautstarke Widerstreit von verschiedenen Stimmen angedeutet, der im politischen Feld allemal wünschenswerter ist als der unumstrittene Monolog einer absoluten Herrschaft. Auf den Liveaufnahmen hört man dann am Ende auch die Stimmen des Publikums, der Autor ist nicht mehr allein in seiner Arbeit, und jemand sagt: “Hier im nächsten Raum geht es weiter.” So endet das Album ausdrücklich mit der Eröffnung von Möglichkeitsräumen, die es zu nutzen gilt. File under: Noise ----- VITAL WEEKLY Origami derives from ori, meaning "folding", and kami meaning "paper". The mathematics of the fold is relevant, is analogical to 'the fold'. This can be understood as the new mathematics of the curve, of changing quantities which is often difficult for non-mathematicians, of which I am one. Put simply in simple geometry of a flat surface, say a chessboard, a piece, pawn, knight etc. can be located by two coordinates. These are static set properties, which Deleuze via Leibniz relates to Descartes. Complex curves, changing velocities, cannot be precisely modelled using such a method. This was accomplished by using mathematics to model dynamically changing events, the Calculus. If modernism in its linear development fixes and finalizes itself in a Cartesian / Euclidean fixed point, a null event, the Baroque does not. The metaphor of calculus is useful, for around it are mathematical objects such as the limit. In simple non-mathematical terms, a series of calculations can approach a limit but never reach it, and in getting closer, to a potential infinity of numbers. For non-mathematicians, this is best seen in the obvious Baroque of The Mandelbrot Set. Folding can produce an infinite variation. Associated with 'folding' in Deleuze derives the aesthetic, especially the visual aesthetic in the Baroque, one of the dynamic curves and dramatic events. “Leibniz is endlessly drawing up linear and numerical tables. With them he denotes the inner walls of the monad. Folds replace holes...” (The Fold). Elsewhere (in The Logic of Sense) Tenth series of the ideal game -”of which we speak cannot be played by either man or God. It can only be thought as nonsense. But precisely for this reason, it is the reality of thought itself and the unconscious of pure thought. This game is reserved then for thought and art.” Baroque music of the 'classical period' - (late 17thC- 18thC) used accomplished improvisation, complex polyphony, multiple independent melody lines, the fugue and ricercar (which explore the permutations of a given motif). The 'metaphysics' that the Baroque produced was significant in music. Bach, Vivaldi, Handel, Monteverdi, Scarlatti, Purcell, Telemann... such that with Bach there is the deployment of a pure abstract formalism which could be regarded as a metaphysics of the free play of the potentialities of the abstract (windowless) structures of music. And in thinking the Baroque we also arrive at Leibniz and German Idealism, but also the more recent 'idealism' of Deleuze and the Speculative Realists and Object Oriented Ontologists. To judge these metaphysics in 'scientific', empirical terms, would then be to miss the point. They are not in all cases Monads, as they are not closed off to ourselves. They are like Monads in that they seem closed in on themselves. The point is that 'Baroque Folding' is an internal programme. Thus it typically appears when genres become exhausted or fully mature. A very early classical example is the development of Corinthian Architecture from that of the Doric & Ionic, or the much more recent, post-modernism, especially noticeable in Architecture. A certain playfulness which can and does in Po-Mo reduce, at times, to mere sensation and irony. Within contemporary music, 'noise music' and 'harsh noise' was to lead to a reductionist, 'analytics' of the extreme minimalism of Harsh Noise Wall's monolithic unchanging noise. This cul-de-sac has an obvious problem, and various methodologies have evolved in order to circumvent its effective closure of the noise genre, from abandoning noise altogether (Wolf Eyes), to alternatives, such as shit folk and ultra shit folk (Romain Perrot). The process of 'folding' is synthetic, not analytic (reductionist, minimalist walls). Both processes are to be found in Metaphysics and Art. In The Critique of Pure Reason, Kant sets out to establish an a priori basis for his transcendental metaphysics and makes two distinctions, that of the analytic a priori and the synthetic a priori. The philosophy of this needn't concern us. What is useful is concerning the idea of The Fold. The epistemological, philosophical implications disputed by some also need not bother us here. For us, what is significant in Kant is that Kant maintains that the Synthetic can produce (a priori) new objects without recourse to finding them in the outside world. In Analysis, something is broken down or examined to find its fundamental form or origin (The Wall of Noise). This is normally regarded as a task that will arrive at something fundamental. In early philosophy – the Atom – in Jungian analysis the archetype. It may well be that such a final analysis is not possible, that analysis is potentially infinite, or results in a void. Synthesis is the reverse. Given some fundamental objects, we can create new objects and structures – out of what is already given. A triangle can be analyzed into its basic three sides of straight lines, but we can synthesize new objects given a triangle. We can make a quadrilateral with two triangles and continue – pentagons, hexagons, and no limit – and no recourse to anything external to our basic element. And whereas Analysis is contained by the analysis of 'what is there' synthesis creates new objects that are not 'already there'. The Baroque is this distinction between the Analytic A Priori and Kant's idea of a Synthetic A Priori. An example in the arts is that of Analytic Cubism and Synthetic Cubism. Whereas Analytical Cubism broke up the picture plane into its elements, Synthetic Cubism used these basic 'elements' to synthesize new compositions. The tendency in modernism was analytical. “What is painting?” “What is music?” “What is Art?”, the analytical desire of what is “essential”. In Cubism, the 'Analytical' phase was relatively short-lived, the Synthetic move allowing Picasso and others an alternative continuous productive methodology. The (Baroque) fold is a synthetic methodology. At the most pedantic Origami – (from ori "folding", and kami "paper"). An origami Swan is a synthesis of a flat sheet of paper. All creations of Origami are in the last analysis, flat sheets of paper. The methodology of Origami, of 'folding', is Synthetic and offers an infinity of productions. Which is occasioned in Noise – here! which is not the abandonment of noise or a retrograde movement back into music. The baroque fold, abstractly using the tropes, forms etc., of noise music not as an external expression but as internal work exploring the permutations and improvisational possibilities of a given motif. The tropes of Harsh Noise, the motifs of feedback, oscillator sweeps, distortion, white noise etc. Abstract sounds, found in Harsh Noise before its collapse into a minimal wall. What is removed is the idea of a linear 'progress' (modernism) replaced by that of infinite synthesis. Ansteigend, Abfallend and 2600 Hertz_Phreaking are 3 parts of Arbeit Nummer 23 - Ich Arbeite Mit Frequenzen. www.vitalweekly.net/1316.html "Steht 'Frequenzarbeiter' schon im Duden? CARSTEN VOLLMER arbeitet jedenfalls daran, mit seiner Arbeit Nr. 23: Ich arbeite mit Frequenzen (3xCDr, jeweils in DVD-Schuber). Dieser nächste Arbeitsschritt nach der bad alchemystischen „Arbeit Nr. 22“ (BA 103) ist ein in strenger Schwarzweiß-Optik vereinter Triptychon, den drei Labels stemmen: Teil 1 – Ansteigend (ACU 1027), Teil 2 – Abfallend (Cat Killer), Teil 3 – 2600 Hertz / Phreaking (Krater Recordings, KR05-010). Das oft genug unangebracht verwendete 'experimentell' ist dabei halbwegs gerechtfertigt durch die demonstrativen 'Versuchs'-Reihen mit 55 – 77 - 160 – 300 – 666 – 800 – 1000 – 2000 – 4400 – 5000 – 9000 Hz rauf und runter ('Ansteigend'/ 'Abfallend') sowie drei Episoden mit 2600 Hz. Darunter, neben zwei Live-Exzerpten vom Schrei/Ende/Ohren-Festival, eine Hommage an das in den 70ern popularisierte und bis in die 90er mögliche Phone-Freaking in den USA, wo die von Hackern entdeckte, von den Yippies popularisierte Freischaltung auf eben der 2600 Hz-Frequenz als Akt des zivilen Widerstands aufgefasst wurde. Aber diese Frequenz-Folklore erscheint wie ein narratives Surplus in Vollmers bildlos purer Darbietung eines Blizzard-Kontinuums, in dem McLuhans 'kalte' und 'heiße' Medialität verwischt. Indem ein schrillendes, zerrendes Zuviel mit myriodophonem Rausch überwältigt und lähmt, doch in seinem informatorischen Überschuss zugleich nach Kryptologen schreit. Für einen auch merkwürdig flötenden Code. Aber vor allem für ein Unsagbares, das sich als kataklysmische Schallmauer zeigt wie bei Wittgenstein das Mystische. Dass in allem, was der Fall ist, atomare Niagarafälle toben, die jedes menschliche Maß übersteigen. Der infernalische 'Gesang' der Neuronen, das heulende Elend der Elektronen, das universale Alpha, Vollmer hat es zwischen Infra und Ultra brachial orchestriert als kakophon schillernde Metapher für das Mega-, Giga-, Tera-Chaos im elektromagnetischen Radio- und Mikrowellendschungel. Als Sturz der Erkenntnis über die Marmorklippen durch die Stahlgewitter ins Spektrum der Strahlungen, als total mo-bilgemachter Black Metal vor einem Schwarzlicht-Horizont. Das von Ernst Jünger immer wieder gebrauchte Tat Tvam Asi [Das bist du] zeigt dazu seinen technologisch fitten 'Ar-beiter', der als 'organische Konstruktion' mit der technoiden Mobilmachung heißläuft. Und einige wenige, die, obwohl gleichermaßen involviert, in kühler Desinvoltura dazu Distanz halten. Vollmers akribische Abbildungen, 48 + 48 + 50 Minuten intensive Immersion, können als stoischer Härtetest erscheinen. Als stockholm-syndromatische Affirmation eines Factum brutum. Oder sogar als akzelerationistisches Vorwärts (Nick Land), das die transhumane Umgestaltung des Menschen (durch die aggressiven Metastasen des Kapitalismus) ins Auge fasst. Mit der Utopie einer KI-generierten 'technologischen Singularität' würde Jüngers 'organische Konstruktion' zum Pionier der transhumanen Erlösung. Jede durchgestandene Noisattacke wäre, gerade indem sie das hinfällige Fleisch von den Knochen schabt, ein Evolutionsschritt dorthin. Der Geist, schon bei Hegel ein harter Knochen, steckt seinen Kopf, wie sein Renaissance-Vorgänger durch die Käseglocke seiner Scheibenwelt, unter die Bremsscheiben eines endlosen Güterzuges, in einen brausenden Bienenstock, der Züge von StanisławLems Partikelschwarm auf Regis III trägt. Steht Hz auch für neuen Horizont, für abenteuerliches Herz? Vollmer gibt sich, wenn er 'ich arbeite...' sagt, beeindruckend cool und souverän. Oder verdolmetscht er so bloß die Mutter der Teilchen und Wellen? Alan Moores Parent of suns and substance, she! Womb of all possibility! Als menschliche Spur im Dauertrommelfeuer der Klangpartikelstrahlung bleiben dann nur die Schreie, die Vollmer zuletzt, von 2600 Hz-Stacheln an die Wand gespießt, ausstößt. Kein 'Banzai!', aber doch wie mit geballter Faust und mehr als nur Schmerz und Angst. Noise als Waffe der Kritik an Betonköpfen, verkrusteten Strukturen, Kalk, Rost, marmornen Popanzen. Als, o Killer-Kaninchen von Caerbannog, o schwarze Bestie von Aaa, als Speer, der die Wunde heilt, die von ihm herrührt?" [Bad Alchemy] 2021 €20.00
VON HAUSSWOLFF, C.M. (CARL MICHAEL) The wonderful World of male Intuition CD Wieder ein herrlich absonderliches Werk des schwedischen Parapsycho-Soundwerkers: Sinuston-drones & -tunes in verschiedenen Ausprägungen und verdeckte & verzerrte Zitate diverser berühmter Leute, die wie aus einer Geisterwelt zu uns sprechen, sind die Ingredienzen dieses Albums... VON HAUSSWOLFF ist wieder so weit vom Alltäglichen das es eine wahre Freude ist ! 'The wonderful world of male intuition is an astounding masterpiece dedicated to male intuition : all a program. It will be followed by a second opus later this year dealing with the Horrible sides of male intuition...' [label info] "Probably the name Carl Micheal von Hauswolff doesn't need much introduction. His conceptually edged releases on labels as Sub Rosa, Touch and Raster Noton deal with such subjects as architecture and voices from beyond. Here 'The Wonderful World Of Male Intuition' is the subject. To shed some light on it, he uses sine wave oscillators, field recordings (sea, land, outer space) but also the voices of persons important as 'positive energies in a world that obviously is feasting on itself without knowing how to go to the toilet', being the Dalai Lama, Willem de Ridder, Gregory Bateson, Alvin Lucier, John C. Lilly, Albert Hofmann, Friedrich Jürgenon and Brion Gysin. Many of these voices are processed through the use of the sine waves, in some way or another, which makes the voices hard to understand, but of course that is not the intent anyway. Throughout the forty some minutes, I learned nothing much about the male intuition (if that exists at all), but purely as a work of sine waves and field recordings I must say that this is a particular strong work by Hausswolff. Not too overtly minimal, leaning on his sine waves, but it's the combination of all three components works quite well, the sine waves, field recordings and voices. It might perhaps even the best Hausswolff I ever heard (despite not having heard all, he admitted straight away)." (FdW / Vital Weekly] Address: http://www.oral.qc.ca 2006 €15.00
WAKHEVITCH, IGOR Les Fous d'Or LP "Released by Pathe Marconi in 1975 and housed in a fantastic surrealist cover designed by his father, Russian painter/art director Georges Wakhevitch, this album marks the debut of Wakhevitch's long-standing collaboration with american dancer/choreographer Carolyn Carlson. It also shows the composer's progression into a more esoteric and lyrical grounds: a departure from the violence of his first three albums into quieter yet equally dark and mysterious regions. Divided in two sides (called "CORNERSTONE"/"LES FOUS D'OR") the whole record oozes a dreamy, mysterious, surrealist atmosphere enhaced by the spoken word introductions that open a series of mesmerising electronic pieces which range from the gentle to the hypnotic. Animal sounds, ritual horns, wordless vocals and assorted metal banging and scrapping add to the whole mix for a landmark sound that will evolve in future albums. Six different pieces that take off where Hathors' 'Aurore' left before moving into a crazy and disjointed landscape that echoes the crazyness of Docteur Faust yet in a subtle, stranger, more warped way. Strictly limited to 500 copies on transparent clear vinyl. Single cover reproducing the original 1975 artwork. Includes insert with liner notes reproduction of the original Les Fous d'Or insert." [label info] www.wah-wahsupersonic.com 2013 €23.00
  Kshatrya (The Eye Of The Bird) LP Transversales Disques presents Kshatrya (The Eye Of The Bird), a never released before recording by French avant-garde electronic composer Igor Wakhevitch. Wakhevitch composed a bunch of major experimental albums in the '70s, such as Logos (1970), Docteur Faust (1971), Hathor (1972), Les Fous D'or (1975), Nagual (1977), and Let's Start (1979). During this 10-year period, Wakhevitch was close to Jean-Michel Jarre, Pink Floyd, Soft Machine, and legendary choreographer Maurice Bejart having with him many conversations around dance and music, human body and soul, spiritual path, collective life, new society, and human evolution. As a composer, Igor Wakhevitch collaborated with Salvador Dali, Carolyn Carlson, and Terry Riley, to name a few. He's considered as one of the first French composer using synthesizers like Synthi AKS, ARP2600, or Moog modular systems. After spending almost 30 years in India, Igor Wakhevitch dug in his archives this unreleased work recorded in 1999 on his "Mysterious Island 88" system. Esoteric, sacred, and cosmic, Kshatrya (The Eye Of The Bird) is the logical follow up of Igor's early works and a monumental piece of electronic music. A must! CD version includes a 16-page booklet. https://transversales.bandcamp.com/album/kshatrya-the-eye-of-the-bird 2019 €26.00
WEIS, MIKE Don't know, just Walk LP " “I used to think that music was my escape from reality, now I think it’s an escape into reality.” – Mike Weis, 2014. Mike Weis is probably best known for sitting behind a plethora of drums and gongs in long- running Chicago three-piece Zelienople, but his music is just as potent unaccompanied. Weis might be an obsessive collaborator (his work with Scott Tuma, Mind Over Mirrors and Kwaidan is also essential), but on his own, he is able to allow his unique percussive skills to bubble to the surface, without the intervention of conflicting egos. He began working on Don’t Know, Just Walk under particularly difficult circumstances. It was 2013, he had just been diagnosed with prostate cancer, and was gearing up for a punishing year of “man-diapers and boner pills,” that could very well have been his last. Thankfully though, the time wasn’t entirely spent holed up in a hospital bed under the watch of urologists – Weis managed to spend choice moments in the woods or on prairies with a microphone, and in the Zelienople studio (which has long been in his basement) while the family slept upstairs. These late night sessions weren’t only musical – Weis used the time to meditate, and to clear his head of the mental baggage that was clouding his view of the world. In spending time using Zen Buddhist techniques (which the title references), this allowed him to not only meditate on life (and its brevity), but also to inform his compositional and recording techniques. At this point, the music came naturally, and Weis began experimenting and recording without hindrance. Using loops of field-recordings, gongs, radios, home-made instruments, drums and traditional Korean percussion, Weis pieced together an album that is as reflective as it is mesmerizing. Solo percussion albums are rare, certainly, but Weis uses his drumming simply as the record’s backbone, allowing his ideas to flourish overhead. Don’t Know, Just Walk is a complicated record – an album about death that doesn’t dwell on the negative, and one created by a drummer that doesn’t contain a whole lot of rhythms. It’s right to expect the unexpected, and as Weis found solace in the recording process, we too can find solace in the listening. " [label info] www.typerecords.com 2014 €18.50
WELBURN, JAMES Hold LP "Like watching a massive twisting fire slowly fading into the open skies, accompanied by a drum section so repetitive yet mind bending that you're unsure if it's ever going to stop. This is how Hold starts off, leaving you catching for your breath before the album has even reached the second track. James Welburn steps into the ashes covered in drones and noise together with drumming partner Tony Buck (The Necks), producing a debut album crushingly epic. Hailing from the UK, but located in both Berlin (DE) and Lillehammer (NO), James has been on a path to catch the perfect drone through the last years, playing an abundance of underground drone and noise sets in Berlin and Norway. This can be heard on Hold, though set in an impressively produced setting closer to a recent Swans record rather than the raw noise of those early live shows. It's hard to label the album too much in one style, as it shifts and turns into parts inspired by everything from Shoegaze to Black Metal, all set in a state of endless repetition." [label info] www.miasmah.com "Quite an impressive solo debut from British noiserocker James Welburn! His bio quips that he's been playing in various art/drone/noise rock outfits since the '90s, though a quick glance through the entire internet didn't provide much in the way of information on what those projects might be. However, we know that back in 2008, he had a release under the name Project Transmit, which also featured the fantastic drummer Tony Buck from trance-inducing Australian 'jazz' group The Necks. Now, Buck has joined forces with Welburn once again for Hold - a well-controlled album of darkly ascendant drone guitars guiding a well-heeled rhythm section that's crushingly muscular when it needs to be and skeletally restrained when called for at other times. Second track here "Peak" falls into the latter camp with Buck and Welburn conjuring the slow-core nocturnes from Low's first couple of albums, with a Joy Division-y spaciousness on the bass and Buck tapping metonymically on the ride. Welburn fills in the blanks with cinematic melancholy dripping from his guitar strings into pools of drone. Buck stomps hard on the accelerator for the next track "Shift" with a punk-as-fuck jackbooted riff on the black metal blast beat, albeit done on a jazz kit, with Welburn slipping the buzzsaw guitars into icy layers. The detuned bass that anchors "Duration" with a bloody-knuckled masonry on par with Todd Trainor of Shellac, with the guitars again crashing forward with drone-metal blurs and slabs of frigid noise. Swans and Godflesh are reasonably close neighbors of what Welburn is up to here, although these tracks are entirely instrumental with the songs hitting their dynamics through slow-burn and flame-out approaches to their compositional arcs. Just imagine if Welburn and Buck were to get a hold of two or three dozen guitarists with their slipstream noise perfectly in step with Welburn's compositional prowess. Look out, Branca. Look out, Chatham." [Aquarius Rec] 2015 €16.50
WESOLOWSKI, STEFAN Kompleta LP "This record is the reissue of Stefan Wesolowski's first album, Kompleta, which was composed in 2006 and released on Gusstaff Records in 2008. Given that he was only 21 at the time, a record which was considered a first attempt now seems something of a master work. It portrays a universe deeply influenced by sacred music and offers clear, direct compositions and liturgical chants which are powerful vectors for emotion. These songs are interpreted by Stefan Wesolowski himself accompanied by Maja Siemińska and their work fits together wonderfully. The record also marks the beginning of a beautiful friendship with the composer Michal Jacaszek who did the electronic arrangements. This worked so well that they have collaborated on several other projects since. A tangible spirituality emanates from these 9 tracks, providing a contemplative, introspective experience for listeners. Kompleta is mainly based on strings (violins, viola, cello) but also manages to distance itself from traditional compositional methods by including subtle electronic touches to help anchor the work in a resolutely progressive dynamic. It is also interesting to note how Wesolowski decides not to choose between the spheres of heritage and modernity - on the contrary he seeks a balance between the two without ever deforming or betraying his sources of inspiration. In around 30 minutes, Stefan Wesolowski marks the start of a remarkable career. The Mind Travels Series is under the spell of this record and happy to be able to offer Kompleta a new lease of life, fittingly illustrated by a fine new serie of photographs by Françis Meslet. The album has been re-mastered and will be released on CD and for the first time as a vinyl LP. It is a record for all lovers of Modern-classical and contemporary music looking for new sounds to go with their albums by Greg Haines, Arvo Pärt, Nils Frahm, Steve Reich, Hildur Gudnadottir, A Winged Victory For The Sullen, Jóhann Jóhannsson... For other listeners, it is an ideal gateway to these universes where elegance and intensity are key." stefanwesolowski.bandcamp.com/album/kompleta 2015 €18.00
WHITE NOISE An Electric Storm LP "Still available. 'An Electric Storm' (1969) is justly renowned among techno boffins as one of the first albums to fuse pop, psychedelia and electronic music before the advent of the Moog synthesizer. But you don't have to be versed in the language of sine waves and oscillators to enjoy this mostly delightful and hugely inventive album." [label info] www.islandrecords.com "White Noise's landmark 1969 album An Electric Storm might not the first thing most people think of when considering 1960s music, but there are few records anywhere tied more intrinsically to the moment of their creation. Recorded in the months immediately prior to the widespread availability of keyboard-based synthesizers, An Electric Storm might be one of the most painstakingly crafted electronic recordings of all time. Pieced together on improvised equipment via innumerable tape edits, this remarkable album is at once futuristic and unavoidably date-stamped, serving as a fascinating audio snapshot of a bygone era in sound generation and recording technology. One of the few acts in pop music history able to trace their origins to the lecture hall, White Noise were first conceived when American electronic engineer David Vorhaus-- following a lecture by BBC Radiophonic Workshop veteran Delia Derbyshire-- enlisted Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson to integrate their experimental electronics with more pop-oriented material. (Derbyshire, of course, was by this point already responsible for the classic theme song from "Dr. Who" and other music for BBC TV and radio programs.) Commissioned by Island Records' Chris Blackwell, the three musical scientists soon holed themselves up for months in their Camden Town studio, fastidiously assembling what Vorhaus later surmised to be the most heavily tape-spliced album in history. Yet knowledge of White Noise's academic or technical background does little to prepare the listener for the widescale psychedelic mayhem of An Electric Storm. Despite its brief 35-minute running length, the album covers an enormous amount of stylistic ground, as White Noise overlay their fractured pop songcraft with musique concrète effects, weird bits of radio theater, and long stretches of gothic horror. While other groups of the period--such as Silver Apples or The United States of America--made use of similarly primitive electronic equipment, An Electric Storm was a separate beast entirely, and its singular textures have been a primary influence on such subsequent acts as Stereolab, Broadcast and Belbury Poly. Not originally issued in the U.S. until 1973, the album has seldom stayed in print for long, and surely owes at least a portion of its peculiar mystique to its rarity. With their latest reissue, Universal has kept the original tracklist intact, without unearthing any additional alternate or bonus material. The album has been splendidly re-mastered, however, and An Electric Storm remains a virtually requisite headphone experience with an otherworldly appeal that transcends its considerable influence. Like so many ambitious albums of the time, An Electric Storm is consciously split into two distinct sides, the first half dubbed "Phase In" and the second "Phase Out". On the first side, White Noise indulge their daffy pop appetites with such bizarre trinkets as the cartoonish "Here Come the Fleas" and "Love Without Sound", the sensuous track which first encouraged Blackwell to pony up the cash for the full album. With the aid of rotating vocalists Annie Bird, Val Shaw, and John Whitman, the songs on the album's first half are melodic and memorable, and often infused with a cheeky sense of humor. The group's quirky wit is perhaps best witnessed on "My Game of Loving"; the album's notorious "orgy" track that follows an ecstatic bit of sexual frenzy with the sound of contented snoring. Things get considerably scarier during the lengthy "Phase Out" segment, which begins with the group's 11-minute ambient centerpiece "The Visitations". This death-defying piece, which reportedly took over 3 months in the studio to assemble, ostensibly tells the tale of a motorcycle accident and its supernatural aftermath. Packed dense with disembodied noises and eerie panning effects, this intense track can become addictively engrossing, a perfect slice of audio theater that one can't help but ride through to the very end. Vorhaus, Derbyshire and Hodgson took so long in recording An Electric Storm that Island started to get antsy, and well before completion the label began to demand the finished product. Presented with the challenge of such a time crunch, many groups might panic and fall back upon more conventional material. But true to their iconoclastic nature, White Noise instead improvised the still-astonishing "The Black Mass- An Electric Storm in Hell", a spirited cacophony layered thick with percussion, funereal chanting, and the tormented screams of the damned. Like the rest of An Electric Storm, this dark finale sounds quite unlike anything recorded before or since, and stubbornly refuses to ever settle in as background music. And this unrehearsed episode of grotesquerie provides An Electric Storm with a strangely appropriate ending, as it stands as one final monument to White Noise's unique inspiration and eccentric approach to technical problem-solving. Theoretically, with the benefit of all the ensuing advances in recording technology, it should be easier than ever for today's musicians to duplicate such a production. Perhaps this deceptive sense of ease is precisely why no one has ever really been able to do so." [Matthew Murphy / Pitchfork] 2008 €20.00
WIESE, NICOLAS Unrelated LP #3 in the PERIKLAS series comes from NICOLAS WIESE, a Berlin based electronic and audio-visual artist. “Unrelated” is available as handnumbered lim.ed. clear vinyl LP in silk-screened sleeve and download. Born 1976, NICOLAS WIESE studied design, illustration sound art, philosophy and sociology and has since been working on various fields: his (audio-)visual art has been presented in galleries and at exhibitions in Teheran, Gent, London, Vienna, St. Louis, Istanbul, Madrid a.o. As musician / composer, he released a number of solo and collaborative albums under the [-Hyph-] moniker and his civilian name on labels like WALTER ULBRICHT SCHALLFOLIEN or CORVO RECORDS. WIESE’s latest effort “Unrelated” contains seven new pieces, constructed from sonic elements of various compositions, audiovisual works, fragments, remixes and experiments from a time span of 6 years, drawn from different contexts and a wide range of international musicians and collaborators. WIESE's trademark working method is to combine complex sample-based layers with modulated feedback which is triggered by the samples, their overtones and harmonic properties. This playing technique, using the mixing board as a feedback-instrument, adds a special live feel to the meticulous musique concrète constructions based on the original acoustic source material. Rich in details, “Unrelated” is a vital proof of WIESE’s artistic skills and a highly entertaining concern, melting electro-acoustic, musique concrète and sampledelia! https://karlrecords.bandcamp.com/album/unrelated 2018 €22.50
WRIGHT, PETER Red Lion CD Londoner Aufnahmen von 2004: field recordings von verschiedenen Plätzen Londons (Red Lion Square, Tate Modern, etc.), feedbackin’ hyper-effektierte Drone-Guitars, merkwürdige Obertonräume entstehen, Daydream-Akustikgitarren verschmelzen mit Environmentals, sowas wie Helikopter-Vibrationen(?), einzelne metallische Töne ziehen Resonanzen wie Schweife hinter sich her, himmlische Vibratos, die in der Luft schweben & zu schimmern scheinen, sirrend-fräsende Klangwolken mit Siren-Effekt... Wie fast kein Zweiter ruft PETER WRIGHT aus seinen Gitarren manchmal fast aberwitzig zu nennende Obertonresonanzenschwälle hervor, schafft sirrend-schwirrenden Singsang par excellence, der nie in langweiligen tumben Noise oder Drone abgleitet, sondern immer in fein- ästhetischer Balance bleiben.... RED LION ist ein poetisch-verträumtes Werk mit vielen Facetten und sei hiermit allen die PETER WRIGHT noch nicht kennen ans Herz gelegt. 9 tracks, ca. 55 min. “You can remove a Kiwi from New Zealand but you sure as hell can't remove New Zealand from a Kiwi. Such is the case with Christchurch transplant, Peter Wright. Over the course of a decade, Wright has etched his name in glass in the annals of drone-world superstardom. And while I'm not sure what that really means, the point is that when it comes to soaring dronescapes, few do it better than Peter Wright. He has helped pave the way with contemporaries such as Birchville Cat Motel and Double Leopards, but clearly has his own distinct voice. With his past few albums, Wright seems the logical successor to native Kiwi, sound manipulator extraordinaire, Roy Montgomery. "Red Lion" is Wright's latest incarnation and, once again, pushes the boundaries of what he can do with his trademark 12 string Danelectro to the absolute outer limits. He pushes the limits of simplicity without ever breaking. Wright's albums are a thing of sheer, pure beauty, existing in a vacuum where nothing on the outside can tamper with their grace. Even with his lofty intentions, "Red Lion" is immediately approachable and grabs the listener from the opening notes. As always, Peter Wright offers up something wholly infectious and undebatably magnificent. Press about Peter Wright: "The finest in underground free noise / drone...mostly from New Zealand but all around the world as well. For those of you new to the CpsiP label, imagine classic Siltbreeze (Dead C, etc.) mixed with Jewelled Antler (Thuja, Blithe Sons etc.), dark and deep listening that sometimes verges on all out noise, but more often than not remains subtle experiments in avant drone and abstract sound." - Aquarius Records "This is easily some of the most evocative proto-drone work to reach these ears in a while, with beautiful almost folk melodies that flutter on the edge of audibility cut up with a thick soup of early-evening smog and long forgotten geographies. Somewhere between early Flying Saucer Attack, Mirror and William Basinski. Highly recommended." - David Keenan, Volcanic Tongue "If Windy & Carl's vision of Antarctica is your idea of bliss, you will drool over this soundscape depiction of Peter Wright's home in New Zealand. Now living in London, these are what the label calls "love-drones," as Wright's memories of his home's wide open spaces inspire slowly unfolding waves of lush guitar." - Jim Steed, Fakejazz “ [label info] 2006 €13.00
YEN POX Between the Horizon and the Abyss CD "Arriving on the scene in 1993 with their self-titled demo, Yen Pox immediately made their presence known with an ability to create monumental, light devouring soundscapes that transcended all that had come before it. Proceeding releases, including their debut CD, Blood Music, 2000’s New Dark Age, and the collaborative CD with Troum only solidified their standing and reputation. With Between the Horizon and the Abyss just being their first full length recording in over 15 years, Yen Pox will never be accused of being prolific. After all, with the two members spread out between Indiana and Washington State, creating new material doesn't exactly lend itself to convenience. But on the rare occasion that recordings do arise, it’s nothing short of masterful, reminding listeners why they’ve achieved such notoriety with such a limited discography, and why their recordings are consistently recognized as benchmarks within the dark ambient genre. Time between releases has been well spent, with the new material taking the early template and expounding upon it greatly, adding layers of industrial churn and structure to the infernal kosmische sprawl they’re so adept at creating. And yet throughout its entirety, Between the Horizon and the Abyss is remarkably polished and fluid. Within its realm, no seconds feel wasted, and every sound feels purposefully placed, even as it moves and flows in perpetual motion; strains of a distant angelic choirs fall beneath a complex array of arcing tones, liquidous, molten textures, & harrowing orchestral shimmer, with fervent masses of malevolent atmospherics billowing forth in glorious detail. While this technically falls under the banner of dark ambient, what Yen Pox has managed to create goes far beyond genre specifications and boundaries, crafting a new benchmark and adding a high water mark to an already stellar discography." [label info] www.malignantrecords.com "The year is 1995 and an extremely young label from Maryland has just begun to open its eyes to the world. Prior to this moment, its entire three-year existence had been dedicated to a ‘zine/compilation combination known as Audio Drudge, with a more official birth coming with a compilation of a different kind in 1994 that featured noise/industrial artists that ran the gamut from celebrated veterans in Illusion of Safety, Maeror Tri, and Contrastate, to what was at the time excruciatingly obscure in Söldnergeist, Vromb, and Kirchenkampf. It was an artist from the latter side of this list that was destined to give rise to one of the most important labels that post-industrial music has seen to this day—a label that, in the absence of Cold Meat Industry, has rightly taken its place at the helm as the leading name releasing the new generation of old-school industrial and dark ambient music today. That label is of course Malignant Records. And the artist? Yen Pox, the duo of Steven Hall and Michael J.V. Hensley, who tomorrow (May 5th) will be making their return after a full decade and a half of silence, save for a notable collaboration with another seminal dark ambient duo in Troum, Mnemonic Induction, and a little-known two-track 10″ on Drone Records, Universal Emptiness. This also requires one to overlook their respective solo projects in Veil of Secrecy and Blood Box, both of which have also been agonizingly slow to realize new music over the years. Yes, this is the project that began the maelstrom of high-quality releases that would make Malignant the monolith of the genre that it has become today, and that in itself should leave expectations at an absurdly high level for any curious ear. For the uninitiated, the project’s name should be enough of a hint to bring about hallucinatory visions of slow-rolling drones and desperate metallic chatter. “Yen Pox” was famously written by William S. Burroughs in Naked Lunch as being “the ash of smoked opium,” which should immediately lead one towards assumptions of the surreal brilliance held therein. Indeed, “The Awakening” arrives with a bass-end rumble that moves with enough sluggish grandeur, complex drones, and vastly cinematic space that it warrants comparisons to some of the finest names in the genre including deep audio extraordinaire Bad Sector and the aforementioned Troum. It is with this impressive track that Between the Horizon and the Abyss opens with the full force of a black hole, slowing down time and stretching it infinitely over an unimaginably monstrous mass, ripping metallic atoms apart with the pulsing black heart of the cosmos. Even “Tomorrow in Ruins” somehow leaves a similar astral impression as that of Ben Frost‘s incredible recent work with A U R O R A. There is a ritual edge present on some tracks as well, from the percussive clamoring and distant feedback howling of “Cold Summer Sun,” to the distant whispers and unnerving climaxing noise of “Grief Ritual.” However, this is only a minimal part of Yen Pox’s identity, as everything about Between the Horizon and the Abyss feels about as purely nihilistic as anything I’ve heard in recent years. The apocalyptic atmosphere present on the album is almost overwhelming at times, imparting an unforgiving amount of dread upon the listener as they float not through dreamy ethereal dimensions, but rather through the smokey black veils of what lies at the end of our journey. The intense album artwork and concise yet visionary track titles certainly don’t help one get an opposite impression though the radiant golds are an interesting and effective choice for such an atmosphere, but the music stands on its own as one of the most defining albums for dark ambient music of the past decade. Truly, at least to some degree, it sets a bar that leaves other modern releases from the genre sounding dry at best. Between the Horizon and the Abyss is one of the few releases of the past few years that has simply come as advertised. It is a triumph of the genre and is destined to be a celebrated gem. One can only imagine that it is the lack of quantity that has provided such astounding quality on Between the Horizon and the Abyss, but with this reminder that there are still new levels to achieve, we can only hope that it isn’t another 15 years of near-dormancy before another full-length surfaces." [S.L.Weatherford / Heathen Harvest] "A colossal record like this doesn't get made in a day, or even a year for that matter. It's actually been 15 years since Yen Pox has produced a new album. There was an excellent collaborative project the American industrial-ambient technicians did with the German pioneers Troum; and M.V. Hensley from Yen Pox has released a handful of albums under his moniker Blood Box. But, the last proper Yen Pox album, New Dark Age, arrived in the cold months of 2000. Not quite as slow in production as Giancarlo Toniutti, who took well over 20 years to issue a new solo album. But like Toniutti's immaculately conceived electro-acoustic wastelands, the records of Yen Pox are the stuff of epochal change, slowly revealing themselves through the dark veil between this world and another, or as the title implies between the horizon and the abyss. The scope of this work is suitably grandiose, following the template for the entire dark ambient genre that Yen Pox helped sculpt so many years ago alongside the likeminded projects Lustmord and Inade. The horror-laden drones that Yen Pox conceives are hardly static, as they spiral as if thrown from stable orbit by the all-consuming gravity of a black hole. The deep female vocal utterances are courtesy of the gothic siren Ruby Smith (aka Dark Muse) whose bellows and moans sporadically break through the dense clouds of Yen Pox' subterranean echo and reverb as the only ghosts of humanity to be found within this album. Bleak and heavy, to say the least." [Aquarius Records] 2015 €13.00
YEN POX & TROUM Mnemonic Induction CD " 'All minds dream, and all dreams are flavored with madness...' Completely re-mastered re-issue of this much requested dark dream-opus from 2002, now bringing out more sound details inside the endless amorphous morass; 4 movements, 63+ min. long. Comes with NEW artwork by GYDJA incl. the 'dream essay' by R.B. HENSLEY that should be read accompanying during this subconscious/subsonic experience.. "How could this be anything but perfect? Two of the most capable ambient projects of the current generation doing what they do best: dark ambient. I'm tempted to say nothing except that this is exactly what you hope it will be. Dark, escalating, imperious walls and oceans of titanic sound. Swelling currents of icy miasma swirling endlessly on through a descending subterranean river five miles wide. It rumbles and groans and shudders for ages. How does one get so much depth out of sound? .... The listener can penetrate so far into this landscape. The tones are so elaborately pieced together that the forefront is gauzy, wispy, ghostlike. On the horizon are huge stone structures, mountains, tornados of power but far away and almost invisible to the ear. Affecting you only by subsonic booms that rattle the soles of your feet. You can almost step into this and turn around on your heels, face your room and watch your body recede as you slip slowly away on a living ocean of sound." [Malignant Records] "German drone artist Troum and the American dark ambient project Yen Pox collaborate on one of the best albums released so far this year. Some might say that ‘Mnemonic Induction’ would make a great soundtrack for a film, and while that may be true, it would totally ruin the album. Other people’s images associated with this cd would never do it justice. Like they say, nothing can be worse (better than?) your own imagination, and such is the case here. The four long, untitled tracks have one thing in common, a deep brooding low end drone that gave my subwoofers a much needed work out. Layered over top are eerie wails and moans stretched out to inhuman lengths while bleak rumblings phase in and out. The best thing about this album is the way in which it is able to capture and hold your attention. Rather than becoming just good background music, it stays active, alternating between soaring expansiveness and claustrophobia. The slick digipack contains a paragraph about dreams and the separation of mind and body, but to use this cd as a dream aid, something to fall asleep to, would be a mistake. What the album does best is not to conjure strange dreams, but to evoke one’s waking memories, and associate the album with one’s own experiences. But try not to dwell on your bad stuff, this album deserves better." [Brainwashed 2002] listen & digital downloads: https://yenpox.bandcamp.com/album/mnemonic-induction 2015 €13.00
ÜL III CD-R Das St. Petersburger Label ZHELEZOBETON gehört z.Zt. mit MONOCHROME VISION sicher zu den interessanten russischen Labels. Inzwischen wird hier nicht nur die lokale Szene Russland veröffentlicht, sondern auch spannende Musik von anderen Kontinenten. ÜL ist ein Projekt mit dem altbekannten ex-REYNOLS ALAN COURTIS, der hier mit zwei Landsleuten schwelend-feedbackende Drone-Sphären mit Gitarren erzeugt - dabei allerdings kaum harmonisch oder tonal operierend, sondern mit Effekten & Feedbacks, low-fi und rauh und sehr variabel auf 8 Stücken.. "ÜL was formed in 2006 by Argentinians Alan Courtis (Reynols), Fernando Perales and Charly Zaragoza. They have performed live many times in Argentina and released two albums: "Astropecuario" on the Scottish label Pjorn Records and "II" on the Argentinian Facon Records. This is their third disk containing material recorded in 2007. The goal of ÜL is the exploration of timbric possibilities of electric guitars in their own way, combining elements of noise, drone music and free atonal improvisation. Their compositions immerse the listener into an abstract world of electromagnetic interaction between acoustic and electronic medium. A world glutted with raw sounds of string vibrations, droney feedback resonances, acute work of limiting amplifiers and layering echoes of effects." [label info] http://zhb.radionoise.ru/ 2008 €8.00
YRSEL Abraxas CD "The album «Abraxas» is recorded during 2011-2013 and contains some of the bands most challenging and yet accessible music so far. On this album the band has taken in some guests to contribute with sounds. Denis Del Nista (Moon, Burning Emptiness label) appears with sounds on the track «Simon Magus» and Alice Dourlen (Chicaloyoh) contributes with vocals on the tracks «Asat» and «Nequaquam Vacuum». YRSEL is a collaboration between Julien Louvet (Austrasian Goat, Death To Pigs, 14:13) and CJ Larsgarden (Ondo, APF, Forest City). Though hailing from different musical genres and from France and Sweden respectively, the two artists bonded following a split release on the label Burning Emptiness. YRSEL create complex, multi-layered and atmospheric music that fully explodes the genres of drone, doom and electronica resulting in a glacial melt of sound and texture." [label info] www.pactasuntservanda.se "A duo from France and Sweden, consisting of Julien Louvet (who you might know from Austrasian Goat, Death To Pigs, 14:13) and CJ Larsgarden (whom we know as Ondo, APF and Forest City), who already released two albums in 2010 and played some concerts shortly after in France and Belgium. A collaboration of humans meeting up and not gigabytes being exchanged. They spend two years making this album of nine tracks, which lasts nearly 80 minutes (and it is also available as a double CD). Instruments aren't specified as such, but me thinks there is lots of guitar sounds, electronics, processed acoustic instruments and such like. I wouldn't bet my life on it, though. There is guest vocals by Alice Dourlen on 'Asat', but I must admit I wasn't blown away by that piece. Her vocals are drenched in reverb to add something mysterious to the music but it's a bit too much, maybe because of the length of the piece - seventeen minutes. All of these pieces are hardcore atmospheric: lots of sustain on the strings, lots of reverb in and out of place, mumbling vocals and the overall color is grey towards black, rather than towards white. Perhaps doom drone is the best description of this. I enjoyed it however, maybe because I was trying to continue to read 'Game Of Thrones' (or whatever it is called) and Yrsel provided the best bleak soundtrack for a book on murder and deceit, and when it came to vocals here, I was a bit less interested, but mainly because it wasn't my cup of tea. It's music that works well on CD, I thought, as you flow from one piece into the next, rather then interrupt your flow and switch to the next side of the record. Very nice indeed, very dramatic." [FdW/Vital Weekly] 2013 €13.00
  Abraxas do-LP "The album «Abraxas» is recorded during 2011-2013 and contains some of the bands most challenging and yet accessible music so far. On this album the band has taken in some guests to contribute with sounds. Denis Del Nista (Moon, Burning Emptiness label) appears with sounds on the track «Simon Magus» and Alice Dourlen (Chicaloyoh) contributes with vocals on the tracks «Asat» and «Nequaquam Vacuum». YRSEL is a collaboration between Julien Louvet (Austrasian Goat, Death To Pigs, 14:13) and CJ Larsgarden (Ondo, APF, Forest City). Though hailing from different musical genres and from France and Sweden respectively, the two artists bonded following a split release on the label Burning Emptiness. YRSEL create complex, multi- layered and atmospheric music that fully explodes the genres of drone, doom and electronica resulting in a glacial melt of sound and texture." [label info] www.pactasuntservanda.se "A duo from France and Sweden, consisting of Julien Louvet (who you might know from Austrasian Goat, Death To Pigs, 14:13) and CJ Larsgarden (whom we know as Ondo, APF and Forest City), who already released two albums in 2010 and played some concerts shortly after in France and Belgium. A collaboration of humans meeting up and not gigabytes being exchanged. They spend two years making this album of nine tracks, which lasts nearly 80 minutes (and it is also available as a double CD). Instruments aren't specified as such, but me thinks there is lots of guitar sounds, electronics, processed acoustic instruments and such like. I wouldn't bet my life on it, though. There is guest vocals by Alice Dourlen on 'Asat', but I must admit I wasn't blown away by that piece. Her vocals are drenched in reverb to add something mysterious to the music but it's a bit too much, maybe because of the length of the piece - seventeen minutes. All of these pieces are hardcore atmospheric: lots of sustain on the strings, lots of reverb in and out of place, mumbling vocals and the overall color is grey towards black, rather than towards white. Perhaps doom drone is the best description of this. I enjoyed it however, maybe because I was trying to continue to read 'Game Of Thrones' (or whatever it is called) and Yrsel provided the best bleak soundtrack for a book on murder and deceit, and when it came to vocals here, I was a bit less interested, but mainly because it wasn't my cup of tea. It's music that works well on CD, I thought, as you flow from one piece into the next, rather then interrupt your flow and switch to the next side of the record. Very nice indeed, very dramatic." [FdW/Vital Weekly] 2013 €16.00
ZAVOLOKA Suspenzia CD Hinter "ZAVOLOKA" steckt eine Frau namens KATERYNA ZAVOLOKA aus der Ukraine, die hier sehr spröde und gewagte Elektronik produziert hat, real experimental stuff for explorers, Stimmenexperimente, mad rhythms, Sinuston-Attacken, mal verspielt rhythmisch , mal die-hard digital, schwierig mit irgendwas anderem zu vergleichen..... Dies ist die Re-edition des Debut-Albums CD (vorher auf ZEROMOON erschienen). “ Kateryna Zavoloka is a musician from Kyiv city, Ukraine. This is an extended version of her first release Suspenzia. The sound of Zavoloka is very impuslive mixture of rich and dense however sometimes abstract analogue and digital noises, melodies and idm-like drums. Often unexpected music design and courses create an impression of body motion of a fighter in kung-fu drunken style. This release however called SUSPENZIA (in regards of Natalia Zhizchenko essay) that is "suspension" or "slip" in russian or ukrainian.” [label info] 2005 €10.00
ZEITKRATZER Serbian War Songs LP zeitkratzer and its special guests SVETLANA SPAJIĆ (voice), DRAGANA TOMIĆ (voice) and OBRAD MILIĆ (voice, diple, gusle) present traditional Serbian songs from and about World War I. Within its 20 years of existence, REINHOLD FRIEDL’s ensemble zeitkratzer has proved its interpretatory mastership on a wide range of fields such as contemporary / avant-garde composers, electronic artists, industrial underground – and, probably most surprising on this list, also in traditional music / folklore as documented on the two albums “Volksmusik” and “Neue Volksmusik” . For “Serbian War Songs”, a selection of traditional songs from and about World War I, the “modern composition supergroup” (THE WIRE) have invited some special guests: the renowned singers SVETLANA SPAJIĆ and DRAGANA TOMIĆ (who both worked a.o. with ROBERT WILSON) and the diple / gusle player OBRAD MILIĆ. REINHOLD FRIEDL and SVETLANA SPAJIĆ (probably the most acknowledged expert for traditional songs in Serbia) selected some traditional Serbian songs from and about World War I, and OBRAD MILIĆ contributes „Assassination In Sarajevo“, a song in the classic epic form he had learnt from his father Bogdan, a famous gusla player at the beginning of the 20th century. Commissioned by Berlin’s Haus Der Kulturen Der Welt, the performance was recorded and mixed by longtime zeitkratzer sound engineer MARTIN WURMNEST and mastered by MIKE GRINSER at D&M. zeitkratzer directed by Reinhold Friedl Frank Gratkowski, bassclarinet, clarinet I Hild Sofie Tafjord, french horn I Hilary Jeffery, trombone I Reinhold Friedl, piano I Maurice de Martin, drums, percussion I Lisa Marie Landgraf, violin I Burkhard Schlothauer, violin I Nora Krahl, violoncello I Ulrich Phillipp, doublebass + special guests: Svetlana Spajić, voice Dragana Tomić, voice Obrad Milić, voice, diple, gusle recorded and mixed by Martin Wurmnest at Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, January 16, 2016 produced by Reinhold Friedl mastered by Mike Grinser at D&M, Berlin 2017 €18.00
ZENI GEVA & STEVE ALBINI Maximum Implosion do-CD MAXIMUM IMPLOSION collects all collaborative (and most sought after) pieces between Zeni Geva (KK NULL) and Steve Albini (BIG BLACK / SHELLAC): "Nai-Ha" and "All Right, You Little Bastards!". Also included are bonus tracks from the ultra-limited 12"-only "Superunit", presented with meticulous Cedar mastering by legendary mastering engineer Denis Blackham. On the first CD, Zeni Geva present ultra-heavy Japanese noise rock, with sludgy riffs, thundering feedback, lumbering drums, subhuman bass crawl, and complex noise textures, with KK Null's trademark vocals / unique guitar accompanied by Albini's heavy guitar. "Nai-Ha" loosely translates to "broken inside", with the title track relaying the gruesome aftermath of a car accident. The second CD captures Zeni Geva and Steve Albini's live-to-desk tracks from Tokyo & Osaka in 1992. Albini also makes vocal appearances, as well as guitar throughout. All production and mixing by Steve Albini. Final mastering by Martin Bowes at Cage Studios in England, and presented here in its complete form for the first time on Cold Spring. Presented in a 6-panel double digipak with original artwork/photo by Mitsushiro Hiruma and design/layout by Alonso Urbanos. "With a huge sound reminiscent of Godflesh in its heavy bottom and impossibly high-end guitar tones, resulting in almost no mid-range, it's hard to believe that there are only three people in the band... What saves the record from sounding like an impenetrable wall of sludge are a combination of Albini's sure-handed engineering and production, along with the band's precise grasp of noise, dynamics, and song construction... Anybody into sheer, painful heaviness should check this one out!" (Korperschwache). Steve Albini continued to produce / engineer several albums for Zeni Geva, including 'Desire For Agony' (Alternative Tentacles) and '10,000 Light Years' (Neurot Recordings). credits released October 5, 2018 Vocals / Guitar: KK Null Vocals / Guitar: Steve Albini Guitar: Tabata Mitsuru Bass Guitar: Mas-P Percussion / Drums: Eito Noro Producer: Steve Albini https://coldspring.bandcamp.com/album/maximum-implosion-csr260cd 2018 €16.00
ZOVIET FRANCE Look into Me do-LP "First vinyl reissue of ZF’s elusive ambient noises, originally transmitted in 1990 on their Charrm label and including parts used for a Stan Brakhage soundtrack, now resurfacing as part of V-O-D’s ongoing archaeological survey of the Northumbrians’ seminal early years. Far as we can make out, ‘Look Into Me’ marks one of the last Zoviet France appearances of Mark Spybey, who was a band member 1987-1989. Alongside founding members Ben Ponton and Robin Storey they conjure a rawer, coarsely hypnagogic sequence of events and textures that recalls a folk drone symphony played by wraiths on high moorlands and in the pits of derelict collierys. A section of the 24’ opening side’s wizened strings loops and windswept ambient noise in ‘Cair Camouflet’ was used as part of the soundtrack to the film ‘Loud Visual Noises’ (1987) by Stan Brakhage, and the rest of the record follows in a fittingly enigmatic allegory of synaesthetic sound abstraction and experimental de/composition, to deeply psychedelic tracts of drone noise reminiscent of Two Daughters, mottled voices reminding of Delia Derbyshire’s Dreams records, and clangorous, feral ambient noise that could really only come from these epochal shaman and masters of their craft." [Boomkat] "Look Into Me contains a combination of industrial grinding, modified guitar and electronics. Other tracks apply synthesizers and tape loops with far more sophistication and impact than on the earlier albums. Zoviet France cycle and recycle abstract noises into a constantly changing texture, composed of sonorous drones, grindings, scrapings, squeakings and so on. It's atmospheric without conjuring up any obvious imagery at all, thanks to the unreality of most of the sounds used. Occasionally, the overtly machine-like nature of some sounds has a familiar feel. The LP consists of the spacious and disjointed side-long Cair Camouflet, backed by ten other tracks, and the 45rpm companion record provides another three. Enjoyable and imaginative.." [Soundohm] 2020 €31.50
In.Version do-LP VOD's third batch of Zoviet France reissues focusses on recordings and albums between 1996–2013, presenting many of them on vinyl for the first time. In this era, the pioneering band expanded their production techniques, exploring new sound worlds, without giving up the mysterious momentum of their music. »in.version« (1996) was recorded live in Berlin, available on vinyl for the first time. ########## "The 90's run of :zoviet*france: is, what I consider to be, a divisive time for long time fans of the group. Gone are the days of wild and experimental sound collages and grating industrial, ritualistic ambient banger's and in its place is a more subdued and droning affair. During this period especially the groups hallmark sound would be twisted and shifted into what amounted to a swill of limp krautrock inspired dark ambient. Their live albums especially, are long and desolate treks. Their live albums offered startling and chilling dark ambient passages as essential as their 80's catalogue. In.Version, of the groups 4 main live albums of this period is the most glacial." [Soundohm] 2022 €31.50
Feedback [Mort Aux Vaches] do-LP "VOD's third batch of Zoviet France reissues focusses on recordings and albums between 1996–2013, presenting many of them on vinyl for the first time. In this era, the pioneering band expanded their production techniques, exploring new sound worlds, without giving up the mysterious momentum of their music. »Feedback« (1998): For the first time on vinyl, this album meanders between crackling and rather noisy tracks and deep drones. It was originally released within the Mort Aux Vaches series.

" 2022 €31.50
  A Long Walk do-LP VOD's third batch of Zoviet France reissues focusses on recordings and albums between 1996–2013, presenting many of them on vinyl for the first time. In this era, the pioneering band expanded their production techniques, exploring new sound worlds, without giving up the mysterious momentum of their music. »A Long Walk« (2011) sees its first physical release within this 3rd batch. 2022 €31.50
[LAW-RAH] COLLECTIVE, THE Field of View CD "additional engineering by manuel g. richter photographs & layout by salt by now it should be common knowledge that no two albums by our dutch friends of the [law-rah] collective are alike - their output is a constant journey of discovery. 'field of view', the eighth full-length cd in their discography, is no exception. for the first time the collective wrote and produced the music as a trio: bauke van der wal - the original initiator of the project - is joined by hiekelien van den herik (member of the collective on the albums '1953' and '...as it is...') as well as martijn pieck (a.o. 'solitaire', 'inspiration', '[ans]werk' and the soundtrack of the documentary 'verzet in indië'). this collaboration resulted in an album which has the typical [law-rah] signature: massive deep drones and minimalistic sound collages are accompanied by minimal sequences and (un)steady beats that blend into the alienating soundscapes or set the pace for memorably haunting, atmospheric melodies. in the vocal department hiekelien proves herself to be an amazing singer, alternating between spoken word recitations as known from earlier [law-rah] albums and one-of-a-kind songs. 'field of view' delivers a new chapter in the history of this prolific project's output - a fascinating insight into different perspectives, exhibited in a surprising and captivating album. the whole view we have of things, how we observe, what we see ... what is reality?... is reality really what we see?" [label info] www.ant-zen.com 2012 €13.50