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Beten. Prayer
2015 release **
This really is a special one. Solo voice carries so many connotations, of speech, of song, of chant, of prayer. It’s the most directly human, personal, unmediated instrument of all. It’s the way we speak to each other, comfort each other, entertain ourselves, reassure ourselves, talk to our gods. There are elements of all on this CD; remarkably so, because on first listen at least all seven pieces inhabit similarly restrained, private and reticent soundworlds. There is a general …
A Hint Of An Emotion
2017 release **
"The duo of Beat Keller and Philipp Bowee on electric guitars perform 6 subtle compositions from Turkish-born sound artists and composer Cem Guney's, including 'a bas relief of a talisman' dedicated to Charles Ives and 'soft kill incubator' dedicated to Sylvia Alexandra Schimag."
Five Compositions
2015 release **
"Pieces written for a sextet of flute, clarinet, percussion (quiet, white-noisy/rattley-type things), violin, viola and cello. They each follow a similar pattern, presenting a solitary idea – a chord, an instrumental texture – that alternates with short silences and gradually evolves with each return. The first, two and three, is almost like breathing. The sounds themselves are beautifully and carefully devised, particularly the gently descending peals in mulberry grove, but it …
Grand Chromatic Fantasy (Symphony) For Three Pianos
2016 release **
"In the early days of Wandelweiser records, a disc of music by the forgotten composer Herman Van San extended the label’s scope and helped to cement its aesthetic. He was composing long before there was a Wandelweiser group or label, but his outsider static and innovative music was a perfect fit. This disc of music by the all but unknown Mikheil Shugliashvili achieves a similar purpose. Born in 1941, the composer died in 1996, the year of the label’s first release, but his radi…
The Music Of Katharina Weber, Jack Callahan, Alex Goretzki & Alfred Zimmerlin
2016 release **
"This release by Edition Wandelweiser Records collects recent compositions by Katharina Weber, Jack Callahan, Alex Goretzki, and Alfred Zimmerlin, performed by Christian Buck on guitar and Christian Wolfarth on percussion. It opens with Callahan’s ‘New Piece’, beginning with quiet feedback and low rumble before moving on to evenly spaced chords, cymbals, and soft beats. There’s an ambiguity or uncertainty to these sounds, or to my hearing of them, in terms of their harmony and ti…
dialogues with environments
2013 releae **
"Three works for solo piano in a kind of homage to Cage's "4'33"", insofar as the room in which the recordings took place is accorded coequal prominence, at least as the stated intention of Lee. So one hears various rustles, coughs and whatnot while the beginning of the last track, "Piano Solo No. 5" (2011) sounds as though recorded in close proximity to a number of aging fluorescent bulbs. More to the point, the piano sound is noticeably different in the three spaces. The music i…
11 Microexercises
2013 release **
"11 Micro-Exercises were invented by Christian Wolff in response to a commission from the Miniaturist Ensemble. For Wandelweiser Editions, other miniaturists perform these eleven pieces (plus two bonus pieces): Beat Keller and Reza Khot. Keller and Khot are two electric guitarists who pierce the ivory (sometimes tear it) and respect the principle of a musical art free from preconceptions. Nine seconds, twenty-two, one minute and thirteen, or eleven minutes and forty-seven… The le…
Urs Peter Schneider . Klavier
2014 release **
"Peter Streiff’s music moves in historical webs, encompassing the connected worlds of allusion and individuality in a language that is at once direct and cryptic. This new disc of his piano music, performed by fellow composer Urs Peter Schneider, is a microcosm of Streiff’s creative trajectory. For ease of comprehension, I will use English versions of composition titles in this review. “Of Magic” (1970), the earliest material represented here, has a fair amount in common with the…
Vokal / Instrumental
2013 release **
"Sometimes, music reaches my desk which I genuinely feel is beyond my ken to write about--I simply don't have the necessary tools. This wonderful disc, in large part, is one such so I'll pretty much stick to just giving my impressions and make no real attempt to put the music into context. I do feel confident in saying that, though I haven't heard everything released from Wandelweiser, the music herein will pretty definitely not coincide with your impression of the label, and I …
Chamber Works
2015 release **
"Margriet Hoenderdos, a student of influential Dutch composer Ton de Leeuw, was still honing her own distinctive voice at the time of her premature death in 2010. The precariousness of simply existing is effectively evoked in a 21 minute woodwind quintet in which she responded to a poem by Hans Faverey, written as he endured his own terminal illness. Sombre and harmonically anxious, this music resembles a physical construction that appears sturdy, yet has an unnerving tendency to…
Slow Songs
2015 release **
"Eleven songs for voice and lute by the Swiss singer and composer Marianne Schuppe. The instrumentation taps a deep historical channel, back to Dowland and beyond. But Schuppe doesn’t pluck her lute. Instead she uses e-bows to turn a melodic accompanying instrument into an environment, an ancient combination updated to reflect a contemporary preference for objects over stories. The songs are simple melodies, sometimes folklike (ballads and laments more than dances), but with word…
Childhood Stories #1
2013 release ** Cardboard sleeve. Childhood Stories is an art project with sociological approach: it composes narrations of individuals about their childhood in order to create an authentic image of the social environment they grew up in. Therefore we gather material about childhood in a specific country by using a questionnaire. The answers are anonymized, translated and used as literary material, they are condensed or cut up, then arranged in a dramatic text – that’s Regina’s part. Christian c…
Violent Identity
2006 release ** Super jewel box packaging. Samhain is already fixed star of slovac industrial scene and after more interesting compilation it's comming with it's in fact debut album. During existaton of this electronical compilations it´s sound was substantialy changed, but noise roots which was strong inspiration at the beginning are still identical in this powerfull electronical act which is huge complex of consistent athmospheres, industrial blocks, krystal electronics and experienced vocals.…
Malignant Shields
2007 release ** Super jewel box packaging. Endless transformations and experimenting with sound is natural phase that brings Disharmony in their next work. This time fifth stop and mapping of their territory, Disharmony opens their next phase and with their new album opens the gates into the space of electro underground. Combining industrial elements and idm puts Disharmony into the modern, electro revolution and with this opens next phase and possibility to look into the ambiental waters covere…
X Frames
2006 release ** Super jewel box packaging. In order, it's 4th album of Bratislava's dark-electro project. This time the protagonists are maping their early period of time and on their new release they´re presenting works, regarding to release Moonflower. The tracks on this CD are actually unreleased retrospective and the material, which appeared on this CD leaves in the listeners the phases where Disharmony keeps moving. Rhythmical, hybrid structures. Atmospherical spaces and film moods meet on …
Our Secret Ceremony
2009 release ** De-luxe embossed and debossed sleeve. "Divided into two parts (Sermons and Liturgy), "Our Secret Ceremony" marks a point of no return in Julie's musical journey. Some might consider it pretentious, given its monstrous length, and to be objective, there are a couple of lengthy parts, but that's precisely where the beauty and the core of the record lie. Letting go without worrying too much about song structure or duration, playing what we like, how we like it. Take it or leave it. …
N-Waves / U-Waves
2008 release ** De-luxe embossed and debossed sleeve.
Disquiet
On Disquiet, The Necks stretch their immersive, shape-shifting sound across three discs and more than three hours of labyrinthine, patient intensity. This twentieth studio recording marks the 39th year of the band's existence, representing both a culmination of their extraordinary journey and a bold leap into uncharted sonic territory. Meticulously recorded and sculpted, the four extended pieces on Disquiet see Tony Buck, Chris Abrahams, and Lloyd Swanton pushing at the outer edges of their coll…
Autumn Testament
2007 release ** "Comprised of Brad Rose (The North Sea) and Keith Wood (Hush Arbors), The Golden Oaks features road show magicians springing forth candles from wooded sanctuaries. Composed via the postal system, Autumn Testament is a hymn to the season of red, gold, and orange. A canopyn of leaves shelters the proceedings from the fog that threatens to obscure these sounds. This is a glorious combination of organic grace, blessed by the forests of past centuries and those still in their infant s…
Impregnable Storm
2009 release ** Limited to 250 hand-numbered copies. A2-sized heavy stock poster folded to form an A5-sized sleeve housed in a plastic wrapper. "Utterly ferocious and unforgiving, Impregnable Storm may be the pinnacle of all that is Yasutoshi Yoshida. Great foldout poster cover, amazing noise. Highly recommended."