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The Art of the Curved Bow, Vol. 1
The Curved Bow, or BACH Bow, gives string-players the unique ability to play up to all four strings simultaneously — an impossibility with today's bow. Some believe that the curved bow was used during Bach's time, in the 20th century it was championed by the likes of Albert Schweitzer. It is a device with incredible potential for new and old repertoire, shedding new musical light on the works in which it is employed. Michael Bach has been playing with the curved bow for many years, continually d…
The Great Works For Voice
Mode's reissue of Christine Schadeberg's 1995 recital of vocal music by Luciano Berio is a welcome addition to the catalog. While her performances don't make the listener forget the individuality and panache of Cathy Berberian, for whom most of these pieces were written, Schadeberg more than holds her own in her technical and expressive mastery of the music. Her voice is not large, but is remarkably flexible and secure, and her tone is pure. These performances are models of precision and clarity…
Freeman Etudes, Books Three And Four
This CD presents the first recording of the second half of John Cage's Freeman Etudes for violin. Those familiar with the previously-released volume of this work will already know what to expect: the bewildering complexity of the Etudes and the astonishing virtuosity of Irvine Arditti's performance.
Convinced that the later, more complex etudes were unplayable, Cage abandoned work on the Freeman Etudes in 1980, after completing the first sixteen and beginning the eighteenth Etude. It wasn't…
Freeman Etudes, Books One and Two
John Cage's Freeman Etudes are the modern equivalent of Paganini's virtuoso solo violin etudes. Each etude is completely notated down to the smallest detail, and the composer states "...are as intentionally as difficult as I can make them...So I think that this music, which is almost impossible, gives an instance of the practicality of the impossible." The detail and complexity of these etudes give them a unique and unusual spot in Cage's oeuvre.
These first two books (there are 8 etudes p…
New Piano Works From Europe And The Americas
A debut recital of incredibly varied and fascinating music from Argentinean pianist Haydée Schvartz. Her teachers include Roberto Brando, Dora Castro and Nikita Magaloff. Ms. Schvartz continued her studies in London with Maria Curcio and subsequently received a a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Buffalo, New York with Yvar Mikhashoff, where she won the Cameron Baird Competition in 1990. Mikhashoff brought Ms.Schvartz's incredibly sensitive pianism to our attention, and together they imag…
Music for Merce Cunningham
2008 repress, featuring a 24-bit Hi-Definition remaster; originally released in 1991. Volume 4 in the Music of Cage series. The first audio document between John Cage & Merce Cunningham. It includes a 55-minute piece called "Five Stone Wind" performed by David Tudor (live electronics), Takehisa Kosugi (amplified violin, live electronics, bamboo flute) and Michael Pugliese (clay pots and tapes) as well as a 19-minute version of the classic "Cartridge Music" (same 3 performers, "using phonograph c…
Sonic Encounters
The second recording from Margaret Leng-Tan, the "diva of the avant-garde", featuring works by three composers whom she specializes in: John Cage (USA), Somei Satoh (Japan) and Ge Gan-ru (China/USA). With Sonic Encounters: The New Piano, she explores the effect of Asian aestehtics on contemporary American composers and the influence of American composers on their Asian counterparts.The first recordings of two early works by Cage impart a hard-edged brilliance not usually associated with the prep…
Para Castukis
* 2021 Stock * Here at last is a chance to discover why people have been willing to pay a very steep price to hear Sandhy & Mandhy, the duo who were not a duo, the band who were not a band, creators of perhaps the rarest and most expensive album from Argentina. To tell the story of Sandhy & Mandhy, we have to go back to 1967, when Alberto Infusino (Sandhy) and Alberto Vanasco (Mandhy) began their musical partnership in the beat band The New Free Men. Like many bands of that time, Los Shaker’s an…
Il Killer
LP 180 Gram. A definite killer from the great Gianni Ferrio – one of his grooviest soundtracks ever, and a set that's filled with lots of mod 60s touches! There's a bit of electric sitar, psychedelia, cool bubbling Hammond, and even some jazzy horn parts that make for nice flourishes over the top – all changing up in cool and different ways from track to track. A 1969 co-production between Cinevic and Rai TV for a mini television series that was aired in 3 parts - April 17 to May 1, 1969 - direc…
Sound Journeys: Switzerland
Sound Journeys: Switzerland is the culmination of a series of diital EPs focusing on artists engaged in the Swiss experimental music scene, here presented as an 11-track compilation on CD and digital. Airplay so far has been on BBC Radio 3, Resonance FM, WFMU and more. It has been compiled by producer, broadcaster and Nonclassical A&R Nick Luscombe (BBC Radio, Late Junction) following a visit to the country and research into the current activities of Swiss academic music.Nick Luscombe says: "The…
Thou Shalt Boogie!
Formed in 2003, the Oslo-based trio Bushman's Revenge (named after a type of mouth-searing hot sauce) are upfront about their love for the progressive rock of Cream and Jimi Hendrix, the galactic jazz of Sun Ra, Ornette Coleman, Sonny Sharrock and Alice Coltrane, plus the raw power of Black Sabbath and The Pixies. Thou Shalt Boogie! is their sixth album for Rune Grammofon, a relationship that began with 2009's You Lost Me at Hello (RCD 2083CD/(RLP 3083LP). Its velvety, warm sound was captured a…
You Lost Me At Hello
This is the second full-length release by Norway's Bushman's Revenge (Even Helte Hermansen, Gard Nilssen, Rune Nergaard). You Lost Me At Hello shows a distinct development from their debut Cowboy Music (Jazzaway, 2007). Founded by Hermansen and Nilssen in 2003 in their hometown of Skien, a couple of hours from Oslo, the trio aim to combine the jazz/improv background of the rhythm section with the rock/metal background of leader, composer and guitarist Hermansen to create their own expressive…
Jitterbug
This is the third album by Norway's Bushman's Revenge (Even Helte Hermansen, Gard Nilssen, Rune Nergaard). Like great records from Elephant9, Scorch Trio, Supersilent, In The Country, Spunk, Fire! and others, Jitterbug was recorded in the old fashioned way, meaning the musicians played together and interacted live in the studio with few or no overdubs. With classic recording studios closing down all over the world, this way of recording could indeed soon be a thing of the past, and the world …
Freedom Is Its Own Kind Of Salary
* 200 copies * These last 10 years, Valance Drakes (formerly known as MusSck) has recorded a lush bunch of albums and EP's, solo and in collaboration with various music artists. His solo works of surreal experimentalism, turntable styles and textured and layered sound sculptures have been released on Detroit Underground, Amek and M-Tronic. "Freedom Is Its Own Kind Of Salary" is his 4th solo album. "The underground hasn’t the time for vocation to stay in the shadows as those need to give the mes…
Ultima Thule
One could take Wolfram Schurig's Ultima Thule for five ensembles, a work whose mere instrumentation in-vokes that utopian place which, according to the composer, should automatically be the goal of any authentic artistic activity, as a motto for Wolfram Schurig‘s entire compositional œuvre. In ancient Greece, the name Thule referred to the northern-most part of the world, whose accessibility and actual existence, however, remained uncertain. Since Virgil, th…
Dead Leaves Drop
**300 copies** The term ‘supergroup’ often comes with tacky connotations, but this is the real deal. Through hard work and a tirelessly inquisitive spirit, Nate Wooley, Dave Rempis, Pascal Niggenkemper and Chris Corsano have become some of the most versatile improvisers of their generation. As From Wolves To Whales, they turn their imposing collective strength into a relentless new whole. Relentless, not just because of the energy levels or the generous amount of freedom, but because of the cons…
Trommels!
**300 copies, 2019 stock** Percussionist Kris Vanderstraeten is one of the unsung heroes of Belgian free improvisation. Since the seventies, he has been experimenting with his unique set-up and different collaborations: the trio Sureau, a duo with Timo Van Luijk, several performances / recordings with young experimentalists.Trommels! is Vanderstraeten’s second solo album. It lures the listener into a universe without rules, a place where intuition and imagination decide what happens. Vanderstrae…
Granular
**300 copies** While g a b b r o, Hanne De Backer’s baritone sax project, used a no frills duo concept for its debut album, things take a different turn on Granular. With Marc De Maeseneer again by her side, this album also involves fellow Belgian experimentalist Raphael Malfliet on electric bass, as well as singular vocalist Agnes Hvizdalek.Taken from studio recordings, as well as the quartet’s performance at 2018’s Summer Bummer Festival, Granular turns fragmentation and attention for detail, …
Amarok
Francisco López is known all over the world as one of the main figures of all time experimental music. He performed in hundreds lives, projects and sound-sets in 60 countries of 5 continents and his huge discography has been released by more than 200 labels all over the world. His musical universe moves from human-ear limits to the deepest abysses of sonorous power and it is mostly composed of field recordings caught along the wildest areas of Earth or between the sounds of industrial world.For …
Divergence
“Divergence” explores the tension between space and sound induced by their manipulated representation: sounds alter, calibrate and form space while simultaneously the sound is formed and manipulated by the space it is placed in. The album is based on pure sound sources such as sine waves and white noise. These sounds are physically manipulated and destroyed by the use of tape in order to form pulses, interferences and new wave forms. These manipulations create a divergence between the perception…