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Pleasure-Voltage
Benjamin Finger, James Plotkin, and Mia Zabelka craft a mesmerizing sonic world that buzzes and drones, glitches, and slithers, eventually careening into unexplored musical territory. Pleasure-Voltage was born in the mind (and studio) of Benjamin Finger -- a composer, electronic music producer, DJ, photographer, and film-maker based in Oslo, Norway who in recent years has become quite a prolific artist, expanding his stylistic palette from piano miniatures and off-kilter pop experiments to lyser…
Travels
Over the years, Pat Metheny Group's Grammy-winning double live album Travels has earned a singular reputation among jazz aficionados as one of the most distinctive and impeccably recorded live jazz albums of all time. Upon its initial release, it appeared on numerous year-end best-of lists, with The Wire hailing it as simply "remarkable" and "superbly recorded."
The album captures the Pat Metheny Group during their 1982 US tour, a period when Brazilian percussionist Nana Vasconcelos had become a…
After the Last Sky
Eight years after Blue Maqams, Anouar Brahem returns with a poignant project, titled after a line of verse by poet Mahmoud Darwish, which asks “Where should the birds fly, after the last sky?” Graceful chamber pieces for oud, cello, piano and bass subtly address the metaphysical question and its broad resonances in a troubled time. While drawing upon the traditional modes of Arab music, Brahem has consistently sought to engage with the wider world, too, and found inspiration in many sources from…
Diamorphoses / Concret Ph / Orient Occident / Bohor
Iannis Xenakis's early electroacoustic works define already the compositional space he is using later in his mature, almost one-hour long works like Persepolis or La Légende d'Er. After arriving in Paris as a Greek refuge in 1947, Xenakis quickly found a work as construction engineer with the architect Le Corbusier. He tried in vain for several years to become a member of the Groupe De Musique Concrète (GRM) and thus to gain access to the electroacoustic studios at the French radio. Pierre Schae…
Scarlatti
zeitkratzer director Reinhold and his ensemble present new compositions, grounded on Domenico Scarlatti's piano sonata F-minor K.466. Commissioned by the dance company Rubato and dedicated to Mario Bertoncini (1932-2019).
Worms
From 2008 until 2017 Danai Simou has been working on the project WORMS. WORMS is a study on how inflictive memories can affect the present time. A research on sexuality, the human body, fears and desires, either through the use of her own body or over her close surroundings. Shot from the time she was seventeen years old until now. She has used DSLR, mirrorless, compact cameras and smartphones. A hand crafted xerox-printed photo zine with screen printed cover including the same titled project. A…
Control And Its Opposites
“Eighty minutes of trumpet/electronics and alto sax. Here, the length works in its favor. An advantage, oddly, to listening at home (and reading the back of the sleeve): You know it's 80 minutes long so you "read" it as such, as it's happening, sitting back a bit, seeking a wider focus. Wright gets nicely strident here and there, Coleman generally staying with breath tones early on, getting more vociferous later, Kasyansky hither and yon, doing a fine job integrating and coloring. There's a brea…
Aktion One
2008 release ** Limited edition of 250 hand-numbered copies. Comes in a folded A2-poster sleeve. "HBK is an ephemeric project held among musicians behind Genetic Transmission. Moan and Nojsens. Three minds. three individualities. tree artists sharing one inspired vision. These are people we know for years so it became somehow natural to invite their bastard child to our NN therapy group finally. starting the "Harsh Kontakt" series of relases from now on. The sound sculpture presented hereby has …
Kluwekracht
Bas van Huizen is a Dutch artist based in Xi'an, China. He mainly uses guitar, voice, found objects and computer to record work that ranges from beat based electronic music under the moniker Basi Goreng to more abstract works under his own name. In 2013 he added another pseudonym to his discography with an experimental noise album by Shoganai. In addition to music and sound art Bas van Huizen is also active as a video artist creating animation, music videos, live visuals, and video installations…
Iron Molar / Peacemaker
2008 release ** Comes in a folded A5 cardboard sleeve. "Accompanying Iron Molar’s second step into noise hell is, like a diabolical Virgil, Peacemaker, a “noisy” project by the drummer of the already noisy Brutal Truth and Total Fucking Destruction. One piece for the Italians, three for the American. It’s a shame that the space reserved for our compatriots is so limited, because Là Dove Vita C’Era I Volti Sembran Teschi In Cera is an excellent piece, marked by a solemn martial beat, which deve…
Fireproof In 8 Parts + Part 9
2007 release ** Oversized cardboard sleeve. "With his fourth solo-release, Reto Mäder aka RM74 takes us on a fevery missionary journey which is driven by an unholy quest for saturation and leads us into the dark places where tortured souls dwell. Unpredictably muckraking in the shoals of timeless abysses, RM74 seeks to kindle the supressed fires of passion. Nothing less! To do justice to this mission, Mäder interweaves acoustic instruments such as an organ, a piano, a bassguitar or a harp with a…
In The Moment
Makaya McCraven’s International Anthem debut 'In The Moment' is the album that properly introduced the then-burgeoning drummer/producer to the world. In many ways, it also laid the groundwork for a working method that both McCraven and the label have returned to again and again over the years: nearly 48 hours of live improvised performance recorded by IARC house engineer Dave Vettraino at 1 venue over 12 months and 28 shows - culled, cut, rendered, and remixed into 19 potent pieces of organic be…
Defiant Life
Anchored in the idea that, despite all obstacles, the human experience casts a net of possibilities, Defiant Life – Vijay Iyer and Wadada Leo Smith second duo recording for ECM – proves a profound meditation on the human condition and both the suffering and resilience it entails. An ethereal iridescence glistens between Leo Smith’s unmistakable trumpet wail and Vijay’s textural key strokes on piano and Fender Rhodes, conjuring multi-dimensional spaces of thoughtful musical conversation. “We work…
Ravensburg
*2024 stock* One of the pleasures of Mathias Eick’s Midwest album was hearing his vaulting trumpet supported by violin, an instrumental combination further developed on Ravensburg. The new violinist in Eick’s ensemble is Håkon Aase, one of the up-and-coming players of the Norwegian scene, whom attentive ECM listeners will already know from his work with Thomas Strønen’s group. The core Eick road band is further shored up by the addition of Helge Andreas Norbakken, who interacts excitingly with f…
Affirmation
Norwegian bassist Arild Andersen, an ECM musician for more than fifty years, is a masterful player who has always welcomed a challenge. His first recording with his new quartet – including rising stars Marius Neset and Helge Lien (both bandleaders in their own right)– is almost entirely improvised. The players make the leap of faith together and find and develop forms at the moment, an object lesson in spontaneous group creativity. Affirmation was recorded in November 2021 at Oslo’s Rainbow Stud…
Water's Edge
Future Shuttle is a Greenpoint, NYC-based duo (sometimes trio) comprised of Jessa Farkas and Camilla Padgitt-Coles. Prior to the group’s early 2009 conception, the pair studied electronic music at Oberlin College alongside their friends in Blondes and Teengirl Fantasy. Blondes member Sam Haar also produced the Water’s Edge EP, the group’s first officially released recording. In Future Shuttle’s beautifully dense brew of psychedelic reprogramming, Tangerine Dream meets the KLF at the UFO Club, an…
Foam Fangs
West Coast synth guru Jonas Reinhardt (aka Jesse Reiner) makes his 100% Silk debut with 'Foam Fangs', which sees the usually downtempo producer pushing things up a couple of notches. The cosmic Jarre-esque synthesizer washes are still present, but are bolstered with chest-punching 4/4 rhythms and rubbery looping sequences straight out of the 1987 house rulebook. Somehow this gives the EP the glow of Detroit-era pioneer Juan Atkins and muddles it with the Italo-laced fuzz of Johnny Jewel. …
Emotional Planet
Chris Rose's Robust Worlds has impressed us since first glimpse. He was actually barefoot, if you can believe that, and his set had the feel of a way more lysergic Kevin Ayers. It was freezing fucking cold and I'm pretty sure he wore a Hawaiian shirt. His debut LP is called Emotional Planet, and it's deceptively simple. Voice, guitar, some noisy shit, whatever. His playing is sick: fluid, unforced, warm, soothed and soothing. It's a bath you don't want to exit. Seriously, if yr going to play gui…
Mf
Last year, Bill Orcutt of 90s gnarly Miami noise group Harry Pussy blasted the bejesus out of blues with a beat-up guitar and blew us all away with How The Thing Sings to get a spot on our favorites of 2011. Now, Orcutt’s buddy Mark Feehan, who frequently played spastic guitar for Harry Pussy, is releasing his first solo record, MF, with old Harry Pussy promoters Siltbreeze Records. Feehan’s independent work is somewhat similar to Orcutt’s acoustic binges of raw Americana, but it echoes louder h…
Valedictorian / Exoskeleton
Valedictorian/Exoskeleton, Dan Friel’s first release for Thrill Jockey, contains two brand new songs, as well as the first ever remixes of his music. “Valedictorian” opens the EP with a burst of adreneline, pure pop filtered through a layer of noise. “Exoskeleton” is more mysterious, with bursts of Friel’s overdriven synths coming in and out of focus over a steady pulse. The first remix is a dancefloor ready take on “Exoskeleton” courtesy of Moss of Aura, the solo project of Gerrit Welmers, one …