An Alphabet Of Fluctuation
"Gerard Lebik and Burkhard Beins create musical forms of minimalist idiom, which consist of isolated sound events as well as gradually revealing harmonies and resonances. Metallic sounds from a large heavy cymbal are amplified and blend with electronically generated sine waves of varying amplitude, unfolding in a continuous glissando. An Alphabet Of Fluctuation is the evidence of how both artists rethink their approach towards deep reduction. One can see here a great sensitivity in determining t…
Voltas
Rotterdam-based quartet Hydra Ensemble features cellists Nina Hitz and Lucija Gregov, double bassist Gonçalo Almeida and Rutger Zuydervelt on electronics. The ensemble is a juncture of four distinctive expressions finding common ground – together they form a four-headed entity that emerges from highly pensive collective improvisations, creating an intricate patchwork of concurrent melodic lines, textural explorations and expansive drones. Its sonic language exists on the cracks of free improvisa…
Absum
As in the Osvaldo Coluccino's own words: "Presence of the work, absence of the author. So muffled, vapor escaping from an old coffer, so dusty and apparently, in some ways, timbrically “primordial” and yet elusive, the first three compositions of the album unfold. The following three increase the dynamism and openness of the timbre. As always in my albums, also in Absum a journey takes place along the tracks that, joined together, make it up. Even in this “raw” timbre paste, emblem of adherence…
Cells #5
Atsuko Hatano is a contemporay classical Viola player who works with electronics to add textures and layers to her sound. Located in Tokyo, Japan, she is a commanding instrumentalist and composer who constructs innovative compositions with strings and layered electronics.Cells #5 is an orchestral collection and sequel to her previous album Cells #2 which will also be released on cassette via Imprec’s Cassauna label. Cells #5 required three years to complete and the work features the artist’s sig…
Ghost Birds
Brian Thummler’s Ghost Birds combines piano improvisations and noise to create a uniquely compelling musical duality. These 7 pieces, selected by John Brien, are inspired by a lifetime of experience, art & poetry as well as Cage, Merzbow, Satie, Sun Ra......
Ghost Birds takes flight with experimental simplicity. The interaction of noise and piano, a synergy that also pushes and pulls, creates profound musical dimensions available to the attentive listener.Ghost Birds was recorded in a studio an…
Polarizer 2
Eleh's Polarizer is a two part series focused on the instant, simultaneous reality of the analog world. Polarizer I and II can be played/mixed simultaneously.
Polarizer 1 (Tape)
Eleh's Polarizer is a two part series focused on the instant, simultaneous reality of the analog world. Polarizer I and II can be played/mixed simultaneously.
To Live A La West I
Every new St. Abdullah record is an attempt to present new ideas and To Live A La West is no exception. Spread out over a CD on Imprec and a cassette on sister label Cassauna, To Live A La West is simply moving, a collection of profound and spiritual tracks miraculously existing at the impossible intersection of free jazz and electro where mystery and clarity exist together. Neither complicated or complex but profound, St. Abdullah’s new work is partially inspired by their love for Jon Hassell’s…
Glide
The Fact of Being are happy to inform about the second step in a series of reissues of early works by Peter Davison. The long-awaited re-edition of a highly acclaimed and innovative album "Glide" 1981 to celebrate its 40th anniversary. "Glide" was the second artist's album. Released in 1981 on vinyl and urgently repressed in 1982 due to high demand it was sold-out fast again and has not been reissued since that. To date, this is one of the rarest and wanted ambient recordings that finally availa…
A Touch Of Grey
The power trio Mirande/English/Skinner has dug out a strangely lit tunnel between the dustier nooks and crannies of the rich and varied 1980’s industrial scene and the just as elusively defined experimental field of today where they themselves reside. While it certainly reeks S*Core, Illusion Of Safety and whathaveyou, their very own fingerprints are all over the place, freshening things up. An out-of-time album we are very pleased to offer!
Ultimate Vibrator
*Limited edition of 300* Usagi is proud present this much sought after gem from the vast Macronympha discography. Released in 1994, Ultimate Vibrator is one of the earlier testaments of Rodger Stella's meticulous editing and mixing genius, and above all his ability to crack open sonic chasms and fill them with the strangest of colors. An older sibling of classic Macronympha mind melters such as Grind and Baroque, but also a more aggressive sonic relative to Stella's work under the One Dark Eye m…
Flare Blues (LP)
Tip! Flare Blues reimagines two of Merzbow’s long out of print EPs from 1994, Flare Gun and White Blues. Revisiting the original pieces and adding previously unreleased materials recorded during these sessions, Flare Blues tethers together a set of Merzbow’s most exploratory work, creating a visceral linkage between a pair of vital works. Originally recorded in June 1994, Merzbow's Flare Gun is a pulsating and hammering collection of pieces that grinds ever forward with a sense of bludgeoning de…
Issue 84: The best of 2021 (Magazine + 2CD)
This is the ES final issue of 2021 with the best releases of the last 12 months for your delectation and delight. Our cover star is LoneLady, the first artist to ever have two records in our Top Five Albums Of The Year, and our bundle edition includes a brilliant double CD featuring a bumper selection of the finest tracks of 2021.
We have reviewed 900 albums over the course of this year and deciding on our favourites has involved endless days of list scribbling, head scratching and pencil chewi…
Musiques d'ordinateur
Sébastien Roux imagines new listening situations. He uses algorithms, games, movement, spatialisation, and diagrams to articulate two complementary notions: the perception of form and the forms of perception.
Musiques d'ordinateur (Computer music) gathers pieces written between 2011 and 2020. The tracks on this CD are the more or less predictable results of more or less complex programs. The sounds and their organization (the score) are calculated. There is no editing nor mixing. The algorithm …
Fallen Gods (2LP)
Fallen Gods is the third studio album by Rapoon aka Robin Storey, formerly of :zoviet*france:. Originally released in 1994, ‘Fallen Gods’ emerged amid a prolific early period for the Rapoon project, following in the wake of debut album ‘Dream Circle’ – originally released in 1992 – and second outing ‘Raising Earthly Spirits’, released a year later. Building on the haunting industrial ethers of ‘Dream Circle’ and the esoteric, rhythmic drone of ‘Raising Earthly Spirits’, ‘Fallen Gods’ consolidate…
Accident In Heaven
Accident In Heaven was originally released in 1987 as a hand-made micro-edition of about 40 cassette tapes. It was only the third ever release on the short-lived now near legendary SDV label which had been established that same year by Konrad Kraft, Bernd Sevens and Dino Oon in Düsseldorf.Finally finding a more substantial and appreciative audience on vinyl over 30 years after its original limited release, Accident In Heaven is a strong testament to the explorative experiments of Detlef Funder a…
Batang Frisco
Founded by Eric Jensen & the late Bill DiMichele (RIP), the lifespan of San Francisco based project Batang Frisco (‘San Francisco Kids’ in the Filipino dialect Tagalog) is inimitably distilled on this solitary self-titled record, an outlandish private press pearl of homespun minimal synth music.Recorded over the course of 1985/6 and self-released in 1986, the one and only Batang Frisco LP was the product of an inconspicuous DIY existence spent in the margins of the Bay Area scene in the 1980s. C…
Derek Jarman Super8 - Soundtracks For Derek Jarman
A stunning set of music created by Simon Fisher Turner in 2010 as soundtrack to some of the early Super8 movies directed by Derek Jarman, released in an uncoated cardboard DVD-sized tri-fold digipack. Room 1 is processed by Simon Fisher Turner from sound sources from Terre’s Neu Wuss Fusion (a.k.a. Terre Thaemlitz), A Crippled Left Wing Soars With the Right (Steal This Record Remix by DJ Sprinkles) courtesy of Comatonse Recordings. Included in this piece is a recording of Jarman talking and stud…
Zeichnungen Des Patienten O.T. (Drawings Of Patient O.T.)
*Reissue of the 1983 album, originally released on Some Bizzare and Rough Trade* "Einstürzende Neubauten's second album marks a radical progression in the band's sound as well as a revolutionary step forward in the realms of industrial and experimental music.
Bassist Marc Chung (ex-Abwärts) and electronics engineer Alexander Hacke (later a member of Crime And The City Solution) joined the band during this time, and singer Blixa Bargeld also became a full-time member of Nick Cave And The Bad See…
Kollaps
*Reissue of the 1981 album, originally released on Zickzack* "Einstürzende Neubauten's first studio record. They established themselves as relentless and pioneering right out of the gate, bringing power tools and metallic percussion into the mix in a never before seen way. This album is more consistent than a lot of their later records, and the standard is very high across the record, but it's still very much a band finding themselves. You can feel the members doing something awesome, but you c…