Madame De Shanghai - Après Presque Rien - Visage 2
This is Luc Ferrari’s second disc for Mode and it features three pieces from different periods and for different ensembles, two of which are first recordings. “Visage 2” is for brass and percussion and was written in 1955-56. This is an early work for Ferrari and it is informed by his study of serialism at Darmstadt, yet is based on the confrontation between two sexual bodies (note the lovely nude woman on the cover with Ferrari as he looks over his composition on the page). The music itself is …
Gathering Strengths
third full-length release from this boise, idaho duo following two critically acclaimed efforts - the "sea of sand" double-lp on oesb and "she hid behind her veil" cd on 20 buck spin. pussygutt continue to develop their unique brand of doom soundtrack heaviness on gathering strengths, which features two side-long compositions titled "silence within" & "spirit walker". clarinets, violin, and cello are all prominent - lending this album even more of an avant-classical feel than previous efforts. …
Durée
Back in 1999, on the forefront of the Japanese electronic/acoustic microsound scene, was the then two-piece live improvisation band Minamo (two more members were added in 2001 to make the current four-piece lineup). Their live concerts helped pioneer this hybrid of delicate and natural instrumentation with microscopic electronics and subtle digital processing bringing an organic richness to a genre that threatened to remain coldly digital. Fans of Minamo not lucky enough to see them create their…
German reggae
Teenage Panzerkorps have been playing during these last ten years their unique and special kraut-punk that continues the musical tradition of Neu! and Kraftwerk. They have already produced two lps and lots of eps and singles that offer us lots of interesting songs to hear.“German Reggae”, Panzerkorps’ new effort, is, in my opinion, their best album so far. This album is full of early post-punk rhythms and krautrock melodies. It reminds me of the genre’s most notable bands such as Savage Republic…
The City Wears A Slouch Hat
Long out of print, original copies on the legendary Cortical label, this is the never-before-released radio play collaboration between John Cage and writer/artist Kenneth Patchen performed in 1942. In what has to be one of the oddest Cage pieces ever, professional radio voice talents unravel a truly surreal story in straight '40s radio drama style. Replacing the usual radio drama sound effects is a percussion ensemble led by John Cage which punctuates the dialog throughout. Along with mute…
GPS
Steve MacLeans 5-piece ensemble perform complex, composed polyrhythmic pieces interspersed with atmospheric improvisations for guitar, bass, keyboard, percussion and various objects: a journey through complex, composed polyrhythmic pieces interspersed with careful, atmospheric improvisations for guitar, bass, keyboard, percussion and various objects. There is a quiet rigour, almost a formality, about this CD that is rather unusual for the new century - the compositions are not over-elaborated an…
Outside/Inside
Charlie Nothing was the fractured-psyche pseudonym of author, father, horsekeeper, organic farmer, beekeeper, philosopher and clown Charles Martin Simon, inventor of the dingulator (guitar sculptures made out of the metal from American cars). Charlie's only visible offering to the record buying public was really anything but. Due to its rarity, The Psychedelic Saxophone of Charlie Nothing, issued by Takoma Records in 1967, has been a source of consternation for in-the-know types for years. …
Niente
Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza at the top, in the classic freeform outfit mixed with dry drum breaks with screaching trumpets and guitars. " The love of Morricone for the trumpet is well known, and this instrument is his beloved among the other. In these tracks his genius is particularly noticeable from the amazing result: music very pleasant to the ear. Collector edition, limited to 500 copies only, one time pressing. featuring Ennio Morricone, Franco Evangelisti, Walter Branchi, …
Another Thought
"During his lifetime, classically trained composer, cellist and disco legend Arthur Russell studied and performed with a wide variety of musicians and artists including The Flying Lizards, David Byrne, Rhys Chatham, Ali Akbar Khan, Allen Ginsberg, John Hammond, Peter Gordon, Jon Gibson, Jerry Harrison, Garret List, Frank Pagano, Andy Paley, Leni Pickett and Peter Zummo. In 1979, Russell, working under the name Dinosaur, wrote and produced Kiss Me Again -- the first disco single to be released by…
Autumn's Sun
A small chapbook (50 pages) of writing by guitarist MazzaCane Connors. Autumn's Sunfeatures diary excerpts written in New Haven, CT in 1987. Presumably typeset to resemble his original typewritten document, with hand-written aisle comments left in. A six page piece on Loren's experiences standing outside John & Carolyn Kennedy Jr's loft in July 1999 is included at the end of the book.
Ullakkopalo
This is the first release from Finland's Kemialliset Ystävät since 2007. Kemialliset Ystävät equals Jan Anderzén. He is one of the few Finnish musicians to have achieved renown in the international experimental circuit. In the case of Anderzén -- who also plies a trade as a visual artist -- this is not a matter of juxtaposition between experimental and mainstream, or a calculated career choice. Using music and images, he is busy creating a world that is a law unto itself, a world of exceptional …
Scenes from Cavafy: Music for Gamelan
Lou Harrison’s (1917–2003) long-term love affair with the Indonesian gamelan had its roots in a course he took from Henry Cowell in the spring of 1935. As Harrison refined his understanding of traditional gamelan procedures during the 1980s, he began to transfer these compositional ideas to works for Western instruments. At the same time, Harrison continued to compose for the Indonesian ensemble itself, indulging a fascination for Asia that had been part of his life since his youth while …
Soundtrack to the film: A nice old lady (1959)
'Carl Fredrik Reuterswrd is an artist known for his dadaistic works and Ulf Linde is not only an art professor, he was one of the leading Swedish jazzmen in the early 50s. Usually playing vibraharp. But together with Carl Fredrik on drums they played in small clubs for a while in the late 50s a kind of jazz that is free jazz before it was named that. It is an utterly rare example of free European jazz. Linde plays piano and Reuterswrd drums. The session took place in somebody«s home, the recordi…
(60) Project
The involvement and the contribution of sound materials by over 60 of the world’s leading electronic composers and sound artists, under the control of Mathew Adkins. Composed in 2008, mixed at the GRM and created in the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival for the 60 years birthday of Musique Concrete. With A_dontigny, AGF, Lars Åkerlund, Michael Alcorn, Javier Álvarez, Miguel Azguime, Natasha Barrett, François Bayle, Gonzalo Biffarella, Ludger Brümmer, Mira Calix, Christian Calon, Lawrence …
Along the way
'From Chinese traditional music to avant-garde freestyle improvisation, this beautifully-packaged double-CD features the music created by the meeting of these two extraordinary artists of different cultures and even different generations - violinist Malcolm Goldstein (born 1936), one of the greatest maestros in the field of freestyle improvisation, and Chinese pipa virtuoso Liu Fang, young master on the traditional classical music of China.' label info
Coyote
“Packaged in custom letterpress & offset full-color materials. Originally released on CD by Hydra Head in Spring 2010, TAIGA records now presents the deluxe vinyl version of Kayo Dot’s melodramatic masterpiece “Coyote.” The album was mastered for vinyl by Mell Dettmer, cut direct to metal and pressed on 200g virgin vinyl with full-color labels featuring artwork by Toby Driver. The LP features alternate artwork from the CD version and is packaged in custom letterpress materials as an edition of 7…
N° 1
“Bilinguage (english-french). First issue of the contemporary art journal about sound, devoted to the complex relationships between visual and sound forms, both in contemporary art and history.Featuring: analysis (“A Brief History of Sound Art” by Rahma Khazam; “Sound Art, a Fortified Art” by Bastien Gallet; “Notes on Steve Reich's Pendulum Music” by Christophe Gallois; “A Formless Form” by Mathieu Copeland; “Sound in Artist's Films” by Alexandre Castant, etc.) / “focus” on Philippe Decrauzat's …
Flugangst
'Michael Vorfeld-percussion & stringed instruments. Recorded on May 25 & 26, 2007 by Berserker at Nurnichtnur Studios, Kelve, Germany. Edited by Michael Vorfeld and Michael Walz. Mastered by Michael Walz. Images by Michael Vorfeld. With his most recent solo CD, Michael Vorfeld presents an extreme and unique world of percussive sounds. His set-up consists of various percussion instruments and self-designed string instruments. His uncommon playing methods and further instrumental preparations comp…
My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky
After a fourteen year absence, Michael Gira resurrects his legendary apocalyptic no-wave band for a fabulous new album on his own Young God imprint. Assembling a cast of musicians that includes familiar Swans and Angels Of Light conspirators, Gira also welcomes a few new members to the fold with guest stars including Devendra Banhart, Mercury Rev's Grasshopper, Bill Rieflin (of Ministry, REM and Robyn Hitchcock's band), Shearwater multi-instrumentalist Thor Harris and even Gira's three-and-a-hal…
Heaps of nothing
The second album from Australian band Naked On The Vague, who have doubled in size for this batch of new material. The tone is characterised by dark and fearsomely heavy garage-punk, with a wafer-thin coating of distortion lending a little extra bite to the band's already vicious dynamics. "Bleak, unrepentant, withering and droll, Heaps of Nothing is a 21st century codification of the gallows wit and mesmerizing otherworldliness of (Dub Housing-era) Pere Ubu, Primitive Calculators and L…