New Arrivals
Our Bed Is Green
With ethics that even Igor Stravinsky would be proud of, 'Our Bed is Green' was originally released by the Charalambides on cassette way back yonder in 1992 before it made it onto CD then vinyl and now back onto double CD as part of Kranky's reissue series. Comprised of heavy-psych veteran Tom Carter and Christina Madonia, Charalambides are an aural vulture that picks through disperate genres and styles to find the sound that best matches that in their heads. Opening with the overt fragili…
Hole in the heart
Here at last, is part of the "missing link" in the long and ever evolving history of ramleh. This material bridges the gap between the (for want of a better description) early "power electronics” material and the (for want of a better description) later "noise rock" . Neither of these terms do justice to this pioneering group led by Gary Mundy. Originally issued by Gary's own "Broken Flag” label in 1987 on cassette, "Hole in the Heart" is presented here, both expanded and remastered on a double …
Null II & Null III
Null II and Null III are the second and third part of the well-known Italian/Swiss composer’s massive electronic work on the theme of “nothing” (Null), whose first part saw the light with the 2010 Die Schachtel “Null” edition in ZeitComposers series.In this pieces Archetti’s thick sound drones borders on the edge of tonality as their many layers develop with a sort of “geological” pace. The work is in fact intended as a musical research on the “interior” of sound, obtained by large masses of sou…
Trio
The expansive length of Morton Feldman’s Trio (1 hr., 45 min., 22 sec.) requires a new approach to listening, which takes scale, the physical experience of sound, and novel uses of musical memory into consideration. With his delicate manipulation of musical materials, Feldman blurs the listener’s sense of time as their musical memory struggles to distinguish between past and present sounds - listeners are free to lose themselves in the beauty of each musical moment. Aki Takahashi and Rohan…
Technology 1 & 2
First issued as a very limited private tapes in 1981, now for the first time ever on CD for these early tapes by one of the most important figures in noise/electronic history, Maurizio Bianchi. These two discs were originally issued on tape in 1981 and have been bootlegged and cut into oblivion since then; this is the first time they've been made available digitally and fully uncut. Technology 1 has two long 25 min+ songs, both in a similar vein and showing MB taking a more subtle melodic approa…
Mal des ardents / Pantonéon
eRikm, turntables, electronics, live sampling. Catherine Jauniaux, voice, bird call, cupule, cazoo. In the beginning, there are stories, sometimes dark, told by Catherine Jauniaux. With stunning ease, she invents imaginary conversations where several protagonists spring from deep in her throat, like rabbits out of a hat, like actors from Japanese Noh theatre. eRikm's electronic sounds fuse and infiltrate hers creating an unsettling environment Ð clearing the way or tangling it up in a so…
Falls Of Time
Ahead of their time, the enigmatic Italian band A.t.r.o.x. were one of the first bands to move beyond the new wave styles and introduce strong electronic elements, an abstract-minimal heart attack in the best possible way. Lovely double CD set with their entire production.
Tramp (Deluxe Edition)
2CD deluxe edition includes the album, demos for each album track, plus a bonus track demo. Repackaging includes a self-portrait & liner notes about each song taken from VAN ETTEN's journals. A startling collection, filled w/ as much defiant rock as pious, minimal beauty. There are declarative hymns, & remarkably sultry numbers. Guest appearances from Jenn Wasner (WYE OAK), JULIANNA BARWICK, Zach Condon (BEIRUT). NO CANADA/NO EXPORT(SAKI)
Viva Negativa! A Tribute To The New Blockaders Vol. II
Volume II in a series of UK / European / US and Japanese artists' tributes to the pioneering UK Noise group The New Blockaders including exclusive tracks by : Asmus Tietchens, RLW, Achim Wollscheid, Runzelstirn & Gurgelstock, Sudden Infant, Dave Philips, Das Synthetische Mischgewebe, Kommissar Hjuler, Mama Baer, Freiband, Vortex Campaign, Grunt, Lasse Marhaug, Jerome Noetinger, Christian Renou, Pita, Giancarlo Toniutti, Zbigniew Karkowski, Alexei Borisov, Cisfinitum, etc. Artwork by Richa…
Suspensão
'Ernesto Rodrigues - viola, harp, metronomes, objects. Guilherme Rodrigues - cello. Gil Gonçalves - tuba. Nuno Torres - alto saxophone. Abdul Moimeme - prepared electric guitars. Armando Pereira - accordion, toy piano. Carlos Santos - electronics, piezo elements. José Oliveira - percussion.' (label info)
Four malleable
This is a limited edition of 300 copies. "Imaginative Elements" (2004), "From Modified Tapes" (2005), "Sceneries" (2006), and "Nocturne" (2009). "My work over the last several years has focused on the investigation of aural phenomena, environment, spatial listening, structure, natural and evolving processes, function, possibilities, and materiality. My interests have led me to explore acoustics, psychoacoustics, binaural beats, and diverse methods of recording sound, and the application of syste…
Atrees / Nomos Alpha
The works on these two discs were all written in the 1950s & 60s, at a time when Xenakis was at his most productive. It has to be said that, to the casual listener, this is not easy listening. However, to the more adventurous collector and to those prepared to explore new musical avenues, this set of the music of Xenakis will prove a rare and valuable opportunity. Featured works: Atrées, Morsima-Amorsima, Nomos Alpha, ST/4, Akrata.
ØØ Void
Lengths of stretched distortion rattle the grey matter, unnervingly slow and severe. With Sunn O)))’s second album, ØØ Void, the sonic misery nurtured to functionality by Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley stays simple and repetitive, a tabula rasa having yet to realize the full scope of its potential. With this album, Sunn O))) worked as a three-piece, collaborator Stuart Dalquist coming up with its opener, “Richard,” which is a solid fourteen and a half minutes of bending low end and v…
Spiral I & II, Pole, Wach, Japan, Zykus,
amazing (an cheap) double CD set featuring most of the Stockhausen "intuitive music" (ie quasi improvised). The first piece is Zyklus for solo percussion performed here by Tristan Fry in 1974. Zyklus was one of the first works with a graphic score allowing the performer some freedom to improvise. In the late 60s Stockhausen developed the idea of scores which determined a process rather than the exact content & his group toured the world playing this music. Several pieces are included her…
Forbidden Planets, Volume 2
Subtitled: More Music From The Pioneers Of Electronic Sound. "Further to Chrome Dreams' enormously popular first Forbidden Planets CD comes this superb second volume of music from the pioneers of electronic sound. Compiled and annotated once more by music historian Alan Clayson, and featuring his extensive sleeve-notes, the two discs here, featuring 142 minutes of some of the strangest sounds ever recorded, will again delight fans of this most intriguing and previously un-compiled genre." …
W2 (1998-2008)
"We think that we « make a journey » but soon enough it's the journey that makes – and unmakes - us." (Nicolas Bouvier, "l'usage du monde"). When I listen today to these pieces, I hear, of course, a geographic inventory of all the places I encountered. Above all, though, and as if by default, I hear the sonic journal of twelve years spent recording sound.My relation to the sites wasn't based on a desire to « document » but it is worth noting, however, that a « sound story », more trivial perhaps…
Thousands Raised to the Sixth
2012 release ** The most recent solo incarnation of pioneer Campbell Kneale (Birchville Cat Motel, Black Boned Angel, et al.), this is the definitive OLWDTW release spanning two discs. Crowning achievement in a prolific and highly collectable catalog. Solo project of Campbell Kneale, formerly Birchville Cat Motel, and one-half of Black Boned Angel. Packaged in an oversized 5.5" square folder with two art inserts and music spanning two discs, each in an envelope.
Still Some Light
legendary Bill Fay released two brilliant but poor-selling albums between 1967 and 1971 before disappearing from the public eye. He spent much of the following decade writing, rehearsing, and occasionally performing--all with no contract or record company support. In recent years, reissues of his now-sought-after original albums along with a pair of releases containing previously unreleased material have renewed interest in the English artist. Coptic Cat is pleased to announce the release of Fay…
The Temple Recording
I am currently making recordings like this: I go to a certain place and choose an object Ð mainly it is a landscape, which is interesting to me. I fix a stethoscope with a small built-in air mike onto my temples. The position of the air microphone can be set anywhere near the ears, but I feel that our temples are the best and only place for that. The stethoscope captures vibrations of my muscles and blood flows. Because of the nature of the air microphone, environmental noises are recorded, t…
Untitled (2010)
The next part of the ongoing series of annual reports, consisting of various untitled pieces made in 2010. Different in approach and composition techniques, the tracks of this double album presents the current showcase of one of the most important composers on the underground spanish scene. Using raw source materials from David Newman, 30-second original seed recordings collectively mutated into a myriad sound materials (by David Longa, Ryan Beppel, Daniel Puig, Colin Wambsgans, Martin Sa…