New Arrivals
Primal Communication
One straight track, no over dubbing or editing. Recorded on July 2007, at H&H Production studio, Easton, PA. Recorded by Tatsuya Nakatani. Mastering by Johan Vandermaelen. Alongside NY percussion improviser Sean Meehan, Tatsuya Nakatani's approach to percussion uses alternative methods of interacting with traditional percussive instruments. The sounds here are subtle, resonant, introspective, and always interesting. (metamkine.com)
Bebe Godzilla
The first solo album of Patrick Gauthier (ex. Heldon, Magma, Weidorje) in 1981. Magma+Heldon sound! The original LP was released on CY Records in 1981. Featuring: Christian Vander, Bernard Paganotti, Richard Pinhas, Francois Auger, Didier Batard, David Rose etc. Reissue with elaborate miniature paper sleeve of the original LP. 2007 digital remaster version, limited 1,000 copies
Cellos
The association between Ulrich Mitzlaff and Miguel Mira promises an unforeseeable sound meeting. The specific, personal and different ways of their distinguished expression is the base for their very dynamic and interactive music. They create sounds where the improvisation moves with great fluency between the establishing of textures and abstract musical ideas and the switching in the musical discourse to singular, rhythmic and melodic affirmations. They construct the sonar explorations using th…
Harvey Milk
Following critical acclaim of Harvey Milk’s latest album Life… the Best Game in Town (2008), the band’s current home Hydra Head, has gone into the archives for this new/old album. Originally recorded in 1993 by one Bob Weston, these recordings never officially saw the long-playing light of day. Until now. The band is known for being somewhat curmudgeonly, and this proto-debut is fittingly nasty and strangely disconnected. Not for the ‘Milk the youthful exuberance of early spotty Metallica or gri…
Unisono
Eight musicians play the same virtual synthesizer programmed by myself with Max/MSP following a precise score. They start with the same sound but while slowly modifying each parameter they transform it from within, grinding up its entrails. The listener is positioned at the center of a sound at once unique and multiple. The version on this CD is a live recording made at Les Voûtes in Paris in June 2008 by the CLSI (Circle for the Liberation of Sounds and Images) directed by Paul Méfano. Th…
What A Beautiful Place
CD edition, lavishly packaged: In the last couple of years there's been no shortage of lost folk albums re-appearing for the world to enjoy once more, and the wonderful Numero Group label (which is fast becoming one of our most loved imprints...) has managed to find another. Hailing from the bleak northern city of Halifax, Catherine Howe was initially trained at drama school, gaining a brief stint in Doctor Who ('The Underwater Menace' for all you Whovians out there, wink wink) among othe…
Ore
Fluid forms of drones, doomy laments, & folk melodies fleshed out from a backbone of sine oscillators & violin. Behind these droning squalls is the lone figure of Marielle Jakobsons. Armed w/ her tiny army of sonic weapons, she concocts a lavaflow of melodies only to then bury them underneath a flowing river of muck. Limited to 500.
Cristallisation
Over 4 hours of improvisations were recorded over these two days in april 2010. We then trimmed the sound sequences and the silence, while keeping our specific interactions and phrasing of sounds between us and with the location. But sound is a flexible material and what remains of this session are frequencies that are like vestiges to be reinvented. To help this there is some 'presence'. The acoustic character and the intense immobility that fill the air of the chapel of Las Planques, in the da…
Un Coeur Simple
Stephan Mathieu's latest work transforms music made for Gustav Flaubert's titular play. First published as part of the book Trois Contes (Three Tales) in 1877 and translating to 'A Simple Heart', the text, a modern rereading of an old tale, makes for a neat analog to Mathieu's sonic practice - augmenting recordings of obsolete formats - wax cylinders, 78s - and early instruments by computer processes. Using pieces written by early renaissance composer Guillaume Dufay (1400-1474) and performed in…
An Angel Fell Where the Kestrels Hover
Third full length release for 2009, coming hard on the heels of Bright Failing Star and Snow Blind. Recorded in tandem with Snow Blind in London during July 2007, covering themes based on seasonal changes and mood swings. Where Snow Blind was harsh, unrelenting and a little pissed off, An Angel Fell Where The Kestrels Hover shows a more reflective and melancholic approach. Comes in a beautiful book-sized wallet designed by mondii featuring photography by PW. Full details and interview here.
The Hexagram on Grace
Third soloist album by Roberto Opalio (My Cat Is An Alien, Painting Petals On Planet Ghost, Praxinoscope). During the same period of self isolation in the Westrn Alps that brought to life MCIAA's 'Photoelectric Season' double album, Roberto conceived the creation of his new full-lenght album, inspired by the mystic aura of the nature surrounding himself. Focusing himself on his peculiar wordless vocalizations, and using simply a mini-key…
We Shall Overtone
Long overdue second release by Renato for LVD. As with Horse Frenzy and his contributions to the Invisible Pyramid and Crows of the World comp, Renato shows his unique vision for what music can be; drawing comparisons to virtually nothing else out there. More varied that his previous Hoarse Frenzy, WSO integrates elements of folk, pure electronic experimentation, and even elements of jazz--building at times into highly satisfying complex structures, ebbing away creating new patterns. For thos…
Whiskey Leaves
The duo of Aiko Kogo & Anthony Guerra 1st made their presence known on a micro-edition CD-R from New Zealand's Pseudoarcana. Guerra sets the pace w/ layers of makeshift percussion & guitar. Kogo also plays ukelele, but it's her voice that is the real focal point on the album. This is fractured pop perfection.
Hell driver
'Performed, recorded by Juntaro Yamanouchi. Five years recordings 1992-1996. No overdubs. No EQ. No effect. As final tribute.'
Consequenz
Commercial Schnitzler? How quickly, how prematurely are opinions and judgements bandied about when an artist suddenly changes the form of his work. Conrad Schnitzler fell under such a cloud when, after 1978, his songs, for a time at least, did not exceed the catchy compactness of pop songs, while their harmonies and rhythms seemed to be drifting towards pop. Produced by Peter Baumann (Tangerine Dream) the Con (1978) album and the Auf dem schwarzen Kanal 12" EP (1980) ushered in this phase, …
Silent Partner
There’s probably not much to say about punk’s continued existence. Like jazz or sitcoms or party politics, it just carries on eating and breathing and shitting and propogating. It’s only interesting when someone comes along trying to advance the form. Like “Arrested Development” or Dennis Kucinich, they’re usually forgotten. This would all be relevant if Neptune were a punk band, which we’re not at all sure is the case. They create a sense of undermining the status quo, which is pretty pun…
La journée de l\'existence
“Ivan Wyschnegradsky (1893-1979). "The Day of Existence". Confession of life before life. For orchestra and narrator. Text and music by Ivan Wyschnegradsky. With Mario Haniotis (speaker), Nouvel Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France under the direction of Alexandre Myrat. "Ivan Wyschnegradsky had to wait sixty years to hear the first performance of his masterwork, La Journée de l'Existence, which he had conceived and composed beginning in 1916 in Saint Petersburg. And we have had to wait anot…
Music for a distance
Music for a Distance is the second release in the small music series. The title of the work in relation to the cover images (abstract photographs of Julius’ wife resembling landscapes merging into a distant horizon) suggests a work of uncommon poetic perception and inspiration. With the opening track "Music for a Distance," Julius achieves a sensitive balance of unpredictability and deliberate design, at times resembling a symphony of insects, complete with crickets and cicadas and rustling leav…
Tenkujin
Fifth and final release by Far East Family Band (if you include the 1973s Nihonjin released under the Far Out banner), Tenkujin was the first of the bands albums to be released in the US on the small and short-lived Calfornian-based All Ears label. Without Kitaro, who by this time had departed to persue a solo career, the band reverted to its earlier balled-based sound, this time supported on drums by former Samurai alumnist Yujin Harada. The expected Pink Floyd influences appear in abundance, a…
Near And Faraway
Joint release by Italian ambient musician FABIO ORSI & SEAWORTHY, a 3 piece collective from Sydney. Each artist contributes a solo track which in turn bookend a collaborative composition that forms the album's centerpiece.