New Arrivals
Chikatetsu - Sax Solo
Fushitsusha Tokyo underground legend Tamio Shiraishi in solo alto saxophone solos from different subway stations in Queens, NYC, a unique voice interacting with an extreme urban environment. "Alto saxophone - Tamio Shiraishi. A set of unique site-specific live recordings from one of the true legends of the Tokyo underground, taped at a number of different subway stations in Queens, NYC. Tamio Shiraishi is one of the legends of the Japanese underground. For over thirty years he has continued to …
Vom Klang Des Lebens/Of The Sound of Life
Solo piano, performed by Roger Woodward. "A co-production between Celestial Harmonies and Bayerischer Rundfunk, Vom Klang Des Lebens/Of The Sound of Life features pianist Roger Woodward on a Steinway model D, playing Peter Michael Hamel's cycle of works composed for and dedicated to his wife and new son. The producer/engineer for the recording sessions in January 2006 was Ulrich Kraus. Long before he discerns the light of the world, still in the womb, nascent man begins to sense the sounds of li…
The Minimalism Of Erik Satie
"[...] Satie, the original "Enfant Terrible", was a strange man with strange thoughts that produced strange music with strange titles that don't seem so shocking today ("Jack-in-the-Box", "Driveling Preludes for a Dog", "Dried Embryos"), but considering that he was born two centuries ago, this bad boy of classical music deserves a very close look.Satie lived an unconventional life and demanded the same from those who attempted to sneak a peek into it. For example, his notes to Vexations r…
Musiques Machinales
1 copy only, long out of print - for many years, Pierre BASTIEN has developed his personal music based on musical machines made with Mecano. His orchestra MECANIUM is his backing band both on album and on stage. All this creates a tender, delicate and emotive machine music that seduced Pascal DOMELADE from the beginning. A terrific mixture of J. Dubuffet and John Cage
Old and new acoustics
“All music by Sharif Sehnaoui – no cuts & no overdubbing. Recorded by Fadi Tabbal on the 9th of june 2009 at Bustros palace, Beirut. Mixed & mastered by Fadi Tabbal at Tunefork studios, Beirut. Artwork & design by Mazen Kerbaj. Produced in Lebanon by Al Maslakh.” label info
Vital
In March 2006, Idea Fire Company made their first appearances in Europe. Core members Karla Borecky and Scott Foust linked up with Frans de Waard and hit selected hot spots in The Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. Adding de Waard (Beequeen, Shifts, Kapotte Muziek, Freiband, etc) was a brave gamble that paid off handsomely. Armed with only a tiny digital keyboard (Borecky), a radio/cassette boombox and small echo unit (Foust), and a sawed off MS 20 (de Waard), the trio captivated audiences large…
Daydreaming
Debut album by Seattle's Rafael Anton Irisarri, released in 2007 on Deaf Center's Miasmah label. A splendid but pitch black album based on long piano melodies, distant drones and even more distant glitches, "Daydreaming" is a particularely sad and introvert CD, which takes the most emotional and melancholic side of the other Miasmah releases, but expresses them in a very direct and stripped down way. Splendid.
Soliloques
Gabriel Severin has been active in the field of electronic music for almost two decades (Silk Saw, Jardin D'Usure, Ultraphonist, Rob(u)rang, Dead Hollywood Stars). This sound artist and musician has delved in several disciplines. He likes to research forgotten or obscure avant-gardes.
Coda (For WK)
The new CD-EP (clocking in at 20 minutes exactly) from Stephan Mathieu is a coda to A Static Place (2011, 12k), created with his highly focused setup of two mechanical-acoustic gramophones and computer. Coda (For WK) is dedicated to the legendary “quiet” pianist Wilhelm Kempff, whose 1927 recordings of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 26 Les Adieux from a double 12” 78RPM set on Brunswick were used as input for an autogenerative process. Mathieu’s process emphasizes the archaic beauty and texture of…
Nigeria Afrobeat Special
Nigeria Afrobeat Special is the fourth addition to the Nigeria Special series, a project initiated by Miles Cleret, owner of the Soundway Record label back in 2004. Cleret’s ambition to distinguish the blossoming music scenes of 1970s Nigeria has lent to an indispensable series of CD and LP compilations documenting the influence of western blues, rock and disco amongst artists and musicians versed in the local musical styles of highlife and juju. It was Fela Kuti and his musical and politi…
In Winter
One more new Gianluca Becuzzi release on Silentes, this time in collaboration with Luigi Turra. Composer of musique concrete and graphic designer whose main interest is the musical balance between silence and the tactile perception of sound, Turra’s works were published by labels such as and/OAR, Unfathomless, Non Visual Objects, Smallvoices and many others. A lot has already been written about Becuzzi, here we would just like to remember his historic Darkwave / Industrial project…
Sostrah tinnitus - Stain
Warm, involving, deep and penetrating sounds... Flowing sounds patterns, vibrating drones permeated by a discreet sense of tension, evolving in dark, obscure, foggy, nocturnal atmospheres, violated by raven voices, mysterious noises and sounds of metal objects in motion... And then concrete noises, confused and elusive melodies, feeble light flashes, buried echoes of human voices, distantr whispers, sudden passages of rough sounds, undefined nuisances, subliminal and hypnotic sequences, just lik…
Suite N° 10 \"Ka\" / Suite N° 9 \"Ttai\"
Scelsi's works usually originated as transcribed improvisations; therefore they are never based on superficialities of form or compositional technique but always directly reveal the core of their message. Pianist Marianne Schroeder reports that Scelsi recommended daily improvisational practice as a method for discovering one's own creativity; and on his Suite No. 9 "Ttai" the composer is said to have commented: "Play it whenever you're sad. And when you're in high spirits." In Ttai, which links …
Ceremonies to breathe upon
Two contrabass players here, Andrew Lafkas, of whom I not really heard I think and Michael T. Bullock, of whom I did hear before, and know as someone who likes his improvised playing to be minimal - to say the least. I think Bullock at times also uses electronics, but I am not if he uses any of that here. Its not mentioned on the cover, nor the fact that this is perhaps a live concert. I do however think this is a live recording, however one with no audience, but a direct-to-track recording of t…
Night maps
Since the release of Saddleback’s acclaimed 2004 debut Everything’s A Love Letter, Tony has found increasing demand for his touch behind the recording desk. Tony’s studio is housed in his Kangaroo Valley residence on the south coast of New South Wales. Found inside are all sorts of instruments including various guitars, percussion makers, horns, a clarinet, a double bass, piano and a specially-fashioned drum set. Having arranged and played these on other peoples’ work – most notably for Sydney’s…
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…
Out Of This World's Distortions
Farmers By Nature – drummer Gerald Cleaver, bassist William Parker, and pianist Craig Taborn – a fully-improvising unit, a complete musical collective. Each of these men are highly regarded & admired composers and bandleaders in their own right; their coming together to create new music is always an auspicious and deeply fruitful occasion. Superbly attuned listeners and masterful players of their respective instruments, they are without question one of the finest improvising units / musical grou…
Selections From The Symphonies (For Electric Guitars)
Intro sampler collection of Glenn's various guitar orchestra classics for the uninitiated. Glenn has personally selected a track listing representative of his absolute unique-on-this-planet vision, with material ranging from the delicate celestial beauty of Symphony No. 3 to the demonical, otherworldly terror unfurled in No. 10. Selections is the ultimate 'in' to Branca's work if you're yet unacquainted with the most influential composer of the era.
Birth Canal Blues
Birth Canal Blues is the first CD release on Coptic Cat, the new label started by David Tibet and Current 93. The album consists of one 20-minute song in four movements that sets the basic narrative structure of Anok Pe Current 93's new Hallucinatory Mountain trilogy, whose first part, Invocation of Hallucinatory Mountain, is due in January 2009. Birth Canal Blues was recorded by Tibet, Baby Dee, John Contreras, and Andrew Liles. The packaging includes an 8-page color booklet with photographs fr…
Shrine Of The Post
Now I've seen the Starving Weirdos play live, which always tends to blur opinions of a band's recorded material. If you see a band play and they are a bunch of obnoxious f*ckwits with no clue what they're doing it can colour your judgement somewhat and make a record seem a lot worse than it is, and if you see a band that are just frankly very awesome indeed and lovely folk to boot, then it can give you a different focus when you hear them on cd. Thankfully Humbolt crew Starving Weirdos fal…