Musique Experimentale
Cacophonic present a reissue of Musique Expérimentale, originally released in 1962. Further concrète explorations from the second generation of forward-thinking sonic auteurs that would push the boundaries of experimental music known collectively as the Groupe de Recherches Musicales, founded by Pierre Schaeffer. Having found a job in 1936 at Radiodiffusion Française (later Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française, or RTF) as an engineer, Schaeffer developed a newly found interest in music and with t…
Grand Bruit/Stop ! l'horizon
Christian Zanési on Grand Bruit (1991): "The great mobile sound bodies have an ordinary yet amazing ability to place the listener-traveler within, as if he or she was inside a giant double bass, in this case a train stroked by a double bow: the rails and the air. In 1991, I explored this phenomenon during my daily commute from the studio to my home. I used only a 21 minutes recording and treated it as a single sound object. I then processed and enhanced it as a photographer would have don…
Homo Faber, Dum Spiro Spero
Creel Pone treatment of this majorly slept-on set of dark, minimal, surrealist electro-acoustic & Musique Concrète pieces from the Polish composer Joanna Bruzdowicz, a member of the GRM under Pierre Schaeffer’s tutelage between 1968 & 1970 & long-term collaborator of Agnes Varda’s, for whom she scored several films from the mid-80’s on, including “Les Glaneurs et la Glaneuse.” The LP in question (the only one to feature her electronic work) consists of the three-part “Homo Faber” suite - compose…
Le Crabe Qui Jouait Avec La Mer, Conte De Noël
"Le Crabe Qui Jouait Avec La Mer" is a beyoot of a radio-play, based on a short story by Rudyard Kipling, narrated by Jacques Gripel & featuring one of the only full-length bits of Musique Concrète by the ORTF / INA-GRM aligned composer Philippe Arthuys. While heavy french texts pervade the goings on throughout, with it’s all-ages appeal, it’s kind of the first Creel Pone that’s for everybody; "Crabe's" absolutely gorgeous cover - with it’s depiction of psychedelic crustaceans - only sweetens…
Heterozygote / Petite Symphonie...
In the field of biology Heterozygous (Hétérozygote) means: a plant whose heredity is mixed. It implies that Hétérozygote, composed between December 1963 and March 1964, is an attempt to engineer a language located both on the musical and on the dramatic plane. You could call this music "Anecdotal Music" for if the organization of events is purely musical, their choice suggests situations justified at two levels: the music and the anecdote. Luc Ferrari explains the piece Petite Symphonie Int…
Erda / Suite N
Milestone reissue! Jean Schwarz has always been the wild man of the Grm, and also of Celia, his own label. His musical domiciliary rights are not only in the realms of electroacoustics, but also in jazz and extra-European traditions (through his engagement in the Department of ethnomusicology at the Musée de l’Homme in Paris). These varied influences result in a very peculiar electroacoustic music. The influences are not always immediately traceable, but the attitude in Schwarz’s works is maybe …
Gamma Plus
Composed in the studios of the INA-GRM and recorded live on stage. Composed 1979, and originally released on LP in 1983. This is a recording of a performance of the piece by the famous trio of electroacoustics. This trio was formed in 1977 with the sole purpose of giving concert performances of electroacoustic music. The members of the TM+ trio are well-known personalities in the electroacoustic community: Laurent Cuniot, Denis Dufour & Yann Geslin). As per Jean Schwarz words:
A chord in E major…
Grm works
Restocked. Argentine electroacoustic composer Beatriz Ferreyra describes each of the pieces included on GRM Works: Demeures aquatiques (1967): "This electroacoustic piece, articulated into two clearly distinct parts, draws its sound source from the classical and unorthodox instruments -- metal sheets, glass rods, etc. -- invented by the Baschet brothers. I wanted to show the contrast between the rhythmic repetition of a sounding object, which gives out a feeling of fixity, an electroacoustic…
Traces Three
Recollection GRM, a label within the Editions Mego family of labels, offers a third selection from the vast archives of Groupe De Recherches Musicales (GRM). The main idea behind the Traces series is to excavate short, forgotten or ignored pieces of music from the GRM Archives. This third volume, gathering pieces from before 1980, features the works of four composers from very different geographical and musical backgrounds. In addition to echoing the extraordinary vitality of musical experim…
Le Triedre fertile
2014 repress. Recollection GRM is one more label within the Editions Mego family of labels. Its aim is to make available on vinyl the vast archives of Groupe De Recherches Musicales (GRM). Being released in batches of two every three months, it will present both known and lesser-known works. All releases will be re-cut at Dubplates & Mastering and packaged in new artwork by Stephen O'Malley, featuring bi-lingual (French/English) texts. Some of these pioneering works have been out-of-print …
L' Oeil Ecoute / Dedans - Dehors
2014 Repress. Third release on the newly minted eMego offshoot Recollection GRM, two pieces realized by Bernard Parmegiani in 1970. The former is full of negative space and low, coiling drones. For listeners whose only exposure to GRM came in the form of the first two installments in the Recollection GRM catalog, this material will come across as much less frenetic and more cinematic, particularly the beautiful, cosmic landscapes that make up the middle portion of the A-side. "Dedans-Deho…
Traces Two
2014 repress, Recollections GRM presents four "forgotten" and compelling electro-acoustic pieces from the institute's world famous archive. Recollection GRM, a label within the Editions Mego family of labels, offers a second selection from the vast archives of Groupe De Recherches Musicales (GRM). "The idea of the Traces series is to unearth from the GRM Archives short, forgotten, or ignored pieces of music. This second volume, which gathers works prior to 1976, features the 'early' works of f…
Traces One
Another indispensable glimpse into the GRM archive courtesy of the mighty Editions Mego, 2014 repress. Beatriz Ferreyra's "L' Orvietan" (1970) is a work composed of two separate movements, the first drawing from electronic sounds, the second from concrète ones. These two sources do not meet, but tend equally towards sound antagonism and a complementarity of spirit. Philippe Carson Turmac's (1961) was created from machine-sounds from the Stuyvesant factories (Holland). Three movements foll…
L'experience acoustique
Francois Bayle's 'L'Experience Acoustique', Realised between 1966-1972 using the best technology available at the time, this 2 hour opus, powerful and immense in its scope, which explores a universe of electronic sounds and sound relationships. It's an investigation of acoustic sound at its purest levels and borders on psychedelic in effect. Chopping material from the world around him, manipulating it and juxtaposing against other, unlikely sources with illusive sleight-of-hand and haptic te…
Und so weiter / Music Promenade
With the legendary “Studio Reihe Neuer Musik” series, Wergo created a trademark of advanced contemporary music in the Sixties of the past century already. On the occasion of its 50th anniversary, the label now releases these highlights of 20th-century music history in an excellent sound quality on CD for the first time.In "Und so weiter pour piano électrique et bande magnétique", the piano and tape sounds become interwoven in a complex dialogue. "Music Promenade. Mixage originale“ – created in t…
Triola ou Symphonie pour moi-meme
Recollection GRM presents two electroacoustic works by Croatian composer Ivo Malec. Triola (1978): "This piece marked my return to the studio after several years of absence, a return, which for unknown reasons, needed to be part of a rather ambitious project -- a strictly personal idea. This is how my mind slowly turned towards the design of a musical narrative meant to stand for a relearning of the trade, the temptation to use purely electronic material so as change it into something other…
Granulations-Sillages / Franges du Signe
Another remarkable reissue from the hallowed GRM (Groupe de Recherche Musciales) archive in Paris - home to some of the world's most fascinating, advanced electronic music research. The 2nd GRM Recollection was realised in 1974 and 1976 by Guy Reibel (1936, Strasbourg, France), the first assistant to Pierre Schaeffer during his electroacoustic composition courses at the Conservatoire de Paris and a member of GRM from 1963 to 1983. Housed in sleeve designed by Stephen O'Malley,. Cut to vin…
10 ans d’essais radiophoniques
A crucial historical anthology, Dix Ans d'Essais Radiophoniques Du Studio Au Club D'Essai : 1942-1952 documents the decade in which Pierre Schaeffer laid the foundations for musique concrète, capturing the birth of modern sound art and experimental music through pioneering radio and studio experiments.
Perspectives Musicales
Well ... Mr. P.C. C.P. has clearly taken a peek at my “Holy Grail” list - in it, nestled amongst such unattainable classics as Karel Appel’s “Musique Barbare”, Paul Boisselet’s “Le Robot”, and Il Gruppo Nuova Consonanza’s ill-fated Cinevox-label album is the LP in question; a split release featuring a pair of pieces made at the tail-end of the 1960s at the GRM by Jacques Lejeune and Christian Clozier, respectively. Released as part of EMI / Pathe Marconi’s mythical “Perspectives Musicales” serie…