- "For anyone who still associates Oren Ambarchi exclusively with the clipped, bass-heavy tones of solo electric guitar works such as Suspension, this rhythmically churning one-man-band monster of an album-length piece might seem to come out of nowhere. However, listeners who have followed the breadth of his work for the last few years (solo and in projects with collaborators from Jim ORourke to Stephen OMalley and Keith Rowe to Keiji Haino) will have noted how Ambarchi has allowed increasingly clear traces of his enthusiasms as a music listener (for classic rock, minimal techno and 70s fusion, among other areas) to surface in his performances and recordings, all the time filtering them through his signature long-form structures and psychoacoustic sonics.
Recorded in a single inspired studio session, Sagittarian Domain displaces Ambarchis trademark guitar sound from the centre of the mix, its presence felt only as an occasional ghostly reverberated shimmer. Endlessly pulsating guitar and bass lines sit alongside electronic percussion and thundering motorik drumming (familiar from his work with Keiji Haino) at the core of the piece, locking into a voodoo groove like Faust covering a 70s cop show theme. The work is founded on hypnotic almost-repetition, the accents of the drum hits and interlocking bass and guitar lines shifting almost imperceptibly back and forwards over the beat as they undergo gradual transformations of timbre. Cut-up and phase-shifted strings enter around the half-way mark like an abstracted memory of the eastern-tinged fusion of the Mahavishnu Orchestras classic Visions of the Emerald Beyond, before returning for an extended, stark yet affecting come-down coda, equal parts Gavin Bryars and Purple Rain.
While Sagittarian Domain contains traces of a diversity of influences, it mines all of them to uncover something that is clearly an extension of Ambarchis own investigations up to this point, exhibiting the same care for micro-detail and surrender to the physicality of sound that are present in all of his work, extending them in new ways to repetition, pulse and rhythm."
- Francis Plagne @ Editions Mego
- And now available on emusic for 3,43 : Emeralds - Just to Feel Anything
Emeralds is Mark McGuire, Steve Hauschildt and John Elliott.
Thanks to Russell Brill, Mark Fell, Peter Rehberg, Jamie Stillman and Ben Vehorn
Special thanks to Andrew Veres.
-Just to Feel Anything, the new album by Emeralds, surpasses all expectations, just as its predecessor, Does It Look Like Im Here, did in 2010. This expertly recorded new album sees the band deliver plenty of their distinctive aesthetic for old fans to enjoy while offering a new range of fresh, exciting ideas for newcomers.
'Before Your Eyes' begins the record with a steady build-up, which bleeds into humid layers of synthesizer pads and warm guitar. The track sets the tone perfectly for 'Adrenochrome', a fast-paced excursion into new territory for the band. The calm after the storm appears in the form of 'Through & Through', with its contemplative strokes and heart-wrenching atmospherics. 'Everything Is Inverted' is an energetic rush of monolithic guitar leads, pulsing drum machine, and driving sequences.
Still, it's on the second half of Just to Feel Anything, a triptych of tracks, where Emeralds adroitly demonstrate why they are a cut above their contemporaries. 'The Loser Keeps America Clean' kicks off the b-side by diving into the deepest fathoms of their experimental oeuvre. As the final bursts of static dissipate we are led into the opening chords of the eponymous 'Just to Feel Anything' a new zenith in Emeralds' repertoire. The album closer, 'Search For Me in the Wasteland' sees mounting layers of brightly strummed guitar chords blossom into a storm of color and expertly crafted textures-- a truly majestic end to an immense album.
With Just to Feel Anything, Emeralds shine a laser-sharp light into the future, while preserving their uniquely intelligent historical perspective. The long-awaited next chapter in the Emeralds discography is finally here, emerging as a sophisticated progression in both sound and structure."
- Editions Mego
- "Edward Ka-spel, best known as lead singer, musician, and co-founder of The Legendary Pink Dots presents his newest work Ghost Logik. The disc represents a voyage into the most hidden recesses of the subconscious mind and flows with the dream-like quality unique to Ka-spel and his work. The atmospheres of the songs range from vast ambient spoken word spaces to enduring psychedelic ballads where the warmth of Ka-spel’s voice moves with us in solitary, dilated harmony. Meandering throughout the tracks of this eclectic opera is the sense of a conceptual overlay, tied to images of abandoned abodes and ancient spirits. An epic return and one of the most cohesive albums this artist has composed in recent years." - Rustblade
- Excellent news from Talvihorros on Denovali Records:
- "'Let Us Be Thankful We Have Commerce' was the inaugral, cassette-only release on London-based publishing house My Dance The Skull. It was composed as a response to the worrying grasp of consumerism over much of western society. Inspired by the first few Talvihorros live improvisational shows a small, primitave set-up consisting of guitar, mixer, casio keyboard, effects and percussion were used to create two long, vibrant and constantly shifting pieces."
- Emusic
- "Talvihorros is London based composer Ben Chatwins study of guitar and electronics. Numerous techniques are used to coax a myriad of sounds from both acoustic and electric guitars. Home-made and vintage electronic equipment are used to process and manipulate recorded material into dense and dark sound collages, augmented with analogue synths, organs, bells, percussion and static.
Talvihorros improvises live with an electric guitar through pedals and is often joined by a percussionist. He has shared the stage with Tim Hecker, Barn Owl, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, Machinefabriek and Stephan Mathieu." http://www.talvihorros.com/
Co-led by Mike Reed and Jason Adasiewicz, two of the fastest-rising young stars of Chicago's insanely vibrant jazz scene, Living by Lanterns was formed specifically to bring together four of Chicago's and four of New York's leading players for a special and unique project concept.
Commissioned by Experimental Sound Studio (ESS), the music was created in response to material contained in ESSs vast Sun Ra Audio Archive. Rather than a Sun Ra tribute, Reed and Adasiewicz have crafted a melodically rich, harmonically expansive body of themes orchestrated from fragments extracted from a rehearsal tape marked "NY 1961", featuring Ra on electric piano, John Gilmore on tenor sax and flute, and Ronnie Boykins on bass.
Etc. Image links to Bandcamp, where you can hear a track. This is also reviewed in the NYT Playlist column today.
- "A List of the Burning Mountains is the latest studio album by Brooklyn psych/noise/kraut godfathers Oneida. It was recorded at the Ocropolis, the band's longtime studio, and it is a powerful, sweeping gesture that evokes the storied history of that space and Oneida's dedication to a diehard independent music and art community in fashion-driven Brooklyn. This is true underground sound from a band that has released twelve albums in fifteen years and has been hailed by the New York Times, NPR, Time Out NY and the Village Voice as an original, essential voice in the history of New York's towering experimental music lineage.
Brutal and gorgeous, churning and soothing, Burning Mountains is less a traditional album than a tiny sip from an endlessly roiling sea. Oneida is known for long-form improvised performances and collaborations; this release, with its drunken-master drumming, howling guitar and scouring drones, serves as a concentrated blast from a wholly unique band known for 12-hour live, improvised performances and multi-day recording sessions." - Jagjaguwar
- "Life Has Not Finished With Me Yet, Piano Magics 11th official album sees them emerging from beneath the wreckage of previous guitar-heavy releases to re-investigate the darker, more electronic sonic themes of their earlier work. Instant parallels will inevitably be drawn with the ghostly chamber pop of 1999s Artists Rifles and the even-earlier surreal romanticism of Low Birth Weight. At the core, once again, Glen Johnsons unashamedly nihilistic ruminations on the human condition, though now shrouded in foggy analogue synth washes, pulsing heart beats, cathedral reverbs and Joe Meek-esque spectral vox. Indeed, this is an album of beautiful, indispensable baroque ghostliness, of disconnected hearts and oceans. Touchstones would be the new, airless beauty of Regis and Raim; the timeless gravitas of Dead Can Dance and the urban, though melodic isolationist output of late 70s/early 80s Factory Records."
- "Since 1996, Piano Magic have established themselves as something of an oxymoron : a popular underground band. Previously hailed as a secret love amongst European darkwave enthusiasts, recent concerts in their home city of London have revealed a confident foray into quieter, more fragile, melodic material, eschewing the dynamic, cathartic guitar barrages of recent albums, Part Monster and Ovations. Often cited for their selective collaborations (with Vashti Bunyan, Low, Dead Can Dance), Life Has Not Finished With Me Yet is the group stripped back to the core of Glen Johnson, Jerome Tcherneyan, Angele David Guillou, Franck Alba and Alasdair Steer, albeit with a small supporting orchestral cast. Josh Hight (of Irons) adds his voice to Judas, The Way We Treat The Animals and A Secret Never Told."
- Second Language Music
Wires under tension - Replicant.
There's a free track at emusic today.
In the 1940s, frustrated with the limitations of the human players at his disposal, Conlon Nancarrow started writing music for the player piano, an instrument that could "perform" his difficult and complex rhythmic pieces with precision and consistency. Similar to Nancarrow's early experiments with sequencing, Christopher Tignor's compositions on the new Wires Under Tension album Replicant use machines to create "impossible" scenes that confound and intrigue our mind's ear.
With a battery of custom built software instruments, samples, and 7 live lopers, Tignor and master percussionist Theo Metz saturate our senses with new colors reflecting the urgent vitality of their South Bronx neighborhood. At times the two seem to lock talons like eagles in a death spiral, as Metz's brutal percussive athleticism keeps pace with Tignor's machines in an aural game of chicken.
Inspired by Philip K Dick's Do Android's Dream of Electric Sleep? and its film adaption, Blade Runner, Replicant takes on the questions of mechanized identity, the feeling of flawed copies, and the inescapable bummer of being too self-aware. Throughout the album, Tignor and Metz lean into the impossible musical moments, challenging the identity of what this music is and where it comes from. As the mechanized forces hybridize with the duo's live performance, new musical identities with their own evolving culture emerge within a landscape that does not, and simply cannot, differentiate between where the programming ends and expressive intent begins. (MusicDirect)
From the Internet Archive. This is really stunning Experimental/Outer Limits stuff, so as an exception posted here as a new and notable.
BTW: the building on the cover is Rudolph Steiner's Goethe Anum.
ETA: My plan was to make a seperate Belorukov thread because there's so much brilliant music from him out there, but this will have to do, at least for the time being . . .
- "Sergey Galunenko (aka Galun) is a musician from Moscow/Russia who's known for his experiments with live beatboxing processed real-time with his laptop.
Ilia Belorukov (b.1987) is a musician from Saint-Petersburg, Russia. He works in the direction of improvised, noise and electroacoustic music. He’s a member of different projects such as Wozzeck, Wooden Plants, Benzolnye Mertvecy, Punktieren and others. He collaborates with musicians who work in other genres (from hardcore and metal to academic contemporary music); with dancers and painters; with theater. Ilia practices an experimental approach of sound extraction on alto saxophone, uses laptop, electric-guitar and other instruments. Also he is a founder of Intonema label. Organizer of events in Russia, co-organizer of the Teni Zvuka festival.
Ilia had played with such musicians as David Stackenäs (Sweden), Lucio Capece (Argentina), Radu Malfatti (Austria), Ignaz Schick (Germany), Darius ?iuta, Arturas Bumšteinas (Lithuania), Topias Tiheäsalo, Janne Tuomi (Finland), Edyta Fil, Rafal Mazur (Poland), Thomas Buckner, Eyal Maoz (USA), Yuriy Yaremchuk, Alla Zagaykevich (Ukraine), Vladislav Makarov, Roman Stolyar, Alexei Borisov, Vyacheslav Gayvoronskiy, Sergey Letov, Alexey Lapin (Russia) and many others." - Nexsound Last.fm
In case you were wondering, SSTUDIOS is not a long-overdue compilation of chillwave Phil Collins covers. Like a jazz improv label with customized synths and samplers in place of brass parts and brushed drums, the Software/Mexican Summer imprint is actually a duet-driven exploration of experimental and electronic music, as curated by Daniel Lopatin (Oneohtrix Point Never) and his part-time production partner Joel Ford (Airbird, Ford & Lopatin). And while that may sound as exciting as the purely academic pages of Wire magazine the parts that make us feel like were back in a philosophy class about Lacan and David Lynch Lopatins inaugural entry with Tim Hecker is seamless to the point of sounding like an entirely new entity. Its a dizzying procession of extraterrestrial drone tones, wobbly radio waves, teeth-gnashing white noise and pure ambient moods that work better than Ambien ever did. A shining example of two Type B personalities meeting each other halfway, and arriving at something thats greater than the sum of their parts. (emusic)
Otto A Totland / Erik K Skodvin (Deaf Center)
Harmony From The Past
Otto A Totland and Erik K Skodvin are perhaps best known for their beautiful Deaf Center records on Type. For the first time, 'Harmony From The Past' features them working solo on the same record. The title refers to their shared history, beginning as school friends in Langesund, southern Norway to discovering they had a mutual obsession with music and computers and eventually recording incredibly bleak, yet life affirming music together. Yet their lives have diverged over the same period, which is where we find them now, Otto presenting a suite of three piano pieces - his first ever solo material - and Erik working for the first time with percussion and feedbacked electro-acoustic guitar. The results are, almost predictably, dark and mysterious: Otto's keys sounding like icy water dropping in a great hall, and Erik's 'Blind' impressively revealing a dynamic new angle to his oeuvre, one we'd love to hear him explore further. Limited copies - Highly Recommended. (boomkat)
Tim Hecker & Daniel Lopatin - Instrumental Tourist
- "Few modern performers manipulate sound quite as aggressively or effectively as Tim Hecker and Daniel Lopatin. Both are pioneering electronic musicians: Lopatin operates under the name Oneohtrix Point Never, while Hecker has been making innovative solo records since the beginning of this century.
The crafting of sound that goes on in their collaboration — and in a concert of theirs I witnessed recently at Moogfest — feels a bit like improvisations by two talented but outlandish jazz musicians. The sparks fly on Instrumental Tourist, as the album's soundscapes hypnotize, jar, fascinate and even annoy. There's a sense of playfulness to Hecker and Lopatin's work, even as it's virtually impossible to tell who's playing what. The two are nearly indistinguishable on Instrumental Tourist, forming a single enveloping organism even as they dump their own daring and distinct ideas into the mix." - NPR
- "When legendary noise duo Yellow Swans dissolved just prior to releasing ‘Going Places’, it left in its wake two musicians with very distinct but very different voices. Pete Swanson’s post-YS technoid experimentations have been well documented, but that still leaves Gabriel Saloman, who after leaving the group buried himself headfirst in sounds and images that were possibly even further away from his comfort zone. ‘Adhere’ is Saloman’s first ‘proper’ album, and finds him stripping away the blood, sweat and tears of his old band and revealing a rich seam of ominous restraint. Delicately picked strings, piano and hocking woodblock percussion are drowned in reverb and drawn out in cold anguish giving a cracked, minimalist mirror to the work of fellow Miasmah alums Kreng or Elegi. A softly spoken record, while ‘Adhere’ pushes away Saloman’s noise history, none of his well-documented intensity is discarded and lost. Instead the blistering punk nihilism is allowed to simmer and boil over in different ways, and the occasional moments of post-Cocteau Twins shimmering bliss we could just about make out on ‘Going Places’ are now given a chance to shine in all their glory. ‘Adhere’ is a surprising, challenging and perfectly paced album, and fits into its very own niche, ushering in a new generation of listeners to Saloman’s distorted, hazy vision." - Soundcloud. - Bandcamp
New from the Welsh Label Serein, run by Huw Roberts (1/2 of Nest) - Not yet @ Emusic but streamable in its entirety on Soundcloud
- "Brambles is the solo project of Mark Dawson, born in Britain, permanent resident of Australia and currently living who-knows-where as he travels Europe and beyond.
Thanks to a prolific spell of writing from Mark, what was originally pegged as an EP quickly turned into an album. Charcoal is the result of long hours spent recording, editing and mixing. A lot of this material was recorded during his stay at "The Painted Palace" (see the Brambles Forecast mix of the same name), a communal house in Melbourne open to all manner of creative outsiders.
Crucially, the house also played home to a piano; during the night-time this was where Brambles sat, working out melodies and making recordings into the small hours. Sometimes the piano is at the forefront (as on the solo piano piece, 'Unsayable'), while at other times it plays a support role to plucked and bowed strings, haunted woodwind instruments, whispered field recordings and distant chimes ('To Speak of Solitude').
This is undeniably a night-time album, it has that still, peaceful quality to it, the same you get when you walk down a deserted street at night. And despite the slow pace, the music rarely seems melancholic - there's a sense of contentedness which pervades the album from beginning to end. Mark seems very at ease with life and there's a similar spirit to the music, it is deep, thoughtful and optimistic - in the words of Donal Whelan (who mastered the final album), "it's like being wrapped up in a warm blanket". Even the slightly more sinister "Deep Corridor", which plunges you to the depths of the ocean, has that "cosy catastrophe" feel to it. I can't help but think of Blade Runner and Vangelis when I hear it." - Huw Roberts. Headphone Commute interview - http://www.iambrambles.com
ETA: Brambles - Petrichor (Exclusive, Free Download) - "Petrichor is an exclusive track by Brambles included on his Forecast mix-tape for Serein. It is presented here in isolation and in its entirety for you to stream and download."
- "The North of Mali is a varied and special place, from the muddy banks of the Niger as it navigates through the scrubby Sahel to the jagged sun backed rocks of Adrar D'Ifoghas deep in the Sahara. The landscape is at times empty and sparse, but the culture is rich, with bustling cities, thousands of sleepy villages, and countless nomad encampments. But the people in the North live a perilous existence. Money is made to be spent and there is no saving or security. Often that model works fine. Community and family is strong and people rally together to help those individuals when disaster falls. Unfortunately, the disaster right now is affecting everyone. As armed extremists have taken over the North, driving out civilians, implementing bizarre forms of Sharia law, and effectively banning music, the North of Mali has been thrown into turmoil.
This compilation is a series of recordings taken over the past three years of various musicians, both modern and traditional. It's for sale on sliding scale. Pay what you want. 100% of the proceeds from this album will go directly to the people featured on the album. That's it. There is no bureaucracy - just Bandcamp and me walking down the Moneygram office to send off checks. There is no NGO who will redistribute the funds to everyone, so it wont help everyone. But it will go the musicians on these recordings you're listening to -- all musicians who are currently struggling in the North of Mali or refugees in exile and all who have been directly affected by the events.
The North is trying to be silenced. But I hope these recordings can stand as a reminder of what the North was, and what it can and will be again: guitar bands rocking in the evening streets of Niafounke, children gathering at the nomad camps of the Adrar, plucked takamba in the sandy houses of Timbouctou, and wistful village melodies sung out over the banks of the Niger."
- "Billy Roisz is one of the best-known figures on the Austrian experimental scene. Active for over decade as a video- and sound artist she has collaborated with dieb13, Angélica Castelló, Burkhard Stangl, Silvia Fässler, Martin Brandlmayr, Toshimaru Nakamura, Mario de Vega, eRikm and Ilpo Väisänen. Her ability to translate experimental music into visual imagery is particularly noteworthy, revealing tactics borrowed from minimal and conceptual art.
"Walking The Monkey" is her solo debut album in which she gathered an arsenal of instruments and unstruments such as bass, audible video devices, kluppe, jealous heart, kakophonator, transducer radio and pick ups to create an intense, noisy yet varied musical journey.
The title resembles the nature of Billy Roisz' music on this 6 track LP. Whether it's her, walking the musical monkey, or the monkey trying to escape in different directions, being conducted back on track again - it's her dramaturgical mastery and great musical sensibility that creates an absorbing listening experience." Editions Mego http://billyroisz.klingt.org/
I think this is an album that will appeal to many of the emusers...
Basil Athanasiadis - "Clouds That I Like"
From the label site...
"Although the Japanese culture has numerous aesthetic terms designed to describe as accurately as possible the governing principles of the artistic pantheon, one in particular seems to surpass the rest in terms of its complexity, associative multiplicity and ambiguity. Wabi sabi, essentially consisting of two individual terms (wabi and sabi), is a key aesthetic concept for the comprehension of the most fundamental principles of the traditional Japanese arts and music. Its study and its in-depth comprehension offers valuable answers to questions about the origin and function of simplicity, emptiness, incompleteness and imperfection, impermanence of structure, form and design often encountered in the Japanese arts. In 2004 Basil Athanasiadis started exploring wabi-sabis connection with Japanese instruments and its potential for contemporary music composition. The employment of Japanese traditional instruments such as the sho and the 20-stringed koto, help infuse the wabi-sabi sense of virtuosity and beauty into a contemporary music context. Athanasiadis works are characterised by a strong visual identity; his performances has often been accompanied by dance or stage action for example; Clouds That I Like is a setting of an excerpt taken from Sei Shonagons classic The Pillow Book, and the music is a reflection on this simple yet colourful and fluid imagery portrayed in the text.. Other early influences can be traced in Sergiu Celibidaches views on aspects of ambience and acoustic space, and in composers such as Christou, Feldman and Takemitsu."
Released in march on Rune Grammofon but not yet on Emusic: - "We are thrilled to present the brand new studio album from Volcano The Bear, the band that have, in the words of The Wire magazine, produced some of the finest, wildest British music of the last 10 years on record and on stage. Or, as Losing Today puts it, no one sounds, has sounded, or will ever sound quite like Volcano The Bear. A calculated hysterical melting pot of This Heat, Robert Wyatt, Faust and The Residents, of musique concrète and ethno-folk, all seen through a prism of theatrical improvisations and unhinged set pieces. VTB have released a number of records since the start in 1995, often mixing studio, live and home recordings. Golden Rhythm/Ink Music is their first studio album since Amidst The Noise And Twigs back in 2007. Largely based on the sonic fault-line between Aaron Moore and Daniel Padden, it´s also the most focused and driven of VTBs prolific output so far, showcasing the duos unique musicality and interplay, whilst retaining their trademark eccentricity and humour throughout. It presents rock music as seen through VTBs skewed eye, featuring more of Padden and Moores drum/guitar combination than on previous albums. Taking the bizarre energy of their live duo performances into a studio environment, and combining it with VTBs eclectic instrumentation and Clarence Manuelos singular audio-work, GR/IM shows VTB making their most vital work to date."
- Rune Grammofon.
The clock is slowing and time is held like a breath as daylight falls from the horizon. Waking hours spin to a slow finale through a subconscious haze flecked with deep autumnal reds and quiet yellows. Memories gradually transform into moonlit ripples on a lake until the shadows emerge and slither across the surface of the water. I shift my body weight to the other side of where I lay.
A distant radio hisses like wind through dead grasses as I move past crisp woodland branches that snap and crack as I seek a place of shelter. Hundreds of unseen eyes, hidden behind tree trunks and bracken, curiously trace my movement. I crouch down to rest as a hare approaches and briefly stops to tilt her head to make eye contact with me. I hold my breath and my feet and fingers sink into the decaying soil. My balance shifts and my tired eyelids open for a moment.
Turning my head I see an opening close by partially masked by shadows. I count silently to myself and then cautiously venture out into this unknown open space. Here the snow-covered ground rises above me in ascending steps arcing through the plains. As my breath slows I follow the faint constellations of star clusters that hang buoyantly above me. I am softly breathing and almost asleep, unsure of where I am.
Cresting the hill the sound of running water carries me back into the trees once more. Im enticed by glistening droplets of near-frozen dew on the fallen logs that conceal the singing insects residing on the woodland floor. I pull tightly on my bedclothes as warm harmonic tones ease across my frost-kissed ears until broken twigs underfoot break my state of slumber. Back now, my pillow is familiar and warm.
The tiny fraction of time between waking and sleep, with no distinct perception of reality is a moment to be held and absorbed for as long as possible. It is the ontologically fleeting moment of the present, as our heavy eyelids close and our pulse slows, that is the inspiration inside the music of Faint, the new album on 12k by Taylor Deupree.
Forthcoming on 12.12.12 on 12k is a CD titled "Between" by "Between" - which is Corey Fuller + Tomoyoshi Date (Illuha) Simon Scott Marcus Fischer Taylor Deupree.
Jessika Kenney & Eyvind Kang - The Face of the Earth - The second beautiful album by the duo of Jessika Kenney -- a vocalist known for her haunting timbral sense, as well as her profound interpretation of Persian vocal traditions -- and Eyvind Kang -- a violist for whom the act of music and learning is a spiritual discipline. All tracks were composed by Kenney (voice, percussion, electronics) and Kang (viola, setar, electronics). "The Central Javanese Wangsalan is a kind of riddle (two lines, twelve syllables each, divided 4 and 8 ), sung by the female vocalist on the gamelan, often using images of natural phenomena alongside descriptions of human characteristics, invoking atmospheres of primordial knowledge, humor, heightened sensation, philosophy, with much hidden wordplay and reference." -- J. Kenney. "Tavaf" is based on a ghazal by twelfth century Persian Sufi poet Attar (12th c.)." Experimedia @ Soundcloud
- "The compositions on this album are about drawing the binary from the unary, like reflections from a mirror, and its inverse, the concealed unity. Listener/reader, translation/composition, memory/imagination- reflecting each other, they open up a current which flows in a sudden oscillation.
Here we have followed a geological image; in the expression of the face of the earth (from Pr. "rokh-e khåk"), a new spectrum of binaries is revealed. In the Classical Persian traditions, this can be found in the dynamic multiplicity exemplified by the term 'radif', used in both poetry and music, as both poeme and matheme.
We would invite the listener as reader, by making our "reading cards" in the insert, to become a participant in the creation of meaning, including translation processes which seek corresponding musical atmospheres, for example:
The Central Javanese Wangsalan is a kind of riddle(two lines, 12 syllables each, divided 4 and 8), sung by the female vocalist in the gamelan, often using images of natural phenomena alongside descriptions of human characteristics, invoking atmospheres of primordial knowledge, humor, heightened sensation, philosophy, with much hidden wordplay and reference." - Jessika Kenney & Eyvind Kang @ Editions Mego
Excellent news from RER Megacorp's USA division: John Edwards - double bass, cello, drum programming Caroline Kraabel - baritone sax Sue Lynch - tenor sax Rosa Lynch-Northover - keyboards, percussion Adrian Northover - soprano, sopranino and alto saxes David Petts - tenor sax, noise generator
- "They just get better and better with each release. A sextet now (acoustic but with some discreet electronics), the compositional tone has also changed; it’s less austere and warmer now - though still pared back. And it’s beautifully recorded and mixed with a wide variety of very crafted sonorities, extremely carefully placed. This seems to be the pivot on which everything turns: a Feldmanesque integrity to every sound, sometimes offset in pieces that are built around involved but linear drum patterns that then have several defined and separated layers of activity overlaid or intertwined; some driving forward, some holding the line, some trying to break free, but it always comes back to the particularity of sounds and to the sounds having their space to be in. And stretched harmonies. Within all that, the range is wide and disparate, with a great deal of fine detail and careful use of dynamics (vertical and horizontal). Played by great (and disciplined) players. This is a very stimulating and unusual CD, very composed, with some independent parts, and there’s no on else working near this ground. Plus they aren’t the old gang but a (relatively) new voice that’s still evolving. So, time to check if you haven’t yet." - Chris Cutler @ http://www.adriannorthover.co.uk/theremoteviewers.com/New%20Releases2.html
Between:
Corey Fuller + Tomoyoshi Date (Illuha) Simon Scott Marcus Fischer Taylor Deupree
Recorded live at Kinse Ryokan, Kyoto, on October 8th, 2012.
From FMA curator NATCH: Black Twig Pickers and Steve Gunn - NATCH 1
- "Theres a vibration like a current running under the crust... You can feel it bubbling under your toes when you walk around and hear it dancing in your ears in the dead of night. You can fight it or let it wash over you... droning... buzzing. There are particular people who have special access to it. The instruments they pick up resonate in a certain way, just a little different from other players. A touch more timeless, a bit unfathomable, a tad frightening / exciting / stirred by the inexplicable. These recordings are the answer to the question - "What would happen when you put four of these people knee to knee and let them do their thing?"
Comments
[/b]Oren Ambarchi - Sagittarian Domain[/b] - And now available on emusic for 3,43 :
Emeralds - Just to Feel Anything
Emeralds is Mark McGuire, Steve Hauschildt and John Elliott.
Thanks to Russell Brill, Mark Fell, Peter Rehberg, Jamie Stillman and Ben Vehorn
Special thanks to Andrew Veres.
-Just to Feel Anything, the new album by Emeralds, surpasses all expectations, just as its predecessor, Does It Look Like Im Here, did in 2010. This expertly recorded new album sees the band deliver plenty of their distinctive aesthetic for old fans to enjoy while offering a new range of fresh, exciting ideas for newcomers.
'Before Your Eyes' begins the record with a steady build-up, which bleeds into humid layers of synthesizer pads and warm guitar. The track sets the tone perfectly for 'Adrenochrome', a fast-paced excursion into new territory for the band. The calm after the storm appears in the form of 'Through & Through', with its contemplative strokes and heart-wrenching atmospherics. 'Everything Is Inverted' is an energetic rush of monolithic guitar leads, pulsing drum machine, and driving sequences.
Still, it's on the second half of Just to Feel Anything, a triptych of tracks, where Emeralds adroitly demonstrate why they are a cut above their contemporaries. 'The Loser Keeps America Clean' kicks off the b-side by diving into the deepest fathoms of their experimental oeuvre. As the final bursts of static dissipate we are led into the opening chords of the eponymous 'Just to Feel Anything' a new zenith in Emeralds' repertoire. The album closer, 'Search For Me in the Wasteland' sees mounting layers of brightly strummed guitar chords blossom into a storm of color and expertly crafted textures-- a truly majestic end to an immense album.
With Just to Feel Anything, Emeralds shine a laser-sharp light into the future, while preserving their uniquely intelligent historical perspective. The long-awaited next chapter in the Emeralds discography is finally here, emerging as a sophisticated progression in both sound and structure."
- Editions Mego
- "Edward Ka-spel, best known as lead singer, musician, and co-founder of The Legendary Pink Dots presents his newest work Ghost Logik. The disc represents a voyage into the most hidden recesses of the subconscious mind and flows with the dream-like quality unique to Ka-spel and his work. The atmospheres of the songs range from vast ambient spoken word spaces to enduring psychedelic ballads where the warmth of Ka-spel’s voice moves with us in solitary, dilated harmony. Meandering throughout the tracks of this eclectic opera is the sense of a conceptual overlay, tied to images of abandoned abodes and ancient spirits. An epic return and one of the most cohesive albums this artist has composed in recent years."
- Rustblade
Track 2, "Throwing Things" @ Youtube - Brainwashed review
- "'Let Us Be Thankful We Have Commerce' was the inaugral, cassette-only release on London-based publishing house My Dance The Skull. It was composed as a response to the worrying grasp of consumerism over much of western society. Inspired by the first few Talvihorros live improvisational shows a small, primitave set-up consisting of guitar, mixer, casio keyboard, effects and percussion were used to create two long, vibrant and constantly shifting pieces."
- Emusic
- "Talvihorros is London based composer Ben Chatwins study of guitar and electronics. Numerous techniques are used to coax a myriad of sounds from both acoustic and electric guitars. Home-made and vintage electronic equipment are used to process and manipulate recorded material into dense and dark sound collages, augmented with analogue synths, organs, bells, percussion and static.
Talvihorros improvises live with an electric guitar through pedals and is often joined by a percussionist. He has shared the stage with Tim Hecker, Barn Owl, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, Machinefabriek and Stephan Mathieu."
http://www.talvihorros.com/
Etc. Image links to Bandcamp, where you can hear a track. This is also reviewed in the NYT Playlist column today.
Oneida - A List of the Burning Mountains
- "A List of the Burning Mountains is the latest studio album by Brooklyn psych/noise/kraut godfathers Oneida. It was recorded at the Ocropolis, the band's longtime studio, and it is a powerful, sweeping gesture that evokes the storied history of that space and Oneida's dedication to a diehard independent music and art community in fashion-driven Brooklyn. This is true underground sound from a band that has released twelve albums in fifteen years and has been hailed by the New York Times, NPR, Time Out NY and the Village Voice as an original, essential voice in the history of New York's towering experimental music lineage.
Brutal and gorgeous, churning and soothing, Burning Mountains is less a traditional album than a tiny sip from an endlessly roiling sea. Oneida is known for long-form improvised performances and collaborations; this release, with its drunken-master drumming, howling guitar and scouring drones, serves as a concentrated blast from a wholly unique band known for 12-hour live, improvised performances and multi-day recording sessions."
- Jagjaguwar
- Second Language Music
Emusic - http://www.piano-magic.co.uk
Wires under tension - Replicant.
There's a free track at emusic today.
This is really stunning Experimental/Outer Limits stuff, so as an exception posted here as a new and notable.
BTW: the building on the cover is Rudolph Steiner's Goethe Anum.
ETA: My plan was to make a seperate Belorukov thread because there's so much brilliant music from him out there, but this will have to do, at least for the time being . . .
Ilia Belorukov - alto saxophone, laptop
- "Sergey Galunenko (aka Galun) is a musician from Moscow/Russia who's known for his experiments with live beatboxing processed real-time with his laptop.
Ilia Belorukov (b.1987) is a musician from Saint-Petersburg, Russia. He works in the direction of improvised, noise and electroacoustic music. He’s a member of different projects such as Wozzeck, Wooden Plants, Benzolnye Mertvecy, Punktieren and others. He collaborates with musicians who work in other genres (from hardcore and metal to academic contemporary music); with dancers and painters; with theater. Ilia practices an experimental approach of sound extraction on alto saxophone, uses laptop, electric-guitar and other instruments. Also he is a founder of Intonema label. Organizer of events in Russia, co-organizer of the Teni Zvuka festival.
Ilia had played with such musicians as David Stackenäs (Sweden), Lucio Capece (Argentina), Radu Malfatti (Austria), Ignaz Schick (Germany), Darius ?iuta, Arturas Bumšteinas (Lithuania), Topias Tiheäsalo, Janne Tuomi (Finland), Edyta Fil, Rafal Mazur (Poland), Thomas Buckner, Eyal Maoz (USA), Yuriy Yaremchuk, Alla Zagaykevich (Ukraine), Vladislav Makarov, Roman Stolyar, Alexei Borisov, Vyacheslav Gayvoronskiy, Sergey Letov, Alexey Lapin (Russia) and many others."
- Nexsound
Last.fm
Instrumental Tourist
TIM HECKER & DANIEL LOPATIN
NA in Europe . . .
Otto A Totland / Erik K Skodvin (Deaf Center)
Harmony From The Past
Tim Hecker & Daniel Lopatin - Instrumental Tourist
- "Few modern performers manipulate sound quite as aggressively or effectively as Tim Hecker and Daniel Lopatin. Both are pioneering electronic musicians: Lopatin operates under the name Oneohtrix Point Never, while Hecker has been making innovative solo records since the beginning of this century.
The crafting of sound that goes on in their collaboration — and in a concert of theirs I witnessed recently at Moogfest — feels a bit like improvisations by two talented but outlandish jazz musicians. The sparks fly on Instrumental Tourist, as the album's soundscapes hypnotize, jar, fascinate and even annoy. There's a sense of playfulness to Hecker and Lopatin's work, even as it's virtually impossible to tell who's playing what. The two are nearly indistinguishable on Instrumental Tourist, forming a single enveloping organism even as they dump their own daring and distinct ideas into the mix."
- NPR
Gabriel Saloman - Adhere
- "When legendary noise duo Yellow Swans dissolved just prior to releasing ‘Going Places’, it left in its wake two musicians with very distinct but very different voices. Pete Swanson’s post-YS technoid experimentations have been well documented, but that still leaves Gabriel Saloman, who after leaving the group buried himself headfirst in sounds and images that were possibly even further away from his comfort zone. ‘Adhere’ is Saloman’s first ‘proper’ album, and finds him stripping away the blood, sweat and tears of his old band and revealing a rich seam of ominous restraint. Delicately picked strings, piano and hocking woodblock percussion are drowned in reverb and drawn out in cold anguish giving a cracked, minimalist mirror to the work of fellow Miasmah alums Kreng or Elegi. A softly spoken record, while ‘Adhere’ pushes away Saloman’s noise history, none of his well-documented intensity is discarded and lost. Instead the blistering punk nihilism is allowed to simmer and boil over in different ways, and the occasional moments of post-Cocteau Twins shimmering bliss we could just about make out on ‘Going Places’ are now given a chance to shine in all their glory. ‘Adhere’ is a surprising, challenging and perfectly paced album, and fits into its very own niche, ushering in a new generation of listeners to Saloman’s distorted, hazy vision."
- Soundcloud. - Bandcamp
- "Brambles is the solo project of Mark Dawson, born in Britain, permanent resident of Australia and currently living who-knows-where as he travels Europe and beyond.
Thanks to a prolific spell of writing from Mark, what was originally pegged as an EP quickly turned into an album. Charcoal is the result of long hours spent recording, editing and mixing. A lot of this material was recorded during his stay at "The Painted Palace" (see the Brambles Forecast mix of the same name), a communal house in Melbourne open to all manner of creative outsiders.
Crucially, the house also played home to a piano; during the night-time this was where Brambles sat, working out melodies and making recordings into the small hours. Sometimes the piano is at the forefront (as on the solo piano piece, 'Unsayable'), while at other times it plays a support role to plucked and bowed strings, haunted woodwind instruments, whispered field recordings and distant chimes ('To Speak of Solitude').
This is undeniably a night-time album, it has that still, peaceful quality to it, the same you get when you walk down a deserted street at night. And despite the slow pace, the music rarely seems melancholic - there's a sense of contentedness which pervades the album from beginning to end. Mark seems very at ease with life and there's a similar spirit to the music, it is deep, thoughtful and optimistic - in the words of Donal Whelan (who mastered the final album), "it's like being wrapped up in a warm blanket". Even the slightly more sinister "Deep Corridor", which plunges you to the depths of the ocean, has that "cosy catastrophe" feel to it. I can't help but think of Blade Runner and Vangelis when I hear it."
- Huw Roberts.
Headphone Commute interview - http://www.iambrambles.com
ETA: Brambles - Petrichor (Exclusive, Free Download)
- "Petrichor is an exclusive track by Brambles included on his Forecast mix-tape for Serein. It is presented here in isolation and in its entirety for you to stream and download."
Yeah, must be. Even the RSS feed for soundsfamilyre is dead, but the cover image I used. is a BC jpg. . . . Strange !
- "Billy Roisz is one of the best-known figures on the Austrian experimental scene.
Active for over decade as a video- and sound artist she has collaborated with dieb13, Angélica Castelló, Burkhard Stangl, Silvia Fässler, Martin Brandlmayr, Toshimaru Nakamura, Mario de Vega, eRikm and Ilpo Väisänen. Her ability to translate experimental music into visual imagery is particularly noteworthy, revealing tactics borrowed from minimal and conceptual art.
"Walking The Monkey" is her solo debut album in which she gathered an arsenal of instruments and unstruments such as bass, audible video devices, kluppe, jealous heart, kakophonator, transducer radio and pick ups to create an intense, noisy yet varied musical journey.
The title resembles the nature of Billy Roisz' music on this 6 track LP. Whether it's her, walking the musical monkey, or the monkey trying to escape in different directions, being conducted back on track again - it's her dramaturgical mastery and great musical sensibility that creates an absorbing listening experience."
Editions Mego
http://billyroisz.klingt.org/
Basil Athanasiadis - "Clouds That I Like"
From the label site...
"Although the Japanese culture has numerous aesthetic terms designed to describe as accurately as possible the governing principles of the artistic pantheon, one in particular seems to surpass the rest in terms of its complexity, associative multiplicity and ambiguity. Wabi sabi, essentially consisting of two individual terms (wabi and sabi), is a key aesthetic concept for the comprehension of the most fundamental principles of the traditional Japanese arts and music. Its study and its in-depth comprehension offers valuable answers to questions about the origin and function of simplicity, emptiness, incompleteness and imperfection, impermanence of structure, form and design often encountered in the Japanese arts. In 2004 Basil Athanasiadis started exploring wabi-sabis connection with Japanese instruments and its potential for contemporary music composition. The employment of Japanese traditional instruments such as the sho and the 20-stringed koto, help infuse the wabi-sabi sense of virtuosity and beauty into a contemporary music context. Athanasiadis works are characterised by a strong visual identity; his performances has often been accompanied by dance or stage action for example; Clouds That I Like is a setting of an excerpt taken from Sei Shonagons classic The Pillow Book, and the music is a reflection on this simple yet colourful and fluid imagery portrayed in the text.. Other early influences can be traced in Sergiu Celibidaches views on aspects of ambience and acoustic space, and in composers such as Christou, Feldman and Takemitsu."
Credits:
voice: Shie Shoji 20-stringed koto: Noriko Tamura, Keiko Hisamoto - sho: Naomi Sato violin: Ryoko Arai, Stelios Chatziiosifidis viola: Sayo Takimoto cello: Asako Hisatake percussion: Fujimoto Takafumi, Mizuho Hayashi, Missa Makino
The site for more info and samples...
http://www.sargasso.com/?product=basil-athanasiadis-clouds-that-i-like
Here it is on eMu...
http://www.emusic.com/listen/#/album/basil-athanasiadis/athanasiadis-clouds-that-i-like/13715518/:
- "We are thrilled to present the brand new studio album from Volcano The Bear, the band that have, in the words of The Wire magazine, produced some of the finest, wildest British music of the last 10 years on record and on stage. Or, as Losing Today puts it, no one sounds, has sounded, or will ever sound quite like Volcano The Bear. A calculated hysterical melting pot of This Heat, Robert Wyatt, Faust and The Residents, of musique concrète and ethno-folk, all seen through a prism of theatrical improvisations and unhinged set pieces. VTB have released a number of records since the start in 1995, often mixing studio, live and home recordings. Golden Rhythm/Ink Music is their first studio album since Amidst The Noise And Twigs back in 2007. Largely based on the sonic fault-line between Aaron Moore and Daniel Padden, it´s also the most focused and driven of VTBs prolific output so far, showcasing the duos unique musicality and interplay, whilst retaining their trademark eccentricity and humour throughout. It presents rock music as seen through VTBs skewed eye, featuring more of Padden and Moores drum/guitar combination than on previous albums. Taking the bizarre energy of their live duo performances into a studio environment, and combining it with VTBs eclectic instrumentation and Clarence Manuelos singular audio-work, GR/IM shows VTB making their most vital work to date."
- Rune Grammofon.
- Some tracks on Soundcloud: Buffalo Shoulder - Spurius Ruga - Fireman Show[/i]
Edit March 11: Now on Emusic
Forthcoming on 12.12.12 on 12k is a CD titled "Between" by "Between" - which is Corey Fuller + Tomoyoshi Date (Illuha) Simon Scott Marcus Fischer Taylor Deupree.
Jessika Kenney & Eyvind Kang - The Face of the Earth
- The second beautiful album by the duo of Jessika Kenney -- a vocalist known for her haunting timbral sense, as well as her profound interpretation of Persian vocal traditions -- and Eyvind Kang -- a violist for whom the act of music and learning is a spiritual discipline. All tracks were composed by Kenney (voice, percussion, electronics) and Kang (viola, setar, electronics). "The Central Javanese Wangsalan is a kind of riddle (two lines, twelve syllables each, divided 4 and 8 ), sung by the female vocalist on the gamelan, often using images of natural phenomena alongside descriptions of human characteristics, invoking atmospheres of primordial knowledge, humor, heightened sensation, philosophy, with much hidden wordplay and reference." -- J. Kenney. "Tavaf" is based on a ghazal by twelfth century Persian Sufi poet Attar (12th c.)."
Experimedia @ Soundcloud
- "The compositions on this album are about drawing the binary from the unary, like reflections from a mirror, and its inverse, the concealed unity. Listener/reader, translation/composition, memory/imagination- reflecting each other, they open up a current which flows in a sudden oscillation.
Here we have followed a geological image; in the expression of the face of the earth (from Pr. "rokh-e khåk"), a new spectrum of binaries is revealed. In the Classical Persian traditions, this can be found in the dynamic multiplicity exemplified by the term 'radif', used in both poetry and music, as both poeme and matheme.
We would invite the listener as reader, by making our "reading cards" in the insert, to become a participant in the creation of meaning, including translation processes which seek corresponding musical atmospheres, for example:
The Central Javanese Wangsalan is a kind of riddle(two lines, 12 syllables each, divided 4 and 8), sung by the female vocalist in the gamelan, often using images of natural phenomena alongside descriptions of human characteristics, invoking atmospheres of primordial knowledge, humor, heightened sensation, philosophy, with much hidden wordplay and reference."
- Jessika Kenney & Eyvind Kang @ Editions Mego
John Edwards - double bass, cello, drum programming
Caroline Kraabel - baritone sax
Sue Lynch - tenor sax
Rosa Lynch-Northover - keyboards, percussion
Adrian Northover - soprano, sopranino and alto saxes
David Petts - tenor sax, noise generator
- "They just get better and better with each release. A sextet now (acoustic but with some discreet electronics), the compositional tone has also changed; it’s less austere and warmer now - though still pared back. And it’s beautifully recorded and mixed with a wide variety of very crafted sonorities, extremely carefully placed. This seems to be the pivot on which everything turns: a Feldmanesque integrity to every sound, sometimes offset in pieces that are built around involved but linear drum patterns that then have several defined and separated layers of activity overlaid or intertwined; some driving forward, some holding the line, some trying to break free, but it always comes back to the particularity of sounds and to the sounds having their space to be in. And stretched harmonies. Within all that, the range is wide and disparate, with a great deal of fine detail and careful use of dynamics (vertical and horizontal). Played by great (and disciplined) players. This is a very stimulating and unusual CD, very composed, with some independent parts, and there’s no on else working near this ground. Plus they aren’t the old gang but a (relatively) new voice that’s still evolving. So, time to check if you haven’t yet."
- Chris Cutler @ http://www.adriannorthover.co.uk/theremoteviewers.com/New%20Releases2.html
Picture links to emusic.
Bandcamp stream here
There's another one too which is an online release of an earlier cassette release:
I will investigate this one E Music has the EP.
Between:
Corey Fuller + Tomoyoshi Date (Illuha) Simon Scott Marcus Fischer Taylor Deupree
Recorded live at Kinse Ryokan, Kyoto, on October 8th, 2012.
From FMA curator NATCH:
Black Twig Pickers and Steve Gunn - NATCH 1
- "Theres a vibration like a current running under the crust... You can feel it bubbling under your toes when you walk around and hear it dancing in your ears in the dead of night. You can fight it or let it wash over you... droning... buzzing. There are particular people who have special access to it. The instruments they pick up resonate in a certain way, just a little different from other players. A touch more timeless, a bit unfathomable, a tad frightening / exciting / stirred by the inexplicable. These recordings are the answer to the question - "What would happen when you put four of these people knee to knee and let them do their thing?"