Interesting news from If Bwana's (aka. Al Margolis) Pogus Production imprint:
- "A first for Pogus! This fantastic new 2 disc set by Brian Chase, drummer for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs,
This recording is exactly what it says it is - drums and drones - based on Just Intonation tuning theory: A tuning system modeled after a naturally occurring acoustic phenomenon known as overtones, the subsidiary tones which exist in an ordered series from an established primary tone. Stemming from this single primary tone an infinite amount of overtones can be derived. As Chase explains:
Drums and percussion has seen some but not much exploration in Just Intonation, yet they are inherently designed to represent it as such: a drum head is tuned to a single pitch, one frequency, and resonates with rich harmonic detail. From there the overtone series can be uncovered and expressed. The Drums and Drones project deals directly with approaching drums and percussion from the standpoint of Just Intonation.
For Chase, the genesis of this project is outlined in this brief excerpt from his liner notes:
The Drums and Drones project initially came about from inspiration by La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela's Dream House installation in TriBeCa, NYC. I had spent a good amount of time, volunteering there as a 'monitor,' someone who minded the installation and greeted visitors. The duration of my shift, about 4-5 hours, was mostly spent sitting directly outside of the gallery space, listening and feeling the immense sound pulsing through the door and walls, and reading up on the principles of Just Intonation and the historical background of La Monte, Marian, and their cohorts of the NYC experimental art scene. I accumulated countless hours, too, sitting in the space itself, embracing the impact of the finely tuned sound and light vibrations. The tones would dance in my head, hypnotic and entrancing, and I would hear tones that previously seemed veiled which were now resonating loudly and clearly somewhere between the air, my ear, and my brain. I was mesmerized by the power of this physiological experience.
With the pieces that were developed for a Feb. 2007 concert, a starting point was formed for what was to grew into a recording project. I had the idea of approaching the project as being a series of etudes, each one a study in the different ways of the application of the Just Intonation tuning theory to drums and percussion. Eventually I did develop a basic method which laid the groundwork for most of what was to come with D & 1) tune the drum head to a specific frequency 2) mic the drum and run the sound into a computer 3) with recording software, use very precise, a.k.a. 'surgical,' equalization to emphasize and boost the frequencies of the drum's overtones. Also as part of the setup was a loop pedal, but at this stage it was used more for live performance. Another important method that I developed at this stage was getting sustained feedback tones generated between the resonating drumhead and the stereo speakers. To do this, I would boost a specific frequency on the EQ corresponding to the fundamental or a low harmonic, and this would encourage the drumhead to vibrate at that frequency. A feedback loop would get going between the drum and the speakers. Often times I would need to raise or lower the pitch of the drumhead ever so slightly to 'dial in' the tuning of the feedback tone. Each etude developed at this time would highlight a different set of overtones and showcase a specific playing technique.
- "Brian Chase is a drummer and composer living in Brooklyn, NY. Growing up on Long Island, he started taking private drum lessons when he was 5 that led to earning a Bachelors of Music from the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio. Though he works in a variety of contexts, Brian is probably best known as a member of the rock group Yeah Yeah Yeahs, a band that has toured extensively throughout the world and has been nominated for three Grammys. Active on the New York experimental music scene, performance collaborations have included those with guitarist Alan Licht, clarinetist Jeremiah Cymerman, composer/performer David First, pianist/composer Anthony Coleman, violist/violinist Jessica Pavone, and John Colpitts's Man Forever, amongst many more. Recorded works also include those with saxophonist Seth Misterka, vocalist Karlie Bruce, Jeremiah Lockwood's Sway Machinery, the North Sky cello ensemble, and The Seconds. Brian is deeply interested in the Just Intonation tuning theory and is influenced by the work of La Monte Young introduced to him by guitarist/composer Jon Catler. In this light, he has a project called Drums and Drones in which the principles of Just Intonation are applied to drums and percussion. Key influential drum and percussion teachers are and have been Susie Ibarra, Greg Bandy, and Michael Rosen. Away from the drums, Brian is a regular practitioner of Ashtanga yoga."
- And even more interesting news from Denovali Records (Bersarin Quartett, Greg Haines, Hidden Orchestra and many more) Petrels - Onkalo - "Onkalo is the follower of the highly praised Petrels concept debut album Haeligewielle ("Petrels has provided us with what has to be the strongest solo debut from a musician so far in 2011." (Fluid Radio) + "The album is a masterpiece of narrative, a blackened ship with a broken mast that defies the storm and in so doing discovers its own dark destiny." (8.5/ 10 - The Silent Ballet)
Onkalo ('hiding place') is the name of the spent nuclear fuel repository currently under construction in Finland to house hazardous nuclear waste. It is designed to last a minimum of 100,000 years - a scale of time unimaginable when the oldest surviving man made structures have endured not even a tenth of that time. The human species as we know it is thought to have existed for approximately 100,000 years - is it possible for humankind to build something that will endure a timescale that vast again? And what will be left to uncover it if it does so?
Taking this as a starting point, Petrels second album - after acclaimed debut Haeligewielle - draws on a fascination with how we deal with what is left over, both physically and mentally. With this thread running through Onkalo, Petrels also takes inspiration from speculative science, immense time scales, retro-futurism, personal history, and how the post-war optimism of the dawn of the atomic age has come up against a more uncertain vision of the future." Denovali Records - Emusic
Who: I'm Oliver Barrett and grew up in the past-its-prime seaside town of Weston-super-Mare in Somerset before moving to London ten years ago where I studied a degree in sound art. Since then I've played in various different bands/projectssome of which are still ongoingand put out my first album under the moniker of Petrels Haeligewiellelast April.
What: My first instrument was/is the cello, and I've been using this as a basis to combine my interest in classical music with electronics/synthesised instruments and improv/noise. I'm interested in telling stories, contrasting different elements and approaches and in the tensions you can create by placing sounds together that might initially seem opposedwith Haeligewielle I focused quite a bit on trying to make the acoustic instruments sound as synthesized as possible and visa-versa, for example. Mainly I'm constantly striving to create something all-encompassing and immersive that I can lose myself in.
Influences and inspirations: This list could go on for pages and pages but here're a few that are maybe more Petrels-specific (in no particular order): Vaughan Williams, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Todd Dockstader, Lau Nau, Ernst Reijseger, Tsai Ming-Liang, Belong, BusRatch, Arthur Russell, Angela Carter, Kuupuu, Vibracathedral Orchestra, John Carpenter, Markus Popp, William Vollmann, travelling, walking, eating, listening.
- Edited from Textura
Jan Jelinek - Do You Know Otahiti? - "Faitiche is delighted to present Jan Jelinek's Do you know Otahiti?. This Mini-LP is the third of four vinyl compilations that bring together a highly diverse range of Jelinek's works - including commissioned pieces, live recordings, collaborations with other musicians, as well as unreleased material from the past five years.
Side A:
Both titles are live recordings of Japanese vibraphone player Masayoshi Fujita together with Jan Jelinek. Since the release of their collaborative album Bird, Lake, Objects (faitiche03, 2010), the duo have played numerous improvised concerts. Live at Frameworks was recorded in Munich on March 24th, 2012 at the Frameworks Festival, while Live at AvantJazz was recorded during the AvantJazz at CaixaForum concert series in Barcelona on August 22nd, 2012.
Side B:
Do you know Otahiti? is a twofold collage; it combines unreleased material with fragments taken from Kennen Sie Otahiti?, a radio collage produced for SWR Radio in 2012 on the theme of fictional and real travelogues.
TOton is a previously unreleased track from 2009."
The Serein label (Nest, Hauschka, Colorlist etc) has just uploaded the entire catalogue on Bandcamp and doesn't seem to be using Emusic anymore, at least not for the latest by Brambles, released in november last year.
Here's an edited repost: Brambles - Charcoal - "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, Serein Label Curator Headphone Commute interview - http://www.iambrambles.com - Soundcloud
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."
- "Grzegorz Bojanek & Piotr Michalowski are two Polish experimental soundscape creators. Their work together started as an improvised concert project in Zacheta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw during WEF.LIVE.LAB in 2010. Since, they have performed in several European countries and played during the Shanghai Electronic Music Week in 2011 and ChoP Festival 2012 (Shenzhen / Hong Kong). Both artists were content with their performance results and decided to record their first full length album for Ohm Resistance.
As Far As It Seems contains a mixture of traditional Chinese instruments, guitars, DIY instruments of all kinds and field recordings taken in unusual places. These arrangements create deep organic ambient soundscapes which remain in the mind of the listener for a long time. With every song, once pulled into its atmosphere, it is truly impossible to exit."
- 12k As Far As It Seems @ Youtube - Bojanek & Michalowski | Improvised Live Act | 16.03.2013 @ Youtube
Jacob Kirkegaard: - With Ensemble Senatet: Clarinet: Vicky Wright; Percussion: Mads Bendsen; Trombone: Andras Olsen; Violin: Kirsten Riis-Jensen; Viola: Mina Fred; Cello: Sofia Olsson.
- "In collaboration with Danish ensemble Scenatet, Jacob Kirkegaard's two pieces Labyrinthitis and Church are here interpreted by classical instruments. The intention of this transformation into an instrumental score is to explore the musical dimension and potential of the sounds that were used in creating the original works.
Church (from "4 Rooms", Touch, 2006) originally consists of ambient recordings of an abandoned church inside the radioactive zone in Chernobyl. Laybrinthitis (Touch, 2008) is a canon of oto-acoustic tones generated by the artist's own ears. Like most of Kirkegaard's sound works, both pieces are characterised by a strong focus on methodology, and by the artist's wish to omit any deliberate emotional or "musical" intention."
- "Jacob Kirkegaard is a Danish artist focusing on scientific & aesthetic aspects of resonance, time, sound & hearing. His installations, compositions & performances deal with acoustic spaces or phenomena that usually remain imperceptible. Using unorthodox methods for recording, Kirkegaard captures and contextualizes hitherto unheard sounds from within a variety of environments: a geyser, a sand dune, a nuclear power plant, an empty room, a TV tower, and even sounds from the human inner ear itself.
Based in Berlin, Kirkegaard is a graduate of the Academy for Media Arts in Cologne, Germany. Since 1995, Kirkegaard has presented his works at exhibitions and at festivals and conferences throughout the world. He has released five albums (mostly on the British label Touch) and is a member of the sound art collective freq_out." - http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/ http://fonik.dk/works/conversion.html - http://www.scenatet.dk/
This one's a collaboration with pianist Kelly Wyse, so a bit of a departure. Lovely so far!
Intervalo is the result of a collaboration between Seattle pianist Kelly Wyse and Vancouver's loscil. Culminating from two live performances in 2012, first at Seattle's Substrata Festival and later at Decibel Festival, these recordings were made in Seattle to capture the collaboration. This collection features reworked versions of familiar loscil compositions such as Endless Falls and Hastings Sunrise along side unique versions of rarer compositions such as Rye Fields and City Hospital.
Just out on Bella Union: - "After nearly 30 years, The Flaming Lips couldn't be harder to predict or pin down. The Oklahoma band has nothing left to prove no lofty commercial standard to maintain, no gigantic hit of the variety anyone expects it to re-create, and no core sound whose boundaries and limitations must be pressed against with great care. Immortality is secure, thanks to both a left-field '90s novelty smash ("She Don't Use Jelly") and two albums viewed as unimpeachable classics (The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots). Wayne Coyne and his co-conspirators have long been liberated and encouraged to indulge their whims, especially on their 13 studio records.
Looking over The Flaming Lips' career, those whims have already included some heady, bonkers trips down dark alleys and inaccessible side roads. As playful and crowd-pleasing as the group's live shows have become, its most experimental recordings as with the rambling indulgences of its early years are often fiercely uncompromising, even impenetrable. In effect, Coyne and company have come full-circle, because The Terror is, well, terrifying.
Sounding almost post-apocalyptic in its scabrous, searching bleakness Coyne himself describes the album as "disturbing" The Terror moans and scrapes ominously from its opening seconds onward. Scorched and frayed, with an almost industrial ugliness to it, "Look...The Sun Is Rising" gets the proceedings underway by capturing the sound of a world (and, it would seem, a band) in distress, even decay. But The Terror still finds a way to reward deeper exploration, as cracked loveliness seeps into moments that soar tentatively; by way of example, "Be Free, A Way" may not be sunny, but it lets light peek through its cracks in unexpected ways.
Still, the overall effect is intense and enveloping; The Terror demands study even as the band clangs and drifts through 13 minutes of menace in "The Lust," or pulsates formlessly in "Turning Violent" and the appropriately titled "You Are Alone." And so it goes throughout 55 loose, sprawling minutes: Alternately thorny and meandering, The Terror presents itself as difficult to love but then, as in "Try to Explain," doles out bits of bracing beauty as it sprawls into space."
- Npr. http://pitchfork.com/features/update/9054-the-flaming-lips/
Robert Hampson: Analogue Electronics, Concréte Sounds, Guitar, Piano-Treatments
Stephan Mathieu: Farfisa VIP 233, Ebowed Phonoharp, Radio, Percussion-Treatment
- "There has been a recent surge in activity from Robert Hampson, with all manner of solo recordings and performances popping up. Its only logical that he reactivates his beloved Main project. As we all know, Main laid the foundations during the 1990s for much of love of abstract guitar treatments in electronic music throughout the 2000s. Hampson has teamed up with Stephan Mathieu to create a stunning new album. On ‘Ablation’, Mathieu adds extra tonal colour and an obscure rhythmic palette to Hampson’s exacting treatments and detailed use of layered concrète sounds to create an emotionally charged and fascinating work. Old fans of Main will not be disappointed, and neither will new followers of experimental audio. Packaged with images by Grebo Gray with layout by Dave Coppenhall, and expertly mastered and cut by Rashad Becker, ‘Ablation’ is a highlight for the spring 2013 season." Editions Mego - Soundcloud
Slow - Don't Be Afraid Of Horrors . . . . ."Slow aka Sergey Suokas – our old (probably the oldest one) friend and key artist, known to the world by his techno, downbeat and firm ambient works for a plenty of labels, movie foundations, visual exhibitions and even more, not to mention his releases on our label. So here’s a 8-track masterpiece of pure organic, living and mind-expanding ambient music. Live instrumentals, field recordings, deep layers and multi-color layers… Mental, imaginary, soothing, profound, heart-opening… Ah, may we not speak this time? Honestly, this is the exact case of an old Chinese wisdom: “one picture is worth more than a thousand words”. . . . . Fuselab - Archive.org
A new album from one of the masters of pleasant sounds @ Bandcamp . . .
- "French Teen Idol is an instrumental solo project from Rome, Italy, run by Andrea Di Carlo. An elegant mix of post-rock and electronic influences, French Teen Idol’s music provides the listener with cinematic landscapes, dramatic crescendos and striking vocal samples.
On 29th May, 2005, French Teen Idol’s self-titled debut album “French Teen Idol” has been released by the Canadian netlabel Nishi. In October 2005, the song “Shouting Can Have Different Meanings” has appeared on “Losing Today“‘s compilation (Italian version).
“Enlightened False Consciousness”, French Teen Idol’s second full length album, has been released on 5th April, 2007 by the post-rock netlabel Lost Children.
Both albums are available for full, free download on archive.org.
On 7th September, 2007, a limited CD edition (500 copies) of “Enlightened False Consciousness” has been released. June 1st, 2009 is the release date of “El Siete Es La Luz”, the third album by Andrea Di Carlo. Slightly more guitar-oriented, the 8 songs confirm FTI’s proposal and invite you to a unique musical journey.
In 2011, YOUAREHERE, a post-rock group featuring French Teen Idol, edPorth and micro (µ), released their debut album, titled “As When The Fall Leaves Trees”. All the songs of the album are available as a free downlaod." Last.fm
Grand General - ST Even Helte Hermansen - guitar (Bushman´s Revenge) Ola Kvernberg - violin Erlend Slettevoll - keyboards (The Core) Trond Frønes - bass (Sunswitch, El Doom & The Born Electric) Kenneth Kapstad - drums (Motorpsycho)
- "Heavy and melodic prog/jazz/rock from new group consisting of some very prolific musicians from the Norwegian scene. Having played a few sensational gigs as Kenneth Kapstad Group this impressive line-up is now ready with a more fitting name for their debut album. With gifted violinist Ola Kvernberg, who won a Norwegian Grammy for his album ”Liarbird”, on board it´s difficult not to think of the Mahavishnu Orchestra when trying to place Grand General in a musical perspective. The interplay between the soloists is superb and with this rhythm section you can´t go wrong. However, as gifted as these musicians are and as accomplished the music can be, you never get the feeling that they play to show off their instrumental skills, but to serve the music." Rune Grammofon - Soundcloud
ETA: - "Having played a handful of sensational gigs as Kenneth Kapstad Group, this impressive line-up is now ready with a more fitting name for their debut album, Grand General. Ola Kvernberg comes from a family of musicians and started classical violin studies at the age of nine. He also played folk music early on and appeared on a record when he was 14. He started playing jazz at the age of 16 and got his education at the Jazz Academy in Trondheim, a breeding ground for many great musicians. His proper breakthrough came with the album Liarbird (2010) which won him a Norwegian Grammy and was received with wide acclaim both in Norway and abroad. As with so many musicians of his generation, he has played with "everybody." He is notably featured on Motorpsycho's The Death Defying Unicorn. Even Helte Hermansen is a guitarist extraordinaire in power-jazz trio Bushman's Revenge, with four albums on Rune Grammofon. A former member of black-jazzers Shining, he grew up listening to everything from Kiss and Pantera to Frank Zappa and John Coltrane. Erlend Slettevoll is yet another graduate from the Jazz Academy in Trondheim. He has worked with several of Norway's most accomplished jazz ensembles, most notably as a member of The Core and Petter Wettre Quartet. Trond Frønes is the main writer in Grand General and known from bands like Cadillac, El Doom & The Born Electric, and lately doom-metal trio Sunswitch. Kenneth Kapstad has been a permanent member of Motorpsycho since the creative burst that started with their Little Lucid Moments album in 2008. He also plays in the extreme metal duo Monolithic with Stian Westerhus, the death/trash metal band Goat The Head with Trond Frønes and Møster! with Kjetil Møster (Ultralyd) and Nikolai Eilertsen (Elephant9). With a violinist on board, it's difficult not to mention the Mahavishnu Orchestra when trying to place Grand General in a musical perspective. However, as gifted as these musicians are and as accomplished as the music can be, you never get the feeling that they play to show off their instrumental skills, but to serve the music. Grand General are: Ola Kvernberg (violins, viola); Even Helte Hermansen (guitar); Erlend Slettevoll (keyboards); Trond Frønes (bass); Kenneth Kapstad (drums)." Experimedia
A series of enchanting instrumental works, Stories From Elsewhere is Rhian Sheehans most evocative album to date - an excursion into a soundscape of tender ethereal textures, brooding cinematic string arrangements, and playful experimental lullabies. Sheehan has encapsulated a world of serenity and melancholia within this 12-track album. Stories From Elsewhere is a musical landscape to get lost in.
In the North of Nigeria, people like Bollywood films so much that 20 years ago, they started making their own local productions. The films of Kannywood feature song and dance - and the incredible music that defines Northern Nigeria: Autotuned robotic vocals combined with frenetic drum machines and pitch bending synths for a hybrid of local styles and Indian influence.
In 2012, Sahel Sounds and Little Axe traveled to Kano, the center of the film and film soundtrack industry and heart of Kannywood. Meeting with some of the top actors, directors, and musicians, and visiting dozens of studios - where songs are composed with desktop computers and digital keyboards - we collected thousands of songs, a drop in the abundance of Hausa film music.
"Harafin So" which translates to "Word of Love" is the first ever international release of film songs from Northern Nigeria, available on limited edition Vinyl and CD and digital download. Featuring top hits by some of the biggest Kannywood film superstars (Fati Niger, Abubakar Sani, and the exuberant Sani Danja), the selection highlights some of the most notable songs in this remote and flourishing music scene - a scene that is the signature sound of an increasingly globalized world.
Pan-American - Cloud Room, Glass Room - "With percussionist extraordinaire Steven Hess now a full fledged member, Mark Nelson and Pan•American deliver their first new album since White Bird Release from 2009. This collection of new sounds began with the duo rehearsing for a series of shows in southern europe in late 2011 and early 2012, the songs written together as a group to be played live. Bobby Donne (Labradford, Cristal) plays bass on multiple tracks, further emphasizing the live band feel.
Mark Nelson's deft production touches abound, subtly mixing disparate elements into a fully integrated whole, while Hess prominently displays a myriad of percussion techniques showing a mastery of understated rhythms. The resulting album is a resonant listen that ranks with the best of Pan•American's catalog. " http://www.kranky.net/ - http://soundcloud.com/experimedia/pan-american-cloud-room-glass
From the always interesting label, Sub Rosa: ZAHAVA SEEWALD MICHAËL GREBIL JULIE VERMEULEN CHRISTOPHE MORISSET HAÏG SARIKOUYOUMDJIAN
- "Following up on their 2005 Tzadik release Scorched Lips, Zahava Seewald Michaël Grébil have delivered a new collaboration, exploring more intimate spaces. From my Mother's House is haunted from within by a sustained breath that unfolds through Jewish poetry. This work can be experienced like a novel, a piece of prose, a Hörspiel... an introspective form of cinema for the ear.
- The music unfolds in layers, like entangled photographic impressions. Field recordings, poems, film quotes, instrumental music, document archives, and concrete sounds are conjured up in a disorganized fashion, on a single plane of existence. Each element contributes to the whole, with the same basic intention: all these worlds coincide and exist in a single space, forming what could be called a sonic Menschmozaik.
- Images emerge and intermingle to form deeper, more complex pictures, through a series of associations. And this flow of conscience carries a dialogue where the voice of the living answers the voice of the dead, sonic matter being their point of contact, a ferryman, an intimate landscape; a gleaner harvesting layers of memories buried in the past along with still-fresh layers deposited by the present. Sound becomes a receptacle for the word, and the voice becomes the contemplator of the landscape getting sketched. Then, base lines get drawn, like so many themes developed by the poetry: the long thread of generations unfolding, parentage, the dialogue between a mother and her daughter, the daily life, the trite, the terrible, death, barbarism, beauty, innocence, the mother tongue. Sehnsucht..." Sub-Rosa
Erik Skodvin better than he ever was: Svarte Greiner - Black Tie
- "After two bone chilling full-lengths for the Type Recordings imprint, Erik K. Skodvin has embarked on his first journey for his own Miasmah label with 'Black Tie'. While originally conceived as a soundtrack to an installation by Norwegian artist Marit Følstad, Skodvin uses this as a starting point to craft his most unnerving long-form pieces to date. Split into two distinct movements, 'Black Tie' and 'White Noise', we are exposed to the yin and yang of Skodvin's patented acoustic doom, and all the gravitas that might contain.
'Black Tie' was the piece which ended up being used in the installation itself, and is the closest to Skodvin's established sound as it stops time around its creaking cello, plucked strings and whispering ambience. Subtle and slow, the track blooms into a skeletal cloud of radio static and distortion before sinking back down to earth on those familiar moaning strings.
With 'White Noise' however Skodvin takes us on a different journey, allowing panoramic synthesizer drones to take control while Middle Eastern strings chime in the distance. Transcendent and disarming, Skodvin manages to connect the dots between Biosphere, Thomas Koner and of course Deaf Center and still emerge with something fresh and unexpected. More than simply an accompanying work to aninstallation, 'Black Tie' is a crucial new chapter in the Svarte Greiner evolution, and one that should give a few clues as to what might come next."
- Miasmah - Soundcloud
Zeena Parkins and The Adorables - "THE ADORABLES is the latest band led by Zeena Parkins with percussionist Shayna Dunkelman and electronic guru Preshish Moments. Zeena Parkins is a harpist with Bjork, and a stalwart of the Downtown NY scene. THE ADORABLES mixes lush acoustic orchestration with live electronics, beats, and unusual instruments. Visceral, unearlthly, exquisitely rich sounds mix with drones, crafted sound processing,feedback and the guts of harp strings. Guest appearances by Deep Singh and Dave Sharma - percussion, Kristin Slipp - vocals, and Danny Blume - guitar." - Cryptogramophone Soundcloud - http://www.zeenaparkins.com
- "Yes, yes, we know what you're thinking. It's a live album, and when are those ever very exciting? But just remember that they really can be, and trust us when we say that this one really, truly is. Like a modern day Live at Leeds, like the benevolent, neon twin of Live Evil, Jaga Jazzist's wondrous new record is just that; a brilliant album on its own terms. It's a psychedelic Bond soundtrack twisting and turning from the stage, propelling the listener forward on an epic emotional voyage. At times it seems to explode from the speakers in pure, exuberant colour, making you wonder if you've recently developed synesthesia. It moves with unrestrained ease from quiet reflection to cinematic, widescreen thunder, from Sound of Music pastoral joy to pulsing jazz chase sequences and it makes you wonder why more of the music you hear isn't quite so completely affecting.
Jaga Jazzist had long wanted to work with an orchestra, and when the British radio DJ Fiona Talkington introduced them to the Britten Sinfonia, they leapt at the chance to collaborate. The Barbican's Chris Sharp promised to stage the results, and the team set about writing the work from scratch. Jaga wanted to make each musician feel like a central part of the performance, and this philosophy paid off in full. The music is full of exuberance and passion, each player becoming an equal part of a startlingly purposeful hive-mind.
Jaga have always taken a rigorous approach to their art, and they wanted to use the opportunity afforded by the album to push their own creativity forward. As such, they broke new ground personally. "Mathias' trumpet solo on 'Bananfluer Overalt' is probably my favourite moment on the album," says the group's writer and creative driving force Lars Horntveth. "He really shines here and has the space and time to improvise in a way he hasn't been able to do before with Jaga alone."
That says a lot about this brilliant, unique record. It's not often that an album comes along that offers so much. Its quieter moments could equal Shostakovich's explorations of mortality, its full throttle thrusts match the visceral thrill of any young guitar band. We'd suggest that you won't be disappointed in a listen, and that it might just change your day for the better." Ninja Tune - Soundcloud
Here's a really splendid album from the French Clapping Music label (Domotic, Egyptology): Orval Carlos Sibelius - Super Forma Orval Carlos Sibelius : vox, electric and acoustic guitars, bass guitar, drums, percussions, organ, electric piano, synthetizers, oud, guzheng, ukelin, autoharp, glockenspiel, tamboa, charango.
News from Rune Grammofon: Hedvig Mollestad Trio - All Of Them Witches
- "Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen is a guitar heroine for our times. She first picked up her mothers nylon-strung acoustic guitar at the age of ten and as an exploratory teenager she dug deep into her fathers jazz and rock record collection. Then she was given an electric guitar and amplifier as a confirmation present, and never looked back.
But theres nothing pious about her music. Her molten, overdriven guitar sound is forged in the same fiery furnace as Hendrix, Tony Iommi, Jimmy Page, then plunged into a steaming vat of free jazz in the Sonny Sharrock/Fred Frith mould. In tracks like The Rex and Lake Acid, youll hear the megalithic riffology of Led Zeppelins Kashmir and RocknRoll, but with an agility and intensity peculiar to the dark Northern regions where she and her bandmates were raised. All Of Them Witches follows the Trios previous Rune Grammofon release, Shoot! (2011) and, like labelmates Elephant9 and Grand General, represent a thrilling new progressive wave of Norwegian avant rock/free metal energy. And like the debut, this latest batch of electrifying instrumentals was recorded live in the island environment of Ocean Sound studio, a grass-roofed wooden barn on the edge of the Norwegian Sea fitted with state of the art equipment.
Her debut album received great reviews in places like Mojo, Uncut and New York Times, but this new one is another step up and we simply cannot recommend it enough." Rune Grammofon - Soundcloud
Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen: guitar; Ivar Loe Bjørnstad: drums; Ellen Brekken: bass . All About Jazz review
- "WHERE WE WERE, the new album from GREG HAINES, may come as a surprise upon first listen. The cascading strings that played such an important role in his prior work have disappeared, and in there place are intricate layers of tape-worn synthesizers. Any recordings of piano have been transformed and affected until their sound is at times barely recognizable. Moments of quiet, slowmoving textures can still be found, but they are nestled between upbeat, rhythmically-driven tracks that at times could even be considered for deployment on open-minded dancefloors. Although taking a year to complete, the nature of this record is born in its spontaneity and impulsiveness. The acoustic instruments such as piano, vibraphone and other percussion that found there way on to the album were not the result of months of composing - rather they were entirely improvised and often left completely unedited and raw. At first the idea was these rough tracks, full of noises and hiss, would later be re-recorded, but as the process drew on, it became clear that these kind of loose, half-thought moments were what defined the album - often out-oftime or out-of-tune, but always adding another dimension to the hazy, analog world of sound. This hand-crafted approach led to almost everything being constructed in the old-fashioned way; not with mouse-clicks, but with two hands moving dials and everything running to an aged tape machine.
This album is the result of one person sitting alone in a room and creating something entirely personal, without the frustrations of organising large-scale sessions for other players or the laborious work of preparing scores. In fact, the few scored moments that were written were later disregarded, with a whole string session with PETER BRODERICK ending up on the cutting-room floor (sorry, Peter!), along with endless hours of other material. What is left is the condensed diary of a year of exploring old tape delays, analog synths and percussion - some of which played by percussionist/composer SYTZE PRUIKSMA (a member, along with Haines, of THE ALVARET ENSEMBLE, whose debut album was released in December 2012 by Denovali Records), and some of which played and recorded in a midnight daze at Haines' studio in Berlin. Working in this way led to a whole host of other long-term influences feeding into the music that had never found an outlet before. The experiments in dub conducted by the likes of KING TUBBY or LEE PERRY and continued by the likes of RHYTHM & SOUND had a profound effect, as did the iconic work of TONY ALLEN and other African composers. The spaced-out soundscapes found on early TANGERINE DREAM and KLAUS SCHULTZE had always had a subtle influence on Greg's work, but now armed with an arsenal of dusty studio toys, those sounds became warmer, richer and more prominent.
The influences evoked here may at first appear at odds with Greg's previous work, but an affinity between the dense poly-rhythms of Africa and beyond have long been an influence for contemporary composers such as STEVE REICH, and their reach and importance on western music is undeniable. But now the lines have been blurred, and its impossible to say where one style or influence stops and another begins something that was perhaps the only concept for this record. The symphonic synth crescendo of So it Goes would not have the same impact if it were not following the head-nodding drive of Something Happened. The delicate arpeggios of Wake Mania Without End II only exaggerate the unrelenting, rhythmical explosion of Habenero, and without starting with the intimate piano of The Intruder, the album's cavernous ending wouldn't feel so otherworldly. Its all in there or at least whats left of it after the hiss, the dirt and the degradation of the tape machine destroyed it, reworked it, and spat it back out fullyformed." Denovali Records - Denovali @ Soundcloud - http://greghaines.wordpress.com/
Thanks, In The Event Of A Sudden Loss came up in the rotation last night so once again, good timing.
I'll have to wait till later to listen to it as I'm off to the garden and first play deserves more than my outdoor speaker.
News from Home Normal: Fabio Orsi & Pimmon - Procrastination
- "Procrastination haunts us. Even the most studious amongst us occasionally finds themselves trapped by a lingering daydream or escapist vision; one that absorbs us and removes us from the moment.
But procrastination often masks a industrious subconscious flow. I posit, procrastination is a disconnected deep-thinking, a sub-dreaming, a hidden imagination that trickles in the deepest caves of our brains, which eventually join the conscious rivers of our mind.
Its procrastination that is to blame for the tectonic elegance heard on the debut collaborative effort from Italian musician Fabio Orsi and Australian laptopper Pimmon. After discovering a mutual admiration for their respective outputs, the two decided a collaboration was in order. Before long, Orsi passed Pimmon a set of recordings Pimmon felt were, in my mind, fully realised. Considering them as finished pieces, Pimmon was flummoxed as to what he might bring to the collaboration and he entered, as he calls it, a zone of procrastination. A deadlock ensued, as Pimmon ploughed through other projects unsure of how to resolve the question of the collaboration.
18 months had passed since the pair first exchanged files and Pimmon, whilst on break along the picturesque Margaret River found himself revisiting the files. Suddenly procrastination broke and the deadlock of directionlessness evaporated. The subconscious trickles had formed rivers and the rivers pounded together creating a tidal wave of sonic ideas that saw Orsis files transformed in quick succession. The source recordings shattered through a web of Pimmons processing devolutions, re-arranged and re-edited to reveal an entirely new perspective on Orsis sonic matter."
Lawrence English. music
On OYE!! Live in Puerto Rico, alto saxophonist, composer and MacArthur Foundation Fellow Miguel Zenon and his quartet (Tony Escapa, electric bassist Aldemar Valentin and percussionist Reynaldo De Jesus) make good on their stated mission, which is to bring greater jazz awareness to their native Puerto Rico. In this recording, they are treated like conquering heroes; the quartet has the rare ability to communicate jazzs art and relevance to all audiences, and the fervent applause heard on this recording is testament.
Zenon can do no wrong, in my book. Link goes to 17 Dots review at eMu, but he is selling DLs including FLAC at CD Baby
"NYC-based four-piece Big Farm will release their self-titled debut album May 28th on New Amsterdam Records. "Something like a Blind Faith–style supergroup for new-music cognoscenti"
Grammy winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist vocalist-lyricist Rinde Eckert in-demand electric bassist Mark Haanstra Grammy winner and pioneering composer-guitarist Steven Mackey celebrated percussionist Jason Treuting (of So Percussion)
- After years of various collaboration, admiration and respect for each other, the members of Big Farm finally banded together in 2009, answering a call to a place where the rules normative to the hard genres of music are set aside, making it possible for the group to express the eclecticism of its accomplished members.
The band explains: "Big Farm is a place where serious counterpoint can meet burlesque, earnestness meet abandon; a place where they can kick it or take it to tea, reflect, attack, mourn, dance, pray, or mock with ease or determination, joy or fervor, using any and all means necessary. This world is a big farm – lots of different crops, changing weather, livestock, and a duck pond for good measure."
The album was recorded, produced and mixed by Lawson White and and Todd Whitelock at Avatar Studios and Good Child Music Studios in New York City. The album was mastered by Scott Hull at Masterdisk. Album guests include Alexandra Sopp (flute), Mary Jo Stilp (violin), Kiku Enomoto (violin), Christina Lberis (viola), and Rubin Kodheli (cello)." New Amsterdam - €music - More Rinde Eckert @ Emusers - I Care If You Listen review
- "Brooklyn-based composer-bandleader Darcy James Argue and his innovative 18-piece bigband Secret Society will release their highly anticipated sophomore album, Brooklyn Babylon, April 30th on New Amsterdam Records. The follow-up to their critically acclaimed and Grammy-nominated debut, Infernal Machines (2009), Brooklyn Babylon shows Argue “expanding his sonic palette as never before” (Tad Hendrickson, Wall Street Journal).
Weaving together progressive jazz, early-American popular styles, Balkan folk musics, and the sounds of Brooklyn's diverse contemporary music scene — from the dance-punk of LCD Soundsystem and experimental indie rock of Dirty Projectors to Missy Mazzoli's blend of post-rock and quirky minimalism — Argue creates a vividly evocative musical narrative that is at once timeless and unlike anything heard before. Argue's Secret Society is one of the most admired ensembles in contemporary jazz, having toured in Europe, Brazil, and North America and been twice featured at the Newport Jazz Festival. Its members include in-demand instrumentalists such as John Ellis, Ingrid Jensen, Ryan Keberle, and Sam Sadigursky.
Brooklyn Babylon was conceived in collaboration with Croatian-born visual artist Danijel Zezelj, whose narrative inspired Argue's mash-up of musical styles. Zezelj's artwork places the action in a larger-than-life, mythic Brooklyn, where past, present, and future coexist. Plans are afoot to construct an immense tower — the tallest in the world — right in the heart of the city. Lev Bezdomni, a master carpenter, finds himself torn between his personal ambition and his allegiance to the community when he is commissioned to build the carousel that will crown it.
Premiered to wide acclaim at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival in 2011, Brooklyn Babylon is a long-form, structurally-integrated work combining Zezelj's animation and live painting with Argue's music. But like great stage works, such as Stravinksy's Petrushka or Debussy's Jeux, the composition works powerfully on its own.
The 53-minute work shows Argue taking a novelistic approach to long-form composition: a prologue, eight chapters separated by brief interludes, and an epilogue. The album opens with the actual sounds of Brooklyn — a sonic collage of recordings of the borough captured on Argue's portable digital recorder. The ensemble gradually comes into focus and introduces the Prologue, from which every subsequent musical theme in Brooklyn Babylon derives. Argue reconfigures these themes using a broad array of techniques, inflected by contemporary indie rock, classical music, and jazz, particularly from the often maligned 1970s: the earthy avant-garde of Dewey Redman and Lester Bowie; the intricate large-ensemble sounds of Thad Jones and Don Ellis; and the sophisticated populism of Donald Byrd and Herbie Hancock's Headhunters. Waltzes, marches and — naturally — fairground carousels also fold into the mix.
Brooklyn Babylon was recorded June 19-21, 2012 at NYC's legendary Avatar Studios. The recording was mixed and co-produced by Brian Montgomery (John Hollenbeck, Esperanza Spalding, Elvis Costello, Donald Fagen, Paul McCartney). " - New Amsterdam - €music
Here's a brand new album from Enough Records by an artist that just keeps on getting better and better: Jari Pitkänen - Anima Ombra
- "Jari’s sound can be described as celestial ambient: lonely, cinematic; slightly ethereal, slightly dark. Sounds that are always extremly introspective and with a character trait of a very soothing nature that resonates in all of his releases.
Comments
Petrels - Onkalo
- "Onkalo is the follower of the highly praised Petrels concept debut album Haeligewielle ("Petrels has provided us with what has to be the strongest solo debut from a musician so far in 2011." (Fluid Radio) + "The album is a masterpiece of narrative, a blackened ship with a broken mast that defies the storm and in so doing discovers its own dark destiny." (8.5/ 10 - The Silent Ballet)
Onkalo ('hiding place') is the name of the spent nuclear fuel repository currently under construction in Finland to house hazardous nuclear waste. It is designed to last a minimum of 100,000 years - a scale of time unimaginable when the oldest surviving man made structures have endured not even a tenth of that time. The human species as we know it is thought to have existed for approximately 100,000 years - is it possible for humankind to build something that will endure a timescale that vast again? And what will be left to uncover it if it does so?
Taking this as a starting point, Petrels second album - after acclaimed debut Haeligewielle - draws on a fascination with how we deal with what is left over, both physically and mentally. With this thread running through Onkalo, Petrels also takes inspiration from speculative science, immense time scales, retro-futurism, personal history, and how the post-war optimism of the dawn of the atomic age has come up against a more uncertain vision of the future."
Denovali Records - Emusic
Who:
I'm Oliver Barrett and grew up in the past-its-prime seaside town of Weston-super-Mare in Somerset before moving to London ten years ago where I studied a degree in sound art. Since then I've played in various different bands/projectssome of which are still ongoingand put out my first album under the moniker of Petrels Haeligewiellelast April.
What:
My first instrument was/is the cello, and I've been using this as a basis to combine my interest in classical music with electronics/synthesised instruments and improv/noise. I'm interested in telling stories, contrasting different elements and approaches and in the tensions you can create by placing sounds together that might initially seem opposedwith Haeligewielle I focused quite a bit on trying to make the acoustic instruments sound as synthesized as possible and visa-versa, for example. Mainly I'm constantly striving to create something all-encompassing and immersive that I can lose myself in.
Influences and inspirations:
This list could go on for pages and pages but here're a few that are maybe more Petrels-specific (in no particular order): Vaughan Williams, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Todd Dockstader, Lau Nau, Ernst Reijseger, Tsai Ming-Liang, Belong, BusRatch, Arthur Russell, Angela Carter, Kuupuu, Vibracathedral Orchestra, John Carpenter, Markus Popp, William Vollmann, travelling, walking, eating, listening.
- Edited from Textura
Jan Jelinek - Do You Know Otahiti?
- "Faitiche is delighted to present Jan Jelinek's Do you know Otahiti?. This Mini-LP is the third of four vinyl compilations that bring together a highly diverse range of Jelinek's works - including commissioned pieces, live recordings, collaborations with other musicians, as well as unreleased material from the past five years.
Side A:
Both titles are live recordings of Japanese vibraphone player Masayoshi Fujita together with Jan Jelinek. Since the release of their collaborative album Bird, Lake, Objects (faitiche03, 2010), the duo have played numerous improvised concerts. Live at Frameworks was recorded in Munich on March 24th, 2012 at the Frameworks Festival, while Live at AvantJazz was recorded during the AvantJazz at CaixaForum concert series in Barcelona on August 22nd, 2012.
Side B:
Do you know Otahiti? is a twofold collage; it combines unreleased material with fragments taken from Kennen Sie Otahiti?, a radio collage produced for SWR Radio in 2012 on the theme of fictional and real travelogues.
TOton is a previously unreleased track from 2009."
New release from Jonas Reinhardt, titled Mask of the Maker.
Here's an edited repost:
Brambles - Charcoal
- "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, Serein Label Curator
Headphone Commute interview - http://www.iambrambles.com - Soundcloud
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."
- "Grzegorz Bojanek & Piotr Michalowski are two Polish experimental soundscape creators. Their work together started as an improvised concert project in Zacheta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw during WEF.LIVE.LAB in 2010. Since, they have performed in several European countries and played during the Shanghai Electronic Music Week in 2011 and ChoP Festival 2012 (Shenzhen / Hong Kong). Both artists were content with their performance results and decided to record their first full length album for Ohm Resistance.
As Far As It Seems contains a mixture of traditional Chinese instruments, guitars, DIY instruments of all kinds and field recordings taken in unusual places. These arrangements create deep organic ambient soundscapes which remain in the mind of the listener for a long time. With every song, once pulled into its atmosphere, it is truly impossible to exit."
- 12k
As Far As It Seems @ Youtube - Bojanek & Michalowski | Improvised Live Act | 16.03.2013 @ Youtube
- With Ensemble Senatet:
Clarinet: Vicky Wright; Percussion: Mads Bendsen; Trombone: Andras Olsen; Violin: Kirsten Riis-Jensen; Viola: Mina Fred; Cello: Sofia Olsson.
- "In collaboration with Danish ensemble Scenatet, Jacob Kirkegaard's two pieces Labyrinthitis and Church are here interpreted by classical instruments. The intention of this transformation into an instrumental score is to explore the musical dimension and potential of the sounds that were used in creating the original works.
Church (from "4 Rooms", Touch, 2006) originally consists of ambient recordings of an abandoned church inside the radioactive zone in Chernobyl. Laybrinthitis (Touch, 2008) is a canon of oto-acoustic tones generated by the artist's own ears. Like most of Kirkegaard's sound works, both pieces are characterised by a strong focus on methodology, and by the artist's wish to omit any deliberate emotional or "musical" intention."
- "Jacob Kirkegaard is a Danish artist focusing on scientific & aesthetic aspects of resonance, time, sound & hearing. His installations, compositions & performances deal with acoustic spaces or phenomena that usually remain imperceptible. Using unorthodox methods for recording, Kirkegaard captures and contextualizes hitherto unheard sounds from within a variety of environments: a geyser, a sand dune, a nuclear power plant, an empty room, a TV tower, and even sounds from the human inner ear itself.
Based in Berlin, Kirkegaard is a graduate of the Academy for Media Arts in Cologne, Germany. Since 1995, Kirkegaard has presented his works at exhibitions and at festivals and conferences throughout the world. He has released five albums (mostly on the British label Touch) and is a member of the sound art collective freq_out."
- http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/
http://fonik.dk/works/conversion.html - http://www.scenatet.dk/
This one's a collaboration with pianist Kelly Wyse, so a bit of a departure. Lovely so far!
- "After nearly 30 years, The Flaming Lips couldn't be harder to predict or pin down. The Oklahoma band has nothing left to prove no lofty commercial standard to maintain, no gigantic hit of the variety anyone expects it to re-create, and no core sound whose boundaries and limitations must be pressed against with great care. Immortality is secure, thanks to both a left-field '90s novelty smash ("She Don't Use Jelly") and two albums viewed as unimpeachable classics (The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots). Wayne Coyne and his co-conspirators have long been liberated and encouraged to indulge their whims, especially on their 13 studio records.
Looking over The Flaming Lips' career, those whims have already included some heady, bonkers trips down dark alleys and inaccessible side roads. As playful and crowd-pleasing as the group's live shows have become, its most experimental recordings as with the rambling indulgences of its early years are often fiercely uncompromising, even impenetrable. In effect, Coyne and company have come full-circle, because The Terror is, well, terrifying.
Sounding almost post-apocalyptic in its scabrous, searching bleakness Coyne himself describes the album as "disturbing" The Terror moans and scrapes ominously from its opening seconds onward. Scorched and frayed, with an almost industrial ugliness to it, "Look...The Sun Is Rising" gets the proceedings underway by capturing the sound of a world (and, it would seem, a band) in distress, even decay. But The Terror still finds a way to reward deeper exploration, as cracked loveliness seeps into moments that soar tentatively; by way of example, "Be Free, A Way" may not be sunny, but it lets light peek through its cracks in unexpected ways.
Still, the overall effect is intense and enveloping; The Terror demands study even as the band clangs and drifts through 13 minutes of menace in "The Lust," or pulsates formlessly in "Turning Violent" and the appropriately titled "You Are Alone." And so it goes throughout 55 loose, sprawling minutes: Alternately thorny and meandering, The Terror presents itself as difficult to love but then, as in "Try to Explain," doles out bits of bracing beauty as it sprawls into space."
- Npr.
http://pitchfork.com/features/update/9054-the-flaming-lips/
Robert Hampson:
Analogue Electronics, Concréte Sounds, Guitar, Piano-Treatments
Stephan Mathieu:
Farfisa VIP 233, Ebowed Phonoharp, Radio, Percussion-Treatment
- "There has been a recent surge in activity from Robert Hampson, with all manner of solo recordings and performances popping up. Its only logical that he reactivates his beloved Main project. As we all know, Main laid the foundations during the 1990s for much of love of abstract guitar treatments in electronic music throughout the 2000s.
Hampson has teamed up with Stephan Mathieu to create a stunning new album. On ‘Ablation’, Mathieu adds extra tonal colour and an obscure rhythmic palette to Hampson’s exacting treatments and detailed use of layered concrète sounds to create an emotionally charged and fascinating work.
Old fans of Main will not be disappointed, and neither will new followers of experimental audio.
Packaged with images by Grebo Gray with layout by Dave Coppenhall, and expertly mastered and cut by Rashad Becker, ‘Ablation’ is a highlight for the spring 2013 season."
Editions Mego - Soundcloud
Slow - Don't Be Afraid Of Horrors
. . . . ."Slow aka Sergey Suokas – our old (probably the oldest one) friend and key artist, known to the world by his techno, downbeat and firm ambient works for a plenty of labels, movie foundations, visual exhibitions and even more, not to mention his releases on our label.
So here’s a 8-track masterpiece of pure organic, living and mind-expanding ambient music. Live instrumentals, field recordings, deep layers and multi-color layers… Mental, imaginary, soothing, profound, heart-opening… Ah, may we not speak this time? Honestly, this is the exact case of an old Chinese wisdom: “one picture is worth more than a thousand words”. . . . .
Fuselab - Archive.org
- "French Teen Idol is an instrumental solo project from Rome, Italy, run by Andrea Di Carlo.
An elegant mix of post-rock and electronic influences, French Teen Idol’s music provides the listener with cinematic landscapes, dramatic crescendos and striking vocal samples.
On 29th May, 2005, French Teen Idol’s self-titled debut album “French Teen Idol” has been released by the Canadian netlabel Nishi. In October 2005, the song “Shouting Can Have Different Meanings” has appeared on “Losing Today“‘s compilation (Italian version).
“Enlightened False Consciousness”, French Teen Idol’s second full length album, has been released on 5th April, 2007 by the post-rock netlabel Lost Children.
Both albums are available for full, free download on archive.org.
On 7th September, 2007, a limited CD edition (500 copies) of “Enlightened False Consciousness” has been released.
June 1st, 2009 is the release date of “El Siete Es La Luz”, the third album by Andrea Di Carlo. Slightly more guitar-oriented, the 8 songs confirm FTI’s proposal and invite you to a unique musical journey.
In 2011, YOUAREHERE, a post-rock group featuring French Teen Idol, edPorth and micro (µ), released their debut album, titled “As When The Fall Leaves Trees”. All the songs of the album are available as a free downlaod."
Last.fm
Grand General - ST
Even Helte Hermansen - guitar (Bushman´s Revenge)
Ola Kvernberg - violin
Erlend Slettevoll - keyboards (The Core)
Trond Frønes - bass (Sunswitch, El Doom & The Born Electric)
Kenneth Kapstad - drums (Motorpsycho)
- "Heavy and melodic prog/jazz/rock from new group consisting of some very prolific musicians from the Norwegian scene. Having played a few sensational gigs as Kenneth Kapstad Group this impressive line-up is now ready with a more fitting name for their debut album. With gifted violinist Ola Kvernberg, who won a Norwegian Grammy for his album ”Liarbird”, on board it´s difficult not to think of the Mahavishnu Orchestra when trying to place Grand General in a musical perspective. The interplay between the soloists is superb and with this rhythm section you can´t go wrong. However, as gifted as these musicians are and as accomplished the music can be, you never get the feeling that they play to show off their instrumental skills, but to serve the music."
Rune Grammofon - Soundcloud
ETA:
- "Having played a handful of sensational gigs as Kenneth Kapstad Group, this impressive line-up is now ready with a more fitting name for their debut album, Grand General. Ola Kvernberg comes from a family of musicians and started classical violin studies at the age of nine. He also played folk music early on and appeared on a record when he was 14. He started playing jazz at the age of 16 and got his education at the Jazz Academy in Trondheim, a breeding ground for many great musicians. His proper breakthrough came with the album Liarbird (2010) which won him a Norwegian Grammy and was received with wide acclaim both in Norway and abroad. As with so many musicians of his generation, he has played with "everybody." He is notably featured on Motorpsycho's The Death Defying Unicorn. Even Helte Hermansen is a guitarist extraordinaire in power-jazz trio Bushman's Revenge, with four albums on Rune Grammofon. A former member of black-jazzers Shining, he grew up listening to everything from Kiss and Pantera to Frank Zappa and John Coltrane. Erlend Slettevoll is yet another graduate from the Jazz Academy in Trondheim. He has worked with several of Norway's most accomplished jazz ensembles, most notably as a member of The Core and Petter Wettre Quartet. Trond Frønes is the main writer in Grand General and known from bands like Cadillac, El Doom & The Born Electric, and lately doom-metal trio Sunswitch. Kenneth Kapstad has been a permanent member of Motorpsycho since the creative burst that started with their Little Lucid Moments album in 2008. He also plays in the extreme metal duo Monolithic with Stian Westerhus, the death/trash metal band Goat The Head with Trond Frønes and Møster! with Kjetil Møster (Ultralyd) and Nikolai Eilertsen (Elephant9). With a violinist on board, it's difficult not to mention the Mahavishnu Orchestra when trying to place Grand General in a musical perspective. However, as gifted as these musicians are and as accomplished as the music can be, you never get the feeling that they play to show off their instrumental skills, but to serve the music. Grand General are: Ola Kvernberg (violins, viola); Even Helte Hermansen (guitar); Erlend Slettevoll (keyboards); Trond Frønes (bass); Kenneth Kapstad (drums)."
Experimedia
New release from Rhian Sheehan (I have enjoyed a couple of his previous releases, [url=http://www.emusic.com/album/rhian-sheehan/seven-tales-of-the-north-wind/12511890/[/url]Seven Tales of the North Wind[/url] and New Zealand Landscapes.
Pan-American - Cloud Room, Glass Room
- "With percussionist extraordinaire Steven Hess now a full fledged member, Mark Nelson and Pan•American deliver their first new album since White Bird Release from 2009. This collection of new sounds began with the duo rehearsing for a series of shows in southern europe in late 2011 and early 2012, the songs written together as a group to be played live. Bobby Donne (Labradford, Cristal) plays bass on multiple tracks, further emphasizing the live band feel.
Mark Nelson's deft production touches abound, subtly mixing disparate elements into a fully integrated whole, while Hess prominently displays a myriad of percussion techniques showing a mastery of understated rhythms. The resulting album is a resonant listen that ranks with the best of Pan•American's catalog. "
http://www.kranky.net/ - http://soundcloud.com/experimedia/pan-american-cloud-room-glass
ZAHAVA SEEWALD
MICHAËL GREBIL
JULIE VERMEULEN
CHRISTOPHE MORISSET
HAÏG SARIKOUYOUMDJIAN
- "Following up on their 2005 Tzadik release Scorched Lips, Zahava Seewald Michaël Grébil have delivered a new collaboration, exploring more intimate spaces. From my Mother's House is haunted from within by a sustained breath that unfolds through Jewish poetry. This work can be experienced like a novel, a piece of prose, a Hörspiel... an introspective form of cinema for the ear.
- The music unfolds in layers, like entangled photographic impressions. Field recordings, poems, film quotes, instrumental music, document archives, and concrete sounds are conjured up in a disorganized fashion, on a single plane of existence. Each element contributes to the whole, with the same basic intention: all these worlds coincide and exist in a single space, forming what could be called a sonic Menschmozaik.
- Images emerge and intermingle to form deeper, more complex pictures, through a series of associations. And this flow of conscience carries a dialogue where the voice of the living answers the voice of the dead, sonic matter being their point of contact, a ferryman, an intimate landscape; a gleaner harvesting layers of memories buried in the past along with still-fresh layers deposited by the present. Sound becomes a receptacle for the word, and the voice becomes the contemplator of the landscape getting sketched.
Then, base lines get drawn, like so many themes developed by the poetry: the long thread of generations unfolding, parentage, the dialogue between a mother and her daughter, the daily life, the trite, the terrible, death, barbarism, beauty, innocence, the mother tongue.
Sehnsucht..."
Sub-Rosa
Svarte Greiner - Black Tie
- "After two bone chilling full-lengths for the Type Recordings imprint, Erik K. Skodvin has embarked on his first journey for his own Miasmah label with 'Black Tie'. While originally conceived as a soundtrack to an installation by Norwegian artist Marit Følstad, Skodvin uses this as a starting point to craft his most unnerving long-form pieces to date. Split into two distinct movements, 'Black Tie' and 'White Noise', we are exposed to the yin and yang of Skodvin's patented acoustic doom, and all the gravitas that might contain.
'Black Tie' was the piece which ended up being used in the installation itself, and is the closest to Skodvin's established sound as it stops time around its creaking cello, plucked strings and whispering ambience. Subtle and slow, the track blooms into a skeletal cloud of radio static and distortion before sinking back down to earth on those familiar moaning strings.
With 'White Noise' however Skodvin takes us on a different journey, allowing panoramic synthesizer drones to take control while Middle Eastern strings chime in the distance. Transcendent and disarming, Skodvin manages to connect the dots between Biosphere, Thomas Koner and of course Deaf Center and still emerge with something fresh and unexpected. More than simply an accompanying work to aninstallation, 'Black Tie' is a crucial new chapter in the Svarte Greiner evolution, and one that should give a few clues as to what might come next."
- Miasmah - Soundcloud
Zeena Parkins and The Adorables
- "THE ADORABLES is the latest band led by Zeena Parkins with percussionist Shayna Dunkelman and electronic guru Preshish Moments. Zeena Parkins is a harpist with Bjork, and a stalwart of the Downtown NY scene. THE ADORABLES mixes lush acoustic orchestration with live electronics, beats, and unusual instruments. Visceral, unearlthly, exquisitely rich sounds mix with drones, crafted sound processing,feedback and the guts of harp strings. Guest appearances by Deep Singh and Dave Sharma - percussion, Kristin Slipp - vocals, and Danny Blume - guitar."
- Cryptogramophone
Soundcloud - http://www.zeenaparkins.com
- "Yes, yes, we know what you're thinking. It's a live album, and when are those ever very exciting? But just remember that they really can be, and trust us when we say that this one really, truly is. Like a modern day Live at Leeds, like the benevolent, neon twin of Live Evil, Jaga Jazzist's wondrous new record is just that; a brilliant album on its own terms. It's a psychedelic Bond soundtrack twisting and turning from the stage, propelling the listener forward on an epic emotional voyage. At times it seems to explode from the speakers in pure, exuberant colour, making you wonder if you've recently developed synesthesia. It moves with unrestrained ease from quiet reflection to cinematic, widescreen thunder, from Sound of Music pastoral joy to pulsing jazz chase sequences and it makes you wonder why more of the music you hear isn't quite so completely affecting.
Jaga Jazzist had long wanted to work with an orchestra, and when the British radio DJ Fiona Talkington introduced them to the Britten Sinfonia, they leapt at the chance to collaborate. The Barbican's Chris Sharp promised to stage the results, and the team set about writing the work from scratch. Jaga wanted to make each musician feel like a central part of the performance, and this philosophy paid off in full. The music is full of exuberance and passion, each player becoming an equal part of a startlingly purposeful hive-mind.
Jaga have always taken a rigorous approach to their art, and they wanted to use the opportunity afforded by the album to push their own creativity forward. As such, they broke new ground personally. "Mathias' trumpet solo on 'Bananfluer Overalt' is probably my favourite moment on the album," says the group's writer and creative driving force Lars Horntveth. "He really shines here and has the space and time to improvise in a way he hasn't been able to do before with Jaga alone."
That says a lot about this brilliant, unique record. It's not often that an album comes along that offers so much. Its quieter moments could equal Shostakovich's explorations of mortality, its full throttle thrusts match the visceral thrill of any young guitar band. We'd suggest that you won't be disappointed in a listen, and that it might just change your day for the better."
Ninja Tune - Soundcloud
Orval Carlos Sibelius - Super Forma
Orval Carlos Sibelius : vox, electric and acoustic guitars, bass guitar, drums, percussions, organ, electric piano, synthetizers, oud, guzheng, ukelin, autoharp, glockenspiel, tamboa, charango.
Arnaud Caquelard : bass guitar, tibetan bells
Lori Schonberg : drums, trumpet, harmonium
Raphael Seguin : piano, tremolo guitar, philicordia organ, synthetizer
Bertrand Auguste Mougel : percussions
Stéphane Laporte aka Domotic : bass guitar, percussions, drum machine, flute
Dick Turner : trombone
Clapping Music - Soundcloud - €music
Hedvig Mollestad Trio - All Of Them Witches
- "Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen is a guitar heroine for our times. She first picked up her mothers nylon-strung acoustic guitar at the age of ten and as an exploratory teenager she dug deep into her fathers jazz and rock record collection. Then she was given an electric guitar and amplifier as a confirmation present, and never looked back.
But theres nothing pious about her music. Her molten, overdriven guitar sound is forged in the same fiery furnace as Hendrix, Tony Iommi, Jimmy Page, then plunged into a steaming vat of free jazz in the Sonny Sharrock/Fred Frith mould. In tracks like The Rex and Lake Acid, youll hear the megalithic riffology of Led Zeppelins Kashmir and RocknRoll, but with an agility and intensity peculiar to the dark Northern regions where she and her bandmates were raised. All Of Them Witches follows the Trios previous Rune Grammofon release, Shoot! (2011) and, like labelmates Elephant9 and Grand General, represent a thrilling new progressive wave of Norwegian avant rock/free metal energy. And like the debut, this latest batch of electrifying instrumentals was recorded live in the island environment of Ocean Sound studio, a grass-roofed wooden barn on the edge of the Norwegian Sea fitted with state of the art equipment.
Her debut album received great reviews in places like Mojo, Uncut and New York Times, but this new one is another step up and we simply cannot recommend it enough."
Rune Grammofon - Soundcloud
Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen: guitar; Ivar Loe Bjørnstad: drums; Ellen Brekken: bass .
All About Jazz review
Greg Haines - Where We Were
- "WHERE WE WERE, the new album from GREG HAINES, may come as a surprise upon first listen. The cascading strings that played such an important role in his prior work have disappeared, and in there place are intricate layers of tape-worn synthesizers. Any recordings of piano have been transformed and affected until their sound is at times barely recognizable. Moments of quiet, slowmoving textures can still be found, but they are nestled between upbeat, rhythmically-driven tracks that at times could even be considered for deployment on open-minded dancefloors. Although taking a year to complete, the nature of this record is born in its spontaneity and impulsiveness. The acoustic instruments such as piano, vibraphone and other percussion that found there way on to the album were not the result of months of composing - rather they were entirely improvised and often left completely unedited and raw. At first the idea was these rough tracks, full of noises and hiss, would later be re-recorded, but as the process drew on, it became clear that these kind of loose, half-thought moments were what defined the album - often out-oftime or out-of-tune, but always adding another dimension to the hazy, analog world of sound. This hand-crafted approach led to almost everything being constructed in the old-fashioned way; not with mouse-clicks, but with two hands moving dials and everything running to an aged tape machine.
This album is the result of one person sitting alone in a room and creating something entirely personal, without the frustrations of organising large-scale sessions for other players or the laborious work of preparing scores. In fact, the few scored moments that were written were later disregarded, with a whole string session with PETER BRODERICK ending up on the cutting-room floor (sorry, Peter!), along with endless hours of other material. What is left is the condensed diary of a year of exploring old tape delays, analog synths and percussion - some of which played by percussionist/composer SYTZE PRUIKSMA (a member, along with Haines, of THE ALVARET ENSEMBLE, whose debut album was released in December 2012 by Denovali Records), and some of which played and recorded in a midnight daze at Haines' studio in Berlin. Working in this way led to a whole host of other long-term influences feeding into the music that had never found an outlet before. The experiments in dub conducted by the likes of KING TUBBY or LEE PERRY and continued by the likes of RHYTHM & SOUND had a profound effect, as did the iconic work of TONY ALLEN and other African composers. The spaced-out soundscapes found on early TANGERINE DREAM and KLAUS SCHULTZE had always had a subtle influence on Greg's work, but now armed with an arsenal of dusty studio toys, those sounds became warmer, richer and more prominent.
The influences evoked here may at first appear at odds with Greg's previous work, but an affinity between the dense poly-rhythms of Africa and beyond have long been an influence for contemporary composers such as STEVE REICH, and their reach and importance on western music is undeniable. But now the lines have been blurred, and its impossible to say where one style or influence stops and another begins something that was perhaps the only concept for this record. The symphonic synth crescendo of So it Goes would not have the same impact if it were not following the head-nodding drive of Something Happened. The delicate arpeggios of Wake Mania Without End II only exaggerate the unrelenting, rhythmical explosion of Habenero, and without starting with the intimate piano of The Intruder, the album's cavernous ending wouldn't feel so otherworldly. Its all in there or at least whats left of it after the hiss, the dirt and the degradation of the tape machine destroyed it, reworked it, and spat it back out fullyformed."
Denovali Records - Denovali @ Soundcloud - http://greghaines.wordpress.com/
I'll have to wait till later to listen to it as I'm off to the garden and first play deserves more than my outdoor speaker.
Fabio Orsi & Pimmon - Procrastination
- "Procrastination haunts us. Even the most studious amongst us occasionally finds themselves trapped by a lingering daydream or escapist vision; one that absorbs us and removes us from the moment.
But procrastination often masks a industrious subconscious flow. I posit, procrastination is a disconnected deep-thinking, a sub-dreaming, a hidden imagination that trickles in the deepest caves of our brains, which eventually join the conscious rivers of our mind.
Its procrastination that is to blame for the tectonic elegance heard on the debut collaborative effort from Italian musician Fabio Orsi and Australian laptopper Pimmon. After discovering a mutual admiration for their respective outputs, the two decided a collaboration was in order. Before long, Orsi passed Pimmon a set of recordings Pimmon felt were, in my mind, fully realised. Considering them as finished pieces, Pimmon was flummoxed as to what he might bring to the collaboration and he entered, as he calls it, a zone of procrastination. A deadlock ensued, as Pimmon ploughed through other projects unsure of how to resolve the question of the collaboration.
18 months had passed since the pair first exchanged files and Pimmon, whilst on break along the picturesque Margaret River found himself revisiting the files. Suddenly procrastination broke and the deadlock of directionlessness evaporated. The subconscious trickles had formed rivers and the rivers pounded together creating a tidal wave of sonic ideas that saw Orsis files transformed in quick succession. The source recordings shattered through a web of Pimmons processing devolutions, re-arranged and re-edited to reveal an entirely new perspective on Orsis sonic matter."
Lawrence English.
music
Zenon can do no wrong, in my book. Link goes to 17 Dots review at eMu, but he is selling DLs including FLAC at CD Baby
Where We Were
There's been a storm building up all day, so finally a chance for a listen.
Wait, something just happened!
Grammy winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist vocalist-lyricist Rinde Eckert
in-demand electric bassist Mark Haanstra
Grammy winner and pioneering composer-guitarist Steven Mackey
celebrated percussionist Jason Treuting (of So Percussion)
- After years of various collaboration, admiration and respect for each other, the members of Big Farm finally banded together in 2009, answering a call to a place where the rules normative to the hard genres of music are set aside, making it possible for the group to express the eclecticism of its accomplished members.
The band explains: "Big Farm is a place where serious counterpoint can meet burlesque, earnestness meet abandon; a place where they can kick it or take it to tea, reflect, attack, mourn, dance, pray, or mock with ease or determination, joy or fervor, using any and all means necessary. This world is a big farm – lots of different crops, changing weather, livestock, and a duck pond for good measure."
The album was recorded, produced and mixed by Lawson White and and Todd Whitelock at Avatar Studios and Good Child Music Studios in New York City. The album was mastered by Scott Hull at Masterdisk. Album guests include Alexandra Sopp (flute), Mary Jo Stilp (violin), Kiku Enomoto (violin), Christina Lberis (viola), and Rubin Kodheli (cello)."
New Amsterdam - €music - More Rinde Eckert @ Emusers - I Care If You Listen review
- "Brooklyn-based composer-bandleader Darcy James Argue and his innovative 18-piece bigband Secret Society will release their highly anticipated sophomore album, Brooklyn Babylon, April 30th on New Amsterdam Records. The follow-up to their critically acclaimed and Grammy-nominated debut, Infernal Machines (2009), Brooklyn Babylon shows Argue “expanding his sonic palette as never before” (Tad Hendrickson, Wall Street Journal).
Weaving together progressive jazz, early-American popular styles, Balkan folk musics, and the sounds of Brooklyn's diverse contemporary music scene — from the dance-punk of LCD Soundsystem and experimental indie rock of Dirty Projectors to Missy Mazzoli's blend of post-rock and quirky minimalism — Argue creates a vividly evocative musical narrative that is at once timeless and unlike anything heard before. Argue's Secret Society is one of the most admired ensembles in contemporary jazz, having toured in Europe, Brazil, and North America and been twice featured at the Newport Jazz Festival. Its members include in-demand instrumentalists such as John Ellis, Ingrid Jensen, Ryan Keberle, and Sam Sadigursky.
Brooklyn Babylon was conceived in collaboration with Croatian-born visual artist Danijel Zezelj, whose narrative inspired Argue's mash-up of musical styles. Zezelj's artwork places the action in a larger-than-life, mythic Brooklyn, where past, present, and future coexist. Plans are afoot to construct an immense tower — the tallest in the world — right in the heart of the city. Lev Bezdomni, a master carpenter, finds himself torn between his personal ambition and his allegiance to the community when he is commissioned to build the carousel that will crown it.
Premiered to wide acclaim at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival in 2011, Brooklyn Babylon is a long-form, structurally-integrated work combining Zezelj's animation and live painting with Argue's music. But like great stage works, such as Stravinksy's Petrushka or Debussy's Jeux, the composition works powerfully on its own.
The 53-minute work shows Argue taking a novelistic approach to long-form composition: a prologue, eight chapters separated by brief interludes, and an epilogue. The album opens with the actual sounds of Brooklyn — a sonic collage of recordings of the borough captured on Argue's portable digital recorder. The ensemble gradually comes into focus and introduces the Prologue, from which every subsequent musical theme in Brooklyn Babylon derives. Argue reconfigures these themes using a broad array of techniques, inflected by contemporary indie rock, classical music, and jazz, particularly from the often maligned 1970s: the earthy avant-garde of Dewey Redman and Lester Bowie; the intricate large-ensemble sounds of Thad Jones and Don Ellis; and the sophisticated populism of Donald Byrd and Herbie Hancock's Headhunters. Waltzes, marches and — naturally — fairground carousels also fold into the mix.
Brooklyn Babylon was recorded June 19-21, 2012 at NYC's legendary Avatar Studios. The recording was mixed and co-produced by Brian Montgomery (John Hollenbeck, Esperanza Spalding, Elvis Costello, Donald Fagen, Paul McCartney). "
- New Amsterdam - €music
- http://secretsociety.typepad.com/ - http://www.secretsocietymusic.org
Jari Pitkänen - Anima Ombra
- "Jari’s sound can be described as celestial ambient: lonely, cinematic; slightly ethereal, slightly dark. Sounds that are always extremly introspective and with a character trait of a very soothing nature that resonates in all of his releases.
Perfect sounds for lonely autumn nights coding, sketching, or simply drinking a warm cup of milk under the candle light."
From Artist Spotlight: Jari Pitkänen @ Enough Records
Free Music Archive - Soundcloud