Composers: Evan Ziporyn, Jimmy Page Robert Plant John Paul Jones, Chester Burnett, Jimi Hendrix, Dubose Heywood, George and Ira Gershwin, Fripp Giles Lake, , McDonald, Sinfield, Muddy Waters, Kurt Cobain, Young
- "Cellist Maya Beisers latest, Uncovered, is an album of classic rock tunes re-imagined and re-contextualized in stunning and multi-layered performances. Consisting almost entirely of Beisers multi-tracked cello with drums and bass added by collaborators Glenn Kotche (Wilco) and Jherek Bischoff, these uncovers -- in new arrangements by Evan Ziporyn -- breathe new life into works by Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Nirvana, Janis Joplin, Howlin Wolf, King Crimson, Muddy Waters and AC/DC.
I approach every song like an open canvas, says Beiser, constructing each layer of sound, rhythm, harmony, color and melody -- building and experimenting until it feels right. Raised in the Galilee Mountains in Israel and surrounded with the music and rituals of Jews, Muslims and Christians while immersed in the study of classical cello repertoire, Beiser has dedicated her work to reinventing solo cello performance in the classical arena.
The results of her work on Uncovered are impressionistic, but not gauzy. Her performances here are incendiary, in line with New York magazines assessment that Beiser is not the sort of musician who zigzags around the planet playing catalog music for polite and sleepy audiences. She throws down the gauntlet in every program. With an arms length list of performances from the Sydney Opera House to Carnegie Hall to the World Expo in Nagoya, Japan, to the Royal Albert Hall (and the deep discography to go with it, including 2010s Provenance on innova Recordings), Beiser is not so much ready to take the world by storm as already directing a creative whirlwind of a career in ever-widening circles. Spin her latest and hear for yourself." Innova Recordings - Maya Beiser: Lithium (Nirvana) @ Soundcloud
"If you're already acquainted with Evan Parker, John Butcher, Colin Stetson, and Mats Gustafsson, you'll want to put Travis Laplante's name on your list of must-see saxophonists."
- Georgia Straight
Battle Trance is Travis Laplante, Matthew Nelson, Jeremy Viner, and Patrick Breiner.
- "Palace of Wind is a piece that not only transcends genres, but also transcends time and space. Existing in the cracks between contemporary classical music, avant-garde jazz, black metal, ambient, and world music, Palace of Wind is an album-length composition that pushes the four saxophonists to the limit, shedding new light on the saxophone as an ensemble instrument. The players use circular breathing to build continuous, hypnotic waves of sound; multiphonics layer to create intricate textures that seem to come from an ancient time; and blisteringly fast lines seem to liquefy into each other. Unorthodox articulations and unusual fingerings are also part of the vast sonic vocabulary that the members of Battle Trance have painstakingly mastered. However, Palace of Wind isn't merely concerned with demonstrating the virtuosity of the ensemble, nor with impressing or entertaining the listener. Instead, it is meant to be a portal of resonance where there is no separation between the listener and the sound.
Battle Trance had an auspicious inception. One morning, Travis Laplante (Little Women and a trio with bassist Trevor Dunn and drummer Ches Smith) literally awoke with the crystal clear vision that he needed to start an ensemble with three specific individuals Matthew Nelson, Jeremy Viner, and Patrick Breiner. Laplante was actually unfamiliar with their work as musicians and had only a minimal relationship with them as individuals. He was also aware that a band of four tenor saxophones could be the worst idea ever. In spite of this, Laplante followed through and contacted Nelson, Viner, and Breiner. He gave them very little information beyond his morning experience. But no one hesitated - the ensemble formed that evening.
Since many of the techniques used in the piece are nearly impossible to notate in traditional form, Palace of Wind was transmitted via the oral tradition. The rehearsals were much like martial arts training: intricate sounds were rigorously copied and repeated by the ensemble members until they perfected the techniques. Many hours were spent building the sheer strength required to sustain continuous circular breathing for extended periods. Likewise, a steady focus on physicality was required to repeat rapid note patterns for long periods without sacrificing speed. Palace of Wind is such a demanding composition that there is a high risk of physically burning out before the piece concludes, as once it begins there is no opportunity for rest or even a quick drink of water. There was also extensive training in dissolving the distinct individual identities of the players into the greater collective sound: The band did various long-tone exercises, similar to group meditation, the purpose being to blend together into one sound, so that the origin of the collective sound's components is completely impossible to discern - even by the members of the ensemble.
Palace of Wind does embrace both the cerebral nature of composition and the visceral act of performance, but immediately locates itself, the musicians and the audience in a purely spiritual space. It is a new kind of music and therefore modern, and yet it's absolutely primordial, the transformative act of human beings blowing air through tubes and producing something timeless. Listen - really listen - and be transformed." New Amsterdam Records / NNA Tapes - "Battle Trance is a genre-defying ensemble of four tenor saxophonists that performs the music of Travis Laplante. Existing in the cracks between contemporary classical music, avant-garde jazz, black metal, ambient, and world music, Battle Trance is an ensemble that pushes the four tenor saxophonists to the limit, shedding new light on the saxophone as an ensemble instrument. The players use circular breathing to build continuous, hypnotic waves of sound; multiphonics layer to create intricate textures that seem to come from an ancient time; and blisteringly fast lines seem to liquefy into each other. Unorthodox articulations and unusual fingerings are also part of the vast sonic vocabulary that the members of Battle Trance have painstakingly mastered. However, Battle Trance isnt merely concerned with demonstrating the virtuosity of the ensemble, nor with impressing or entertaining the listener. Instead, they mean to become a portal of resonance where there is no separation between the listener and the sound."
- "After Bob's Drive-In, which, in terms of production was quite restrained and minimal, Ornaments sets off in the opposite direction, piling up great car-crashes of overlapping fragments in a production that makes rococo look like shaker minimalism. Playing only drums, guitars, bass, banjo, fiddle, organ, trumpet and piano Bob herds tamed cataclysms of musical debris into the shapes of coherent - if episodic songs, en route skipping through half a century of recording history. As to method well, you cant beat a year of work." ReR Megacorp
- "My 8th solo album. Since my previous album had a deliberately stripped-down production, the moment I finished it I wanted to do an "overproduced" album. This was the starting point and general direction for Lawn Ornaments. It is very dense, yet still has a lot of space even in the most overdone passages, as well as some sparser moments too for a little contrast. More organ and piano than any of my previous albums, and features my first-ever trumpet playing, which is sure to please or repulse depending on the listener's constitution. Musically, it continues my attempts to come up with the best songs I can, the sheer joy of playing and singing, recording, microphones, amps...always reaching for that good feel, oh you know, make some good music with plenty of laffs and surprises and thrills of various kinds. The artwork includes the cover below and 16 more illustrations by fine artist Joe Mruk and is absolutely gorgeous so I do encourage you to get the CD rather than an art-less digital download."
- Bob Drake @ http://www.bdrak.com/sounds/lo.html http://bdblog.bdrak.com/
- "Bob Drake (born December 6, 1957) is an American multi-instrumentalist musician and recording engineer. He was a founding member of the avant-rock band Thinking Plague in the early 1980s, and a member of the 5uu's, Hail and The Science Group (with Chris Cutler, Stevan Kovacs Tickmayer and Fred Frith). He formed his own band, Bob Drake's Cabinet of Curiosities in 2007. Drake's engineering credits include mainstream artists like Ice Cube, Tina Turner and Engelbert Humperdinck.
Drake has released a number of solo albums, all written, performed and recorded by himself. François Couture at AllMusic described each successive album as "a more twisted aural journey than the previous one". . .
Name your price @ Bandcamp: - "Mutant Sounds for Mutant People label sampler August 2014 of new and recent recordings
Tracks by: Edward Ka-Spel, Armchair Migraine Journey, The Red Masque, Un Festin Sagital, The Sevens Collective, Orbit Service, The Legendary Pink Dots" Beta-Lactam Ring Records
This album includes track 6 from the sampler above . . . And is really UFS at their very best. - Wholeheartedly recommended.
Un Festin Sagital - Kosmodynamos - "New studio album by Un Festin Sagital as an edition of 50 numbered copies issued early October 2014. This edition includes original artwork by UFS and Armchair Migraine Journey plus a bonus 7" of UFS with guest Patrick Wright (ex Legendary Pink Dots) on two tracks and two collaboration tracks with UFS meets Armchair Migraine Journey and AMJ meets UFS.
Slowly the great ashen dynamo surges, spilling molten droplets of plasma and cosmic waste, each taking shape, coalescing into stars, planets, entire galaxies, drifting ever further away from the throbbing energy and boiling gasses that lie at the crux of all creation. A massive, disembodied heart that beats out a rhythm so impossibly slow - each pulse separated by an epoch, each quaver a thousand thousand lifetimes, burning and fuming with dark energies. This is power on an unimaginable scale, machinery vast and magnificent, spinning entire realities into existence. This is Kosmodynamos.
"This record is a translation of Un Festín Sagital circa 2011, when, lashed by a complete lack of resources and without a place that sheltered our previous psych rock effervescences, we had to please ourselves with the quest for subtle and blunt emotions: the universe spoke to us with concealed voices, we had to be quiet and listen, and thus the small explosions of new born galaxies reached our instruments in a pure resonance adventure, following the modesty and beauty that we think this record communicates. This record is also a huge expression of motion, spinning wheels like the stars pounding in the heart of the sidereal enigma, oceanic and telluric." (by Albert Parra, finished by Fernando Pinto) Beta-lactam Ring Records - €music
- "Un Festín Sagital born from a impro duo of Hammond and Drums, in the year 2002. Thier first album is called "Pharmakon", and was very well recieved in thier free download internet archive release, and in thier very limited edition of 40 copies. Then came "Epitafio a la Permanencia", this album was released through Beta-Lactam Ring Records, and have a even better reception, with very good reviews around the underground music scene (veterans of experimental music as Edward Ka-Spel, Aranos, Aaron Moore, have good opinions about our music).The band have released a big number of self produced cd-r and free downloads, but also more produced albums like "Sic Deus Dilexit Mundum" (through blrrecords) and "Bestias Solares" (released in a limited private press, and waitng for a official release)."
released 28 August 2014 Michel Leroy: Korg Trinity Plus, MS2000, Korg Electribe, Analogue Effects, Dishes, Mix, Mastering and Cover Design
- "Michel Leroy, also the front man of both Un Festín Sagital (Beta-lactam Ring Records) and Pétalo Bisturí (Templo Sagital), has been an active contributor to Santiago's outsider music scene. Having performed with artists like Edward Ka-Spel and The Silverman of The Legendary Pink Dots, it is absurd that his own work has reached so few ears. Although all of his projects span so much in style, aesthetic, and attitude, Thanatoloop is his personal project to take neurotic indulgence to the highest levels in a way that most modern psychedelic music is too timid to even try." - Beta-lactam Ring Records
Magnolia is such a strikingly British record. The Pineapple Thiefs sound evokes fellow countrymen Muse, Fightstar, Porcupine Tree, and even a bit of Radiohead to create a British power-house. (New Noise Magazine)
- -"Although its right there in the name, its not entirely clear whether composer/leader Kyle Saulniers Awakening Orchestra is in fact an orchestra, a big band or something entirely and wildly different. Encompassing broad swaths of musical style in both original and recontextualized and re-imagined compositions, the Awakening Orchestra delves deep into traditions from classical to jazz to indie rock on their debut album, volume I: this is not the answer.
Interspersing original work - like the intricate, four-part, title-track symphony - with often radical interpretations of work by Samuel Barber, Radiohead, Johannes Brahms and Low, volume I: this is not the answer crafts a powerful mix of written and improvised material. Throughout, individual expressions of virtuosity blend seamlessly with Kyle Saulniers ever-shifting orchestral textures, and the Awakening Orchestras eight years of performing experience come through in the nuanced yet strongly-defined ensemble concept that threads through the record." Innova Recordings https://soundcloud.com/awakeningorchestra</p>
Excellent new stuff from FSOL: . . . . " Environment Five, the duo's first entirely new output under the FSOL moniker since 1996's Dead Cities, is a tad of an anachronism: it safely sounds a lot like past Future Sound Of London. But is that safety boring? No. Environment Five's success rests in its ability to temper novelty with venerability.
Since the holy trinity of albums that was Lifeforms, ISDN, and Dead Cities, Future Sound Of London fell from the radar for a time, springing up here and there under a handful of their other aliases (my favourites include 'Yage' and 'Orgone Accumulator'), and releasing four albums-worth of archival material through the Environments series. But this, the fifth element, is their first set of fresh recordings in nearly 20 years, laid down in the first half of 2014 with collaborators Daniel Pemberton, Raven Bush, and Riz Maslen (whose super-smart Neotropic project was among the most underrated acts of the late 1990s). As the band describes austerely, Environment Five "explores the space/time/dimension that exists when we die. The moment of departure." But there's more life to them than that.
'Point Of Departure', the album's opener, begins on luscious minor synth swells and a somber alto saxophone loop, before a seductive laid-back beat, backed by an extremely funky bass riff, takes over. Next, 'Source Of Uncertainty', a brief palate-cleanser, offers an arrestingly melancholy piano melody, until 'Image Of The Past' kicks into another rolling jazzy groove, punctuated by a chirpy flute and serrated lead. 'Beings Of Light' contains a chorus that could have been an out-take from 'Everyone In The World Is Doing Something Without Me'. And with its augmented violin and tabla, 'In Solitude We Are Least Alone' is the piece that harkens most back to The Isness/Alice In Ultraland turn, the band's slightly sophomoric psychedelic cycle released in the mid-noughties under their Amorphous Androgynous guise." The Quietus http://www.fsoldigital.com/
- "The Future Sound of London (often abbreviated to FSOL) is a British electronic music band composed of Garry Cobain (sometimes styled as Gaz Cobain) and Brian Dougans. The duo are often credited with pushing the boundaries of electronic music experimentation and of pioneering a new era of dance music.[1][2][3] Although often labelled as ambient, Cobain and Dougans usually resist being typecast into any one particular genre. Their work covers many areas of electronic music, such as ambient techno, house music, trip-hop, ambient dub, acid techno.[4] In addition to music composition, their interests have covered a number of areas including film and video, 2D and 3D computer graphics, animation in making almost all their own videos for their singles, radio broadcasting and creating their own electronic devices for sound making.[5][6] They have released works under numerous aliases. . . ."
- "Five years are gone since Chapelier Fou has joined Ici dailleurs with the release of its first EP, « Darling, Darling, Darling » (2009) But five years are finally short, compared to the huge way travelled by the Lorraine (FR) born personnality. Four EPs, two albums, many soundtracks for movies/documents/commercials (JRs « Inside Out, Episode 1 », Jan Balejs « Little From The Fish Shop », commercial for Google Web Lab, soundtrack for Lab212 for a Barbican Center digital exhibition ), concerts all over the world (Europe, Australia, Canada, China, Russia, South America ), songs in the playlists of the more demanding DJs, and getting an international fame. But time has not come to make a kind of inventory, as impressive it could be. Because now, Louis is coming back with « Deltas », his third album, whose title is a sign of his ambitions : to exalt what is living, to give a new dimension to sound, to show his uniqueness.
This album crystallize all the elements which made Chapelier Fous personality, from electronic music to beautiful violin melodies that gave thrills. But it also opens up the realm of possibilities, with his variety of more diversified emotions and his arrangements which are more intense than on his previous deliveries. If Chapelier Fou was once considered as a « sound handyman », now hes becoming a certified composer with his compositions, arrangements or harmonies. This is not changing overnight but is the result of his ability to feed himself from his experiences. « Deltas » will not open up on first listenings, as the field of explorations is huge and experimentations are limitless. But immersion will be there. Here, complexity means fascination. And we have to say that the result is unique, as he is supported by its will for experimentation that can not leave the listener cold. Each track is a wonderful and fascinating paradox, where the obvious beauty of the melodies challenges unexpected uncommon structures.
And it always works, for sure. One is captured, impressed by Chapelier Fous capacity to integrate so many details and ideas while being so consistent. But theres always a trace of mystery which embraces his compositions, here more present than ever. We understand less and less whats going on in his mind, to imagine where his inspiration is coming from. Maybe its because his character has never been so impressive. While hes going further in his approach as a composer, Louis is avoiding the trap of austerity, thanks to a communicative energy and an untouched pleasure to be a relayer. There are so many other things to tell about « Deltas », but words are missing now, or at least they can not give him justice yet. We will have to wait for the next album to be able to give a fair view on this one which will never cease to grow up as the years and listenings will pass, but also with the different versions that Louis will made, on stage or elsewhere. More than a record, this is an open window for his musics possible future." - music
Shame on me for not posting this gem earlier . . . especially because it has album of the year potential.
Kurt Budé : clarinet, bass clarinet, alto and tenor saxophones, percussion. Nicolas Dechêne : electric and acoustic guitars Daniel Denis : drums and percussion Dimitri Evers : electric bass, fretless bass Antoine Guenet : keyboard + Nicolas Denis : drums and percussion on « Très Affables » Hugues Tahon : trumpet on « Rêve Mécanique », « L’Espoir Perdu » and « Phosphorescent Dream » Adrien Lambinet : trombone on « Rêve Mécanique » and « L’Espoir Perdu »
- "I wanted this 13th album to open the band's music to other directions, different sound and musical structures, different from the ones that had been in use for years.
I think it is necessary and crucial for a group to question itself now and then.
The old form was stagnant and did not give the impression of change, and the consequences were increasingly demotivating. So there was no choice, I felt I had to take the difficult decision to break up the group. Luckily I had met Nicolas Dechene and Antoine Guenet who could contribute with freshness and new energy to this next incarnation of UZ.
I wanted the future of Univers Zero's music to have less noise than before and to obtain new energy in a more rock and electrical orientation, and integrated with guitar.
Mixing Kurt Bude compositions with mine, forms an excellent rich diversity in fusion. Each track on the disc has its own identity and its own color.
I really think this CD has reached maturity, and after 40 years of existence I can truly say UZ is again taking an important step . And never forget Didier de Roos who mixed this CD, contributed to the sound, and as always, elevated the music to higher levels. - Daniel Denis Youtube""If Stravinsky had a rockband, it would sound like this . . ."b
A Winged Victory for the Sullen, Atomos streaming at NPR.
A Winged Victory for the Sullen, Atomos.
Released tomorrow (Oct 6) on Kranky, and currently streaming at NPR.
this work was created as a score for the Random Dance Company and founder Wayne McGregor for their latest production of the same name. Strings, piano, guitar and electronics are smartly combined to produce a weighty, elegiac symphony that will produce a most profound melancholy state in talented listeners
krank185 is the debut, self titled album by Anjou which is the pairing of Bobby Donne and Mark Nelson for the first time since their days together in Labradford. combining modular synthesis, Max/MSP programming and live instrumentation, they deftly weave noise with gentle ambience and melody with texture, creating subtle yet dynamic landscapes.
ETA, just noticed that Christopher Bissonnette also had a new release earlier this year on Kranky.
Ian, a trained opera singer, delivers an elegant balance between theatrical and ambient sentiments. A Turn of Breath combines the essence of a choral LP from Angel Records or Deutsche Grammophon with the spontaneity of experimental home-recording.
This collection holds twelve works for voice and 1/4? tape, recorded from 2011-2013. Voice appears as the Suns light through a vast storm; still obscured by tape malfunctions and manipulations. A system of reel to reels is employed, which yields a lovely sort of morphing repetition. Each iteration crumbles as more harmony is placed on top, residual tones spilling off the sides into nothingness.
This is rather lovely. Some similar territory to Julianna Barwick or Julia Holter maybe but with a male operatic vocal; also makes me think of a grimier, more Basinskified version of the Being Dufay album by Ambrose Field.
- "Know ye this brothers and sisters. The Legendary Pink Dots Hallowe'en Special 2014 is available for but a brief period of time, but only WE know how long and right now we're saying nothing. Cue maniacal laughter, clanking chains, blood curdling screams..."
Oh...my...
Porya Hatami has ANOTHER new physical release out.
Daydreamer [Hibernate Postcard Series]
That's what, something like 7 albums this year? I think it's 7; this is the second since I counted 5 a few posts upthread (and just a couple of weeks ago).
This one has sheep. Or goats.
ETA:
Yup, I make it 7 (one of which is a compilation of single tracks released on other albums):
News from the French artist Stephane Laporte (aka. Domotic and Centenaire) and also known from the labels, Active Suspension and Clapping Music. Laporte is also a part of Egyptology - "Quentin Vandewalles Antinote is a rare beast: a label that is almost impossible to pin down. Though the Paris label first surfaced with the archival proto techno of Iueke, Antinote has developed into an increasingly open-minded concern, hopping between the John Carpenter-inspired synth-wave of Nico Mottes excellent Rheologia, the Future Times-ish tropical wizardry of DK, the cozy dream-pop of Syracuse, And thats before we get to the dense and off kilter rhythms of Albinos
Given this far-sighted approach to electronic music, its perhaps unsurprising to find their latest full-length venture, Stéphane Laportes Fourrure Sounds, exploring the fuzzy world of 1970s synthesizer experimentation. Its perhaps not that great a stylistic leap; even so, theres something strangely authentic about the woozy melodies, crackly production and dusty tape hiss that dominates throughout. Laporte is hardly a familiar name, but hes not a newcomer, either. Hes been putting out sporadic releases under the Domotic guise since the early 2000s, variously exploring modular synthesizer-heavy IDM, melodic electronica, odd ambience and krautrock-influenced skewed pop.
Even so, hes not released anything quite as ambitious or lo-fi as Fourrure Sounds, and his output has all but dried up in recent years. Given that this is his first album under his given name, it has all the hallmarks of a conscious re-invention an attempt to go back to his roots and reboot his career. This may just be conjecture. Certainly, the recording method for Fourrure Sounds - according to Antinotes press release, at least was a little different. It apparently involved Laporte working solely at night, recording directly into a four-track AKAI tape recorder set up on a cozy fur carpet. You can certainly hear the four-track in the finished album, with all but a handful of tracks accompanied by tape hiss and the unmistakable buzz of cheap audio leads.
The dominant sound, though, is that of the synthesizer. The 11 tracks that make up the album have the feel of spontaneous, impromptu recordings sketches and soundscapes created using various modular synths. Sometimes, the effect is strangely cinematic see the intergalactic electronic sweeps and bittersweet melodies of Orbite, for example, or the creeping, off-beat ambience of Watkins, where notes wobble, chords gently throb and odd bleeps pop and spit from the speakers. At other times, such as on the drifting, strangely alien Pachiderm, it feels like Laportes intentions are unclear. At these times, Fourrure Sounds comes across like an album of 1970s library music instrumentals with space as the theme. This is incidental music for long-forgotten European B-movies, whose storylines are near impossible to follow.
The label has compared Laportes work on Fourrure Sounds to legendary French film composer Francois de Roubaix, whose knack of blending cutting-edge electronics and traditional compositional methods can be evaluated in the two Le Monde Electronique De Francois de Roubaix compilations on Universal Music Jazz France. While there are some similarities, better comparisons can be drawn with early exponents of French avant-garde explorers Patrick Juvet and Didier Marouani. Parallels can also be drawn with krautrock-era German electronic experimentalists, too, while much of Fourrure Sounds feels like a long lost Suzanne Ciani project from the early 70s. The droning Ten Square and Uneasy, with its Tomorrows World bleeps and queasy feel, both sound like some of Cianis odd compositions of TV commercials.
Whatever the inspirations, Laportes work has an authentic feel as if it was recorded in 1974, rather than 2014. That said, its no hollow exercise in modular synthesizer love. For the most part, Fourrure Sounds is a thoroughly impressive set that veers between otherworldly iciness, starburst melodiousness (see the bubbling arpeggios, twinkling chords and bubbling keys of Space Samba) and heady expressions of Laportes space-themed daydreaming (see the six-minute standout Manufacture). It may well be Laportes best album yet; certainly, its his most inviting" Matt Anniss @ Junodownload http://antinote.net/ - music
For a decade, Schlienz has created meditative works of epic reach with intimate, reflective resonance. His individual style comes from an ever-searching sense of experimentalism that stems not only from his sense of composition but his creation of his own modular synthesisers and other instruments. Contemplation is Schlienzs most personal yet, acting as a compendium that ties the various strands of his musical pursuits together in a new and fresh vision. In a way, Contemplation is a record of how he has developed as an artist and as himself.
While the cosmic touch is ever present across Contemplation, earthy and pastoral scenes are never far from Schlienzs gaze. Norm Chambers aka Panabrite and a kindred spirit contributes to the swelling, soaring Humble, Numb is bubbling and bucolic in feel and Shimmer is a soft, sweet paen to the evening. Reaching further, Lament is a majestic drone, raga-like in its deep focus, and Janitor is a final hazy delight of floating tones and starry dub-like echoes.
Ultimately, Contemplation is in equal thrall to joy, melancholy, nature and space. Its a radiant poise Schlienz holds throughout, finding a peaceful plane." Preservation - Soundcloud
- "Günter Schlienz is a quiet handed modular scientist, building his own instruments to create quality cosmic sounds.
After an early musical education on a recorder he taught himself how to play the guitar and played in various rockbands. Since 1998 hes an active experimental musician with different formations, live and studio. In 2003 he started building of diy synthesizers and playing them in the studio and live."</div>
[align=center] Vladislav Delay - Visa[/align] - "Prolific and multi-faceted producer Sasu Ripatti presents a rich body of work under his Vladislav Delay alias in Visa. The album is a mere five tracks, yet each is long and storied number that demands close attention at a high volume. Opener 'Visaton' runs past 20 minutes, its skulking, undulating synth pads colliding with rattling effects and crashes, just as 'Viaton' follows with its droning hum and similarly unhinged electronic variations. 'Viisari' offers some semblance of rhythm beyond its ambience, a plodding bass kick buried beneath mechanical squawks. 'Vihollinen' and 'Viimeinen' close out the album in more blissful yet no less textured and detailed fashion."
- Bleep music - http://ripattilabel.com/ https://soundcloud.com/vladislavdelay/visa-medley
Out yesterday on Oktaf:
Marsen Jules with his unique brand of atmospheric, melancolic, orchestral . . .etc, ambient. Following his highly acclaimed album Beautyfear, which is still featured besides Trentemöller and Bonobo in the top-ten of german chill out-charts, sound poet Marsen Jules bridges the time with the release of a conceptual mini album on his own Oktaf Records. The two tracks on the 35 minutes long album were created during a two week residency in the legendary GRM-Studios at Radio France in paris. The Groupe de Recherches Musicales is an institute for the exploration of electroacoustic music. It was founded 1958 by composer Pierre Schaeffer, one of the main protagonists of the so called Musique Concrète, a musical movement that focused on recorded sounds and sound manipulations as a basis for compositions. Therefore the artists used tape recorders and record players as their instruments and widened the musical horizon, which till then was only defined through classical known instruments. Especially these ideas of defining every acoustic event as possible music and the approach to explore the individual universe of such a sound, have always been a big inspiration for the music of german Martin Juhls. Therefore it was a big honor for the artist to be able to work at this legendary space for two weeks in 2009. For the two tracks created at GRM Jules dives deeply into the level of subatomic sound-particles. Clusters of string crescendos emerge from a nearly psychoacoustic sound-wall of warm drones in which they disappear with ultra long fade outs and reverbs. A touching work - which has the quality to let the listener drown into it completely." music link
This music is in conception a sample of the sonic workshop Mark has been engaged in for a while and is his first rhythmic oriented electronic music project and with the aforementioned petit homage the title just had to be Elektronische Musik.
It took a lot of work before stasis was achieved and a concept with rigour cultivated. (For one does consistently strive for the Rigour of the Oxford Senior Common Room)
Before deciding on the music, eschewing hubris, a couple of shows were performed featuring some of the tracks that would ultimately make it to the recording and indeed the denouement was the benevolent approval from several key people in the music industry, and thus the necessary confidence to make the transition into this paradigm was cogent.
The music is imaginative and even within the genre has disparate contours and colours.
Mark sent the original tracks to Daniele Santini (TIBProd. Italy owner) and Daniele exhibiting a fingerspitzengefühl for the sine qua non remixed the tracks adding some subtle ingredients that concomitantly gave the music a propitious propulsion with gravitas.
The titles themselves, allude to a motley array of diverging characters, some fictional, some created and some yet to be, one can peruse upon the hypotheses in total and probably decipher.
One could attain absolution for believing in the existence of the Neo Kantians of Paraguay, it is an enchanting thought and in ones struggles to keep on keeping on is an inspirational motivation.
The rhythmic timbral nuances of a helicopters rotors, that moment in a movie after a dynamic sequence where the main character may become a bit more introspective and we know and revere Sundance, but who is the Mississippi Kid, a degree of cartesian reductionism is necessitated perhaps.
The minimal techno infused rhythmic pulsations of Kinetisch lend itself to a Berlin trajectory but Be Water My Friend is for Bruce (not being pejorative, one principally, with several others also very worthy).
The recording process was arduous, recording, re-recording, reverse engineering, restarting over, a crystallization process, one can correlate it to a more oriental process rather than western linear process, the wheel turns and returns to its start point and then turns again.
Marks path is a kind of sonic heuristic work, one is trying to discover rather than learn, because learning, sometimes can just be duplication, when your looking for something with integrity you have to find it yourself, shape it yourself and it isn't all in an intellectual sphere, one also does have to be sentient, you do want the audience to connect." Tibprod Italy
Born: October 20, 1969 Instrument: Guitar
- "Mark O'Leary was born in Cork City Ireland.Being mainly auto didactic on guitar he moved to Los Angeles at the age of 17 to study at Musicians Institute,from where he later graduated. He has presented his music in 29 countries and has played at some of the worlds top Jazz festivals and contemporary Jazz venues.
He has toured Europe as a member of Canadian Pianist Paul Bley's trio,he has performed in duo with Jack DeJohnette,in a jazz trio with Yes/King Crimson drummer Bill Bruford, in duo with Han Bennink,composed and performed classical music with Cikada string quartet,collaborated in an all electronics setting with Sound Artist Gunter Muller, Erdem Helveciouglu and Jakob Riis,in a free improvisation combo with Evan Parker and Sunny Murray, performed in concerts with Anders Jormin and Audun Kleive, played Norwegian folk music with Nils Okland, Swedish folk music with Mats Eden, Jazz with Uri Caine, he has performed in seperate projects with trumpeters Axel Dorner,Kenny Wheeler, Thomas Heberer and Jeff Kaiser. He has the distinction of having played in duo with Paul Bley, Bobo Stenson and Matthew Shipp. In 2004 he toured Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro with Vasil Hadzimanov and Marco Djordevic. He also toured in Macedonia with Guitarist Toni Kitanovski and Drummer Alexander Sekhulovski. He also represented Ireland in the Athens European jazz festival.
He has also worked in a trio with ex Weather Report/Jaco Pastorius Drummer Peter Erskine and Palle Danielsson. He has also collaborated with the innovative percussionists z'ev, Alex Cline ,Hans Kristian Kjos Sorensen and Terje Isungset.He has also collaborated with Stale Storlokken in contemporary trio using church organ and with John Herndon of Tortoise in the Underground Jazz Trio.
He has also worked in different projects with Slava Ganelin and Alexander Tarasov of the Ganelin trio fame also in a UK based group with Mark Sanders and Joe Williamson of Trapist. He has toured in the exciting group Zemlya with Eyvind Kang and Dylan Van Der Schyff and also with Dylan and Wayne Horvitz. In conjunction with Alliance Francaise he performed in a trio with Henri Texier and Aldo Romano. He also played in a trio with Jon Christensen and Terje Gewelt He has played in Poland with drummer Michal Miskiewicz and Tomasz Szukalski and with the Oles brothers Bartlomiej and Marcin. He has also played with the Aka Moon rhythm section of Michel Hadzigeorgiu and Stephane Galland. He has also colloborated in trio with Stefan Pasborg and Peter Friis Nielsen as well as working with other Danes Jacob Anderskov and in duo with Kresten Osgood."
- All About Jazz.
Oh Man ! ! ! Fennesz - Mahler Remixed - Mahler Remixed was recorded live at Radiokulturhaus, Vienna by Christoph Amann, in May 2011. This recording is mostly based on samples taken from Gustav Mahlers symphonies. The performance also includes an early version of liminality from the bécs album, released in 2014 on Editions Mego. Mahler Remixed was a commissioned work performed together with the visual artist Lillevan. The piece was only performed live three times, at Vienna Radiokulturhaus, Carnegie Hall, New York City and at The Istanbul Borusan Art Centre."
<div><a href="http://www.emusic.com/album/andy-moor-yannis-kyriakides/a-life-is-a-billion-heartbeats/15355493/"><img src="http://cf-images.emusic.com/music/images/album/153/554/15355493/600x600.jpg" alt="A Life Is a Billion Heartbeats album cover"> </a><br></div>- "'A life is A Billion Heartbeats', continues Yannis Kyriakides & Andy Moor's exploration and mining of the rich and mysterious terrain of Greek rebetika music from early 20th century. Their first release of this project (simply entitled 'Rebetika') was for the most part taken from a live recording at the CCA, Glasgow in 2006. For that, Yannis had created processed versions of Andy's favourite rebetika tunes which served as a matrix or palette onto which both musicians then improvised using electric guitar, live sampling and electronics. In this new set of songs they have revisited similar elements but with a new approach in the combination and juxtaposition of rebetika elements with their own distinct sonic explorations.
Since they have been performing this set for several years now, the songs and improvisations on this CD have grown and expanded in repertoire and range of expression, giving more space for rhythmic and hypnotic elements to come to the fore. The music travels from more composed and arranged renditions of the old tunes, to completely improvised pieces that try to capture a sense of the gesture and tonalities of the source music, albeit with a contemporary edge.
The material derives again from the golden period of rebetika music, the late 20's and early 30's, including voices such as Rita Abatzi, Markos Vamvakaris, Giorgos Batis and the great guitarist and singer Kostas Bezos. The title of the CD 'A life is a Billion Heartbeats' alludes to the transient sense of life found in their songs, and of the many of the musicians in the underground of Greek life in those turbulent times." Unsounds - http://www.kyriakides.com
Out today on Bandcamp and probably tomorrow on music (with a fucked up cover) - "Guitarist Fred Frith and saxophonist John Butcher are titans within the world of improvised music. Over the last four decades, each of these two men has permanently altered the way in which his instrument is heard: Frith with his (at times literal) deconstruction of the electric guitar, and Butcher with his exploration of the physical properties of sound and extended playing techniques.
Though theyve played live together a few times, The Natural Order, recorded in 2009 and mixed in 2012, documents Frith and Butchers first head-to-head encounter in a recording studio. The album is as pure a document as possible: recorded in a single stretch, with no overdubbing, the 10 tracks appear here in the order of their creation. It captures a single hour of unmediated interaction between two restless, creative spirits determined to make every moment with their respective instruments count. Its not jazz, its not rock, its not noiseits pure music, the product of two men in one place at one time, unique and unrepeatable." Northern Spy
Out on New Amsterdam today: - "Anawan (formerly known as TWVE) is a five-piece band based in the waterfront neighborhood of Red Hook, Brooklyn. The project of composer and multi-instrumentalist Trevor Wilson, Anawan is a hybrid animal: part avant-garde vocal ensemble and part wildly-experimental pop group. Wilson, the de facto leader of the group whose mentor Meredith Monk is but one discernible influence, is a restless and prolific musician who has written and released hundreds of songs. In Anawan, Wilson's innovative vocal stylizations are mirrored by the rest of the group, evoking the image of a five-headed beast harmonizing with itself. Their third album together, Anawan is the first to be released under the group's new name and has the feel of a debut. With the band sounding tighter than ever, Anawan aims for the heart and at the same time impresses the mind with its intricate and inventive arrangements.
Since first forming in 2011 as Trevor Wilson and Vocal Ensemble, the band has carved out an idiosyncratic niche for itself. Their sound includes a mixture of five-part layered vocal harmonies, nylon string guitar, electronics, synths, and keyboards. Yet the songs never feel tedious or over-wrought: on the contrary, the arrangements sound deceptively simple. For example, many songs begin with a single instrument: a strummed acoustic guitar, a keyboard melody, or in the case of "Breaded Me," a drum machine. But it's how the songs spiderweb out from their relatively humble beginnings that is most impressive about Anawan. It's this constant push and pull between restraint and catharsis (exemplified perhaps most dramatically on "Where Are You Now") that gives the album its subtle grace.
Going one step farther, the members of Anawan actually embody this simplicity in their everyday lives. Wilson, who grew up in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, uses no social media and for a time lived and worked out of an RV with other members of the band (during heavy rain, a tarp would be thrown over the RV to prevent leaking). Wilson has only a basic computer for correspondence, and espouses a DIY-ethic for everything from concert promotion to album art (their previous LP All Material came packaged in beautifully hand-stenciled sleeves). Anawan takes advantage of this itinerant POV by exploring big, philosophical questions from an outsider's perspective.
The members of Anawan all met while studying at Bennington College. Since their debut album release Soft Wings, Anawan has toured across the northeast and performed in New York at Glasslands, Pioneer Works, and at Baby's All Right with fellow artists Nat Baldwin, Celestial Shore and Son Lux. Their sophomore album All Material, released on New Amsterdam Records revealed a tight knit group of friends growing together to create beautifully human music which evokes a curious nature and reflection. Anawan is yet another evolution, sure to inspire." New Amsterdam Records music
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Composers: Evan Ziporyn, Jimmy Page Robert Plant John Paul Jones, Chester Burnett, Jimi Hendrix, Dubose Heywood, George and Ira Gershwin, Fripp Giles Lake, , McDonald, Sinfield, Muddy Waters, Kurt Cobain, Young
- "Cellist Maya Beisers latest, Uncovered, is an album of classic rock tunes re-imagined and re-contextualized in stunning and multi-layered performances. Consisting almost entirely of Beisers multi-tracked cello with drums and bass added by collaborators Glenn Kotche (Wilco) and Jherek Bischoff, these uncovers -- in new arrangements by Evan Ziporyn -- breathe new life into works by Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Nirvana, Janis Joplin, Howlin Wolf, King Crimson, Muddy Waters and AC/DC.
I approach every song like an open canvas, says Beiser, constructing each layer of sound, rhythm, harmony, color and melody -- building and experimenting until it feels right. Raised in the Galilee Mountains in Israel and surrounded with the music and rituals of Jews, Muslims and Christians while immersed in the study of classical cello repertoire, Beiser has dedicated her work to reinventing solo cello performance in the classical arena.
The results of her work on Uncovered are impressionistic, but not gauzy. Her performances here are incendiary, in line with New York magazines assessment that Beiser is not the sort of musician who zigzags around the planet playing catalog music for polite and sleepy audiences. She throws down the gauntlet in every program. With an arms length list of performances from the Sydney Opera House to Carnegie Hall to the World Expo in Nagoya, Japan, to the Royal Albert Hall (and the deep discography to go with it, including 2010s Provenance on innova Recordings), Beiser is not so much ready to take the world by storm as already directing a creative whirlwind of a career in ever-widening circles. Spin her latest and hear for yourself."
Innova Recordings - Maya Beiser: Lithium (Nirvana) @ Soundcloud
Battle Trance is Travis Laplante, Matthew Nelson, Jeremy Viner, and Patrick Breiner.
- "Palace of Wind is a piece that not only transcends genres, but also transcends time and space. Existing in the cracks between contemporary classical music, avant-garde jazz, black metal, ambient, and world music, Palace of Wind is an album-length composition that pushes the four saxophonists to the limit, shedding new light on the saxophone as an ensemble instrument. The players use circular breathing to build continuous, hypnotic waves of sound; multiphonics layer to create intricate textures that seem to come from an ancient time; and blisteringly fast lines seem to liquefy into each other. Unorthodox articulations and unusual fingerings are also part of the vast sonic vocabulary that the members of Battle Trance have painstakingly mastered. However, Palace of Wind isn't merely concerned with demonstrating the virtuosity of the ensemble, nor with impressing or entertaining the listener. Instead, it is meant to be a portal of resonance where there is no separation between the listener and the sound.
Battle Trance had an auspicious inception. One morning, Travis Laplante (Little Women and a trio with bassist Trevor Dunn and drummer Ches Smith) literally awoke with the crystal clear vision that he needed to start an ensemble with three specific individuals Matthew Nelson, Jeremy Viner, and Patrick Breiner. Laplante was actually unfamiliar with their work as musicians and had only a minimal relationship with them as individuals. He was also aware that a band of four tenor saxophones could be the worst idea ever. In spite of this, Laplante followed through and contacted Nelson, Viner, and Breiner. He gave them very little information beyond his morning experience. But no one hesitated - the ensemble formed that evening.
Since many of the techniques used in the piece are nearly impossible to notate in traditional form, Palace of Wind was transmitted via the oral tradition. The rehearsals were much like martial arts training: intricate sounds were rigorously copied and repeated by the ensemble members until they perfected the techniques. Many hours were spent building the sheer strength required to sustain continuous circular breathing for extended periods. Likewise, a steady focus on physicality was required to repeat rapid note patterns for long periods without sacrificing speed. Palace of Wind is such a demanding composition that there is a high risk of physically burning out before the piece concludes, as once it begins there is no opportunity for rest or even a quick drink of water. There was also extensive training in dissolving the distinct individual identities of the players into the greater collective sound: The band did various long-tone exercises, similar to group meditation, the purpose being to blend together into one sound, so that the origin of the collective sound's components is completely impossible to discern - even by the members of the ensemble.
Palace of Wind does embrace both the cerebral nature of composition and the visceral act of performance, but immediately locates itself, the musicians and the audience in a purely spiritual space. It is a new kind of music and therefore modern, and yet it's absolutely primordial, the transformative act of human beings blowing air through tubes and producing something timeless. Listen - really listen - and be transformed."
New Amsterdam Records / NNA Tapes
- "Battle Trance is a genre-defying ensemble of four tenor saxophonists that performs the music of Travis Laplante. Existing in the cracks between contemporary classical music, avant-garde jazz, black metal, ambient, and world music, Battle Trance is an ensemble that pushes the four tenor saxophonists to the limit, shedding new light on the saxophone as an ensemble instrument. The players use circular breathing to build continuous, hypnotic waves of sound; multiphonics layer to create intricate textures that seem to come from an ancient time; and blisteringly fast lines seem to liquefy into each other. Unorthodox articulations and unusual fingerings are also part of the vast sonic vocabulary that the members of Battle Trance have painstakingly mastered. However, Battle Trance isnt merely concerned with demonstrating the virtuosity of the ensemble, nor with impressing or entertaining the listener. Instead, they mean to become a portal of resonance where there is no separation between the listener and the sound."
- "After Bob's Drive-In, which, in terms of production was quite restrained and minimal, Ornaments sets off in the opposite direction, piling up great car-crashes of overlapping fragments in a production that makes rococo look like shaker minimalism. Playing only drums, guitars, bass, banjo, fiddle, organ, trumpet and piano Bob herds tamed cataclysms of musical debris into the shapes of coherent - if episodic songs, en route skipping through half a century of recording history. As to method well, you cant beat a year of work."
ReR Megacorp
- "My 8th solo album. Since my previous album had a deliberately stripped-down production, the moment I finished it I wanted to do an "overproduced" album. This was the starting point and general direction for Lawn Ornaments. It is very dense, yet still has a lot of space even in the most overdone passages, as well as some sparser moments too for a little contrast. More organ and piano than any of my previous albums, and features my first-ever trumpet playing, which is sure to please or repulse depending on the listener's constitution. Musically, it continues my attempts to come up with the best songs I can, the sheer joy of playing and singing, recording, microphones, amps...always reaching for that good feel, oh you know, make some good music with plenty of laffs and surprises and thrills of various kinds. The artwork includes the cover below and 16 more illustrations by fine artist Joe Mruk and is absolutely gorgeous so I do encourage you to get the CD rather than an art-less digital download."
- Bob Drake @ http://www.bdrak.com/sounds/lo.html
http://bdblog.bdrak.com/
- "Bob Drake (born December 6, 1957) is an American multi-instrumentalist musician and recording engineer. He was a founding member of the avant-rock band Thinking Plague in the early 1980s, and a member of the 5uu's, Hail and The Science Group (with Chris Cutler, Stevan Kovacs Tickmayer and Fred Frith). He formed his own band, Bob Drake's Cabinet of Curiosities in 2007. Drake's engineering credits include mainstream artists like Ice Cube, Tina Turner and Engelbert Humperdinck.
Drake has released a number of solo albums, all written, performed and recorded by himself. François Couture at AllMusic described each successive album as "a more twisted aural journey than the previous one". . .
- "Mutant Sounds for Mutant People label sampler August 2014 of new and recent recordings
Tracks by: Edward Ka-Spel, Armchair Migraine Journey, The Red Masque, Un Festin Sagital, The Sevens Collective, Orbit Service, The Legendary Pink Dots"
Beta-Lactam Ring Records
- Wholeheartedly recommended.
- "New studio album by Un Festin Sagital as an edition of 50 numbered copies issued early October 2014. This edition includes original artwork by UFS and Armchair Migraine Journey plus a bonus 7" of UFS with guest Patrick Wright (ex Legendary Pink Dots) on two tracks and two collaboration tracks with UFS meets Armchair Migraine Journey and AMJ meets UFS.
Slowly the great ashen dynamo surges, spilling molten droplets of plasma and cosmic waste, each taking shape, coalescing into stars, planets, entire galaxies, drifting ever further away from the throbbing energy and boiling gasses that lie at the crux of all creation. A massive, disembodied heart that beats out a rhythm so impossibly slow - each pulse separated by an epoch, each quaver a thousand thousand lifetimes, burning and fuming with dark energies. This is power on an unimaginable scale, machinery vast and magnificent, spinning entire realities into existence. This is Kosmodynamos.
"This record is a translation of Un Festín Sagital circa 2011, when, lashed by a complete lack of resources and without a place that sheltered our previous psych rock effervescences, we had to please ourselves with the quest for subtle and blunt emotions: the universe spoke to us with concealed voices, we had to be quiet and listen, and thus the small explosions of new born galaxies reached our instruments in a pure resonance adventure, following the modesty and beauty that we think this record communicates. This record is also a huge expression of motion, spinning wheels like the stars pounding in the heart of the sidereal enigma, oceanic and telluric."
(by Albert Parra, finished by Fernando Pinto)
Beta-lactam Ring Records - €music
- "Un Festín Sagital born from a impro duo of Hammond and Drums, in the year 2002. Thier first album is called "Pharmakon", and was very well recieved in thier free download internet archive release, and in thier very limited edition of 40 copies. Then came "Epitafio a la Permanencia", this album was released through Beta-Lactam Ring Records, and have a even better reception, with very good reviews around the underground music scene (veterans of experimental music as Edward Ka-Spel, Aranos, Aaron Moore, have good opinions about our music).The band have released a big number of self produced cd-r and free downloads, but also more produced albums like "Sic Deus Dilexit Mundum" (through blrrecords) and "Bestias Solares" (released in a limited private press, and waitng for a official release)."
released 28 August 2014
Michel Leroy: Korg Trinity Plus, MS2000, Korg Electribe, Analogue Effects, Dishes, Mix, Mastering and Cover Design
- "Michel Leroy, also the front man of both Un Festín Sagital (Beta-lactam Ring Records) and Pétalo Bisturí (Templo Sagital), has been an active contributor to Santiago's outsider music scene. Having performed with artists like Edward Ka-Spel and The Silverman of The Legendary Pink Dots, it is absurd that his own work has reached so few ears. Although all of his projects span so much in style, aesthetic, and attitude, Thanatoloop is his personal project to take neurotic indulgence to the highest levels in a way that most modern psychedelic music is too timid to even try."
- Beta-lactam Ring Records
The Pineapple Thief - Magnolia.
Ablaye Cissoko - Popenguine
Porya Hatami - Arrivals and Departures
Talk about prolific - this is at least his fifth full-length release this year. And the average quality has been pretty high.
And with an awesome coverversion of Brian Wilson's "You Still Believe in Me"<a href="http://www.emusic.com/album/awakening-orchestra/awakening-orchestra-vol-1-this-is-not-the-answer/14909731/"><img src="https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a4081899787_14.jpg"> </a></p><p><font color="#333333" size="3"><strong>Awakening Orchestra, Vol. 1: This Is Not the Answer</strong></font><br></p><p>Composers:
Kyle Saulnier, Samuel Barber, Johannes Brahms, Helen Deutsch / Bronislau Kaper, Howard Dietz / Arthur Schwartz, Alan Sparhawk / Low, Brian Wilson / Tony Asher, Thom Yorke / Radiohead
- -"Although its right there in the name, its not entirely clear whether composer/leader Kyle Saulniers Awakening Orchestra is in fact an orchestra, a big band or something entirely and wildly different. Encompassing broad swaths of musical style in both original and recontextualized and re-imagined compositions, the Awakening Orchestra delves deep into traditions from classical to jazz to indie rock on their debut album, volume I: this is not the answer.
Interspersing original work - like the intricate, four-part, title-track symphony - with often radical interpretations of work by Samuel Barber, Radiohead, Johannes Brahms and Low, volume I: this is not the answer crafts a powerful mix of written and improvised material. Throughout, individual expressions of virtuosity blend seamlessly with Kyle Saulniers ever-shifting orchestral textures, and the Awakening Orchestras eight years of performing experience come through in the nuanced yet strongly-defined ensemble concept that threads through the record."
Innova Recordings
https://soundcloud.com/awakeningorchestra</p>
. . . . " Environment Five, the duo's first entirely new output under the FSOL moniker since 1996's Dead Cities, is a tad of an anachronism: it safely sounds a lot like past Future Sound Of London. But is that safety boring? No. Environment Five's success rests in its ability to temper novelty with venerability.
Since the holy trinity of albums that was Lifeforms, ISDN, and Dead Cities, Future Sound Of London fell from the radar for a time, springing up here and there under a handful of their other aliases (my favourites include 'Yage' and 'Orgone Accumulator'), and releasing four albums-worth of archival material through the Environments series. But this, the fifth element, is their first set of fresh recordings in nearly 20 years, laid down in the first half of 2014 with collaborators Daniel Pemberton, Raven Bush, and Riz Maslen (whose super-smart Neotropic project was among the most underrated acts of the late 1990s). As the band describes austerely, Environment Five "explores the space/time/dimension that exists when we die. The moment of departure." But there's more life to them than that.
'Point Of Departure', the album's opener, begins on luscious minor synth swells and a somber alto saxophone loop, before a seductive laid-back beat, backed by an extremely funky bass riff, takes over. Next, 'Source Of Uncertainty', a brief palate-cleanser, offers an arrestingly melancholy piano melody, until 'Image Of The Past' kicks into another rolling jazzy groove, punctuated by a chirpy flute and serrated lead. 'Beings Of Light' contains a chorus that could have been an out-take from 'Everyone In The World Is Doing Something Without Me'. And with its augmented violin and tabla, 'In Solitude We Are Least Alone' is the piece that harkens most back to The Isness/Alice In Ultraland turn, the band's slightly sophomoric psychedelic cycle released in the mid-noughties under their Amorphous Androgynous guise."
The Quietus
http://www.fsoldigital.com/
- "The Future Sound of London (often abbreviated to FSOL) is a British electronic music band composed of Garry Cobain (sometimes styled as Gaz Cobain) and Brian Dougans. The duo are often credited with pushing the boundaries of electronic music experimentation and of pioneering a new era of dance music.[1][2][3] Although often labelled as ambient, Cobain and Dougans usually resist being typecast into any one particular genre. Their work covers many areas of electronic music, such as ambient techno, house music, trip-hop, ambient dub, acid techno.[4] In addition to music composition, their interests have covered a number of areas including film and video, 2D and 3D computer graphics, animation in making almost all their own videos for their singles, radio broadcasting and creating their own electronic devices for sound making.[5][6] They have released works under numerous aliases. . . ."
- "Five years are gone since Chapelier Fou has joined Ici dailleurs with the release of its first EP, « Darling, Darling, Darling » (2009) But five years are finally short, compared to the huge way travelled by the Lorraine (FR) born personnality. Four EPs, two albums, many soundtracks for movies/documents/commercials (JRs « Inside Out, Episode 1 », Jan Balejs « Little From The Fish Shop », commercial for Google Web Lab, soundtrack for Lab212 for a Barbican Center digital exhibition ), concerts all over the world (Europe, Australia, Canada, China, Russia, South America ), songs in the playlists of the more demanding DJs, and getting an international fame. But time has not come to make a kind of inventory, as impressive it could be. Because now, Louis is coming back with « Deltas », his third album, whose title is a sign of his ambitions : to exalt what is living, to give a new dimension to sound, to show his uniqueness.
This album crystallize all the elements which made Chapelier Fous personality, from electronic music to beautiful violin melodies that gave thrills. But it also opens up the realm of possibilities, with his variety of more diversified emotions and his arrangements which are more intense than on his previous deliveries. If Chapelier Fou was once considered as a « sound handyman », now hes becoming a certified composer with his compositions, arrangements or harmonies. This is not changing overnight but is the result of his ability to feed himself from his experiences. « Deltas » will not open up on first listenings, as the field of explorations is huge and experimentations are limitless. But immersion will be there. Here, complexity means fascination. And we have to say that the result is unique, as he is supported by its will for experimentation that can not leave the listener cold. Each track is a wonderful and fascinating paradox, where the obvious beauty of the melodies challenges unexpected uncommon structures.
And it always works, for sure. One is captured, impressed by Chapelier Fous capacity to integrate so many details and ideas while being so consistent. But theres always a trace of mystery which embraces his compositions, here more present than ever. We understand less and less whats going on in his mind, to imagine where his inspiration is coming from. Maybe its because his character has never been so impressive. While hes going further in his approach as a composer, Louis is avoiding the trap of austerity, thanks to a communicative energy and an untouched pleasure to be a relayer. There are so many other things to tell about « Deltas », but words are missing now, or at least they can not give him justice yet. We will have to wait for the next album to be able to give a fair view on this one which will never cease to grow up as the years and listenings will pass, but also with the different versions that Louis will made, on stage or elsewhere. More than a record, this is an open window for his musics possible future."
Kurt Budé : clarinet, bass clarinet, alto and tenor saxophones, percussion.
Nicolas Dechêne : electric and acoustic guitars
Daniel Denis : drums and percussion
Dimitri Evers : electric bass, fretless bass
Antoine Guenet : keyboard
+
Nicolas Denis : drums and percussion on « Très Affables »
Hugues Tahon : trumpet on « Rêve Mécanique », « L’Espoir Perdu » and « Phosphorescent Dream »
Adrien Lambinet : trombone on « Rêve Mécanique » and « L’Espoir Perdu »
- "I wanted this 13th album to open the band's music to other directions, different sound and musical structures, different from the ones that had been in use for years.
I think it is necessary and crucial for a group to question itself now and then.
The old form was stagnant and did not give the impression of change, and the consequences were increasingly demotivating. So there was no choice, I felt I had to take the difficult decision to break up the group. Luckily I had met Nicolas Dechene and Antoine Guenet who could contribute with freshness and new energy to this next incarnation of UZ.
I wanted the future of Univers Zero's music to have less noise than before and to obtain new energy in a more rock and electrical orientation, and integrated with guitar.
Mixing Kurt Bude compositions with mine, forms an excellent rich diversity in fusion. Each track on the disc has its own identity and its own color.
I really think this CD has reached maturity, and after 40 years of existence I can truly say UZ is again taking an important step . And never forget Didier de Roos who mixed this CD, contributed to the sound, and as always, elevated the music to higher levels.
- Daniel Denis
Youtube""If Stravinsky had a rockband, it would sound like this . . ."b
A Winged Victory for the Sullen, Atomos.
Released tomorrow (Oct 6) on Kranky, and currently streaming at NPR.
Anjou - Anjou
ETA, just noticed that Christopher Bissonnette also had a new release earlier this year on Kranky.
Ian William Craig - A Turn of Breath
This is rather lovely. Some similar territory to Julianna Barwick or Julia Holter maybe but with a male operatic vocal; also makes me think of a grimier, more Basinskified version of the Being Dufay album by Ambrose Field.
The Legendary Pink Dots Hallowe'en Special 2014
- "Know ye this brothers and sisters. The Legendary Pink Dots Hallowe'en Special 2014 is available for but a brief period of time, but only WE know how long and right now we're saying nothing. Cue maniacal laughter, clanking chains, blood curdling screams..."
Porya Hatami has ANOTHER new physical release out.
Daydreamer [Hibernate Postcard Series]
That's what, something like 7 albums this year? I think it's 7; this is the second since I counted 5 a few posts upthread (and just a couple of weeks ago).
This one has sheep. Or goats.
ETA:
Yup, I make it 7 (one of which is a compilation of single tracks released on other albums):
Shallow
Synesthesia
The Longing Daylight
The Garden
Arrivals and Departures
Vari
Daydreamer
(Plus a long-form contribution to a Linear Bells album)
ETA2:
I missed one, Unstable from March.
Eight.
- "Quentin Vandewalles Antinote is a rare beast: a label that is almost impossible to pin down. Though the Paris label first surfaced with the archival proto techno of Iueke, Antinote has developed into an increasingly open-minded concern, hopping between the John Carpenter-inspired synth-wave of Nico Mottes excellent Rheologia, the Future Times-ish tropical wizardry of DK, the cozy dream-pop of Syracuse, And thats before we get to the dense and off kilter rhythms of Albinos
Given this far-sighted approach to electronic music, its perhaps unsurprising to find their latest full-length venture, Stéphane Laportes Fourrure Sounds, exploring the fuzzy world of 1970s synthesizer experimentation. Its perhaps not that great a stylistic leap; even so, theres something strangely authentic about the woozy melodies, crackly production and dusty tape hiss that dominates throughout. Laporte is hardly a familiar name, but hes not a newcomer, either. Hes been putting out sporadic releases under the Domotic guise since the early 2000s, variously exploring modular synthesizer-heavy IDM, melodic electronica, odd ambience and krautrock-influenced skewed pop.
Even so, hes not released anything quite as ambitious or lo-fi as Fourrure Sounds, and his output has all but dried up in recent years. Given that this is his first album under his given name, it has all the hallmarks of a conscious re-invention an attempt to go back to his roots and reboot his career. This may just be conjecture. Certainly, the recording method for Fourrure Sounds - according to Antinotes press release, at least was a little different. It apparently involved Laporte working solely at night, recording directly into a four-track AKAI tape recorder set up on a cozy fur carpet. You can certainly hear the four-track in the finished album, with all but a handful of tracks accompanied by tape hiss and the unmistakable buzz of cheap audio leads.
The dominant sound, though, is that of the synthesizer. The 11 tracks that make up the album have the feel of spontaneous, impromptu recordings sketches and soundscapes created using various modular synths. Sometimes, the effect is strangely cinematic see the intergalactic electronic sweeps and bittersweet melodies of Orbite, for example, or the creeping, off-beat ambience of Watkins, where notes wobble, chords gently throb and odd bleeps pop and spit from the speakers. At other times, such as on the drifting, strangely alien Pachiderm, it feels like Laportes intentions are unclear. At these times, Fourrure Sounds comes across like an album of 1970s library music instrumentals with space as the theme. This is incidental music for long-forgotten European B-movies, whose storylines are near impossible to follow.
The label has compared Laportes work on Fourrure Sounds to legendary French film composer Francois de Roubaix, whose knack of blending cutting-edge electronics and traditional compositional methods can be evaluated in the two Le Monde Electronique De Francois de Roubaix compilations on Universal Music Jazz France. While there are some similarities, better comparisons can be drawn with early exponents of French avant-garde explorers Patrick Juvet and Didier Marouani. Parallels can also be drawn with krautrock-era German electronic experimentalists, too, while much of Fourrure Sounds feels like a long lost Suzanne Ciani project from the early 70s. The droning Ten Square and Uneasy, with its Tomorrows World bleeps and queasy feel, both sound like some of Cianis odd compositions of TV commercials.
Whatever the inspirations, Laportes work has an authentic feel as if it was recorded in 1974, rather than 2014. That said, its no hollow exercise in modular synthesizer love. For the most part, Fourrure Sounds is a thoroughly impressive set that veers between otherworldly iciness, starburst melodiousness (see the bubbling arpeggios, twinkling chords and bubbling keys of Space Samba) and heady expressions of Laportes space-themed daydreaming (see the six-minute standout Manufacture). It may well be Laportes best album yet; certainly, its his most inviting"
Matt Anniss @ Junodownload
http://antinote.net/ - music
For a decade, Schlienz has created meditative works of epic reach with intimate, reflective resonance. His individual style comes from an ever-searching sense of experimentalism that stems not only from his sense of composition but his creation of his own modular synthesisers and other instruments. Contemplation is Schlienzs most personal yet, acting as a compendium that ties the various strands of his musical pursuits together in a new and fresh vision. In a way, Contemplation is a record of how he has developed as an artist and as himself.
While the cosmic touch is ever present across Contemplation, earthy and pastoral scenes are never far from Schlienzs gaze. Norm Chambers aka Panabrite and a kindred spirit contributes to the swelling, soaring Humble, Numb is bubbling and bucolic in feel and Shimmer is a soft, sweet paen to the evening. Reaching further, Lament is a majestic drone, raga-like in its deep focus, and Janitor is a final hazy delight of floating tones and starry dub-like echoes.
Ultimately, Contemplation is in equal thrall to joy, melancholy, nature and space. Its a radiant poise Schlienz holds throughout, finding a peaceful plane."
Preservation - Soundcloud
- "Günter Schlienz is a quiet handed modular scientist, building his own instruments to create quality cosmic sounds.
After an early musical education on a recorder he taught himself how to play the guitar and played in various rockbands. Since 1998 hes an active experimental musician with different formations, live and studio. In 2003 he started building of diy synthesizers and playing them in the studio and live."</div>
Jaap Blonk - voice
Damon Smith - double bass
Three free improvisations for voice & double bass + improvisations on Hugo Ball's Six Sound Poems
Balance Point Acoustics
Track 4 lyrics: Gadji beri bimba:
Vladislav Delay - Visa[/align]
- "Prolific and multi-faceted producer Sasu Ripatti presents a rich body of work under his Vladislav Delay alias in Visa. The album is a mere five tracks, yet each is long and storied number that demands close attention at a high volume. Opener 'Visaton' runs past 20 minutes, its skulking, undulating synth pads colliding with rattling effects and crashes, just as 'Viaton' follows with its droning hum and similarly unhinged electronic variations. 'Viisari' offers some semblance of rhythm beyond its ambience, a plodding bass kick buried beneath mechanical squawks. 'Vihollinen' and 'Viimeinen' close out the album in more blissful yet no less textured and detailed fashion."
- Bleep
music - http://ripattilabel.com/
https://soundcloud.com/vladislavdelay/visa-medley
Marsen Jules with his unique brand of atmospheric, melancolic, orchestral . . .etc, ambient.
Following his highly acclaimed album Beautyfear, which is still featured besides Trentemöller and Bonobo in the top-ten of german chill out-charts, sound poet Marsen Jules bridges the time with the release of a conceptual mini album on his own Oktaf Records. The two tracks on the 35 minutes long album were created during a two week residency in the legendary GRM-Studios at Radio France in paris. The Groupe de Recherches Musicales is an institute for the exploration of electroacoustic music. It was founded 1958 by composer Pierre Schaeffer, one of the main protagonists of the so called Musique Concrète, a musical movement that focused on recorded sounds and sound manipulations as a basis for compositions. Therefore the artists used tape recorders and record players as their instruments and widened the musical horizon, which till then was only defined through classical known instruments. Especially these ideas of defining every acoustic event as possible music and the approach to explore the individual universe of such a sound, have always been a big inspiration for the music of german Martin Juhls. Therefore it was a big honor for the artist to be able to work at this legendary space for two weeks in 2009. For the two tracks created at GRM Jules dives deeply into the level of subatomic sound-particles. Clusters of string crescendos emerge from a nearly psychoacoustic sound-wall of warm drones in which they disappear with ultra long fade outs and reverbs. A touching work - which has the quality to let the listener drown into it completely."
music link
This music is in conception a sample of the sonic workshop Mark has been engaged in for a while and is his first rhythmic oriented electronic music project and with the aforementioned petit homage the title just had to be Elektronische Musik.
It took a lot of work before stasis was achieved and a concept with rigour cultivated. (For one does consistently strive for the Rigour of the Oxford Senior Common Room)
Before deciding on the music, eschewing hubris, a couple of shows were performed featuring some of the tracks that would ultimately make it to the recording and indeed the denouement was the benevolent approval from several key people in the music industry, and thus the necessary confidence to make the transition into this paradigm was cogent.
The music is imaginative and even within the genre has disparate contours and colours.
Mark sent the original tracks to Daniele Santini (TIBProd. Italy owner) and Daniele exhibiting a fingerspitzengefühl for the sine qua non remixed the tracks adding some subtle ingredients that concomitantly gave the music a propitious propulsion with gravitas.
The titles themselves, allude to a motley array of diverging characters, some fictional, some created and some yet to be, one can peruse upon the hypotheses in total and probably decipher.
One could attain absolution for believing in the existence of the Neo Kantians of Paraguay, it is an enchanting thought and in ones struggles to keep on keeping on is an inspirational motivation.
The rhythmic timbral nuances of a helicopters rotors, that moment in a movie after a dynamic sequence where the main character may become a bit more introspective and we know and revere Sundance, but who is the Mississippi Kid, a degree of cartesian reductionism is necessitated perhaps.
The minimal techno infused rhythmic pulsations of Kinetisch lend itself to a Berlin trajectory but Be Water My Friend is for Bruce (not being pejorative, one principally, with several others also very worthy).
The recording process was arduous, recording, re-recording, reverse engineering, restarting over, a crystallization process, one can correlate it to a more oriental process rather than western linear process, the wheel turns and returns to its start point and then turns again.
Marks path is a kind of sonic heuristic work, one is trying to discover rather than learn, because learning, sometimes can just be duplication, when your looking for something with integrity you have to find it yourself, shape it yourself and it isn't all in an intellectual sphere, one also does have to be sentient, you do want the audience to connect."
Tibprod Italy
Born: October 20, 1969 Instrument: Guitar
- "Mark O'Leary was born in Cork City Ireland.Being mainly auto didactic on guitar he moved to Los Angeles at the age of 17 to study at Musicians Institute,from where he later graduated. He has presented his music in 29 countries and has played at some of the worlds top Jazz festivals and contemporary Jazz venues.
He has toured Europe as a member of Canadian Pianist Paul Bley's trio,he has performed in duo with Jack DeJohnette,in a jazz trio with Yes/King Crimson drummer Bill Bruford, in duo with Han Bennink,composed and performed classical music with Cikada string quartet,collaborated in an all electronics setting with Sound Artist Gunter Muller, Erdem Helveciouglu and Jakob Riis,in a free improvisation combo with Evan Parker and Sunny Murray, performed in concerts with Anders Jormin and Audun Kleive, played Norwegian folk music with Nils Okland, Swedish folk music with Mats Eden, Jazz with Uri Caine, he has performed in seperate projects with trumpeters Axel Dorner,Kenny Wheeler, Thomas Heberer and Jeff Kaiser. He has the distinction of having played in duo with Paul Bley, Bobo Stenson and Matthew Shipp. In 2004 he toured Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro with Vasil Hadzimanov and Marco Djordevic. He also toured in Macedonia with Guitarist Toni Kitanovski and Drummer Alexander Sekhulovski. He also represented Ireland in the Athens European jazz festival.
He has also worked in a trio with ex Weather Report/Jaco Pastorius Drummer Peter Erskine and Palle Danielsson. He has also collaborated with the innovative percussionists z'ev, Alex Cline ,Hans Kristian Kjos Sorensen and Terje Isungset.He has also collaborated with Stale Storlokken in contemporary trio using church organ and with John Herndon of Tortoise in the Underground Jazz Trio.
He has also worked in different projects with Slava Ganelin and Alexander Tarasov of the Ganelin trio fame also in a UK based group with Mark Sanders and Joe Williamson of Trapist. He has toured in the exciting group Zemlya with Eyvind Kang and Dylan Van Der Schyff and also with Dylan and Wayne Horvitz. In conjunction with Alliance Francaise he performed in a trio with Henri Texier and Aldo Romano. He also played in a trio with Jon Christensen and Terje Gewelt He has played in Poland with drummer Michal Miskiewicz and Tomasz Szukalski and with the Oles brothers Bartlomiej and Marcin. He has also played with the Aka Moon rhythm section of Michel Hadzigeorgiu and Stephane Galland. He has also colloborated in trio with Stefan Pasborg and Peter Friis Nielsen as well as working with other Danes Jacob Anderskov and in duo with Kresten Osgood."
- All About Jazz.
Fennesz - Mahler Remixed
- Mahler Remixed was recorded live at Radiokulturhaus, Vienna by Christoph Amann, in May 2011. This recording is mostly based on samples taken from Gustav Mahlers symphonies. The performance also includes an early version of liminality from the bécs album, released in 2014 on Editions Mego. Mahler Remixed was a commissioned work performed together with the visual artist Lillevan. The piece was only performed live three times, at Vienna Radiokulturhaus, Carnegie Hall, New York City and at The Istanbul Borusan Art Centre."
Since they have been performing this set for several years now, the songs and improvisations on this CD have grown and expanded in repertoire and range of expression, giving more space for rhythmic and hypnotic elements to come to the fore. The music travels from more composed and arranged renditions of the old tunes, to completely improvised pieces that try to capture a sense of the gesture and tonalities of the source music, albeit with a contemporary edge.
The material derives again from the golden period of rebetika music, the late 20's and early 30's, including voices such as Rita Abatzi, Markos Vamvakaris, Giorgos Batis and the great guitarist and singer Kostas Bezos. The title of the CD 'A life is a Billion Heartbeats' alludes to the transient sense of life found in their songs, and of the many of the musicians in the underground of Greek life in those turbulent times."
Unsounds - http://www.kyriakides.com
- "Guitarist Fred Frith and saxophonist John Butcher are titans within the world of improvised music. Over the last four decades, each of these two men has permanently altered the way in which his instrument is heard: Frith with his (at times literal) deconstruction of the electric guitar, and Butcher with his exploration of the physical properties of sound and extended playing techniques.
Though theyve played live together a few times, The Natural Order, recorded in 2009 and mixed in 2012, documents Frith and Butchers first head-to-head encounter in a recording studio. The album is as pure a document as possible: recorded in a single stretch, with no overdubbing, the 10 tracks appear here in the order of their creation. It captures a single hour of unmediated interaction between two restless, creative spirits determined to make every moment with their respective instruments count. Its not jazz, its not rock, its not noiseits pure music, the product of two men in one place at one time, unique and unrepeatable."
Northern Spy
The new loscil album is here.
- "Anawan (formerly known as TWVE) is a five-piece band based in the waterfront neighborhood of Red Hook, Brooklyn. The project of composer and multi-instrumentalist Trevor Wilson, Anawan is a hybrid animal: part avant-garde vocal ensemble and part wildly-experimental pop group. Wilson, the de facto leader of the group whose mentor Meredith Monk is but one discernible influence, is a restless and prolific musician who has written and released hundreds of songs. In Anawan, Wilson's innovative vocal stylizations are mirrored by the rest of the group, evoking the image of a five-headed beast harmonizing with itself. Their third album together, Anawan is the first to be released under the group's new name and has the feel of a debut. With the band sounding tighter than ever, Anawan aims for the heart and at the same time impresses the mind with its intricate and inventive arrangements.
Since first forming in 2011 as Trevor Wilson and Vocal Ensemble, the band has carved out an idiosyncratic niche for itself. Their sound includes a mixture of five-part layered vocal harmonies, nylon string guitar, electronics, synths, and keyboards. Yet the songs never feel tedious or over-wrought: on the contrary, the arrangements sound deceptively simple. For example, many songs begin with a single instrument: a strummed acoustic guitar, a keyboard melody, or in the case of "Breaded Me," a drum machine. But it's how the songs spiderweb out from their relatively humble beginnings that is most impressive about Anawan. It's this constant push and pull between restraint and catharsis (exemplified perhaps most dramatically on "Where Are You Now") that gives the album its subtle grace.
Going one step farther, the members of Anawan actually embody this simplicity in their everyday lives. Wilson, who grew up in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, uses no social media and for a time lived and worked out of an RV with other members of the band (during heavy rain, a tarp would be thrown over the RV to prevent leaking). Wilson has only a basic computer for correspondence, and espouses a DIY-ethic for everything from concert promotion to album art (their previous LP All Material came packaged in beautifully hand-stenciled sleeves). Anawan takes advantage of this itinerant POV by exploring big, philosophical questions from an outsider's perspective.
The members of Anawan all met while studying at Bennington College. Since their debut album release Soft Wings, Anawan has toured across the northeast and performed in New York at Glasslands, Pioneer Works, and at Baby's All Right with fellow artists Nat Baldwin, Celestial Shore and Son Lux. Their sophomore album All Material, released on New Amsterdam Records revealed a tight knit group of friends growing together to create beautifully human music which evokes a curious nature and reflection. Anawan is yet another evolution, sure to inspire."
New Amsterdam Records
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