Two lakes
In April 2010 12k recording artist Seaworthy (the recording project of Cameron Webb) and Matt Rösner travelled to the south coast of New South Wales to undertake a detailed field recording study of two coastal lake ecosystems at the Lakes Meroo and Termeil. The aim of the project was to explore the sounds of a fragile coastal Australian environment and to build from those sounds unique musical pieces that provide a place for listener contemplation and reflection.Field recordings were taken from …
Blueprints
Over the past 10 years 12k has established itself as a label on the forefront of minimalist music and has become home to some of the most important artists of the genre. It is label that time and time again has not been afraid to release debut albums from new artists, drawing on the new energy they interject into both the scene and the label.With the release of Blueprints, 12k presents 2 tracks each from 6 artists new to its roster and showcases some of the new sounds and influences that will ca…
Songs
Songs is the much-anticipated follow-up to Parisian sound designer and musician Sébastien Roux’s beautiful cd Pillow (Apestaartje, 2004). The simple title of Songs hides a deep work that Roux states is based in mathematics, symmetry (and assymetry) and organized randomness. Songs is a skillfully and beautifully rendered album of gentle and sometimes not-so-gentle acoustic instruments and melodic granular clouds. Each song is titled simply by the instruments that make it, thus stressing the proce…
Mit ohne
Mit Ohne is a sound documentation of an audio/visual installation by Yves Netzhammer and Steinbrüchel. The installation entitled “The feeling of precise instability when holding things” was part of the group exhibition “Wohnträume/Wohnräume” exhibited from 26.07. to 28.09.2003 at the Museum für Gestaltung in Zurich, Switzerland. The audio sections by Steinbrüchel where composed in sync with the visuals by Yves Netzhammer and succeed in translating and supporting the poetic vibrancy and slow morp…
Almost New York
"Twonings" with Charles Curtis, cello and Joseph Kubera, piano. "Almost New York" with Robert Dick, flutes. "Broken Line" with Robert Dick, flute, Danny Tunick, vibraphone, and Joseph Kubera, piano. "Coda Variations" with Robin Hayward, tuba. Pogus is extremely delighted to release this 2 CD set of recordings of works by Alvin Lucier. He is one of the key experimental artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, and is one of my favorite composers. A unique and individual artist: No one sounds quite …
Autre ne Veut
"Olde English Spelling Bee is one of those labels you can implicitly trust to provide you with the most brilliantly weird music. Their latest missive is a self titled shocker from Autre Ne Veut, a moocher from the same circles as Oneohtrix Point Never and all those weirdo Brooklyn types with an uncanny line in subtly skewed pop queerness. Seriously, this is one of the strangest, most jarringly unique records of the year, and we love it. At heart it's an incredible pop album with traces of Prince…
Palace of marvels (queered pitch)
Marcus Schmickler's new release following his acclaimed Altars Of Science (EMEGO 082CD) is a must-have for those interested in the rising field of contemporary computer music. It reconfirms Schmickler's interest in the liaison of sound, phenomenology and cognitive sciences. Schmickler, therefore, utilizes a new interpretation of 1960's discovery, the Shepardtone, discovered by Roger Shepard, which creates the auditory illusion of a tone that continually rises or descends in pitch yet ultimately …
Between Concrete And Abstract. Gaku-No-Michi (Book)
For those who loves the piece, this is a nice way to learn more about it. For those who don't know it yet, it will be a good introduction to listen to it. Gaku-no-Michi is an electro-acoustic work of wide proportions realised in 1977-78 at the Denshi Ongaku Studio (electronic music studio) of NHK radio (Nippon Hoso Kyokai), Tokyo. This work has been programed in numerous countries by various modern music festivals, as a full evening concert, from 1978 to 2006. This publication is made of a group…
Intervals
'Z'EV: percussion. Jason Kahn: percussion, analog synthetizer. Recorded by Jason Kahn April 13-14, 2009 in Zürich and Lausanne, Switzerland. Mixed and mastered by Z'EV. Artwork by Mirt.' label info Jason Kahn, born 1960, New York, USA. Composition, installations, percussion, electronics. Based in Zürich, Switzerland. Z'EV. After studying at CalArts with Concrete Poet Emmett Williams he concentrated on producing visual and sound poetries, and was included in the ÔSecond Generation' show at the Mu…
Onta
“Pogus is very pleased to release its second recording by composer Dimitri Voudouris, a South African composer of Greek birth. As Massimo Ricci wrote in his Touching Extremes review of the first Pogus release: "Voudouris is interested in the 'research of cognitive psycho-acoustic behavioral patterns in humans and the behavior of sound in relationship to continued environmental changes'. Don't let the composer's difficult description fool you into thinking about some kind of cerebral pretentiousn…
Last Whole Earth
RESTOCKED Asheville, North Carolina resident Ross Gentry performs and records under the guise of Villages. With dense layers and glacial droning, he creates engaging narrative soundscapes that evoke the shifting fragility of the early ambient movement as well as the elegance of symphonic composition. The Last Whole Earth is engagingly contemplative and meticulously well-crafted drone. With washes of guitar and synthesizer, subdued vocals, field recordings and minimal noise, Villages devise…
Police Water
Under the wickedly cryptic title of 'Police Water', Gary War delivers his latest psych-pop dazzler on Sacred Bones - also including the two tracks from his 'Reality Protest' 7". Just as everyone begins to catch up with his brilliant body of work from the last two years, he goes and switches up his sound with reinvigorated song structures, a broader tonal palette and far, far tighter rhythm programming. Don't worry, though, he's not lost the inexplicable post-apocalyptic weirdness, it's ju…
Fog tapes
Following their mystical, dark and haunting self titled debut album on Utech Records (home of Aluk Todolo, Horseback, Final, Skullflower, Runhild Gammelsaeter, James Plotkin...), Ural Umbo return with their follow-up release, an even more dense, forward-thinking, nebulous post doom record. An organic and hypnotic mixture of lurking electro-acoustics, atmospheric black metal approaches, epic drones, slowly evolving melodies, doom mantras and an overall psychedelic atmosphere.
Wolf / Worm
After two stunning singles (on S-S and Sacred Bones) HEBV are back in the 12" maxi-single format and are now allowed to stretch out in two very long songs of dark drone and acid guitars filled with just a few frantic vocals. Wolf starts as a straight punk song and evolves into a space odissey driven by monotonous drumming and filled by a hypnotic flute solo right before collapsing into an melancholic outro leaving us lost and confused. Worm is a wall of drone crawling and crawling for mi…
Live In Leugen
In December 2009 Zebra (Roel Meelkop & Frans de Waard) were invited to play a hommage to Martin Hannett, the legendary producer of Joy Division, A Certain Ratio and Section 25 (to mention Zebra's favorites). This was the start of a long Factory Records weekend in Brussels. Zebra picked their favorite Martin Hannett productions and sprinkled them some further with their extraordinary electronic means to create a groovy, dense slab of music. This album is called 'Live In Leugen'. Leugen is the dut…
Living With Yourself
Mark McGuire operates chiefly as guitarist in the legendary Emeralds, however he also has racked up an impressive set of solo releases over the last few years (albeit mainly in small to micro print runs). 'Living With Yourself' is his new album and we at Editions Mego hope to meet any demand which may arise from this fine selection of modern crafted guitar tunes. Focusing on his family, early friendships and the problems that inevitably develop through years of knowing someone, it takes McGuire…
A Natural History Of Failure
Emotional distance. Scientism. Abuse. Greed. Love. Self destruction. A study of modern, alienated, forced-individualists, wired together in our hell. Initially a collection of high-volume live pieces by Unks and Graham, this work was crafted into album form with contributions from a group of like-minded friends who performed together during the tours of the same name in 2009. Weapons-grade Trogotronic electronics utilized throughout. Four-panel poster sleeve. Photograph by Olli Kekäläinen…
& The University Of Michigan Digital Music Ensemble
Pauline Oliveros & the University of Michigan Digital Music Ensemble, directed by Stephen Rush. This DVD, recorded live at University of Michigan, features three of composer and performer Pauline Oliveros' compositions: Sound Piece; Sound Fishes; and Heart of Tones." Audio in 5.1 surround sound; bonus features: audio commentary on Sound Piece by Stephen Rush, Chris Peck and Jon Moniaci; "Spectragram Visualization" version of Heart of Tones; program and posters; scores and bios.
Seizing fate by the throat
Finally Restocked: Byce Beverlin II is a prolific, multidisciplinary artist based in Minneapolis. His primary discipline is music - specifically, freely improvised vocals and percussion. Seizing Fate by the Throat is a distillation, the spirit of 15 years of spittle and brass vapors collected in this studio recording from March 14, 2010. Quietly tinkering with an array of metal, plastic and wooden objects, Beverlin draws the listener in only to reveal that he is unlocking the cage of a l…
to r.s.
Awesome solo release by a former Amuleto band member (on the die schachtel Musica Improvvisa box)...Wanke continues to amaze us with his sensitive, detailed and spacious sound works. "to r.s." follows up his lauded debut "Caves" on Sedimental with another stunner. For “to r.s.”, Wanke uses electric and acoustic guitars, acoustic piano, objects and natural sounds. The 53 minutes of this unique piece divided in four parts combine static compositions, drones and looped music. Structurally viewed a…