Bleaklow
Fully remastered by Matt Colton at Alchemy. One of the most destitute and absorbing albums in Leyland Kirby’s canon is finally given a much needed vinyl pressing, following on from its initial CD release 6 years ago. ‘Bleaklow’ is harrowing from the start, the opening "Something To Do With Death” reverberating dread via layers of unstable, radiant drones punctuated with pained, hi-pitched howls that cut through the mix with violent intent. ’Solemn Dedication’ adds percussion to the mix and sits …
Collapsed view
Utterly enchanting, joyfully whimsical return from Portland, Oregon's acoustic/ambient-pop hypnotist, Sean Byrne aka Bugskull. Returning to Digitalis a half decade on from the much-loved 'Communication' album, his sound on 'Collapsed View' is mostly as charmingly concise and somnambulant as we remember, but also offers three slightly extended views where he really takes flight. The A-side yields five sun-dried ambient pickings, moseying from woozy harmonica, organ and acoustic guitar strums cudd…
Games have rules
Gatefold double LP version. Function and Vatican Shadow have combined forces on Games Have Rules for Hospital Productions, simultaneously stripping back each producer's more prevalent production elements -- the dancefloor-focused techno structures of Function; the experimental cassette-roots of Vatican Shadow -- to create an album of dynamic electronic ambient music, equal parts rhythmic and atmospheric. As befitting what began life as an "emotional acid" album best suited for an after-hou…
Koch
Lee Gamble jacks directly into a latent stream of electronic wonder with his dream-like 'Koch' opus for PAN. Running to 76 minutes over 16 tracks, it's Gamble's most substantial and arguably definitive work, following the beautifully effective 'Diversions 1994-1996' and 'Dutch Tvashar Plumes' releases for PAN in 2012. Where those records deconstructed the elusive, enigmatic timbre of '90s electronic dance music - jungle, techno, ambient - 'Koch' (pron. 'Cotch' - UK slang for relax) is a sort of …
Punish, Honey
Bristol-based Seb Gainsborough Vessel returns to Tri-Angle with a revelation of a 2nd album. Completing the metamorphosis initiated on his stopgap EP for Liberation Technologies, the Vessel moves completely away from the dancefloor, eschewing techno for organic post-punk electronics more in line with acts like Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire than his label mates. Like a bottle to the back of the head, crashing cymbals open ‘Febrile’, a not-so polite warning that this may not be a s…
Ununseptium - Vortices
Dedicated to promote young and evolving artists and to present musical diamonds in the rough, Raster-Noton is curating the unun series, which name derives from the atomic numbers of the chemical elements 111-119. ‘Vortices’ is Ueno Masaaki's first release on Raster-Noton, and the seventh release of this series. Ueno Masaaki takes his musical cue from natural phenomenon and laws of nature by trying to reconstruct, not simulating them. The results are mainly rhythmical patterns that set off a chai…
Cicada Dream
2013 marked the arrival of millions of periodical cicadas to the new york metropolitan area. these musical insects appear only once every seventeen years. on the occasion of this auspicious event, david rothenberg performed a series of concerts together with composer and deep listener pauline oliveros, overtone singer timothy hill, and live singing insects brought in from the trees. the ensemble of digital accordion, clarinets with electronically enhanced nature sounds, and harmonic singing is c…
Flut
Jochen Irmler and Jaki Liebzeit met in the town of scheer last july to prepare for an upcoming concert at the slaughterhouse in sigmaringen as well as for a subsequent appearance in the kammerspiele in munich. however, they quickly decided to stop rehearsing and instead record flut - an album that regroups six improvisations between organ and percussion. flut adds another chapter to irmler's collaborations, which aim to explore, whenever possible, the hidden potential that lies dormant in the cl…
Lucien Goethals
Simply one of the best examples of organic and electronic music interfacing taken from rescued mastertapes spanning 1964 and 1975, here we find Lucien Goethals recomposing transposing and reducing taped recordings of organic instruments such as Cello and Clarinet to make early magnetaphone compositions that defy convention from the heart of the revolutionary IPEM (Institute for psycho-acoustics and electronic music). These melodic explorations into advanced mechanical music provide further likem…
Zeitkratzer + Keiji Haino
One of the most prolific artists of the Japanese experimental noise scene, Keiji Haino teams up for his 2nd album with the critically acclaimed ensemble Zeitkratzer. Frenetic musical material, wild and beautiful. On his second release with Zeitkratzer, the enigmatic icon of the Japanese noise experimental scene Keiji Haino concentrates solely on his voice. No electronics are used except for amplification. Nevertheless, this live recording is even more radical than the first one ('Electronic…
Live in Paris 28.05.1975
The subject of many poor quality bootlegs, this concert - one of only a handful undertaken by Fripp & Eno - is routinely described as legendary. Hearing the tapes in fully restored audio quality, it's easy to understand why it attracts such reverence now and perhaps, why the shows attracted such hostility then. No Roxy Music hits, No King Crimson riffs, just a duo sitting in near darkness with a reel to reel tape recorder, improvising over the pre-recorded loops with a filmed background projecti…
Superimpositions
'Superimpositions' is the hyper-coloured conceptual follow-up to multi-disciplinary Milanese artist, Lorenzo Senni's landmark LP, 'Quantum Jelly' (Editions Mego, 2012). It further consolidates, accelerates and evolves his idea of "Pointillistic Trance" - an ascetic, extreme approach to the aesthetic essence of '90s-style trance/hard-trance - with a broader range of song structures, minimalist moiré patterns, and tantric dancefloor arrangements, all executed to visceral impact and challenging, ex…
Calling Nina
Lucy Cliche and Matthew Hopkins are denizens of Sydney, Australia, formerly of Naked On The Vague, the Bowles, Knitted Abyss, and a kitchens sink worth of other tantalizing musical endeavors. As HALF HIGH, the two have taken everything they know about creep mood and midnight tones and used that arcane knowledge to open an audio gateway into ghostly realms. "Calling Nina" was recorded live in a performance space where the paranormal branch of the Australian Secret Service had once conducted seanc…
Well of Sorrows
Well of Sorrows is Ian Middleton's first LP release since 2009's Aural Spaces and Time Building (Swill Radio and Entr'acte respectively). Employing his signature MS10 analogue synthesizer, Middleton's sound takes on a more plaintive tone, weaving quietly lyrical melodic patterns into an ever-shifting stasis. Precise and elemental, Middleton's music reflects years of exploration into the possibilities of his chosen instrument, sidestepping the transience of current trend and carving his own path …
Good Intentions/Material Dilemma
Sound poetry/tape music from Allen Mozek/Good Area, following up the Debris Music CS released on Vitrine in 2013. Recorded at home, early 2014 in Philadelphia, PA. "The debut 7" vinyl release from No Intention, the solo project of Good Area's Allen Mozek: "sound poetry/tape music from Allen Mozek/Good Area, following up the Debris Music tape released on the artist's own Vitrine label in 2013. Recorded at home, early 2014 in Philadelphia, PA. Side A plays at 45rpm, Side B at 33 1/3rpm. 200 cop…
The Laboratory
2013 marked the 25th anniversary of Idea Fire Company, the duo of Scott Foust and Karla Borecky based in Amherst, Massachusetts. Right before the end of the year The Laboratory EP was recorded. Two tracks of icy synth work, at times sort of reminiscent of parts of the Anti-Natural LP from 1999, but this probably being the most stripped down and monotonous material you will be able to find in the splendid discography of Idea Fire Company.
A Turn of Breath
Recital here presents the premiere LP by vocalist Ian William Craig (b. 1980, Edmonton). 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 Sun’s light through a vast storm; still obscured by tape…
Newtables
Second in a series of three extended reissues from SND - 12-tracks fully remastered from DAT tapes by Rashad Becker at D&M Mark Fell and Mat Steel’s second EP as SND was released in 1999, a year after their debut ‘Tplay’. It continued to explore their distinct, highly individual take on electronic minimalism, House and UK Garage stripped to its bare bones. This extended reissue features the original 6 tracks of ’newtables’, plus 6 previously unheard recordings from the same sessions - all fully …
Travelog
Third and final instalment in a series of three extended reissues from SND. 12-tracks fully remastered from DAT tapes by Rashad Becker at D&M ‘Travelog’ was the third EP released by Mat Steel and Mark Fell as SND, arriving in 1999 just before the release of their influential debut album ‘Makesnd Cassette’ on the Mille Plateaux label. Of the three EP reissues in the series, ‘Travelog’ contains the most developed and satisfying work from the pair, edging their reduced production palette into more …
Extreme Events
Airless, ecstatic modular music from former member of Godspeed You Black Emperor. Five years after founding Le Révélateur, Montreal-bred musician Roger Tellier-Craig returns to Root Strata with Extreme Events, a collection of dense sonic studies that betray a futuristic and timeless beauty. Alongside collaborator Sabrina Ratté, who creates the project’s videos and live visuals, Le Révélateur operates at the ideological intersection of audio and visual, analog and digital, nostalgic and anticipat…