Experimental / All styles

"Ballads“ ist the first collaborative album by two key figures of the Norwegian noise, improv, experimental, whatever-you-call-it music scene. Anyone expecting a rackety wall of distorted feedback guitars and voices will be gently surprised though by the sparse and intimate sketches to be found on this wonderful record. Songs are stripped down to their raw bones using only the most essential elements to reveal the soul behind every single sound. Superfluous effects seem to be  completely absent,…

Finally, here it is! An album we’ve been waiting for since starting the label a few years ago and it was worth waiting every minute. While maintaining a busy release and tour schedule with Jazzkammer (now called Jazkamer, a duo with Lasse Marhaug) which recently included their new glorious metal album for Smalltown Supersound (aptly titled „Metal Music Machine“), the „Panic“ CD on the Bottrop-Boy label and concerts all over the world (including South America, South East Asia, Japan, etc.), his m…

Home, Unspeakable is a collaboration between Duncan and Günter based on Samuel Beckett's last work, an opera libretto entitled Neither that he wrote on the back of a card for Morton Feldman. Although Günter and Duncan both claim Feldman as strong influences, this work sounds little like Feldman, but is instead a "series of musical 'places,' which in their entirety form the topography of a 'landscape' we feel might be described by the final words of Beckett's text: unspeakable home" (from the lin…

These recordings are solo efforts on electronic organ - the awesome Vox Continental, guitar and viola as well as collaborations with saxophone player Terry Jennings, violinist Tony Conrad, Velvet Underground guitar player Sterling Morrison and the VU's original drummer Angus MacLise. Thanks to Tony Conrad, who was a co-member in La Monte Young's group The Dream Syndicate, these tapes are finally available to the public.

John Cage's empty words is something of an epic in reverse: a diminutive vocal exercise divided into four distinct parts that gradually breaks down the writings on sound from Henry David Thoreau's Journal into pure vocalise. Disarticulated, distended and utterly transformed, Cage's recitation utterly abandons all connection to linguistic meaning and becomes pure aesthetic glossolalia. The nearly three hour performance documents Cage reading from the third part of empty words at Teatro Lirico in …

Two of the most adventurous musicians around today, John Butcher and John Edwards have been working as a very compatible duo for some years now. This CD contains concert performances from Brussels and Barcelona. 59 minutes -- previously unissued.

Saxophonist John Butcher and violinist Phil Durrant had been playing together on the English improv scene in various formations for 14 years when they decided to start a live electroacoustic project in 1997, a project not unlike Evan Parker's own unit at the same time. The Butcher/Durrant duo released a first CD, Secret Measures, on Wobbly Rail, recorded live at the beginning of the experiment. Requests and Antisongs is a studio performance taped in January and February 2000, over two years late…

John Butcher appeared on six records, beginning with the 1984 LP 'Fonetiks, before he first released 'Thirteen Friendly Numbers' on his own Acta label in 1992. But the disc is still something of a debut; it is the first document of his peculiar language for solo saxophone, which he had fashioned by purging his vocabulary of the instrument's familiar sounds and jazz-associated gestures, and filling the space with carefully selected sounds located at the periphery of instrumental control. Butcher'…

Bischoff qualifies his work as the realization of a reflective intention, where he determines sonic structure not only through the predetermined elements which go into a piece, but also through the active process of listening to the music as it happens and responding accordingly. Aperture opens the possibility for multiple readings through a series of diverse techniques ranging from additive synthesis to FM synthesis to sampled-based processes. Each of the pieces within the album was recorded in…

'Virthulegu forsetar' contains one hour-long piece for 11 brass players, percussion, electronics, organs and piano. It's presented as an ordinary stereo CD and as a DVD-Audio with a high resolution 5.1 surround mix. The piece had its live debut in Hallgrimskirkja, a large church in Reykjavik and the city's towering edifice, and was named "the most memorable musical event of 2003" in Iceland's leading newspaper. The piece has Englabörn's quiet, elegiac beauty, but abandons the brevity of the firs…

Awesome ART POSTER, printed in 100 copies - size Cm. 70x100 (28x40 inch)

Composition from Jean-Luc Therminarias with David Moss, Bénédicte Debilly, Eric Houzelot, Stéphane Pelliccia (voice), Florent Haladjian (percussion), Ali N Askin (sampler), Jean Lambert-Wild (text).

A composition from Jean-Luc Therminarias with David Moss (voice), Eric Houzelot (voice), Florent Haladjian (home made spring instrument), Ali N Askin (sampler, synthesizeur), Jean Lambert-Wild (text).

Music composed by Jean-Luc Therminarias and performed by Quatuor Hêlios, Ali N. Askin and Eric Houzelot, with a text from Jean Lambert-Wild.

Edward Ka-Spel's 1991 solo album, recorded at home with Lady Loop during the Gulf War, remastered in 2012 by Martin Bowes for Cold Spring with three bonus tracks from 2012.

Jazzkammer are Lasse Marhaug and John Hegre from Norway. Together they have been making music as Jazzkammer since 1998. Past releases include Timex, Rolex (a remix album), Pancakes and a live album with Merzbow. Jazzkammer are relentless sound explorers with no set style or specific 'sound' - they move swiftly from hardcore overload electronics and sonic freakouts to lowercase soundscapes and location recordings. Once described as 'sonic architects', Marhaug and Hegre insist they are merely tryi…

Dine Doneff's 'soundscape theater for double bass and tapes': a live solo against pre-recorded music and field recordings from Lisbon, Istanbul, Timisoara and Zurich. Recorded 1 July 2016 at the Domagk Ateliers, Munich; neRED/2.

Jacob Kirkegaard is a Danish musician currently located in Cologne, Germany, who was a founding member of the group Aeter which has been active for years on the European underground live circuit. They had a unique sound where abstract sound, beautiful singing and an interest in connecting music with visuals came together. Kirkegaard is also a famous composer of hearplays in his native country. Last year saw the first release from him outside his band with Soaked, a live recording he made with tu…

Ingar zach - percussion / zither. percussion music is Ingar zach's debut solo release. Over the last couple of years he has developed a personal sound in his instrument, and on this release his arsenal of bells, gongs, drums and motors are accompanied with zither. percussion music is recorded in a large factory hall, and is one long piece of music consisting of drones and overtones that are carefully developed. Ingar zach's own notes on the solo release: 'This CD is recorded live in an abandoned…

two albums of 'agitprop' electronic music -- Tract & To Kill A Sunrise cut between 1968 and 1975 -- by mysterious & controversial Turkish composer Ilhan Mimaroglu -- one of the truly underrepresented pioneers of the golden age of the Princeton-Columbia electronic music scene. Produced as a direct reaction to an extended period of intense repression, counterrevolutionary terror, & execution style murder in Turkey, Tract is a scrambled mash up peppered with spunky electronic bursts, radio ads loop…

Another three grand pianists on three grand pianos. Howard Riley and Keith Tippett have recorded several piano duos in the past, but the addition of John Tilbury coming from another background gives these eight trio improvisations a unique flavour. 66 minutes.

Hototogisu are Marcia Bassett and Matthew Bower, and they dwell upon two continents (Marcia in Brooklyn NY and Matthew in Leeds UK). Both share rich discographical heritage. Marcia has recorded with numerous labels (Siltbreeze, Timelag, Eclipse, Troubleman Unlimited, etc.) with UN, GHQ and the Double Leopards, and Matthew with Total, Skullflower, Sunroof!, Vibracathedral Orchestra and more. A Wikipedia entry in his name clearly (sic) illustrates his cultural heft: Bower's huge discography of vis…

BusRatch comes recommended by Yoshihide Otomo and Christian Marclay as highly talented experimental unit. Hijokaidan a powerful force in contemporary japanese noise. Recorded 03, 8th, February at Taku Taku, Kyoto, the intensity of this live performance is immediate.

'When starting (1.8)sec.records, I planed on focusing the music on minimal sound art, and electroecustic music. Since starting the label it has taken a life of it's own pulling me increasingly towards something that falls somewhere between improvisational free jazz and the above mentioned genres. I am thankful for this, otherwise I may not have gotten the chance to experience and release 'plateformes'. The trio of Hervé Boghossian, Stéphane Rives, and Matthieu Saladin is very much a free improvi…

The classic double CD release that really renewed the interest in Henry's Flynt's idiosyncratic music (linked to Conceptual art and minimalism) -- at least 10 other CDs have followed since the release of this one. It is listed as #6 on Alan Lichts' "Minimal Top Ten" list, which says a lot. First volume in the series subtitled: New American Ethnic Music. "Recorded in '80 and '81, two mind-blowing disks delivering flowing, trance-inducing violin solos of extreme beauty and seriousness. In these in…

This album is another chapter in the life of avant-hillbilly Henry Flynt, this time documenting his more experimental recordings. The centrepiece of the record is a slightly unnerving collection of howls, judders and raspberries unnervingly titled ‘Central Park Transverse Vocal #1-4’ – luckily there is more on the cd than this though, I can’t say the squealing does a lot for me other than irritate. However, ‘Raga Electric’ is clearly the standout track and does pretty much exactly what it says o…

This is the fourth Henri Pousseur CD in Sub Rosa's Early Electronics series, exploring the work of this Belgian theoretician and experimental/avant garde composer. Along with previous releases in this series, Musique Mixte will cover all his electronic music and his most radical works between 1953 and 1988 -- 35 years of research and experiments. These recordings are a continuation of Sub Rosa's earlier releases, namely: Liège à Paris (a piece composed thanks to Luciano Berio and premiered at th…

Sparse, minimal but sometimes heavy works from 1969-1978 by german composer Helmut Lachenmann (*1935), slow-motion instrumental breathing, plucking and string-scraping. Including the pieces 'Guero' for prepared piano (H. Lachenmann), 'Pression' for cello solo (W. Taube), 'Pression' for cello solo (M. Bach), and 'Gran Torso' (original version) for string quartet (Società Cameristica Italiana). Comes with 4-pahe 12" booklet.

Electronic album on themes by György Kurtág jr., arranged by László Hortobágyi, with Kurtág jr. and Hortobágyi on synthesizers and computers and Miklós Lengyelfi on bass and effects. Recorded August 2008 at the Guo Manor, Budapest.

Recorded at different locations in Scandinavia in 2002-2005 era maximus by Johannes Heldén, Lasse Marhaug & Joachim Nordwall. Field recordings as sound source, later computer processed. Shadows were present. Notes were taken. Save yourselves.

Heimir Björgúlfsson is an ex-member of the longstanding Icelandic group Stilluppsteypa and Jonas Ohlsson is a reknown visual artist, at the time of the collaboration both based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Fur Your Bears Only is their second collaboration after the Unspoken Word Tour album in the Brombron series released by Staalplaat and Extrapool. Fur Your Bears Only is the most melodic and poppy music ever to have come out of Björgúlfsson & Ohlsson, providing 8 tracks that show how disco & …

Haunted House is Loren MazzaCane Connors's much anticipated group, featuring Suzanne Langille on vocals, Andrew Burnes on second guitar, and Neel Murgai on percussion. Langille wrote two of the three monstrous tracks, the third being a cover of Lonnie Johnson's 'Blue Ghost Blues." They all permit MazzaCane plenty of space to roam. The 23 minute "Been So Long" is dominated by his solo 'dialogue' between two separate voicings, where he alternates slow, surging and quivering downstrokes with frail,…

This massive 4CD set is the second "enclosure" in the series. It is sub-titled "Historic Speech-Music Recordings from the Harry Partch archives," and includes "archival recordings, including works from the 30s & 40s, a lecture on just intonation, excerpts from the 1935 hobo journal Bitter Music, and a sound documentary featuring Partch at the piano

This is the fourth full-length release for Sweden's Hans Appelqvist, his third for the Häpna label. Hot on the heels of his last record Naima, released in November 2006, Hans has a new album ready, entitled Sifantin och mörkret, containing 12 new tracks and a beautiful video for "Tänk att himlens alla stjärnor," made by Andreas Nilsson (The Knife, José Gonzales and The Soundtrack Of Our Lives). The music shows Hans from a new side, the album being more open and spontaneous than previous works. A…

Otomo Yoshihide (guitar, turntables), Hirose Junji (sax), Kato Hideki (bass, voice), Uemura Masahiro (drums) and Yamataka Eye (voice). This CD includes unissued live performances and studio recordings (12, 13) right after Otomo formed Ground Zero. This happened before the release of their first album, called 'Ground-Zero' (God Mountain). Their playing is in the rough and sound quality is not quite best, but this materials should be kept a record of their intence performances of earlier Ground Ze…

GoodiePal is the Danish Kristian Vester, computerprogrammer for the world famous Lego-imperium, founded a long time ago by his grandfather. Relevant because this urge to program can be heard on 'beo bio'. 'beo bio' consists of 4 pieces, all coming from the same original, a track made years ago with the same name. Through different algo-rythms the work has been processed and arranged, without losing it's recognisability and character. Therefor it requires patience to discover the mostly minimal d…

A meditation on silence, ecstatic and radical hearing of a soul who catch  the real essence of sound and frees  his creativity without a doubt. The result of a deep inner search, involved and involving.  The journey of a non-compromised artist that choose the hardest way to reach a definition of his research.For Gianfranco Pernaiachi it’s the overcoming of the “classic” position of the author. Here the author call the nature, he settle any compromise with the instrument, with the musical writing…

Recreating the idioms of some ethnic musics, Ghédalia Tazartès invents himself an imaginary world which seems to be inspired by differents forgotten traditions. Musician, genious handyman, singer to the improbable accents, Ghédalia Tazartès pours a flood of sounds and atmospheres, voices and strange melodies, weaving the screen of an hallucinatory soundtrack which accounts for the universe of the show 'Jeanne' (Co Pardès rimonim) for which it carried out the majority of those compositions…