La nuit est au courant
The fabulous "La nuit est au courant", documenting a rare tour by an extraordinary quartet featuring enfants terribles Jac Berrocal (trumpet) and Jacques Thollot (drums), with bassists Francis Marmande and Hubertus Biermann. Long out of print
Greatest Death
Brighter Death Now, one of the foremost purveyors of dark/death industrial music over the last 10 years, are all set to go again with the addition of another chapter to this electronic necronomicon known as Great Death (parts I-III). Those brave enough to order the final part of this beastly triptych will know what to expect now, since another item that followed it was a questionnaire by which we wished for the customers to vote for the five best tracks of the entire Great Death trilogy. The res…
Improvisations
Astreja is a rare, almost unique example of a group of composers – famous in their own right - impovising together, creating music that none of them could write (produce) by him – or herself. Astreja – a group consisting of the leading composers of academic avantgarde from the then Soviet Union improvising with rarely used Russian, Caucasian and Central-Asian folk instruments. - was founded in 1975 by Vyacheslav Artiomov, Sofia Gubaidulina and Victor Suslin. This is the original round-up. Later…
Goebbels Heart
Goebbels Heart is a kind of compilation disc, pulling together portions of early-'80s recordings by this duo originally released on the small German label Riskant. At this point in his career, Goebbels (who would later release more atmospheric and experimental albums on ECM) seems to be very much under the influence of composers such as Carla Bley, including the utilization of European workers' songs (Hans Eisler here). Goebbels plays mostly keyboards, both acoustic and electric, while Harth (ye…
Locus Solus
Reissue of the Rift 1983 DBL LP. Locus Solus was made up of small groups of Zorn's closest contemporaries at the time: Christian Marclay, Peter Blegvad, Arto Lindsay, Anton Fier, Wayne Horvitz, Ikue Mori, M.E. Miller. Subtitled "In search of improvised song form," this is supremely disorienting sonic chatter, but still quite listenable; watching this one waft though your speaker cones can't help but give you a feeling of superiority towards the human race's numerous inferior forms.
Filmworks 1986 - 1990
This original installment of the FilmWorks Series presents three scores ranging from punk-rockabilly (featuring the nasty guitars of Bob Quine, Marc Ribot and Arto Lindsay); a jazzy Bernard Herrmann fantasy; to a quirky classical/improv/world music amalgam for Raul Ruiz's bizarre film The Golden Boat. Out of print for several years these classic recordings are made available here with the original cover art intact. This is the place where it all began.
Live in Bremen
The groundbreaking UK band Nucleus were one of the very first jazz/rock fusion groups, forming in 1969 and releasing their first album in 1970. During their lifetime, the band recorded 13 albums for labels like Vertigo and Capitol, among others. The band was founded by trumpeter Ian Carr. He recruited musicians for the band in the autumn of 1969. The timing was perfect: the world was ready for Nucleus and other early bands who were combining the energy and excitement of rock with jazz instrument…
Gaussian transient (megaphone)
There are few sound artists out there that rival the diverse and extensive modus operandi that Jos Smolders brings to his work. Recently, Smolders releases have focused around self-similar sequences, loose narratives, or some kind of overarching central theme that ties the pieces together. Harking back to his early working methods here (Freebasing A Is For Me) and simply homing in on the sounds themselves with apparently diffuse and disconnected themes, Smolders brings us into a world of shape-s…
Non-Collaboration
Non-Collaboration began as a collaboration between Heribert Friedl and Will Montgomery in spring 2006. Will began by processing some of Heribert's Hackbrett improvisations and adding his own sounds. Over time, it became clear that the two strands of sound Ð Heribert's acoustic and Will's electronic - weren't working well together. So Will absorbed Heribert's material into his own. The Hackbrett and the pace and shape of Heribert's improvisations have left their mark on these pieces. However, thi…
Duo
Recorded at Newsonic Studios Brooklyn, New Yok february 2005. Brian Chase (Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs- drums) in duet with Seth Misterka (Dynasty Electric Duo-saxophone).
Return of the disco-aristo-sarcophagus
Dinosaurs with Horns was formed in 1982 by Joseph Hammer and Rick Potts who had collaborated on several projects both individually and as members of the loosely formed collective, the Los Angeles Free Music Society (LAFMS). In the early 90's they began performing and recording extensively with ex-Monitor, Steve Thomsen, as the trio Solid Eye including a month-long tour of Japan in 2002. Over the years Potts and Hammer have each collaborated with an impressive array of noise/sound musicians. Some…
North of thenorth
In June 2006 North of the North explored the sounds in a small area of North Norway. On the islands Skjervy and Arny at 70¡N they collected sounds from meetings with local fishermen, staff at a ferry, a flock of reindeer, arctic birdlife and more. These recordings are phonographies - sound pictures - used in an improvisational electro acoustic dialogue with the other instruments in the group. The sounds from Skjerv¿y and Arn¿y are part of an artificial sound world when the musicians present thei…
Studio 18
DVD Audio with Surround and Stereo version of Studie 18. In Studie 18, Neukom takes a natural and mathematical phenomenon, the golden ratio, as the basis for the patterns in his thirteen studies, all 3.19 minutes in length. The golden ratio, a mathematical constant, is at the centre of many aspects of beauty and regularity in nature, science, art and architecture, as well as being a core component of the minimalism, preciseness and refined aesthetics of Neukom's compositions. The golden ratio ha…
Eraldus I Eravaldus
Beautiful picture disc LP featuring two full-color reproductions of visual works by Jim Haynes and two new side-long solo compositions. 'The ideal companion pieces to Jim Haynes' masterful album, Telegraphy by the Sea, Eraldus and Eravaldus are both shadowy concoctions built from agitated objects and amplified spaces (a lighthouse, some high-tension wires driven by wind, a very large pile of sand, etc.). These are subtly manipulated field recordings, rusted to perfection and fine-tuned into scra…
Fragments on speed, slowless and tedium
Source material for the nineteen Fragments are recorded improvisations with the electric guitar. In a process of cutting, re-arranging and transforming, on which he has worked for several years, Archetti explores the possibilities and limitations of reduction and the states of transformation of recorded musical material. Archetti describes his work in Fragments as a process of crystallisation. In chemistry, this process is described as a liquid-solid separation technique: Acoustic states transfo…
Varianter av dode traer
Tetuzi Akiyama - acoustic and electric guitar. Martin Taxt - tuba. Eivind Lønning - trumpet. Espen Reinertsen - tenor saxophone and flute. On Varianter av døde trær the young Norwegian musicians Martin Taxt, Eivind Lønning and Espen Reinertsen meet the internationally acclaimed guitarist Tetuzi Akiyama from Tokyo. The three Norwegians are highly experienced young improvisers with background from groups like Trondheim Jazzorkester and Music for a Weill. Akiyama says he aims to create music with e…
Crickets in the Hollywood subway-Tasmanian devil about the polyw
Not much explanation needed for this one, an incredibly well-conceived 7' (white vinyl, letterpress cover, housed in plastic sleeve) from Los Angeles sound artist G.X. Jupitter-Larsen. The result of one simple question: Have you ever worked with animal recordings?
Behind the radiators
7' vinyl only. Limited edition. Artwork and photography by Jon Wozencroft. Cut by Jason at Transition. Locked grooves. Mika Vainio continues the series of Touch Sevens, 7' vinyl-only releases, with this stunning record. The crackle... The fire of the analogue... Mika Vainio is the most adept at using crackle as a voice. Sound artists have used crackle ever since the reality of digital audio hit home, however there's a big difference between this and how other practitioners use it... Here are two…
Kiri No Oto
The Japanese phrase Kiri No Oto loosely translates to the sound of fog or sound of mist. In many ways it's a collection that meditates on the sense of displacement and distortion that occurs in environments which undergo extreme mists, snowstorms and sea sprays. In the same way that visual objects loose their perspective, form and shape in these environments, the sound components that make up Kiri No Oto are not quite as they first might appear. Utilising a range of divergent mixing techniques, …
For Hugh Davies
A unique celebration of the work of Hugh Davies, one of the great pioneers of improvised music who died three years ago. Solo recordings of Hugh from three decades ago are played back to a trio of musicians whose work has been influenced by Hugh, and they improvise around his music to create a living homage to his memory. Beautiful, strange and challenging music.