The act of observation becomes The object itself
Over the many years of their existence, Australia's Machine For Making Sense have had many members. They play hurdy gurdy, vocals and electronics and wind instruments and electronics. Here they are together with Amanda Stewart (voice and text) and Rik Rue (analog and digital manipulation). As a 'band they explore relations between linguistics, poetry, speech, music, notions of sound, science and politics.' To that end the conversation is important - be it the conversation between instruments, th…
Mimidokodesuka
Originally released on CD in Japan in 2006. CD version. Released on LP & CD by Drag City on May 20, 2008. Features Jim O'Rourke on electric guitar, Darin Gray on doublebass and Chris Corsano on drums. Recorded live at the Pit Inn in Tokyo during a 2005 residency that included sets with alto sax legend Akira Sakata (recordings of which have been released separately and elsewhere).
Imaginational Anthem Vols. 1-3
Imaginational Anthem Vols. 1-3 brings together all three volumes of the essential acoustic guitar series. Released in October 2005, Imaginational Anthem was featured on NPR's All Things Considered, and received 4 stars from Uncut ('Entrancing'), All Music Guide ('Masterful') and Mojo ('Groundbreaking'). Rolling Stone's David Fricke wrote, 'the history and beauty here speaks for themselves, at the perfect volume.' Jon Pareles wrote in The New York Times, 'old and new, the music meditates on blues…
The Miners of Banal
Some years back, Bill Gilonis (The Work, The Lowest Notes, Hail, etc.) teamed up with B.O.A. administrator, Trixa Arnold, to write and record songs which would mostly praise the lords of Aqua-Vita (alcohol). Filling out their band of Smirnoff-swilling miscreants, was Ilya Komarov (bassist for the Estonian band, Ne Zhedali) and none other than armchair anarchist, crown prince of avant-garde pop, Rob Murphy, aka 'Bing Selfish.' While the group hoped that their songs would become instant 'hits' wit…
medves
Long deleted, beautiful LP in a deluxe 180gram vinyl, full color cover and insert. Numbered edition of 300 copies. In the Medves group, Andrea Belfi, Riccardo Wanke, Stefano Pilia join Rinaldi e Ielasi.Their self-titled album, the first in a projected series of limited vinyl missives, is relaxed and social, with the quintet essaying a becalmed improvised music. An opening study for quivering guitars captures the same downtrodden blues as Loren Connors.Subsequent pieces are denser, filled with ta…
Eclipse
Eclipse is the long-anticipated second CD by The Aeolian String Ensemble, following the Lassithi / Elysium disc from 1998. This new release is a collection of recent, early, and live material.The disc opens with 'Espacios', dedicated to the art and architecture of Cesar Manrique. Wind patterns emerge, interspersed amongst distant, radiant tonalities. Zephyrs (air currents) sustain waves of resonance emanating from the Aeolian harp, transporting the sound of the strings, while revealing the surfa…
Open Air
The 2nd LP by In Camera (a collaborative project by Christoph Heemann and Timo Van Luijk). Open Air features very dynamic live material recorded outdoors, under the moon, in March, 2004. Live improvisation integrating a stream of acoustic elements with continuous modulation. An edition of 400 copies.
Guitar Music from the Western Sahara
This is a CD reissue of the very first Sublime Frequencies LP, which sold out in an instant in early 2007. If you think you've heard all the great electric guitar styles in the world, think again. This Saharan sand-blizzard of fine-crushed glass will grind your face to a bloody pulp. Group Doueh play raw and unfiltered Saharawi music from the former colonial Spanish outpost of the Western Sahara. Doueh (pronounced "Doo-way") is their leader and a master of the electric guitar. He's been performi…
Viandra
Active in music for over 40 years, Lars Hollmer first got together with his friends to play music in late-'60s Sweden. This band eventually became the legendary 'Rock In Opposition' band, Samla Mammas Manna. Concurrently towards the end of Samla's original life-span (the band reformed in the '00s and is recording and playing shows again), Lars started a solo career, where he emphasized his very personal compositions and his accordion-playing, of which he is a master. Lars' solo albums have a gre…
Businesscide
Michael, founder and brain behind the extraordinary Swedish post-Beefheartian group Kraljursastalten -- and world-class ice-hockey player -- here collects his extraordinary songbook including much of the two celebrated '70s releases by Kraljursastalten (the Reptile Institution: Michael plus the telepathic twins Stefan and Thomas Agaton), with later recordings from his solo record plus released and unreleased pieces with Henry Kaiser, John 'Drumbo' French, Sten Standell, Andy West and others. Wil…
Trial By Headline
Three old hands out of Soft Machine, Gong and Henry Cow stretch already elastic musical material into various shapes, tie it in knots and generally have a good time. These high quality recordings combined with seat-of-the-pants playing make for a lot of feature and color, underpinning a music that is constantly in shape-shifting motion. Compiled from recent concert recordings in Berlin, London and Tel Aviv, this clutch of extended songs should be to the taste of anyone familiar with the protagon…
Key
1995 release. Originally released in 1971. Key contains Meredith Monk's earliest compositions for voice. The songs that make up Key
were composed and performed in a three year period between 1967 and
1970, when Monk collected them into this 45-minute "invisible theater"
experience. Meredith Monk on the release: "In Key I wanted to
create a constantly shifting ambience. Each song dealt with a different
vocal character, landscape, technical concern or emotional quality. I
was trying for a vi…
Real State
Recent CD of previously unreleased and pleasingly rough live recordings of Japan's Mirrors, from '78-'79. Historically they might be in the shadow of Friction, but Mirrors and the Gozira label which released their two singles are the real fathers of Japanese punk's first wave. Previous reissues of the Mirrors material have been few, limited and never really distributed outside Japan, so this disc is a much-welcomed release. These live recordings serve them well, as this is among the finest strip…
Prehistory
Some of you may remember Circle X's corrosive, caterwauling, and unutterably fabulous self-titled EP, which was originally released in 1979 and reissued a little over a decade ago by Jim O'Rourke's and David Grubbs' Dexter's Cigar label. Now the story picks up again with the long-overdue first CD release of Prehistory, Circle X's first full-length album. Prehistory was recorded in 1981 and released in 1983 by Index Records, making them, strangely enough, labelmates with Wall of Voodoo. Circle X …
Soirée Dansante
Performers for this incarnation of NMF - Adam Bohman (tracks: 2, 3) , Eric Faes , Geert Feytons , Greg Jacobs , Timo Van Luyk Soundtrack to a theatrical performance from mid 1990's.
Costa del Luna
Second album. Lunar psychedelic improvisations. Features Timo van Luijk (zither, flute, keys, tape) and Kirs Vanderstraeten (percussion). "Two more side long pieces from these two. The first side is a scuttling crab moving in and out of focus. It's great, but the second side is utterly fantastic. A lot of percussion and drones, as well as flute sounds, etc, with a touch of faux Orientalism. Enough that bits of the music could be seen as an alternative soundtrack to Apocalypse Now!. (And I mean t…
One
With a press release that simply declares this as "sinister psych, semi-acoustic noise" and a photograph on the back of the LP with the band posturing with instruments in a crumpled shack out in the forest, this record was pretty much made for Aquarius. Onde is a project that has come out of Noise Maker's Fifes, a theatrically Neo-Dada ensemble in the same orbit as Nurse With Wound and HNAS. The best known member of these groups is Timo Von Luijk, who had recorded briefly in Mirror with Andrew C…
Kuvaputki (Cathode Ray Tube)
Region 0 (free)/NTSC format DVD. The first ever Pansonic DVD release by Edward Quist, American digital visual artist. A live performance, close filmed. A redux digital film based around a Pansonic performance from their New York stop of their adventurous 1999 Round The World Tour. The film is a hyper-real abstract reflection of the duo, in the final year of the last century. While the documentary core remains, the footage is twisted and shaped by Quist into a new form in conjunction with Pansoni…
Kluster 1970-1971
Founded in 1969, German ambient space-rock pioneers Kluster were originally a trio featuring Conrad Schnitzler, Hans-Joachim Roedelius, and Dieter Moebius. During their brief lifespan (before Schnitzler left in 1971 and the duo renamed themselves Cluster) they recorded three LPs, all of which are available here. The first two records, Klopfzeichen and Zwei-Osterei, recorded in 1969 and 1970 respectively, were sponsored and released by a church-run record label (Schwann) and as a result of contra…