★Cacophonic
Le Nouveau Jazz
With track titles translating to Song For The Devil and The Witches, Francois Tusques’ rarest commercially released LP casts an early stylistic premonition of the vampire themed improvised soundtracks recorded for director Jean Rollin merely months after its release. Assembling the very same group of musical sorcerers this albums personnel (featuring, amongst others, soprano saxophonist Barney Wilen) reads like a who’s who of France’s early improvised music/free jazz scene resulting in a wholly …
La Maison Fille Du Soleil
Cross-pollinating the wants lists of art/jazz/print and architecture enthusiasts this seldom sighted 45 single is regarded as the rarest “lost” recording by American jazz trumpeter and global communal music missionary Don Cherry as he collaborates with French piano improv genius François Tusques. A missing link in the pre-formative years of improvised jazz this mythical private pressing unites two of the key exponents of both American and French free jazz – two entirely independent musical art f…
Abnormal Sensations
Lucky restock, few copies available Collectively known under their production pop group moniker The Pawnshop, Italian Giallo/Spaghetti legends Alessandro Alessandroni, Giuliano Sorgini and Giulia De Mutiis (using their Giallo-psych alter egos of Braen, Raskovich and Kema) would reconvene behind the curtain in 1973 to craft this lost full-length LP as a mythical addition to their tiny group discography.Pin-pointing a bona fide crossroads between the composers’ individual library grails The Under…
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…
Karel Goeyvaerts
Finders Keepers' newly minted Cacophonic sub-label triumphs with a remastered rarity by pioneering Belgian composer, Karel Goeyvaerts. 'Pour Que Les Fruits Mürissent Cet Été' is one of the earliest realisations by the former boss of the IPEM society (Belgium's Institute for Psychoacoustic and Electronic Music - make sure to check their recent compilation on Metaphon) and originally appeared in 1977 on the collectable Alpha Brussels imprint. It revolves around three extended pieces ranging …
Electrodes
Bringing together two of Finders Keepers leading artists, longtime critical favourites and out-and-out pioneers of the French conceptual rock scene that we at FK HQ often refer to as the No-No years, Cacophonic are proud to present this rare collaboration between Jean-Claude Vannier and Michel Magne along with pianist Martial Solal for the pioneering Electrode album from 1967. As the creators of the albums that launched both our Finders Keepers and Cacophonic labels respectively it is plain to s…
La Reine Des Vampires 1967
A previously unreleased haul of compositions by French avant-garde musician François Tusques (who released a legendary Futura label LP in 1971, as as the cult "Intercommunal Music" on Shandar). "I remember that around the time I first encountered the world of Jean Rollin I had been hired by Barney Wilen who wanted toperform my compositions, with Beb Guérin on double bass and Eddie Gaumont on drums. My friend Jean-Denis Bonan was in charge of editing Rollin's debut feature film La Reine Des Vamp…
Tape Recorder Music
Originally released in 1955. One of the very earliest and most important examples of electronic tape music to be pressed on vinyl (alongside the Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française musique concrète compilations in France and Jim Fassett's comedic 1953 Strange to Your Ears novelty record), this privately pressed 1955 10" was released on a one-off label owned by businessman Gene Bruck to document a custom-made performance at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1952. This facsimile edition of t…
Music From Mathematics
Originally released in 1960 and 1962 on two unique formats with over-lapping tracklists, the seminal Music From Mathematics Showcase Project marked the phonographic introduction of computer generated music for the first time in the public arena. Almost exclusively created at Bell Laboratories using an electronic to sound transducer and a state of the art IBM 7090 (complete with a gargantuan 32KB of disposable memory!) Music From Mathematics featured multiple random-not-random sound assaults prec…
Instruments non-electronique
A collection of the earliest recordings of the French sound sculpture musicians and Cristalists known as Structures Sonores Lasry-Baschet. Featuring the first fruits of one of the greatest unisons in experimental French music combining the beguiling haunting sounds of Jacques and Yvonne Lasry and the development of the musical inventions of Bernard and Francois Baschet. Exploring a similar route to that of early Michel Magne recordings (and often likened to “a French Harry Partch”) the emotive m…
Knife in the water
Delectable quartet of Polish jazz pieces for the heppest cats, re-launched by Finders Keepers' Cacophonic sub-label. "A record of contended mythical existence amongst fans of Euro cinema and rare jazz for decades, this Polish only EP contains all four themes to Polanski's first-ever feature film Knife In The Water composed by unanimously beloved Polish pianist Krzysztof Komeda. Featuring Roman Dylag (Bruno Spoerri’s Teddy Bär) and a radical inclusion of a Swedish trumpeter, the sought after Bern…
Music From Mathematics Vol. 1
Reissue of earliest computer music "Originally released in 1960 and 1962 on two unique formats with over-lapping tracklists, the seminal Music From Mathematics Showcase Project marked the phonographic introduction of computer generated music for the first time in the public arena. Almost exclusively created at Bell Laboratories using an electronic to sound transducer and a state of the art IBM 7090 (complete with a gargantuan 32KB of disposable memory!) Music From Mathematics featured multiple r…
Electronics
Outstanding 1961 exposition of creepy, frothy, rhythmic early electronics. A big tip to fans of Daphne Oram, Oskar Sala. "11 early electroacoustic pieces for the Studiotrautonium keyboard alongside tape manipulation to accompany the New York City Ballet production Electronics by George Balanchine. Originally staged March 22, 1961, as part of a double bill choreographed by George Balanchine, the experimental New York City Ballet production Electronics included the renowned dancers Violette Verdy …
Evolutions
Pioneering electroacoustic and tape music by Henk Badings assisted by Dick Raaijmakers (Kid Baltan) from the Hanover Opera Ballet production of Evolutions choreographed by Yvonne Georgi. Premiering in Hannover in 1958 then in Rome and Vienna in the following year the ballet Evolutions (Evolutionen) by Yvonne Georgi was the second of three groundbreaking collaborations with Henk Badings (bookended by Cain and Able aka Elektronisches Ballet in 1957 and Die Frau Von Andros in 1960) in which electro…
Choreosonic music of the new dance theatre of Alwin Nikolais
"Choreosonics" was what Alwin Nikolais called his musical accompaniments to his choreography -- a unique theater exposition that modern dance scholar Isa Partsch-Bergsohn
describes as "a whole new theater of motion, light and sound." In 1953,
Nikolais began drawing audiences to his dance concerts at the Henry
Street Playhouse in New York City, in which dancers became sources for
sculptural shapes; by moving through changing atmospheres of light and
sound, their relationships to the stage el…
Danse Sacrale
A cherry-picked compendium of EDM prototypes circa 1956-1971 by Pierre Henry, Jean-Claude Vannier, Igor Wakhevitch, Henk Badings and more "The roots of Electronic Dance Music" (EDM) by definition. An unlikely combination of early recordings by international electronic and avant-garde composers as well as infrequent collaborators retrospectively unified by their commitment to the musical enhancement of 20th Century ballet and the evolution of modern dance. Presenting key exponents of the musique …