★Ideologic Organ
Nona, Decima et Morta
Stephen O’Malley’s Ideologic Organ yield intently focussed, gothic works drifting from plainsong to heavily impending drones, and blending the two into spellbinding durational works comparable with a meeting of Yoshi Wada and Anna Von Hausswolff. “My first encounter with Karen Jebane (aka Golem Mecanique) was in the context of Echoés above the village of Le Saix in Haut-Alpes, in 2016. This tremendous location runs along a deep river canyon with a long cliff on one side and a small mountainside …
Palm
"Kukangendai is a kickass rock trio from Kyoto (Tokyo transplants). When I first hear this band live I was instantly transfixed by their minimalist yet illusory primitive, polyrhythmic, and structural, memory evoking rock narratives. Their energy is completely and transparently palpable yet handled with restraint of the pleasure of a disciplined form dealing with time and articulation. They are a power trio of bass, drums, and guitar but the music they play is as much the limbic system of a fore…
Unfold
2018 small repress. Ideologic Organ present Unfold, brand-new recordings from The Necks, the legendary Australian trio who excel in bypassing musical cliche whilst exploring and extending the practices embedded within improvisation, jazz, post rock, ambient, minimal, and textural, "sound based" music. The latest document from this long-running ensemble presents itself as a double LP, with four side-length tracks. A deliberate absence of numbered sides hands a substantial swatch of participation …
Ragas Abhogi & Vardhani, 9 March 1986
CD version. Unreleased archival recordings as performed by dhrupad master Zia Mohiuddin Dagar. Around ten years ago, deep into a cozy and hazy night following a concert with my sound brothers Daniel O'Sullivan and Kristoffer Rygg in London (as Æthenor), they graciously introduced me to a recording of rudra veena (a kind of noble deeper bass relative to the sitar, in a way) as performed by dhrupad master Zia Mohiuddin Dagar. Dhrupad, for those who do not know, is a branch of Hindustani classical …
Raga Yaman,15 March 1986
CD version. Unreleased archival recordings as performed by dhrupad master Zia Mohiuddin Dagar. Around ten years ago, deep into a cozy and hazy night following a concert with my sound brothers Daniel O'Sullivan and Kristoffer Rygg in London (as Æthenor), they graciously introduced me to a recording of rudra veena (a kind of noble deeper bass relative to the sitar, in a way) as performed by dhrupad master Zia Mohiuddin Dagar. Dhrupad, for those who do not know, is a branch of Hindustani classical …
Crying Bamboos: Ceremonial Flute Music from New Guinea
Double LP version. Crying Bamboos is a translation of the pidgin description of the sound of sacred flutes: "Mambu i cry, i cry, i cry". Sacred flutes are blown to make the cries of spirits by adult men in the Madang region of Papua New Guinea. Pairs of long bamboo male and female flutes are played for ceremonies in the coastal villages near the Ramu River. There are seven male initiation flute cries from Bosmun, four flute cries from Bak: Borai with occasional single garamut percussion and two …
Vieux Silence
LP version. Stephen O'Malley on Elodie, the project of Andrew Chalk and Timo van Luijk, and their album Vieux Silence: "Having been entranced by both Andrew Chalk's work with Mirror (and back to his solo works as Ferial Confine, plus multiple collaborations with David Jackman, The New Blockaders, Daisuke Suzuki, etc.), and Timo van Luijk (as Af Ursin, In Camera, La Poupée Vivante, and collaborations with Kris Vanderstraeten and others) for many years, I was naturally intrigued to hear about and …
The Fools Sermon, Part 1
Part 1 of The Fools Sermon as composed by and recorded by Daniel Higgs. Features Eli Winograd on bass and bass keyboard and Fumie Ishii on drums & voice and Higgs on banjo and voice. "Daniel Higgs once told me that the Earth is actually in its 34th life cycle. That everything has been conceived, created, grown, withered and ultimately been destroyed a grand total of thirty three times to date. As for quite how long this ourobouros-esque pattern will continue, he never enunciated. For enunci…
Sacred Flute Music from New Guinea: Madang/Windim Mambu
Recorded by Ragnar Johnson, assisted by Jessica Mayer, in Papua New Guinea, April-August 1976. Tape-to-digital transfer by Dave Hunt at Dave Hunt Audio in London, July 2015. Mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering in Berlin, August 2015. Notes and photographs by Ragnar Johnson and Jessica Mayer. First combined release. Originally released as two distinct LPs on Quartz Publications (!QUARTZ 001 (1977) and !QUARTZ 002 (1979)) by David Toop with the assistance of Sue Steward, …
I Abused Animal
I Abused Animal is Heather Leigh's first solo album for Ideologic Organ, following solo albums on Kendra Steiner Editions, Golden Lab Records, Not Not Fun, Fag Tapes, Wish Image, Volcanic Tongue's label, and more. Renowned as a fearless free improviser, Leigh showcases her songwriting prowess on I Abused Animal, foregrounding her stunning voice and her innovations for the pedal steel guitar. Warmly recorded in a secret location in the English countryside, the album transports the power of her ca…
Ghil
2015 repress (yuppie!). A native of Korea, cellist/composer Okkyung Lee has been developing her unique voice in both improvised and composed music by blending her wide interests and influences. Since moving to New York in 2000, she has worked with numerous artists ranging from Laurie Anderson, David Behrman, Douglas Gordon, Vijay Iyer, Christian Marclay, Jim O'Rourke, Evan Parker, and John Zorn, just to name a few, while leading her own projects and releasing more than 20 albums and touring…
The Most Painful Time Happens Only Once Has It Arrived Already?
Nazoranai comprises three gentleman, three friends and three fans of each other's creative output. The Most Painful Time Happens Only Once Has It Arrived Already..? is the second release from Nazoranai, a power proposition made up of three sound/song heavyweights: Keiji Haino, Oren Ambarchi and Stephen O'Malley (no introductions necessary, intimidation checked in at the door). Recorded by Chris Fullard at CCSO, Birmingham, July 9th 2013, The Most Painful Time... expands the trio's devastating ex…
Pierres Sacrees / Hazard and Tectonics
Two monumental pieces for prepared and amplified pianos, computer-assisted sound, plates and metallic objects creating shock and awe through their polyphonies of polluted noise. Dumitrescu explorations into the fabric of sound make a worryingly broad spectrum of modern composition feel humdrum and slight, his stubborn intransigence and principled intention nailing precisely."Born in Romania in 1944, Iancu Dumitrescu is one of the leading personalities in contemporary music, whose significance e…
Images of the Dream and Death
Last copies, sold out at source: this recording is the fourth version of Images of the Dream and Death by ÃÂÂÂÂÂkos Rozmann; revised at EMS/Elektronmusikstudion, Stockholm in 2001 for a performance in Essen. The first version was realized with Buchla synthesizer at the State Academy of Music, EMS/Elektronmusikstudion, Stockholm 1974-1977 (released on Phono Suecia as PS 27, 1986); the third version in April 1990 (released on Phono Suecia as PSCD 27, 1991). Images of the Dream and Death. "…
Freermasonry
Lyrically Freermasonry consists of a series of poems and discourses. Early on in Freermasonry during 'SOL,' the Mother allusion is referenced out of Faust Part Two. It's a small portion and short moment. Faust does an invocation to the Mothers, but the execution is as trickery through occult charlatanism and not truly believed ritual. Goethe found passages about dark goddess figures known as Mothers in the writings of Plutarch. The metaphor is ambiguous, generally associated with creative dar…
Ambient/Ruin
Gravetemple was formed in 2006 as a side-project of the band Sunn O))) by Oren Ambarchi, Stephen O'Malley and Attila Csihar. The group formed initially to tour in Israel in the summer of '06, creating several recordings which eventually became The Holy Down album, which was released on Southern Lord Recordings in 2007. At the time of the Israel tour, the Lebanon War started and was in action. In summer '08, the trio reformed together with the addition of Australian drummer Matt "Skitz" Sander…
The Face of the Earth
The second beautiful album by the duo of Jessika Kenney -- a vocalist known for her haunting timbral sense, as well as her profound interpretation of Persian vocal traditions -- and Eyvind Kang -- a violist for whom the act of music and learning is a spiritual discipline. All tracks were composed by Kenney (voice, percussion, electronics) and Kang (viola, setar, electronics). "The Central Javanese Wangsalan is a kind of riddle (two lines, twelve syllables each, divided 4 and 8 ), sung by the…
Indoor_outdoor
The absolute deep electric-rain-forest sound atmosphere that the listener will hear on this record is the tip of the iceberg of a same rich and elaborate work process. For over 30 years, Norbert Möslang is making the world sound. He does not use things as instruments, but rather captures their vibrations. He immerses himself in the hidden world of vibrations and convert them into loud sounds and thick textures.Living simultaneously in spheres of inside/outside, micro-vibrations, spacial structur…
Nazoranai
Keiji Haino (guitar, vocals & synth), Stephen O'Malley (bass guitar) & Oren Ambarchi (battery). Recorded by Chris Fullard at Gaîté Lyrique, Paris 8th November 2011. Edited by Oren Ambarchi in Sydney January 2012. Mixed by Joe Talia & Oren Ambarchi at Chinatown, Melbourne 8th February 2012. Mastered by Joe Talia at Chinatown, Melbourne 17th April 2012. Vinyl cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin April 2012. Artwork: Lars Teichmann 'Bathing Girls' & 'Nymphos' (detail, 2010, …
Mig
Mats Lindstrom works as a composer and a musician, often with strains of live-electronics. He often works with intermedia, scenic elements and visual arts as a complement to the music, and has worked both with music for concerts, theatre and dance as well as radio-art and sound installations. Formerly an engineer in the electronics industry Lindstrom has designed and constructed a number of unique electronic musical instruments and apparatuses. "Mig" produced by Pro Arte Foundation for JSC Klimo…