★Sub Rosa
Five Spanish Pioneers of Electronic and Experimental Music: 1953-1969
This LP reveals the extraordinary diversity of research - almost all hidden - by Spanish musicians in the '50s and '60s. Those pieces were composed while the country was under the tyranny of Francisco Franco. It is truly the ultimate grail, developed by musicologist Miguel Álvarez-Fernández, he is its curator, editor and commentator. This undoubtedly marks a major step in the approach and understanding of this music which had to fight to exist before the death of Franco in 1975.
Miguel Álvarez-F…
American Lament
With Folksong Distortions, Pauwels and Van der Aacreate a journey of lament through the soul of times gone by. Their radical renditions of works by Larry Polansky and Christopher Trapani do not distort the more upbeat rhythm and tradition of folk songs, but rather reveal and highlight the essence of hard lives, imposed choices - choices that were illusions in the first place - and the difficult times and conditions they have always depicted.
Christopher Trapani arranged two classics from the U.S…
It's Not Quite That Inventive (Sixty Years with Broken Music)
The album, featuring Milan Knížák, Petr Ferenc and Opening Performance Orchestra, includes Knížák's 1973 private recording Broken Music, released as a multiple of forty copies by Armin Hundertmark in 1983 on Edition Hundertmark, and a live version of Broken Rebroken, performed in January 2020 at the Museum of Czech Music in Prague by Milan Knížák, Petr Ferenc (aka Phaerentz) and Opening Performance Orchestra. The album comes with a comprehensive booklet that includes an interview with Milan Kníž…
Funeral Gongs Ceremonies in Ratanakiri, Cambodia
Tip! Those recordings of Gongs Orchestras were made during Funeral Ceremonies in two Kung villages and one Jaraï village in Ratanakiri province, Cambodia by Laurent Jeanneau (Kink Gong) in 2003 and 2004, at a times when jungle had not been replaced by rubber plantations. Focusing on funeral's ceremonies, those hypnotics pieces are intense and haunting harmonics sonic experiments.
"Adventure brought me to south-east Asia, not academic research. I was based on and off in Banlung, capital of Ratana…
Spectra Ex Machina / A Sound Anthology of Occult Phenomena 1920-2017 Vol.2
The Anthology Spectra Ex Machina brings together rare documents pertaining to so-called occult phenomena, most of them taken from little-known archives. In the course of three volumes, this series traces an audio history of parapsychology through the exploration of spiritualism and haunted houses (vol. 1); musician mediums (vol. 2); experiences of extrasensory perceptions (clairvoyance, psychokinesis, etc.) and electronic voice phenomena (vol. 3). The link between music, sound and the paranormal…
Spectra Ex Machina: A Sound Anthology of Occult Phenomena
"Have a gramophone in every grave..." --James Joyce, Ulysses (1922) The anthology Spectra Ex Machina brings together rare documents pertaining to so-called occult phenomena, most of them taken from little-known archives. In the course of three volumes, this series traces an audio history of parapsychology through the exploration of spiritualism and haunted houses (Vol. 1); musician mediums (vol. 2); experiences of extrasensory perceptions (clairvoyance, psychokinesis, etc.) and electronic voice …
Lueur
Univers Zero's new album (since 10 years) follows the lineage of 'Phosphorescent Dreams', originally released only on CD in Japan in 2014, and reissued as an LP on the Sub Rosa label in 2019. Lueur is the fruit of two years' work and reflection, the foundations of which were laid by Daniel Denis (keyboards, drums, percussion...), then enriched by the contributions of Nicolas Dechêne (guitars), Kurt Budé (clarinet / bass clarinet) and Nicolas Denis (bass, percussion, vocals), all three present on…
Miragique
This second project released on Sub Rosa by the Japanese artist Kaoru Tashiro, manages to create a subtle dialogue between four composers, and four musical pieces, mixing a delicate blend of Japanese and European sensibilities. Those different approaches convergence thanks to the highly recognizable sensibility of Kaoru Tashiro's way to play. After "drifting" through unpublished pieces from Toshi Ichiyanagi (Fluxus) and Claude Ledoux on the album Cloud Atlas, Kaoru Tashiro is now highlighting th…
Musik Für Animierten Tonspurfilm
‘Musik für animierte Tonspurfilm’, the twelfth album by Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung (or DAAU, as they are commonly known), is the soundtrack to a series of short, abstract animation films by Rudy Trouvé, who also acted as a creative director during the recording process. The music originates from acoustic improvisation sessions by accordionist Roel Van Camp, clarinetist Han Stubbe, double bass player Hannes d'Hoine and percussionist Jeroen Stevens. These took place according to concep…
Moonshine
One of the most gifted, prolific and adventurous figures on Egypt's thriving experimental arts scene, Louca has in recent years garnered a global reputation through three previous solo albums and an expanding, evolving lineup of genre-defying collaborations. The Wire called his 2014 sophomore solo effort, Salute the Parrot, "remarkable music-dense, driven and splashed with colour. For Louca, Elephantine serves as both the pinnacle of his wide-ranging experience and a bold next step in his develo…
Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung!
In 1995 the self-titled full-length debut of Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung (DAAU) was released. The band consisted of four young, 'classically derailed' musicians who played their own compositions exclusively their with acoustic instruments such as violin, cello, clarinet and accordion. Their work contained influences from Roma music, Eastern European folk, klezmer and jazz, but was performed with the energy, rebellious spirit and Sturm und Drang of a bona fide punk band. DAAU was part of…
Something About This Landscape For Ensemble
From his early days with Henry Cow, Fred Frith was seen as a brilliant instrumentalist and improviser, but what has been overlooked is what a first-rate composer he is. This recording offers both aspects. His most complex orchestral composition and two selected improvisations with the Ensemble Musiques Nouvelles. Fred Frith, as an infusion of energy and inspiration. 'Something about this Landscape was commissioned by Ars Musica in 2018. I composed the piece during a residency at Lou Harrison's s…
Late Night Show
All my music is night music, says the composer Petr Bakla. Three pieces featured on the new album Late Night Show span almost a decade and provide varied examples of his style, 'so specific and personal, so allergic to fashion or aesthetic trend', as Eric Wubbels puts it in the insightful liner note. The central instrument is the piano, operated by Bakla´s longtime collaborator Miroslav Beinhauer, accompanied by the musicians of Brno Contemporary Orchestra.
High Tide In The Lowlands
Born in 2012 when the three were living in the same apartment building in Cairo's Agouza district, the trio's instrumental improvisation-based explorations are propelled by Louca's North African percussion loops and shimmering keys, Shalabi's West African tinged free jazz guitar and grounded by Bishop's driving Krautrock-style acoustic bass.
High Tide in the Lowlands was recorded in Brussels at Les Ateliers Claus on September 5, 2017 and is quite an intense experience. Most performances and reco…
Stolen Symphony (Volume 1)
*Comes with a 72 page booklet including texts and pictures* All in all, there are more than 50 pieces, new and old, live and studio, finished pieces and scores to be performed, acoustic and classical, solos and pieces for ensemble, using classical and special instruments. Archivio Conz in Berlin provided access to their extensive Fluxus archives and Edizioni Conz provided coproduction. Ursula and René Block made possible the realisation of John Cage's historical composition Rozart Mix from the E…
Brian Eno Performed by Dedalus Ensemble
With Discreet Music (1975), Music for Airports (1978), and Thursday Afternoon (1985), Brian Eno invented a new music genre, ambient music, which he defined as "able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting." These versions performed and arranged by Dedalus Ensemble, according to the musicians and the critics who listened to it, goes beyond what you expect from it. A mental base that takes you far away. One…
Epic Ellipses
Puce Moment is part of the French contemporary music scene. Their music is climatic, often inhabited by a strong emotional power. A procession of harmonic structures organized in a ritual way, sometimes close to trance. It can be written or improvised, vocal or instrumental. The electronic and electroacoustic arrangements summon new spaces and abstract landscapes, which can go from the purest sound to the most raw distortions. Vast, slower, deeper - distant echoes of half-faded things - and when…
Pas De Regrets
Laszlo Umbreit's album Pas de Regrets combines electronic sounds with recorded memories and various materials to create a unique listening experience. The album features complex soundscapes and techniques of layering and editing, drawing on Umbreit's experience as a sound designer for films. Pas de Regrets is an immersive and rich listening experience, with a narrative quality that places it between prospective electronics and experimental radio.
Laszlo Umbreit (°1986) is a Belgian sound designe…
Bear Traces: Nuggets From Bobs Barn. Second Paw
*2023 stock* Sub Rosa presents part two in a two-part vinyl version of the Bear Traces compilation culled from the legendary collection of Bob Hite, founding member and singer of Canned Heat. Compiled by DJ Dr. Boogie. "Although it stems from the same artistic process as Volume One in the Dr. Boogie Presents series, this is not Volume Two of a series devoted to Bob Hite. The process was different in that here I focused on much more obscure tracks taken from the very small portion of what remains…
Choreological Exchanges
Recorded at the height of the global pandemic, and at a time when remote communication was becoming increasingly prevalent, "Choreological Exchanges" is part of Hastings Of Malawi's continuing investigations into the medium of communication itself. Prior to telephony becoming digital, all phone calls were routed through mechanical telephone exchanges, and the majority of the sounds on side one are the sounds of these exchanges and some of the voices of the engineers who worked with them.
Hasting…