★Western Vinyl
Raining
I met Rolf Julius only once in September of 2009. Knowing I had studied his works for over a decade, he graciously invited me to meet him for his solo exhibition and performance in Montreal that year. By strange coincidence, not only did we end up staying in the same hotel in this city foreign to both of us, but our rooms were directly next to each other! He greeted me with such humility Ð and like roommates, for 4 days we shared every meal and nearly every conversation. It was there tha…
Music for a distance
Music for a Distance is the second release in the small music series. The title of the work in relation to the cover images (abstract photographs of Julius’ wife resembling landscapes merging into a distant horizon) suggests a work of uncommon poetic perception and inspiration. With the opening track "Music for a Distance," Julius achieves a sensitive balance of unpredictability and deliberate design, at times resembling a symphony of insects, complete with crickets and cicadas and rustling leav…
Music For The Ears
Western Vinyl is proud to release “Music for the Ears” the first in a series of Small Music releases by Rolf Julius. With a goal of creating solitary sound environments, the Small Music series will culminate into a boxed edition of seminal works by this master sound artist. “Music for the Ears” is comprised of two long tracks of gently weaving tones exploring the possibilities of spatial experience. The cover image depicts Julius’ sound installation in a bamboo forest in Kyoto, Japan where his m…
Visions of Doing
Pierre Bastien is well known for his orchestra of musically gifted robots. Driven by electric motors, the machines deliver stuttering rhythmic loops. These unsteady tempos constantly fluctuate, imbuing the songs with an emotional and honest quality not found in much of today's loop-based music. The nine tracks on Visions of Doing have been selected from Pierre Bastien's soundtracks to Karel Doing's films. Pierre Bastien on Visions of Doing: 'The compositions presented here in homage to Karel Doi…
The Ancient Balance to Control Death
Tetuzi Akiyama's contribution to the portrait series, The Ancient Balance to Control Death is a departure in a career of departures. In addition to Akiyama's trademark improvised, blues-infused, guitar work, the ep features intense multi-layered vocals. The end result is a collection of unique Japanese blues that could only have come from one of Japan's most distinct and creative improvisers.
Stacte motors
These pieces continue the Stacte series started in 1998 with ambarchi's first self-released solo recordings. Similar to the 4 previous editions of the series, which explored one idea at length, Stacte Motors is an experiment in exciting instruments with a spinning motor with strings attached. The resulting recordings are metallic walls of minimalist drones, both fearless and dreamy. Produced and recorded at BJB studios in Australia, these one-take acoustic recordings have a very tactile and phys…