Best of 2024
Mechanization I & II
On this new LP Harry Bertoia shows why he may have been the first industrial musician. Bertoia often referred to his sound sculptures as a "collaboration with industry" and on this new LP Bertoia is intentionally creating heavy, rhythmic music he described as "mechanized," "mechanical" and "factory like." This first edition is packaged in a full color sleeve with metallic inks. Mastered by Tom Eaton at Sounds & Substance.
Recorded in 1971, percussion and repetition emulate the pounding rhythms …
Reels 1977-1986
The endlessly engaging Italian imprints, Soave and Orbeatize, deliver what is unquestionably one of the most important and ambitious archival releases of 2024: “Reels 1977-1986”, an astounding 14 CD box set dedicated to the neglected, visionary Swiss electroacousitic composer Ernst Thoma. Presenting a radically singular approach to experimental electronic music - highly rhythmical, ranging from poetically elegant and minimal to frenetic and mind-bending - across its astoundingly expansive durati…
Automatic Popular Music
Inside Automatic Popular Music there are two people sitting in a room, their backs to each other. One plays a piano with no particular attention to detail and tuning of the instrument, and another, sitting behind him, claps his hands on his own legs. They do not see each other, they never look at each other, they can only listen to each other, look around. The room is large enough, it is daytime, there are four windows through which enough light enters to illuminate the objects and furniture wit…
Vase de Noces
The venerable Sub Rosa returns with one of their most curious and revelatory releases to date: the first ever release of Alain Pierre’s visionary soundtrack for Thierry Zeno’s 1974, controversial and widely banned avant-garde film “Vase de Noces” (Wedding Trough). A radical and entirely singular, not to mention virtually unheard, effort of electroacoustic music, rooted heavily in field recording and extreme tape manipulation (and who knows what else) - feeling sophisticated and refined while ret…
Heirloom
Heirloom is the first Lisa Ullén solo recording to appear on LP and exploits the two-sided nature of the physical format with two variations of the same three-part suite, exploring what it means to be ‘in between’ — be it genre, method or identity. The combination of Ullén’s deft control, patience and unconventional technique makes ‘Heirloom’ a sublime, ravishing listen. The LP is pressed on clear vinyl in an edition of 300 copies and housed with a photo of the small box of the possessions she b…
Musica Elettronica allo Studio di Fonologia della RAI di Milano, 1969/1971 (Box)
** Edition of 100, deluxe Box containing a vinyl LP, a CD and a 160-page book. ** Die Schachtel returns to their long-standing dedication to the historical, Italian avant-garde with “Musica Elettronica allo Studio di Fonologia della RAI di Milano, 1969/1971”, the first ever release dedicated to the visionary electronic and electroacoustic composer Angelo Paccagnini, issued in a towering deluxe box set, editioned in 100 copies, containing a vinyl LP, a CD, and a 160-page book. Including some of t…
Musica Elettronica allo Studio di Fonologia della RAI di Milano, 1969/1971 LP
** Edition of 200. Deluxe cover with handmade silver foil printed on 450g paper, also includes a 30x30cm double-sided insert with detailed notes, pictures and more. ** Die Schachtel returns to their long-standing dedication to the historical, Italian avant-garde with “Musica Elettronica allo Studio di Fonologia della RAI di Milano, 1969/1971”, the first ever release dedicated to the visionary electronic and electroacoustic composer Angelo Paccagnini. Containing some of the most potent and emotiv…
New Music for Electronic and Recorded Media
Marking its first decade of activity, Blume returns with the first ever vinyl reissue of the seminal “New Music for Electronic and Recorded Media”, from 1977, the third and final instalment in a suite of releases that includes James Tenney’s “Postal Pieces” and Ben Vida’s “Vocal Trio”. Unquestionably among the most important collections of experimental music to emerge during the 20th Century, “New Music for Electronic and Recorded Media” is the original feminist presentation in its context, rele…
Vocal Trio
Marking its first decade of activity, Blume returns with the first ever vinyl release to attend to the seminal American composer James Tenney’s “Postal Pieces”, among the most important suites of 20th Century avant-garde composition.
Postal Pieces
Marking its first decade of activity, Blume returns with the first ever vinyl release to attend to the seminal American composer James Tenney’s “Postal Pieces”, among the most important suites of 20th Century avant-garde composition.
Garden of Ediacara
««Music is a form of world building. I love to develop sonic characters and set them into fictional ecosystems with unique textures, acoustics and atmospheres. Each song forms a different landscape, through which a vocal character guides us and tries to tell us its stories.» Ludwig Berger’s ‘fictional’ debut album «Garden Ediacara» unfolds as a musical eco-fiction, guiding listeners through a speculative ecosystem with synthesized vocals. Infused with storytelling techniques from sci-fi and fant…
Quasai
Huge Tip! *Limited edition of 150 copies. Silkscreen cover with insert* Quasai, might be an underwater bird, nearly a chamaleon, or a medusa. It iterates and evolves in a cubistic entanglement, casting songs of displacement, provoking hypnagogic magnetism and sonic pareidolia. Like a storm scene, which is made up by set of means used to give the illusion of rain, wind, thunder, and a raging sea.A nautical journey, precisely, where hypnotic rhythms float among waves of tapes, savory synthesizers …
The Artistic Image Is Always a Miracle
Furthering the passionate exploration of cinema that has guided her two previous LPs - 2017’s ‘Fassbinder Wunderkammer’ and 2020’s ‘I Should Have Been a Gardener’ - the Milanese guitarist/composer, Alessandra Novaga, returns to Die Schachtel with ‘The Artistic Image Is Always a Miracle’, two sides off shimmering, tense compositions – culminating as one of her most creatively ambitious and conceptually rich outings to date – freely inspired by the life and work of the Russian director Andrej Tark…
Frogs, a Selection of Field Recordings
200 copies, Green Vinyl. About 10 years ago I tried to contact Dutch artist and scientist Felix Hess, when he was still alive, but never got a reply. Years later, in 2022, I was talking to Frans de Waard, who told me he was administering the sound archive of the late Hess together with Mark Poysden. Together we started working on an album to celebrate his life and many accomplishments. It includes selections from all the highly collectible Frogs releases from the 80's and 90's, while the artwork…
Oersted
*Limited Edition of 299 copies. Black vinyl * Masami Akita's exploration of noise as a musical form has influenced generations of artists and reshaped the way we perceive sound in the context of contemporary music. Oersted stands as a testament to Merzbow's ongoing artistic evolution and his unwavering commitment to pushing sonic boundaries. This limited vinyl reissue, expertly remastered by the wizard of mastering, James Plotkin, with 299 copies available on black vinyl, is a must-have for coll…
Rare Soundtracks & Lost Tapes (1973-1984)
Bomb! French composer Alain Goraguer who first made a name for himself as a sideman and arranger for Serge Gainsbourg wrote very few soundtracks, but amongst them, the legendary La Planète Sauvage (1973) is an absolute staple of France’s essential music. During that same period of time, Goraguer wrote two rare and beautiful scores using the same masterclass arrangements. On L’Affaire Dominici (1975), Alain Goraguer creates a theme of great melodic clarity from a palette of breathy flutes, clavin…
Dome Bundle
The 3 Dome LPs in a special discounted bundle With the demise of the group Wire in 1980, founder members Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis joined forces to create Dome. With the assistance of engineer Eric Radcliffe and his Blackwing Studio Dome took the ethic of "using the studio as a compositional tool" and recorded and released three Dome albums on their own label in the space of 12 months: Dome (July 1980), Dome 2 (October 1980), and Dome 3 (October 1981). These albums represent some of the mo…