Reissues
Falls Of Time
Ahead of their time, the enigmatic Italian band A.t.r.o.x. were one of the first bands to move beyond the new wave styles and introduce strong electronic elements, an abstract-minimal heart attack in the best possible way. Lovely double CD set with their entire production.
Through Glass Panes
Ellen Fullman's first proper full length for Important Records follows her collaborative work with Barn Owl (imprec327) and a split LP with Eleh (imprec318). She was also featured on The Harmonic Series: A Collection Of Work In Just Intonation (imprec272).
In 1981 Ellen Fullman began developing the Long String Instrument, an installation of dozens of wires fifty feet or more in length, tuned in Just Intonation and ‘bowed’ with rosin coated fingers. Fullman has developed a unique notation system…
How To Get Started
"John Cage conceived How To Get Started almost as an afterthought -- a performance substituting for another that was previously planned in 1989 for delivery at 'Sound Design: An Invitational Conference on the Uses of Sound for Radio Drama, Film, Video, Theater and Music' presented by Bay Area Radio Drama at Sprocket Systems, Skywalker Ranch, in Nicasio, California. In his introduction, Cage talks about the difficulty of initiating the creative process, while exploring the usefulness of im…
Color Him Coma
The first CD in this set is a reissue of an obscure cassette release from 1983 that was originally released in a small edition on the London based, It’s War Boys label. This C60 consisted of 2 distinct halves. Side 1 was formed around several mixes of an experimental track, constructed from a room-sized 24 track loop. A version of this track first appeared on the LP Flagellation by The Just Measurers (who were C. D. Greyt, Yakkö Banovic and Narki Brillans).Side 2 is a collage of mostly unused (a…
Great White Wonder
Originally released in 2006 on the Univive label, Phoenix Records presents this highly-collectible, numbered limited edition 5LP box set of three live gigs spanning 1974-1977 and live material from a 1980 gig of legendary Japanese rock outfit Les Rallizes Dénudés. The group was formed in 1967 and incredibly, for a group that had only one official release (Oz Days Live, a double vinyl compilation release in 1973), played their last gig almost 30 years later in October 1996. As news of new ro…
Cable Hogue
Another crucial release from the highly influential and reclusive Japanese psychedelic noise band Les Rallizes Dénudés. Originally formed in 1967, the band was known for its ties to avant-garde theater groups (as typified by Shuji Terayama's troupe) and leftist political groups, and their feedback-drenched live shows and use of strobe lights and mirror balls onstage earned them comparisons with The Velvet Underground. In 1970, bass player Moriaki Wakabayashi was involved in the hijacking of J…
Catch-Wave
Takehisa Kosugi is an inter-media artist and performer who started his career back in the '60s in Tokyo. With his first band Group Ongaku (free anarchist-conceptual improvisations) he was introduced to the Fluxus avant-garde movement. During the '70s, he was a member of the mystical, psychedelic, droning rock band Taj Mahal Travellers. He co-founded the band in 1969. Since the end of the '70s until now, he has released several solo albums and commissioned works for events and sound installa…
The Shivering Man
The Shivering Man, originally released in 1986 on Mute, was Bruce Gilbert's second solo album. Following on from his 1984 masterpiece This Way (EMEGO 102CD), it further explores Gilbert's investigations into the grey border where abstract noise and rhythm co-exist with obscure melodies and song structures. The sound is further expanded with guest vocal appearances by Angela Conway and fellow Wire traveller Graham Lewis. This is also the first time the complete album is available domestically on …
Not Available
CD EDITION: While there are a million stories about The Residents, one of the more intriguing concerns the recording of their second LP, Not Available. Early in the career of the band, the "theory of obscurity" was introduced to them by the German avant-guardist, N. Senada. The plan called for the creation of complete projects that were literally not intended to be heard by anyone other than its creators. The Residents realized the truth in this ideal: that music really was difficult to record w…
La vie en prose
Outstanding!!! La vie en prose is Michel Chion's first musical work composed in the 2000s. Thanks to musique concrète ways and means, it fulfils the composer's childhood dream of composing a Symphony of Energy in four movements of sharp contrasts. There’s no narrative in this one hour and a half long Symphony, but a cast of characters, some vocal, instrumental themes and sounds that circulate, disappear, pop up, stretch, decline and lose themselves in time. This work features analogue and digita…
Old News #5
First instalment in this new o series providing a long overdue and much needed vinyl-only glimpse into Jim O'rourke's electronic/synth music archive* 'Old News No.5' introduces a "nearly regular series of vinyl albums documenting analog synth and tape works (both studio and live) from the depths of Jim O'Rourke's archive, spanning a near quarter of a century in the field." Side A 'Pedal & Pedal' features 15 minutes recorded at Super Deluxe, Tokyo, 2010. It unfurls a series of tender pasto…
Technology-X
Mirror Tapes present a stunning issue of unreleased, archival work from notorious electronic noise pioneer, Maurizio Bianchi. 'Technology-X' was salvaged from tapes dating to 1981 and carefully restored and remastered for cassette by Edward Sol of Quasi Pop records, faithfully representing MB's crushing dynamics and incredibly visceral textures.
OIRT EMO-DNE
Previously unreleased private cassette from February 1981 containing sound sketches to shape the future 'Endometrio'. While the 'EMO-DNE' track bears some basic resemblances with Endometrio's 'Primo Ciclo', the 'OIRT' track sounds significantly different in the labyrinth of MB's creative processes. The flaws and distresses of the original tape give intriguing textures and details to the recordings which stand well on their own beyond being 'Endometrio' in embryonic form, and towards much …
Symphony For A Genocide
Near-exact reproduction of the original Sterile Records release, including hand-stamped labels and inserts just like the 1981 issue. M.B., aka Maurizio Bianchi, has enjoyed a deserved renaissance in recent times as a new generation discovers his charred brand of industrial noise, particularly the artist's formative early 80's period before he disappeared in pursuit of religion. In the ensuing years, many of these early records became prized collector objects, garnering hundreds of dollars…
Superficial Music
Re-release with bonus tracks recorded in 1982. On 1981's Superficial Music masterpiece, French electronic composer Bernard Szajner presents selections from his previous "Visions of Dune" sessions played backwards and at half speed, enhanced through the use of digital and analog devices, as well as "Oswicim," a three-part reflection on the Holocaust that draws on his own family's experience. Szajner's touch is delicate and evocative, making for a powerful, if understated, listening experie…
The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda
Fully restored director's cut DVD of Ira Cohen's legendary 1968 film, The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda ina limited edition of 500 copies only."I must say this is the most chemically abused piece of cinema I’ve ever seen – I actually feel under the influence now, I don’t know if I’m safe to walk home. It’s so narcotic that I’m surprised it’s legal to buy over the counter… all this and it was made in 1968 – one year before Woodstock? Well I’m surprised, I was sure people were still locking u…
Up To Earth
Vinyl edition of this joyous improvised music drawing on South African roots and European free jazz from Chris McGregor and a group including Evan Parker, Louis Moholo, Barre Philllips, &c. This album only had a few test pressings at the time of recording and this is therefore the first vinyl release of this classic work. In 1969 the Chris McGregor Group were riding high on the London jazz scene, playing and hanging out with all the rising stars of British free jazz. Sessions for the pre…
The Disintegration Loops
First widely available release on Basinksi's own label (other releases on Raster, Idea, Durtro, Headz, etc), from early 2003. This series of 4 Disintegration Loops has become one of the true phenoms of post-9/11 experimental music -- totally legendary stuff at this point. "William Basinski is a musician, composer, auteur who has worked in experimental media for over twenty years in NYC, expanding the boundaries of the aural landscape. In 1978, inspired by minimalists such as Steve Reich…
Watermusic II
Volume II. Originally issued as a limited CDR in 2003, now reissued as a fully pressed CD. "A certain flavour of composition puts emphasis more on what could be considered 'hang-time' than 'narrative'. Some pieces don't necessarily have to 'go' anywhere in particular, their existence is simple enough in that it presents a mood, a moment, a place and encapsulates it. Think of still-images for the ears as opposed to moving-pictures for the eyes. As an audio exploration into this hovering su…
Love Life & Games
RESTOCKED: I wrote these tunes in 1968 when Micheal Cosmic and i were students at the AACM School of Music. i revised Love life & games in 2008. i had a band going on then with Micheal Cosmic. we played students concerts with Roscoe Mitchell. he also taught us our reeds. i had music theory with Anthony Braxton and Richard Muhal Abrams..." Phill Musra