Out of stock
2 LP
COMPILATION
“Xkatedral Anthology Series III (An Anthology Of Slowly Evolving Timbral Music)”
XKatedral Anthology Series III is the third installment in a series of archival releases dedicated to presenting music by composers working within the realm of slowly evolving harmonic and timbral music. The pieces presented here focus on the use of synthetic and acoustic sound as well as algorithmic composition as tools for precise work within the realm of spectral exploration. This double-vinyl set is issued in celebration of the label’s decennalia and contains works from 2014 - 2025. It is released in conjunction with reissues of XKatedral Anthology Series I-II.
My Falling Sinks by Kali Malone is a sparse descending melody for justly tuned organ, cello and acoustic guitar featuring Lucy Railton and Stephen O’Malley. The piece is a compositional sketch in septimal just intonation made on an experimental tuning organ at La Temple de La Tour-de-Peilz while in residency at La Becque in 2021.
Empyrean Flare by Maria W Horn was composed in 2022 for The Dawn Chorus by choreographer Stina Nyberg. This piece uses the Tintinnabuli technique created by Arvo Pärt to animate four supersaw oscillators in slow diatonic arpeggiation, circling around a minor tonic triad, and destabilizing the harmonic framework by means of glissandi
and amplifying the sum of its parts by means of analog tape saturation.
Tessellation by David Granström was composed using generative synthesis methods in the summer of 2017. The musical periodicity and harmonic movement heard within the piece emerges as a result of fixed synthesized tape loops - exploring a space that opens up between antithetical worlds.
To Whoever Shall Inherit the Earth is the first piece of solo music made by Jessica Ekomane and it came together, according to the composer, almost by accident. The work was recorded late one night a decade ago and captures a fleeting, fragile, and unrepeatable moment preserved exactly as it happened.
Smoking Mother by Stephen O’Malley was created for Gisèle Vienne's Der Teich / L'Etang by Robert Walser. It was composed during a residency at the SMEM synthesis archive in Fribourg in 2018 and produced at EMS in August 2020. The piece draws from the works of Zia Mohuiddin Dagar, Krzysztof Penderecki and Popol Vuh while
exploring the roots of minimalism.
Att böja själarna by Mats Erlandsson was composed in 2018 and was included in On Eternity, a collection of four texts and four ten minute cassette loops released in the form of a limited edition box set in 2021 by Irrlicht Förlag. This work features performances by Gaianeh Pilossian and Sara Fors, on violin and voice respectively.
This will be my last piece for organ was composed by Theodor Kentros in 2025 and uses groups of clustered oscillators through resonant feedback to synthesize the fluctuating frequencies heard wandering through physical space when detuning an organ.
Fault Lines was composed by Daniel M Karlsson using generative methods with a deterministic and finite output solidified for this release. This piece features vocal performances by Sara Fors, Ansis Bētiņš and Artūrs Čukurs.
1. Kali Malone - My Falling Sinks 03:50
2. Maria W Horn - Empyrean Flare 15:00
3. David Granström - Tessellation 09:41
4. Jessica Ekomane - To Whoever Shall Inherit The Earth 08:04
5. Stephen O'Malley - Smoking Mother 08:16
6. Mats Erlandsson - Att Böja Själarna 10:12
7. Theodor Kentros - This Will Be My Last Piece For Organ 04:30
8. Daniel M Karlsson - Fault Lines 15:12
36,00€
Out of stock
2 LP
COMPILATION
“XKatedral Anthology Series II (An Anthology Of Slowly Evolving Timbral Music)”
XKatedral Anthology II is the second installment in a series of archival releases dedicated to presenting music by composers affiliated with XKatedral working within the realm of slowly evolving harmonic and timbral music. This double-vinyl set contains an array of pieces written from 2018 to 2020 by composers Kali Malone, Jessica Ekomane, Mats Erlandsson, Theodor Kentros, Wilma Hultén and Maria W Horn. This collection of pieces focuses on the use of synthetic sound and algorithmic composition languages as tools for precise work within the realm of spectral exploration. In addition to this, the electronic instrumentation in many of the pieces is augmented by acoustic instruments.
1. Kali Malone - Music for Low Quartet 08:34
2. Jessica Ekomane - First Light 07:44
3. Mats Erlandsson - Hands Melt In The Sun 18:15
4. Theodor Kentros - Rough Draft v.7 06:09
5. Wilma Hultén - Inertia 14:03
6. Maria W Horn - Dies Irae (live) 22:04
36,00€
In stock
2 LP
COMPILATION
“XKatedral Anthology Series I (An Anthology Of Slowly Evolving Timbral Music)”
XKatedral Anthology I is the first in a series of archival releases dedicated to presenting music by XKatedral affiliated composers working within the realm of slowly evolving harmonic and timbral music. This double-vinyl set contains an array of pieces dating from 2010 - 2020.
Four of the works included here were originally released on cassette early on in the label's history, while the two remaining pieces are presented by the label for the first time.
1. Kristoffer Svensson - Ir Himinn, Groœn 04:09
2. Marta Forsberg - Disquiet (Heart) 17:40
3. Isak Edberg - Lamé 17:26
4. Edberg/Erlandsson/Lisinski - Dissolving Ceremony 07:05
5. Caterina Barbieri & Kali Malone - Glory 15:51
6. Daniel M Karlsson - Shipwrecks 20:00
36,00€
In stock
LP
COMPILATION
“Miao Mouthorgans & Other Rare Instruments In Guizhou, Sichuan, China”
"The term 'Miao' is a very ancient Chinese misleading pseudo-ethnic categorization, the Hmong in western languages, a term recognized by colonial French Indochina. Miao became a generic term which does not reveal the diversity of 38 subgroups or 9 million people, mostly in Southern China Guizhou Province. China, since having moved towards the market economy, now includes a large number of minority regions that are marketed a commodity available only to them: their ethnicity itself. Ethnic tourism has developed in a big way in China since the 1990s, for both Chinese and foreign tourists, and it is often promoted as the way to generate income in those areas for development. I usually stay away from Ethnotouristic shows and try to get music that is not a commodity! I was based in Dali, Yunnan, China between 2006 and 2013." --Laurent Jeanneau
Recorded by Laurent Jeanneau and Shi Tanding. Notes By Laurent Jeanneau. "Miao Three Mouthorgans In Guizhou China" features three men each using a different size lushen or gué and four women each blowing in a different mantong. Recorded in Paisha village. "Hua Miao Wedding Dance In Sichuan China" features an instrument called the lushen, the predominant kind of mouth organ being used for entertainment. "Hmoob Dongliang In Guizhou China" was recorded in Biasha village, composed of two reeds instruments and male and female singers, intended as love songs. "Hua Miao Hulushen In Sichuan China" was performed by one man. The main music instrument is the small mouth organ, hulushen, the predominant mouth organ used for entertainment, where the long tubes lushen is mounted on a wooden resonance box. "Hmoob Mouthorgans In Guizhou China" was recorded in Biasha village, and features a Miao (they call themselves Hmoob). This is part of musical demonstration for tourists. Armed with heavy cameras, six men using six lushen of various sizes. "Gelao Gupiaoqin In Guizhou China" was recorded in Songlong village, where people identify themselves not as Miao but as Gelao, using a very rare string instrument called the Gupiaoqin. "Gelao Canon Singing In Guizhou China" features two old ladies performing canon singing in Songlong village. "Shui Miao Travelling Song Guizhou China" features the Shui Miao (water Miao), a sub group of the Miaos of Guizhou, based in the Shidong area outside of Kali in Guizhou.
17,00€
In stock
Book - Livre
COMPILATION
“Pause”
352-pages book (Bilingual: French/English) on the theme : cassettes, graphics, printing, screen printing, labels and music...1000 refs of cassettes jackets and interviews with: Tanzprocesz, Zad Kokar, Ultra Eczema, Zamzamrec, Rrrecords, Agraf'prod, Maître Selecto, Hästen & Korset, Notice Recordings, Zoomin'night, Hanson Records, Falt Records, Chocolate Monk, Tomaturj, Social Harmony, Third Type Tapes, Altered States Tapes, Animal Biscuit, Copy Pasta, Senufo Editions, Lal Lal Lal, Los Emes Del Oso, Scum Yr Earth, Fougère, Silo, Manoï, Papier Crash Test, Herberg Rustiek, Peace Noise. And an intro by JM Bertoyas. Cover art by L'Atelier McClane.
15,00€
Out of stock
LP
COMPILATION
“New Music for Electronic and Recorded Media”
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, releasing the work of Johanna M. Beyer, Annea Lockwood, Pauline Oliveros, Laurie Spiegel, Megan Roberts, Ruth Anderson, and Laurie Anderson under its collective banner. Includes newly commissioned liner notes by Jennifer Lucy Allen and Bradford Bailey.
Since its founding back in 2014, Blume has carved a unique place in cultural landscape, issuing free standing works, spanning the historical and contemporary, that represent singular gestures of creativity within the field of experimental sound. Joining their broad efforts in building networks of context and understanding that already includes the efforts of efforts of Werner Durand, Sarah Hennies, Bruce Nauman, John Butcher, Jocy de Oliveira, Mary Jane Leach, Valentina Magaletti, Alvin Curran, Julius Eastman, Alvin Lucier, and others, Blume delivers their third release in their first suite of releases for 2024, the fist ever vinyl reissue of the seminal "New Music for Electronic and Recorded Media" compilation, originally issued by Thomas Buckner's 1750 Arch Records in 1977. Out of print for decades on vinyl and arguably the most important feminist statement in the history of experimental music, illuminating the work of Johanna M. Beyer, Annea Lockwood, Pauline Oliveros, Laurie Spiegel, Megan Robert, Ruth Anderson, and Laurie Anderson—in a number of cases representing their recording debuts—during a crucial moment in the history of experimental music. Blume's brand new edition—complete with newly commissioned liner notes by Jennifer Lucy Allen and Bradford Bailey, as well as reproducing Charles Amirkhanian's original accompanying text—radically shifts perceptions of the past and present day with its truly revolutionary sounds.
Issued by Thomas Buckner's 1750 Arch Records in 1977, and out of print nearly the entire time since, "New Music for Electronic and Recorded Media" can be understood within two simple frameworks. On one hand, it is an astounding document of the landscape of experimental music toward the end of the 1970s. On the other, it is a historically significant feminist statement, being the first collection of experimental music entirely dedicated to female composers, a number of whom were grossly under-celebrated at the time, but have since gone on to be regarded as among the most important composers of their generation.
The eight pieces gathered by "New Music for Electronic and Recorded Media"—Johanna M. Beyer's "Music of the Spheres", Annea Lockwood's "World Rhythms", Pauline Oliveros' "Bye Bye Butterfly", Laurie Spiegel's "Appalachian Grove I", Megan Roberts' "I Could Sit Here All Day", Ruth Anderson's "Points", and Laurie Anderson's "New York Social Life" and "Time To Go (For Diego)"—might be regarded as the first cohesive vision of alternate proximity or expression of experimental music to what has always been a frustratingly male dominated environment, and to the tropes, temperaments, and sensibilities that have been historically perceived to define it. It is an expanded vision of truth. While the presence of feminine sensibilities and temperaments in experimental music, however they may present themselves, were anything but new in 1977, "New Music for Electronic and Recorded Media" was the first opportunity, beyond the temporal limitations of live performance, to view them collectively, rather than as individualised expressions within a larger body of similar gestures (as was the case of Oliveros' inclusion in Odyssey's 1967 "New Sounds In Electronic Music" and "Extended Voices" compilations) where they might be confused for something else; to regard and celebrate a radical notion of feminine sonority for its unique characteristics and through its interrelations.
While its historical significance and groundbreaking nature can not be debated in its totality, nearly half a century on "New Music for Electronic and Recorded Media" remains compelling in both its musicality and the palpable sense of its lasting influence. Every composition across the album's two sides is not only engrossing and deeply compelling—feeling as fresh and relevant as the day it was laid to tape—but clearly tangible in their lasting influence. Viewed in context, the album's eight works feel like breath of fresh air when compared to much of what came before, and laid the groundwork for much of what was to come, introducing a new, often more holistic temperament and more sensitive and inclusive sensibility into the landscape of experimental music.
Particularly in the case of Annea Lockwood, Pauline Oliveros, Laurie Spiegel, Ruth Anderson, and Laurie Anderson, it's hard to throw ourselves back in time and imagine a moment when these composers rested in a fairly marginalised corner of the creative landscape. Blume's brand new edition of "New Music for Electronic and Recorded Media"—complete with newly commissioned liner notes by Jennifer Lucy Allen and Bradford Bailey, as well as reproducing Charles Amirkhanian's original accompanying text—brings us back to this confounding moment and points us toward a crucial moment of change set forth by these incredible composers and their sounds. Absolutely seminal and not to be missed.
25,00€
In stock
2 LP
COMPILATION
“Fluxus & Neofluxus: Keep Together (Part II)”
In April 2023, the first part of the Fluxus edition called Stolen Symphony was released. Now, in 2024, there is the second part, called Keep Together. At the center of this edition was a broken piano, acquired by the Opening Performance Orchestra for the purpose of making live and studio recordings. During this time other new works for this broken piano were written by diverse Fluxus and non-Fluxus composers. In the spring of 2022, the Opening Performance Orchestra and the broken piano participated in an event hosted by Mieko Shiomi. This was a new version of her early work Spatial Poem, documentation of which was presented at the 2022 Aichi Triennale in Tokyo. At present, the broken piano lies in the open air in Prague and is subject to gradual decay. This edition contains new and old pieces, live and studio recordings, finished pieces and scores to be performed, solos and pieces for ensemble, using classical and special instruments from 33 Fluxus artists, which have been played by ten soloists and four ensembles. There are new essays and articles from 15 writers on the theme Fluxus, as well as original photos and other documentation in the booklets. The Belgian label Sub Rosa provided technical support and a good place for the grand-scale release. The audio restauration and mastering were done by Gabriel Séverin at Laboratoire central, Brussels, and Kakaxa, 3bees, Prague. Archivio Conz in Berlin provided access to their extensive archives and Edizioni Conz provided co-production. Ursula and René Block made possible the realization of John Cage's historical composition "Mozart Mix" from the Edition Block archive. The photographic material comes from Marie Knízáková and Milan Knízák's private archive, the German photographer Wolfgang Träger, Archivio Conz's Fluxus archive, the private archives from diverse Fluxus artists and Opening Performance Orchestra's digital archive. Milan Knízák, Henning Christiansen, La Monte Young, Philip Corner, Bengt af Klintberg, George Maciunas, Takako Saito, Toshi Ichiyanagi, John Cage, Geoffrey Hendricks, Nam June Paik, Sara Miyamoto, Ken Friedman, Yoko Ono, Josef Anton Riedl, Giancarlo Cardini, Ay-O, and George Brecht.
27,00€
In stock
2 CD
COMPILATION
“Fluxus & Neofluxus: Keep Together (Part II)”
In April 2023, the first part of the Fluxus edition called Stolen Symphony was released. Now, in 2024, there is the second part, called Keep Together. At the center of this edition was a broken piano, acquired by the Opening Performance Orchestra for the purpose of making live and studio recordings. During this time other new works for this broken piano were written by diverse Fluxus and non-Fluxus composers. In the spring of 2022, the Opening Performance Orchestra and the broken piano participated in an event hosted by Mieko Shiomi. This was a new version of her early work Spatial Poem, documentation of which was presented at the 2022 Aichi Triennale in Tokyo. At present, the broken piano lies in the open air in Prague and is subject to gradual decay. This edition contains new and old pieces, live and studio recordings, finished pieces and scores to be performed, solos and pieces for ensemble, using classical and special instruments from 33 Fluxus artists, which have been played by ten soloists and four ensembles. There are new essays and articles from 15 writers on the theme Fluxus, as well as original photos and other documentation in the booklets. The Belgian label Sub Rosa provided technical support and a good place for the grand-scale release. The audio restauration and mastering were done by Gabriel Séverin at Laboratoire central, Brussels, and Kakaxa, 3bees, Prague. Archivio Conz in Berlin provided access to their extensive archives and Edizioni Conz provided co-production. Ursula and René Block made possible the realization of John Cage's historical composition "Mozart Mix" from the Edition Block archive. The photographic material comes from Marie Knízáková and Milan Knízák's private archive, the German photographer Wolfgang Träger, Archivio Conz's Fluxus archive, the private archives from diverse Fluxus artists and Opening Performance Orchestra's digital archive. Milan Knízák, Henning Christiansen, La Monte Young, Philip Corner, Bengt af Klintberg, George Maciunas, Takako Saito, Toshi Ichiyanagi, John Cage, Geoffrey Hendricks, Nam June Paik, Sara Miyamoto, Ken Friedman, Yoko Ono, Josef Anton Riedl, Giancarlo Cardini, Ay-O, and George Brecht.
20,00€
In stock
CD
COMPILATION
“Women In Turkish Electronic Music”
After the release of the Anthology of Turkish Experimental Music 1961-2014 (SR 390CD, 2016), this new series of recordings unveils the diverse creativity of young Turkish female artists. The majority of these compositions were crafted between 2021 and 2024. The anthology presents works from 15 Turkish female artists, each contributing to the album's beauty through their multifaceted creations. It encompasses various styles, ranging from purely formal music to innovative electronica, incorporating remnants of Turkish harmonies, as well as pieces with conceptual or political undertones, varying in intensity from subtle to overt. Featuring Aslz Kobaner, Eda Er, Elif Yalvaç, Eylül Deniz, Fulya Uçanok, Gökçe Uygun, Gülce Özen Gürkan, Güls¸ah Erol, KAOSMOS, MelteM Ural, Mine Pakel, Pervin Güzeldere, Senem Pirler, Seinemis, and Zeynep SarÏkartal.
13,50€
Out of stock
LP
COMPILATION
“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-Fernández (Madrid, 1979) is a writer. He hosts the weekly radio broadcast Ars Sonora -- dedicated to sound art and experimental music, and offering hundreds of freely available podcasts on Radio Clásica (Spanish National Radio). Five Spanish Pionniers of Eletronic and Experimental Music aims to present five composers who most often work outside the rules and without the possibility of help from their own country. Jose Val del Omar (1904-1982) is essentially a creator, a filmmaker developing a dreamlike art -- not without links with Federico Garcia Lorca or Luis Buñuel. Eduardo Polonio (b. 1941) has published, in forty years, more than a hundred works. Josep Maria Mestres Quadreny (1929-2011) joined the Manuel de Falla Circle in 1952 and in 1974 he founded the Laboratori de Música Electroacústica Phonos. During his life he collaborated with Joan Miró and Antoni Tàpies. Juan Hidalgo (1927-2018) participated in the music festival XII Internationale Ferienkurse Fur Neue Musik in Darmstadt in 1957. The following year he met the American composers John Cage and David Tudor. A member of Fluxus, in 1966 he participated with Gustav Metzger, Otto Muehl, Wolf Vostell, and Hermann Nitsch in the Destruction in Art Symposium in London. Cristóbal Halffter (1930-2021) was soon considered one of the most important composers of his generation. As a lecturer at the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in Darmstadt, he worked with Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Luciano Berio.
16,00€
In stock
CD
COMPILATION
“Spectra Ex Machina: A Sound Anthology of Occult Phenomena, 1920-2017 Vol.1”
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 documents gathered here are, by their extravagance and far-fetched aspects, more than the mere objects of belief one would be tempted to reduce them to. They are vestiges of aberrant phenomena, fossils of an unknown civilization buried in the depths of the unconscious that are revived, in a way, when audiences listen to them. They can be understood as "works," in the full artistic sense of the word, and constitute a kind of "cabinet of sound curiosities" that is worthy of aesthetic interest. Sometimes imbued with a disconcerting dramatic intensity, these documents bear the features of an authentic time machine, placing the listener in the position of a witness of the time immersed in the dim darkness of the experimental hall. And it is at that precise moment that the aesthetic power of these archives takes precedence over their probative value. Their somewhat old-fashioned charm, maintained by the surface noise of magnetic tapes and old wax disks, gets stronger with each listen. Comes with 32-page booklet.
14,50€
In stock
CD
COMPILATION
“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 is manifested in many different ways. Gerard van der Leeuw, the Dutch historian and philosopher, wrote "Music represents the great struggle of reaching the wholly other, which it can never express." Furthermore, "The effect of music on the emotions is so mysterious as to seem magical. There is no logical explanation why a particular combination of musical notes, whether in the form of a tune or of a simple chord, can affect the heart. Nothing in nature has perhaps so persistently resisted explanation," as said Derek Parker, the British journalist. Since music is arguably the most intangible of the arts and since the paranormal, in all its manifestations, continues to intrigue people, the placing of these two subjects together seems obvious. This second volume of musical and audio anomalies continues and expands upon the works initially reproduced in the latter. Rosemary Brown makes a welcome re-appearance, especially with a performance of Grübelei via Liszt, as well as the Caruso-inspired tenor Leo May making a repeat performance. Few people realize that both Anton LaVey and Aleister Crowley were quite fine musicians and Alex Sanders was also interested in music. The background music of Wagner's Tannhäuser used by the latter combines both pagan and Christian elements. So close your eyes and let the magic of sound take over! Also featuring David Behr, Jack Webber, Robert, Rita Goold, Leslie Flint, Leo, Carmen Rogers, Uri Geller, Jean-Louis Victor, Joe Meek, Howard Menger, Barbara The Gray Witch, and Rev. Patrick J. Berkery, Ph. D.
14,50€
In stock
LP
COMPILATION
“Funeral Gongs Ceremonies in Ratanakiri, Cambodia”
Those recordings of gongs orchestras were produced in 2003 and 2004 during funeral ceremonies in two Kung villages and one Jaraï village in Ratanakiri province, Cambodia by Laurent Jeanneau (Kink Gong), during a time when the jungle had not been replaced by rubber plantations. Focusing on funeral ceremonies, these hypnotics pieces are intense and haunting sonic experiments.
16,00€
Out of stock
LP
COMPILATION
“Neu Konservatiw”
2024 stock
Originally released to celebrate the 33rd anniversary of Walter Ulbricht Schallfolien back in 2015, Neu Konservatiw comes in a beautifully designed sleeve with insert and postcards. The album features two unreleased Asmus Tietchens tracks plus other exclusive contributions by Werkbund, Column One, Evapori, Hyph, Pierce Warnecke, Ditterich von Euler-Donnersperg and Margitt Holzt.
23,00€
Out of stock
10CD box
COMPILATION
“The Complete Obscure Records Collection 1975-1978”
Over the last few years, the Italian imprint, Dialogo, has showed a remarkable dedication to the history of experimental music via reissues of seminal artefacts from the Cramps catalog, and important albums by Piero Umiliani, Ennio Morricone, Bruno Nicolai, Enrico Rava, and others. This initiative now takes on a towering scale with the first ever box set gathering the entire ten album collection of Brian Eno's Obscure Records, originally issued between 1975 and 1978. A truly groundbreaking body of recordings - many of which have remained out of print and difficult to find for decades - it contains some of the most important, influential, and enduring music to emerge during the second half of the 20th Century, which collectively reconfigured the terms of minimalism and laid the groundwork for the emerging movement of ambient music over its short, three-year run. Issued in a deluxe CD edition of 1,000 copies, each box set contains all of Obscure's albums, completely remastered by Andrea Marutti and housed in faithful mini-replicas of their original covers and liner notes, as well as a 130-page booklet, this historic collection marks the first time such a seminal series has received a complete repress. This is certainly one of the year's most interesting, essential, and widely anticipated releases, stunningly produced with the complete involvement of all the artists or their estates. When viewed collectively, the Obscure catalog reveals a remarkable, and previously unexplored counterpoint -- bridging the United Kingdom and the American West Coast -- to the dominant threads of minimal and experimental music, centered in New York that had long dominated the public consciousness. This historic collection marks the first time the seminal Obscure catalog has received a complete repress; simply a dream come true. Featuring Gavin Bryars, Christopher Hobbs, John Adams, Brian Eno, David Toop, Max Eastley, Jan Steele, John Cage, Michael Nyman, The Penguin Café Orchestra, John White, Tom Phillips, Gavin Bryars, Fred Orton, and Harold Budd.
140,00€
In stock
CD
COMPILATION
“In Fractured Silence”
CD version.
Compilation curated by Steven Stapleton (of Nurse with Wound) of creative-experimental-unlikely music, originally released in 1984. Released on his United Dairies label that he had created with John Fothergill, he naturally called on Jean-Jacques Birgé and Francis Gorgé, who were then playing with Bernard Vitet in Un drame musical instantané. The compilation would be named In Fractured Silence. Alongside Nurse With Wound and Un drame musical instantané, could be heard Hélène Sage (whom Birgé introduced to Stapleton) and Sema, a project from the experimental British musician Robert Haigh who had participated in key records in the Nurse With Wound discography, such as Homotopy to Marie and Spiral Insana.
12,00€
In stock
LP
COMPILATION
“In Fractured Silence”
LP version.
Compilation curated by Steven Stapleton (of Nurse with Wound) of creative-experimental-unlikely music, originally released in 1984. Released on his United Dairies label that he had created with John Fothergill, he naturally called on Jean-Jacques Birgé and Francis Gorgé, who were then playing with Bernard Vitet in Un drame musical instantané. The compilation would be named In Fractured Silence. Alongside Nurse With Wound and Un drame musical instantané, could be heard Hélène Sage (whom Birgé introduced to Stapleton) and Sema, a project from the experimental British musician Robert Haigh who had participated in key records in the Nurse With Wound discography, such as Homotopy to Marie and Spiral Insana.
24,00€
In stock
LP
COMPILATION
“In Fractured Silence (Smoke Vinyl)”
LP version. Smoke color vinyl.
Compilation curated by Steven Stapleton (of Nurse with Wound) of creative-experimental-unlikely music, originally released in 1984. Released on his United Dairies label that he had created with John Fothergill, he naturally called on Jean-Jacques Birgé and Francis Gorgé, who were then playing with Bernard Vitet in Un drame musical instantané. The compilation would be named In Fractured Silence. Alongside Nurse With Wound and Un drame musical instantané, could be heard Hélène Sage (whom Birgé introduced to Stapleton) and Sema, a project from the experimental British musician Robert Haigh who had participated in key records in the Nurse With Wound discography, such as Homotopy to Marie and Spiral Insana.
26,00€
In stock
CD
COMPILATION
“Mysterious Kitchens (Terse Tapes)”
A special delicacy for all you Severed Heads fans: In the 1980s the cassette was a much desired format. They were cheap, inexpensive to buy, easy to duplicate and manageable for less technically skilled people, too. The sound was raw and hissy, encouraging raw and hissy ideas. If you couldn't afford to have a vinyl LP pressed, you could still get heard. It was the most DIY product ever.
Terse Tapes was one the first cassette labels in Australia ever, although the label started with two vinyl releases. Bands like Severed Heads soon found vinyl production too slow - by the time an album was finished, they had recorded much more music and has changed stylistically. Mysterious Kitchens was billed as a various artists compilation, but in reality it was a group of ten friends that swapped roles and instruments as the mood took them. Future Severed Heads members are here under obvious multiple band names. Wet Taxis are the only real band on the album. Many other participants formed their own groups later. In 1980, shops were kind to Terse Tapes. They hung their cassette releases on shop walls and so encouraged other people to start their own DIY labels. This is the first ever CD release of this legendary "compilation" album. It is, of course, more of a Severed Heads release.
12,50€
Out of stock
2 CD
COMPILATION
“Fluxus & NeoFluxus: Stolen Symphony (Part I)”
Double-CD version comes in digipack; includes 72-page booklet.
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. This Fluxus edition features (in alphabetical order): Eric Andersen, Ay-O, George Brecht, John Cage, Giancarlo Cardini, Giuseppe Chiari, Henning Christiansen, Philip Corner, Öyvind Fahlström, Ken Friedman, Sten Hanson, Geoffrey Hendricks, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Joe Jones, Bengt af Klintberg, Milan Knízák, Alison Knowles, Larry Miller, George Maciunas, Sara Miyamoto, Nam June Paik, Yoko Ono, Opening Performance Orchestra, Benjamin Patterson, Josef Anton Riedl, Terry Riley, Takako Saito, Tomas Schmit, Dieter Schnebel, Mieko Shiomi, Yasunao Tone, Ben Vautier, Yoshi Wada, and La Monte Young. The musicians and performers Anna Clementi, Agnese Toniutti, Deborah Walker, Werner Durand, Luciano Chessa, Miroslav Beinhauer, Petr Bakla, Nicolas Horvath, Petr Ferenc, and Premysl Ondra have played, performed and declaimed the Fluxus pieces, Arditti Quartet and S.E.M. Ensemble provided one piece from their archives. Milan Knízák, Petr Rezek, Petr Kotík, Olaf Hanel, Eric Andersen, Per Brunskog, Peter van der Meijden, Pavlína Morganová, Natasha Lushetich, Joseph Nechvatal, Natilee Harren, Martin Patrick, Diedrich Diederichsen, Christopher M. Reeves, and Hubertus von Amelunxen have written Fluxus-themed texts. Archivio Conz in Berlin provided access to their extensive Fluxus archives and Edizioni Conz provided coproduction. Ursula and René Block made possible the realization of John Cage's historical composition "Rozart Mix" from the Edition Block archive. The photographic material comes from Marie Knízáková and Milan Knízák's private archive, the German photographer Wolfgang Träger, Archivio Conz's Fluxus archive and Opening Performance Orchestra's digital archive. The cover themes are paintings by Milan Knízák, while the graphic design is the work of Jaroslav Buzek.
20,00€
In stock
2 LP book
COMPILATION
“Fluxus & NeoFluxus: Stolen Symphony (Part I)”
Double LP version. Gatefold sleeve; includes 24-page large booklet. 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. This Fluxus edition features (in alphabetical order): Eric Andersen, Ay-O, George Brecht, John Cage, Giancarlo Cardini, Giuseppe Chiari, Henning Christiansen, Philip Corner, Öyvind Fahlström, Ken Friedman, Sten Hanson, Geoffrey Hendricks, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Joe Jones, Bengt af Klintberg, Milan Knízák, Alison Knowles, Larry Miller, George Maciunas, Sara Miyamoto, Nam June Paik, Yoko Ono, Opening Performance Orchestra, Benjamin Patterson, Josef Anton Riedl, Terry Riley, Takako Saito, Tomas Schmit, Dieter Schnebel, Mieko Shiomi, Yasunao Tone, Ben Vautier, Yoshi Wada, and La Monte Young. The musicians and performers Anna Clementi, Agnese Toniutti, Deborah Walker, Werner Durand, Luciano Chessa, Miroslav Beinhauer, Petr Bakla, Nicolas Horvath, Petr Ferenc, and Premysl Ondra have played, performed and declaimed the Fluxus pieces, Arditti Quartet and S.E.M. Ensemble provided one piece from their archives. Milan Knízák, Petr Rezek, Petr Kotík, Olaf Hanel, Eric Andersen, Per Brunskog, Peter van der Meijden, Pavlína Morganová, Natasha Lushetich, Joseph Nechvatal, Natilee Harren, Martin Patrick, Diedrich Diederichsen, Christopher M. Reeves, and Hubertus von Amelunxen have written Fluxus-themed texts. Archivio Conz in Berlin provided access to their extensive Fluxus archives and Edizioni Conz provided coproduction. Ursula and René Block made possible the realization of John Cage's historical composition "Rozart Mix" from the Edition Block archive. The photographic material comes from Marie Knízáková and Milan Knízák's private archive, the German photographer Wolfgang Träger, Archivio Conz's Fluxus archive and Opening Performance Orchestra's digital archive. The cover themes are paintings by Milan Knízák, while the graphic design is the work of Jaroslav Buzek.
27,00€
Out of stock
2 CD
COMPILATION
“Exploring Gong Culture of Southeast Asia: Massif and Archipelago”
Recorded by Yasuhiro Morinaga + intro by David Toop
Gongs have played an integral role in the mythogeography of Asia. This is not music that aligns with national borders or ideas of homogenous populations, let alone racial stereotypes and exotic clichés. What connects all of these tracks is a simultaneous feeling of entrancement and social cohesion. Communal and collaborative, its form is hypnotically repetitious, melodies and rhythms spread out among the players using the technique of hocketing in which a flowing line is distributed among all the musicians. The effect is mesmerising, immediately intoxicating to anybody who loves Chicago footwork, free improvisation, Sun Ra or young hip hop producer Jetsonmade. The music is simple yet mysterious and enveloping, a sound world in which to disappear. A theory exists but this is not explained.
David Toop (extracts from the liner notes)
This project, Massif and Archipelago, is a field recording project initiated by Japanese sound artist Yasuhiro Morinaga, documenting traditional gong music by different Southeast Asian ethnic groups. The project aimed to examine the impact of the natural and social environment on the gong music culture of Southeast Asia.
During the project, he visited over 50 different ethnic groups and made hundreds of recordings. This album presents a selection of the unique gong music from different ethnic minorities.
The selected music has been divided into two broad sections: one focussing on the music from the Massif, i.e. mainland Southeast Asia (Central Highland of Vietnam and Northeast Cambodia), the other on music from the Archipelago, maritime Southeast Asia (the Luzon Islands of the Philippines, Borneo, Sulawesi, and the Flores Islands of Indonesia).
18,00€
In stock
LP
COMPILATION
“Exploring Gong Culture of Southeast Asia: Massif and Archipelago”
Recorded by Yasuhiro Morinaga + intro by David Toop
Gongs have played an integral role in the mythogeography of Asia. This is not music that aligns with national borders or ideas of homogenous populations, let alone racial stereotypes and exotic clichés. What connects all of these tracks is a simultaneous feeling of entrancement and social cohesion. Communal and collaborative, its form is hypnotically repetitious, melodies and rhythms spread out among the players using the technique of hocketing in which a flowing line is distributed among all the musicians. The effect is mesmerising, immediately intoxicating to anybody who loves Chicago footwork, free improvisation, Sun Ra or young hip hop producer Jetsonmade. The music is simple yet mysterious and enveloping, a sound world in which to disappear. A theory exists but this is not explained.
David Toop (extracts from the liner notes)
This project, Massif and Archipelago, is a field recording project initiated by Japanese sound artist Yasuhiro Morinaga, documenting traditional gong music by different Southeast Asian ethnic groups. The project aimed to examine the impact of the natural and social environment on the gong music culture of Southeast Asia.
During the project, he visited over 50 different ethnic groups and made hundreds of recordings. This album presents a selection of the unique gong music from different ethnic minorities.
The selected music has been divided into two broad sections: one focussing on the music from the Massif, i.e. mainland Southeast Asia (Central Highland of Vietnam and Northeast Cambodia), the other on music from the Archipelago, maritime Southeast Asia (the Luzon Islands of the Philippines, Borneo, Sulawesi, and the Flores Islands of Indonesia).
16,00€
In stock
2 CD
COMPILATION
“Banc d’essai 2011-2019”
Between 2011 and 2019, INA Grm organised a yearly competition, called Banc d’essai. During this period, the jury listened to nearly a thousand works, with an ever-renewed curiosity for what seemed to be the voice of a new generation of creators. Every year, about ten pieces were selected to be performed on the Acousmonium, and it’s on those occasions that all these talents have revealed themselves to us with the most forcefullness. In 2020, as the competition renews itself, we wanted to close this chapter with a record release featuring eighteen works whose depth and sensitivity have particularly moved us, and which, through a remarkable spirit of research and invention, have, each in their own way, contributed to the gradual, stimulating and ongoing transformation of music at large.
CD 1
01. Benjamin Miller Zond-9 07’18
02. Hideki Umezawa Inutile 08’08
03. Lydia Debeer Tremble Garden 08’01
04. Gaëtan Parseihian La forêt mécanique 07’30
05. François Buffet Le songe du retour 07’31
06. Loïse Bulot Daphnia 09’05
07. :such: Monte-Charge 07’11
08. Thomas Hilbert Fluage 06’13
09. Christophe Ratier et Julia Hanadi
Al abed Eubulie 06’54
CD2
01. Scarabj Nos yeux 09’36
02. Raphaël Mouterde Violens 09’20
03. Rocío Cano Valiño Astérion 08’22
04. Renaud Bajeux Leaving the Nest 07’55
05. Florent Colautti Jupiter 09’06
06. Sophie Delafontaine
Respire marche pars va-t-en 09’48
07. Thomas Manoury Soundtrains 05’03
08. Kristian M. Roberts Seashell Music 05’04
09. Tucuxi Rayon vert 07’02
17,00€
In stock
3 LP
COMPILATION
“The Harmonic Series Volume 2”
A collection of long-form works in just intonation by Kali Malone, Duane Pitre, Catherine Lamb, Tashi Wada, Byron Westbrook, and Caterina Barbieri. Each artist occupies an entire side of the collection's three LPs.
Curated by Duane Pitre, Important Records returns with its second volume of compiled works in just intonation. The Harmonic Series II, issued as a triple LP collection, features a series of long-form compositions by six of the most important emerging voices of contemporary experimental music;
Unlike equal temperament - the tuning system most commonly encountered in contemporary music - which equally divides an octave into 12 fixed notes, just intonation utilizes intervals of whole number ratios - chosen by a composer - to determine tonal positions, which can result in a highly individualised tonal language and holds the potential for more nuanced relationships and striking, sympathetic resonances. Rooted in ideas that trace their way across the last 2500 years - seeking to mirror the natural behaviour of sound within music - just intonation lays at the foundation for numerous Indian, Persian, and East Asian musical traditions, as well as a substantial amount of European music prior to the 17th century. Reintroduced into western music during the 20th century by composers like Harry Partch, Ben Johnston, Lou Harrison, James Tenney, Terry Riley, and La Monte Young, it has left an indelible mark on experimental practice ever since.
In the years following the appearance of The Harmonic Series in 2009 - presenting works by Ellen Fullman & Theresa Wong, Michael Harrison, Pauline Oliveros, Charles Curtis, and others - the broad interest in just intonation has continued to swell, inspiring Duane Pitre to curate a second compilation, exploring the work of a new generation of composers that have been drawn toward its remarkable potential.
The full scope of The Harmonic Series II engages the possibility of a multitude of intertwining sequences and relationships between its works. Kali Malone’s "Pipe Inversions” - played by Malone on a small pipe organ, joined by Isak Hedtjärn on bass clarinet - belongs to a larger body of microtonal organ works that have increasingly placed the composer at the forefront of contemporary minimalism and drone music. Thick blankets of shimmering harmonics - sliding at a glacial pace within a fractal structure of rhythmical and melodic sequence - converge as a poignant unwinding of cultural, temporal, and historical location, embedded within the disarming beauty of its interwoven tones.
Across the length of Duane Pitre’s "Three for Rhodes” - a chamber piece for ”unknown instrumentation” - deconstructed rhythms and melodic fragments swell in a dance of harmonic interplay, rising and falling within the work’s engrossing architectural complexity. Imbued with a startling sense of humanity, tonal footsteps and syntactic patterns flower with life, delivering an exacting image of the metaphorical potential of sound.
Catherine Lamb’s "inter sum” - one of a tiny number of available works to encounter the composer and renowned violist working on synthesizer - endeavours to break the visualisation of harmony as a vertical reality, rendering it multidimensionally in space. With its materiality drawn from Lamb’s own environmental field and filtered by the synth - presenting a radical rethinking of the terms of composition and musical mater - subtle tonalities and harmonics, embedded within sheets of textural atmosphere, culminate as a spectral vision of the latent musicality of the natural world.
A canon for eight-violins played by Marc Sabat, Tashi Wada’s "Midheaven (Alignment Mix)” - guided by the internal logic of its tuning system - shape-shifts into an elegantly poetic form of musical conceptualism. Interlacing long-tones bloom with complex harmonic interplay and delicate overtones, as two mirroring, overlain realizations of the composition - one moving forward as the other simultaneously moves backward - slowly converge toward a crescendo of dissonance at the midpoint, imbuing the work with emotive tension, before returning to a final ecstatic release.
Byron Westbrook’s "Memory Phasings”, composed and recorded on a combination of computer controlled modular synthesizers and a Yamaha TX802, employs the ratios of just intonation as harmonic building blocks for texture. Shifting long-tones and insectile buzzes underscore patterns of rapid appreciations and carefully balanced punctuations, forming a shimmering collective of abstractions, that blurs the lines between synthetic and organic readings of sound.
Deploying just intonation as a means for psycho-physiological exploration, Caterina Barbieri’s "Firmamento” - composed for synthesizer - deftly intervenes with the expectations of minimalism, durational music, and drone. Brooding and ecstatic - pushing the possibilities of organised sound into unexplored realms via the triggering of emotional and mental states of being - across the work’s slow evolution, sublime tonalities ride a razors edge between darkness and light, colliding in dense layers that rethink ancient modes in futuristic terms.
Taking form within the gestures of six crucial voices of contemporary experimental music - Malone, Pitre, Lamb, Wada, Westbrook, and Barbieri - The Harmonic Series II sculpts a profoundly human vision of the potential of art, where the historic becomes present and future, and the divisions imposed by cultural and temporal boundaries dissolve. Like the generations that have embraced it before them, each artist harnesses just intonation as a means to progress toward unknown territories of creative possibility and to readdress how we hear, arriving at a musical space that is highly individual and personal - captured by the diversity of the works presented within - while speaking within a collective whole.
45,00€
Out of stock
2 LP
COMPILATION
“Strain Crack & Break Vol. 2, Music from the The Nurse With Wound List (Germany)”
With his ongoing commitment to like-minded archivist label Finders Keepers Records, industrial music pioneer Steven Stapleton further entrusts us to lift the veil and expose “the right tracks” from his uber-legendary and oft misinterpreted psych/prog/punk peculiarity shopping list known as The Nurse With Wound List. Following the critically lauded first instalment and it’s exclusively French tracklisting both parties now combine their vinyl-vulturous penchants to bring you the next Strain Crack & Break edition which consists of twelve lesser-known German records that played a hugely important part in the initial foundations of the list which began to unfold when Stapleton was just thirteen-years-old. From the perspective of a schoolboy Amon Düül (ONE) victim, at the start of a journey that commenced before phrases like kosmische and the xeno-ignant Krautrock tag had become mag hack currency, this compendium is devoid of the tropes that united what many would accurately argue to be the greatest progressive pop bands in Europe (namely CAN, Neu! and Kraftwerk) and rather shatters the ingredients across a ground zero landscape for both inquisitive fans and socially rehabbing musos to begin to assemble a unique self-styled identity. If Krautrock was the music that journalist told us lurked behind schlager (German pop) in the 1970s, then this record includes the music that skulked behind Krautrock and perhaps refused to polish its backhanded name belt. Including lesser-known artists like the late Wolfgang Dauner whose career proceeded and outlived the kosmische movement while consistently informing and outsmarting ‘em whenever they got stuck in their metronomic ruts, or how about Fritz Müller, the man who was to Kraftwerk what Stuart Sutcliffe was to The Beatles but had more in common with Yoko and quite rightly couldn’t give a shit about the Fab Four’s Hamburg roots. Elsewhere we have a plethora of German bands made for German audiences as they try and shed second hand flower power Americanisms and feel the benefits of much harder drugs and the realisations of difficult second album budgets while Kommune 1 newsflashes wipe smiles from everybody’s faces and replace them with opioid chic or acid-sarcastic grins. Bonzo Cockettes show us their Big Muffs and drummers ask for extra mics while Conny Plank goes for parliamentary office and gives babies good firm hand shakes for the camera. Strain Crack & Break Volume Two is the sound of Steve Stapleton’s sponge-like mind and the dividends of anyone who was brave enough to even peek inside those brick-thick gatefold covers never mind drop the needle, with tracks by Mr. and Mrs. Fuchs (aka Anima-Sound) who played their instruments completely naked throughout their anti- career alongside previously unpressed tracks by the scene’s leading Detroit-born African American drummer Fred Braceful who’s band Exmagma officially had the coolest record sleeves and track titles of ALL TIME (Torpedo Tits? Yes Please!). From an era where it was embarrassing to go into your local record shop and hum the tune over the counter, well that young lad Steve Stapleton was braver than that, and besides, these tracks are unhummable and at times unutterable. Did somebody in the crowd shout out for Joel Vandroogenbroeck! Good luck with that one. Stapleton is sharing. Even Stevens.
Over forty years since Nurse With Wound’s first album was released, Finders Keepers Records and Steve Stapleton take connoisseurs of OUR kind of music, back to the disused elevator shaft towards ground zero. Arrriving at the same checkout from different departments, Finders Keepers and Nurse With Wound continue to sing from the same hymnal with this ongoing collaborative attempt to officially, authentically and legally compile the best tracks from Steve’s list, where many overzealous nerds have faltered (or simply, got the wrong end of the stick). After Strain Crack & Break Volume One merely scratched the surface of this DIY dossier of elongated punk- prog peculiarities, our second lavish metallic gatefold double vinyl compendium drives a much deeper groove, which, in accordance with Steve’s wishes, focusses exclusively on individual tracks of German origin - the country whose music forged the prototype of the NWW inventory in the form of his secondary school vinyl want-list in the early 1970s. Comprising of disassembled free jazz, unshowered stoner psych, hypnotic prog, deranged monk funk and fuzzed out Deutschmark bin bonzo beats this second volume of the series throws us straight back in the deep end, putting the Bad in Baden and the odour in The Oder with little need for cheap Cologne.
Willkommen to another forgotten plateau found beneath the psychedelic underground, as Steve Stapleton and Finders Keepers dig new tunnels through the fabric of your vinyl wish-list, these German records are heavy, so find Solid Ground or watch you floorboards Strain Crack & Break before your bloody ears.
29,00€
Out of stock
2 LP
COMPILATION
“Save The Nature – Use Fluxus, The Box Parking Lot, Los Angeles”
In November 17, 2019 a six hour performance was undertaken in the car park of The Box gallery in Los Angeles as a part of the Henning Christiansen / Ursula Reuter Christiansen exhibition They won't survive without the bird songs. Thorbjørn Reuter Christiansen, son of Ursula and Henning, developed a timeline for the performance which was essentially designed to encompass a contemporary community of like minded artists that spans generations and continents harnessing and continuing the work instigated by Henning during his lifetime. The resulting performance included archival recordings taken from the H.C. Archive, which houses a vast collection of compositions, scores and correspondence of the late Christiansen.
This limited edition 2LP collects edited highlights from the day capturing the unique and somewhat unsettling atmosphere provoked by a diverse range of performances.
Thorbjørn Reuter Christiansen developed a new action where he performed a sound piece on iconic instruments of Henning’s alongside recorded sounds of his father. Father and son re-united again in performance. The New Sound of the Living Dead.
Bjørn Nørgaard presented two new iterations of some of his historical actions; Homage to Henning and Joseph, Manresa, a piece he first collaborated on with Henning Christiansen and Joseph Beuys at Galerieleri Schmela in Düsseldorf in 1966, and The Cake, a live construction of a monolithic yet impermanent sculpture meant to decay over time. Mai Dengsøe Hansen performed EURASIENSTAB fluxorum organum op. 39, a piece for organ that Henning scored and used as the soundtrack for the film Eurasienstab, with Beuys.
The BOX gallery founder Mara McCarthy, along with her father Paul McCarthy and Chiara Giovando performed Knock Harder, a 20 min. improvisation that loosely recalls Knocking, a sound scape Henning used repeatedly throughout many of his own compositions. Chiara and Mara can be heard singing and playing a selection of small instruments, while Paul methodically slammed the back door of the gallery with a piece of scrap 2×4 pinewood – a kind of dedication to the monotony of Fluxus.
Mark Harwood, the founder of the expansive experimental independent label Penultimate Press performed an improvised musical protest incorporating fire, rhythm and chaos alongside field recordings of the civil unrest in Chile that he collected occurred just prior to the opening of this exhibition. Harwood’s contribution speaks to Hennings political activism and dedication.
Throughout SAVE THE NATURE —- USE FLUXUS all came together to celebrate these great artists and to embody the same spirit of communal collaboration that has so thoroughly been a part of both Ursula and Henning’s lifelong endeavors.
2LP’s held together with a printed rubber band, 4 large full colour double sided art cards documenting the performances, a substantial booklet/catalogue about the exhibition, a large poster featuring a drawing by Paul McCarthy made during the performance.
Limited to 500 copies worldwide (400 for sale)
36,00€
Out of stock
book
A-SIDES – A cosmology of audio editions by artists around the Arc Lémanique region
Art & vinyl: an analytic anthology of artist's records in Switzerland.
Since the beginning of its existence, the record has always been used by visual artists as a form of distribution for their sound practice. First experimented with by the early avant-garde movements, the role of these sound supports was later redefined in the context of the proliferation and hybridization of forms between sound and language.
While recording media such as discs or cassettes were used to document happenings, readings, and Fluxus concerts, these media also became a medium in their own right, used by artists to transmit their experiments. Moreover, the current economic and technological context generated a keen interest in editorial and multiple art practices.
A-sides brings into focus on a network of actors linked to the scene of the Lake Geneva region—on the history of artistic encounters and exchanges generating sound productions. The produced works, as well as the methods of exploration of this international network, formed the basis of this anthology of artists' sound publications.
A-sides gives an insight into the conditions and motivations that give rise to the creation of sound recordings as an art form and explores the ambiguity of the relationship between the current technological context, which is moving towards dematerialization, and the persistence of sound practices distributed on tangible recording media.
Edited by Laurent Schmid and Roxane Bovet.
Contributions by Camilla Paolino, Francis Baudevin, Laurence Wagner, Christophe Kihm, Luca Frei, Anne Le Troter, John Armleder, Karl Holmqvist, Charlemagne Palestine, Maurizio Nannucci, Mathieu Copeland, N.U. Unruh, Franz Treichler, FM Einheit, Hannah Weinberger, Daniel Löwenbrück, Jan van Toorn, Ben Schot, Volker Zander, Bruno Sphere, Tzii, Christophe Piette, Benjamin Novello (Blanktapes), d'incise, Frédéric Post, Francesco Cavaliere, Aymeric de Topol, Lieven Martens, Sixto Fernando, Zamzamrec, Ergo Phizmiz, Feldermelder, Joke Lanz.
English edition, 15 x 20 cm (softcover), 224 pages
22,00€
Out of stock
2 LP
COMPILATION
“Strain, Crack & Break: Music From The Nurse With Wound List Volume 1 (France)”
After years of mythology, misinterpretation and procrastination Nurse With Wound’s Steven Stapleton finally chooses Finders Keepers Records as the ideal collaborators to release “the right tracks” from his uber-legendary psych/prog/punk peculiarity shopping list known as The Nurse With Wound List, commencing with a French specific Volume One of this authentically titled Strain Crack Break series. Featuring some Finders Keepers’ regulars amongst galactic Gallic rarities (previously presumed to be imaginary red herrings) this deluxe double vinyl dossier demystifies some of the essential French free jazz and Parisian prog inclusions from the alphabetical “dedication” inventory as printed the anti-bands 1979 industrial milestone debut.
When Steven Stapleton, Heman Pathak and John Fothergill’s anti-band Nurse With Wound decided to include an alphabetical dedication to all their favourite bands on the back of their inaugural LP the notion of creating a future record dealers’ trophy list couldn’t have been further from their minds. By adding a list of untravelled European mythical musicians and noise makers to their own debut release of unchartered industrial art rock they were merely providing a suggestive support system of existing potential likeminded bands, establishing safety in numbers should anyone require sonic subtitles for Nurse With Wound’s own mutant musical language. Luckily for them, the record landed in record shops in the midst of 1979’s memorable summer of abject apathy and its sound became a hit amongst disillusioned agit-pop pickers and artsy post-punks, thus playing a key role in the bourgeoning “Industrial” genre that ensued. On the most part, however, the list , like most instruction manuals, remained unreadable, syntactic and suspiciously sarcastic… As potential “real musicians” Nurse WIth Wound became an Industrial music fan’s household name, but in contrast many of the names on The Nurse With Wound List were considered to be imaginary musicians, made-up bands or booby traps for hacks and smart-arses. It took a while for the rest of the record collecting community to catch on or finally catch up.
Since then, many of the rare, obscure and unpronounceable genre-free records on The Nurse With Wound List have slowly found their own feet and stumbled in to the homes of open-minded outernational vinyl junkies, D’s and sample hungry producers, self-propelled and judged on their own merit, mostly without consultation of the enigmatic NWW map. But, to the inspective competitive collector’s chagrin, one resounding fact recurs, NWW got there first! via vinyl vacations, on cheap flights and Interrail tickets, buying bargain bin LPs on a shoestring while oblivious to the pending pension worthy price tags after their 40 year vintage, Stapleton and Fothergill, even if you’ve never heard of them, were at the bottom of the pit before “digging” became paydirt. And NOW at huge international record fairs that occur in massive exhibition halls (or within the confines of your one-touch
palm pilot) amongst jive talk acronyms such as SS, PP, BIN, DNAP and BCWHES the coded letters NWW have begun to appear on stickers in the corner of original copies of the same premium progressive records accompanied by a customary 50% price hike to titillate/coerce the initiated as dealers extort the taught. Like “psych” “PINA” or “Krautrock” did before, “NWW” has become a buzzword and in the passed decades since its first publication The List has been mythologised, misunderstood and misconstrued. It’s also been overlooked, overestimated and under-appreciated in equal measures, but with a growing interest it has also come to represent a maligned genre in itself, something that all members of the original line-up
would have deemed sacrilegious. Bolstered by the subtitle “Categories strain, crack and sometimes break, under their burden,” all bands on the inventory (many chosen on the strength of just one track alone) were chosen for their genre-defying qualities… A check-list for the uncharted.
Forty years after Nurse With Wound’s first record, Finders Keepers Records, in close collaboration with Steve Stapleton remind fans of THIS kind of “lost” music, that there once existed a feint path which was worn away decades before major label pop property developers built over this psychedelic underground. As long-running fans and liberators of some of the same records, arriving at the same axis from different-but-the-same planets, Finders Keepers and Nurse WIth Wound finally sing from the same hymn sheet resulting in a collaborative attempt to officially, authentically and legally compile the best tracks from the list, succeeding where many overzealous nerds have deferred (or simply, got the wrong end of the stick). Naturally our lavish metallic gatefold double vinyl compendium would only scratch the surface of this DIY dossier of elongated punk-prog peculiarities hence out decision to release volume one in a series which, in accordance with Steve’s wishes, focuses exclusively on individual tracks of French origin, the country that unsurprisingly hosted the highest content of bands on the list. Comprising of musique concrète, free jazz, Rock In Opposition, Zeuhl School space rock, macabre ballet music, lo-fi sci-fi, and classic horror literature inspired prog, this first volume of the series entitled Strain Crack And Break throws us in at the deep end, where the Seine meets the in-sane, introducing the space cadets that found Mars in Marseilles.
Like the Swedish flat-pack record shelves that attempt to house the vast amounts of vintage vinyl that goes into a multi-volume compilation like this, it is time to prepare your own musical penchants and preconceived ideas about DIY music and hear them slowly strain, crack and break.
26,50€
In stock
LP
COMPILATION
“Bidödaren”
With Unken Reflex, Joe Colley, Daniel Menche, Small Cruel Party, Tarab, BJNilsen, Toy Bizarre, Steve Roden.
"Bidödaren = Beekiller, approximately... In Swedish there is a double meaning; bi is the insect bee (in English), but also has the meaning of something like a "side-effect".
Like if the killing of bees is just something being done beside doing something else. (Leif Elggren)"
Limited to 200 copies.
18,00€
Out of stock
LP
COMPILATION
“Albania, There Where the Avalanche Stops”
"For one week in every five years, two thousand singers, dancers and musicians along with fifty thousand spectators make their way to the small town of Gjirokastra in southern Albania for the Festivali Folkloric Kombelar. In the great castle overlooking the town, they participate in the incredible National Folk Festival of Albania, hoping to attain the highest level of interpretation and win one of the many awards available the festival… the banner, even.
Considering the comparatively small size of the country (just over three million inhabitants) the range of instruments, styles and costumes seen at the festival is exceptional, sustaining a folk tradition that dates back to ancient Illyria.
The works presented here in volume one are all live recordings made at the Gjirokastra Festival, taken from six of the 26 participating districts: Vlora, Gjirokastra and Lorca from the south, and Shkodra, Debra and Tropoja from the north (see map).
The original compact disc, released in 1990, was a collaboration between The Institute of Popular Culture, Tirana, The Albanian Shop Ltd. and Touch.
Edited from the original 1/4” tapes, mastered and produced by Touch"
15,00€
In stock
3 CD
COMPILATION
“Changez Retravaillé”
Changez Les Blockeurs has attained a somewhat mythical / legendary status (Record Collector magazine included it in a list of the rarest, most collectable records ever) and 2017 was the 35th anniversary of its original release. In celebration of this, TNB invited some of their favourite artists to compose a reworking which have been issued collectively as Changez Retravaillé (Changez Reworked.)
Nurse With Wound, Philip Sanderson (Storm Bugs), Mark Durgan (Putrefier), Phil Julian (Cheapmachines), The Prestidigitators, Anomali, Spoils & Relics, Asmus Tietchens, Ralf Wehowsky (a.k.a. RLW), Das Synthetische Mischgewebe, Kommissar Hjuler, Rudolf Eb.er (Schimphluch Gruppe), Frans de Waard (QST), Jerome Noetinger, Giancarlo / Massimo Toniutti, Alexei Borisov, TNM, Thurston Moore, Jim O'Rourke, GX Jupitter-Larsen (The Haters), John Wiese, Idea Fire Company, Irr. App. (Ext.), Merzbow, K2, Toshiji Mikawa (Incapacitants), Kazumoto Endo, Nobuo Yamada, Daisuke Suzuki, Veltz.
Nurse With Wound open the Changez Retravaillé compilation, 30 tracks over three CDs. Consistent with their efforts to forge links with the global Noise community, and indeed a strong influence on it, it’s fair to think of this as a gathering of TNB’s peers. Most people in the market for this could have predicted the appearance of Mark Durgan (Putrefier), Rudolf Eb.er (Schimpfluch Gruppe), GX Jupitter-Larsen (The Haters), Merzbow et al. Durgan submits a rather invigorating aural firework display; Anomali and QST (Frans de Waard)’s Techno leanings feel considerably bolder than noise remixed as noise. With that said, harsh noise tornados like that served up by K2 can still rattle your senses. The Wire
30,00€