In stock
CD
RLW
“Minority Of The Dead”
The backstory: 5 September, 2012 was the day John Cage would have turneed 100. Centenary celebrations for a prominent artist would seem rather conventional. Inappropriate for an extremely unconventional artist. But seemingly inappropriate things can be quite appropriate in unconventional contexts. So why not participate in a 100th birthday commemorative project? No sooner said than done...
Ralf Wehowsky is a german experimental composer, active since the 80s (with the group p16.d4 then). his work is split between solo releases (under the moniker rlw) and collaborations, exploring all fields between media exchange and realtime presence recordings. collaboration partners include among others Lionel Marchetti, Merzbow, Jim O´Rourke, Bruce Russell, Das Synthetische Mischgewebe, Anla Courtis, Contrastate, Kohei Matsunaga, Annette Krebs - and Richard Francis.
14,00€
In stock
2 CD
RLW
“C.D.”
Ralf Wehowsky is one of the most respected practitioners of radical music of our day. He was the founding member of the seminal German group P16.D4 and ran the legendary experimental label Selektion whose ground-breaking releases influenced many working in today's experimental music scene. Previous releases have seen him collaborate with such well known and diverse artists such as Merzbow, Andrew Chalk, Jim O'Rourke, Achim Wollscheid, Lionel Marchetti, Kevin Drumm, Kouhei Matsunaga and Bruce Russell.
Colonia Dignidad was the settlement of a German evangelical sect.
After being prosecuted for child abuse in Germany, the group fled to Chile in 1961. Like similar religious sects, it was characterized by the outward appearance of a unified, godly community with well-tempered cultural activities and social welfare, but inwardly and in its environment by oppression, sexual abuse, and exploitation. In the 1970s, it unquestioningly inserted itself into Pinochet's regime of terror, aiding in the imprisonment and torture of political prisoners, weapons production, etc. Since the end of the 1980s, there has been a legal reappraisal of the C.D.'s crimes in Chile. Its successor organization makes a living from tourism.
The C.D. project uses, on the one hand, a series of documentary recordings of contemporary witnesses, and on the other, a set of melodic improvisations (MIDI files), improvised in the spirit of the impressions of terror, tension, claustrophobia and fear associated with the Colonia. CD 2 (Knochenstückchen) directly reflects this atmosphere. CD 1 (Reue?) on the other hand, is characterized by the contradictory breadth of the statements found after the dissolution of the sect: Denial of atrocities to glorification of the C.D. by leaders who returned to Germany against the professed traumas of formerly abused inmates and exploited community workers.
For this purpose, the eyewitness recordings were sound-modified to a considerable extent. The MIDI files were played back with a variety of virtual instruments (piano, guitar, sax, turntable, lung machine, barrel organ, synths, etc.) in a multitude of modifications (speed, pitches, loops, harmonic and tonal variations), so that the 11 pieces from CD 1 and the 16 pieces from CD 2 each represent a closely interwoven overall composition.
17,00€
Out of stock
CD
RLW
“Satanic Inventions”
*** 2022 release ***
Black Rose Recordings are proud to present the stunning new solo release by Ralf Wehowsky. He is currently one of the most respected electronic composers of our day. With this release his starting point is the comparison of the black plague and covid-19 as there are some astonishing similarities of how people dealt with the diseases. Denial of reality, conspiracy theories, searching for scapegoats, etc: Surely satanic inventions are the source of all calamities? Extracts from documentary recordings and a few fragments of ars nova/subtilior compositions have been transformed, extended, fragmented and re-contextualised, from which the 15 pieces of this release are built.
Ralf Wehowsky was one of the founder members of the seminal German group P16.D4 and the label Selektion whose ground-breaking releases influenced many working in today’s experimental music scene. Previous releases have seen him collaborate with such well known and diverse artists such as Merzbow, Bernhard Guenter, Jim O’Rourke, Achim Wollscheid and Lionel Marchetti. His music is impossible to pigeonhole into one simple bracket. It is neither industrial or musique concrete, nor computer music nor improvisation.
13,00€
Out of stock
CD
RLW
“Agnostic Diaries”
2021
The common factor linking these recordings are projects that were never fully realized. The basic recordings started in 2005, however the period of reworking and transformation (2016 to 2017) is more important. All vocal parts and general revisions were done during this period. Agnosticism was the basic idea for the vocal/musical re-working of the pieces with the vocals implanted into the basic pieces, not just as simple overdubs, but inserted in a dialectical confrontation with the basic sounds and structures. "Le Ballet" relies on George Antheil's Ballet Mecanique; "For Gerald" on a co-operation with Anla Courtis using some sounds by Ovary Lodge planned for the Gerald Jupitter-Larssen series which stopped far too early. "Without M.B." includes RLW's parts for a collaboration with Marc Baron whilst "Monotype #6" includes vocals by Dylan Nyoukis, also used for a collaborative CD-r with him.
Ralf Wehowsky is one of the most respected electronic composers of our day and was also a founder member of the seminal German group P16.D4 and label Selektion whose ground-breaking releases influenced many working in today's experimental music scene. Previous releases have seen him collaborate with such well known and diverse artists such as Merzbow, Bernhard Guenter, Jim O'Rourke, Achim Wollscheid, and Lionel Marchetti. His music is impossible to pigeonhole into one simple bracket. It is neither industrial or musique concrete, nor computer music nor improvisation. In fact, it could be all of these.
10,00€
CD
RLW
“Tunnel”
RLW ( aka Ralf Wehowsky ) whose work deals in the transformation of prerecorded sound material, the permutation of the senses and the metamorphosis of the sensitive, has been a proponent of long distance collaborations for decades, long before lockdown made this manner of working popular. This goes way back to his beginnings with Permutative Distortion or P16.D4 and the Selektion label. He is a strict and disciplined composer, a formal organizer of discernible objects.
Tunnel presents five pieces built using fragments of Annette Krebs's voice. Far from being anecdotal, the work reveals a true alchemy. Vocal prints are converted into roaring metallic textures lost in an endless sonic vortex, both sculptural and masterful.
10,00€
Out of stock
CD
RLW
“Flurry of delusion”
basic recordings for flurry of delusion were done in february 2010 (using instruments like guitar, oud, saz, harmophone, motors, weevil, turntables & percussion) by rlw (with the participation of giuseppe ielasi).
for the compositions only small portions of the original recordings were used, rearranged, transformed and morphed.
first drafts were customised late 2010/early 2011, a fundamental revision was undertaken in 2014, the final versions were realised in 2016.
all parts relate to each other and nothing is what it seems to be.
9,00€
Out of stock
CD
RLW
“The pleasure of burning down churches”
“Black Rose Recordings are proud to present the stunning new solo release by Ralf Wehowsky. He is currently one of the most respected electronic composers of our day. With this release he not only utilises his highly complex trademark electro-acoustic and electronic sounds, but also carefully edits in field recordings he made whilst in Vietnam. This description may sound familiar, but RLW always manages to stay far ahead of any contempories. This release will still sound fresh and relevant in years to come. Ralf Wehowsky was one of the founder members of the seminal German group P16.D4 and the label Selektion whose groundbreaking releases influenced many working in today’s experimental music scene.”
9,00€