In stock
LP
Thomas BRINKMANN
“Raupenbahn”
Editions Mego is proud to present the latest addition to the compelling discography of Thomas Brinkmann. Throughout his career Brinkmann has focussed on the human operating amongst industry alongside rhythms that manifest as a result of technological advancement. With this new release Brinkmann makes a u-turn, looking back to the early industrial age. Comprised of recordings of various looms, Raupenbahn investigates the sonic properties and consequences of the first automatic loom as constructed by Jacques de Vaucanson in 1745. Thomas Brinkmann once again adheres to his tendency for clarity and simplicity whilst further investigating not only the sound and rhythms of the machines (looms) but also what role they serve in society and what consequences they have on the environment. Raupenbahn presents 21 tracks in total, 11 feature on the vinyl, the remaining 10 as digital bonus tracks. The majority of recordings were undertaken by Brinkmann in 2017 with a Neumann KM 184 stereo set. Additional recordings were sourced with permission from Monika W. recs. from 2014 Central Museum of Textiles Łódź, Poland. Each piece presents a diversity of material which borders on the breathtaking and beautiful in richness and complexity. The various looms unravel rhythms and patterns unexpected from machines of the early industrial age.
The loom holds a significant role in shaping our world being the catalyst for Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine which, alongside the subsequent work of Byron’s daughter Ada Lovelace, paved the way for modern computing. There is a linage of the loom that fits succinctly in Brinkmann’s overall argument. Here we encounter a parallel between machine driven economies and the music that rose from such places, consider the Sheffield steel industries, the Manchester weaving industry or the Rhineland / Düsseldorf loom and machine industry. Is it a coincidence that the practice of such machines in the environment gave rise to today’s predilection for electronic dance music, in pop, soundtracks, etc
Raupenbahn features no treatment or processing and explicitly displays varying tempo and timbres which ascertain a wide range of acoustic structures. The artwork features Ingrid Wiener, Rosemarie Trockel and Alexandra Bircken, three different generations who would with ideas of fabric weaving, loming and the like. This exceptional release works on a number of levels alongside it’s striking sonic palette.
Original price was: 17,00€.10,00€Current price is: 10,00€.
In stock
LP
PITA
“Get on”
With over 2 decades of formal exploration and exhilarating abstraction Get On is, somewhat surprisingly, only the fourth solo Pita full length. Peter Rehberg has always been vouched for pushing the very limits of the technology du jour, be it software or in recent years a complex modular set. Rehberg’s motives are one of unbridled exploration often resulting in extreme and exhilarating audio works.
Having spearheaded the contemporary electronic sound with his uncompromising explorations of noise, rhythm and extreme computer music, he has also worked with numerous experimental musicians in collaboration. Rehberg stands in the wake of a sonic revolution, once fringe, which transformed over time into the sound of a generation of experimental geeks and club freaks worldwide.
Get On follows on from the 2016 release Get In. As with other titles in his ‘Get’ series we have an unwieldy blend of noise, abstraction, gnarled rhythm and blurred melody. Both analogue and digital tools are deployed as a means of expressing something outside of everyday electronics. ‘AMFM’ launches proceedings with some delightfully disorientating ricocheting electronics setting off a subversive sonic spectrum. ‘Frozen Jumper’ presents some ugly skittering electronics which rotate into exquisitely mangled forms before launching into an unsettling euphoria. The last piece ‘Motivation’ is a towering sensitive work, simultaneously haunted and emotionally moving. Get On marks another monumental work in the ongoing evolution from one of the ground zero pioneers of contemporary radical electronic music. As uncompromising as ever this is Pita in his prime. Emotion rung from the most twisted of frames.
Recorded and mixed by Peter Rehberg at Twisted, Wien, 2018/2019
Mastered by Russell Haswell, July 2019
Cut by Rashad Becker at D&M, Berlin, August 2019
Original price was: 17,00€.10,00€Current price is: 10,00€.
In stock
LP
DOME
“Dome 3”
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). A final fourth album, WILL YOU SPEAK THIS WORD: DOME IV was released on the Norwegian Uniton label in May 1983.
These albums represent some of the most beautifuly stark and above all timeless exercises in studio experimentation from early 1980s alternative music scene.
16,00€
In stock
CD
HECKER
“Inspection II”
Florian Hecker’s latest CD release continues his work with computational techniques for analysis and resynthesis. In Inspection II we hear the progressive reconstruction of original source material using algorithms based upon human hearing and designed to capture timbral characteristics of sound. As the source is iteratively extracted from featureless noise, a complex ongoing dialogue commences between formal model and empirical experience of sound. Like Charon, the boatman who ferries souls of the dead across the styx, Inspection II crosses perpetually from one bank to the other: from the formal anticipations of analysis to the unexpected artefacts of synthesis.
In Robin Mackay’s libretto, recited by a synthetic voice, this inspective dialogue is transferred to the introspective psychoanalytic situation, where the continual re-narration of the self creates further disturbances and transformations—to attain a definitive image of oneself would be to face one’s own death.
As discussed in Amy Ireland’s essay Beside a Cold Statue commissioned for the CD sleevenotes, this process, whose symptomatology is recognisably that of masochism, sees the coldness of the formal model subverted as Hecker’s continual resynthesis delivers up a series of harsh, tantalising, and bewildering textures and timbres: ‘the resynthesized sound is more intractable, more disorienting, and more empirically obscene—a contingency that always disrupts the plan […] synthetic progeny, nourished on nothing but ice and noise…’.
Florian Hecker is an artist who works with synthetic sound, the listening process and the audience’s auditory experience, traversing performance, installation, and publications. Since 1996 he has exhibited and performed internationally.
Original price was: 14,00€.7,00€Current price is: 7,00€.
In stock
2 LP
François J. BONNET & Stephen O’MALLEY
“Cylene”
First time outing from two ardent explorers of peripheral sound tactics. Cylene is the first collaboration by François J. Bonnet ( Kassel Jaeger) and Stephen O’Malley (Sunn O))) ). Laid bare we have a subtle and nuanced study of their individual practices forming a titanic whole. O’Malley’s guitar inscribes a void that patiently opens up a spacious universe for Bonnet to discreetly alter with perception re-orientating studio maneuvers.
Cylene is infinitely rewarding for those that succumb to its delicate detours. A vast glacial plain unfurls slowly upon the listener invoking a mood similar to the stillness found following despair. As Joseph Ghosn succinctly outlines in his liner notes, “Stephen and François deal in those moments and instants that happen after the violence, and the ugliness and the mess. Their music is about chaos being summoned and ordered. It is about the noise that nurtures your ears after a long heartbreaking pain. I have heard the sounds of wars being fought and the noises of hearts being broken, and I have never found a shelter as soothing as this music which makes me think of sunken ships and beauty found in the depths of oceans long forgotten”.
24,00€
Out of stock
LP
Caterina BARBIERI
“Ecstatic Computation”
*** Back in stock ***
Caterina Barbieri is an Italian composer who explores themes related to machine intelligence and object oriented perception in sound through a focus on minimalism.
Following 2017’s acclaimed 2LP “Patterns of Consciousness”, “Ecstatic Computation” is the new full-length LP by Caterina Barbieri. The album revolves around the creative use of complex sequencing techniques and pattern-based operations to explore the artefacts of human perception and memory processes by ultimately inducing a sense of ecstasy and contemplation. Computation is turned from being a formal, automatic writing technique into a creative, psychedelic practice to generate temporal hallucinations. A state of trance and wonder where the perception of time is distorted and challenged.
Equally nervous and ecstatic, the fast permutation of patterns can create a state where time stands still whilst simultaneously being in motion. Is this propulsive music moving forward or backward? As long as the perception of the present is constantly enhanced and refreshed
in an endless sense of loss, re-discovery and the search for self-orientation this question lies mute aside the thrilling and perplexing moment of the matter at hand.
19,00€
In stock
CD
JUNG AN TAGEN
“Proxy State”
CD version. On Proxy States, his third release on Editions Mego, Jung An Tagen continues to expand his unique vision of oblique electronic music mixed with future dance club sound. On Proxy States techno is evolving into another realm, manifesting as his most formulated attempt to combine modern composition techniques with ritualistic techno aesthetics. Here he takes his obsession with structure to a more narrative build-up, creating new paths and textures around his infectious beats. With this structure, Jung An Tagen develops an emotional relationship between repetition and dissonance -- it's addictive music, music in constant explosion. The 12 seconds of the first track, "Spill (False)" sound like a recreation of The Big Bang, creating the perfect intro for this molecular polyrhythmic adventure. It also creates the connection/disconnection with his previous work, Agent Im Objekt (EMEGO 248LP, 2018), bridging the two but also creating a space to embark on a new sonic trip. This self-contained explosion offers the right coordinates and propels the listener to Jung An Tagen's sonic realm. All of this is done with his usual fearless but mindful approach. His unique exercises with structure, time and sound create an ecstatic familiarity with the sounds while at the same time inducing a creeping physical alienation. In other words, some parts may be rhythmically infectious, others will give you no chance to immerse. The stimulation is astute and continuous, encouraging an out-of-this-world experience. The main arc of Proxy States consists of a 16 against 17 poly-rhythmic synth line that through different intonations of the kick drum always transforms its syntax. This synth line always scales up 1 key, in the middle of the track, foreseeing the upcoming structure. While these tracks (3, 4, 5, 6: "Wreath Products") follow an almost obsessive-compulsive order, the remaining tracks seem to blow up the structure entirely like the last scenes of the 1970 Michelangelo Antonioni's film Zabriskie Point, creating an event inside the event. Proxy States was impossible to press on vinyl but the fast, sharp and wild grooves of Jung An Tagen's new album are incredibly synched with the concept of an ever accelerating future.
Original price was: 14,00€.7,00€Current price is: 7,00€.
Out of stock
LP
Oren AMBARCHI
“Simian Angel”
Oren Ambarchi - guitars & whatnot
Cyro Baptista - percussion & voice
After a trilogy of spectacular explorations of relentlessly driving rhythms – Sagittarian Domain (2012), Quixotism (2014) and Hubris (2016) – Simian Angel finds Oren Ambarchi renewing his focus on his singular approach to the electric guitar, returning in part to the spacious canvases of classic releases like Grapes from the Estate while also following his muse down previously unexplored byways.
Reflecting Ambarchi’s profound love of Brazilian music – an aspect of his omnivorous musical appetite not immediately apparent in his own work until now – Simian Angel features the remarkable percussive talents of the legendary Cyro Baptista, a key part of the Downtown scene who has collaborated with everyone from John Zorn and Derek Bailey to Robert Palmer and Herbie Hancock. Like the music of Nana Vasconcelos and Airto Moreira, Simian Angel places Baptista’s dexterous and rhythmically nuanced handling of traditional Brazilian percussion instruments into an unexpected musical context. On the first side, ‘Palm Sugar Candy’, Baptista’s spare and halting rhythms wind their way through a landscape of gliding electronic tones, gently rising up and momentarily subsiding until the piece’s final minutes leave Ambarchi’s guitar unaccompanied. While the rich, swirling harmonics of Ambarchi’s guitar performance are familiar to listeners from his previous recordings, the subtly wavering, synthetic guitar tone we hear is quite new, coming across at times like an abstracted, splayed-out take on the 80s guitar-synth work of Pat Metheny or Bill Frisell. Equally new is the harmonic complexity of Ambarchi’s playing, which leaves behind the minimalist simplicity of much of his previous work for a constantly-shifting play between lush consonance and uneasy dissonance.
Beginning with a beautiful passage of unaccompanied percussion dominated by the berimbau, the side-long title piece carries on the first side’s exploration of subtle, non-linear dynamic arcs, taking the form of a gently episodic suite, in which distinctive moments, like a lyrical passage of guitar-triggered piano, unexpectedly arise from intervals of drifting tones like dream images suddenly cohering. In the piece’s second half, the piano tones becomes increasingly more clipped and synthetic, scattering themselves into aleatoric melodies that call to mind an imaginary collaboration between Albert Marcoeur and David Behrman, grounded all the while by the pulse of Baptista’s percussion. Subtle yet complex, fleeting yet emotionally affecting, Simian Angel is an essential chapter in Ambarchi’s restlessly exploratory oeuvre.
Recorded by Randall Dunn, Joerg Hiller, Iuri Oriente and Oren Ambarchi.
Edited by Joerg Hiller and Oren Ambarchi at Choose Studios, Berlin.
Mixed by Joe Talia and Oren Ambarchi at Good Mixture, Tokyo.
Cut by Rashad Becker at D&M, Berlin.
Executive Producers: Konrad Sprenger & Dick Wolf.
Photography by Traianos Pakioufakis.
Design by Lasse Marhaug.
17,00€
Out of stock
CD
Oren AMBARCHI
“Simian Angel”
Oren Ambarchi - guitars & whatnot
Cyro Baptista - percussion & voice
After a trilogy of spectacular explorations of relentlessly driving rhythms – Sagittarian Domain (2012), Quixotism (2014) and Hubris (2016) – Simian Angel finds Oren Ambarchi renewing his focus on his singular approach to the electric guitar, returning in part to the spacious canvases of classic releases like Grapes from the Estate while also following his muse down previously unexplored byways.
Reflecting Ambarchi’s profound love of Brazilian music – an aspect of his omnivorous musical appetite not immediately apparent in his own work until now – Simian Angel features the remarkable percussive talents of the legendary Cyro Baptista, a key part of the Downtown scene who has collaborated with everyone from John Zorn and Derek Bailey to Robert Palmer and Herbie Hancock. Like the music of Nana Vasconcelos and Airto Moreira, Simian Angel places Baptista’s dexterous and rhythmically nuanced handling of traditional Brazilian percussion instruments into an unexpected musical context. On the first side, ‘Palm Sugar Candy’, Baptista’s spare and halting rhythms wind their way through a landscape of gliding electronic tones, gently rising up and momentarily subsiding until the piece’s final minutes leave Ambarchi’s guitar unaccompanied. While the rich, swirling harmonics of Ambarchi’s guitar performance are familiar to listeners from his previous recordings, the subtly wavering, synthetic guitar tone we hear is quite new, coming across at times like an abstracted, splayed-out take on the 80s guitar-synth work of Pat Metheny or Bill Frisell. Equally new is the harmonic complexity of Ambarchi’s playing, which leaves behind the minimalist simplicity of much of his previous work for a constantly-shifting play between lush consonance and uneasy dissonance.
Beginning with a beautiful passage of unaccompanied percussion dominated by the berimbau, the side-long title piece carries on the first side’s exploration of subtle, non-linear dynamic arcs, taking the form of a gently episodic suite, in which distinctive moments, like a lyrical passage of guitar-triggered piano, unexpectedly arise from intervals of drifting tones like dream images suddenly cohering. In the piece’s second half, the piano tones becomes increasingly more clipped and synthetic, scattering themselves into aleatoric melodies that call to mind an imaginary collaboration between Albert Marcoeur and David Behrman, grounded all the while by the pulse of Baptista’s percussion. Subtle yet complex, fleeting yet emotionally affecting, Simian Angel is an essential chapter in Ambarchi’s restlessly exploratory oeuvre.
Recorded by Randall Dunn, Joerg Hiller, Iuri Oriente and Oren Ambarchi.
Edited by Joerg Hiller and Oren Ambarchi at Choose Studios, Berlin.
Mixed by Joe Talia and Oren Ambarchi at Good Mixture, Tokyo.
Cut by Rashad Becker at D&M, Berlin.
Executive Producers: Konrad Sprenger & Dick Wolf.
Photography by Traianos Pakioufakis.
Design by Lasse Marhaug.
Original price was: 14,00€.8,00€Current price is: 8,00€.
In stock
2 LP
RENALDO AND THE LOAF
“Songs for Swinging Larvae / Songs from the Surgery”
A biomedical scientist and an architect form a band in the early 70’s with nothing by the way of traditional musical talent or skill but with endless enthusiasm and their own unique musical sensibility. The ensuing career and creative output of this ongoing home studio / bedroom band remains one of the most significant song based ‘outre’ catalogues ever produced in the United Kingdom. This comprehensive 2 LP (+7” for first 300 copies) set contains their first official LP (originally released on The Residents legendary Ralph records label) along with an extra album of different versions and extra tracks which reside here for the first time on vinyl.
The duo Renaldo & The Loaf, originally Portsmouth based, now in Portsmouth and Mid-Wales, remain an enigma whilst amassing an enormous cult following worldwide. Their singular take on music encompasses wit, strange melodic construction and an off kilter sensibility which successfully rendered them engaging for each emerging generation. The ability of Renaldo & The Loaf to unnerve and entertain in equal measure is what binds these songs to a musical universe outside of all other forms that existed around the time of release. The Residents are obvious spiritual heirs.
Songs For Swinging Larvae is a classic collection of confounding songs which lead the listener into a surreal world of twisted tunes and perverted pop. Songs from the Surgery is made up of improvisations, early/alternative versions of various Larvae tracks and unreleased pieces from the same period.
The results leave one laughing through a thick veil of unease. As the original Ralph records press release said of Songs For Swinging Larvae: “This is an album of primitive modernism, energetic obnoxious noises, manic high pitched vocals and sweet brilliance.
Original price was: 23,50€.15,00€Current price is: 15,00€.
Out of stock
LP
DOME
“Dome 2”
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.
These albums represent some of the most beautifuly stark and above all timeless exercises in studio experimentation from early 1980s alternative music scene.
Previously issued in the out of print DOME 1-4+5 box set in 2011. Now available as standalone LP with download card.
G. Lewis + B.C. Gilbert. August 1980.
Engineer: Eric Radcliffe. Asst. Engineer: John Fryer.
Recorded at Blackwing Studio
Floating-point re-master by Russell Haswell, August 2011
Cut at Dubplates & Mastering by Rashad Becker, August 2011
New artwork and layout: Dave Coppenhall
19,00€
Out of stock
LP
DOME
“Dome 1”
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). A final fourth album, WILL YOU SPEAK THIS WORD: DOME IV was released on the Norwegian Uniton label in May 1983.
These albums represent some of the most beautifuly stark and above all timeless exercises in studio experimentation from early 1980s alternative music scene.
B.C. Gilbert: Voices, Guitars, Bass, Percussion, Tapes, Drums
G. Lewis: Voices, Guitars, Bass, Percussion, Tapes, Synthesiser
A.M.C.: Voice: Cruel When Complete
Engineer: Eric Radcliffe.
Asst. Engineer: John Fryer
Recorded at Blackwing Studio
Floating-point re-master by Russell Haswell, August 2011. Cut at Dubplates & Mastering by Rashad Becker, August 2011.
New artwork and layout: Dave Coppenhall
16,00€
Out of stock
CD
Christian FENNESZ & Jim O’ROURKE
“It’s Hard For Me To Say I’m Sorry”
Recorded in Kobe, Kyoto, Tokyo, September 2015. Photos by Jim O’Rourke. Layout by Shunichiro Okada. Despite decades of activity and having crossed paths in various collaborations Editions Mego is honoured to release the first ever duo recording from two of the most highly regarded citizens of planet experimental electronic. Individually, Jim O’Rourke and Christian Fennesz have been responsible for numerous legendary works which merge the traditional avant-garde with contemporary sensibilities. On It’s Hard For Me To Say I’m Sorry these giants of experimental electronic practice come together for an immensely powerful sonic experience.
The signature of both O’Rourke and Fennesz cohabit this new release with O’Rourke’s gurgling harmonies swimming amongst the shimmering frequencies and strummed melodies produced by Fennesz. Two side long tracks situate themselves as a warm electronic adventure. Simultaneously radical and comforting these works shift from gentle sonorities to fully distorted explosions all of which reside within a template of tension between musical and non-music matter. Timeless in execution and presentation It’s Hard For Me To Say I’m Sorry is a deeply rewarding sonic experience from two of the most romantic gentlemen active in experimental music today.
The signature of both O’Rourke and Fennesz cohabit this new release with O’Rourke’s gurgling harmonies swimming amongst the shimmering frequencies and strummed melodies produced by Fennesz. Two side long tracks situate themselves as a warm electronic adventure. Simultaneously radical and comforting these works shift from gentle sonorities to fully distorted explosions all of which reside within a template of tension between musical and non-music matter. Timeless in execution and presentation It’s Hard For Me To Say I’m Sorry is a deeply rewarding sonic experience from two of the most romantic gentlemen active in experimental music today.
Original price was: 12,50€.8,00€Current price is: 8,00€.
Out of stock
LP
FENNESZ
“Fa 2012”
Fa 2012 + Fa (Mark Fell Remix). Mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates and Mastering, Berlin, July 2012. Layout by Tina Frank. Special 12” featuring new versions of the track Fa, taken from the debut Fennesz solo album
‘Hotel Paral.lel’ (1997). 15 years after its initial release, Christian Fennesz gives this throbbing monster of a track a new seeing to, extending it and adding more of that magic he is so well known for. The album was always an exercise in exploring alternate means of hearing club based music. This new version carries that concept further. This is backed by a cracking new mix by the ever productive Mark Fell, adding is unique beat structures, and even a MLK sample, which lends his contemporary rhythmic landscape a odd nostalgic twist. This 12” can be seen as a warm up for the new Fennesz album, which is currently scheduled for 2013 release.
‘Hotel Paral.lel’ (1997). 15 years after its initial release, Christian Fennesz gives this throbbing monster of a track a new seeing to, extending it and adding more of that magic he is so well known for. The album was always an exercise in exploring alternate means of hearing club based music. This new version carries that concept further. This is backed by a cracking new mix by the ever productive Mark Fell, adding is unique beat structures, and even a MLK sample, which lends his contemporary rhythmic landscape a odd nostalgic twist. This 12” can be seen as a warm up for the new Fennesz album, which is currently scheduled for 2013 release.
Original price was: 9,50€.5,00€Current price is: 5,00€.
In stock
LP
JUNG AN TAGEN
“Agent Im Objekt”
Composed, recorded and mixed by Jung An Tagen in the VIV. Artwork & layout: J. Fröhnel. Mastering: Rashad Becker.
Jung an Tagen is practicing sonic animism on a molecular level. With ‘Agent im Objekt’ he confronts us once more with a form of highly abstracted electronic music - puristic clubsounds for an accelerated future. Kicking off with an accumulation of high-pitched, psychoactive sounds, ‘Agent im Objekt’ takes us into a hyperreal sphere reigned by sonic entities. Playing with swarm-dynamics and singular signals, moments of distance and proximity and noise textures that stimulate our perception, Jung An Tagen transgresses the common syntax of clubmusic. His strategies resemble computer music composition and focus on timbre, texture and structure in an almost analytical way. The sounds filtered from his synthesizer are polished and bright, but behave in an astonishingly organic way, forming propulsive melodic sketches. Arranged in multiple layers of versatile polyrhythms, the tracks are nurtured by the forceful dialectics of precisely arranged chaos and ecstatic order. With his titles, Jung An Tagen is further adding an enigmatic narrative to his tracks, transcending the actual sphere of the dancefloor towards fictional storytelling. Following the structure of a one-sided chatlog, they evoke associations from the X-file series or mystery novels, revealing a brainteaser that is drawn from mysterious coordinates and secret codes.
In addition the official video »20:03 [Y] HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?« underlines Jung An Tagen’s interdisciplinary interest in synaesthetic processes. Developed in collaboration with the programmers JeongHo Park and Scott Sinclair the video visualizes particle explosion data from CERN - the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Inspired by Peter Kubelkas ‘Arnulf Rainer’, the resulting geometric figures are exposed to a ’complimentary stroboscope’ that glitches your receptors and stimulate your brainwaves with photo- and EEGstimulation close to seizure, inducing a hallucinative reality.
‘Agent im Objekt’ is playful but analytical, uplifting but mentally disturbed. While the dynamic use of reoccuring motives forces your body to move, cerebral timbres provoke a series of stimuli to massage your brain. It is intellectual body music that might mark a poetic turn in progressive dance music.
Jung an Tagen is practicing sonic animism on a molecular level. With ‘Agent im Objekt’ he confronts us once more with a form of highly abstracted electronic music - puristic clubsounds for an accelerated future. Kicking off with an accumulation of high-pitched, psychoactive sounds, ‘Agent im Objekt’ takes us into a hyperreal sphere reigned by sonic entities. Playing with swarm-dynamics and singular signals, moments of distance and proximity and noise textures that stimulate our perception, Jung An Tagen transgresses the common syntax of clubmusic. His strategies resemble computer music composition and focus on timbre, texture and structure in an almost analytical way. The sounds filtered from his synthesizer are polished and bright, but behave in an astonishingly organic way, forming propulsive melodic sketches. Arranged in multiple layers of versatile polyrhythms, the tracks are nurtured by the forceful dialectics of precisely arranged chaos and ecstatic order. With his titles, Jung An Tagen is further adding an enigmatic narrative to his tracks, transcending the actual sphere of the dancefloor towards fictional storytelling. Following the structure of a one-sided chatlog, they evoke associations from the X-file series or mystery novels, revealing a brainteaser that is drawn from mysterious coordinates and secret codes.
In addition the official video »20:03 [Y] HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?« underlines Jung An Tagen’s interdisciplinary interest in synaesthetic processes. Developed in collaboration with the programmers JeongHo Park and Scott Sinclair the video visualizes particle explosion data from CERN - the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Inspired by Peter Kubelkas ‘Arnulf Rainer’, the resulting geometric figures are exposed to a ’complimentary stroboscope’ that glitches your receptors and stimulate your brainwaves with photo- and EEGstimulation close to seizure, inducing a hallucinative reality.
‘Agent im Objekt’ is playful but analytical, uplifting but mentally disturbed. While the dynamic use of reoccuring motives forces your body to move, cerebral timbres provoke a series of stimuli to massage your brain. It is intellectual body music that might mark a poetic turn in progressive dance music.
Original price was: 15,50€.9,00€Current price is: 9,00€.
In stock
2 LP
The TRANSCENDENCE ORCHESTRA
“Modern Methods For Ancient Rituals”
Written and recorded at Cats Abbey in November 2016 by Anthony Child and Daniel Bean. Anthony and Daniel played the Buchla Music Easel, harmonium, shruti box, bass guitar, hurdy gurdy, symphonie, glockenspiel, hand bell, Electro Harmonix 45000, Strymon Blue Sky, Strymon DIG, and Roland RE 101 Space Echo.
The title of the debut album from The Transcendence Orchestra outlines the modus operandi of this pairing of Anthonyv Child and Daniel Bean. Recorded in a remote English rural setting over a period of 24 hours this is an apt location for a recording that eschews time and space in favour of methodological displacement and deep psychological navigation.
Modern Methods For Ancient Rituals is an experiment in acoustic and synthetic symbiosis which is deeply influenced by the atmosphere and acoustics of the rural location of Cats Abbey resulting in a set of recordings which can aid to the transformation of consciousness. Deploying a range of ancient and modern instruments and effects including Buchla Music Easel, harmonium, shruti box, bass guitar, hurdy gurdy, Electro Harmonix 45000, Strymon Blue Sky and Roland RE 101 Space Echo among others, Child and Bean conjure an audio experience which encapsulates elements of drone, trance, pulse, rhythm and melody subtly shifting all into a psychologically penetrating experience beyond the aesthetic and into the comforting unknown.
The title of the debut album from The Transcendence Orchestra outlines the modus operandi of this pairing of Anthonyv Child and Daniel Bean. Recorded in a remote English rural setting over a period of 24 hours this is an apt location for a recording that eschews time and space in favour of methodological displacement and deep psychological navigation.
Modern Methods For Ancient Rituals is an experiment in acoustic and synthetic symbiosis which is deeply influenced by the atmosphere and acoustics of the rural location of Cats Abbey resulting in a set of recordings which can aid to the transformation of consciousness. Deploying a range of ancient and modern instruments and effects including Buchla Music Easel, harmonium, shruti box, bass guitar, hurdy gurdy, Electro Harmonix 45000, Strymon Blue Sky and Roland RE 101 Space Echo among others, Child and Bean conjure an audio experience which encapsulates elements of drone, trance, pulse, rhythm and melody subtly shifting all into a psychologically penetrating experience beyond the aesthetic and into the comforting unknown.
Original price was: 21,00€.14,00€Current price is: 14,00€.
In stock
LP
LCC
“Bastet”
Written and produced by LCC. Mastered and cut by Mike Grinser at D&M Berlin, 2017. Recorded and edited at EMS Stockholm, IAC Malmö and Gijón, 2016.Additional field recordings courtesy by Marcos M. Merino and Bando de Nuestra Sra. de la Blanca. Cover by Pedro Maia.
Bastet is the second album of LCC (Ana Quiroga and Uge Pañeda). Bastet is a ritual study gliding the path from the rites of the ancient to the realm of the modern. Bastet is the name of the ancient Egyptian goddess closely linked to music and female power who coerced humans to entertain her in order to keep her untamed animalistic side in check. Whilst absorbing this legend the second LCC release presents itself as a vast canvas of ritual, restraint and spacious sonorities. Stark and unnerving Bastet is not reliant on pure electronics as abstract theatre but rather utilises these tools to conjure a world circling the spheres and planes of symbolic human activity.
Recorded throughout 2016 among residencies at the legendary studios EMS of Stockholm, the Inter Arts Center of Malmö and their own studio in Gijón, Bastet is a rich experience: cryptic, visionary and utterly compelling. 8 tracks laying forth a deep listening journey into the netherworlds of human experience, movement, ritual and space.
Bastet is the second album of LCC (Ana Quiroga and Uge Pañeda). Bastet is a ritual study gliding the path from the rites of the ancient to the realm of the modern. Bastet is the name of the ancient Egyptian goddess closely linked to music and female power who coerced humans to entertain her in order to keep her untamed animalistic side in check. Whilst absorbing this legend the second LCC release presents itself as a vast canvas of ritual, restraint and spacious sonorities. Stark and unnerving Bastet is not reliant on pure electronics as abstract theatre but rather utilises these tools to conjure a world circling the spheres and planes of symbolic human activity.
Recorded throughout 2016 among residencies at the legendary studios EMS of Stockholm, the Inter Arts Center of Malmö and their own studio in Gijón, Bastet is a rich experience: cryptic, visionary and utterly compelling. 8 tracks laying forth a deep listening journey into the netherworlds of human experience, movement, ritual and space.
Original price was: 15,00€.7,00€Current price is: 7,00€.
Out of stock
LP
BJ NILSEN
“Massif Trophies”
BJNilsen is a composer and sound artist based in Amsterdam. His work primarily focuses on the sounds of nature and how they affect humans. Recent work has explored the urban acoustic realm and industrial geography in the Arctic region of Norway and Russia. His original scores and soundtracks have featured in theatre, dance performances and film. Celebrating 27 years as a recording artist Massif Trophies is the first solo release for Editions Mego. In 2015 he set off on a month long hiking trip in Gran Paradiso to explore the acoustic environments in the alpine landscape. Drawn to the monotonous and physical effort that mountains and high altitudes contributes, this became one of the main inspirations for the album, reflecting upon the perception of the landscape during several hours of physical difficulty, let alone rapid weather changes, horizontal thunderstorms and rock avalanches. It is also about the scope of details and perception of the path and the myth of the mountain as the accursed or sacred place. The five pieces contains narratives based on experiences and recordings from the trip.
All source material recorded in Gran Paradiso, July 2015. Engineered at Odd Phasing and Echoes, Amsterdam NL. Photography BJNilsen.
Original price was: 15,00€.9,00€Current price is: 9,00€.
Out of stock
2 LP
Thomas BRINKMANN
“A 1000 keys”
Dedicated to Conlon Nancarrow.
“How many can get a personal sound out of a fucking piano?!” Lee Konitz.
Thomas Brinkmann takes his seductive reductionism to the next level. “A 1000 KEYS” is a harsh meditation on the expressive qualities of digital sound production. In translating the timbre of a grande piano into binary codes, thus rebuilding its corpus with 0 and 1s, Brinkmann subverts the sensual qualities of this proto-romantic instrument in a sardonic way. Replacing the musician with a mathematically precise series of frenetic repetition and intriguingly dissonant difference, the result sounds at times like a violent ride through the brains of Schönberg or Webern, drained in amphetamines, at others like Feldman’s ephemeral sketches or Russolo’s futurist outburst.
Brinkmann's conceptual framework is resonating in the track titles. Using shortcuts of international airports, he refers to non-places that establish their own space-and-time continuum, while lacking individual identity and history. These functional scenarios are sterile passages for anonymous, objectified masses, at the same time there’s hardly a better place to grasp the very subjective character of time.
“A 1000 KEYS” is a fatal homage to minimalism and a consequent denial of virtuosity and the idea of creative genius. Paraphrasing the romantic idea of human perfection, Brinkmann found a way to create sonic algorithms of tenderness and brutality, establishing dramatic expressiveness in his constructivist analytics. The result is of radical beauty.
PLEASE NOTE: LHR, YWG & MAD do not appear on the vinyl edition but are included on the download version. Vinyl includes download card.
“How many can get a personal sound out of a fucking piano?!” Lee Konitz.
Thomas Brinkmann takes his seductive reductionism to the next level. “A 1000 KEYS” is a harsh meditation on the expressive qualities of digital sound production. In translating the timbre of a grande piano into binary codes, thus rebuilding its corpus with 0 and 1s, Brinkmann subverts the sensual qualities of this proto-romantic instrument in a sardonic way. Replacing the musician with a mathematically precise series of frenetic repetition and intriguingly dissonant difference, the result sounds at times like a violent ride through the brains of Schönberg or Webern, drained in amphetamines, at others like Feldman’s ephemeral sketches or Russolo’s futurist outburst.
Brinkmann's conceptual framework is resonating in the track titles. Using shortcuts of international airports, he refers to non-places that establish their own space-and-time continuum, while lacking individual identity and history. These functional scenarios are sterile passages for anonymous, objectified masses, at the same time there’s hardly a better place to grasp the very subjective character of time.
“A 1000 KEYS” is a fatal homage to minimalism and a consequent denial of virtuosity and the idea of creative genius. Paraphrasing the romantic idea of human perfection, Brinkmann found a way to create sonic algorithms of tenderness and brutality, establishing dramatic expressiveness in his constructivist analytics. The result is of radical beauty.
PLEASE NOTE: LHR, YWG & MAD do not appear on the vinyl edition but are included on the download version. Vinyl includes download card.
Original price was: 21,00€.14,00€Current price is: 14,00€.
Out of stock
CD
CINDYTALK
“The Labyrinth Of The Straight Line”
Written and recorded by Cindytalk between 2013–2015 at Roi Vert, Okamoto, Japan and Thirteenth Floor, London, UK. Film clips on Sea Of Lost Hopes, Lost Unfound and Filthy Sun: Ghost Dance (UK 1983), directed by Ken McMullen. Design/images: David Coppenhall
‘The Labyrinth of the Straight Line’ is a compilation of chimerical poetry. Ambiguous haikus of agony, melancholy, obscurity and dissensus are unfolding over time. Walking on the shapeshifting paths of transgression, on the search for new realities since the early 1980’s, Cindytalk’s latest release pays homage to their industrial roots, comprising brutalist outbursts in abstract sceneries of beauty and abysmality. As surreal and introspective as a film by Jean Cocteau, as labyrinthic and enigmatic as a story of Borges, Cindytalk succeeds in spatializing subjectivity. These introverted detournements follow the logic of dreams and form the unsettling soundtrack of an unresting mind. The outcome can be abrasive and balearic at times, but also delicate and melancholic. 'The Labyrinth Of The Straight Line' forms an alphabet of dark and obscure detachment. Acid shivers of a body without organs and convulsive pumps of arteries alternate with poignant murmurs of the past that dissolve in tender shades of hushed despair and graceful debris.
We find ourselves in spaces with walls crumbling down or concaved by glazed mirrors terrorizing the claustrophobic body. From time to time we can hear a disembodied voice, speaking soft and clear like a narrator from a different reality.
Sonic psychogeography between somnambul dark ambient, claustrophobic post-industrial and nightmarish techno. Delightful sketches of escatology.
‘The Labyrinth of the Straight Line’ is a compilation of chimerical poetry. Ambiguous haikus of agony, melancholy, obscurity and dissensus are unfolding over time. Walking on the shapeshifting paths of transgression, on the search for new realities since the early 1980’s, Cindytalk’s latest release pays homage to their industrial roots, comprising brutalist outbursts in abstract sceneries of beauty and abysmality. As surreal and introspective as a film by Jean Cocteau, as labyrinthic and enigmatic as a story of Borges, Cindytalk succeeds in spatializing subjectivity. These introverted detournements follow the logic of dreams and form the unsettling soundtrack of an unresting mind. The outcome can be abrasive and balearic at times, but also delicate and melancholic. 'The Labyrinth Of The Straight Line' forms an alphabet of dark and obscure detachment. Acid shivers of a body without organs and convulsive pumps of arteries alternate with poignant murmurs of the past that dissolve in tender shades of hushed despair and graceful debris.
We find ourselves in spaces with walls crumbling down or concaved by glazed mirrors terrorizing the claustrophobic body. From time to time we can hear a disembodied voice, speaking soft and clear like a narrator from a different reality.
Sonic psychogeography between somnambul dark ambient, claustrophobic post-industrial and nightmarish techno. Delightful sketches of escatology.
Original price was: 12,50€.6,00€Current price is: 6,00€.
In stock
12" monoface
Russell HASWELL
“Tongue dancer ‘85”
Single sided 12” vinyl with rubber stamp. Edition of 300. Recorded at EMS Elektronmusikstudion 19.03.2015. Used = ALM, Tiptop Audio, SERGE...
Original price was: 10,50€.5,00€Current price is: 5,00€.
Out of stock
2 CD
Russell HASWELL & PAIN JERK
“Electroacoustic Sludge Dither Transformation Smear Grind Decomposition nO!se File Exchange Mega Edit”
Electroacoustic Sludge Dither Transformation Smear Grind Decomposition nO!se File Exchange Mega Edit' is the long awaited collaboration from two of the world finest purveyors of noise, electroacoustics and top shelf audio mayhem. Having met at the legendary Tokyo venue 20000 volts in 1997 Haswell and Pain Jerk (Kohei Gomi) stayed in touch with the intent to collaborate at some point in the future. This was eventually realized in 2012 when they were offered a gig to play together at the Rammel Club in Nottingham. Prior to the show they exchanged files of solo recordings, as a means of forming a basis for what was initially conceived as an 'extreme duet tag mass attack'. It was here that the foundation was laid for the epic extreme end result we now encounter. The Nottingham performance was recorded and both parties took away the results in addition to their solo recordings to re-edit and re-send, back and forth, for 2 years, re-editing, re-contextualising these original sounds. The results of this extended collaboration is a punk academic collision which utilises advanced computer music techniques and analogue/digital modular synthesizer splurge, along with the more basic and belligerent frequencies found in distortion and feedback. This can also be read as a study of editing in all forms; hyper editing, editing in pop music, editing in dance culture, electro-acoustic editing, the editing techniques used in musique concrète, editing used in film and advertising along with the notion of gaps - the audible and inaudible. A blistering 2cd collision of transformation, technique, ideas and form which resides equally in the advanced fields of electroacoustic study and the high energy freeform noise from which both practitioners sprung.
Original price was: 17,00€.8,00€Current price is: 8,00€.
Out of stock
LP
Philipp QUEHENBERGER
“Content”
Philipp Quehenberger’s music has existed as a consistent strain amongst the Austrian underground for the last 15 years. His output is a cracking combination of dance floor zeal and deep disco disorientation. A perpetually rotating sphere which blends genres whilst bending the body and mind. Quehenberger's sweaty cerebrum is significantly showcased on his second full length for Editions Mego. 'Content' ventures deeper into Quehenberger's world of electro noir, ketamine cool and sordid soul. 'Fucked' is a monumental drive through a gloriously queasy and sleazy terrain which leads into the rolling rhythms of last years killer 'Uff Uff 12"". Here an oozing psychedelic tapestry folds amongst muffled voices resulting in a striking propulsive chant. 'Startled' further charts the depths of dance and disorientation as striding rhythms coalesce amongst gloriously diminishing synths. 'Extended' bounces around an ecstatic carnival atmosphere where an abject ringleader swerves amongst swirling organs and a thick organic beat. 'Content' is brimming with hard driving dance music. A bass line degenerate hurtling out of the speakers as the ultimate mood enhancer. Equal parts quarantine and club 'Content' is one Quehenberger’s finest works to date.
Original price was: 9,00€.5,00€Current price is: 5,00€.
In stock
LP
ENSEMBLE SKALECTRIK
“Trainwrekz”
Ensemble Skalectrik is a side-project of Nick ’Ekoplekz’ Edwards. Previous emissions include the self-released psycho-geographical abstraction of "Snuff Mill Tapes" and a homage to Maurizio Bianchi via Feral Tapes. Focusing entirely on spontaneous composition and one-take improvisation, Ensemble Skalectrik represents the most raw, extreme performance-based electronic music in Edwards’ repertoire. On "Trainwrekz", Edwards has dusted-off his turntables, grabbed a stack of old vinyl (mainly sound effects and easy listening albums), added a selection of sound-shaping devices (filters, equalizers, loop-pedals) and proceeded to record a series of delirious, derailed sonic sketches that sound like nothing else in his rapidly expanding discography. Ranging from the portentous pile-up of "Wrekwahn", the oppressive atmospherics of "Wrekfore" and the serene ornithological drift of "Wreksikz", these half-dozen pieces document the emergence of a highly personalized form of turntablism that incorporates elements of Chance, Drone, Dub, Hauntology, Musique Concrete and Free Improvisation. Performed and recorded in three sessions during the month of November, 2012. additional production and mix jan.2013 Active Participants: Alesis Nano Compressor, BASF Chrome cassette (x2), Belcat Delay, Chance, Danelectro ’Reel Echo’, Ekdahl ’Moisturizer’, Electrix ’EQ Killer’, Electro-Harmonix ’The Worm’, Muza FD900 ’M Ambience’, Nick Edwards, Rocktek 6 Band EQ, Stanton STR8-30 direct drive turntable (x2), Yamaha MT3X cassette multitrack and a selection of vinyl LP records.
Original price was: 15,00€.8,00€Current price is: 8,00€.
Out of stock
2 LP
Nick EDWARDS
“Plekzationz”
Made by the founders of the initial Mego label, Peter Rehberg (Pita), alongside Andreas Pieper and Ramon Bauer (General Magic) these recordings are legendary in their execution. It was these pioneering releases, along with the earlier Warp and Sahko output, that really pushed abstraction squarely into the formally safe realm of dance music. The results were amongst the most influential musical offerings of the period and the paths laid out have been traversed by many a sonic explorer to this day. Both the EP and full length were made via the same process whereby microphones were placed in a fridge in order to harvest the unusual microscopic sound world within. The resulting hums, buzzes, flickers and icy drones were then reassembled and reconstructed to make an assortment of tracks which range from rhythmic, ambient and glacial straight on through to the downright bizarre.
Original price was: 14,00€.7,00€Current price is: 7,00€.
In stock
2 LP
TYME. x TUJIKO
“Gyu”
“All songs produced and written by Tyme. / Tujiko Noriko. Except tracks 2, 8 written by P.P.A / Tujiko Noriko. Mixed by Tyme. Tujiko Noriko returns to Editions Mego after a period of relative silence. This time in collaboration with Tyme. (aka Tatsuya Yamada, member of MAS). This album was developed from songs that the duo made once a year at the end and beginning of new year, for a period of six years. These were sent to friends and people who asked. After six years there were six tracks they added five more the illustrations of Kimura Toshiko to complete the album. A gaudy take on J-pop perhaps? These songs are bustling with a weird sense optimism thats not only fun but a little odd as well. The end and the start of a year, made by thinking of future, giving it a shiny sheen with just a dash of darkness. GYU is an onomatopoeia of - holding something tight, grabbing something. You know you like it really. CD version released by Nature Bliss in Japan, so no export there for that format. Vinyl version is for the World.”
Original price was: 14,00€.8,00€Current price is: 8,00€.
Out of stock
LP
Oren AMBARCHI & Jim O’ROURKE + U-ZHAAN
“Hence”
"Hence is the third collaborative release from Oren Ambarchi and Jim O’Rourke, following on from 2013’s Behold. Building on the refined combination of electronics and acoustic instrumentation found on their previous releases, Hence presents two side long pieces combining synthesizers, heavily effected guitar tones, and tabla rhythms played by special guest U-zhaan. On the first side, an explosive opening chord sends out ripples of sparse, irregularly pulsing guitar and synthesizer tones, aleatorically changing in pitch and jumping around the stereo image. Combined with the tabla, which gradually builds in busyness throughout the side, the piece is like a dream collaboration between David Behrman and the Henry Kaiser of It’s a Wonderful Life, gradually overtaken in its second half by a swarm of lush live electronic sizzle."
16,00€
In stock
CD
HECKER
“A Script For Machine Synthesis”
The latest work from Florian Hecker A Script for Machine Synthesis is an experimental auditory drama and a model of abstraction. A Script for Machine Synthesis presents a complex simplicity that spirals in an unending manner as an audio image of the uncanny valley. It is the third chapter in the trilogy of text-sound pieces Hecker has collaborated with the philosopher Reza Negarestani. A resynthesized voice outlines procedure as procedure itself unfolds.
The suggestive encounter with a pink ice cube is a conceptual point of departure for a scene in which linguistic chimeras of descriptors are materialized through synthetic trophies, mental props and auditory objects.
Hecker presents a synthesis of the gap in the valley which we almost know. The motifs Hecker has staged in the last decade, the text, the sound, the scent, the obelisk, the demon, the self, the other all appear throughout in a thorough, rigid and formal exploration.
Exeunt all human actors, A Script for Machine Synthesis is an experiment in putting synthetic emptiness back into synthetic thought.
The suggestive encounter with a pink ice cube is a conceptual point of departure for a scene in which linguistic chimeras of descriptors are materialized through synthetic trophies, mental props and auditory objects.
Hecker presents a synthesis of the gap in the valley which we almost know. The motifs Hecker has staged in the last decade, the text, the sound, the scent, the obelisk, the demon, the self, the other all appear throughout in a thorough, rigid and formal exploration.
Exeunt all human actors, A Script for Machine Synthesis is an experiment in putting synthetic emptiness back into synthetic thought.
Original price was: 12,50€.6,00€Current price is: 6,00€.
Out of stock
LP
Heather LEIGH
‘Throne’
Heather Leigh: pedal steel guitar, vocals, synthesizer, drum machine
Music composed & performed by Heather Leigh
Additional instrumentation by John Hannon: violin, synthesizer & David Keenan: electric bass
"Heather Leigh takes her Throne as queen of pedal steel with a suite of heartbleed ballads cauterised with burning riffs. After the rawness of its precursor I Abused Animal, Throne is a record of late night Americana and heavy femininity; intimate love songs smoked in sensuality. The songs on Throne are woozy, gorgeous and uncomfortable, smothered in thick layers of bass but lifted by multitracked vocals. These are rich song forms that stand in contrast to the stripped down steel in her duo with Peter Brotzmann.
Prelude To Goddess sashays in wearing leopard print jeans under the twinkling fluorescent illuminations of the British seaside, like Brighton Rock with extra bass. It is followed in by Lena – arguably Leigh's Jolene – a perverse love song soaked in a subversive sexuality, weighed down with a heavy pulse. Soft Seasons is anchored with sunken beats shrouded in wailing, growling steel and an earwormy melody. Gold Teeth, the longest track on the record, crests and breaks in waves; ecstatic peaks balanced and echoed by melancholic troughs. It soars on an updraft, and from cosmic heights dives seaward into a gnarly and riotous pedal steel breakdown, before catching the breeze again.
Days Without You and Scorpio & Androzani are shorter, intimate songs, in the latter the synths seethe and the steel bows and bends as Leigh's voice falters above a Greek chorus of shadows and reflections. But this isn't autobiography, and Throne departs on Days Without You, a confrontationally unfinished romantic song, anxious with half-thoughts and missed connections. It glides into the night on stilettos leaving unanswered questions, in a fug of psychic disturbance and lovesick sensuality.
Leigh's artwork (which she photographed and designed) is a visual mirror of the songs on Throne. It is an album of cosmic echoes, abstractions and introspection, of characters and stories that make up Leigh's first best pop record, its melodies and hooks set alight with the fiery core of her unique and distinctive pedal steel." JLA August 2018
15,90€
In stock
CD
Heather LEIGH
‘Throne’
Heather Leigh: pedal steel guitar, vocals, synthesizer, drum machine
Music composed & performed by Heather Leigh
Additional instrumentation by John Hannon: violin, synthesizer & David Keenan: electric bass
"Heather Leigh takes her Throne as queen of pedal steel with a suite of heartbleed ballads cauterised with burning riffs. After the rawness of its precursor I Abused Animal, Throne is a record of late night Americana and heavy femininity; intimate love songs smoked in sensuality. The songs on Throne are woozy, gorgeous and uncomfortable, smothered in thick layers of bass but lifted by multitracked vocals. These are rich song forms that stand in contrast to the stripped down steel in her duo with Peter Brotzmann.
Prelude To Goddess sashays in wearing leopard print jeans under the twinkling fluorescent illuminations of the British seaside, like Brighton Rock with extra bass. It is followed in by Lena – arguably Leigh's Jolene – a perverse love song soaked in a subversive sexuality, weighed down with a heavy pulse. Soft Seasons is anchored with sunken beats shrouded in wailing, growling steel and an earwormy melody. Gold Teeth, the longest track on the record, crests and breaks in waves; ecstatic peaks balanced and echoed by melancholic troughs. It soars on an updraft, and from cosmic heights dives seaward into a gnarly and riotous pedal steel breakdown, before catching the breeze again.
Days Without You and Scorpio & Androzani are shorter, intimate songs, in the latter the synths seethe and the steel bows and bends as Leigh's voice falters above a Greek chorus of shadows and reflections. But this isn't autobiography, and Throne departs on Days Without You, a confrontationally unfinished romantic song, anxious with half-thoughts and missed connections. It glides into the night on stilettos leaving unanswered questions, in a fug of psychic disturbance and lovesick sensuality.
Leigh's artwork (which she photographed and designed) is a visual mirror of the songs on Throne. It is an album of cosmic echoes, abstractions and introspection, of characters and stories that make up Leigh's first best pop record, its melodies and hooks set alight with the fiery core of her unique and distinctive pedal steel." JLA August 2018
Original price was: 13,90€.7,00€Current price is: 7,00€.
In stock
LP
Klara LEWIS & Simon FISHER TURNER
“Care”
Composed & Edited by Klara Lewis and Simon Fisher Turner. Editions Mego is proud to present the first outing from the legendary English musician, song-writer, composer and producer Simon Fisher Turner alongside the highly acclaimed emerging Swedish sound artist Klara Lewis. Care is a unique outing rife with delicious dichotomy. The opening track positions the aggressive directly against more fragile moments. On the subsequent track medieval melodies sprout from a dense rhythmic hiss. Witness a Middle Eastern song appearing amongst a haunted rattling reverb in the epic ‘Tank’ whilst a beautiful force of hope can be found within the sound world of the the closing track ‘Mend’. The wide scope of references and constant pull of forces make this debut off ering a timeless patchwork of sonic spaces. Care is an album which sways in such a salubrious manner one can’t help but delight in its unique form of location/disorientation.
16,00€
In stock
LP
Dino SPILUTTINI
“Heaven”
Heaven is a work of contemporary church music. Centrally occupied with the subject of death, its conceptualisation was catalysed by Spiluttini’s discovering his mother’s preparations both for her own death and for his. He arrived at her home in 2015 to be led into the local church and shown the two adjacent places she had reserved for their urns. The tracks on Heaven together consist of an analogously personal and anticipatory negotiation with death.
Partly derived from organ recordings made in the same church, the album frequently enlists Arvo Pärt’s compositional method of tintinnabuli. Aside from the thematic logic of its sacred associations, the method suits Spiluttini’s tendency, in spite of heavy and dynamic passages, to minimise tonal complexity. His characteristic uses of gnashing bass, restlessly irregular pacing and serrated distortion return. This time, they combine with pads, harps, fluttering organs and swooping choirs.
Track titles throughout Heaven conjure intense emotional conflicts, especially those arising from experiences of embodiment. Touch isolation is a term for the toxic masculine stigma against platonic touch between men. If such a reference on an album preoccupied with death and afterlife raises the question of whether Spiluttini considers any touch – let alone platonic – to be possible in Heaven, the title ‘Flesh Angel’ perhaps answers it. As with ‘Body at War’ and ‘Weakened Centurion’, such a title positions the agitation of its music among ongoing struggles with body acceptance. Meanwhile, ‘Rainbow Bridge’ recalls the 1980s prose poem promising an eternal reunion in death with one’s beloved lost pets. In context, these various indices seem to capture the yearning speculation that, as the nexuses of experience, bodies are not discarded in death; on the contrary, they achieve a state of perfection.
Heaven revolves within dramatic and ever-changing vignettes. As church music, it lacks real communal participation or fidelity to hymnal text. Instead, it must come to terms with negation and eternity as dependable threats to generational and spatial distance, to personal struggles with earthly embodiment and to the anxious, hyperactive navigation of identity in late modernity. (Edward Trethowan)
Original price was: 17,00€.10,00€Current price is: 10,00€.