"Flux" is the 1981 debut solo outing of Robert Turman, an American multi-instrumentalist and avant-garde composer. Until recently, Turman was perhaps best known for his contributions to the ballistic NON project with Boyd Rice, as well as other obscured U.S. industrial acts such as Z.O. Voider.
In the summer of 1981 Turman decided he would take a drastic turn from the noisy/electronic/industrial work of his compatriots, and began work on what is now the classic "Flux" cassette. "Flux" was originally self-released in extremely limited numbers. Weary of the noisescapes of old, he set out to create long-form minimalism utilizing kalimba, piano, "Mini-Pops Jr." drum machine, and tape loops to create a complex bed of interweaving micro-stasis'. The results of these new experiments were as beautiful as they were perplexing.
A curious dusty fidelity carries these classic tracks across four sides of vinyl, including all of the original "Flux" content. These compositions glow with a sprawling, slow motion haze that's light years ahead of its time. "Flux" reveals wide spectrums of sound from melancholic kalimba and percussion patterns to slowed down, syrupy Exotica. Turman had complex ideas in his mind yet only the simple technologies of the day were at hand. Hear the click of the stopping and starting Tascam 3340 open-reel tape machine as one hand presses the "record" and "play" buttons and the other plays piano phrases. While there are similarities in style to Classical Minimalism, Turman's sound and vision is his own and is exclusive to his limited discography.
Released in a limited edition 2xLP set, Lovingly remastered and cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates and Mastering from the original c-60 cassette master.
Original cassette artwork and scans provided by Aaron Dilloway.
2022 repress, clear vinyl.
"Flux" is the 1981 debut solo outing of Robert Turman, an American multi-instrumentalist and avant-garde composer. Until recently, Turman was perhaps best known for his contributions to the ballistic NON project with Boyd Rice, as well as other obscured U.S. industrial acts such as Z.O. Voider.
In the summer of 1981 Turman decided he would take a drastic turn from the noisy/electronic/industrial work of his compatriots, and began work on what is now the classic "Flux" cassette. "Flux" was originally self-released in extremely limited numbers. Weary of the noisescapes of old, he set out to create long-form minimalism utilizing kalimba, piano, "Mini-Pops Jr." drum machine, and tape loops to create a complex bed of interweaving micro-stasis'. The results of these new experiments were as beautiful as they were perplexing.
A curious dusty fidelity carries these classic tracks across four sides of vinyl, including all of the original "Flux" content. These compositions glow with a sprawling, slow motion haze that's light years ahead of its time. "Flux" reveals wide spectrums of sound from melancholic kalimba and percussion patterns to slowed down, syrupy Exotica. Turman had complex ideas in his mind yet only the simple technologies of the day were at hand. Hear the click of the stopping and starting Tascam 3340 open-reel tape machine as one hand presses the "record" and "play" buttons and the other plays piano phrases. While there are similarities in style to Classical Minimalism, Turman's sound and vision is his own and is exclusive to his limited discography.
Released in a limited edition 2xLP set, Lovingly remastered and cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates and Mastering from the original c-60 cassette master.
Original cassette artwork and scans provided by Aaron Dilloway.
2022 repress, black vinyl..
"Reactions" is the debut album from First Tone, the musical partnership of New Orleans-based artists Turk Dietrich (Second Woman, Belong) and composer Duane Pitre (Important Records). While the project has been at work quietly sculpting their sound for years, "Reactions" is the first available set of recordings. Those familiar with the respective works of the two artists will be happy to find a collection of music that is very much of the duo, and yet totally unlike anything they've produced before.
Over six tracks, First Tone unfurl poignant, flickering compositional works that utilize pitch material that is tuned using the system known as Just Intonation (which Pitre has studied for nearly 15 years) in conjunction with various software and a single hardware synth. The result is a collection of music that is both organic and alien. Layers of tone and texture build and dissolve from the ultra minimal to the enormous, on occasion seamlessly blending the two. A wide array of striking timbres patiently wash over one another, at times sounding like organic instruments, at other times sounding completely otherworldly.
"Reactions" is a masterclass not only in sound design and dynamic range, but also in sonic depth. The album’s approach to the usage of time and dynamics work together to create the perception of a three-dimensional spaciousness of sound. The holographic effects produced from the spaces between the album’s sounds are mesmerizing, with discreet arrangements that demand repeat listens to fully absorb.
Recorded in Cleveland, OH October 2017 by Andrew Veres. Artwork by Ren Schofield.
Ren Schofield has returned with a new installment in his notorious “LP” series for Spectrum Spools. “LP” has all the earmarks of the classic Container sound with it’s uber-mangled, saturated tape garble and headlong tempo macabre. However, this new set of tracks feature an attention to composition unlike much of the Container we’ve previously heard. While the tracks unfurl across two sides of wax the contours and jagged edges of each sonic sculpture display a new refinement while maintaining the full capacity to vaporize any club floor with Container’s traditional recklessness.
Miraculously, this new “LP” manages to incorporate some more traditionally ‘musical’ elements thus far untouched upon in the projects output while simultaneously delivering it’s most damaged and blown out offering yet. Despite leaving a trail of albums that get more intense with each passing year, this “LP” is bar none the most loaded. The tracks feature a trajectory with narrative, surrounded by broken acid basslines grating against disintegrating tape loops. This is the infectious and singular hypnosis Container has become well-known for. Overloaded drum patterns, washes of feedback, and dying melodies - it's all here and somehow it's restructured to be different and better than ever before. With this latest installment, there are no longer shambles but merely dust left behind.
As Container continues to evolve in an upward motion, “LP” presents a refreshing and welcome new chapter.
Conceived. Recorded. Mixed @ Elbur House 2014. Mastered by Giuseppe Tilleci at Ennislab Rome. After countless singles, LPs and performances played around the world, James Donadio is back with his first full length effort since 2014s “Petit Cochon”, “Ghost Detergent” is a consummate amalgam of fried gear, chunky bass and fractured samples. Donadio’s extraordinary ability to fuse his wide range of influences into a collection of lucidly executed and concis.e jams has reached it’s paragon. “Ghost Detergent” is a rhythm-centric maze of fluctuating patterns adorned with crooked fills and raucous melody. Tracks like “Nerve and Gall” and “Government Wrecker” stomp with a coarse, grinding fuss gliding on swinging bottomless bassline turbulence. Locked in puzzle-like sampling patchwork collides perfectly with an array of rogue electronics creating a sense of daring nearly extinct in the age of gridlocked BPM-steady 12”s. Tracks like “Pregnant Toad” and “Cheap Amplifiers” play out like a Def Jam bonus beat with ripping, cough syrup slathered DMX snare sounds. “Ghost Detergent” has an unhinged, unrelenting churn that stares squarely into a personal vacuum, remaining uninfluenced by the influencers and unflinching in its originality. Neither bird nor egg are relevant here. Prostitutes has managed to carve out it's own tenure in contemporary electronic music by delivering in live performance and by shattering expectations on records. Never does the aesthetic outweigh the content, and “Ghost Detergent” delivers only the wheat and none of the chaff.
15,00€Original price was: 15,00€.8,00€Current price is: 8,00€.
Flashback to 2009, maybe late winter or something like that. The Road Chief comes back from his extended stay in Belgium all laced up with new jams from the underground. We’re blazing the trails of the NE Ohio streets and valleys and on his stereo he’s got this "Palm - Escape From New York" disc. I become immediately intrigued and bewildered - so many questions to ask. "Who is this?" "When was this made?" "HOW was it made?" Feeling pert, we moved forward to pursue a vinyl release for the now deceased Wagon imprint, in high hopes we could deliver this platter immediately, being the non-stop jam that it is. Many emails, dead ends, events, tours, records, other releases, projects later the record seemed like it would never happen. We couldn’t get anything lined up, we didn’t have the time to get the ball rolling, and years had started passing by quickly. Flash forward to two months ago, loading up my iPod shuffle to take to work, and I see "Palm - Escape from New York" in the "tunez" folder. A few cups off coffee into work and jamming the "Escape From New York" at maximum volume, work became very productive all of a sudden - but I became so bothered by the mystery of this album that I had to go home and do some research. I tried some various contacts and shot a few emails without any expectation. Only days later I received word back from the Palm mastermind. He says "yes". So here we are, four years later, and this album will finally be pressed. This record was downloaded over 5,000 times from the Palm myspace and bandcamp pages; and now it will finally become a tangible artifact. "Escape From New York" is an enigmatic blast of fully focused, high-speed pursuit tunes channeling the 1984 tropical shoreline highway. The imaginary soundtrack to the escape from your most intense predicament. The album exists in it’s own universe, completely belonging to the Highway Chase vision. "Escape from New York" was made in January of 2009, and it still slams just as hard as it did the first time I heard it. The album unfolds in a linear way where every track is essential to the whole - the album IS the movie. "Street Stallion" kicks off the record proper, with a dead serious synth lead, a seriously reverbed out rainbow arcing sequence, and a kick drum that will fill your entire room up. This track sees reprise in the varied form of "Street Hawk" later on. Tracks like "Dark Movie Screens" and "Desert Driver" pound relentlessly hard and will have you all wrapped up in hypnotic drum machine patterns and overlapping melody with driving electro vibes, somewhat reminiscent of the legendary "Nature Makes a Mistake" track (that Running Back did a killer 12" of) except completely off the hook, with the same forward driving sense of rhythm and drive. Meanwhile tracks like "Ghost Cars" and "Invisible Beach" keep the wheels turning with complex structures and polyrhythms that will have you asking yourself how something could possibly be so catchy. "Space Again", closes the album leaving you wanting to flip the record and hear more Palm jams. An honor, a pleasure, and a relief with some closure to this mystery to finally have this in a physical form.
15,00€Original price was: 15,00€.8,00€Current price is: 8,00€.
Written & recorded using ritual variations of of a singular patch for Modular Synthesiser in Chicago, IL & field recordings made in Miami, FL November 2012-July 2013. Mastered at D+M, Berlin by CGB, January 2014. Artwork by Nina Hartmann. Layout by Brett Naucke. If previous releases for Nihilist, Arbor and his own Catholic Tapes established Chicago's Brett Naucke as one of the more accomplished practitioners in the American synth underground, Seed, his debut LP for Spectrum Spools, is a veritable career apex, brimming with sonic ingenuity, detail, and mastery over both instrument and musical form. It is hard to fathom due to the sheer diversity of sound and affectations of the eight individualpieces on the album, but Seed was recorded - almost impossibly - with the same synth patch, slightly modified for the unveiling of each track. This testifies to the intensity of Naucke's macroscopic conceptual vision for Seed. Each track's complex arc points towards a mind rooted in academic electronic processes, keenly trying to surprise and disarm by prying open new textures, rhythms and structures. But Naucke has struck a perfect balance that unites this avant-garde intuition with a compositional sophistication - bringing each unique molecule of sound into cohesive songs and further still into a supremely listenable and closed album that operates entirely on its own logic. Recorded at home, as well as an isolated environment in Miami, Florida, and then mixed tediously over a six month period, Seed is a record displaying Naucke's instrumental proficiency as much as it points to his painstaking studio dedication. The results are nothing short of startling. Naucke achieves a perfect synchronicity between the intrigue of each shimmering, crystalline soundthat seems to exist infinitely within its own micro-habitat, and the larger organic whole to which it contributes. Combining delicate ambient synthscapes, snarled electronic pulses and subtle and beautiful melodic phrasings Seed hovers in an emotional sphere very much of its own. Each piece stitches together resplendent widescreen atmosphere with an intricate coldness and mournful elegance. Over the course of this album, Naucke has come as close as any to making the machines he has used sprout from the same soil as the organic landscapes he so perfectly renders on this album.
15,00€Original price was: 15,00€.8,00€Current price is: 8,00€.
Brett Naucke returns to Spectrum Spools with his sophomore LP for Spectrum Spools following the “Seed” LP (SP-034) as well as a string of exceptional cassette releases on Umor Rex and Hausu Mountain. “The Mansion” finds Naucke at the peak of his powers with a fresh array of meticulously composed psychotropic tapestries. Themes based on a childhood home, now a distant memory, reveal a mysterious narrative in mind-bending sonic detail. These complex ideas fuse conflicting states of tension and beauty with an organic acumen, each track a piece of the greater whole. “The Mansion” is a fine mixture of contemporary concrète structure interlaced with tightly crafted melodic arrangement and hi-fidelity electronic exploration. In addition to his stalwart synthesis, Naucke employs additional personnel featuring vocal duties from Natalie Chami (of Goodwill Smith and TALsounds) and Viola sounds from Whitney Johnson (of Matchess). Field recording, piano and other various instrumentation are also carefully implemented adding a new, deeper dimension to the Naucke oeuvre. With his most realized set of compositions yet, “The Mansion” finds Naucke at the paragon of his conceptual and sonic ethos with a work that’s at once deeply meaningful and profound in it’s auditory breadth.
15,50€Original price was: 15,50€.8,00€Current price is: 8,00€.
Ben Billington is a resident Chicago staple and multi-instrumentalist crucial to the Metro area experimental landscape. He can morph his styles seamlessly and is fluent in many musical languages, wether he’s playing in Moonrises, Circuit de Yeux (as a touring drummer) or in the legendary underground free-jazz unit Tiger Hatchery. "Mayville" is the sophmore LP following his Silver Balloons in Clusters" LP on Under the Spire (while originally released as a cassette on Deception Island some time ago.) With "Mayville Dream", it’s all Billington and the results are outstanding. Taking from every direction and experience his knowledge and songcraft, Billington has crafted a well-varied album of instrumental suites that are as eclectic as they are eccentric. Being primarily trained as a drummer, various kinds of percussion appear throughout with many rhythmic angles that the intricate melodies and structures to make them truly unique. The opener "The Many Roads to Mayville" opens with a concrete flutter before doing a complete 180 into a total color storm of melody and syncopated percussion. "Institutes Innards" flips the mood right away with its deep urgency and melodies that demand introspect. Tracks like "Bemus Has Wings to Fly" and and “Closer to Towanda" display an ability to thickly layer pieces and parts to make a logical whole while displaying elements of early psychedelic rock and with the knowledge of early private sides in tow. "Mayville Dream" has a special impact because you hear Billington stretch himself out over every playing style he knows and beyond to create something that’s all his own. Spectrum Spools released in association with Editions Mego.
15,00€Original price was: 15,00€.7,00€Current price is: 7,00€.
Spectrum Spools is pleased to release the debut album by veteran musician Toko Yasuda’s PLVS VLTRA project. Toko has been working for years already in established pop acts such as Enon, Blonde Redhead and now touring with St. Vincent handling synthesizer duties for live events. In all her years of songcraft there have been sparse, if any solo output, until now. And now for something different..." as we say here at the Spectrum Spools headquarters. Parthenon" is a sugar-sweet album of catchy pop songs, crafted with expert precision and outstanding composition logic. Everything is locked in in a way that seems at once like clockwork, and also somehow very free. As if Alice Coltrane’s "Universal Consciousness" was reimagined and sent into the future to be reimagined as an electronic pop record.. Most of the album’s focus lies on the glowing, ethereal voice that is unmistakably exclusive to Yasuda. Swirling, fine tuned electronic washes and collaged clouds of ambiance swirl and hover around these mega catchy tunes giving them a fantastic depth which commands attention and repeat visits. Yasuda’s songcraft here is in peak form as well, with ultra catchy hooks and addictive melodies that have been dialed in to perfection over the many years of making music. One of the most brilliant facets of "Parthenon" is the anti-genre omniverse vibe, where all borders and boundries set to confine music to a general one word descriptor are shattered. “Pop” is a word abused to catch-all, and like any great, well-thought album, “Parthenon” refuses to be pinned down. Here is your summer jam! Enjoy! Lovingly mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates and Mastering.”
9,00€Original price was: 9,00€.5,00€Current price is: 5,00€.
“A new and exciting label manufactured and distributed in association with Editions Mego focusing on current, past and future electronic music works of the highest quality.” “Cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, January 2011. Matthew Mullane is a Chicago multi-instrumentalist performing under the guise of Fabric. Here we have a fine suite of compositions which embark on a voyage through darkness of night and the brightness of day. Washed out dark colors and static pulses sweep across your stereo painting a portrait of intense yearning and determination. Recorded over the course of a year, Matthew has constructed a multi dimensional organism of sound that has perplexing depth and astounding detail. The album reveals new shapes and sizes with repeat listens and is truly a work which you can submerge yourself in to get lost. “Leaving the House” is an energetic workout with it’s dense, ultraviolet fog and stream-like melodies. Then there’s the vignettes such as “Orange and Red” or “Containers”, that branch out into unfamiliar territory in their own special ways synthesizing a journey far from home. So far, Fabric releases have appeared in very small editions including a split with Sparkling Wide Pressure and a practically non-existent cassette on Fairchild Tapes. Spectrum Spools is proud to kick off the label by presenting the debut Fabric album.Released in association with Editions Mego.” label info
14,00€Original price was: 14,00€.7,00€Current price is: 7,00€.
All tracks by Daren Ho. Originally released on cassette in an edition of 100 by Root Strata as Root 91. Mastered and cut at D+M, Berlin, August 2011. Popular tags : Ambient, Analog, Baroque, Beautiful, Bizarre, Boring, Cold, “Daren Ho”, Digital, Driphouse, Drone, Electronic, Electronica, Experimental, Floating, Harpsichord, Library Electronics, Modular, Mysterious, Piano, Psychedelic, Puzzling, Satie, “Spectrum 008”, “Spectrum Spools”, Sterilized, Synthesizers, Ugly, Wendy Carlos, Wobbly, WTF, Zig-Zag.
14,00€Original price was: 14,00€.7,00€Current price is: 7,00€.
“It’s been nearly two years since we’ve heard new music from Gary War and we are excited to announce the release of his inevitable breakthrough “Jared’s Lot”. Through the years we have heard the developments from the D.I.Y. psychedelia of "New Raytheonport" to the more current electronic acid-prog tracks we heard from "Horribles Parade" and the most recent "Police Water" EP. "Jared’s Lot" brings the years of laboring and hard work full circle, with every facet of the project dialed into perfection. These tight and intelligently arranged pieces are the most concise and mind-blowing set of songs presented yet and we’re sure you’ll have a hard time taking this off your turntable. The album kicks off with the incredibly anthemic "Thousand Yard Stare", which asserts immediately that the album is very different than previous efforts, crafted with hind-sight in mind and glowing with ambition. We can hear the melancholy voice of a man lost in the cosmos with nothing to lose going for broke, it’s all or nothing. Tracks like "Superlifer" and "Pleading for Annihilation" contain such a powerful energy and pack such a wallop that you won’t possibly be able to stand still. There is a great juxtaposition however, with songs like "Advancements in Disgust" and "World After" experimenting with new styles of pop/rock structure and incorporation of odd rhythm and melody. Gary has a masterful control of his machines, and you can tell that countless hours were spent making sure that the vision came direct and absolutely pure, from his mind to the record you will hold in your hands. Even though we have a more synthetic based set of tracks, it’s apparent that these transmissions are messages that are based in our reality, evoking a boundless range of emotions throughout. The hectic fidelity of Gary War’s previous recordings have morphed into a unique production style which rewards with it’s rich tone and multi-layered tiers of sound and melody. We are witnessing a huge leap forward in both sound and vision, respectively. Meanwhile, the alienated code hardly discernible to the listener and clever pop structure remains, and in top form, making this album a warmly received gift to the Spectrum Spools catalog. Fear that man who has nothing to lose.” Mastered by James Plotkin.
15,00€Original price was: 15,00€.7,00€Current price is: 7,00€.
“October Language” is the debut album by New Orleans based duo Belong, comprised of Turk Dietrich and Mike Jones.Since it's release in early 2006, Belongs debut masterpiece has accumulated a dedicated cult following, with comparisons to the work of Christian Fennesz and Gas, with some claims that it plays like My Bloody Valentine’s “Loveless” sans the songs. While these comparisons are useful for filing this album into a particular bin in the record shop, time has proven that “October Language” is a unique album which remains unmatched by its contemporaries.Despite the warm and welcome accolades of the albums arrival, there was no vinyl pressing until 2009, of which a limited one-time pressing vanished immediately. Spectrum Spools is pleased to present a pristine vinyl cut to go with reimagined album art for the definitive edition of this legendary classic.Physical copies include a download card with 3 extra tracks from the impossibly rare Tour EP from the same era. These tracks are exclusive to the vinyl purchase and are not available through digital outlets.
Valerie Martino’s Unicorn Hard-On project has been a long running staple in the American underground since it’s inception in 2003. Through her own Tangled Hares imprint, as well as many others, she’s built a strong, constantly evolving catalog of singular works that serves to many as a prototype of the current beat-oriented phenomena currently sweeping the nation. Martino’s vision, however, remains unphased and flourishes accordingly to her own unique vision; standing outside of any trends and remaining loyal to the Unicorn Hard-On sound. Despite having been constantly touring, releasing music, booking shows and occupying various cities throughout the U.S. over the last 10 years, there has been no full length Unicorn Hard-On LP until now. "Weird Universe" delivers on all fronts, encompassing all styles of the projects past and present to create a cohesive and definitive debut album. The album pounds with Martino’s signature drum thud and percussive clatter, filing in the crevices with her signature electronic static and keen melodic phrasing. The album’s opening track, "Rock Salt", kicks in the door and unwinds itself into spiraling mania of ramping bass tones with only a steady rhythm keeping it from going off the rails completely. Many of Unicorn Hard-On’s classic elements remain intact, with a wide array of bizarre modulations and deeply layered subconscious structures. Versatility and evolution are exhibited in tracks like "Houndstooth" or "Wet Pet", which play out like an extraterrestrial Rachmad cut, or perhaps like a classic Psyche styled Craig track with hypnotic, time altering melodic patterns and impeccably calculated rhythm programming. All comparisons aside, this record thrives in it’s own "Weird Universe", making this a thrilling debut album 10 years in the works.
Alexander Moskos is a seasoned Canadian avant-garde musician active in projects such as Alterity Problem with Joel Taylor and the legendary Thames, who had an incredible 7" release on American Tapes in late 2011. Drainolith, his solo guise, has been active since the mid noughties but has remained relatively under the radar with mysterious private press cassette and cd-r releases. In 2009 Moskos picked up a heavy U.S. tour regiment and caught the attention of U.S. underground heads with impressive live sets. It was around this time that Moskos began to dial in songs for his debut "Fighting!" lp, which we are eager to present. It’s important to keep listeners on their toes and Spectrum Spools is fully psyched to hit you with an album of delusional blues - littered with fractured synth, feedback and seriously cryptic personal content. One of our first releases with strong lyrical focus, Alex knocks it out of the park with his synthetic voice resonating like a wasted Robert Ashley on Ambien. The tracks rage with a one man "Twin infinitives" style, with guitar riffs so fucked that they make Neil Haggerty sound like Les Paul. Damaged, random, syn-drum triggers and MS-10 crackling go fully ballistic over dark and personal narratives. Despite the chaotic nature of the music, there is a defined and cohesive song structure to each track which makes everything more confusing but also highly enjoyable to listen to. If you miss bands like Shadow Ring and Royal Trux, but wonder where the logical next step would be in their absence: step in this direction - we promise you’ll be pleased. Mastered and Cut by Rashad Becker at D+M, Berlin.
“Cut at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin August 2011. “Elemental Disgrace” is an album that needs to happen now. Finally, the next phase has arrived - a stunning double side-long record of some of the U.S. best underground synthesizer music we have heard here at the Spectrum Spools headquarters. Whatever rise to the synthesizer came later on in the 00’s is hardly of any concern to Greh Holger and his Hive Mind project. Having released private press cassettes of solo synth works as far back as 2002, Hive Mind exists as enigmatic in world of new-jack synthheads and the title wave of "neo kosmische" that goes with it by flying far under it’s radar. The silence is now broken and here we are treated to some of the most unique sounds Spectrum Spools has yet presented. No blisscapes to be found here. No soaring latched arpeggios, no cosmic vistas. Not a single melody. This is two sides of ancestral ruin in its clearest and most focused presentation. The brutality of the Earth and the harsh reality of all that it holds. Unknowable sounds - that of the dawn of the Earth, or perhaps the sound of its demise. A toxic swamp of chemicals and mutated creatures left behind long after man has wiped himself away for good. Field recordings from the end of the world. While others are racing for the stars, Hive Mind’s tetonic plate shifting and brutal rumble will give you a brand new way to look at modern synthesizer composition. With a focus on textural sounds and shifting frequency registers, this album gives the listener the a full range of listening possibilities with infinite replay value. It’s worth noting that Spectrum Spools as a label would not exist without Hive Mind. An inspiration and a pioneer in the U.S. synthesizer circuit, it’s with pleasure and honor to release "Elemental Disgrace" into the world.”
Future music duo Second Woman’s sophomore full-length for Spectrum Spools further hones their distinctive fusion of shapeshifting software sculpture and tessellated footwork. Shivering digital textures oscillate with and against algorithmically mapped percussion samples; smeared synthetic chords levitate in the distance; stabs of digital noise punctuate the mix in twitchy, time-distorting patterns. Their anamorphosis verges on ascetic: stark, splintered waveforms rendered into unique fiber optic hieroglyphs. Multi-instrumentalists Josh Eustis and Turk Dietrich share a deep history going back to their days in the New Orleans ambient electronic community, as part of Telefon Tel Aviv and Belong, respectively. Even so, S/W pushes beyond their combined discographies to date, flexing impossibilities, building rhythms from arrhythmia, teasing veiled emotion from bold iterations of cold code. Digital version includes remix by experimental composer Gábor Lázár.
Material Study 01 (Sand) is a recording from a stereo hydrophone buried under the sand in a lake. Standing on top of the transducer, holding the MiniDisc recorder in my hand, and monitoring the feed with a pair of in-ear earphones, I slowly shifted my weight and the sand beneath my feet. My younger brother was on the shore throwing firecrackers into the water; this was an ‘accidental’ aspect of the recording. Material Study 02 (Cello and jacket) is made from a cello as it is dropped onto a carpeted floor with a contact microphone taped to it’s bridge. The moment of impact was ‘frozen’ with an infinite sustain effect pedal. Both the sustained tone and the live feed from the contact microphone were played into the room at high volume while the contact mic was still attached to the cello. This was recorded. Roughly one year later year later this cello drop’ recording was amplitude modulated in a computer audio synthesis environment by a pair of stereo contact microphones taped to a wind breaker being blown by an air circulator as it hung from the ceiling by a string. Spatialisation Study 01 (One freeze from seven positions in a house) is made from four frozen tones generated from a file on my computer in a computer audio synthesis environment. The four tones were played back simultaneously in an arbitrary stereo spread at a high volume on a home entertainment system in the living room of a house with high ceilings. The stereo and computer were both left undisturbed for an afternoon, and their output was recorded to a portable SD card recorder via a matched pair of stereo omnidirectional condenser microphones mounted on a homemade disk baffle (for accurate stereo imaging) from seven positions within the house order of presentation: 01 in the dining room, 02 on the second floor landing, 03 in the middle of the upstairs hallway, 04 in the middle of the upstairs hallway close to the floor, 05 in the front room close to the floor, 06 in the living room facing the speakers close to the floor, 07 in the living room facing away from the speakers close to the floor). Using a DAW, two minutes from each recorded position in the house were combined into the eight minute track here; identical overlapping envelopes were superimposed on each two minute segment, fading in for one minute and then fading out for one minute, with the subsequent segment beginning to rise in amplitude as the previous begins to fall. Spatialisation Study 02 (Forty-nine tracks of isolated and overlayed clicks generated from the material and positions of the previous study) is made from the convolution of randomly generated stereo ‘clicks’ with the seven two minute segments (mentioned above) in a computer audio synthesis environment. Each of these seven tracks were individually convolved and played back into the house. The output was recorded to a portable SD card recorder via a matched pair of stereo omnidirectional condenser microphones mounted on a homemade baffle disk (for accurate stereo imaging). A recording was made from each of the seven source tracks in each of the seven positions (mentioned above), for a total of forty-nine recordings. Using a DAW, one second was excerpted from each of the forty-nine tracks, playing one click from each source-position pair; all forty-nine tracks then play simultaneously. A pencil rubbing for the album cover is made from a pencil rubbing of the texture of a wall. A 7 ” x 11” piece of rice paper was taped onto a wall with stereo contact microphones taped to the wall along the top and bottom edges of the paper. A pencil was slowly rubbed against the paper in vertical lines from top to bottom (or L to R according to the stereo configuration of the microphones) and recorded direct to computer. The rubbing produced from this process was scanned into the computer and can be seen on the cover of the album. Translations 01 was written, produced and recorded by Michael Pollard in the time between June 2011 and October 2012 in a variety of locations. The audio was mastered by Russell Haswell on October 2nd 2012 and cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates and Mastering on October 17th 2012. It is intended for playback in a room via loudspeakers. Spectrum Spools released in association with Editions Mego.
Max Eilbacher’s “Red Anxiety Tracers” is the debut long player from the multi-talented Baltimore, Maryland stalwart. Eilbacher has performed with various projects such as Matmos, Horse Lords, and the mind-altering underground Needle Gun aktionist unit. Despite years of busy touring and recording, “Red Anxiety Tracers” is the first vinyl artifact from this young mastermind. Crafted over the course of a year, “Tracers” is a labyrinth of shapes and sounds which glide through a complex and arcane environment of found sounds and synthesis. An expertly crafted maze of deja-vu, audio hallucinations, and dislocating atmospheric forms an audio obstacle course for the listener. Complex editing techniques and sound structures recalls the works of J.D. Robb or Owl Records era Tod Dockstader albeit with a radically fresh perspective and educated hindsight. “Red Anxiety Tracers” exhumes impeccable flow and careful attention to dynamic range, with it’s surgical placement of sound events challenging the deep listening abilities of it’s audience. Raw and manic tension overloads are cut with alien float and abstract aether transmissions with a constantly shifting palette of sounds spun from blasted modular electronics, vocoded terrestrialspeak, and glowing mellotron clouds. Eilbacher communicates a strange and beautiful dialect conceived through disciplined compositional structure and an intuitive improvisational style unparalleled in the current landscape. "Red Anxiety Tracers" breathes new life into modern electronic composition. Spectrum Spools released in association with Editions Mego.
All tracks produced, written and mixed by Giuseppe Tillieci a.k.a. Neel. Recorded in Rome and Curinga between summer 2013 spring 2014. Track 4 contains elements recorded in Rome, courtesy of Filippo Scorcucchi. Mastered by Giuseppe Tillieci at EnissLab Studio in Rome. There’s a large empty space on your record shelf, in between Nurse With Wound’s “Space Music” and Pete Namlook & Tetsu Inoue’s “Shades of Orion”: a gap between the cold, lifeless experimentations of Steven Stapleton-space heard as a largely silent void punctuated by the sudden and infrequent arrival of massive objects-and the romantic imaginings of 90’s space ambient which filled space with idealistic longings of earth. There aren’t many records to put right between those two. But now Neel has given us one, Phobos, and it’s both a lustrous and shadowy beauty. After debuting stellar live performances at Mutek in Montreal as well as Berlin Atonal, the time to release an album documenting the material has arrived.
Phobos is the debut LP from Neel, well-known as the sonic mastermind behind the Voices from the Lake project, together with his fellow Italian DJ, friend, and cosmic joker Donato Dozzy. Neel is a young mastering engineer with golden ears, and through Voices from the Lake, he and Dozzy have brought a level of immaculate sound production to techno which, to be honest, simply hasn’t existed before. Alone, however, you might feel Neel sounds even better.
Phobos is a carefully cut gem, reflecting layers of patient detail and filling the full frequency range with a perfect balance. Voices from the Lake is an organic project, with a tight focus on water and life, but Phobos has leapt to the opposite end of the spectrum. You cannot take a samplers magnifying glass to a place that does not transmit sound-another kind of imagination and technique is required. The sonic results are a real treat. This album more than most, will benefit from whatever outrageous hi-fi you can swing at it. Don’t just play it loud-play it well. Legend has it Neel constructed Phobos out of an elaborate narrative concerning Phobos, the larger of Mars’s two moons, Fear and its brother Dread, the son of Aries and Aphrodite, the moon which sets twice across the Martian sky each day, and which each century draws closer to its red parent by one earthly meter, in a 50-million year gravitational tease that can only end in destruction. Further investigators will have to tease out the real details of that story from Neel, but for us the album slowly traverses through deep space over the course of a single hour-long track, patiently passing slow-turning objects and desolate plains, until the final minutes where it unpacks itself-presenting all the pent-up emotions from a long trip-in a blissful moment that marks the end and beginning of this voyage into space alone.” Russell Moench, Tokyo, Japan - September 2014.
CD version. “Flux” is the 1981 debut solo outing of Robert Turman, an American multi-instrumentalist and avant-garde composer. Until recently, Turman was perhaps best known for his contributions to the ballistic NON project with Boyd Rice, as well as other obscured U.S. industrial acts such as Z.O. Voider. In the summer of 1981 Turman decided he would take a drastic turn from the noisy/electronic/industrial work of his compatriots, and began work on what is now the classic "Flux" cassette. "Flux" was originally self-released in extremely limited numbers. Weary of the noisescapes of old, he set out to create long-form minimalism utilizing kalimba, piano, "Mini-Pops Jr." drum machine, and tape loops to create a complex bed of interweaving micro-stasis’. The results of these new experiments were as beautiful as they were perplexing. A curious dusty fidelity carries these classic tracks across four sides of vinyl, including all of the original "Flux" content. These compositions glow with a sprawling, slow motion haze that’s light years ahead of its time. "Flux" reveals wide spectrums of sound from melancholic kalimba and percussion patterns to slowed down, syrupy Exotica. Turman had complex ideas in his mind yet only the simple technologies of the day were at hand. Hear the click of the stopping and starting Tascam 3340 open-reel tape machine as one hand presses the "record" and "play" buttons and the other plays piano phrases. While there are similarities in style to Classical Minimalism, Turman’s sound and vision is his own and is exclusive to his limited discography. Original cassette artwork and scans provided by Aaron Dilloway.”
David Borden was is in the room where the pitch wheel was invented, when it happened. He was one of the first people to beta-test Bob Moog’s Modular Synthesizer systems and MiniMoog instruments. His Earthquack Records imprint inspired Mimi Johnson to begin the legendary Lovely Records label with Robert Ashley. Borden formed the first all synthesizer ensemble, Mother Mallard’s Portable Masterpiece Company, in 1969 after Bob Moog graciously lent out his prototype synthesizers and allowed them to be blown up and repaired repeatedly in the process of learning patching techniques. If there was ever a missing link in American Minimalism, David Borden is that link. He not only composed, innovated and performed in the peak years of this imperative movement, but did so on his own terms, with a startling lack of recognition for his revelatory contributions to contemporary musical history. David Borden, born Christmas Day 1938, in Boston, Massachusetts, is an American Minimalist composer and electronic music pioneer. Music for Amplified Keyboard Instruments is his unsung masterpiece, released in 1981 on the now defunct Red Records based in Holland. After Mother Mallard disbanded in 1978, many of Borden’s solo compositions were not performed or recorded until long after the works had been completed. Music For Amplified Keyboard Instruments was released with little fanfare upon release, and suffered from seemingly limited distribution making the album an obscure classic from its earliest days. Those not lucky enough to obtain original pressings have had to settle for compressed YouTube clips and poor vinyl-to-digital transfers, while original copies of the album today are increasingly sparse and expensive on the used market. Spectrum Spools is proud to announce that 33 years after it’s original release, and after searching the archives of Borden’s private reel-to-reel tapes and recovering the one safety master known to exist, we are able to present this reissue of Music For Amplified Keyboard Instruments. Music for Amplified Keyboard Instruments contains four pieces each utilizing three players, and six keyboard instruments. The opening “Etsy Point, Summer 1978” begins with a mournful, ominous mood and slowly blossoms into an immense and humid labyrinth of colorful buzzing textures and howling melodies. “The Continuing Story of Counterpoint” is a 12 part cycle for synthesizers, acoustic instruments and voice that was labored upon for over 11 years. Parts nine and six, included here, are miraculous achievements in prodigious playing technique, remarkable mosaic-like structure and aural magnitude, operating in the relative terrain of Steve Reich and his “Music for 18 Musicians” or some of the “Dervish” works of Terry Riley. Borden’s compositions, however, are singular renderings of his own creative style, prying open new spaces of technique and expression that remained uninhabited by the minimalist composers of the day. The “Counterpoint” pieces here are rigidly arranged with breakneck key changes and intricate time signature manoeuvring. The resulting audio conjures kaleidoscopic patterns of beautiful melodies and compositional anatomy unparalleled in much of the American Minimalism we know. “Enfield in Winter” displays some of Borden’s more ambient leanings, with slow morphing drones and gentle pad sounds that erupt into shimmering patterns backed by a grandiose chord progression. Though this wouldn’t be the only solo release by David Borden, Music For Amplified Keyboards represents a veritable zenith in Borden's corpus - a radiant achievement in sonic elegance, experimentation, and ambitious composition technique, deeming it a work of the highest archival significance. Borden went on to found the Digital Music Program (now known as the Electroacoustic Music Center) at Cornell and is now retired. He resides in Ithaca, New York with his wife Rebecca Godin. Music for Amplified Keyboard Instruments was remastered with love and transparency by Giuseppe Tillieci at Enisslab, Rome. These newly remastered works are superior to the original vinyl master, giving the world a chance to hear this remarkable work in highest possible fidelity across multiple formats. Extensive liner notes and photos by Borden are included to unlock the mysteries surrounding this elusive work. Spectrum Spools in cooperation with Editions Mego is proud to provide a definitive edition of a widely influential album to those in the know, as well as for those who are always on the lookout for a special recording they’ve not yet heard.