In stock
LP
PAPIRO
“Teopatia”
The subtitle of this album describes it as “Messa in scena arcaica per strumenti elettronici e voci ingannevoli” - a play of words which could be translated as “Mass in an archaic scene (or archaic enactment) for electronic instruments and deceptive voices”. The italian graphic designer and musician Marco Papiro deliberately plays with different forms of religious music, and loosely oscillates between the spiritual and the illusory world, starting on the cover where we can see a self-portrait of his father disguised as a saint with a steering wheel in place of the halo. As for the voices, they are deceptive in a double sense... Not only because they seem to promise eternal bliss, but also because they are completely artificial, and have been masterfully created - like everything here - from scratch with an array of aged modular synthesizers. It’s the thin line between the human warmth and the eeriness of its simulation that makes up the fascination of the music on “Teopatia”, which by the way is the term used to describe an indirect divine contact. Though this record might be too odd to become a religious classic, it might very well help future generations understand the turmoil of an early 21st-century youth converting to synthesizers after growing up with catholicism. First pressing limited to 300 copies of which only the half are available for distribution outside Switzerland.
19,00€
In stock
LP
GOL – TAZARTES
“Alpes”
The sixth Gollaberration features a rather odd encounter indeed! It all happened when matchless vocalist Ghedalia Tazartes challenged GOL dada-style quartet. Ghedalia threw in the game his pan-africanasian singing techniques blending gypsy, jewish and trans-continental flavor. GOL exceeded on Electric Mandoline, Jew’s Harps, Percussions, Janotron, Flutes, Electric Guitar, Bass Guitar, Electronic Garage and Voice. Together with Ghedalia they developed into what became a "bal musette" for mentally disabled. Reaching at some points the sides of rock that doesn’t roll, this sonic attack jumps from topic to topic as a ritualistic anthology of unknown "ritournelles". Such a decadence was hardly contained in the neutral environment of the Swiss Cultural Center in Paris where the recording took place on Feb 22nd and 23rd, 2011. Tired liver resonances accurately rendered by the acid yellow cover created by Dennis Tyfus of Ultra Eczema. A mountain peaks journey below the very heart of no-where Europe to be consumed gently without skis on. One-time pressing edition limited to 400 copies.
20,00€
In stock
LP
THEE IDEAL GUS
“99”
Thee Ideal Gus began in Hamilton, New Zealand in the early 90’s and sprung from the same gene pool and time as Armpit, Gfrenzy and Pumice. Its participants include Sugar Jon Arcus, Clayton Noone, Indira Neville, Kaatarama “Motty” Morehu, Stefan Neville, Witcyst, Dan “Eemonk” Powell and Rachel Garbott but membership has never been settled or defined. The band have released numerous cassettes and lathe cut records on cult labels such as Plop, Root Don Lonie For Cash, Extemporaneous and Stabbies And The Rocket Recordings.
Thee Ideal Gus love double barrelled year numbers so during the year 1999 daily recordings were conducted in Whangarei and Wellsford in the far north of New Zealand, and Dunedin in the far south. Diaries were kept, artwork was assembled and tapes were posted up and down the country. The resulting material was released in an edition of 20 lathe cut 2 LP’s as “1999” by Stabbies And The Rocket Recordings.
This “99” LP is a selection of material compiled from that ridiculous obscurity by Clayton Noone & Stefan Neville. The music Thee Ideal Gus made that year documented the days as they happened. It charted weather patterns, prophesized the future and celebrated team sports. Eddie Murphy and Yoko Ono are held in equal high regard. Nude drunk partying and the New Zealand general election of 1999 are all there in this record where a rusted clothes line is played alongside a primary school xylophone, sampled techno records and ukulele through a heavy metal pedal. It is mundane and marvelous.
Edition of 200 copies in very elaborate packaging, including prints on acetate, xerox inserts and several hand-drawn original artworks.
19,00€
In stock
LP
ARMPIT
“Leisure & The Elderly”
Edition limited to 300 copies.
As reported by Stefan Neville…
Clayton “CJA” Noone and Jon “Sugar Jon” Arcus are some of my oldest and dearest friends. I’ve been listening to their band Armpit pouring out infinite sweat and toe jams for 20+ years and I still can’t work out what Armpit even is. They are the wrongest band I’ve ever heard.
We were all part of the same gang in early 1990s Hamilton, New Zealand. Armpit would always happen in rooms next door. They would keep me awake with the eternal strumming of bad guitars through bad equipment, bottles falling over, people falling over, things catching fire and always lots of giggling. I saw them play at a party once where they were too wasted to plug in their guitar pedals. They wrestled with them giggling for about ten minutes and then gave up. They didn’t make a sound but it’s one of the greatest concerts I’ve ever seen.
Their recordings are always confusing. They display their deepest awful humanity and their sweet sweet heart’s all in the same mouthful. Scorched hateful noise, incompetent absurdity, smoochy crooning folk songs with poignant words & brutal sausage fingered editing to highlight the horror and hilarity.
“Leisure & The Elderly“ was recorded in Dunedin in the mid 1990’s. Jon was doing a Nursing foundation course and learnt to simulate giving a skinhead a sponge bath. A classmate gave him some of her tortured poetry so Armpit blended it with a Nursing textbook and disappeared into the room next door to record the album in one go ping ponging recordings with two tapedecks.
It was originally released on cassette in an edition of just 3 copies.
Edition limited to 300 copies in silkscreened sleeve.
19,50€
In stock
LP
WITCYST
“Soibiast Anti-Culler”
Edition limited to 300 copies
Recorded in 1995 by the winterless north of New Zealand’s Witcyst. Another monolithic skid mark serving of crackers plucked from the man’s vast lifetime archive of sound making and beard.
Witcyst makes his music with oceans of constant daily mutation. Machines get used upside down and back to front and inside out. Layers of string, tin foil and expired medicine are saved up to dazzle the eye. Parcels in the post come and go full of nostril hair and pamphlets and wool. What would that sound like through a funnel and a heavy metal pedal? Is the room shrinking? One knock for yes. Two for no.
This audio is severely distressed and swollen. It is particularly buried and murky and howling here. Are they voices or organs? Meat or musical instruments? Is that a drum solo or decades of tape degradation? Are the hums musical or malfunction? It starts to sound like it was recorded inside your brain and has always been there. I wonder if it means us any harm? And then it starts to sound like a basket full of wise puppies.
“Soibiast Anti-Culler” is one of the most relevant works among at least a thousand albums Witcyst has originally released on cassettes and CDR’s on his own Extemporaneous and Lifespace labels since the early 1990s.
Edition limited to 300 copies in silkscreened sleeve.
19,50€
In stock
LP
MENSTRUATION SISTERS
“Glass walking”
Pica Disk is proud to release “Glass Walking” - an LP of recently unearthed recordings by the infamous Australian noise band Menstruation Sisters.
Over the years the Menstruation Sisters have through a selective, but incredibly varied output of albums steadily built a reputation among music fans as a unique band. It was never a secret who the members of Menstruation Sisters were, yet the band’s aura was shrouded in mystery and confusion, possibly because they would completely reinvent themselves with every new recorded statement. As a fan of the Menstruation Sisters you had to abandon everything you knew with each new piece of the puzzle.
And now we can go back to the beginning, the birth of the Sisters, as by pure luck early previously unreleased material from 1995 was recently discovered in the vaults in Perth’s Endless Studios archives. On these recordings the band was the duo of Oren Ambarchi and Nik Kamvissis, but with producer Anthony Maher assisting and performing on some tracks. Ambarchi and Kamvissis would continue as a duo until Brendan Walls joined in 2001
The material heard on “Glass Walking” has a different flavor to the albums that would follow. Fans will immediately be struck by the almost total absence of drums and guitars, as the music on “Glass Walking” is built around electronics and vocals. This makes the music feel more immediate, urgent and desperate. Tracks like “Give Blood” and “Don’t Fuck” reveals the missing link between Hanatarash, Maurizio Bianchi and the monkeys in the Evolution Revolution band. This is noise music history in reverse.
The album also contains the first Menstruation Sisters live concert, which documents that the band’s ferocious performance antics were also fully developed from the very first time they set foot on stage. This is the complete set, all glorious 9 minutes and 35 seconds of it.
“Glass Walking” will only be available on vinyl and comes with liner notes and archival photos that explains everything.
Over the years the Menstruation Sisters have through a selective, but incredibly varied output of albums steadily built a reputation among music fans as a unique band. It was never a secret who the members of Menstruation Sisters were, yet the band’s aura was shrouded in mystery and confusion, possibly because they would completely reinvent themselves with every new recorded statement. As a fan of the Menstruation Sisters you had to abandon everything you knew with each new piece of the puzzle.
And now we can go back to the beginning, the birth of the Sisters, as by pure luck early previously unreleased material from 1995 was recently discovered in the vaults in Perth’s Endless Studios archives. On these recordings the band was the duo of Oren Ambarchi and Nik Kamvissis, but with producer Anthony Maher assisting and performing on some tracks. Ambarchi and Kamvissis would continue as a duo until Brendan Walls joined in 2001
The material heard on “Glass Walking” has a different flavor to the albums that would follow. Fans will immediately be struck by the almost total absence of drums and guitars, as the music on “Glass Walking” is built around electronics and vocals. This makes the music feel more immediate, urgent and desperate. Tracks like “Give Blood” and “Don’t Fuck” reveals the missing link between Hanatarash, Maurizio Bianchi and the monkeys in the Evolution Revolution band. This is noise music history in reverse.
The album also contains the first Menstruation Sisters live concert, which documents that the band’s ferocious performance antics were also fully developed from the very first time they set foot on stage. This is the complete set, all glorious 9 minutes and 35 seconds of it.
“Glass Walking” will only be available on vinyl and comes with liner notes and archival photos that explains everything.
14,00€
Out of stock
LP
SULT – Lasse MARHAUG
“Harpoon”
Håvard Skaset / Jacob Felix Heule / Guro Skumsnes Moe / Lasse Marhaug. Recorded at Tunnelen, Oslo, May 2014. Mixed at the best studio in Oslo, 2015–2016. A collaborative LP of acoustic improvisors SULT (Håvard Skaset: guitar / Jacob Felix Heule: percussion / Guro Skumsnes Moe: double bass) and Norwegian sound artist Lasse Marhaug. The source material is performed by SULT, while the album was constructed and produced by Lasse Marhaug. In the hands of Marhaug the already dense and visceral expression of SULT is transformed into a maelstrom of layered sheets of scraping noise, rising and collapsing simultaneously. Some listeneres will place “Harpoon” in the proximity of artists like Organum, David Tudor and Ferial Confine, but the music carves its own place in the landscape. A joint release between Pica Disk and Conrad Sound, limited to 200 copies.
14,00€
Out of stock
LP
Stine Janvin MOTLAND
“In labour”
Stine Janvin Motland is a vocal performer from Stavanger, Norway. She has been active for a number of years in different constellations and as a solo performer, but In Labour is her debut solo album. Stine has a distinct way of working with her voice - with a strong focus on intervals, repetition and texture.
In Labour is recorded and produced by Lasse Marhaug.
The recordings were made at various outdoor and indoor locations in Norway during the summer and autumn of 2013. The idea was to place Stine in challenging sonic environments, and to explore how the surroundings affected the performances. The locations were picked for their sonic qualities.
In Labour is both a solo voice and a field-recording album at the same time, but it is quite different from what either of these usually sound like.
180 gram vinyl LP.
In Labour is recorded and produced by Lasse Marhaug.
The recordings were made at various outdoor and indoor locations in Norway during the summer and autumn of 2013. The idea was to place Stine in challenging sonic environments, and to explore how the surroundings affected the performances. The locations were picked for their sonic qualities.
In Labour is both a solo voice and a field-recording album at the same time, but it is quite different from what either of these usually sound like.
180 gram vinyl LP.
14,00€
In stock
LP
Chee Wai YUEN – Lasse MARHAUG
“In Praise of Shadows”
Yuen Chee Wai is a musician, artist, designer and curator based in Singapore. Often inspired by ideas drawn from philosophical and literary texts, and perspectives glimpsed through the filmic eye and photographic lens, Yuen’s stylistic oeuvre in improvised music is marked by internalised reflections on memory and loss, invisibility and indeterminacy. In 2008, he teamed with Otomo Yoshihide (Japan), Ryu Hankil (South Korea), and Yan Jun (China) to form FEN (Far East Network), a music quartet that continues to work with multifaceted networks and collaborations between musicians and artists across Asian countries. He is also a member of the avant-rock band The Observatory, with whom he plays guitar, synth and electronics.
Lasse Marhaug has since the early 1990s been one of the most active artists in the Norwegian noise/experimental music scene. As a performer and composer he has contributed to well over 300 CD, vinyl and cassette releases over the years, as well as extensive touring and performing live on all continents of the world. In addition to his solo work, Marhaug has collaborated with many artists in the fields of noise, experimental, improv, jazz, rock and metal, as well as working with music and sound for theatre, dance, installations, cinema and video.
In 2006, the two spent a full night recording together at the now defunct FluxUs record store in Singapore. The material for the sessions were partially mixed, but remained unfinished. Ten years later, in 2016, the two met again to record in Marhaug’s Oslo studio. The previous recording wasn’t thought of during the new session, but in the course of the mixing it was discovered that the two recordings fit together like a glove. The long-form droney 2006 sessions, recorded late at night in the humid heat of Singapore, complimented the more angular electronic 2016 recording, which was captured in daytime during the brutally cold January winter of Norway. The opposing qualities of the sessions complemented each other, and now the result is available as “In Praise of Shadows”. Sometimes it takes ten years to make an album.
“In Praise of Shadows” is co-released by Pica Disk and Ujikaji Records as a vinyl LP, as well as streaming/download via Bandcamp. The LP features liner notes by Marhaug, as well as photography by Philipp Aldrup.
Yuen Chee Wai - Computer (2006), Guitar and electronics (2016).
Lasse Marhaug - Computer (2006), Electronics (2016).
Only 50 copies available through Metamkine.
Lasse Marhaug has since the early 1990s been one of the most active artists in the Norwegian noise/experimental music scene. As a performer and composer he has contributed to well over 300 CD, vinyl and cassette releases over the years, as well as extensive touring and performing live on all continents of the world. In addition to his solo work, Marhaug has collaborated with many artists in the fields of noise, experimental, improv, jazz, rock and metal, as well as working with music and sound for theatre, dance, installations, cinema and video.
In 2006, the two spent a full night recording together at the now defunct FluxUs record store in Singapore. The material for the sessions were partially mixed, but remained unfinished. Ten years later, in 2016, the two met again to record in Marhaug’s Oslo studio. The previous recording wasn’t thought of during the new session, but in the course of the mixing it was discovered that the two recordings fit together like a glove. The long-form droney 2006 sessions, recorded late at night in the humid heat of Singapore, complimented the more angular electronic 2016 recording, which was captured in daytime during the brutally cold January winter of Norway. The opposing qualities of the sessions complemented each other, and now the result is available as “In Praise of Shadows”. Sometimes it takes ten years to make an album.
“In Praise of Shadows” is co-released by Pica Disk and Ujikaji Records as a vinyl LP, as well as streaming/download via Bandcamp. The LP features liner notes by Marhaug, as well as photography by Philipp Aldrup.
Yuen Chee Wai - Computer (2006), Guitar and electronics (2016).
Lasse Marhaug - Computer (2006), Electronics (2016).
Only 50 copies available through Metamkine.
17,00€
In stock
LP
Bjørn HATTERUD – André BORGEN
“Dalstrøka Bortafor”
Bjørn Hatterud and André Hardang Borgen have been staples of the Norwegian experimental music underground for 20+ years. Individually they have been active with numerous projects – spanning from post-ironic queernoise and decontructed folk plunderphonics to cloudy guitar psychedelia and hard hitting avant boogie – both musicians have wandereed the kind of adventurous artistic paths that starts to make sense when viewed in hindsight, revealting continuous multidisciplinary lines of ideas.
Despite being long-time collaborators Dalstrøka Bortafor is Hatterud and Borgens debut album as a duo. It’s also a record that took 13 years to make. Not that the twosome were aiming to making an album, Dalstrøka Bortafor slowly fell in place through numerous recording sessions that accumulated and eventually took the shape of an album. (You can’t rush magic).
The six tracks that make the album are dream-like electronic excursions, with layers of synth, guitar, percussion, viola and found sounds the duo weaves a sonic tapestry that hints at a kinship to 1970’s German electronic music pioneers. This is probably not accidental, as Hatterud collaborated with Conrad Schnitzler in the years before his passing. But there’s more to it, the Norwegian title translates to The Valleys Beyond – and this is music that brings you deep into Norwegian folklore, with trolls, draugen and other mythical creatures lurking within the forest. But, Hatterud and Borgen are there to guide you through the mysterious landscape, making sure that you come out at the other end unharmed.
Available on LP in an edition of 200 copies, and on all digital platforms.
Despite being long-time collaborators Dalstrøka Bortafor is Hatterud and Borgens debut album as a duo. It’s also a record that took 13 years to make. Not that the twosome were aiming to making an album, Dalstrøka Bortafor slowly fell in place through numerous recording sessions that accumulated and eventually took the shape of an album. (You can’t rush magic).
The six tracks that make the album are dream-like electronic excursions, with layers of synth, guitar, percussion, viola and found sounds the duo weaves a sonic tapestry that hints at a kinship to 1970’s German electronic music pioneers. This is probably not accidental, as Hatterud collaborated with Conrad Schnitzler in the years before his passing. But there’s more to it, the Norwegian title translates to The Valleys Beyond – and this is music that brings you deep into Norwegian folklore, with trolls, draugen and other mythical creatures lurking within the forest. But, Hatterud and Borgen are there to guide you through the mysterious landscape, making sure that you come out at the other end unharmed.
Available on LP in an edition of 200 copies, and on all digital platforms.
14,00€
In stock
LP
ÉTANT DONNÉS
“Aurore”
First vinyl reissue originally released on CD in 1990 by Touch.
“Through them, it is the volume of each word that becomes an “objectsculpture”.The word, the voice, the volume take shape with each other, unveiling a theatre that theatre usually ignores. In the power of voices and semantics, as well as in the severe body/mind combination, inseparable from each other, I find in Aurore a song of the bodies, indispensable to any sound values” Henri Chopin.
Penultimate Press presents the first release in a threepart series based around the four fieldrecordingbased works made between 1990 and 1994 by the legendary French act Étant Donnés (brothers Eric and Marc Hurtado, born 1959 and 1962 respectively in Rabat, Morocco).
Aurore opens the triptych and is made from ambient sounds collected like dew from nature. The gathered sounds were then used as a sound texture for the poems strewn among the field resulting in a single entity of arresting sound and text. Aurore is focused around an alchemical fire/water battle, this water which does not wet the hands. Aurore shares some convulsive movements that establish a link with Étant Donnés's earlier works, for instance that exuding scream, worthy of the one Artaud uttered in his legendary 1947 radio program Pour en finir avec le jugement de Dieu. Eric and Marc Hurtado succeed in achieving what many sages consider to be the very purpose of magical art: to
create one's own ritual and, being one's own referent, to become a vibrating point in the cosmos and be receptacle for natural energy, in the heat of the sun in an attempt to merge with the Whole. Aurore comes remastered and repackaged in a highgloss sleeve with fully printed highgloss inner sleeve, in
a limited edition of 500 copies. It remains an extreme and beautiful sonic journey sitting outside of time.
“Listening to Aurore, our two actors' record, undoubtedly owing to the influence of the Mediterranean cradle, single umbilical cord of two great religions, the influence of both Latin and Arab worlds Gaelic short and long sounds can sometimes be perceived since their dictions are such a synthesis of several origins. Any true sound poetry is shattering, the really oral one is there in space,
with the plus of the media machines, of the voices that slip through them, overwhelming them with the splendor of the bodies”. Henri Chopin
“Through them, it is the volume of each word that becomes an “objectsculpture”.The word, the voice, the volume take shape with each other, unveiling a theatre that theatre usually ignores. In the power of voices and semantics, as well as in the severe body/mind combination, inseparable from each other, I find in Aurore a song of the bodies, indispensable to any sound values” Henri Chopin.
Penultimate Press presents the first release in a threepart series based around the four fieldrecordingbased works made between 1990 and 1994 by the legendary French act Étant Donnés (brothers Eric and Marc Hurtado, born 1959 and 1962 respectively in Rabat, Morocco).
Aurore opens the triptych and is made from ambient sounds collected like dew from nature. The gathered sounds were then used as a sound texture for the poems strewn among the field resulting in a single entity of arresting sound and text. Aurore is focused around an alchemical fire/water battle, this water which does not wet the hands. Aurore shares some convulsive movements that establish a link with Étant Donnés's earlier works, for instance that exuding scream, worthy of the one Artaud uttered in his legendary 1947 radio program Pour en finir avec le jugement de Dieu. Eric and Marc Hurtado succeed in achieving what many sages consider to be the very purpose of magical art: to
create one's own ritual and, being one's own referent, to become a vibrating point in the cosmos and be receptacle for natural energy, in the heat of the sun in an attempt to merge with the Whole. Aurore comes remastered and repackaged in a highgloss sleeve with fully printed highgloss inner sleeve, in
a limited edition of 500 copies. It remains an extreme and beautiful sonic journey sitting outside of time.
“Listening to Aurore, our two actors' record, undoubtedly owing to the influence of the Mediterranean cradle, single umbilical cord of two great religions, the influence of both Latin and Arab worlds Gaelic short and long sounds can sometimes be perceived since their dictions are such a synthesis of several origins. Any true sound poetry is shattering, the really oral one is there in space,
with the plus of the media machines, of the voices that slip through them, overwhelming them with the splendor of the bodies”. Henri Chopin
16,00€
Out of stock
LP
KSIEZYC
“Ksiezyc”
2017 repress of the classic 1996 debut recording by Polish outfit Ksiezyc (Moon).
Penultimate Press is proud to re-issue the defining statement by Polish outfit Ksiezyc (Moon). Ksiezyc was a project from Poland, active in the 1990s.
Members included Agata Harz (vocals), Katarzyna Smoluk (vocals, piano), Robert Nizi ski (wind instruments, keyboards), Lechos aw Polak (accordion, keyboards, synthesizers) and Remigiusz Mazur-Hanaj (lyrics, tapes). The spirit of Ksiezyc captures early and late music with a medieval sound, rooted in Slavic tradition combined with elements of minimalism and vocal experiments of the 20th Century. The alchemy of these constituent parts results in a breathtaking original music, both delicate and sinister. The surreal fairy tale inspired lyrics (written by Remigiusz Mazur-Hanaj) add to the inherent beauty, sadness and madness within.
Originally released on 10” vinyl on Obuh records this has been remastered by Piotr Nykiel at Nykiel Audio and cut on 12” allowing for vastly improved sound quality. An elegant reworking of the artwork introduces lyrics including English translations for the first time.
“Ksiezyc” comes in a beautiful gatefold with printed inner sleeve. Limited to 500 copies.
Penultimate Press is proud to re-issue the defining statement by Polish outfit Ksiezyc (Moon). Ksiezyc was a project from Poland, active in the 1990s.
Members included Agata Harz (vocals), Katarzyna Smoluk (vocals, piano), Robert Nizi ski (wind instruments, keyboards), Lechos aw Polak (accordion, keyboards, synthesizers) and Remigiusz Mazur-Hanaj (lyrics, tapes). The spirit of Ksiezyc captures early and late music with a medieval sound, rooted in Slavic tradition combined with elements of minimalism and vocal experiments of the 20th Century. The alchemy of these constituent parts results in a breathtaking original music, both delicate and sinister. The surreal fairy tale inspired lyrics (written by Remigiusz Mazur-Hanaj) add to the inherent beauty, sadness and madness within.
Originally released on 10” vinyl on Obuh records this has been remastered by Piotr Nykiel at Nykiel Audio and cut on 12” allowing for vastly improved sound quality. An elegant reworking of the artwork introduces lyrics including English translations for the first time.
“Ksiezyc” comes in a beautiful gatefold with printed inner sleeve. Limited to 500 copies.
21,00€
In stock
LP
ETANT DONNÉS
“Royaume – Aimant + Aimant-”
Royaume / Aimant + Aimant- is second in the three part reissue series focussing on the works of Etant Donnes based around field recording and voice.
Run horse run
Sting bee sting
Fly fish fly
Burn miracle burn
How beautiful your eyes are when they look into the void
Marc Hurtado
Royaume (originally a CD on Touch, 1991) is made up of 4 tracks and is a kind of purifying travel through the four elements which symbolically refers to the light evoked by the colour green, an allegory of the grail and of the lightcarrier angel. As to the poems, they tend to amount to their essentials, as is the case in Matin which is both Taoist and surrealistic. Aimant + Aimant - (originally as a split 10”/CD on Danceteria,1992) presents itself as a magical alchemical mantra based upon the force of love, the force of life. Two pole like two bodies like two hearts like two magnets.
“Like true buffoons from ultra - world, Eric and Marc Hurtado succeed in achieving what many sages consider to be the very purpose of magical art : to create one’s own ritual and, being one’s own referent, to become a vibrating point in the cosmos and be a receptacle for natural energy, like those bright patches or that black point recurring in their magical music, real poemspaintings
and irremediably aiming, like an insect caught between the circle and the cross, in the heat of the sun in an attempt to merge with the Whole”. Stephane Duval
Two pole like two bodies like two hearts like two magnets.
The wind, the sea, the breath, the fire.
Nothing more than nothing.
Everything is in everything.
Marc Hurtado
Run horse run
Sting bee sting
Fly fish fly
Burn miracle burn
How beautiful your eyes are when they look into the void
Marc Hurtado
Royaume (originally a CD on Touch, 1991) is made up of 4 tracks and is a kind of purifying travel through the four elements which symbolically refers to the light evoked by the colour green, an allegory of the grail and of the lightcarrier angel. As to the poems, they tend to amount to their essentials, as is the case in Matin which is both Taoist and surrealistic. Aimant + Aimant - (originally as a split 10”/CD on Danceteria,1992) presents itself as a magical alchemical mantra based upon the force of love, the force of life. Two pole like two bodies like two hearts like two magnets.
“Like true buffoons from ultra - world, Eric and Marc Hurtado succeed in achieving what many sages consider to be the very purpose of magical art : to create one’s own ritual and, being one’s own referent, to become a vibrating point in the cosmos and be a receptacle for natural energy, like those bright patches or that black point recurring in their magical music, real poemspaintings
and irremediably aiming, like an insect caught between the circle and the cross, in the heat of the sun in an attempt to merge with the Whole”. Stephane Duval
Two pole like two bodies like two hearts like two magnets.
The wind, the sea, the breath, the fire.
Nothing more than nothing.
Everything is in everything.
Marc Hurtado
20,00€
In stock
LP
Timo van LUIJK and Mark HARWOOD
“Vang Circular”
Vang Circular is the first outing from Timo van Luijk (La Scie Dorée / Af Ursin, Elodie) and Mark Harwood (Penultimate Press / Astor). Employing vibes, mellotron, natural reader, an iron ant, synth, metal pipes, slide guitar and a double bass these audacious souls conjure a wonky musical vision that gently peels away the familiar. The results are a surprising synthesis of the two individuals somewhat oppositional agendas. From the farthest reaches of the galaxy to the highest celestial plane the core of this haunted and bewitching release exists as a spectre at the edge of time.
Recorded over a weekend at Kulta Saha studio, Belgium in the summer of 2017 Vang Circular lands in a reverse board sleeve in an edition of 300 copies.
Recorded over a weekend at Kulta Saha studio, Belgium in the summer of 2017 Vang Circular lands in a reverse board sleeve in an edition of 300 copies.
18,90€
In stock
LP
Henning CHRISTIANSEN
“Opus 67 STRATEGYGETARTS A Symphony, Hommage á Richard Demarco”
Opus 67 STRATEGYGETARTS A Symphony, Hommage á Richard Demarco is a previously unissued recording by Henning Christiansen from 1971. In 1970 the Richard Demarco Gallery in collaboration with the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf organised the exhibition, Strategy: Get Arts. This celebration of art from Düsseldorf was held at the Edinburgh College of Art during the Edinburgh International Festival. The title of the exhibition was a palindrome created by André Thomkins and featured works by Joseph Beuys, Claus Böhmler, George Brecht, Henning Christiansen, Robert Filliou, Dorothy Iannone, Mauricio Kagel, Dieter Roth amongst others.
Opus 67 STRATEGYGETARTS A Symphony, Hommage á Richard Demarco was sent to Demarco as a gift following the exhibition. Having returned to Denmark Christiansen, along with sound technician Peter Sakse created Strategygetarts, a sound collage incorporating field recordings from urban spaces, supermarkets, a boxing game, etc.
The sole ‘musical’ element is a piano motif which repeatedly punctuates the recordings. The first side moves forwards, the flip back. A reverse groove will set you straight. Opus 67 STRATEGYGETARTS A Symphony, Hommage á Richard Demarco comes in a high gloss sleeve featuring two original artworks by Henning Christiansen in a limited edition of 500 copies.
Opus 67 STRATEGYGETARTS A Symphony, Hommage á Richard Demarco was sent to Demarco as a gift following the exhibition. Having returned to Denmark Christiansen, along with sound technician Peter Sakse created Strategygetarts, a sound collage incorporating field recordings from urban spaces, supermarkets, a boxing game, etc.
The sole ‘musical’ element is a piano motif which repeatedly punctuates the recordings. The first side moves forwards, the flip back. A reverse groove will set you straight. Opus 67 STRATEGYGETARTS A Symphony, Hommage á Richard Demarco comes in a high gloss sleeve featuring two original artworks by Henning Christiansen in a limited edition of 500 copies.
21,00€
In stock
LP
William S. BURROUGHS
“Curse go back”
William Burroughs was in and out of London from the mid-50s through to 1974 and for several years quite settled in a flat near Piccadilly. During this latter time he developed and refined the techniques he used for creating cut-ups on tape. Working closely with Ian Sommerville, who helped acquire, and no doubt maintain, the various tape recorders that Burroughs used and abused in these experimental works.
The work here is in 2 sections, which in their original form lasted for over an hour and first appeared in 1998 under the name Electronic Revolution as a free CD with Issue One of the French magazine Crash. The CD was quickly withdrawn with maybe only 100 copies finding their way into circulation.
This edition is edited down to 46 minutes and comprises the core of the original recording. It employs the now familiar techniques of random drop-ins and cut-ups of readings. The readings themselves also being cut-ups of words on the page. The first section of the tape uses further processing by means of a 2nd tape recorder.
Recorded in Duke Street circa 1968, the tape was then passed on to Brion Gysin in Paris where it remained in his archive until 1998. This is the first readily available edition of an hypnotic and meditative recording that examines the hidden power of words. Closer to a work of sound poetry than anything literary.
The album includes a 12”x12” insert with an essay by Ben Harper and several previously unseen portrait photos of Burroughs, taken by Harriet Crowder in her Hammersmith flat during a drug experiment. The back cover uses another Crowder image - the very next frame after the famous shot that appeared on the cover of the English Bookshop/ESP “Call Me Burroughs” LP.
Pressed at Optimal on transparent vinyl in a first numbered edition of 500.
The work here is in 2 sections, which in their original form lasted for over an hour and first appeared in 1998 under the name Electronic Revolution as a free CD with Issue One of the French magazine Crash. The CD was quickly withdrawn with maybe only 100 copies finding their way into circulation.
This edition is edited down to 46 minutes and comprises the core of the original recording. It employs the now familiar techniques of random drop-ins and cut-ups of readings. The readings themselves also being cut-ups of words on the page. The first section of the tape uses further processing by means of a 2nd tape recorder.
Recorded in Duke Street circa 1968, the tape was then passed on to Brion Gysin in Paris where it remained in his archive until 1998. This is the first readily available edition of an hypnotic and meditative recording that examines the hidden power of words. Closer to a work of sound poetry than anything literary.
The album includes a 12”x12” insert with an essay by Ben Harper and several previously unseen portrait photos of Burroughs, taken by Harriet Crowder in her Hammersmith flat during a drug experiment. The back cover uses another Crowder image - the very next frame after the famous shot that appeared on the cover of the English Bookshop/ESP “Call Me Burroughs” LP.
Pressed at Optimal on transparent vinyl in a first numbered edition of 500.
18,50€
In stock
LP
Rev. Dwight FRIZZELL & ANAL MAGIC
“beyond the black crack”
Beyond the Black Crack was the concept of Reverend Dwight Frizzell, a musician, film maker, Doctor of Metaphysics and minister in the Universal Church of Life. It remains a little known classic, and one of the most unique listening experiences in modern experimental music. Recorded between 1974 and 1976 in locations as diverse as factories, the pyramid opposite Harry Truman’s grave site as well as more ‘conventional’ concert settings. Beyond the Black Crack is a dark, dizzying and exhilarating journey through free jazz, electronics and environmental sound, all shattered by Frizzell's radical tape editing. This 40th anniversary LP re-release has been remastered from the tapes and adds a 4 page booklet with photos from the time. Pressed at Optimal in a numbered edition of 500.
Beyond the black crack was originally released in mono in an edition of 200 copies by Cavern Custom in 1976 (cat. no. 6104-12), to commemorate the First Annual End of the World Celebration, November 18 1976.
Rev. Dwight Frizzell (tenor saxophone, clarinet, oscillator, objects, percussive objects), Mike Roach (clarinet, vocals, tenor saxophone), Kurt Eckhardt (flute, percussion, percussive objects), Rev. Tommy Gomersall (percussive objects, piano, vocals), Rich (percussion), Rush Rankin (clarinet), Rev. Jim Rogers (kazoo), Gary Jeffers (sousaphone, percussion), Bill Jones (sousaphone), Sylvia Thomas (harmonica), Radio Rich Dalton (guitar), Bill Scanlan (percussion, tapes)
19,50€
In stock
LP
Lars-Gunnar BODIN – Bengt Emil JOHNSON
“Semikolon;”
LP, 500 numbered, 4 page insert. Originally created as a 6 part radio series in 1965, and released in 1966 by Sveriges Radio. This is the first LP recording by either of these composers. Recorded at EMS (Elektron Musik Studion), the newly established studio facility at Swedish Radio. This pioneering work did not easily fit in any category that existed at the time. Inspired by the work of Öyvind Fahlström (who was a pioneer of concrete poetry along with the Lettrists and Futurists), a few young Swedish artists began exploring new text based experiments. The only other artist releasing records of similar soundworks at this early time in Sweden was Åke Hodell who had released two 7” singles. These Swedish sound poets differ in style from their other European counterparts mainly due to their easy access to the high quality facilities available at EMS, with its own in house engineers and sophisticated studio equipment. Given the close relationship at that time between EMS and the national Swedish radio station, their works often have a strong narrative (radio art) quality. Semikolon is one such work, but it also uses found sounds, musique concrète and electronics to create a collage, the likes of which had not been heard before. By 1967, Bodin and Johnson had together finally agreed upon a term for this particular style of sound poetry; text-sound composition. This term was then taken up by other Swedish artists working in the same field including Hodell and Sten Hanson, and soon became internationally recognised. The following year Bodin and Johnson in association with Fylkingen inaugurated the first annual festival of text-sound composition. This international festival, and the commissions it gave rise to, became a major part of the work at Fylkingen and EMS. The festival ran for 10 years. 7 LPs from the early years were released by Sveriges Radio and more recently Fylkingen have compiled the series as a 5CD set. Naturally, both artists were included in the festivals, but they also created a large body of work which appeared on many of the essential anthologies of European sound poetry at the time, including the OU Revue and Klankteksten (released by the Stedelijk Museum in 1970 to accompany their exhibition of concrete poetry), as well as other international compilations. Both artists have also worked in the area of pure electro-acoustic composition, and these works are also mostly available on compilations. This record though, is a collaboration rather than a compilation and retains a timeless contemporary feel that is shared with other radio art projects like the Hörspiel Heute series released by Luchterhand in the 70s. This new vinyl edition of the original LP adds an extra 7 minute composition by Bodin, also taken from the original Semikolon radio series.
17,00€
In stock
LP
Adam BOHMAN
“Bunhill row”
LP in standard sleeve. “1980 was an incredibe year for London’s experimental music scene with many different strands. Recommended Records were rereleasing the first two Faust LP’s, L. Voag had found ‘the way out’, Swell Maps were ‘in occupied Europe’. Throbbing Gristle and other industrialists were giving plenty of live actions. Nurse With Wound had just released their first LP, as had This Heat. The other great LP on Piano Records by Steve Beresford was also on the shelves. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the capitol Adam Bohman was making his first recordings working with two budget cassette recorders. Bunhill Row was the first complete album of material, but whilst the aforementioned artists were pressing up their recordings and making them easily available via Rough Trade or the Recommended Records ‘shop’, Adam’s releases remained in tiny cassette editions made for friends or exchanged on the mail art network.
So here for the first time is Bunhill Row, released as it should have appeared at the time - on vinyl. It must be said that this is quite unlike any of Adam’s other releases, and quite unlike his work with Morphogenesis, or his work as one half of The Bohman Brothers. This is ‘songs’ - 30 in all, and the main instrument used is a trumpet (an ordinary trumpet), along with a variety of other acoustic instruments and objects, many of which are still part of the Bohman armoury as known. The overall feel sits somewhere between R. Steevie Moore and Caroliner Rainbow, but this is British of course. Somehow it all works, and all in all opens another window on to the incredibly fruitful astral alignment that occured over London at this time. Adam also has a solo CD on Paradigm Discs, and also appears on ’Variations - a London compilation’ the first CD released on Paradigm Discs.”
17,00€
In stock
LP
Peter BROTZMANN – John EDWARDS – Steve NOBLE
“…The Worse The Better”
2016 RePress.
Recording of the stunning first set performed by the trio of Peter Brötzmann, Steve Noble and John Edwards at Cafe OTO in January 2010 during Brotzmann’s first residency at the venue. This was also the first time the trio had played together. Recorded at Cafe OTO by Shane Browne, mixed by John Edwards and mastered by Andres [LUPO] Lupich at Dubplates & Mastering,
Berlin.
REVIEWS : “...a 40minute splurge of sax, drums and bass skronk, live at the venue in 2010, from the German freejazz giant Brötzmann and two stars of the London improv scene. Unrepeatable moments of collective inspiration and sudden sunlit shafts of modal near melody punctuate the continuing energy blur. Business as usual down Dalston Junction.” Stewart Lee, The Sunday Times
“These two extended improvisations, recorded in January 2010 during Brötzmann’s first residency at OTO, finds the group attaining neartelepathic
modes of interconnectedness, despite this being the trio’s first outing together. From the off, Brötzmann’s gills are gurning, throwing up torrents of molten
roar, while Noble’s mulekicking at the traps reels out ride hits like a baby sporting a bonnet of bees.” Spencer Grady, BBC Music
“All three are on outstanding form, from the opening yelp when it comes to Big Bang beginning, nobody does it better than Brötzmann to Edwards’s snarling drone 38 minutes later. Shame engineer Shane Browne slammed thos faders down so brutally: for once, you feel like joining in with the whoops and hollers of the punters.” Dan Warburton, The WIRE
20,00€
In stock
LP
Fabrice FAVRIOU
“Divers Horizontaux”
Fabrice Favriou : electric guitar. Five pieces of drone music, electromagnetic fieds, emphases, insistence...
15,00€
In stock
LP
Bill NACE – Paul FLAHERTY – Chris CORSANO
“These”
“Wherein we come upon three visceralists who have been collaborating for years - innumerable instances in a roulette wheel of settings – finally shacking up in a studio and fashioning a proper trio record. Glory be. Let’s listen in…
“These.” It’s a phrase that never gets started, and an apt title for this record, which right off bolts from the barn and burns so brightly it nearly gets away from you by the time you’re done twisting your head around looking for whoever it was that left the door open. He asked me when I planned to come back. Always, I said.
Nace’s guitar mines savage depths, egging on the propulsive swing of Flaherty and Corsano. The results are as beastly as the heart itself. Swing. Bounce. Joust. Jab. Uppercut. Flutter. Wink. Sneer. They all play with anguish and ecstatic rupture – the frustrating joy of pushing an instrument to its limits, fashioning a necessary and brutal needlepoint. They move with all the otherworldly elegance and mania of moths at a lamp show.
The music asks no specific questions, but wrenches open a space for all manner of questions – this is one of art’s most vital functions!
It deals in shades, no matter how sharp the apparent angle.
Check out “Blue Water”: the solemn bells of Bill’s guitar signal not so much a funeral, but a new dawn after a tragedy. Flaherty’s saxophone sounds innocent, almost tentative at first, but as Chris’ drums chime in, Paul starts to wrench the fabric loose. The track builds into a fierce and alien vista, charting a territory all its own – a simmering judgement. It becomes hard to talk about.
Didn’t you ever try to eat your own tail in the midday sun?
No?
These three, whose veins are coursing straight through with a nuanced emotional lexicon and the smarts to harness it, have given us a record that expands potential with each listen.”- Matt Krefting, Holyoke, MA 2017
23,00€
Out of stock
LP
Akio SUZUKI
“a i sha”
Needless to say, Akio Suzuki is one of the representative sound artists in Japan. Many of his previous releases are sometimes interpreted as the work of a hermit or wizard creating beautiful sounds with his self-made musical instrument called “Analapos,” glass harmonica (De Koolmees), and stone flute, but the title of Suzuki's first sound piece, aidan ni Mono wo Nageru (Throwing Things at the Stairs) at Nagoya Station in 1963, reflects his perspective on the noises in his work. This LP consists of two 2009 performances created with the use of radio. “Howling Objects,” with reverberation of a large museum space, and “a i sha,” in which the radio moves throughout the museum, can be noise itself, but they exist in accordance with the method of “Oto-date” and “Tadori” for which Suzuki has been continuously searching. Here, an approach to Suzuki’s hardcore sound in his nature is surely concentrated.
“It was at a solo exhibition in the Minamigaro gallery in Nihonbashi, Tokyo in 1976 when I held the premiere showing of “Howling Objects”. When I inserted the microphone into the cylinder of the stand type Analapos, and played echo sound, I was surprised to cause a howling. From that incident, I arranged iron “wappa” boxes (cylindrical containers formed by bending a thin plate), inserted two wireless microphones with echoes in the boxes and moved the position of the boxes to search for a sound. ... In the performance I did at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, I used roll papers, microphones and radios to revisit “Howling Objects”. These radios and microphones used from the 1970s have been increasingly degraded in recent years, so this performance has become the last one. “a i sha” is a performance in which the two radios used in “Howling Objects” are loaded onto a small dolly and moved around the museum. After setting the radios to AM, selecting the noise wavelengths and tuning the two radios to be able to hear an interesting rhythm, I adjust the volume to an appropriate level and start. As the sound landscape changes by the directionality of radio by moving over to a corridor, wide space and a window, I share the sound field with the people who happen to be there by chance and the people chasing the dolly”. Akio Suzuki
Full-color cover photo on sleeve. New liner notes in Japanese and English by Suzuki. Limited edition of 250.
“It was at a solo exhibition in the Minamigaro gallery in Nihonbashi, Tokyo in 1976 when I held the premiere showing of “Howling Objects”. When I inserted the microphone into the cylinder of the stand type Analapos, and played echo sound, I was surprised to cause a howling. From that incident, I arranged iron “wappa” boxes (cylindrical containers formed by bending a thin plate), inserted two wireless microphones with echoes in the boxes and moved the position of the boxes to search for a sound. ... In the performance I did at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, I used roll papers, microphones and radios to revisit “Howling Objects”. These radios and microphones used from the 1970s have been increasingly degraded in recent years, so this performance has become the last one. “a i sha” is a performance in which the two radios used in “Howling Objects” are loaded onto a small dolly and moved around the museum. After setting the radios to AM, selecting the noise wavelengths and tuning the two radios to be able to hear an interesting rhythm, I adjust the volume to an appropriate level and start. As the sound landscape changes by the directionality of radio by moving over to a corridor, wide space and a window, I share the sound field with the people who happen to be there by chance and the people chasing the dolly”. Akio Suzuki
Full-color cover photo on sleeve. New liner notes in Japanese and English by Suzuki. Limited edition of 250.
29,00€
Out of stock
LP
Dan MELCHIOR
“All At Sea”
We have been following Dan Melchior since the beginning with the Broken Revue, the collaboration with Billy Childish and the amazing project Dan Melchior und Das Menace. We are amazed by his own original and personal evolution from (let’s say) “orthodox” garage punk songwriter (and what a songwriter! Someone said one of the best in the US, but remember, he is british) to avant rock, experimental folk/blues and weird sounds.
The stuff he played changed with him, slowly affected by electronic music, Krautrock (like Can and Faust), avantgarde, concrete music... as well as a couple of the best Franco Battiatio’s works (“Fetus” and “Pollution”).
“All At Sea” consists of all these elements together: Dan wrote and built great songs never loosing his upset melodic streak BUT breaking down and decomposing the refrain, stretching and forcing the normal structure of a song, filling it with avant-solutions and experiments: “All At Sea” is the result.
10 songs able to keep you there - tied up - for 40 mins - in the dark.
10,00€
In stock
LP
ELG
“Mauve Zone”
“I DIG COSMIC MUSIC WITH ROCKS OFF… anathema to top 40, Èlg is the holy ghost of the new sound. his music deals with the altered state with muscle -> primed on transcendence like naked hug, the fire music of his previous duos or the zap force of his earlier Nashazphone jam “Capitaine Present 5”, it feels hip to stay forever eternal in the house of mirrors & emerge on the cyclone. coney island baby bataille. there's a dimensionality of miracles herein, we were born on earth... as humans. then there’s Èlg, Laurent Gérard -> he's a love lodge, a sonic native. this is immersion music… climb upward, go down and deep. my fave cosmic strip here is in cool color… the rare moment on this LP when the guitar solo explodes from the narrative ripping a hole in “song”. through the planet of one voice, we hear the inimitable Dylan Nyoukis and the one and only OG Alan Bishop. these heads are perfect jam vehicles to hang with Laurent. then there's the paramour lady Catherine hershey, forever muse… roast tongue. brand new language, brave nu world. this grabs the tusk of Francois Tusques and rides Mother Gong, all glissando and Kobaïan. learned from Shandar and transporting with a freer range Lard Free, organic music that slays all inner city mountains, outer realm gotham. bluer than noon. contempo lone gunman exploratory moderne with the controls set to the heart of love. we’re in the “Mauve Zone”, where is bananafish? hearing is believing. a transport to future analog and digital dialup. call this dude, he's beyond rap. what a crazy fucking life.” matt “mv” valentine, guilford, VT - U.S. Spring 2016
Èlg
Since 2004, Èlg has drawn concentric sound spirals made of musical pipes and entrails. He uses an arsenal of instruments and methods, constantly renewed while building improbable bridges between musique concrete and french song-writing, cartoon-like radiophonic creations and cosmic pop as well as lo-fi Dada-esque experimentation with electronic tentacles. Èlg is half of the electronic botanic duo Opera Mort, and a third of big band trios Orgue Agnes (with the members of Kaumwald) and Reines d'Angleterre (with Jo Tanz and Ghédalia Tazartes). He’s had albums released by Kraak, SS-Records, Lexi Disques, Fonal, Hundebiss Records, and Alter, among others.
17,00€
In stock
LP
Olivier BRISSON
“Horizon Capiton”
“ “What is Normal Music?” That was the title I chose for an article some years ago and despite the fact that I was searching something else, it was difficult to find anything better to start these lines about “Horizon Capiton”; the new LP by French musician Olivier Brisson. Monsieur Brisson lives in Lille and has been involved not only with sound experimentation but also with psychiatry. The latter is not just a detail but an important fact here: this is a work about frames and boundaries. But who (or what) are inside/outside those frames? That’s not easy to say. The sound collage brings us to a continuous flow where everything seems mixed: “professionals” cataloguing “mental illness”, voices of “patients”, tape failures, suggestive music passages, anomalous noises, field recordings from everywhere and several rivers of sounds sailing together along with the listener. The trip is intense and compelling. Beautiful and terrifying. The horizon might be a cushion but it might be also something else. We’re culturally trained to believe that something is “normal” or not and we put a lot of effort in trying to make the world fit in those categories. But in the end who is “normal” enough to say what is “not normal”? This is what this record is about and Beware! Sound can easily brake barriers, even those you didn’t notice were present.” Anla Courtis. Buenos Aires, Argentina. December 2017.
17,00€
In stock
LP
Robert PIOTROWICZ
“Lincoln sea”
Composed and recorded by Robert Piotrowicz in 2010-2012. Performed on modular analogue synthesizer. Design and graphics: Robert Piotrowicz. Visual adviser: Igor Krenz. Mastering and vinyl cut: Rashad Becker. “Lincoln Sea is Robert Piotrowicz’s second release in 2013 after the acclaimed ’When Snakeboy is Dying’. ’Snakeboy’ opened windows with it’s sophisticated weaving of guitar, piano and vibraphone, along with Piotrowicz’s more recognisable modular synth work. Praised from the likes of Brian Olenwick (Just Outside), Massimo Ricci (Touching Extremes) ’Snakeboy’ saw Piotrowicz take a confident leap into new
realms of sound. With Lincoln Sea, the potential of Piotrowicz’ vision is greatly expanded whilst exclusively focussing on modular synthesis. The result is a dizzying journey into the nature of machines and the elements of natural order that can be coerced out of them. Comprising of a single long form work split over 2 sides, Lincoln Sea is a complex multilayered combination of sonic architecture and narrative drama. Investigation of sound mass as an architectural form expands the work beyond the exploration of a single instrument resulting in significantly more vast and expansive sound landscape. The management of the electronic matter aligns itself with the logic and even sound world of an orchestra with wailing strings flying amongst the brass-like explosions of the bass. The tension resulting from the pull between the sonic world and the emotional capacity of the electronic microtonal explorations make for one of the years assured releases. On one hand, Lincoln Sea can be perceived as an exhilarating audio experience, one of immense thrills, intensity and a rich sonic experience.
With further listens, the intrinsic layers and idiosyncrasies will become more apparent providing further aesthetic experience as one hears new sounds, new corners, new worlds. Piotrowicz’s role as despot composer has created a remarkable release which incorporates an evolving landscape, human gestures, an absence of chaos, the orchestral (and rock?) organisation of sound, the false
ends and an extreme combination of scientific/architectural design seeped in abstraction and human emotion. This is a landmark release from one of Poland’s most revered musicians”. Mark Harwood
16,50€
In stock
LP
Robert PIOTROWICZ
“When snakeboy is dying”
140 gram white vinyl, 370 copies. Composed and recorded by Robert Piotrowicz in 2009, mixed in 2011. All instruments: modular synthesizer, guitar, piano, vibraphone, software by Robert Piotrowicz. Mastering and cut: Rashad Becker. “When Snakeboy is Dying” is the first album of Robert Piotrowicz in which he deploys a broad spectrum of instruments. Most of his previous published compositions were committed to creating a multilayered electronic sculpture built with analogue modular synthesizer. Performing on all instruments by himself alone and using a variety of composing methods, Piotrowicz created an album which strikes with internal integrity and organic complexity whilst leaving the recipient with an impression of listening to an ensemble. In terms of tonal reduction and assigned function of individual instruments, the score recalls the spirit of minimalism, however the density and dynamics of narration remains in vivid contrast to such associations. The strength of Piotrowicz’s work reveals itself in the complexity of events as well as the rich palette of colours and the mobility of architecture in the overall sound picture. The instruments are organized in careful relations with each other, to build not only the horizontal tensions but the vertical ones as well. The beauty of microtonal constructions is amplified by strong impacts and vitality of electronics. What at first might seem like a fragile recording, with every further second it builds and maintains drama and intensity.
18,00€
In stock
LP
Robert PIOTROWICZ
“Walser”
“Oleh Rami Pohon” (riverside performance for five / hut blow for any number of
participants and one muted mmempekík player).
“Tingal” (sylvan setup for two).
“Elok Pada Masa” (nighttime gathering for two and any numbers of attendees)
“Automatu” (for those who rebuild past events in memory).
“Udara Rosak” (for two anxious performers).
“Utara” (for one who heard everything / small band including strings,
percussion and electronics).
“Dimana” (for any number of pianists and one bad doublebass player).
Composed, recorded and mixed by Robert Piotrowicz. All instruments: double bass, piano, percussions, electronics and objects performed by Robert Piotrowicz. Accompanying texts by Grzegorz Jankowicz, Burkhard Stangl and Jon Wozencroft. Mastering and cut by Rashad Becker at D&M Berlin.
The music originally appeared as a 5.1 soundtrack to “Walser”, film directed by Zbigniew Libera.
The new album by Robert Piotrowicz Walser is a reiteration of the artist’s composition for the namesake film by Zbigniew Libera where a fictitious Concheli tribe enacts its ritual gestures through music and performance. Rather than following a traditional soundtrack format where music is written after the film is cut to illustrate the cinematic form, Piotrowicz treats the film music as a point of departure to create an autonomous sound work altogether. While its aesthetic narrative echoes the one that we are submerged into throughout the film, the record’s underlying structure and dramaturgy were reconfigured and reworked into a new spatial and affective arrangement.
Unlike Piotrowicz’s previous works, Walser is predominantly an acoustic album with a nod to his previous projects that imagined fictional music ensembles (such as Rurokura and Eastern European Folk Music Research Volume 2).
The idiosyncratic sound of instruments is a result of multifaceted composition process, which took as its starting point custom-made instrument design (wind, percussive and string), prototyping the music structure and meaning, and composer-led choreography of actors’ gestures that took place during the film shoot and in its predeceasing performance workshop.
In the film Walser, Piotrowicz’s original music score is thus enacted by body of sound rather than by actors on the filmset as it fills up the metastructure devised by the composer. Of course music always influences the way one views a film, but in Walser it becomes a cinematic language of its own kind, an extension of the camera apparatus, an omnipresent observer and narrator that sculpts our experience of watching and listening.
In the album Walser sound returns to its first and foremost dimension, time, and while the storyline is no longer in the foreplan, its immaterial traces persist in the LP structure and narrative, incorporating a myriad of mood changes and dramatic turns. The album is an analogue recuperation of the primal, original sound where music finds a new form of embodiment and occupies a new territory beyond the screen and beyond the image. It is a sensuous body of sound that carriers meaning beyond traditional ways of verbal and pictorial communication.
16,50€
In stock
LP
Anna ZARADNY
“Go Go Theurgy”
Composed and recorded by Anna Zaradny in 2015. Electronics, analogue and digital synthesizers. Photo by Magda Wunsche. Drawing by Anna Zaradny. Design by Lasse Marhaug. Mastering an Cut by Rashad Becker at D&M Berlin. Produced by Musica Genera. Coproduction Bocian & Musica Genera.
“Go Go Theurgy”, the first Anna Zaradny’s album in eight years, consists of two majestic compositions. Strikingly charismatic and intense, they teem with sensuality and anxiety, while their palpably dense and detailed texture is constantly filled with tension and sense of urgency. The crystal-clear narration of these structurally complex pieces creates a framework for Zaradny's uniquely intricate and emotional sound. This music celebrates performativity and defies genre limitations. Although bravely experimental, it is precisely structured at the same time, and sometimes builds a momentum usually connotated with pop music. “Go Go Theurgy” recalls the primordial but also cultural references, creating its own idiosyncratic value.
-----------------------------------
“ “Go Go Theurgy” is an intricately woven tangle of synthetic and natural textures and modulations; the next step for the Zaradny's unique sound; very organic, and somewhat seductive. The idea of sound sculpture, found in her earlier pieces, is particularly significant for “Go Go Theurgy” . Its loops and cycles create a specific rhythm completely without percussion, based solely on the pulse and dynamics of the composition itself. A high intensity of intersecting layers of sound and repetitions refers directly to the title, a kind of ritual suspended between dance and performance, and the concepts of rebellion and power, purification and liberation by the movement of the body.
Zaradny's works have often included a theme of a ritual stripped of mystical aura, reduced to the tension between cultural roles and their phantasms (e.g. in “Castration class” (2010), “The sweetest sound of circulating firmament” (2011), “GEN IUS” (2014), “Punctus Contra Punctum” (2014)), but for the first time it takes the form of a sound composition.
“Go Go Theurgy” has a clear sonic architecture and contains echoes of the space where the sound resonates and returns in subsequent cycles. The composition becomes not only a reflection of the ritual documented on the photos, but also a metaphor of the resounding open space. Elements that we hear in the initial parts of the composition return in a processed form, an effect of a redefined echo which becomes an independent sound object detached from its source. This physical multidimensionality of sound is another step towards a sound sculpture. An attempt at stopping the moment, experiencing trance, looping movement and gesture.” Daniel Bro ek
17,00€
Out of stock
LP
Pauline OLIVEROS and IONE
“Water above – Sky below now”
Morphine presents “Water Above Sky Below Now” from pioneering American composer Pauline Oliveros and Ione. An experimental musician and educator, Oliveros is the creator of the deep listening practice highly attentive full body audition. She is joined on the album by author, improviser of spoken word and sonic vocals Ione, artistic director of the former Deep Listening Institute founded by Oliveros.
The three-part improvisation was produced using Oliveros’ Expanded Instrument System (EIS), an electronic sound-processing environment that allows improvising musicians to transform their own acoustic input in real time. Here, her specially tuned digital accordion- accompanied by Ione’s vocals and spoken word - is converted via EIS, manipulated, and diffused through multiple channels.
“The EIS imperative (and improvisation imperative),” Oliveros writes, “is to listen and respond: spatial relationships and progressions are as important as the traditional parameters of music.” The release of “Water Above…” is the latest movement in Oliveros' six-decade-long career, which began at the San Francisco Tape Music Center in the ‘60s and was distinguished with the William Schuman Award for lifetime achievement in 2009. It is Morphine's third full release of the year, following from Charles Cohen’s Brother I Prove You Wrong. “Go Deep and Listen,” from that LP, is a silent dedication to Oliveros from Cohen, who participated in her workshops in Philadelphia.
The album was produced by Rabih Beaini and designed by Tankboys, with original cover art by Nathalie du Pasquier.
The three-part improvisation was produced using Oliveros’ Expanded Instrument System (EIS), an electronic sound-processing environment that allows improvising musicians to transform their own acoustic input in real time. Here, her specially tuned digital accordion- accompanied by Ione’s vocals and spoken word - is converted via EIS, manipulated, and diffused through multiple channels.
“The EIS imperative (and improvisation imperative),” Oliveros writes, “is to listen and respond: spatial relationships and progressions are as important as the traditional parameters of music.” The release of “Water Above…” is the latest movement in Oliveros' six-decade-long career, which began at the San Francisco Tape Music Center in the ‘60s and was distinguished with the William Schuman Award for lifetime achievement in 2009. It is Morphine's third full release of the year, following from Charles Cohen’s Brother I Prove You Wrong. “Go Deep and Listen,” from that LP, is a silent dedication to Oliveros from Cohen, who participated in her workshops in Philadelphia.
The album was produced by Rabih Beaini and designed by Tankboys, with original cover art by Nathalie du Pasquier.
19,00€
In stock
LP
Kevin DRUMM
“The back room”
Vinyl edition. There was a mistake in the previous listing !
Pulse generator, reverb, big muff.
One of the most interesting outsiders, icon of experimental electronic noise music first released this collection of intensive sounds on his own label, on CD-r limited to 60 copies. Now, three years after that premiere we’re glad to present you an LP.
17,00€