In stock
CD
John BUTCHER – Rhodri DAVIES
“Carliol”
John Butcher: tenor or soprano saxophones - plus feedback, motors, embedded harp speaker. Rhodri Davies: pedal harp, lever harp with embedded speaker and electric harp, aeolian electric harp. John Butcher is one of the leading sax players on the free improvisation scene. Rhodri Davies transcends conventional ideas about the harp-an instrument rarely associated with improvised music--in his wide-ranging projects. The two British musicians have worked together in a variety of contexts since 1997 and gave their first duo concert in 2000. As a duo they toured the UK and the U.S. in 2002, and Japan in 2004. In their performances they draw upon extended and unique playing methods mastered over the course of their careers, leaving far behind the imagined limits of their respective instruments. Carliol contains 7 tracks studio-recorded between August 2007 and April 2009. With its multi-hued timbres and textures, sonic beauty, conceptual freedom, experimental spirit and sophisticated structure, this CD dazzles on many levels. While the 2001 album Vortices & Angels (on the UK label Emanem) includes duo tracks by these two artists as well by Butcher and Derek Bailey, Carliol is the first all Butcher & Davies duo album to be released since the start of their duo collaboration a decade ago.
13,00€
In stock
CD
Hiroyuki URA – Kenichi KANAZAWA – Satoko INOUE – Léo DUPLEIX – Yuma TAKESHITA
“Land of the Hermits”
Improviser/composer Hiroyuki Ura, sculptor Kenichi Kanazawa, and classical pianist Satoko Inoue released two CDs on the Meenna label in 2017, and the three artists are united again in Hermits.
The earlier CDs, Scores and Scores at Ftarri (both released in 2017), are made up of their live performances of a composition by Ura, which was based on a sculptural work by Kanazawa. The performance heard on Scores took place at The Museum of Modern Art, Gunma, in October 2016; the performance on Scores at Ftarri was held at Ftarri in January 2017.
The single track on Hermits (29 min. 50 sec.) is a live performance of Ura’s composition “Duration, Dynamics and Pitch” that was held at Tokyo Art Museum in Chofu, Tokyo, on November 3, 2017. Ura played keyboard and percussion; Kanazawa, steel; and Inoue, toy piano. The performance also featured guest musicians Yuma Takeshita, who plays a remodeled bass guitar he calls an electro-bass; and Paris resident Léo Dupleix, who uses a computer and a vibrating tin can.
The 26-page score of this work consists of extremely simple instructions made up of one, two, or all three of the elements of sound duration, dynamics, and pitch--for example, “Long,” “Soft,” “Low-pitched,” “Long, Soft,” “Short, Loud, High-pitched.” Each player makes one sound per page; and when those sounds are finished, they all turn the page and proceed to the next page. Though it's a composition, the simple score means there are a great many sections left up to the players' discretion.
Successions of small sounds from the toy piano hop and leap, intense percussive sounds tear up the space, and then there is quiet. Throughout, sound clusters appear and continue, interspersed with short periods of silence. Exquisite sound-making by each player, along with an overall structural beauty and high level of tension, make for a truly superb performance.
12,00€
Out of stock
CD
Akio SUZUKI – John BUTCHER
“Immediate Landscapes”
Sound artist Akio Suzuki crisscrosses the world with his self-made instruments. British tenor/soprano sax player John Butcher is a leading figure in improvised music. These two musicians have been carrying out duo performances since 2002. The six tracks on this CD are recordings of their duos in Scotland in 2006 and Tokyo in 2015.
In June 2006, an event was held in which Suzuki and Butcher visited and performed in places around Scotland that have highly distinctive acoustic characteristics. Butcher's solo performances from this event were released in the CD Resonant Spaces (Confront, 2008). Recordings had also been made of the duo performances, and these are being released for the first time on this CD. The fascinating performances on these five tracks, each of which is 5-8 minutes long, made use of the special acoustic environments of five locations: the underground Wormit Reservoir in Fife; the Hamilton Mausoleum in Hamilton, well known as a manmade structure with long reverberation; the gigantic Smoo Cave in Durness; the large Tugnet Ice House in Spey Bay; and the Lyness Oil Tank in the Orkney Islands, which was used during World War Two. Suzuki and Butcher also performed together nine and a half years later, in November 2015, at Ftarri Festival2015, held at SuperDeluxe, Tokyo. In this 27-minute-long performance, they exchange myriad sounds in a flexible, spontaneous manner.
15,00€
Out of stock
CD
Julius EASTMANN
“Femenine”
This is the première release of Julius Eastman’s Femenine, for chamber ensemble. It is the work’s only known recording, documenting a 1974 performance by the S.E.M. Ensemble (with the composer on piano) which has lain unheard for decades.
The music of Julius Eastman (1940-90) is enjoying an on-going period of rediscovery. Known best in the past for his work with figures like Peter Maxwell Davies, Arthur Russell and Meredith Monk, today his own formidable compositions draw increasing admiration.
Joyous, insistent, and immersive, Femenine bathes the listener in surges of tonal colour from intertwining winds, piano, violin, pitched percussion, synthesizer and – uniquely – the composer’s own invention of mechanised sleigh bells, which provide the 72-minute piece with its characteristic pulse.
Illuminating sleeve notes are provided by composer and author Mary Jane Leach, who is co-editor of Gay Guerrilla, the recently released collection of essays on Eastman’s life and music.
Recorded by Steve Cellum – co-producer of Arthur Russell’s World of Echo – and mastered by Denis Blackham.
“Eastman’s stated aim with Femenine was to please listeners, saying of the piece that ‘the end sounds like the angels opening up heaven . . . should we say euphoria?’” –Mary Jane Leach
CD in slim card package with insert.
The music of Julius Eastman (1940-90) is enjoying an on-going period of rediscovery. Known best in the past for his work with figures like Peter Maxwell Davies, Arthur Russell and Meredith Monk, today his own formidable compositions draw increasing admiration.
Joyous, insistent, and immersive, Femenine bathes the listener in surges of tonal colour from intertwining winds, piano, violin, pitched percussion, synthesizer and – uniquely – the composer’s own invention of mechanised sleigh bells, which provide the 72-minute piece with its characteristic pulse.
Illuminating sleeve notes are provided by composer and author Mary Jane Leach, who is co-editor of Gay Guerrilla, the recently released collection of essays on Eastman’s life and music.
Recorded by Steve Cellum – co-producer of Arthur Russell’s World of Echo – and mastered by Denis Blackham.
“Eastman’s stated aim with Femenine was to please listeners, saying of the piece that ‘the end sounds like the angels opening up heaven . . . should we say euphoria?’” –Mary Jane Leach
CD in slim card package with insert.
15,00€
In stock
CD
Christian MARCLAY & Günter MÜLLER
“Live improvisations”
Christian Marclay - turntables. Günter Müller - drums, electronics. Recorded live at Festival Nouvelles Scènes, Dijon, France 17.10.1992; at Festival Visionöre Schweiz, Düsseldorf, Germany 26.06.1992 ; at ART 24’93, Basel, Switzerland 18.06.1993. Cover artwork by Christian Marclay, Tom Recchion. Released 28.10.1994
12,00€
In stock
CD
Jacques DEMIERRE
“The thirty pianos orchestra”
Jacques Demierre and the thirty pianos orchestra. “Thirty Pianos” was recorded live on September 9, 2012, by Denis Rollet at Le Galpon, Geneva, Switzerland, during Cataclysme Piano, three days of events curated by Cave12, Théâtre Le Galpon and Boxing Piano. “Free Fight” is edited by Jacques Demierre from a piano solo concert recorded live on October 15, 2000, at CCS, Paris, France.
All music mixed by Adrien Kessler and mastered by Blaise Favre pieces for thirty pianos composed and conducted by Jacques Demierre and one solo played by Jacques Demierre in year 2000 in Paris. Limited edition of 250 copies.
Jacques Demierre is a pianist, composer and improviser based in Geneva. Whether acoustic or electro-acoustic, respectful of traditional music writing or embracing free improvisation, his experimentations feed into music as well as sound poetry and sound intervention in situ . They are all driven by the same constant search for consciousness of sound. Author of numerous noises.
Extending the sound possibilities of the piano instrument, Demierre also interrogates the ways in which it can approach the sphere of language. He develops a very cross and interdisciplinary critical conception of music which gives him the opportunity to work with artists from very different backgrounds. Regular performances in the feld of language art in duo with Vincent Barras and collaboration with Chris Mann, Caroline Bergvall, L'Encyclopédie de la parole, Christian Kesten. Interdisciplinary projects, with choreographer Cindy van Acker, Noemi Lapzeson. He has performed with improvising and experimental musicians, including Barre Philips, Urs Leimgruber, Thomas Lehn, Martial Solal, Radu Malfatti, Joëlle Léandre, Axel Dörner, Fritz Hauser, Andrea Parkins, Sainkho Namtchylak, Lou Mallozzi, Urs Blöchlinger, Irene Schweizer, Hans Koch, Isabelle Duthoit, John Butcher, Brandon Labelle, Jason Kahn, Charlotte Hug, Butch Morris, Roger Turner, Okkyung Lee, Peter Evans, Carlos Zingaro, Gunter Müller, Jaap Blonk, Barry Guy, Lucas Niggli, Sylvie Courvoisier, Hann Bennink, Rhodri Davis, Martin Schütz, Paul Lovens, Doro Schürch, Phil Minton, Elliott Sharp… His scores are available on SME/EMS. His work is documented on Tzadik, héros-limite, Psi, Victo, jazzwerkstatt, Leo, Plainisphare, Creative Sources, INSUB., Intakt, Bocian Records, bardem, Unit Record, stv/asm.
14,00€
Out of stock
CD
THE SONS OF GOD & Mats GUSTAFSSON
“Reception”
The Sons of God: 32 amplified iron plates. Mats Gustafsson: live electronics. Recorded by Olof Madsen on the 5th of March 2006 at Färgfabriken, Stockholm, Sweden. Reception was a sound installation at Färgfabriken (February 18 - March 5, 2006). by the Sons of God and Emanuel Swedenborg and a part of the festival Place and Space, Stockholm New Music. The festival was curated by Magnus Haglund and Magnus Andersson. During the installation period, the following guest-artists were invited for performances and concerts : Mats Gustafsson, Per Jonsson, Anna Koch, Nora Kvassman, Lotta Melin, Lise-Lotte Norelius, Daniel Rozenhall, Amit Sen, Wenche Sundsrud and Pär Thörn.
13,00€
Out of stock
CD
Leif ELGGREN-Michael ESPOSITO
“Fire station 6”
“Recorded 28 November 2007 in Fire Station 6, Hammond, Indiana, USA. EVPs from Phantom Airwaves case file PAW067. P&C Leif Elggren, Michael Esposito, Chicago 2008. All rights reserved. Leif Elggren and Michael Esposito are published by Touch Music [MCPS].”
12,00€
Out of stock
CD
Francisco MEIRINO & Michael ESPOSITO
“Ghosts of case file 142”
“EVP research by Michael Esposito, Case File 142 from source recordings done by Francisco Meirino at an ancient school of anatomy, now a library, in Lausanne, Switzerland 2011. Assembled, edited and mastered by Francisco Meirino at Shiver Mobile, Nov-Dec. 2011.
Michael Esposito was born 1964 in Gary, Indiana. He is an experimental artist and researcher in Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP). An ancestor of Alfred Vail, who invented the Morse Code and several early telegraph devices with his partner Samuel Morse. Another ancestor, Jonathan Harned Vail was office manager and assistant to Thomas Edison in his later years when Edison was attempting to develop a device to communicate with the dead. Over the years, under the Phantom Airwaves institution, Michael has participated in hundreds of paranormal investigations all over the world.
Born in 1975, Francisco Meirino is active since 1994 (as phroq until 2009) in sound and live performance, he explores the tension between programmable material and the potential for its failure by working mainly with the computer, magnetic fields detectors, reel-to-reel tape recorders, piezo transducers and various acoustic devices.”
12,00€
In stock
CD
Francisco MEIRINO & Leif ELGGREN
“Trop tôt”
Highly recommended collaboration between these two sound artists. Noises, drones, ghosts and text. With the participation of Laura Daengeli.
12,00€
Out of stock
CD
SMALL CRUEL PARTY
“Islands of Sleep”
Reissue of a vinyl released 20 years ago on GMBH records.
“Manipulation of physical objects in acoustic space and a great deal of concentrated activity. Even in pieces involving dense sound at high volume the resultant effect is one of intense calm.”
300 copies.
9,50€
Out of stock
CD
Evan PARKER & Seymour WRIGHT
“Tie the stone of the wheel”
Fascinating combination of two uncompromising saxophonists. Seymour Wright grew up listening to Evan Parker’s radical reshaping of the saxophone and both develops and deconstructs it in his own playing. Together, the two interrupt and augment each other incessantly, creating tight spirals of difference and similarity that crackle with ideas and energy.
Evan Parker : soprano and tenor saxophones. Seymour Wright : alto saxophone.Recorded by Sebastian Lexer on 5 October 2014 at the Kernel Brewery, London (1-2) and by David Reid on 12 October 2014 at The Studio, Derby (3-5).
12,00€
In stock
CD
Luc FERRARI – GOL – Brunhild MEYER-FERRARI
“Tautologos III”
“Tautologos III” (1969) from Luc Ferrari performed by GOL (Jean-Marcel Busson : electronics (Metacrackle, Luxonic), charango. Frédéric Rebotier : voice, clarinet, objects. Ravi Shardja : bass, electric mandoline, flute, sanza) and Brunhild Meyer-Ferrari, voice, cardboard.
“Havresac” (2012) by Gol & Brunhild Meyer-Ferrari.
Recorded 2012, studio Honolulu, Le Havre by Emmanuel Lalande.
10,00€
Out of stock
CD
Jérôme NOETINGER
“dR”
Jérôme Noetinger, tape recorder Revox B77, microphones, radios, objects, synthesizer Korg MS20, piano frame…
Recorded January 2017 at PiedNu, Le Havre, by Emmanuel Lalande. Edited and mixed June 2017. Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi, September 2017.
“All the pieces on this CD were realised on one or two Revox B77s and recorded directly to hard disc. They represent a panorama of my practice on a range of devices (reel-to-reel tape recorders, contact microphones, radios, small electronics, voice and microphone, pick-up microphones, objects...).
I discovered the reel-to-reel tape recorder in 1983 and started to work with it on arriving in Grenoble in 1986 in the studios of COREAM (école de musique de Fontaine). Initially used principally as a player to reproduce pre-recorded sounds, the tape recorder became my instrument.
I use it with loops to play with repetitions, delay and accumulations. Or with spools, taking off the pinch roller to manually control the speed. The magnetic tape – a surface of inscription of a sound being made – is a malleable support, where crayonnés, scratches and magnetisation excite the polarisation of the magnetic particles.
The possibilities of reinjection, that is, recording from the left channel to the right while at the same time from the right to the left, simultaneously controlling the speed, transforms this tape recorder into a sound generator.” JN
10,00€
Out of stock
CD
Toshiya TSUNODA – Taku UNAMI
“Wovenland”
Serie of recordings made by Toshiya Tsunoda & Taku Unami in different locations and then processed through different playback speed, noise gate or parallel editing.
15,00€
Out of stock
CD
Taku UNAMI – Takahiro KAWAGUCHI
“Teatro Assente”
Taku Unami & Takahiro Kawaguchi locked in an empty theater. What do they do ? What do they listen to ? Who is there ? What the fuck is going on ?
15,00€
In stock
CD
Taku UNAMI – Devin DISANTO
A short live set from the 2015 AMPLIFY 2015: exploratory festival in NYC, a wild unexpected ride.
15,00€
In stock
CD
Reed ROSENBERG – Ethan TRIP
“Medium Rude”
Reed Evan Rosenberg-microphones, pedals, max, voice. Ethan Tripp-microphones, motors, junk. recorded in 2014 and 2015. mastered by Joe Panzner. design by Matthew Revert
15,00€
Out of stock
CD
Michael PISARO-Taku SUGIMOTO
“2 seconds-b minor-wave”
“Michael Pisaro and Taku Sugimoto are not generally closely associated, but have quite a bit in common. Both are composers whose primary instrument is the guitar, both have close ties to the Wandelweiser collective (Pisaro is a longtime member), and both have pursued their unique paths without much concern as to how the rest of the world will perceive them. 2 seconds/b minor/wave marks their first collaboration, but these aesthetic overlaps allow their independently conceived recorded parts to fit together remarkably naturally.
Michael Pisaro has been associated with the Wandelweiser collective since just after their formation in the early nineties. The departure points for his music were John Cage’s ideas of the durational frame, Ben Johnston’s work with alternate tunings, Christian Wolff’s opening of the relationship between composition and performance, and Alvin Lucier and James Tenney’s use of scientific hypotheses to explore sound phenomena. Pisaro has spent much of the last decade making field recordings, and occasionally using them in his work. Much of his recent composition, and especially the work with his primary collaborator, percussionist Greg Stuart, has concerned the massing and then the spatialization of sound to create ’homemade’ environments. Pisaro lives in Southern California, teaching at the California Institute of the Arts, running the Experimental Music Workshop, and curating his own recently launched recording imprint, Gravity Wave. This is his first recording for Erstwhile.
Currently Sugimoto’s interest focuses on composition and its performance, rather than improvisation. With Taku Unami and Masahiko Okura, Sugimoto organizes the almost-monthly Chamber Music Concert at Loop-Line and the irregular Taku Sugimoto Composition Series at Kid Ailack Art Hall, both in Tokyo. He runs the label Slub Music, which in addition to Sugimoto’s own recordings has released CDs by other Japanese musicians as well as Wandelweiser mainstays Radu Malfatti and Antoine Beuger. He has just issued the first four discs compiling the abovementioned Composition Series, a strong statement on two 2 CDs documenting his work over the past few years. This is his second recording for Erstwhile after 2000’s seminal The World Turned Upside Down, and he also took part in the AMPLIFY 2002 festival in Tokyo and is featured on the box set of that event.
2 seconds/b minor/wave is a long distance collaboration, with each musician composing and recording their own parts, before hearing what the other had done. Pulse, pitch and wave were the three areas they wanted to explore on the three pieces, and loose rules/guidelines were agreed on beforehand, as follows: ’2 seconds’ was a unit of pulse, either as a basic unit or a point of departure; ’b minor’ was a key, with Sugimoto playing harmony and Pisaro playing melody : and ’wave’, with no further details, simply whatever that word brought to mind. This was the extent of the specific discussion between the two, and thus the entirely fluid melding of the results is a testament to their deep understanding of the other’s aesthetic/s. Yuko Zama’s intuitively empathetic design is a perfect symbiotic fit for the music contained within.” label info
15,00€
Out of stock
CD
Matthew REVERT – Vanessa ROSSETTO
“Earnest rubbish”
After a solo on Kye, the Australian writer Matthew Revert comes back with the American sound artist Vanessa Rossetto. Together they mostly work with field recordings, editing and mixing them in a narrative form, adding some texts and voices.
15,00€
Out of stock
CD
Kevin DRUMM – Jason LESCALLEET
“Busman’s holiday”
This album is a meditation on the inner mental environments that one encounters and endures during times of work-related travel.
The music contained herein should be well suited for headphone distraction in airports, bus stations, train stations, subway terminals, and in the confines of the seats related to these methods of mass transportation.
Recorded, edited and mixed by Kevin Drumm and Jason Lescalleet in 2015.
The music contained herein should be well suited for headphone distraction in airports, bus stations, train stations, subway terminals, and in the confines of the seats related to these methods of mass transportation.
Recorded, edited and mixed by Kevin Drumm and Jason Lescalleet in 2015.
15,00€
Out of stock
CD
Keith ROWE – Graham LAMBKIN
“Making a”
Graham Lambkin first heard Keith Rowe’s sixties work in AMM as a teenager growing up in Folkestone, a small town in Kent, England, and for him it was very influential. That same year, Lambkin formed his now legendary band The Shadow Ring and Lambkin says, "For Darren (Harris) and I, AMM was one of the groups that gave us licence to just do what we wanted, regardless of whether it fitted with convention or employed ’accepted’ techniques, and did so from a very English standpoint which held great appeal." A decade of increasingly skewed and inspired work by the band culminated in 2003’s I’m Some Songs, constructed long distance as Lambkin had relocated to the US in 1998. Since then, Lambkin has primarily worked under his own name, both as a solo artist and in duo with Jason Lescalleet.
Rowe first became aware of Lambkin’s work more recently, initially via 2007’s Salmon Run, but when the two first met at the AMPLIFY 2011: stones festival in NYC, the connection was immediate. 2012 was spent in preparation and in January 2013 the duo met first in NYC for a memorable live set and then travelled to Graham’s house in Poughkeepsie where Making A was recorded. The instant personal chemistry between the two fully translated to their musical relationship, both the similarities and differences seem to perfectly fit. This immediate rapport led to the quickest ever turnaround time from recording to release for an Erstwhile, just 77 days. Both musicians feel that Making A represents something very unusual and unique from their own perspective, and it is also the first release in Rowe’s close to half century of recording in which he does not use a guitar or a radio. The six panel digipak features combined artwork from the two musicians, joining forces to create a visual whole that parallels the music.
Rowe first became aware of Lambkin’s work more recently, initially via 2007’s Salmon Run, but when the two first met at the AMPLIFY 2011: stones festival in NYC, the connection was immediate. 2012 was spent in preparation and in January 2013 the duo met first in NYC for a memorable live set and then travelled to Graham’s house in Poughkeepsie where Making A was recorded. The instant personal chemistry between the two fully translated to their musical relationship, both the similarities and differences seem to perfectly fit. This immediate rapport led to the quickest ever turnaround time from recording to release for an Erstwhile, just 77 days. Both musicians feel that Making A represents something very unusual and unique from their own perspective, and it is also the first release in Rowe’s close to half century of recording in which he does not use a guitar or a radio. The six panel digipak features combined artwork from the two musicians, joining forces to create a visual whole that parallels the music.
14,00€
Out of stock
CD
Keith ROWE – Christian FENNESZ
“Live at the LU”
Keith Rowe and Christian Fennesz are recognized as two of the most prominent and influential musicians in experimental music. However, despite their joint participation in the 12 person MIMEO collective, their commercially released work has rarely intersected, which is why Live at the LU, a document of their first duo show together, is so revealing.
Rowe’s history should be familiar to anyone following this area of music. Having mostly performed within AMM until the late nineties, he’s since been involved in a wide range of projects, including a slew of the most prominent Erstwhile releases. He’s the cornerstone musician for the label, and is co-curating the upcoming AMPLIFY festival in Cologne and Berlin, AMPLIFY 2004: addition.
Fennesz, known to a wider audience for his studio-constructed records like Endless Summer and the recently released Venice (Touch), is also a superb live laptop improviser, as documented on 2003’s Live in Japan CD. As a collaborative musician, he’s been involved in projects like FennO’Berg (w/ Jim O’Rourke and Pita) and Wrapped Islands (w/ Polwechsel), and will be touring this summer in a quartet with Rowe, Oren Ambarchi and Toshimaru Nakamura.
Recorded in May in 2002 in Nantes, Live at the LU finds the two musicians revisiting old pathways, further exploring territory they’ve separately mapped on records such as The Crypt, Harsh, and Hotel Paral.lel. Together they construct a soundworld that is jagged yet bright, stark and jarring, but in the end, somehow still soothing. Rowe’s cover painting is deeply symbolic, rife with subtle references, many of which are fleshed out in Friederike Paetzold’s brash pop design.
Rowe’s history should be familiar to anyone following this area of music. Having mostly performed within AMM until the late nineties, he’s since been involved in a wide range of projects, including a slew of the most prominent Erstwhile releases. He’s the cornerstone musician for the label, and is co-curating the upcoming AMPLIFY festival in Cologne and Berlin, AMPLIFY 2004: addition.
Fennesz, known to a wider audience for his studio-constructed records like Endless Summer and the recently released Venice (Touch), is also a superb live laptop improviser, as documented on 2003’s Live in Japan CD. As a collaborative musician, he’s been involved in projects like FennO’Berg (w/ Jim O’Rourke and Pita) and Wrapped Islands (w/ Polwechsel), and will be touring this summer in a quartet with Rowe, Oren Ambarchi and Toshimaru Nakamura.
Recorded in May in 2002 in Nantes, Live at the LU finds the two musicians revisiting old pathways, further exploring territory they’ve separately mapped on records such as The Crypt, Harsh, and Hotel Paral.lel. Together they construct a soundworld that is jagged yet bright, stark and jarring, but in the end, somehow still soothing. Rowe’s cover painting is deeply symbolic, rife with subtle references, many of which are fleshed out in Friederike Paetzold’s brash pop design.
15,00€
Out of stock
CD
Keith ROWE
“The room”
“This was one of the first occasions on which I worked with Keith Rowe, who bore more or less the same relation to the electric guitar as David Tudor did to the piano (I put that in the past tense because by no stretch of the imagination could you now call them guitarist or pianist respectively)”. Cornelius Cardew, 1966
“More than forty years later, Keith Rowe is still adding to his remarkable legacy of sound and color. This latest release, The Room, marks the third full-length solo recording of his career, following A Dimension of Perfectly Ordinary Reality (1989) and Harsh (1999). Each of these prior recordings marked the end of a phase of Rowe’s work just before he switched to a new guitar, whereas The Room is a continuation of his recent collaborative work, as captured on records like between, cloud, A View From The Window, November Quebec and the ErstLive 005 box. The Room is a very personal project for Rowe, and he struggled with its precise conception over the last few years. It’s in part a tribute to two of his most important influences, Cardew and Mark Rothko, and the creation of a recording that did justice to his feelings about these two was a long journey. After many months of thought and numerous attempts to transfer the ideas in his head to a concert context, Rowe began in early 2007 to record at his home each day. He recorded dozens of hours before finally arriving at an end result that he could live with, and those results are here. For Rowe, The Room represents an “emotional state made audible” as well as an attempt to “reject virtuosity”, a philosophy which has been guiding all of his work over the past few years. Erstwhile mastering engineer Earl Howard did some crucial (and uncredited, due to the minimal text on the package) postproduction on Rowe’s home recorded master, just minor tweaks on their own, but resulting in a decided overall improvement in the sound quality. The Room is the first release on the new ErstSolo imprint, and is the first standalone digipak on Erstwhile, with the entire design consisting of two triptych Rothko-influenced Rowe paintings, one on the outside and one on the inside. Keith Rowe: guitar, electronics.”
“More than forty years later, Keith Rowe is still adding to his remarkable legacy of sound and color. This latest release, The Room, marks the third full-length solo recording of his career, following A Dimension of Perfectly Ordinary Reality (1989) and Harsh (1999). Each of these prior recordings marked the end of a phase of Rowe’s work just before he switched to a new guitar, whereas The Room is a continuation of his recent collaborative work, as captured on records like between, cloud, A View From The Window, November Quebec and the ErstLive 005 box. The Room is a very personal project for Rowe, and he struggled with its precise conception over the last few years. It’s in part a tribute to two of his most important influences, Cardew and Mark Rothko, and the creation of a recording that did justice to his feelings about these two was a long journey. After many months of thought and numerous attempts to transfer the ideas in his head to a concert context, Rowe began in early 2007 to record at his home each day. He recorded dozens of hours before finally arriving at an end result that he could live with, and those results are here. For Rowe, The Room represents an “emotional state made audible” as well as an attempt to “reject virtuosity”, a philosophy which has been guiding all of his work over the past few years. Erstwhile mastering engineer Earl Howard did some crucial (and uncredited, due to the minimal text on the package) postproduction on Rowe’s home recorded master, just minor tweaks on their own, but resulting in a decided overall improvement in the sound quality. The Room is the first release on the new ErstSolo imprint, and is the first standalone digipak on Erstwhile, with the entire design consisting of two triptych Rothko-influenced Rowe paintings, one on the outside and one on the inside. Keith Rowe: guitar, electronics.”
15,00€
Out of stock
CD
Keith ROWE – Toshimaru NAKAMURA – Thomas LEHN – Marcus SCHMICKLER
ErstLive 002 is from the quartet of Keith Rowe, Toshimaru Nakamura, Thomas Lehn and Marcus Schmickler, the final quartet performance in the Cologne half of AMPLIFY 2004: addition, also in May 2004. This was the quartet’s first performance together.
Keith Rowe: guitar, electronics. Toshimaru Nakamura: no-input mixing board. Thomas Lehn: analogue synthesizer. Marcus Schmickler: synthesizer, computer.
Keith Rowe: guitar, electronics. Toshimaru Nakamura: no-input mixing board. Thomas Lehn: analogue synthesizer. Marcus Schmickler: synthesizer, computer.
14,00€
In stock
CD
Jérôme NOETINGER – eRikm
“What a wonderful world”
“Jérôme Noetinger and eRikm have been focal points of France’s experimental-music underground since the early ’90s. They’ve explored concepts of context and copyright along parallel paths, converging only rarely. In 2001/2002, Noetinger and ErikM painstakingly edited and shaped the material into a coherent whole, flavoring their complex, abstract electronics with insistent repetitions and field recordings, creating instant concrète -- each individual idea as carefully constructed as the impeccably chosen first and last sounds. Personnel: Jérôme Noetinger : electroacoustic devices; ErikM: 3-K.pad F system, MD, turntables.”
12,00€
Out of stock
CD
Jérome NOETINGER – Will GUTHRIE
“Face off”
Jerome Noetinger, tape recorder Revox B77 and electronics. Will Guthrie, drums and amplified objects. Studio and concert recordings reworked by each musician to build this CD mix of improvisation and concrete music.
12,00€
Out of stock
CD
Jeph JERMAN – Tim BARNES
“Matterings”
Notes from the producer : “I’m really excited to finally have Jeph and Tim on Erstwhile, as I have long been inspired by both. In July 2004, I saw a night of solos and duos by Jeph, Tim, Sean Meehan and David Daniell at Clemente Soto Velez in Manhattan, and that night inspired me to start the ErstQuake series with Tim, which we kicked off a few months later, also at Clemente Soto Velez. So in a way this has been in the works since then, although all of the material was newly recorded in 2014.” Five tracks, 68 minutes, recorded by Barry Weisblat along with Jeph/Tim and mastered by Jason Lescalleet.
15,00€
In stock
CD
Hong CHULKI – Will GUTHRIE
“Mosquitoes and Crabs”
Chulki Hong, turntables, guitar, electronics. Will Guthrie, drums, percussion, electronics. Recorded by Taku Unami, Mullae Arts Village, Seoul, South Korea, 20-22 October 2016. Mixed and edited by Taku Unami.
15,00€
Out of stock
CD
Greg KELLEY – Olivia BLOCK
“Resolution”
Greg Kelley, trumpet. Olivia Block, electronics, piano. Recorded at Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago in August 2010. A great mix of instrumental and field recordings.
15,00€
Out of stock
CD
Graham LAMBKIN-Jason LESCALLEET
“The breadwinner”
“Graham Lambkin-Jason Lescalleet-microphone, tapes, Casio SK-5. Graham Lambkin and Jason Lescalleet are both highly respected artists, with small but intensely hardcore followings. Since 2001, they’ve been gradually moving closer towards realizing a collaborative project, and The Breadwinner is the results of two years of recording, reworking and polishing. Lambkin first entered the public consciousness at 19 when he formed his band The Shadow Ring, in Folkestone, a small town in Kent, England. The band was memorable and built an rabidly passionate fan base because of its sui generis approach, blending elements of folk, noise, cracked electronics, and surrealist poetry, while radically changing the overall formula with each release. A decade of increasingly skewed and inspired work culminated in 2003’s I’m Some Songs, constructed long distance as Lambkin had relocated to the US in 1998. Over the last few years, Lambkin has primarily worked under his own name, most notably with 2007’s brilliant Salmon Run, a precursor to The Breadwinner. Lescalleet has gradually and painstakingly built a compelling discography over the past decade. He uses reel-to-reel tape decks to explore the textures of low fidelity analog sounds and the natural phenomena of old tape and obsolete technology. He is one of a growing list of master producer/musicians, whose skill lies as much in reworking, assembling and mastering the material available as in creating it (or helping create it) in the first place. He has worked with such wide-ranging artists as Ron Lessard, Joe Colley and Phill Niblock, and has released a string of superb solo discs in Mattresslessness (Cut), Electronic Music (RRR) and The Pilgrim (Glistening Examples). This is his second release for Erstwhile, after 2001’s Forlorn Green (with Greg Kelley), and his third is already in preparation, a duo with Bhob Rainey, planned for release in early 2009. The material for The Breadwinner was recorded at Lambkin’s house in upstate NY, over two recording sessions. The duo treated the entire building and its surrounding grounds as a studio, welcoming in outside sounds, which were later kept or eliminated as they felt appropriate. The subtitle on the front cover is “musical settings for common environments and domestic situations”, layering numerous submerged fragments to find beauty in everyday life. “Jason Lescalleet’s influence was palpably present long before the average Joe knew how many L’s were in his last name (or could successfully google it). He spun tape loops with nmperign from the get-go, frequently signified the endings of his characteristically foundation-shaking performances by hurling a nearly indestructible, hundred-pound Peavy amp across the stage, and provided the bulk of the "disaster" in legendary drummer Lawrence Cook’s “Disaster Unit 2000”. But as the smoke cleared and the Peavy met its demise in a white-walled room, it became apparent to an awful lot of people that Lescalleet was making some amazing music; beautifully constructed symphonies of decay born of an intimacy with items and ideas lesser minds might discard: tape machines, lo-bit samplers, the tedium of everyday life. His ability to evoke powerfully complex emotional experiences from such muck made a collaboration with Graham Lambkin practically inevitable. Composer Walter Marchetti once made a statement to the effect that he was seeking to reach the “bottom” of music. Some more diligent attention to this task might lead him to the music of Graham Lambkin. Already marking out a glorious bottom with his former band, The Shadow Ring, Lambkin has pursued a music so removed from prescribed aesthetics that one is flooded by the beauty it seems to ruthlessly avoid. He puts the mundane to tape and carves out its horror, its sweetness, and its unsettling ambivalence. Shrouded in a disarming naiveté, the music leaves the listener ill-prepared for its very adult take on being-in-the-world. We are fortunate that humor can be so black, that we may surrender happily and willingly to an experience not many artists are willing or capable of delivering.” Bhob Rainey
15,00€
Out of stock
CD
Graham LAMBKIN – Michael PISARO
“Schwarze Riesenfalter”
“Very excited about this one! “Schwarze Riesenfalter” - a project Graham Lambkin and I worked on throughout the last year is now available. One of the darkest, funniest, strangest projects in which I’ve ever had a part. Black butterflies, fragmented mouths, dead kings: you get the idea. Fantastic cover art by Graham as well.” Michael Pisaro
Schwarze Riesenfalter
Black butterflies crowd the midnight sky.
A beacon pierces the offshore mist with firelight.
We awaken to the flutter of bats, a passage of hawks.
An icy wind of bleached birches and synthesized snow.
Rude chorus of fragmented mouths submerged in rumor.
The king lies deposed, un-dead.
Michael Pisaro / Graham Lambkin.
Mastered by Jason Lescalleet
Schwarze Riesenfalter
Black butterflies crowd the midnight sky.
A beacon pierces the offshore mist with firelight.
We awaken to the flutter of bats, a passage of hawks.
An icy wind of bleached birches and synthesized snow.
Rude chorus of fragmented mouths submerged in rumor.
The king lies deposed, un-dead.
Michael Pisaro / Graham Lambkin.
Mastered by Jason Lescalleet
15,00€