ÄÄNIPÄÄ - Through a Pre-Memory 2LP/CD Editions Mego AIRCHAMBER3 - Peripheral CD Frattonove ARTURAS BUMSTEINAS - Meubles CD Crónica BOOGARINS - As Plantas Que Curam LP/CD Other Music BURKHARD STANGL - Unfinished. For William Turner, Painter. CD Touch COMPOUND EYE - Journey from Anywhere 2LP Editions Mego EMMANUEL ALLARD - Nouvelles Upanishads du yoga CD Baskaru EMPTYSET - Recur - LP/CD raster-noton F.S. BLUMM - Up Up And Astray CD Pingipung G*PARK - Sub 2CD 23five GABRIEL SALOMAN - Soldier's Requiem LP/CD Miasmah HÅKON STENE - Etude Begone Badum/Bone Alphabet CD+CD-Single Ahornfelder ITAL TEK - Control EP Planet Mu JIM O'ROURKE - Old News No. 9 2LP Old News KID606 - Happiness LP/CD Tigerbeat6 KROHN JESTRAM LIPPOK - Dear Mister Singing Club CD Distillery LUCRECIA DALT - Syzygy LP/CD Human Ear Music MAILE COLBERT - Come Kingdom Come CD Two Acrons MIRACLE - Mercury LP/CD Planet Mu ORPHAX - De tragedie van een liedjesschrijver... CD Moving Furniture PHILL NIBLOCK - Touch Five 2CD Touch REINALDO LADDAGA / V.A. - Things that a Mutant needs to Know... Book+2CD Unsounds SERGIO SORRENTINO _ MACHINEFABRIEK - Vignettes CD Frattonove SORE EROS & KURT VILE - Jamaica Plain 10" Care in the Community TOSHIMARU NAKAMURA, KEN IKEDA & TOMOYOSHI DATE - Green Heights CD Baskaru ULRICH TROYER - Songs for William 2 2LP/CD 4Bit V.A. - SMM: Opiate CD Ghostly >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ÄÄNIPÄÄ - Through a Pre-Memory 2LP/CD Editions Megos eMEGO175 Release date: November 11 www.editionsmego.com/release/eMEGO-175 Music by MIKA VAINIO & STEPHEN O'MALLEY with Alan Dubin / Vocals ;; Eyvind Kang / Viola ;; Moriah Neils / Contrabass ;; Maria Scherer Wilson / Cello String arrangements by Eyvind Kang ;; Tape manipulations by Randall Dunn Lyrics from Anna Akhmatova's "Muse", "Untitled" & "Across The Landing" (epilogue) Recording 0311, 0112 & 0812 in andereBaustelle Tonstudio, Berlin by Marco Paschke Arrangements recording & Final Mix 0313 in AVAST!, Seattle by Randall Dunn Mastered and cut 0513 at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin by Rashad Becker Front and back cover artwork/planks by Emilie Ding Produced and art directed by Stephen O'Malley MAXIMUM VOLUME YIELDS MAXIMUM RESULTS Mika Vanio and Stephen O'Malley are both seminal figures in the experimental underground having established themselves in the epoch defining acts Pan sonic and sunnO)). Whilst they explored different worlds, one abstracted guitar drone metal, the other hard rhythms and analog atmospheres, there was always an underlying thread which bound both acts: massive blocks of sound, vast cavernous spaces, a sense of drama and the foreboding along with a deep exploration of the physical experience unlike any previously experienced. Pan sonic and sunnO))) first collaborated together on a Suicide cover version for a Blast First Petite series in 2007/8, and following this Mika and Stephen decided to collaborate further with what eventually became the ÄÄNIPÄÄ sessions. Recorded at Einstürzende Neubauten's andereBaustelle Tonstudio in Berlin and mixed at Avast! (Soundgarden, Earth) in Seattle over an extended period the results see individual approaches coalesce into a monumental whole. The signature motifs of both players are to be found here: the sparse crushing rhythms of Vanio's minimalist techno alongside the black hole drones of O'Malley's guitar workouts. It is the alchemical combination of these element that shifts this release into a new world of burning intensity. At once unholy and emotional 'Through a Pre-Memory' takes the listener on a vast journey. On 'Toward All Thresholds' immense bleak landscapes succumb to sparse glacial rhythms. 'Mirror of Mirror Dreams' holds itself in reflective terrain as string arrangements by Eyvind Kang are played with Moriah Neils (contrabass) and Maria Scherer Wilson's (cello) providing desolate strokes to the cleansing ambient landscape preceding it. A new level of terror is reached on the epic 'Muse' and 'Watch over Stillness / Matters Principle' as the writings of Russian modernist poet Anna Akhmatova are put to music and sung/spoken/screamed by Alan Dubin (Khanate / GNAW / O.L.D). These monumental texts which book end this lp are at once ravenous and destructive. The shredding light shining through an impossible black. 'Through a Pre-Memory' is a deep immersive experience from two of the most extreme forward thinking music/sound practitioners today. - Mark Harwood, London 0913 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top AIRCHAMBER3 - Peripheral CD Frattonove fratto023 www.fratto9.com airchamber3.tumblr.com Peripheral is the fresh new effort by Airchamber3 and marks a step forward from their debut. The improvisational element is still central in their compositional method, but Peripheral (recorded in a period of four years) shows how the trio, occasionally augmented by some additional musicians - Vincenzo Vasi (Patton/Capossela), Dominic Cramp (Carla Bozulich), Barbara De Dominicis, Luminance Ratio - has been able to integrate elements of different genres maintaining an experimental edge. This work has been conceived as an evocative soundtrack for a non-existent film. ANDREA "ICS" FERRARIS: guitar - bass - laptop - effects - drums LUCA SERRAPIGLIO: alto, tenor & baritone saxophone - bass clarinet - wind controller and synths - theremin - MaTiLda effects - drums ANDREA SERRAPIGLIO: cello - laptop - casio sk-1 - iPad - drums - vocals Special guests on Recollecting pieces of tresured memories VINCENZO VASI: vocals DOMINIC CRAMP: electronics LUCA SIGURTÀ, GIANMARIA APRILE, LUCA MAURI: guitars Special guest on A body is a map of bruises BARBARA DE DOMINICIS: vocals Special guests on Crippling approach anxiety ALESSANDRO BUZZI: drums Airchamber3 is an ensemble based on free improvisation, visuals and ready made soundtracks. "While coming from different background, we started free-improvising trying to focus our ideas and practice after practice, improvisation after improvisation it soon took shape. We use common instruments like sax, electric cello and electric guitar but were into experimentation, into sound research (...whatever it means) and also into electronics: thats why we process the majority of the sounds through our beloved laptops and/or pedal effects trying to add something to the chemistry of our music. We also use contact microphones to voice whatever it fits well with what were doing, be it a piece of plastic or just the surface of an instruments (is it the real voice of the voiceless in music?). Our electro-acoustic sound is the material that we use for trying to cross-over the musical genres. We're a trio, as suggested by the number at the end of our name, but we may increased the line up (musicians, video-makers, etc.), according to what we/they want to achieve. We worship improvisation and it will remain one of our constitutive elements but not the only one of course. Are we really free? Is our music really free? Are we ourselves? Who knowsunder a relativistic perspective to enter the world of improvisation could mean to enter the world of endless possibilities but we still think this extract from Derek Bailey says a lot: 'The lack of precision over its [free improvs] naming is, if anything, increased when we come to the thing itself. Diversity is its most consistent characteristic. It has no stylistic or idiomatic commitment. It has no prescribed idiomatic sound. The characteristics of freely improvised music are established only by the sonic-musical identity of the person or persons playing it.'" >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top ARTURAS BUMSTEINAS - Meubles CD Crónica 081 www.cronicaelectronica.org en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arturas_Bumsteinas PERFORMED BY THE WORKS AND DAYS ENSEMBLE Arturas Bumsteinas (1, 2, 3) - electric organs, sampler, flute Ilia Belorukov (1, 2), Maarten Ornstein (3) - saxophones Kamil Szuszkiewicz (2) - trumpet Lina Lapelyte (1), Tadas Zukauskas (2) - violins Anton Lukoszevieze (2) - cello Birute Aseviciute (2) - piano Piotr Bukowski (1), Bartek Kalinka (3) - guitars Hubert Zemler (2, 3) - percussion Recorded and mixed by Arturas Bumsteinas on various portable studios, 2011-2013. Mastered by Miguel Carvalhais. Cover by MC from a photo by AB. Arturas Bumsteinas If music could be furniture, which piece of furniture would it be? Anton Lukoszevieze If music could be furniture it would be an ornamental chaise longue, covered with purple velvet and with intricate carved wooden legs. I would lie on this chaise longue for hours, sipping green tea and caressing a meek and mild Ocelot. Hubert Zemler If music was furniture it would be something that isn't essential for living, but essential for being a human. Something that could be easily dispensed of, but you would miss it. Something that contains love, hate, tears, happiness, sadness, calmness, enthusiasm, boredom, amusement or any emotions you can feel. Something which sometimes contains nothing. Something which not everybody needs or wants. I don't know & Maybe music would be a wine cabinet? Bartek Kalinka I would like music to be a stove. Because it's a place where cooking is done, so it's an alchemical altar, where substances are transferred by the music's heat. Kamil Szuszkiewicz A bed. Definitely. Human civilization has began when people invented some kind of bed (no, not a circle; circle was much later). We are born in a bed, we die there, we sleep, fuck, lay there looking up to a ceiling and pondering. The rest of a lifetime seems to be meaningless interruption. I want music to be like that: ancient, basic, necessary (in a way). Birute Aseviciute Music is not material thing, so it's hard to materialize it & But & if music could be a furniture, it could be "pufikas" (tuffet with removable top). You can put anything inside, but nobody knows, what's really inside it & It can have many segments inside, but it can be empty as swell. And you don't feel you really have this kind of furniture (music), it exists somewhere, beside you or very near. It can have different forms, many segments or just "to be". Tadas Zukauskas If music could be furniture it would be a window. Medium between myself and the Images of the World or the Imagination itself. Piotr Bukowski Billy Bookcase by IKEA - basic furniture in every home. You can use it it to store whatever you need, it uses space effectively by accommodating various items in a minimum of space. Known all over the world, flag product of IKEA, cheap and practical. Ilia Belorukov A couch. One may sit or sleep on it; one may also unfold it to get more space. It is not a univocal piece of furniture, it has multiple functions. The couch reminds me of the fact that music is just as multi-faceted, and the perception of sound largely depends on the listener - namely, his or her wishes/moods/needs. If you want to lie down, here you go; if you need more seats for guests - just move the couch closer to the table. One can immerse oneself in a music piece or merely use it as a background. Maarten Ornstein Furniture? Well, a bed I suppose. It's nice to lie down in some good music. Lina Lapelyt If i could be music and if this music could be furniture then with no doubt i would prefer to be music & furniture than just to be furniture or just to be music. If I could be music, furniture and a woman - that would really please me! On the other hand - I would probably annoy somebody if i am a sofa or dinning table that always produces a certain tune.. How boring it would be to have me around! I probably would end up being thrown away & and the good thing about that is that undoubtedly I would travel to a new house - somebody would be very happy to find a musical table or sofa that maybe is also a woman. So to be clear - i would like to be a little drawer in the closet - so I am only audible when wanted. Did i get the question right? >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top BOOGARINS - As Plantas Que Curam LP/CD Other Music Recordings OM-008 Release date: October 14 www.othermusicrecordingco.com www.boogarins.com www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5f-Mb9dP7U Other Music is very excited to welcome Boogarins to the label! FERNANDO ALMEIDA and BENKE FERRAZ met in high school in the central Brazilian city of Goiânia, far from the thriving cultural metropolises of São Paulo and Rio, yet nevertheless in the shadow of the icons of their homeland's great musical heritage -- not bossa nova and samba, however, but psychedelic pop. Still in their late teens, the music they make together, recorded on borrowed gear and with self-taught technology in their parents' basements, shares the spirit and soul of Tropicalismo, but it has also blossomed in the light of the current international DIY underground. Almeida is the poet and singer, Ferraz is the multi-instrumentalist and gear-head, and together, as Boogarins, they write songs that reach beyond their years and any restrictions of geography or genre: timeless pop untethered from categorizations. The songs that are collected on As Plantas Que Curam (translated: "Plants That Heal") were recorded mostly as a duo, before they ever considered playing live, before they found a rhythm section or even a name - the Bogarim the band was named for is a jasmine flower the ancients say "smells like pure love" - and the album speaks with an intimacy and off-kilter fragility that reflects those humble origins. Yet from the exotic psychedelia of "Erre," in which Ferraz's fuzz guitar spirals around Almeida's yearning melodies, to the jangling melancholy of "Doce," there is a sophistication and depth in the songwriting and playing here that shows a rare talent, each track filled with beauty and freewheeling emotion. A snapshot of Boogarins' youthful ambition and dreams, As Plantas Que Curam is a love letter from the green fields of Goiânia to all of us. As Plantas Que Curam will be released Oct. 14, 2013 on on vinyl, CD, and mp3 by Other Music Recording Co. and on cassette through Burger Records. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top BURKHARD STANGL - Unfinished. For William Turner, painter. CD Touch TO:92 Release date: October 14 www.touchmusic.org.uk stangl.klingt.org Design & photography by Jon Wozencroft Premastering by Christian Fennesz Mastering by Denis Blackham @ Skye "The sun is God" (The last words of painter, JMW Turner) "Which side of the picture should be hung uppermost?" 2003, London: the first time I visited Tate Britain, Tate Gallery, and the first time I saw and really experienced the paintings of JMW Turner (1775-1851). Overwhelmed, especially by his late and unfinished works I was stunned by the power of the stillness of his work. 25 years before that something similar; me, as a young man in Madrid; Prado, Goya paintings and etchings - for me an initiation which opened up the door to earlier art and its pioneers. Like Goya one generation before him, Turner is one of those artists whose language was becoming radicalized in the high age. (In the field of music he is the contemporary of Beethoven.) His later paintings transcend light, full of poetic imagination, exquisite liquid calm. Free pure painting - nothing as light, air and water. When I left the exhibition, it was clear to me that this visit was the starting point for my musical approach to his paintings. Over the years, it was a pleasent challenge to get closer and closer to the painter's complex simplicity, transforming the enigmatic atmospheres of his late and unfinshed works into personal tempting musical soundscapes." Burkhard Stangl, September 2013 Track notes: # 1 recorded live by Norbert Benesch at Porgy and Bess, Vienna, 4th January 2013 # 2 recorded by Fennesz at Amann Studios, Vienna, 5th March 2013. First take, no edits, no cuts. # 3 recorded live by Philip Leitner, at Garnisongasse 7, Vienna, 18th June 2010 Burkhard Stangl: electric guitar and tapes (electronics and field recordings). Unfinished 1 (mellow) is based on Stangl's composition for three zithers Mellow (My Feldman), dedicated to and played by Trio Greifer. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top COMPOUND EYE - Journey from Anywhere 2LP Editions Mego eMEGO181 Release date: October 28 editionsmego.com/release/eMEGO-181 Recorded at various times between 2010-2012 in New York City by Drew McDowall & Tres Warren Mastered and cut by CGB at Dubplates and Mastering, Berlin, August 2013 Artwork by Stephen O Malley Compound Eye is DREW MCDOWALL (formerly of Coil) and TRES WARREN (Psychic Ills and Messages). 'Journey From Anywhere' is their second long-player release following 'Origin of Silence', an art edition LP on The Spring Press label. This double lp features 4 sides of improvised electronics that lead the listener into the dark recesses of the duo's subterranean explorations. Each of these works move at a slow and considered pace, gradually unfolding into a transportive blur of dark psychedelic minimalism. Like elements of Coil long form works this is a music which has the potential to melt time, open space and create a flowing web of liquid memory. A sublime record for those who like music that encourages travel. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top EMMANUEL ALLARD - Nouvelles Upanishads du yoga CD Baskaru karu:25 Release date: October 2013 www.baskaru.com The art of substraction Baskaru is now up to 25 releases, and each one is unique, but none are as singular as Nouvelles Upanishads du yoga, a series of deep reflections on feedback, sound synthesis, and the art of substraction. Paris-based visual and sound artist Emmanuel Allard has been making electronic and digital music since the late 90s. Beside contributions to several compilation albums and despite live performances on three continents, he has been keeping a very quiet release schedule. First there was Imite Moi in 2003, a platter of digital avalanches released as Fabriquedecouleurs, and then, a decade later, Nouvelles Upanishads du yoga under his own name. In the meantime, Allard has changed his approach, his equipment, and his way of saying more with less. Using only a hybrid analog-digital modular system, the Buchla 200e, Allard has produced a series of tones that are pure here, polluted there, juxtaposing and superimposing simple elements in ways that let you focus on their similarities and contrasts. Using basic effects, he expands his sound palette without actually stepping out of an ascetic approach that inspired respect. Throughout the album, you can hear how much this simple yet abstract music can only be the result of long years of research and evolution. The graphic design of the album, elegant yet disarmingly simple, mirrors these aesthetics. Nouvelles Upanishads du yoga is released on CD by the French independent label Baskaru. Baskaru publishes only a few carefully-selected releases each year. Its previous productions (including albums by Maurizio Bianchi, Mathias Delplanque, Gintas K, Francisco López, Yoshio Machida, Parallel 41, Ethan Rose, and Stephan Mathieu) have already established high artistic and visual standards. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top EMPTYSET - Recur LP/CD raster-noton r-n 151 Release date: October 28 www.raster-noton.net after successful ep "collapsed" (r-n116) the bristol based project strikes back with a full length album on raster-noton. once more JAMES GINZBURG & PAUL PURGAS challenge the perceptual boundaries between noise and music and the potential for both technology and architecture to embed and codify themselves within sound. recur is presented as emptyset's third studio album, continuing on from their work with demiurge the material examines the central themes of time, structure and recursion, through the analysis of scale and the interaction of both formal and fractured sonics. the album furthers the project's exploration of rhythm, dislocation and feedback within the framework of full frequency sound, structural abstraction and analogue processing. the work examines how notions of time interact with both experience and form, and the resulting modes through which this affects sound through compression and rarefaction and the forcing of signal thresholds to their critical point. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top F.S. BLUMM - Up Up And Astray CD Pingipung pp39 Release date: November 25 www.pingipung.de de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Schültge Frank Schültge aka F.S. BLUMM has released his melodic experiments around the acoustic guitar for over 15 years. In their contemplative reduction they miraculously always hit right in the heart. "The man makes some damn charming music," Pitchfork said about his last album. With Up Up And Astray F.S. BLUMM proves that he doesn't opt for routine with his eighth full-length solo release: his unfailing arsenal of acoustic instruments and choice circuits frame the most energetic BLUMM sound we have lived to see so far. The album title perfectly describes its energy. F.S. BLUMM returns from a six years hiatus as solo artist in which he has "rehearsed and learned, multiplied and lost track on purpose." F.S. BLUMM is many now, and he is absolutely present to us. It all goes on, and always up, and from there into unknown dimensions. He goes astray in the word's finest meaning. And he goes up up, not as a sweaty HarderBetterFasterStronger, but with BLUMM's steady, heart-felt pling of the acoustic guitar. With his tin cookie box, through which he in fact plays back his sounds in order to re-record them, with his double bass, his keys and kalimba. F.S. BLUMM is back from the musical travels of his collaborations. He took the roles of a bass player with the Quasi Dub Development, a classical guitarist with Old Splendifolia, a songwriter with Bobby And Blumm, a sonic researcher with Nils Frahm and a manic, extrovert Dub mash-up DJ as King Hobby. What he has experienced on these musical field trips he now returns to his solo rpoject. Here's the best bit: F.S. BLUMM sings! Through that very cookie box, which sounds in fact like an exquisite vintage amp. Together with his various guest musicians (most notably Ella Blixt "Bobby Baby" on vocals), F.S. BLUMM achieves to further define his subtle and unique sonic identity between classical guitar and electronic production. F.S. BLUMM: "I wouldn't call my decisions in the studio canny or strategic, they are entirely led by the music. Thereby my sound remains fresh, maybe slightly naïve too, because it unfolds its own life - ignorant of trends or markets." >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top G*PARK - Sub 2CD 23five 018 Release date: November 8 www.23five.org The most enigmatic of the Schimpfluch-Gruppe, MARC ZEIER in the man behind G*Park; and here, he presents his first album since the acclaimed album of cryptic electro-acoustics entitled Reuters. Many years in the making, Sub is a sprawling masterpiece of modern day musique concrete, reflecting the early pioneers' use of razor cut tape with a grandiose revelation of an existential horror. Zeier describes this album as the manifestation of amorphous conditions that lead to (or interfere with) representational forms or states of being. His examples of the shifting patterns from clouds of blackbirds or the clinging masses from algae blooms are rudimentary entry points for his rhizomatic, chimerical work. For every malignant drone and turgid thrumming, Zeier will puncture his fluttering, frozen methane surfaces with jagged incisions, pneumatic hammerings, and decompressed gasps. This fragmented punctuation is a signature to the G*Park aesthetic, used highly effectively in mapping his clinical situations turned septic. The titles to the tracks on Sub address the physical attributes of the source material that went into each track, with some decidedly specific ("Swine", "Wasp", "Stone") and others nebulously abstract ("Purge", "Glow", "Pulse"). For Zeier, the exact nature of the sound object is informed more by a shadowy deconstruction than by a direct representation, thrust into an absurd existence as an abomination, a violation, a monster. Sub locates itself near the psychological minefields of Luc Ferrari, Steven Stapleton's prediliction for windows, and the cruel x-ray visions from fellow Swiss aktionists Sudden Infant & Dave Phillips. Founded in 1993, 23five Incorporated is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development and increased awareness of sound works in the public arena, and to the support and education of artists working with and discussing the medium of sound. 23five Incorporated has remained at the forefront in bringing the most adventurous elements of sound art to the San Francisco Bay area. 23five has served as an important benefactor to artists such as John Duncan, Christina Kubisch, Francisco Lopez, Achim Wollscheid, Matt Heckert, Zbigniew Karkowski, Phill Niblock, and many more. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top GABRIEL SALOMAN - Soldier's Requiem LP/CD Miasmah MIA026 Release date: November 8 www.miasmah.com www.diademdiscos.com/gms Gabriel Saloman furthers his dive into the dynamics of sound and delivers four pieces of intense yet restrained requiems set to Piano, Guitar & Drums with Soldier's Requiem, his follow up to last year's highly emotive record Adhere. Although touching on his past in Yellow Swans (w/Pete Swanson), Saloman continues to explore the noises within rather than the purely physical component of his former collaborator. That's not saying this is lighthearted material. Quite the contrary - this is an album that needs to be experienced on proper volume for potential heart stopping effect. Sounding as if you may be the last person left on earth, Soldier's Requiem guides you through rain filled open spaces, epic showdowns & abandoned cities. The debris is floating and in the shadow lurks a guitar picking Vincent Gallo. Meanwhile there seems to be marching bands closing by on all fronts while a punk band playing Tim Hecker tracks is to be heard from the horizon. Soldier's Requiem confirms Saloman as a man able to further his own musicality while regaining the key elements to his recipe. This is music for modern decay and melancholy. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top HÅKON STENE - Etude Begone Badum / Bone Alphabet CD + CD Single Ahornfelder AH25/26 Release date: October 28 www.ahornfelder.de www.hakonstene.net Etude Begone Badum (CD Album): 1. Lars Petter Hagen - Study #1 in Self-Imposed Tristesse (02:07) 2. Marko Ciciliani - Black Horizon (21:26) 3. Lars Petter Hagen - Study #2 in Self-Imposed Tristesse (01:06) 4. Alvin Lucier - Silver Streetcar for the Orchestra (11:03) 5. Lars Petter Hagen - Study #3 in Self-Imposed Tristesse (01:45) 6. Michael Pisaro - Ricefall (1) (17:42) The album Etude Begone Badum presents works by composers Alvin Lucier (US), Marko Ciciliani (GER/CRO) and Michael Pisaro (US), linked together by Norwegian Lars Petter Hagen's poetic, electroacoustic intermezzi. The works employ personal, experimental and conceptual approaches to sound production, suggesting the development of a "post-percussive" practice - the topic of Håkon Stene's ongoing Artistic Research Project "Ceci n'est pas un tambour - developing the role of the multidisciplinary performer." This development eschews traditional playing techniques, substituting an open-ended concept wherein any sound producing object may be played in any manner imaginable. Bone Alphabet (CD Single): 1. Brian Ferneyhough - Bone Alphabet   2. Sir Duperman - Wizard & Os One of the most controversial composers on the New Music scene in the last thirty years, Brian Ferneyhough remains faithful to the idea of composition and interpretation as utopian, intellectually Olympian disciplines. His percussion classic Bone Alphabet comprises dense and polyphonic textures on seven non-resonant instruments. Electronic wizard Sir Duperman's remix offers an illuminating stylistic transposition, questioning the status of canonized artworks as untouchable masterpieces. HÅKON STENE studied in Oslo, Freiburg and San Diego with Rob Waring, Kjell Samkopf, Bernhard Wulff, Pascal Pons and Steven Schick among others. From 2005-2008 he was selected for the launch programme INTRO for young soloist by Concerts Norway. Solo and chamber performances with ensembles asamisimasa, Pantha du Prince & the Bell Laboratory, Oslo Sinfonietta, Klangforum Wien, BIT20, Rolf Lislevand Ensemble and Nils Økland Ensemble include venues such as Acht Brücken Köln, Barbican, Bergen Festival, Casa da Música Porto, Darmstadt, Debüt im Deutschlandsradio, Donaueschingen, Ultima, Wien Modern, Primavera Sound, Mutek, Venezia Biennale, South Bank Centre, Warzaw Autumn, Monday Evening Concerts LA, Feldkirch Festival, Ludwigsburger Festspiele, Cutting Edge London, 2Days&2 Nights Odessa, Huddersfield, Stockholm New Music and Ultraschall; tours throughout Europe, US and Asia as well as recordings for several labels, Radio and TV; collaborations with composers such as Laurence Crane, Brian Ferneyhough, Michael Finnissy, Clemens Gadenstätter, Klaus Lang, Nicolaus A. Huber, Johannes Kreidler, Helmut Lachenmann, Alvin Lucier, Helmut Oehring, Mathias Spahlinger, Simon Steen-Andersen and many others. He is currently involved in the Artistic Research Programme at the Norwegian Music Academy. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top ITAL TEK - Control EP Planet Mu ZIQ344 Release date: November 11 planet.mu/discography/ZIQ344 Following on from last year's 'Nebula Dance' album, Ital Tek comes with a 25 minute EP that frees itself from easy catagorisation. Of course the 160bpm cross-pollination of footwork and drum & bass is the jump off point, but 'Control' is sophisticated and dense sci-fi music that flexes your senses. 'Fireflies' opens proceedings with floaty but viciously warping choral tones over rough, rolling Apache drums. The title track, 'Control' with its punchy squashed kicks and rolling claps, swaps between Detroit chords and tough drum workouts. Next up, 'Zero' is a rich and cinematic ambient interlude whilst the final track on side A, 'Violet' is reminscent of Art of Noise's 'Moments in Love', but given a hi-gloss rerub, before the shortened notes of the melody break into strange glottal shapes, with drums striking strange patterns around them. 'Challenger Deep' opens side B with trancey spiralling synth arppegios that are almost too intense to take in, until soft chords and a steady drum form a cushion underneath, shaping the track into some intensely futuristic trap music. 'Ultra' is a synapse snapping 808 trap track with jittering double time drums rich chords and sci-fi bleeps. 'Jupiter Ascent' seems to update 4Hero at their most prog sounding, mixing in all manner of organ sounds, rolling toms and vocal noises with timestretched jungle breaks. Final track 'Doom/Dream' is a glistening virtual paradise, an uneasy ambient comedown from the rush that just preceeded it. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top JIM O'ROURKE - Old News No. 9 2LP Old News No.9 Release date: November 4 editionsmego.com/release/OLD-NEWS-9 Recorded 2012-2013 Steamroom Tokyo Jim O'Rourke 'Old News' series continues with this, the ninth installment. This new release is unique in the series in that it is the first to feature an all new composition. The work here showcases the kind of experimental concrete drift which O'Rourke has been exploring for a number of years resulting in a magical blend of musical abstraction. Whistling drones morph into crystalised rain, shortwave chaos folds into haunting organ landscapes and the intimacy of this particular journey is witnessed through the ebbing tides of sound that emanate throughout this monumental release. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top KID606 - Happiness LP/CD Tigerbeat6 meow200 Release date: October 29 www.tigerbeat6.com soundcloud.com/kid606 This is a nostalgic, starry-eyed and idyllic album. Musically it is influenced in equal parts by Yacht rock like Christopher Cross, Doobie Brothers,Toto, and charming electronica like Mike Ink, The Orb, Oval, Border community, the Field, and Tangerine Dream. The truest intrinsic inspiration comes not from other music, but from real life events like relocating from Berlin to Los Angeles, being newly single, beaches, road trips, hiking, sunsets and cuddling. Happiness is the complete opposite of Lost in the Game, which was a cryptic exploration of disorientation, psychosis and depression. Instead of indulging in melancholy, the shadow self and wallowing bad moments past and present, these songs were consciously created by drawing from the most cheerful moments of the here and now, and connecting them to the best memories from childhood and late adolescence. Sonically, we're in similar territory to Lost, but there's sincere buoyancy to this new set. "Cute Never Dies" is a perfect title and song to usher in this new set. Picture µ-Ziq's happier melodies supplemented with orchestral cuts, and you've got the number for this bit of bliss. "Coronado Bay Breezin" occupies the same top-down contentedness space as Nate Dogg's classic "Where I Wanna Be" refrain, while "Happiness is a Warm Kitten" is appropriately playful - a squishy soul hug replete with vocal stabs. The older and wiser Kid606 hasn't lost his knack for epic track titles, with "If I Am Allowed Only One Song On This Album With Cut Up Female Vocals Then This Song Is It" leaving little to add - except that it's a beautiful and exuberant builder, with bassy beds made for the cooing vocal cuts alluded to in the title. Melodically driven in a way that supersedes the transitory Lost in the Game, Happiness gives way to thoughtful euphoria blast "Party Gambas" and its joyful pad sweeps, and feel the warm enlightenment over your ears. If there's a black sheep, it's the closer "Man - the Failed Child (Thank You and Good Night)" (still great with the titles, again). Eschewing the bubbliness that marks the rest of the album, this track stacks organ and synth-string drones that build up into a thick blissful crescendo before a long fade away into sonic stillness. It's the track you play to let your internal monologue take over - and Kid606 wants to help you with that. There's failure in life, so own it, and choose happiness. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top KROHN JESTRAM LIPPOK - Dear Mister Singing Club CD Distillery still22 Release date: November 2013 www.distillerypress.de de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Krohn www.tarwater.de "Tarwater - masters of melancholy." Mojo, 2009 "Krohn - ein Meister der Melancholie." taz, 1999 Im Herbstwinter 2008 lud die Berliner Band tarwater (BERND JESTRAM, RONALD LIPPOK) den Musiker ALEXANDER KROHN zur Mitarbeit ins Studio ein. Einmal kam Lippok nicht und Jestram schlug vor, ein Lied von Krohn aufzunehmen. Gesagt, getan. Im Laufe eines Jahres entstand so "dear mister singing club". Das Pferd wurde meist von hinten aufgezäumt: zuerst wurde ein Instrument und Gesang aufgenommen. Dann folgte Keyboard, Beat- und Samplearbeit mit Bernd Jestram, der anschließend Bass spielte. Ronald Lippok vollendete nun mit Perkussion, Schlagzeug und elektronischen Akzenten die einzelnen Arbeiten. Klassische Liedstruktur trifft auf Soundcollage, Underground-Pop auf Gitarren-Folk, Hörspielatmosphäre verbindet sich mit Spoken Word, ein arabisches Liebeslied gesellt sich zu deutschen Gesängen. Der umstrittene arabo-israelische Filmemacher Mohammad Bakri leistet zwei Gastbeiträge. Viele Texte stammen von ostdeutschen Dichtern wie Stefan Döring, Bert Papenfuß, Jochen Berg. tarwater: Berliner Elektronik-Duo, gegründet 1995, weltweite Konzerte, zwei John Peel-Sessions, ca. zwölf Alben. Alexander Krohn: Musiker, Schriftsteller, Künstler. Drei Alben mit Britannia Theatre. Ca. fünf Soloplatten. Zahlreiche Konzerte in Europa und Nahost. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top LUCRECIA DALT - Syzygy LP/CD Human Ear Music HEMK0032 Release date: October 15 www.humanearmusic.de www.lucreciadalt.com For her follow-up album to 2012's Commotus, Lucrecia Dalt treats listeners to a perilously brief, intricately conceived meditation. At times rich and cinematic, and at other times, delicate and fragile, Syzygy is a journey into a kind of Ursprung of beautiful distress. Another stylistic leap for Dalt, Syzygy eschews her quietly textured, bass-guitar-driven method of song craft, for a more direct approach to production. Syzygy furthers her previous album's raison d'être, being never simply easy to get, but never forbidding or inaccessible. Composed in a whirling interstitial moment between Barcelona and her recent relocation to Berlin, Syzygy brims with uncertainty and suspense. Fluttering arpeggios, unexpected bursts of tone, surrealistic tropical interludes, and deep, contrapuntal sub-bass drones are the language of Syzygy. It's hard not to make a comparison to the zoo of elementary particles, or a space age sound library; except the album advances forward with such inexorable cohesiveness that its brevity comes as the most electric shock of all. Dalt's trilingual vocals (Spanish, English, Catalan) ride the edge between psychological drama and philosophical reverie, swirling complex themes sourced from texts by Walter Benjamin, Italo Calvino and films by Antonioni and Bergman, into a freeform confessional fabric. Dalt let these classic films run straight through while she worked on the album, allowing the films' sudden changes of mood and tempo to push her music in new directions, as if these cinematic moments were simply stems in the mix. The end result is a listen more tempting, and yet more mystifying than ever. Syzygy encourages repeat listens and addictive contemplation, and represents Dalt's most definitive statement yet. Cover image by Tonje Thilesen Recorded by Lucrecia Dalt in Barcelona, November 2012 - March 2013 Guitar on Murmur by Luke Sutherland Mastered by Alain at One Million Mangos in Berlin 24-Oct - Volksbühne, Berlin (GER) 25-Oct - UT Connewitz, Leipzig (GER) 27-Oct - Salzhaus, Wintertur (CH) 29-Oct - Novosonic Festival, Dijon (FR) (UNCONFIRMED) 30-Oct - Divan Du Monde, Paris (FR) 31-Oct - Soy Festival, Nantes (FR) (UNCONFIRMED) 01-Nov - Le Sucre, Lyon (FR) 02-Nov - Palace, St. Gallen (CH) 03-Nov - Orangerie/Botanique, Brussels (B) 05-Nov - Copenhagen Jazzhouse, Copenhagen (DK) 06-Nov - Voxhall, Aarhus (DK) 07-Nov - Gebeaude 9, Cologne (GER) 08-Nov - De Duif, Amsterdam (NL) 09-Nov - Rewire Festival, The Hague (NL) 11-Nov - Village Underground, London (UK) 12-Nov - Komedia, Brighton (UK) 13-Nov - Deaf Institute, Manchester (UK) 14-Nov - Howard Assembly Room, Leeds (UK) 15-Nov - Leaf, Liverpool (UK) 16-Nov - The Cube, Bristol (UK) 17-Nov - Dublin Unitarian Church, Dublin (UK) 19-Nov - Whelans, Dublin (UK) 20-Nov - CCA, Glasgow (UK) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top MAILE COLBERT - Come Kingdom Come CD Two Acrons 2A03 Release date: November 18 www.thesingularwe.org/twoacorns www.mailecolbert.com Come Kingdom Come is an experimental opera concerning millennialism and apocalyptic thought and theory; an exploratory comparison of this past turn of the millennium to its prior. The opera uses The Book of Revelations as a score and launching point, mixing the poetry of Ian Colbert with medieval chant, sung with the sublime voice of classically trained soprano, Gabriela Crowe under the direction of Maile Colbert. The work was then shaped and molded by Maile towards a tapestry of rapturous desire, a desperate and beautiful search of meaning, and a whirlwind ecstatic joy and fear. Come Kingdom Come is available in a custom 6-panel sleeve, and a glass-mastered CD. Maile Colbert is an intermedia artist with a concentration on sound and video, relocated from Los Angeles and living and working between New York and Lisbon, Portugal, and teaching at Faculdade de Belas Artes da Universidade do Porto. She spent the last three years collaborating with the art organization Binaural (www.binauralmedia.org), is currently director of Cross the Pond, an organization based on arts and cultural exchange between the U.S. and Portugal, and is an ongoing contributor of articles on Acoustic Ecology and Sound Studies at "Sounding Out", the award winning sound studies journal (soundstudiesblog.com). She holds a BFA in The Studio for Interrelated Media from Massachusetts College of Art, and a MFA in Integrated Media/Film and Video from the California Institute of the Arts. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top MIRACLE - Mercury LP/CD Planet Mu ZIQ343 Release date: October 21 www.planet.mu 'It was an unstable period. Mercury is the barometer. With songs of innocence and experience, death and rebirth. The grey matter in between, Christmas, changeling, nostalgia, time machines, stigmata'. Miracle's debut album is a collaboration between two artists with a rich history in music you wouldn't immediately associate with Mercury. DANIEL O'SULLIVAN has played and sung in bands such as Ulver, Mothlite, Grumbling Fur and Guapo, while STEVE MOORE has recorded as half of the Italian soundtrack inspired synth band Zombi, and on dance labels such as Kompakt and more recently L.I.E.S. In fact it was on a Guapo/Zombi tour in 2006 they first met, with the music starting to trickle out slowly around 2010. Initially the music was intended as an instrumental dance project, however the project started to take on a life of its own when Daniel started to add vocals and lyrics. The music on Mercury is definitely cosmic, but not oversimplified or facile, oddly both men say that an almost subliminal influence was the 1987 Joel Schumacher film 'The Lost Boys'. There are anthemic power ballads on there but it also has an unstable tension and is rich in atmosphere, with songs at times pulling on Steve Moore's love for the grainy fog of Italian horror soundtracks, plus the lyrics have an almost occult introspection, troubled, elliptical sentiments animated by choral rounds and harmonies. Maybe it was the length of time it took to make, but each song sounds like a chapter, with a unique mood. The collage begins with the tender and devotional 'Good Love', a canticle through the looking glass. A euphoric twist in theme beckons synthpop fireworks with 'Something Is Wrong', while 'Automatic And Visible' channels 80's synth funk sass into something stranger. 'Falling Into The Night' is pure 80's soundtrack pop, while 'Neverending Arc' drops away into shadowy territory, pumping arpeggios and tense, airy synths. The midpoint of the album is the sleepless, late night/early morning bliss of 'Mercury', crossing huge, beautiful chords with scattershot beats and rising tones, Daniel's stream of imagery pouring out over the top. 'Breathless' takes the mood downwards again, like an ugly mutation between Metallica and early Prince, with a sense of exhaustion to match. 'Wild Nights' finds its sense of optimism and resolve. The final drift is towards a warm resolution and spiritual uplift, with 'Organon' a blissful drone over elegant beats, moog, bells and chanting, where all the tension dissolves into deep satisfaction. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top ORPHAX - De tragedie van een liedjesschrijver zonder woorden CD Moving Furniture Records MFR013 www.movingfurniturerecords.com www.orphax.com De tragedie van een liedjesschrijver zonder woorden (The tragedy of a song writer without words) is the first normal CD by Orphax. This album contains music that has been written between April 2005 and July 2007 and retouched again in 2008 and 2010. The period these songs were written was one with many transitions in the live of van Erve. It was the end of his student years, the begin of his working years, a period where he struggled with an at that time unknown disease, a period where he was searching for answers to questions he didn t know. Inspired by this he wrote these wordless pieces. The music on this release, at first planned for release in 2011, shows yet another look into the ever expanding work by Orphax. Even more than his other work this one is dealing with small details in the composition creating an environment that feels comfortable but at the same time grabs you by the throat. The music goes from minimal droning sounds to isolationist soundscapes and experimental ambient moods. Orphax is the project by SIETSE VAN ERVE, born in Tilburg, living in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Orphax works in the field of experimental electronic music once started out with ambient music slowly incorporating drone elements he now has a focus on minimalist music and lo-fi droning sounds. With every release he tries out new ways to get to his goal to create a psychedelic mind influencing atmosphere. So far he has released several CD-R releases both private as on small labels such as Cut Hands and Verato Project, Broken20 and Moving Furniture Records. In the past he was performed and worked with artists such as The Village Orchestra, Jos Smolders, and Erstlaub. He also shared the stage with musicians such as Charalambides, Sindre Bjerga, Zebra (Frans de Waard & Roel Meelkop), Staplerfahrer, Dirk Serries and many others. Sietse van Erve also runs the label Moving Furniture Records Moving Furniture Records was founded in October 2008 with the idea in mind of giving more unknown musicians a platform for releasing music. MFR is run by Sietse van Erve, who is based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He asks musicians he likes to hear if they want to do a release. Moving Furniture Records (also known as MFR) started as CD-R label, but also released 2 normal CD s and on vinyl LP. MFR also organizes living room concerts, shows at STEIM and helps out with other shows in Amsterdam. From April 2013 on they have a new series called The Portrait Series, a series of 3" CD-R releases. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top PHILL NIBLOCK - Touch Five 2CD Touch TO:91 Release date: October 14 www.touchmusic.org.uk www.phillniblock.com CD One: FeedCorn Ear - Arne Deforce, cello (2012, 29:48) A Cage of Stars - Rhodri Davies, electric harp (2012, 28:18) CD Two: Two Lips - Zwerm Guitar Quartet (2011, 23 minutes) Two Lips - Dither Guitar Quartet (2011, 23 minutes) Two Lips - Coh Da Guitar Quartet (2011, 23 minutes) These CDs have pieces made in two different ways. Traditionally (since 1968), I recorded tones played by an instrument (by an instrumentalist), arranging these single tones into mutli-layered settings, making thick textured drones, with many microtones. In the early days, I prescribed the microtones, tuning the instrumentalist, when I was using audio tape. Later, I used the software ProTools, and made the microtones as I made the pieces. FeedCorn Ear and A Cage of Stars were made this way. In 1998, Petr Kotik asked me to make a piece for orchestra, so, I began to make scores for the musicians to play from. The form of that piece, and the subsequent six scored works, were patterned after a piece in 1992-94, where the musicians were tuned by hearing tones played from a tape through headphones. These are the instructions for the scored piece on the second CD, Two Lips. The score was prepared by Bob Gilmore, from specific directions by me. Two Lips, aka Nameless, is conceived as two scores, A and B, to be played simultaneously, lasting 23 minutes. Each score consists of ten instrumental parts. The twenty separate parts should be distributed randomly amongst the musicians of the ensemble; the 'A group' and the 'B group' are not separated spatially. In each part, one note changes to the next in a graded sequence of microtonal steps. In score A, G gradually goes to F#. In score B, G# gradually goes to A. The piece calls for very subtle gradations of tuning in order to achieve a richness of ensemble sound, full of beatings of near-unison pitches, and with clouds of overtones and difference tones. The microtonal displacements are conceived in gradations of 10 cents, therefore resulting in ten divisions of the equal-tempered semitone (100 cents). An electronic tuner may be useful in rehearsal, and perhaps in performance, to achieve these small gradations. Be careful not to use glissandi to move from one note to the next; these are antithetical to Niblock's musical language. In score A, the G of the beginning is presented 'straight', without microtonal embellishments of any kind, whereas the F# (into which it slowly transforms) is heard by the end in a multitude of microtonal variants above and below. In score B this process is reversed: the G# at the beginning is immediately presented with a multitude of microtonal variants above and below, the pitches slowly transforming into the unison A by the end. General comments: Phill Niblock's music utilizes dense collections of microtones to yield a unique sonic palette. The musicians should sense being part of an intonational cloud of sound. The density will change throughout the piece, but the 'cloud' will always be present. This score was used in recording three different guitar quartets; Zwerm (of Belgium), Dither (of New York) and an assembled group of world widers, Coh Da (well, ad hoc spelled backwards). Each quartet recorded 40 tracks from the score, each playing the 23 minute piece ten times in one day. Stamina. FEEDCORN EAR This is the third piece that I have made with the Belgian cellist, Arne Deforce. The title, FeedCorn Ear, is an anagram of his name, and it was suggested by the composer Tom Johnson. We recorded the material that I used to construct the piece (in a multitrack, computer environment) in the studios of Marcus Schmickler (Piethopraxis) in Cologne, using a fantastic Brauner microphone. I am quite pleased with the sound quality, as well as the fantastic playing of Arne. I work with a laptop Macintosh computer, so I progress with the piece almost anywhere, constructing the score in a 32 track file, in a very tactile fashion. I began the work on this piece in my studios in New York (Experimental Intermedia), but I finished it in a tenth floor apartment in East London, looking out of a window to the west, over all of central London. The final part of the cello-trilogy Feedcorn Ear is gravitating upon the C-string on which the full spectrum of the four open strings, their harmonics being unfolded into a wide and open spaced sound textures. While the sound of Harm (Touch Two) is dark, massive and directional, Poure (Touch Strings, Touch # TO:79, 2009) tensed, nasal and cloudy, Feedcorn Ear sounds open, space, full of light and celestial. (Arne Deforce) Recording engineer/studio - Marcus Schmickler, P I E T H O P R A X I S, Cologne, Germany, using a Brauner microphone. A Cage of Stars was commissioned by Rebecca Shatwell and the AV Festival 12, International Festival of Art, Technology, Music and Film and was premiered on the 3rd of March 2012 at the Sage, Gateshead. Prior to the concert Adam Parkinson assisted with the recording sessions at Culture Lab, Newcastle recording Rhodri's electric harp and making an oscilloscope visualisation in Max MSP software which allowed Rhodri to see if he was drifting sharp or flat when bowing and E-bowing precise pitches on the harp. The concert was curated by Susan Stenger and the AV Festival, and marked the 100th anniversary of John Cage's birth and 20th anniversary of his death. The evening focused on slowness and duration and, as well as the first performance of Niblock's A Cage of Stars, included five other distinctive performances: John Cage's Postcard from Heaven and Ryoanji, The Lament of John Cage by Yoshi Wada and readings by the poets Kenneth Goldsmith and Alec Finlay of Cage's texts as well as poetry inspired by Cage. Bios, etc.: Rhodri Davies was born in 1971 in Aberystwyth, Wales and now lives in Gateshead in the northeast of England. He plays harp, electric harp, live electronics and builds wind, water and fire harp installations. His regular groups include a duo with John Butcher, The Sealed Knot, a trio with David Toop and Lee Patterson, Common Objects, Cranc, a trio with John Tilbury and Michael Duch, SLW and Apartment House. He also performs and researches contemporary music. New pieces for harp have been composed for him by Eliane Radigue, Phill Niblock, Christian Wolff, Ben Patterson, Alison Knowles, Michael Pisaro, Carole Finer, Mieko Shiomi, Radu Malfatti and Yasunao Tone. In 2012 he has been the recipient of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Grants to Artists Award. www.rhodridavies.com Zwerm is a Belgian-Dutch electric guitar quartet founded in 2007. Their first CD called The World's Longest Melody was mentioned by The Wire Magazine as 'an obvious contender for album of the year 2010'. They have given concerts in the UK, Europe, Mexico and the United States. Zwerm is described in the press as "an exciting, sometimes alienating and always quirky musical discovery as you rarely get to hear'". (Goddeau Maart 2011). "A gorgeous feedback texture heavenly braided by the four guitars of Zwerm... If Zwerm would be listed in the rock tradition, the quartet seems to be in the vicinity of Sonic Youth and associates." (Kwadratuur Dec. 2010) "'Ein imposantes Surround-Hörerlebnis." (Kronenzeitung Jan. 2010) "The boldness and the imagination of the music speaks out of their performances." (De Standaard October 2010) Zwerm line up for this recording: Kobe Van Cauwenberghe, Matthias Koole, Toon Callier, Guy De Bièvre (guest). Recorded by Johan Vandermaelen, Amplus, Aighem, Belgium. www.zwerm.be Dither: Taylor Levine, David Linaburg, Joshua Lopes, James Moore DITHER, a New York based electric guitar quartet, is dedicated to an eclectic mix of experimental repertoire which spans composed music, improvisation, and electronic manipulation. Formed in 2007, the quartet has performed in the United States and elsewhere, presenting new commissions, original compositions, improvisations, multimedia works, and large guitar ensemble pieces. With sounds ranging from clean pop textures to heavily processed noise, from tight rhythmic unity to cacophonous sound mass, all of Dither's music embraces the beautiful, engulfing, and often gloriously loud sound of electric guitars. Dither has worked with a wide range of artists, including Eve Beglarian, Elliott Sharp, David Lang, John Zorn, Fred Frith, Lois V. Vierk, Larry Polansky and Bryce Dessner. Recent performances include the Performa Biennial, The MATA Festival, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Bang on a Can Marathon. In Fall of 2008, the quartet traveled to Hong Kong to première an evening-length theatrical work by Samson Young, Hong Kong Explodes! In addition to concert programmes, Dither conducts workshops with educational institutions across the country, and is a frequent visiting ensemble at Princeton University. Dither's critically acclaimed debut album was released on Henceforth Records in June 2010. Drone 'dream team', the Coh Da Quartet was formed especially for this recording and unites seasoned Niblock veterans David First, Seth Josel, Robert Poss and Susan Stenger. In addition to their long histories of work with Phill, they have individually distinguished themselves as performers and composers. David First's eclectic career has spanned avant-jazz, electronics and psychedelic punk. His critically acclaimed compositions range from finely crafted pop to stark yet spiritual minimalism. Seth Josel is a pioneering guitarist and celebrated interpreter of contemporary music. He performs regularly as a soloist and with leading European orchestras and chamber ensembles. Robert Poss and Susan Stenger have long shared a devotion to the vibrating string; both toured with Rhys Chatham and later joined forces to create the ecstatic dronerock of highly influential Band Of Susans. Poss records and performs as a soloist and is a noted composer for dance, as is Stenger, who also produces film soundtracks, sound installations and multimedia performance events. The recordings of the Dither Guitar Quartet and the Coh Da Guitar Quartet were made by Robert Poss at the Trace Elements Records studios in New York - with an assist by Byron Westbrook, for the Coh Da Quartet, since Robert was playing on that one. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top REINALDO LADDAGA (ed.) / V.A. - Things that a Mutant needs to Know, more Short and Amazing Stories Book + 2CD Unsounds 38U Release date: December 1 www.unsounds.com Things that a Mutant needs to Know, more Short and Amazing Stories is a collection of fifty-five short tales and fifty-five brief musical works composed by a momentary collective of eighteen musicians. It is published by Unsounds in the form of a book with two CDs, but also as an iBook, in English and Spanish. The text was conceived by Reinaldo Laddaga as an imaginary second volume of an anthology published in 1956 by Jorge Luis Borges and Adolfo Bioy Casares called Short and Amazing Stories. Much like theirs, the anthology comprises an assortment of tales written or compiled by the most varied of authors (from Lucian of Samosata to Virginia Woolf, Emanuel Swedenborg to Blaise Cendrars): a diverse parade of walking trees, burning dresses, illnesses mysteriously cured, and deaths surprisingly reversed. The music consists of sonic readings and reactions to the stories, composed by Christine Abdelnour, Claudio Baroni, Justin Bennett, Sylvia Borzelli, John Butcher, Alan Courtis, DJ Sniff (Takuro Mizuta), Barbara Ellison, Ron Ford, Yannis Kyriakides, Anne La Berge, Reinaldo Laddaga, Francisco López, Machinefabriek (Rutger Zuydervelt), Andy Moor, Gabriel Paiuk, Santiago Santero, and Felipe Waller. They are fragments offered to the incidental, mutant reader to be listened to as s/he peruses the texts - soundtracks to the little films that they suggest, musical puzzles and mirrors that reflect the elusive events in the tales as if in placid or turbulent waters. REINALDO LADDAGA is the author of eight books and the scripts for two music theater pieces. His latest books (in Spanish) are A Prologue to My Father's Books, Aesthetics of Laboratory, and Three Secret Lives: John D. Rockefeller, Walt Disney, Osama bin Laden. His latest piece for the stage is Summer Maneuvers (with C. Baroni and F. Marcaccio). He teaches at the University of Pennsylvania and lives in New York. Based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, UNSOUNDS was created in 2001 by guitarist Andy Moor, composer/sound artist Yannis Kyriakides, and designer/visual artist Isabelle Vigier. As well as releasing some of their own projects, the output of the label includes contemporary composition, improvisation and sound art by artists such as Anne-James Chaton, Francisco Lopez, Christine Abdelnour, Magda Mayas and Peter Adriaansz. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top SERGIO SORRENTINO _ MACHINEFABRIEK - Vignettes CD Frattonove fratto024 www.fratto9.com www.sergiosorrentino.com www.machinefabriek.nu Vignettes is an album based on the beauty of the electric guitar sound. The pure sound of the electric guitar (mainly clean or sometimes get a little bit dirty with the fuzz pedal) evokes memories, images, emotions. The harmonics, simple chords, arpeggios, single sustained notes of Sergio s guitar formed the starting point of the creation of each track. Sergio recorded ideas, sketches and improvisations, which were then further processed by Rutger. Mainly using the sounds of Sergio s guitar playing as building material, he constructed short pieces that emphasized the feel of the original recordings and fleshed these out to create a series of focussed Vignettes. This resulted in a playful, melodic and highly accessible album that stands out in both artists oeuvres. SERGIO SORRENTINO: electric guitar, classical guitar on track 1 RUTGER ZUYDERVELT: further processing and editing Guitars recorded by Sergio Sorrentino in Vercelli (Italy), processed by Machinefabriek in Rotterdam (The Netherlands), between December 2012 and February 2013. Mastered by Jos Smolders at Earlabs. SERGIO SORRENTINO is considered by critics to be one of the most important new Italian contemporary guitarists (RAI Radio Tre). His music is based on sonic research, creativity and combines elements of contemporary classical music, minimalism, avant-garde, ambient, experimental. As a performer, he has debuted many new guitar solo compositions and many composers including, among others, Azio Corghi, Luca Lombardi, Riccardo Nova, Fabio Cifariello Ciardi, Giorgio Colombo Taccani, Cesare Saldicco, Fabrizio De Rossi Re, Andrew McKenna Lee, Mark Delpriora (Manhattan School of Music and Juilliard) have written special pieces just for him. Sorrentino has held solo concerts and master classes in several important festivals and theaters (among others, Dal Verme Theater of Milan, Sala Biala of the Wilanow Museum (Warsaw, Poland), Italian Society of Contemporary Music, Performance Room of Luxembourg, Filharmonia Gorzowska Concert Hall, Music Society of La Scala Theater of Milan, Lagonegro International Guitar Festival, Spazio Musica Festival, Contemporary Music Festival of Udine, etc.). As a composer, he has won the First Edition of the International Competition of Guitar Composition Goffredo Petrassi of the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome, with the piece De Citharae Natura for solo guitar. Casa Ricordi and Universal have published his guitar solo transcriptions of the Azio Corghi s compositions Tang Jok(Guitar), Nocturnus Visus. Sorrentino has recorded and published for Rai Trade, Casa Ricordi - Universal, Vdm records, Setola di Maiale, Aton Records, Carish, Curci, Sinfonica, Alchemistica. RUTGER ZUYDERVELT was born on 28 July 1978 in Apeldoorn (The Netherlands), and now resides in Rotterdam. He started working as Machinefabriek in 2004. Except for a few piano and guitar lessons when he was young, Rutger didn t study music. Instead, he graduated as a graphic designer. The sleeves of his releases are practically always designed by Rutger himself, being a crucial part of the music. Machinefabriek s music combines elements of ambient, modern classical, minimalism, drone and field recordings. His pieces unfold as films without image , with a sharp ear for detail. After a series of self released CD-Rs, the official debut Marijn , was issued by Lampse in 2006. Since then a solid stream of singles and albums was released on labels like Type, Important, Home Normal, 12K, Dekorder, Digitalis and Experimedia. Performing live has been an important expression for Machinefabriek. He took his gear all over the globe, form Canada to Israel and from Russia to Japan. Rutger collaborated (on record and/or live) with numerous artists, such as Steinbrüchel, Jaap Blonk, Aaron Martin, Peter Broderick, Frans de Waard, Simon Nabatov, Mats Gustafsson, Steve Roden, Gareth Davis, Stephen Vitiello, Michel Banabila and Tim Catlin, amongst many others. He also frequently works with film makers, like Chris Teerink, for whom he composed a soundtrack for his documentary about Sol LeWitt. He also worked with more abstract film makers like Makino Takashi, John Price and Paul Clipson. Besides films, Rutger also composes music for dance pieces, like Alix Eynaudi and Kris Verdonck s EXIT (premiered at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin) and, most recently, Ivan Pérez Hide And Seek , for Korzo, The Hague. Then there s his installation work, in which the dialogue with the environment always plays an important role. Rutger made installations for Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, NAi (Dutch Architecture Institute) and the new Armando Museum (MOA). This year (2013), Rutger Zuydervelt is on the long-list for the Prix de Rome. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top SORE EROS & KURT VILE - Jamaica Plain 10" Care in the Community Recordings CARE006D Release date: November 4 twitter.com/careinthecom www.stereogum.com/1512632/kurt-vile-sore-eros-serum/mp3s KURT VILE and ROBERT ROBINSON were introduced to each other back in 2001 by a mutual friend because they were born on the same day (January 3rd 1980), and by the following year they had begun recording these recently unearthed and previously unreleased tracks. As one of the most celebrated American songwriters of today, now on his fifth studio album recently released to widespread international acclaim, Kurt Vile really needs no introduction (well he does have his own day in Philadelphia). Collaborator and long-time friend Robert Robinson is a past member of The Violators, has toured in Ariel Pink's band, but is best known for his own outfit, Sore Eros. The EP's title track takes its name from the Boston town in Massachusetts, where it was recorded , referred to in the 19th century as "the Eden of America". This unhurried and meandering track, that opens with its simple finger-picked melody on acoustic guitar, is a melancholic evocation of a pastoral idyll that's enhanced by the solely analog production employed across the whole record. The track proposes itself as a definitive piece of Americana rich in visual imagery. But just as the "Eden" of Jamaica Plain was a construct of the 1800s, the track acknowledges its modernity with the harmonious use of electronic instruments, such as the inspired use of drum machine that should really be incongruous, so that by the end the Korg synth has mutated into a wistful bird song as the sun sets over Jamaica Pond. Serum is the closest thing this EP gets to a conventional song structure and length. Robinson's naïve vocal style cuts through Vile's gloopy laudanum influenced remix treatment of the instrumentation. Calling Out of Work returns to the territory of Jamaica Plain ,albeit a more abstract interior landscape. It was recorded a year later than the first two tracks at Kurt Vile's home in Philadelphia, just before he went onto form The War on Drugs with Adam Granduciel. Given the title and that biographically we know it was an unhappy time for Vile, working as a forklift truck driver, it's easy to read this track as a form of meditative introspection. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top TOSHIMARU NAKAMURA + KEN IKEDA + TOMOYOSHI DATE - Green Heights CD Baskaru karu:26 Release date: October 2013 www.baskaru.com Heightened Sound Baskaru is proud to present this gorgeous collaboration among three masters of sound experimentation, all three great artists whose soundworlds turn out to be incredibly complementary. Tomoyoshi Date's toy piano and field recordings bring a lightness that has very seldom been witnessed in the projects of Toshimaru Nakamura, whose specialty is the no-input mixing board. As for Ken Ikeda, he uses antiquated equipment (like the DX7 synthesizer) to create unheard-of sonics that bridge the gap between one's naive approach and the raw minimalism of the other's feedback work. "The album title comes from our recording situation," explains Date. "I live at 6th floor of Japanese building, and it has a happy balcony. When we play music, we always talk and drink there. It's very important for our music. We love drinking wine, sake and so on." Toshimaru Nakamura is one of the major figures of the Japanese experimental music movement "onkyo." As a renowned improviser, he has worked with the biggest names in experimental music and has a very long discography. Ken Ikeda is a sound designer and sound installation artist, with releases on the Touch and Spekk labels. Tomoyoshi Date plays in Opitope (with Chihei Hatakeyama), Illuha (with Corey Fuller) and Melodia (with Federico Durand). He uses acoustic instruments and electronic treatments to paint shimmering landscapes tinged with nostalgia. Green Heights is released on CD by the French independent label Baskaru. Baskaru publishes only a few carefully-selected releases each year. Its previous productions (including albums by Emmanuel Allard, Maurizio Bianchi, Mathias Delplanque, Gintas K, Francisco López, Yoshio Machida, Stephan Mathieu, Parallel 41, and Ethan Rose) have already established high artistic and visual standards. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top ULRICH TROYER - Songs for William 2 2LP/CD 4Bit Productions 4Bit-P005 Release date: November 4 www.4bitproductions.com www.ulrichtroyer.com soundcloud.com/ulrichtroyer/deadlock-melodica-version A lot of musicians fall in love with their effect pedals, but Ulrich Troyer is probably the first one to describe the interior world of his stompboxes & delay pedals with a project that combines music, a graphic novel and hand drawn visuals for the live performance. SONGS FOR WILLIAM 2 is the second part of an experimental dub trilogy that started in 2011 on Mala's DEEP MEDI Label & continues 2013 on Ulrich Troyer's own 4Bit Productions label. The project is the perfect intersection of the talents and interests of Ulrich Troyer: illustration, architecture, acoustic research, old school dub reggae and afrobeat. Troyer - a trained architect - creates a distinctive and overall impressive soundarchitecture throughout the whole album full of dub references and abstract electronics that refer to Troyer's past as a MEGO artist. Comic novel and music are connected to each other and form a fascinating gesamtkunstwerk. Classic dub effects act as lead characters not only in the graphic novel but also in the music. They have names such as Muff, Herb, Memory Man and of course William the stompbox, the central character of the whole trilogy. They all form the grounding for a musical Dub-Story of comic and sound and at the same time open up a space of references to King Tubby, Kraftwerk, Augustus Pablo's Digital Productions, the Moritz von Oswald Trio or the current afrobeat productions of Mark Ernestus. The exclusive use of analog synthesizers and effects and the adaptation of the computer as a tapemachine constitute a deliberate limitation of possibilities and refer to methods of early nineties techno production techniques. With a lot of love for details and the bass as a fundament Troyer skillfuly assembles the whole range of dubtechniques only to push them a step further into the 21st century. The opener SHAKE YOUR KNOBS combines deconstructed harmonica lines with a massive subbbass. Fascinating how glockenspiel, melodica and spring reverb in track nr. 3 SUMMER REVERB wander through spring reverbs and ringmodulators. DEADLOCK demonstrates the art of radical reduction: a massive bass line, statically resting in a deep echochamber, creates an enormous hypnotic slipstream. The melodica version of DEADLOCK is exclusively available as bonustrack on SOUNDCLOUD for free: soundcloud.com/ulrichtroyer/deadlock-melodica-version With SONGS FOR WILLIAM 2 Troyer tightens his artistic and musical vocabulary and his sonic singularity. Pathbreaking the closing piece of the album: LANDSCAPES - a wonderful, abstract soundscape of 12 minutes length consisting of hissing, crackling noises and distorted guitar textures overlapped by a slowly evolving hypnotic pulse formed by a deep bass. With LANDSCAPES Ulrich Troyer may already give us an aesthetical perspective of the last part of his SONGS FOR WILLIAM trilogy. All parts of the trilogy work independently from each other - but be aware: If you know one part, you want them all. Analog synthesizers, effects, stompboxes, samplers, guitars, percussion, melodica, harmonica & glockenspiel Played, recorded, mixed and dubbed by Ulrich Troyer at 4Bit Studio, Vienna All music, drawnings, comic novel & cover design by Ulrich Troyer (AKM / AUME) Available as limited edition: 1. 2LP & 32-page Comic Book & Free Downloadcode 2. CD & 32-page Comic 3. Digital Release & Comic Book as PDF >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top V.A. - SMM: Opiate CD Ghostly International GI-187 Release date: October 28 www.ghostly.com SMM: Opiate is the second release in Ghostly's SMM series, which is an ongoing exploration of the evocative possibilities of sound, with a focus on classical minimalism, electronic and drone composition, film soundtracks, and fragile imaginary landscapes. Opiate is the follow-up to 2011's SMM: Context, and as with that record, it's a carefully chosen selection of music, compiled over some two years from around the world. The record opens with SIMON SCOTT's "Water Shadow," a luxuriant piece of beatless ambience that's like a wash of warm water or the first touch of the summer sun on your face after a long, cold winter. It's a warmth that doesn't last, though - "Ti Prego Memory Man," by A WINGED VICTORY FOR THE SULLEN, is no less beautiful. It's a stately, alpine beauty, its chilly sounds a harbinger of things to come. CELER's "Nothing So Mystical" is more minimal still, while BLACK SWAN's "Passing Heartbreak" brings whispers of humanity, its sound coalescing out of an atmospheric whirl of vocal textures. The wryly titled "This is Radio Sweden," by JIM HAYNES, is all brooding background noise that's shot through with what sounds like an old-fashioned telephone engaged tone, a track that seems shot through with connotations of absence and loss. EN's "White" is both somber and somehow transportive, setting plucked chords from what sounds like a banjo over a glistening synth figure, while PJUSK's "Dorsk" slows to a sort of stasis, with only the faintest of basslines to indicate any sign of life. FIELDHEAD's "37th" is like a slow, mindful from such a reverie, and NOVELLER's "Bright Cloud Blooms" brings the cycle to a close with another brief flush of precious warmth. As a whole, the compilation seems to follow a narrative arc, descending through a series of stages into near-complete stillness, and then slowly ascending back to where it began. As a whole, the experience is certainly evocative of the opiated sensation evoked by the record's title - but really, it's a compilation that invites you to find your own meaning in it, or simply to appreciate the beauty of its music and escape the world for a while. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top We are not responsible for the contents of external internet sites