Charles Cohen
Music for Dance and Theater
2014 release. Final part in the Charles Cohen trilogy on Morphine Records. Featuring various works made for dance and theater productions between 1976 and 1988. Eleven tracks in total -- lovingly spread over a double LP and featuring some of the most beautiful material of the series. While in the process of recording and optimizing the old reel tapes for the initial track list, Cohen discovered a master tape that was originally prepared for an extremely limited cassette release on the Gen…
Brother I Prove You Wrong
Composer, improviser, and Buchla Music Easel master Charles Cohen returns to Morphine with a suite of new material. In keeping with the timbre spectrum of his semi-modular system, Brother I Prove You Wrong is built around pointillist analog tones—Cohen's cosmic "beeps and boops"—that swarm and scatter in mesmeric patterns across four sides. Moving through surrealistic textural overlays and industrial miasma, the album's nine tracks reveal a more introspective and personal side of the artist, fol…
Charles Cohen / Robert Turman rersions
Charles Cohen uses his Buchla Music Easel to replay Indonesian hardcore band Senyawa's "Di Kala Sudah." While enjoying a few months in Germany, Cohen conducted a ritualistic tonal re-adaptation, flushing the song through layers of spaced-out, orchestrated grooves. Meanwhile, in the U.S., explorer of the deepest depths Robert Turman smashed Cohen's "Conundrums" into small bits and recrafted it in his own masterful manner. His beaten and edited version displays ability similar to Cohen's, m…
Group Motion
Repressed. Morphine Records continues to unearth recordings from Philadelphia's synth pioneer, Charles Cohen. Two beautiful drone/ambient/jazz pieces on this one (recorded live in 1989), exposing the sonic genius and dexterity of Cohen alongside the astounding possibilities of that highly-desirable synthesizer of his. Group Motion is a dance theater in Philadelphia founded by Manfred Fischbeck with whom Cohen collaborated and performed. The "Group Motion Performance" is a live recording wit…
The Middle Distance
First chapter in the trilogy of Charles Cohen retrospective works, featuring some of his early works stepping into the archives of one of Philadelphia's best-kept underground secrets: synth composer Charles Cohen. This excellent release beholds seven key tracks (recorded between 1979-1988) that go into uncharted polyrhythmic/ambient/cosmic territory. The label says "First chapter in the trilogy of Charles Cohen retrospective works, featuring some of his early works from the Philadelphia's '…