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Flick
Second one in the guitarimproseries (first one was Shifts). This Finish guy is pretty young but has a distinctive feel towards his guitarplay. Excerpts from his talents could be found on the Killa 7\\"s but here he is operating alone on his selfbuild guitar and other \\"soundlabs\\". It\\'s dark and quiet with lots of floating, hissing and inspired contructions. Every now and then a melody pops up which brings together the harmony between impro and a \\"listenable\\" experience. As for guitarpla…
How To Get Started
"John Cage conceived How To Get Started almost as an afterthought -- a performance substituting for another that was previously planned in 1989 for delivery at 'Sound Design: An Invitational Conference on the Uses of Sound for Radio Drama, Film, Video, Theater and Music' presented by Bay Area Radio Drama at Sprocket Systems, Skywalker Ranch, in Nicasio, California. In his introduction, Cage talks about the difficulty of initiating the creative process, while exploring the usefulness of im…
Telescope Mind
Tussle's early output on Troubleman Unlimited proved to be quite a hit with tastemakers like John Peel and Trevor Jackson. Now, a few years down the line the group have lost one of their founding members (oddly, Vetiver's Andy Cabic used to play bass for the band) but have honed their modernised take on disco and rhythm music, with Telescope Mind achieving an immensely successful blend of experimental techniques and pop minimalism. After the brief, introductory piece, 'Lyre', 'Warning' comes acr…
M’Uoaz
1997 release ** "Japanese bassist Tetsu Saitoh stands out as a new hope from across the ocean. He's the new ray in the sea of bodies that play the same standard fare. These two recordings, released on his own Scissors label, outline the here and now in his present body of work. On "M'uoaz", Tetsu is surrounded by an all-star cast, which includes saxophonist Michel Doneda and percussionist Alain Joule. [Vocalist Antonella Talamonti joins the trio on one track.] The music is rather sparse. Joule i…
Das tapfere Schneiderlein
Drop the usual children's opera platitudes, add a liberal measure of cheek – result: a smart musical comedy, young and saucy, just like the brave little people that go about their business here. Do the children today know at all what this fairytale is about? Well, if they don't, Wolfgang Mitterer will bring it home to them, with just a few characteristic instruments: double bass, samples, synthetic sounds. Elisabeth Rombach as the little tailor takes to the road boldly and merrily, parading the …
THIS PLACE IS DREAMING
An attempt to convert Brussels' sonic reality into music. Mutated environmental sound materials gathered in Brussels, remixes of interviews with inhabitants and extracts of installations are flanked with atmospheric compositions made with sounds from other cities and countries.
Pollen
Recorded on 20/21 December 2006 and 2 January 2007 at Studio Z, Berlin
Hallway Of Mirrors
VHF is releasing a bunch of solo guitar dudes over the next few weeks. Here's one of 'em! It's an album from New York's Alexander Turnquist called Hallway of Mirrors. It says that above so it's kinda pointless me saying that. Having said that the New York thing was a new bit of info so it's not all filler! I've not heard this chap before but I was rather taken with him on first listen. It's not a million miles away from the likes of James Blackshaw.... ie extreme 12 string fingerpluckery which i…
Music For Keyboard Instruments
This is the first recording of Xenakis‘ music for keyboard instruments realised by computer – unplayable by human hands! Realized by computer. 'Herma' for piano (1961); 'Mists' for piano (1981); 'Khoaï' for harpsichord (1976); 'Evryali' for piano (1973); 'Naama' for harpsichord (1984). Daniel Grossmann, MIDI programming. "This is the first recording of Xenakis' music for keyboard instruments realized by computer -- unplayable by human hands! The desire to hear a composition exactly as Xenak…
Zombie
A record full of magical chants & even more magical grooves (anyone who would wish the part seven minutes into "Zombie" would end has no soul & probably does not have a soul). Fela Kuti's music transcends barriers of taste & culture, due to the inevitable desire of all human beings to throw their hands up & shake their rumps with no remorse.
The Crackle Of My Soul
'Written and recorded by Gordon Sharp at Belmont Shore (ca), mid-levels (hk) & kobe (japan) 2001-2009. Mastered at Piethopraxis, july 2009. Dedicated to Matt Kinnison (1965-2008). Cindytalk have been active since 1982, which we won't go into here (a quick Google search will satisfy that need). During The 80s and 90s Their sound was defined by broken down rock structures and abstract piano ambience. A third side to Their coin emerged at The dawn Of The 21st Century with a turn towards obscure com…
Vous Et Nous
A brilliant collaboration between these two dark moody French singers -- every bit as great as their classics from the early 70s! Recorded in 1977, with enough material to make up 2 LPs, this set features 33 tracks that slip and slide into each other with cool sounds, spare instrumentation, and amazing vocals that are difficult to describe, but which cut you to the quick once you've heard them! Extremely haunting, with a feel that sounds like the wind blowing through an empty cottage on…
Sun Awakens
Ben Chasny has busied himself releasing a solid run of outsider folk records for some time now; ‘The Sun Awakens’ is his eighth full-length outing and thankfully it shows no signs of Chasny letting his quality control wane. As he explored on his last Drag City release ‘School of the Flower’, Chasny has again employed a handful of collaborators to fill-out his unique sound with percussion and odd instruments – yet this doesn’t distil the fact that the record is totally his own. "The Sun Awakens" …
Music for a Summer Evening / A Little Suite for Christmas / Five
Music for a Summer Evening (1974) is the third part of the "cosmic drama" Macrocosmos, which investigates the relations between the innermost human soul and the vastness of the cosmos; relations that also determine the temporal, dynamic and tonal dimensions of the composition. Its immense material extravagance is reflected by a range of some 70 percussion instruments; in addition, the two pianists are required to perform a variety of different techniques, such as pizzicatos, flageolets, etc. A s…
Beasts Of No Nation / O.D.O.O.
After helping Fela Anikulapo Kuti with Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense, Wally Badarou then produced Beasts of No Nation. Another album that has been combined with this one is the 31-minute "ODOO (Overtake Don Overtake Overtake).
Sufiq
Those keeping a running count will know that Sufiq brings the Muslimgauze CD catalog into the triple digits. This mini-album is especially significant, as it extends the extraordinary productivity of Muslimgauze auteur Bryn Jones beyond his untimely passing. New Muslimgauze titles have emerged since, but each was scheduled prior to Jones’ death in January of 1999. Active to the end, Jones left behind a store of finished masters. Sufiq sees the first release of material from this impressiv…
Soundtracks To A Color: Gold & Black
Soundtracks To A Color: Gold & Black was an installation at LA Municipal Art Gallery as part of the COLA (City of Los Angeles) Fellowship exhibition from 2004. The installation consisted of 2000 posters: 1000 Gold and 1000 Black. Two separate rooms were covered with these posters that were covered solid in their color with the name of the color printed rather large in dead center. At the bottom of each poster was listed the instrumentation for each particular soundtrack to the color. The GO…
Trac(k)_t
his is the final work in the series of works-encompassing ataraxia, bradycard, trans~, and back_forward – using the cymbalon as source material. The process of working with this hammered stringed instrument for this series has been a “discussion” between the instrument and myself, an exploration of traditional playing, digital processing, and mixtures of both. I feel that trac[k]_t should convey the scope of using an instrument without losing both its intrinsic nature of engagement as …
Opus 3.1
special price offer: Opus 3.1 consists of 20 tracks divided into five acts. Each cut--or scene--represents a different percussion instrument. Some are quiet, others cacophonous, but even the slow, stark resonance of a ringing gong maintains a sharp level of intensity. The sole drawback is inconsistency: After being soothed into a reflective trance state, the listener is occasionally jolted by the strident opening clang of the subsequent cut. Ghost Stories, a 1-track, 68-minute live recordi…
Girls Beware!
JanuarY 2004. Two years after the highly acclaimed album “Rose-garden", the portables come up with their second full length. “Girls Beware!" starts where their previous album ended. De Portables developed a cult reputation during the years, mainly because of their many intense and always different performances. Against all recent trends, standards and expectations they do their thing; they play because they like playing. The quartet twists themselves during 11 songs a way between pop, post-rock …