Music from United States

The Smith Quartet with pianist John Tilbury perform two long works by Morton Feldman: "For John Cage" (1982) and "Piano and String Quartet" (1985) on DVD Audio. Several lifetimes ago, when I was nineteen, I was interviewed by Wilfrid Mellers for a place at York University. That I failed to win a place may have been due in part to the confinement of our discussions to the music of Morton Feldman. Wilfrid (a friend of Feldman's and, in later years, a friend of mine) saw Debussy as a powerful influ…

When you think of Seattle, what do you see? No doubt it revolves around Grunge, rain or Frasier... Well prepare to have your cultural preconceptions realigned by the stunning new album 'Daydreaming' from Seattle's Rafael Anton Irisarri, an artist better known under his 'The Sight Below' moniker. Whilst the notion of another record combining modern production with a set of ivories may seem something of a cliché, Rafael Anton Irisarri ensures any such misgivings are dispensed with soon afte…

After a fucking eternity the second press of the "Oracle" LP by sunn 0))) is finally available!  180 gram black vinyl.  New lacquer cut by Bob Weston (Shellac).  This new version has a bit more clarity and depth than previous pressings.   We have two colors available: Clear and Blue.  The blue vinyl copies come with a 18x24" Oracle poster.  You can purchase the Oracle lp and Oracle shirt for a discounted package price.  LP+shirt packages come with the Blue vinyl version.  The first 150 orders wi…

Nothing In My Pockets was originally a sound diary, conceived for the Atelier de Création Radiophonique de France Culture, that was kept between July 4th and October 4th, 2003. In that new and innovative experimentation, Laurie Anderson unfolded her daily life as an artist, microwaved it and presented herself as more than a diarist: she became the electronic sound architect of her own existence. The sound diary that Laurie Anderson presents here also offers unpublished visual documents through t…

CONTACT  is made of a DVD filmed during the October 20th 2004 concert at IRCAM (Paris, France) and of a CD recorded in Berkeley (California, USA) on October 13th and 14th 2002. "David Wessel, despite whatever label on can attach to his music, is very familiar with the musical object commonly called jazz (never mind the name we give to this music which is both one and multiple, pushing the limits of its frontiers, the importance being that it exists, whatever the label). He has also played with G…

2002 release ** "One of the world's premier noise percussionists and a learned scholar of Kabbalah, Torah and Talmud, Z'ev has been a vital force in the downtown scene since the late 1970s. In addition to his collaborations with Glenn Branca, Rudolph Grey and his fascinating solo work, Z'ev is also a prolific writer and musical thinker. He has written on subjects ranging from music composition, ritual performance and has also translated several esoteric Tibetan and Hebrew texts into English. His…

An on going project of prolific artist JOHN WIESE, SISSY SPACEK has taken many forms: intricate collages of the small, quiet, details that trickle through in between “sound”, drums spliced and severed, 18-piece “noise” orchestras, performances that included nothing but the act of shattering glass as source sound to ones that result in broken basses and bleeding throats, etc. On “Fortune,” Wiese has assembled a trio with CHARLIE MUMMA (drums) and CORYDON RONNAU (vocals): crafting twenty-six…

Just arrived, stellar release as usual! FIRST EDITION ON VINYL!!! In 1999 SISSY SPACEK made their first recordings as a more or less "conventional" blur/grindcore duo consisting of CORYDON RONNAU (vocals) and JOHN WIESE (bass and drum machine). Shortly after, the band entered a recycling period in which Wiese produced a number of albums and EPs, the first of which was this s/t CD (originally released on Helicopter), transforming their original source material into hardcore musique conc…

Classical world-folk style by Moondog joined with jazz timbers by The London Saxophonic: the amazing and original collaboration between two distinct way of music.

Moondog's outsiderness ensures an approach to modern composition that doesn't ever establish any single, fixed identity, which is of course what makes this man such an alluring figure in 20th century music. Mr Scruff remix is a post-futuristic-jazz influenced by hip-hop cadences that makes appear how important Moondog has been in the past and how he will be for contemporaries and future generations.

Totally essential two cd collection of some of the most elusive Moondog material of all . When the "Viking of Sixth Avenue" single volume compilation was reissued, we pleaded that here was truly a taste worth acquiring. Louis Hardin somehow managed to find the musical continuities between Bach, native american Sundances, be-bop, Stravinsky and yet still pursue his own musical paths and sound utterly unique. Strong claim, but the music truly bears it out. Drawing the entire disc one from the ultr…

Moondog’s first release after moving to Germany, “Moondog in Europe” is a very heavy listen.  While there are some aspects of his quirky style, most of this album is drenched in seriousness.  Despite this being his first slightly somber album though, Moondog cleverly inserts various rounds from “Moondog 2.”  Like Roger Waters taking portions of melody and hooks from “The Wall” and incorporating them into his “The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking,” Moondog similarly borrows his own melodies, changing…

Moondog's fanbase seems to be righteously on the up nowadays, with reissue after reissue re-illuminating his singularly out-there musical genius. This is a stranger album than most however: on this one Moondog sings. Yes, this is possibly the only entry into the blind Viking impersonator/singer/songwriter sub genre. Inevitably, it's really good. Even though this album (recorded in 1969, incidentally) reduces the composer's ordinarily expanded palette to little more than voice and piano, there's …

The first disc is an anthology of the music Moondog made in Germany, after moving there in 1974. The second is a recording of his last concert, on 1 August 1999. Both are excellent and amazing examples of Moondog's skills. Excellent notes and photographs.

f you're wondering whether record labels still matter, consider the case of Wolf Eyes. Their last two widely distributed albums, 2004's Burned Mind and 2006's Human Animal, came out on Sub Pop and got lots of media attention, even landing the band on the cover of The Wire. Three years later, Wolf Eyes return with Always Wrong, a follow-up of sorts after reams of smaller-run releases. It came out on Hospital in May, and I can't find a single review beyond a few blog entries and tweets. Even The W…

double LP version, ultralimited: Monoliths & Dimensions is undoubtedly a bold move for SunnO))) but the intensity and sonic adventurousness on show here are qualities that are very much in-keeping with the band's ceaselessly uncompromising music policy. Awesome.

Amazing! Transcribed by the Material Eye Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya nab. 1, St. Petersburg, 199034, Russia. 6 baseless marble pillars not yet completed, covered in white strata against the backdrop of a simple three-dimensional plane with soft edges. 1. Synesthesia outside venue. 2. If you lived here, you'd be home right now. 3. Lopatin designs preset Prismata ascribed to Trujillo, 2003 and goes downstairs for air. 4. He comes from a long line of shovelers. 5. Life …

"Albert Ayler's Bells is a 20 min revolution in jazz, recorded live at Town Hall NYC, 1965. With Albert and Donald Ayler on sax and trumpet respectfully the brothers are aided by altoist Charles Tyler, Lewis Worrell on bass and Sonny Murray on drums. The ESP label originally released 'Bells' as a one-sided transparent vinyl disc- a move that shocked the jazz avant-garde world at the time and matched the subversive and profound musical statement within. As Dan Morganstein wrote in Downbeat, July …

“Z is about infinity and the double dimension we all live in yet don't fully understand. Z is the sound of that feeling you get when you think you're being watched or followed by the omnipotent one. Z is for believers and followers of the "Ecstatic Truth" that fuels this mysterious universe. Z has always existed and here is is as remembered and transfered solid by the people under the sun, the Sunburned..” – John Moloney, Sunburned  

To achieve the age of 80 is an accomplishment. To achieve the age of 80 as a saxophone player, still at the top of the game, is something else again. In march of 2009, Chicago legend Fred Anderson finished up a week of celebration in honor of his 80th at his own Velvet Lounge with this special quintet, and Delmark records was there to record it. Fred was joined by longtime bassist Harrison Bankhead, Chad Taylor on drums (Hamid Drake was unable to get back to Chicago in time), Jeff Parker on guit…