Oionos
Notes from Steve Roden on Oionos
:'Oionos was created for the exhibition The Grand Promenade, in Athens, Greece.
The exhibition took place in various archaeological and historical sites in central Athens, creating a situation for contemporary site specific works to be in dialogue with their historical surroundings.
While it was not originally offered as a possible site, I pleaded with the curator to allow me to work with architect Dimitris Pikionis’s Church of St. Dimitris Loumbardiardis, abo…
Oceans Of Milk And Treacle
From Mike Cooper ‘This is a soundtrack for an otherwise silent film. The title of the album, and of course the film, is borrowed from my late friend Fred Hardy’s book The Religious Culture of India - Power, Love and Wisdom, considered to be one of the most important books on the subject. In this book Fred wrote...“In 1835 the historian Macaulay investigated whether there was anything in the traditional Indian systems of learning and education that could be used in the training of native personne…
For Leolanda
Melbourne based percussionist and composer Maria Moles charts out an electro-acoustic familial history with 'For Leolanda’. Drawing on family roots in The Philippines, she extrapolates rhythm and timbre from the diverse musics of that country and interweaves them with percussion, synthesizer and singing bowls. Her sonic meditations are open and generous, and they chart out the shape and pulse of memory; both real and imagined. Each piece tests for the relationships between frequency and harmony,…
Electronic Resistance
*500 copies limited edition* Since the late 1970s, Nigel Ayers (b. 1957, UK) has cut a bracing, subversive path through the contemporary underground, bridging DIY industrial enthusiasms with multimedia experimentation to form a singular body of work. Co-founder of the groups The Pump and Nocturnal Emissions (along with brother Daniel Ayers and then-partner Caroline Kaye), Ayers has been a contributor to and proponent of industrial music’s high-water marks, his Sterile Records imprint disseminati…
Live Electronic Music
"Jeff Carney's sophomore effort for audioFile (1989) could not have been criticized were it to have remained in similar territory as the electronic wall of sound he had created on Imperfect Space Journeys. Instead, he created a more sparse, evolving tapestry of analog timbres. Using an exclusively vintage analog arsenal and recording live without overdubbing, Carney pushed forward with new ideas and uniquely developing sweeps of filter madness. The side-long 'Questions (Unanswered)' is immensely…
Obstacle 80: Indices
"This LP forms an index to a body of artwork called Obstacle Corpus, encompassing drawing, writing, photographic and book works, video and sound. For the recording, I alternated between the same note on two pianos, played at once, with a spoken text. The text was
written in two parts, using the titles of 75 artworks made during 2019, interspersed with a field text, written as a form of drawing. Tape recordings of the performance were exposed to magnetic fields and amplified back through a piano …
Snoweight
Recorded during two days of extreme weather, Eleh's Snoweight conveys the mesmerizing force of a winter storm with sonic realism and romanticism. These two new compositions evoke both warm security and wild, blanketing intensity in ways that are both emotionally arresting and time stopping.
An Alphabet Of Fluctuation
"Gerard Lebik and Burkhard Beins create musical forms of minimalist idiom, which consist of isolated sound events as well as gradually revealing harmonies and resonances. Metallic sounds from a large heavy cymbal are amplified and blend with electronically generated sine waves of varying amplitude, unfolding in a continuous glissando. An Alphabet Of Fluctuation is the evidence of how both artists rethink their approach towards deep reduction. One can see here a great sensitivity in determining t…
Voltas
Rotterdam-based quartet Hydra Ensemble features cellists Nina Hitz and Lucija Gregov, double bassist Gonçalo Almeida and Rutger Zuydervelt on electronics. The ensemble is a juncture of four distinctive expressions finding common ground – together they form a four-headed entity that emerges from highly pensive collective improvisations, creating an intricate patchwork of concurrent melodic lines, textural explorations and expansive drones. Its sonic language exists on the cracks of free improvisa…
Absum
As in the Osvaldo Coluccino's own words: "Presence of the work, absence of the author. So muffled, vapor escaping from an old coffer, so dusty and apparently, in some ways, timbrically “primordial” and yet elusive, the first three compositions of the album unfold. The following three increase the dynamism and openness of the timbre. As always in my albums, also in Absum a journey takes place along the tracks that, joined together, make it up. Even in this “raw” timbre paste, emblem of adherence…
Cells #5
Atsuko Hatano is a contemporay classical Viola player who works with electronics to add textures and layers to her sound. Located in Tokyo, Japan, she is a commanding instrumentalist and composer who constructs innovative compositions with strings and layered electronics.Cells #5 is an orchestral collection and sequel to her previous album Cells #2 which will also be released on cassette via Imprec’s Cassauna label. Cells #5 required three years to complete and the work features the artist’s sig…
Ghost Birds
Brian Thummler’s Ghost Birds combines piano improvisations and noise to create a uniquely compelling musical duality. These 7 pieces, selected by John Brien, are inspired by a lifetime of experience, art & poetry as well as Cage, Merzbow, Satie, Sun Ra......
Ghost Birds takes flight with experimental simplicity. The interaction of noise and piano, a synergy that also pushes and pulls, creates profound musical dimensions available to the attentive listener.Ghost Birds was recorded in a studio an…
Polarizer 2
Eleh's Polarizer is a two part series focused on the instant, simultaneous reality of the analog world. Polarizer I and II can be played/mixed simultaneously.
Polarizer 1 (Tape)
Eleh's Polarizer is a two part series focused on the instant, simultaneous reality of the analog world. Polarizer I and II can be played/mixed simultaneously.
To Live A La West I
Every new St. Abdullah record is an attempt to present new ideas and To Live A La West is no exception. Spread out over a CD on Imprec and a cassette on sister label Cassauna, To Live A La West is simply moving, a collection of profound and spiritual tracks miraculously existing at the impossible intersection of free jazz and electro where mystery and clarity exist together. Neither complicated or complex but profound, St. Abdullah’s new work is partially inspired by their love for Jon Hassell’s…
Glide
The Fact of Being are happy to inform about the second step in a series of reissues of early works by Peter Davison. The long-awaited re-edition of a highly acclaimed and innovative album "Glide" 1981 to celebrate its 40th anniversary. "Glide" was the second artist's album. Released in 1981 on vinyl and urgently repressed in 1982 due to high demand it was sold-out fast again and has not been reissued since that. To date, this is one of the rarest and wanted ambient recordings that finally availa…
A Touch Of Grey
The power trio Mirande/English/Skinner has dug out a strangely lit tunnel between the dustier nooks and crannies of the rich and varied 1980’s industrial scene and the just as elusively defined experimental field of today where they themselves reside. While it certainly reeks S*Core, Illusion Of Safety and whathaveyou, their very own fingerprints are all over the place, freshening things up. An out-of-time album we are very pleased to offer!
Ultimate Vibrator
*Limited edition of 300* Usagi is proud present this much sought after gem from the vast Macronympha discography. Released in 1994, Ultimate Vibrator is one of the earlier testaments of Rodger Stella's meticulous editing and mixing genius, and above all his ability to crack open sonic chasms and fill them with the strangest of colors. An older sibling of classic Macronympha mind melters such as Grind and Baroque, but also a more aggressive sonic relative to Stella's work under the One Dark Eye m…
Flare Blues (LP)
Tip! Flare Blues reimagines two of Merzbow’s long out of print EPs from 1994, Flare Gun and White Blues. Revisiting the original pieces and adding previously unreleased materials recorded during these sessions, Flare Blues tethers together a set of Merzbow’s most exploratory work, creating a visceral linkage between a pair of vital works. Originally recorded in June 1994, Merzbow's Flare Gun is a pulsating and hammering collection of pieces that grinds ever forward with a sense of bludgeoning de…
Issue 84: The best of 2021 (Magazine + 2CD)
This is the ES final issue of 2021 with the best releases of the last 12 months for your delectation and delight. Our cover star is LoneLady, the first artist to ever have two records in our Top Five Albums Of The Year, and our bundle edition includes a brilliant double CD featuring a bumper selection of the finest tracks of 2021.
We have reviewed 900 albums over the course of this year and deciding on our favourites has involved endless days of list scribbling, head scratching and pencil chewi…