Rational Melodies
“I want to find the music, not to compose it". This statement, one of Tom Johnson's most effective, explains the general sense of the music of this CD and of most of Tom's musical research. The Rational Melodies are one of the most important instrumental cycles of the "new music" repertoire. Here we have the application of rational methodology to musical composition, using additive operations, combinations, permutations, substitutions, inversions and other logical processes as directed by the ea…
À travers le bord
The product of a definite convergence of ideas as well as my own nascent french, the title Á Travers le Bord can be interpreted as both a ‘crossing through’ a material edge or border and a liminal move from exterior to interior, or vice versa, in terms of, for example, flesh, or more generally, selfhood. A happy accident. Though I would never presume to attribute any central meaning to music, such border crossings are a constant in my life a…
Ataraxia
Long out of print now, an awesome CD by Terry Fox "Apparently (reading between the lines of the cover notes) Terry Fox is of that breed of sound artist that refuses to get into technology, and instead seeks out other ways of making sound that feels electronic or unreal. As such, it is hard to believe that 'Ataraxia' is all totally acoustic, with no electronic manipulation. It sounds as though tape loops, echo and reverb devices are used on most numbers, but what he uses instead are long wires, p…
Light forms (music for light bulbs and churches)
This is the third release on the Semishigure label that specializes in music & sound works related to films or installations from the visual arts. Light Forms is the new album from Calfornia based musician/artist Steve Roden which contains two pieces that are constructed from the sound material of two installations that he made in Germany. Both of these pieces started with the same sound: a group of small glass light bulbs handled acoustically. These acoustic sounds were then processed electroni…
I speak through a hole in my head...
the series of texts was originally spoken improvisationally into a micro cassette recorder while driving to and from my studio in 1988. nothing was written down or planned before i pressed 'record'. the entire work is printed here. unedited and in the order spoken. the periods mark the ending of each recorded segment. some of the pieces are responses to things seen and some are about speaking, and the sounds of words. i would suggest not only a mental reading, but a verbal one as well.the drawin…
One stone and arcs and ears
this 7" was created for the exhibition "invisible other" at the new american art union in portland oregon. in the original installation the 7" sat on a turntable that could be activated by viewers. here are some notes that accompanied the work... the sound was created by editing out all of the speaking out of the soundtrack LP of robert bresson's film "proces de jeanne d'arc".
ear(th)
beautiful catalogue + cd edition, the cd contains a field recording of the installation ear(th), which was a collaboration with two scientists from cal tech - Ann Polsenberg-Thomas, and Mark Simons. The installation consisted of an 8' x 16' x 24' wooden structure with 80 robots on the roof that would strike glockenspiel bars based on data translating an image of an earthquake. It was comissioned by the Williamson Gallery at Art center college of design for The tender land festival. The CD was d…
More Canned porridge
Sten Hanson has been working with experimental music, literature and art since the beginning of the 1960's, cultivating both instrumental, vocal and electro-acoustic music for performance on radio and television, on outdoor occasions or from the concert platform. From an early stage he was aware of the importance of tape-recording techniques in the renewal and development of poetry’s resources. Text-sound-visual image, often combined with intensely personal 'live" performances, are vital ingredi…
Canned porridge
The works here come from four decades, which in Swedish folklore is called an "adult man´s lifetime". Four decades is a long time, even if it may seem scarily short when you look back on it. Of course the artist is not the same person at 70 as at 30. Knowing that, I have made it a principle never to go back and reverse old works, even if I'm not too happy with them. Doing that you can be almost certain to make the works worse and not better, as one can learn from countless historical examples.In…
The Sonosopher Retrospective
Awesome anthology of Sten Hanson text-sound composition..."Fylkingen has, in the course of its many years of activity, become a familiar factor in Swedish, as well as international, musical life, a unique forum for the presentation of experimental art. Since very early it began to work in collaboration with an electronic music studio in Stockholm for the creation of technically satisfactory performance possibilities. The movement within Sweden in sound poetry/text-sound composition took hold in …
Sten Hanson
'Hymne à la beauté' (1995), 'Recyclings' (1993-96), '8 variations sur une polska de Hammerdal', 'La mer d'Ulysse' (1999).
Text-sound gems & trinkets
England's Bob Cobbing and France's Henri Chopin. A sound poet -- or text-sound composer as the Swedish like to call this art form -- of exquisite talent, Hanson has scattered an impressive number of works on compilation albums and the odd solo LP or CD, most of which remain very hard to find. In 2002, Firework Edition Records released Text-Sound Gems & Trinkets, a solid collection of 25 of Hanson's recordings for a total duration of 73 minutes. Presented in chronological order, the short pieces …
Autobiography
a very nice selection of Sten Hanson early compositions, this CD display audiovisual performances assisted by computer and pieces for instruments and electronics. A must
Die stille liebe
With this double-CD from Elektron an important step has been taken in the proclamation of Rune LINDBLAD's artistic work. This does not constrain itself solely to his musical activities, but also embraces the visual arts, with woodcuts, collages, etchings and so forth, of which reproductions are printed in the booklet and on the beautiful CD cover.The selection of the musical works has been executed by Mattias Petersson, Kent Tankred and Berndt Berndtsson, and I can certify that the selection is …
Early works vol. 1 (1979/82)
Very last copy. First release of the early sound installations from the German sound artist Rolf Julius, ranging from 1979 to 1982 : Music on Two High Poles (1979), Morning Song (Berlin Concert Series, 1981, in collaboration with Joan La Barbara), Music for the Earth (Berlin Concert Series, 1981), Music for the Eyes , (1981), Music for a Pane of Glass (1980), Music for a Yellow Room (Berlin Concert Series, 1982), Chamber Concert for Three Loudspeakers, (Berlin Concert Series, 1982), Concert for …
Silent music
Sound Artist Robin minard presents two quiet, minimal, pieces: light modulating peeps and white noise-water. Very nicely done and well presented informative booklet with images from minard's installations.
1939
This release reissues Robert Rutman's Pogus Lp (P201-1) and includes an additional track. Rutman (b. 1930) has been building and performing on his homemade metallic instruments for many years. This recording features his buzz chime, steel cello, and bow chime, along with tabla, Tibetan horn, and Rutman's vocal chants. Rutman caresses the metal, drawing out eerie drones and overtones that buzz and trumpet. The music in turn can be as fragile as glass or reach the depths of resonance, as if one ha…
In Sara, Mencken, Christ and Beethoven There Were...
**Deluxe slip-cased version features a 110-page book** Definitive CD reissue of this original Cramps label album from 1974, an early classic from Robert Ashley with music provided by Paul DeMarinis. This deluxe slip-cased version features a 110-page book, reproducing the original John Barton Wolgamot text along with fascinating liner notes explaining the whole project from Keith Waldrop and Robert Ashley. The CD features one long composition with Ashley reading a text by poet John Barton Wolgamo…
String Quartet
Double LP reprint of the compact disc by Robert Ashley titled String Quartet Describing the Motions of Large Real Bodies / How can I Tell the Difference? (I & II). 'String Quartet' was composed as the potential orchestra for an opera based on the text of 'In Sara, Mencken, Christ and Beethoven There Were Men and Women'. When the work was composed, in 1972, it was clear that a huge change in electronic instrumentation was just beginning, a change that would involve computers and sound producing d…