★Erstwhile Records
47 Gates
The first collaborative work by Ernst Karel and Bhob Rainey. Four tracks. 6-Panel Digipak with one CD.
Wovenland 3
"Wovenland became a band. But we never do live shows. Our band activities are mainly editing in a studio. Our goal is to focus on acoustic experiments. No more and no less. We have been active for a total of about 10 days, including meetings, in 7 years. We are now disbanding." - Toshiya Tsunoda & Taku Unami
One Day
*2024 stock* In the summer of 2007, Jones visited Foster in South Korea and did a series of shows there and in Japan, both as their duo English and in other combinations. In Tokyo, they made time in their schedule to spend a day recording with Nakamura, and “One Day” documents the results, as captured by recording engineer Taku Unami at Kid Ailack Hall. Three lengthy improvisations showcase a unique collective aesthetic, dense and organic, pointillistic but rough, focused but not overly polished…
Post-chance
"The initial idea was that this collaboration should reflect a dialogue between two artists who have not yet met and that it should express something about the gulf between them, both literally and metaphorically. In the exchange of materials and ideas something is inevitably lost along the way – whether it be misunderstandings due to interpretation, language, slippage of meaning or simply things going astray. From the outset we decided to make a feature out of what might be lost in this interch…
Strange Skills
The first collaborative work by Choi Joonyong and Devin DiSanto. 6-Panel Digipak with one disc.
Dream Soundies
New upcoming collaboration album for Vanessa Rossetto and Moniek Darge on Erstwhile Records.
Gondolas
Erstwhile Records announces ’Gondolas‘ by Graham Lambkin and James Rushford. Two very unique voices, two hours of sonic magic.
bot box boxes
"After several years of not doing anything since Erstwhile first asked me to do a solo album, I suddenly had the idea to record it last week and it was released within a week or so. I know some of you are thinking "Anyone can do this...", but in the DIY spirit of doing what anyone can do with what anyone can get, and without any special skills or funds, I tackled improvisation head on, using mostly newspapers and cardboard boxes, which turned out to be this triple CD set." - Taku Unami
"For the…
Floating By
Anastassis Philippakopoulou - voiceAntoine Beuger - breath
recorded at home in 2022
mastered by Taku Unamipainting by Maria Philippakopouloudesign by Yuko Zamaproduced by Jon Abbey
sisbiosis
*In process of stocking* Erstwhile presents sisbiosis, collaboration album by Clara de Asís and Ryoko Akama, mastered by Taku Unami. Photography by Clara de Asis (black and white) and Ryoko Akama (color). Six-panel digipak.
Clara de Asís - electronics, percussion, field recordingsRyoko Akama - amplified objects, field recordings
Track 1, 2: recorded and mixed by Clara de Asís in Leymen, France in May 2022
Track 3, 4, 5: materials recorded by Ryoko Akama and Clara de Asís in Leymen, France and Ho…
The Actress
Erstwhile presents The Actress, Vanessa Rossetto's solo album. Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi, designed by Matthew Revert. Double CD, six-panel digipak.
Top
*In process of stocking* Tip! 'When our friend and inspiration Peter Rehberg passed suddenly in July 2021, I felt like I had to do something, and what I’m good at is something Peter deeply loved, producing records. so I put together this project with some of his longtime collaborators and friends, Lasse and Jérôme, Marcus Schmickler mastering and Tina Frank designing.
it’s titled Top for multiple reasons but one is that Top was often Peter’s entire reply to a message you’d sent, both concise an…
The Tower (The City)
First collaborative work between Vanessa Rossetto and Lionel Marchetti. Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi, designed by Matthew Revert. Six-panel digipak.
Revolution Shuffle
Michael Pisaro-Liu's latest work. 106 tracks, one minute each. Six-panel digipak with two discs.
Twice
** Six-panel digipak, photos by Yan Jun/Zhu Wenbo, design by Yuko Zama ** Erstwhile Records presents Twice by Yan Jun and Zhu Wenbo. Yan Jun: recorded in Beijing, Feb 2021. Zhu Wenbo: recorded in Qingdao and Beijing, Sept 2020 - Feb 2021. Photos/image scans by Yan Jun/Zhu Wenbo. Design by Yuko Zama. Produced by Jon Abbey.
Absence
"Friday the 6th of November 2015 was an important day for me. Christian Kobi had invited me to take part in his »zoom in« festival in Bern. Earlier that day I visited the Kunst Museum, looking at the work of Cuno Amiet (1868-1961), recalling the work of an earlier Camille Pissarro, interesting contributions from Felix Vallotton (1835-1925), also an very important exhibition of how photography had influenced Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) called “Lautrec’s Photographic Eye”.
What struck me was how …
Everyone Needs a Plan
Uncertainties for uncertainty, as steadfast as the Pillars of Hercules, Everyone Needs a Plan glides and crackles. As canny and crafty as ever, Matthew Revert and Vanessa Rossetto move through — move through what? No, they push through, emerge from, insinuate into contingencies. Contingencies link hands with compositions, with foundling sounds, static, and babble. The skin of atmosphere is stretched taut and made permeable to all species of sound: a moan, a pluck, a bowed string, a refrigerator …
My Trust In You
Two electroacoustic improvisers and composers--Lucio Capece on reeds, analog synths, effects, field recordings, drums machines, speakers in motion, and Marc Baron on field recordings and analog devices--developed these 6 extraordinary recordings that blend motion, perspective, sound and noise, and concrete references in a mystifying and mesmerizing journey in sound.
"While solo improvisational albums can be, and often are, great, the true potential of freely played and electroacoustic music is r…
The Breadwinner
Graham Lambkin and Jason Lescalleet are editors of the best variety, so recording sound was only half the story. Through tape manipulation and various editing techniques, The Breadwinner falls even closer in line with The Anti-Naturals theory by appropriating the mundane (for aesthetic reasons, of course). The result sounds like an inadvertent exploration of dislocation and displacement, much differently than musique conrète and minimalist compositions or the real-time experiments of, say, nmper…
Cat Guarding Geese
Cat Guarding Geese is composed of field recordings and performances on Roosevelt Island, and a studio recording in Brooklyn, NYC. Tucker Dulin plays bells, bowl, can, cymbal, lentils, mallet, whistle and Ben Owen: paper mic, speaker boxes, op amps, cassette. Recorded by Billy Gomberg on Roosevelt Island, NY in January 2015, April 2015, March 2016 and in Brooklyn NY in February 2015. Mastered by Taku Unami