★Important Records
Trust Masked Replicants
Japan's long running masters of psych/kosmische jamming return to Important Records for a vinyl outing featuring beloved original member Cotton Casino.
Lee Ranaldo/Rob Menard
Lee Ranaldo and Rob Menard have been friends and collaborators for years and this split cassette release on Important Records' Cassauna label amplifies their unique musical personalities and sonic compatibility. Both artists contributed over 30 minutes of music making this a pair of mini-albums on one tape. Ranaldo plays Farfisa, electric guitar, tres, marimba, bass and bells, taking the listener on a lyrical, hazy, ride full of life, time and echoing riff shimmer. Massive vibes from author, art…
Tsubame: 13 Japanese Birds Pt. 12
This is December 2009's Bird CD from Merzbow. Tsubame is the 12th and 2nd to last in the series. Merzbow's 13 Japanese Birds is a 13 month series of releases inspired by Olivier Messiaen's Catalogue D'Oiseaux
The Generous Law
“The Generous Law,” a new album by organist Jack Langdon and guitarist Anthony Vine, presents a glimpse of the inner voices and acoustical splendor of the Fisk Organ at Wellesley College, enlivened by the intuition of two improvisers. At the keyboards, Langdon crafts geometries of patiently braided lines and incisions, configuring the hues and shades of organ stops with an ear to the materiality of sound. Vine seizes on this, tuning his guitar to the organ and bringing his strings into alignment…
Tropismi
Gabriele Gasparotti’s second full length album, Tropismi, is a collection of mesmerizing compositions with masterful polyrhythmical textures and harmonies, strings, prepared piano, magnetic tape and field recordings. Gasparotti's unique style uses classical composition techniques such as counterpoint, canone inverso and serialism to create morphing expanding harmonies continuously. Tropismi features stunning cellotronics by Benedetta Dazzi, cellist and sound designer with which Gasparotti establ…
Murals For Immersion
‘Murals For Immersion’ is Kenneth James Gibson’s 6th ambient outing under his given name, this time around collaborating with saxophonist Paul Carman who played and recorded with Frank Zappa in what Zappa called The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life. In late 2022, Gibson and Carman started getting together at Gibson’s Idyllwild studio, laying down tons of Saxophone sounds - layers of drones, melody lines, and off kilter noises. Gibson processed, sculpted, and arranged these sounds into full…
Stromsänger
Christina Kubisch’s Stromsänger finds this legendary sound artist at the top of her game mixing electromagnetic wave recordings with a score for six voices, creating powerful results.
Strange Times
Strange Times is a virtuosic realization of contemporary electroacoustic soundscapes composed and performed by Stephen Ruppenthal and Gary R. Weisberg. With masterful employment of electro-acoustic techniques and tools, including the original 70's Buchla Music Easel Ruppenthal used in the Electric Weasel Ensemble, these two artist create an essential, psychedelic, electro-acoustic experience. Strange Times is a hallucinatory journey into our epidemic-ridden times through a collection of startli…
Colliding Bubbles
Colliding Bubbles (surface tension and release) is a composition for string quartet and harmonica quartet, meaning that Quatuor Bozzini is playing string instruments while playing harmonicas. "The title refers to different kinds of bubbly matter which are set to collide within the composition, leading to different ruptures and possible release of surface tension. The collision of bubbles unfolds partly in relation to sound, where small fluctuations appear in the encounters between harmonicas and…
Invisible-Inaudible. Five electrical walks
These Christina Kubisch five compositions on the CD are based on numerous live recordings of electromagnetic fields, made between 2003 and 2007 in the cities of Birmingham, Chicago, Taipei, Paris, Bremen, Riga, Tokyo, Madrid, London, New York, Berlin and others. The sounds have not been altered electronically or by other means. Electrical Walks is a public walk with custom-made sensitive wireless headphones by which aboveground and underground electromagnetic fields are detected, amplified and m…
Magnetic Flights
Magnetic Flights is entirely made of electromagnetic field recordings of international airports and inside airplanes. The recordings of this piece were made by Christina Kubisch on her travels in 2007 from and to the airports of Bukarest, Manchester, Chicago, Seoul, Munich, Amsterdam, Zurich, Frankfort, Paris, Lisbon, Berlin, Pisa, Milan and London. The sounds were not altered electronically nor changed in any other way. The only tool, which was used for a part of it, was a filtering program (DI…
Night Flights
Absolutely crucial reissue of Christina Kubisch's masterwork Night Flights.This is the first time it's been available in 20 years and the first time it's ever been issued on CD. Night Flights is made up of three massive works of sound collage. Her sensitivities and abilities are akin to a bonsai master sculpting the perfect Juniper or Joseph Cornell hard at work putting the finishing touches on a box. It's hard to imagine a world where half the records on Important could have been possible witho…
Mono Fluido
"Mono Fluido' collects two major compositions from Christina Kubisch which, until now, have been unreleased. Extensive liner notes and & photographs detail the origins of the work. Heavy drones and deep emotions run through these newly discovered pieces." In 1980, the deeply fascinating sound artist Christina Kubisch made some professional recordings in an Italian studio for the soundtrack of Fabrizio Plessi's 'Liquid Movie'. She returned to the sounds in '81, mostly field recordings of swinging…
Zak Riles
2023 Stock. Zak Riles is a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist in the Important band Grails (as well as M.Ward's band). His creative contributions to the group are immeasurable and can be heard clearly on this self titled debut solo outing. In fact, some of the pieces on this solo record have been reinterpreted into Grails favorites. Like his band Grails, Zak Riles solo work is an elaborate mansion built of inspiration but with so much strength and originality that it stands firmly on its own. …
Therapy
On Therapy, his gripping third collection for Imprec, Alexandre Bazin creates concise melodic electro-acoustic environments with ripping timbres, deep staccato sequences and a dramatic immediacy. Elements of classical, minimal techno, modular-ambient and drone music permeate this aptly titled album, Therapy, from Alexandre Bazin. Bazin himself describes this album as "new experimental electronic music." Melodic progression, pulse and timbre play key roles in his delicately crafted work. Saturati…
Earthwave
Earthwave is Zak Riles’ (Grails/Watter) follow-up to his eponymous debut CD released on Important Records in 2008, a cinematic ascent through dark space, volatile illumination, reflection and refraction. Recorded during the pandemic—when Riles took refuge in his rural Kentucky studio, providing remote engineering work for groups like Sleep, Om, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Mono, and Joan Shelley—it’s a monumental exploration of his enduring interest in late '70s/early '80s instrumental electronic and …
Mirage
Dragonfly's First Flight, taking up the full side A, features Simeon Coxe and Kawabata Makoto jamming over familiar Silver Apples hypnotic rhythms. Fans of both groups will delight in the interplay between Simeon's keyboard and Makoto's drone guitar feedback soloing. Side B ranges from free-form freakouts to ambient poetry readings by Simeon with Japanese translation spoken by Makoto. Future Reminiscence, which closes side B, is a song that sounds like a long-lost Silver Apples track. Mirage is …
The Ape Of Naples
2023 re-cut from original Peter Christopherson approved masters. Double LP version. Pressed using the original Ape Of Naples plates approved by Peter Christopherson. The Ape Of Naples is Coil's highly celebrated final album completed by Peter Christopherson following the tragic death of John Balance in 2004. Often noted for being a fan favorite, The Ape Of Naples uses Balance's final recordings and material recorded at Trent Reznor's studio in New Orleans to create a deep, heavy masterpiece.The…
Insulated Paradise
Atsuko Hatano is a contemporary 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. Working in isolation due to the Covid pandemic, Atsuko Hatano played violin, viola, synthesizer, and electronics to create these powerful, unique compositions. Insulated Paradise is an investigation into the social nature of h…
Sucesiones
Sucesiones is a compilation of studies written for 53 equal divisions of the octave (53 EDO). This tuning temperament was selected after analyzing the work of Mexican researcher and visionary Augusto Novaro, one of the microtonal and just intonation pioneer theorists. Novaro claims that 53 EDO is one of rich musical qualities, which has good approximations to the harmonic series. The use of simple textures such as sine waves was a conscious decision, this in order to maintain the focus on the re…