★Sub Rosa
KDGhZ2SA, A Six-Letter Sufi Word
Belgian composer and pianist Jean-Luc Fafchamps initially devoted himself to writing for small groups in which the piano plays a central role (Dynamiques, for two pianos; Melancholia Si..., for two pianos and two percussionists; Neurosuite, for a keyboard trio), before his interest in non-tempered harmonies and polyphonies of timbres led him towards other sound combinations (a garden, for wind quintet; Bryce, for clarinet quintet, etc.). He is currently moving towards working for larger formatio…
Blitz Gazer
Vinyl version: since 1999, DAT Politics is by far one of the most ecstatic electro party bands on the planet. Their remarkably energetic live shows explain the cult-like enthusiasm that surrounds the French electronic combo as they've been touring the world extensively over the years. DAT Politics channel a rough-edged turbo-pop mood through their laptops to create some of the most unexpectedly catchy and lively music ever assembled. The possibility of mistakes and chaos in their hot-wired…
Timeless Waves
Erdem Helvacıoğlu is one of the most renowned "contemporary electronic music" composers of his generation in Turkey. His music has been broadcast on national radios such as BBC, ABC, WDR and Radio France, among others. He has received commissions from the 2006 World Soccer Championship, T-B A21 The Morning Line, Borusan Center For Culture & Arts, Arter "Space For Art," The Association For The Art Of The Harp, Novelum Contemporary Music Festival, International Istanbul Biennial (IKSV) and …
No One Is An Island
Featuring Rhys Chatham, Christian Fennesz, Frédéric D. Oberland and Richard Pinhas. Bérangère Maximin was born on the remote French colonial island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean and moved to France at the age of fifteen. Performing first as a singer, she later studied electroacoustic music with the composer Denis Dufour at the Perpignan Conservatoire. Her first professional experiences occurred in Paris, and in 2002, she moved there permanently. From 2002 to 2007, while running the organiza…
Filters, Oscillators & Envelopes 1967-75
Previously-unreleased electronic music from original The Mothers Of Invention keyboardist, Don Preston. "We're coming to the beginning of a new era wherein the development of the inner-self is the most important thing. We have to train ourselves so that we can improvise on anything: a bird, a sock, a fuming beaker. This, too, can be music. Anything can be music." --Don Preston, extracts from Uncle Meat, 1969, The Mothers Of Invention One could hardly not see in Don Preston a key musician w…
El Resplandor: The Shining in Dubai
Nettle is a band project led by DJ Rupture. For this album, Nettle imagined a remake of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining set in a luxury hotel in Dubai, U.A.E. El Resplandor: The Shining In Dubai is their soundtrack for that nonexistent film.Cello, violin, guembri, guitar, and voice combine with digital processing to create a complex soundworld whose acoustic and electronic elements are in intimate dialog. Produced by arranged by Rupture, El Resplandor offers vivid, haunting pieces that draw on the…
Raudales
Rogelio Sosa was born in Mexico City in 1977. His work explores a wide range of aspects that deal with sound morphology, structures of auditory reference, intensification of the acoustic space and performativity. His projects include solo and collective improvisations, music compositions, sound actions and sound installations. All of these are produced using electronic media. He started studying musical composition with Julio Estrada and then electroacoustic music at the Ateliers UPIC and IRCAM …
Pari Passu
Jamka is a music project set up by Monika Subrtova and Daniel Kordik, who first met as philosophy students in Slovakia. After playing in various hardcore and punk bands, Kordik had gradually become more interested in the idea of making musicwith electronic devices, and when Subrtova began to share his enthusiasm for synthetic sounds and misleading compositions, they decided to explore this territory together.Jamka played their first gig in autumn 2001 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava. U…
Symphonie Pour Le Jour Ou Bruleront Les Cites
CD version. Sub Rosa presents this cult album that has not been available in years. Re-released with new artwork, this is the 1980 version of Symphonie Pour Le Jour Où Brûleront Les Cités (the original version was released in 1976 and was later re-recorded). Pioneering Rock In Opposition filled with clashing percussion, frenetic orchestral motifs and apocalyptic brass. Not for the squeamish. It features the line-up of Thierry Zaboïtzeff (cello), Alain Eckert (guitar), Gilles Renard (saxoph…
The Nethack Dictionary
In March 2005, drummer Teun Vergruggen (Jef Neve Trio, Flat Earth Society) invited the eccentric guitar player Mauro Pawlowski (dEUS, Somnambula) and Rhodes/piano wizard Jozef Dumoulin (Määk Spirit, Magic Malik, Octurn) to play a single session based on pure improvisation. The result left most people wondering how to categorize this music, and brought Othin Spake on the stage for many concerts. Six years later, the band has played in many jazz and alternative venues in Europe, released three …
Superdisque
Superdisque is the first album from the French trio formed by David Fenech (electric guitar) with Jac Berrocal (trumpet) and Ghédalia Tazartès (vocals). Somewhere beyond the borders of rock, jazz, punk and sound poetry -- the vocals seem to come from another planet, with lyrics in an improvised language. The winds are blown from Tibetan human bones and conch seashells. Guitars sound like rubber and steel. Expect the unexpected. Special guest Zap Pascal (accordion) appears on one track. Dav…
Installation for 300 Speakers, Pianola and Vacuum Cleaner
John Wynne's untitled installation for 300 speakers, pianola and vacuum cleaner is at once monumental, minimal and immersive. It uses sound and sculptural assemblage to explore and define architectural space and to investigate the borders between sound and music. There are three interwoven sonic elements: the ambient sound of the space in which it is installed, the notes played by the piano, and a computer-controlled soundtrack of synthetic sounds and gently manipulated notes from the piano itse…
Only
Pieces by John Cage, Morton Feldman, Hanns Eisler, Giacinto Scelsi, György Kurtag, Frederic Rzewski, Henri Pousseur, Théodore Botrel, Rudolf Siecynski, and Sephardic songs. Performed/interpreted by vocalist Marianne Pousseur. "I like to listen to music in places that haven't been designed for it. I like when music mixes in with noise. Only came from a very personal desire to open the doors of my musical world to the concreteness of daily life, to tear down the fictional barriers between places a…
The Heavenly Ladder
Awesome hardcover book containing an in-depth analysis (plus an actual performance on the accompanying cd) of Adof Wölfli’s music by Baudouin de Jaer. Subtitled: Analysis Of The Musical Cryptograms. Belgian composer Baudouin de Jaer was completely moved by the artistic and human dimensions of the mystery surrounding the gigantic and universal body of work created by Adolf Wölfli within the Waldau hospital in the early 20th century. He managed what none other had accomplished before: to decode …
divide by zero
NEW SERIES FRAMEWORKAn extension of our CONCRETE ELECTRONICS NOISE,a brand new mix-up of unusual conceptions of sound material by young unknown composers, well known not-so-young composers and old but clever composers.Benjamin Thigpen, nomad, born in the United States, immigrated to Paris at the age of 31. He studied music, literature, philosophy and esthetics. He now composes in European studios such as GRM, EMS, Visby and STEIM, as well as in his bedroom and in the train. After six years as a …
Voxorgachitectronumputer
Charlemagne Palestine: (voice/organs), X Joachim Montessuis: (voice/computer). After two massive works, From Etudes To Cataclysms (SR 272CD) - for the Doppio Borgato and Strumming Music
(SR 297CD) for piano, harpsichord and strings ensemble, Charlemagne's
work is now rooted in Sub Rosa for good. But next to his solo records,
the label wants to continue to publish collaborative works: they started
with An Aural Symbiotic Mystery (SR 204CD) featuring Tony Conrad.
This time, Joachim Montessuis…
Feral
Daniel Menche has established himself as a musician with a sense of focus and determination uncharacteristic in a genre known for its randomness and chaotic structure.Rather than creating 'noise,' he strives for order and cohesiveness. His presentation of sonic structures is similar to the way a writer depicts a story, an allegory seems to arise, which uses confusion as a symbol for the imaginative process of total sound purity; aural intensity is not a representation of confusion or the chaotic…
Lumiere (For Synthesized and Concrete Sound)
This real masterpiece of Concrète and Synthesized music was no more available since its original manufacture in 1973. Dub Taylor is an US composer, producer, engineer and designer born June 22, 1948 in Burbank, California. He has many creative facets: recording and mastering engineer, record producer as well as composer, graphic designer and visual artist. He has studied with pianist Richard Bunger and composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. Not long after the release of Lumière, Taylor established Varg…
Parabolique d'Enfer / Paraboles-Mix avec Leons d'Enfer
This recording will be Sub Rosa's first posthumous recording of Henri Pousseur. It is the sixth release (out of eight) in their catalog devoted to this composer's experimental and electronic works. It also marks the end of the trilogy of the Parabolic works (following the 1972 unreleased recordings and the 2001 collective performance). This time around, we have a piece built through another major Pousseur work: Leçon d'Enfer (composed in 1990-1991 around Arthur Rimbaud). This previously-unreleas…
El hombre que se sofoca
Israel Martinez (Guadalajara, Mexico 1979) scope of work goes from sound to multidisciplinary art, including experimental and non-academic electroacoustic music, actions, video, installation and site-specific projects, mainly focused on sound as source and theme. He got the Distinction Award at Prix Ars Electronica 2007 in the Digital Musics Category for his sound piece 'Mi Vida'. Since 2003 he has performed and exhibited in several countries throughout America and Europe. He's co-founder…