★Sub Rosa
Spectra Ex Machina: A Sound Anthology of Occult Phenomena
"Have a gramophone in every grave..." --James Joyce, Ulysses (1922) The anthology Spectra Ex Machina brings together rare documents pertaining to so-called occult phenomena, most of them taken from little-known archives. In the course of three volumes, this series traces an audio history of parapsychology through the exploration of spiritualism and haunted houses (Vol. 1); musician mediums (vol. 2); experiences of extrasensory perceptions (clairvoyance, psychokinesis, etc.) and electronic voice …
Preludes, Variations, Studies and Incidental Music
These two discs reveal Christian Wolff as a composer fully exploring, in different ways, the continuum between music which is highly fragmented, embracing extended silences [composed or indeterminate], to that which is more progressive and seemingly driven, albeit taking in disarming and unconventional routes. As a body of repertoire, these works are remarkable for their freshness of musical thought and energy (John Cage considered Wolff to be the most 'musical' of the experimental composers).Ch…
Cloud Atlas/Vertical Study
Cloud Atlas is a collection of ten short pieces composed by Toshi Ichiyanagi between 1985 to 1999. Vertical Study gathers rare pieces composed by Claude Ledoux. Both are performed by Japanese pianist Kaoru Tashiro. "Kaoru
produces serene, yet rich sound texture; the fluctuation of beat and
the perspective of the motif are ingenious. I hope many more people will
taste this joy of finding a grain of gold with your own eyes and ears,
from her commercialism-unrelated, sincere and an experimental…
Talking About The Weather
Talking About The Weather: Teacher and student. Past and present. Two drummers. Two men. Two fathers. Friends. A conversation. A dialogue of the drums. Following up on a drum/percussion duo Eric Thielemans and Billy Hart did in the Summer of 2016 at the Jazz Middelheim festival, these two drummers decided to dedicate time to continue and deepen their versatile dialogues on and around the drums. The meeting and recording of Talking About The Weather took place on January 7-9, 2018 at "Figure 8 Re…
Just Like a River
Edition of 400 copie, on marbled vinyl. Yannick Franck (Orphan Swords, RAUM) presents his new project: Mt Gemini. A deconstruction of ska, rocksteady, and skinhead reggae from the '50s, '60s, and '70s. Rather a passionate deconstruction of a genre than compositions or remixes per se, this incantatory tribute favors abstraction using loops, distortion, compression, variations of speed and height, and effects (delay, reverb, chorus). Recorded in different states of altered consciousness, Mt Gemini…
Classics Remastered (1993-1998)
Double LP version. Cristian Vogel\'s best techno tracks from the \'90s, remastered in 2015. All tracks originally recorded between 1993 and 1998 in Brighton, UK. Cristian Vogel is a composer and music producer, known for his DJ sets and live performances as well as his studio composition and production (having worked with artists such as Radiohead, Maxïmo Park, Chicks on Speed, and Thom Yorke). Vogel was born in Chile 1972 and grew up in the UK; he has been touring consistently since 1992 as DJ …
The Noise Of Art: Works for Intonarumori
Double LP version. Gatefold sleeve, embossed; Includes four-page booklet. The Noise Of Art: Works for Intonarumori contains seven compositions, created by the Opening Performance Orchestra, Blixa Bargeld, Luciano Chessa, and Fred Möpert.
All the pieces relate to the theme of futurism and employ intonarumori,
instruments invented and used more than a century ago by the Italian
Futurists in their noise compositions. CD version includes 16-page
booklet. "In antiquity, life was nothing but silen…
Greek Experimental Electronic Music 1966-2016
An Anthology of Greek Experimental Electronic Music 1966-2016 aspires to map the heterogenous landscape of Greek experimental electronic music in all its contextual, sociopolitical, geographical and aesthetic disparity. With a single exception: it zeroes in on post-80s music. It comprises works of very different kinds by composers of all sorts of backgrounds that, still, can be thought of, as both "Greeks" and "experimentalists". Experimental electronic music is generally expected to be highly v…
Yom Kippur 1973
The record you are holding in your hands is a previously unheard masterpiece of Israeli multimedia artist Ami Shavit. As a professor of both philosophy and art and established kinetic artist in the 1970s Shavit was fascinated with new and interactive technologies. While mostly focusing on visual art and mixed-media installations, a trip to New York in 1972 introduced him to synthesizers and triggered his curiosity to do some explorations into the world of music or "sound" as he preferred to call…
Pianisme
Intimate, minimalist, classic piano album. Sylvain Chauveau on Pianisme: "Piano always had a central
role in my discography and this selection of short pieces showcases what
might be my musical signature: quietness, slow pace, long resonances, a
close as possible to silence. Music to be played at night."Pianisme
is a collection of unreleased and out-of-print piano works composed and
recorded since 2004. Most of them are part of soundtracks for feature
films by French director Sébastien Bet…
Chamber Electronic Music
Sub Rosa presents Gilles Gobert's Electronic Chamber Music. Musical genre: trans, hybrid, crossbred, mongrel, whoreson, mixed, unclean, intricated, blended, interracial, bastard, harmonized, bouillabaisse, pandemonium, disorder, bewilderment, muddled, disarrayed, tangled, distraction, shambled, discorded, abashed, fuzzy, foggy, plaything, rejoicing, orgasmic, thoughtlessness, salad, undisciplined, inordinate, coded, slanged, talk, privacy, nearness, disobedient, unruly, confidante, imperfect, ta…
Ajanma
Hariprasad became 80 the this year. A good moment for this unique solo album of the world legend bansuri master form India. Hariprasad Chaurasia is an Indian virtuoso flautist in the Hindustani tradition, born 1 July 1938 in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. 'Ajanma' takes a unique place in the discography of the North Indian flute legend. The recording was captured in a small 16th century Church in Rhoon, Netherlands in June 2014, which is well known for the character and quality of it's acousti…
Se (in) de bos
Se (in) de bos is a slow-paced 60 minute piece performed by Vvolk and composed by Stijn Cools. While getting deeper in the sound of Vvolk, the perception of time fades. It is astonishing how improvised music can create such a timeless, and calming experience for the listener. This is the third album in the Book Of Air series, as part of the Granvat platform curated by the brothers Stijn and Bert Cools. As in the first Book Of Air album Fieldtone (SR 412LP, 2015) and the second, Vvolk (SR 413CD/L…
Merzopo
Merzopo is a collaborative two CD album of Japanese noise legend Masami Akita (aka Merzbow) and the Czech seven member ensemble Opening Performance Orchestra,
based in Prague. The first CD contains four compositions by Merzbow.
"Futaomote" means 'double face' and it was originally titled 'Janus'.
"Yasugibushi" is a Japanese old folk song which was sampled. The second
CD contains two live tracks from Opening Performance Orchestra which
were played live in Tokyo and Prague in 2017 and studio …
Gradeatia * Natural 1973-83
LP version. Finally available to a wider audience, here we have Octavian Nemescu's incredible music with this genuinely dark, ethereal quality that equally stems from his explorative naivety and a taste for evocative tone and structure, resulting in a phantastic sound which stands out from its era and has since fed forward into contemporary music. On this album we find two of his seminal works, pieces of ultra-vivid, immersive sound: Gradeatia composed in 1982, this piece was commissioned by the…
Acezantez
Originally released in 1977. Rich textural pieces constructed from an unnotatable, intricate interplay of percussive squeals, scrapes and rattles, parched and pitchless woodwinds, and dislocated keyboards On the evidence here, Acezantez founded by the versatile Croatian composer and instrumentalist Dubravko Detoni merit wider recognition. Contemporary Croatian Masterpiece !Here are supposedly stylistic affinities between early Nurse With Wound and Detoni's music. This Detoni (born February 22, 1…
Birds Of Venezuela
Sub Rosa present a reissue of Jean C. Roché's Birds Of Venezuela, originally released in 1973. The bird on the cover is a potoo; this metal-looking bird is one of the sonorous curiosities of this mad nature, the sound that he produces essentially is a death song that David Toop heard on his 1978 expedition, but was unable to record, amazement playing its role.Jean C. Roché on his recordings: "The bird songs which I had recorded in the West Indies in 1969 made me inclined to find out more about t…
4 Geomungo Sanjo Vol II
New compositions for ancient Korean instrument: the Geomungo. Follow-up to Baudouin de Jaer's highly-acclaimed Compositions for Geomungo and Gayageum (SR 373CD, 2012). Baudouin de Jaer tells... his large hands stir the air, drawing soft and assured lines, they connect distant planets and micro-particles in a space that does not exist yet. There is the encounter with the Geomungo. a traditional Korean instrument, the geomungo is an ancient table zither, an improbable association of wood and tense…
Early Electronic Works 1959-66
**Edition of 400 copies in silver vinyl, one-time pressing** Sub Rosa present a collection of Pauline Oliveros's early material, aptly titled Early Electronic Works 1959-66, released as a part of the label's Early Electronic series. Oliveros was an important American composer, born in Houston, Texas on May 30, 1932; the music she produced in the latter part of her life is akin to the breath of life, notably, through her pieces for accordion (particularly those which she herself performed). In ad…
First Time Out
**limited edition 350 copies clear vinyl** Something undoubtedly cosmic but with a DIY, home-made edge: a cosmos for sure, but dirtier than clean, noisier than technology-based. All songs are unreleased. Recorded and mixed in March 1975. After some years rather cosmic and raga-esque music, Kosmose slowly began to explore some more experimental and noisy sonic expression. At the time, the band only owned a few instruments and sound effects and, no drummer. They used to play long tracks in order …