New Arrivals
United States of America Triptych (II)
Voice by Pete Simonelli, guitar by David Grubbs, organ by David Maranha, percussion by Andrea Belfi. Selection of texts follows that of Harry Partch's „Eleven Intrusions” Texts by Ella Young, Ella Young and Lao Tzu, Tsurayuki, Willard Motley, George Leite, Giuseppe Ungaretti
Elegy For Rusted Souls
After their last release from 1982, the seminal "California Babylon", San Francisco industrial pioneers Factrix are back with a new studio album, recorded together with Italian duo Control Unit (whose critically acclaimed debut "The Fugitives" was released on Backwards last year). The quartet formed by Bond Bergland, Cole Palme, Silvia Kastel and Ninni Morgia moulds a new language of industrial music with guitars, bass and electronics, resulting in a fusion of acoustic and electric elements, pri…
Resorts & Ruins
In “Resorts & Ruinsâ€Â, a set of three recent sound works, Kyriakides deals with several themes in both a physical and narrative sense. All the pieces use source material that highlight specific vocal traditions, namely Turkish pop music, Cypriot epic song, and Baroque opera, but they also all make extensive use of other forms of speech and vocal acts. In “Varosha (Disco Debris)â€Â, a narrating voice is our tour-guide in the ruins of the Cypriot ghost town Varosha; the many fragm…
Doubled Exposure
D. Charles Speer, aka Dave Shuford, is a founding member of both Rhyton and No Neck Blues Band, and also known for his work with Enos Slaughter, The Suntanama, Egypt Is The Magick #, and Coach Fingers. On ‘Doubled Exposure’ The Helix take their loose and free country rock boogie and enhance it with the blistering psych Speer explores in Rhyton, and the traditional Greek melodies delved into on the Speer solo album, ‘Arghiledes’. ‘Doubled Exposure’ was recorded by Jason Meagher at the increasingl…
Dust & Mirrors
Dust & Mirrors’ is the second full-length album by the trio of Andrea Belfi (drums, percussion, electronics), David Grubbs (electric guitar, piano, voice), and Stefano Pilia (electric guitar). It follows 2010’s ‘Onrushing Cloud’ LP and finds the trio confidently taking stabs in a number of opposed directions. It dramatically widens the terrain in which the group operates. Between albums, the three musicians worked together on David Grubbs’s 2013 album ‘The Plain Where The Palace Stood’, and took…
Bitter Suites
Deluxe repress edition of this incredible masterpiece made out of two live performances of the U.S. Steel Cello Ensemble recorded in 1979 at The Showing Room in NYC and at Helen Shlien Gallery in Boston. The Ensemble performs playing large sheets of metal and producing amazingly droning sounds. These live recordings are the result of an evolutionary refinement of instrumental design and playing techniques which Robert Rutman explored and develped after a ten year period of practice. He inv…
Solitaire
Beautifully presented reissue of classic archival electroacoustic works, within "Warszawa-Oslo" project, a recollection, phonographic documentation and reactivation of bonds between Polish and Norwegian electro-acoustic music, presentation of their individual character and unquestionable significance on the international scale. This beautifully designed set (with extensive booklet of note) collects some of the most exciting, shimmering and crystalline electronic sounds to be unearthed in quite a…
Fait a la machine
40+ min of heavy machinery pounding, hissing, and vibrating, plus a bonus 63 minute CDR of the dronier side of machines at work. If you enjoy artists like Vivenza, Matt Heckert, early Esplendor Geometrico, or Chop Shop, this might be right up your alley. "Unlike a lot of recordings of natural and dissonant phenomena, Fait a la Machine works just as well as a piece of music as it does an audio documentation of the world surrounding us. It makes that leap from interesting to enjoyable in a way…
Champion of the world has no monopoly on the legions
Recorded by Bartek Kalinka, Jan-Sep 2012 using acoustic guitar, modular synthetizer, percussion (sampled and live)
Trees Have Cancer Too
Duo of Pedro Sousa and Pedro Lopes, two portuguese young musicians, and some of the most exciting in the plastic, tonal and energic exploration of sound in a long time. Using sax (Sousa), turntables (Lopes) and a communal use of electronics, their music is admittedly nervous, obsessively bent over the following moment. Unlike other past forms of improvisation more concerned with listening and a certain purity of sound, this search is as focused as much as frantic in the pursuit of a new d…
I am the Center: private issue new age music in America, 1950-90
One of the best things about Seattle label Light in the Attic’s new new age compilation I Am the Center is that it doesn’t try and pretend that new age music was something that it’s not. Look at the album’s cover illustration and you’ll see an angel-like creature carrying an orb of yellow light through the clouds; open the gatefold and you’ll see what appears to be a bird made of stars launching itself out of the ocean. Press play and be delivered into over two hours of mind-numbingly mellow mus…
Shut In
'Shut In' is a "Beautiful piece of Easy Listening for Cabin Fever courtesy of Kevin Drumm" says Editions Mego, and who are we to argue? It yields some of the inimitable artist's most beautiful, oneiric sounds since his immense 'Imperial Distortion' album for Hospital Productions; in fact, we wouldn't be surprised if we were told it came from those same sessions. One singular piece unfolds for just over 30 minutes across two sides, slowly radiating a sort of soothing harmonic balm with an …
Phosphene Weather
After much deliberation and work, Install is proud to unveil its first vinyl release: Milieu's Phosphene Weather LP. Notable for also being the first time Milieu's work has appeared on the vinyl format, Phosphene is a special affair, limited to 150 copies on randomly colored vinyl inside custom silk screened sleeves with hand-numbered inserts, sporting a modern design by David Tagg. Musically, Phosphene Weather inhabits a similar universe as previous Milieu ambient output, such as A Warm Wooden…
Chiapaneca
A great, vivid recording of some wild playing, using the entire kit, rolling about on the various skins and cymbals. Recorded at Festival El Nicho Aural by Daniel Goldaracena at Centro Cultural España Mexico D.F 12 mayo 2012Mastering and cover design by Lasse Marhaug
Nakatani Gong Orchestra
...Mindblowing!!!! "Perpetually rolling, Japanese-American master percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani holds a relentless schedule, road-bound in continuous dedication to his passion. His solo sets thunder with coaxed nuances from his kit, overlaid in staggering bounty. Nakatani is also fearless when it comes to collaboration, and seeks it out adventurously during his extensive tours. In this spirit of combined efforts, Nakatani Gong Orchestra shines a different light in each new location it arises. N…
Telmegiddo
Telmegiddo was the last tape-decomposition by Maurizio Bianchi and was recorded in February 1983 after the Armaghedon LP. Apocalyptic echo-sounds, originally decomposed at Mectpyo Studio in February 1983. Unofficially issued as cassette tape in 1990 with the given title of "Extreme Man 2". Bakterihabitat by M.B. contains sound sketches that were later used in Telmegiddo. Mixture of bacteriological wall of noises, originally decomposed at the Mectpyo Studio in May 1982. Unofficially issued as cas…
Rework: Philip Glass Remixed
There are two basic reasons why composers like Philip Glass end up getting remixed: rhythm and repetition. Glass' most identifiable music is simple, or so it seems: Play a chord, break it down into its constituent notes, and repeat the notes in hypnotic succession. If there's another instrument playing, they're probably playing the same notes in a different order. At the foundation of the music, there's what's called an ostinato. One way to think of it is as a bassline; another, in the words of …
Bellstomp / Pond Dance
Me, Myself & Ekoplekz present two versions of Tod Dockstader library production tunes from his 1979/1981 LPs for Aldwych stalwarts Boosey & Hawkes...one veers towards saline techno, the other remains a resolute radiophonic bubbler...both of us are well chuffed to have had the chance to tamper with the wiley tape sage's great work ...BM
Parapsycho
Doris Norton, founder member and keyboardist of the esoteric legends Jacula and Antonius Rex, was a pioneer in the early electronic/computer music. She began her musical carrer playing avant-garde and progressive music using synthesizers such as Roland System 700, Roland system 100M and Minimoog (Jacula, Antonius Rex). In december 1980 she recorded, at the Fontana Studio 7 (Milan), her first solo album entitled "Under Ground" (Musik Research). Sponsored by Apple computer and the Roland Corporati…
Barcelona Express
Stunning work of radical free music by saxophonist Masayoshi Urabe and guitarist Rinji Fukuoka (Overhang Party / Majutsu no Niwa). Recorded in 2004 in various locations (France, Spain, Switzerland and Japan), this album brings together elements of free jazz, rock, noise and even folk music, in a way that is magically spontaneous, iconoclastic and full of grace in every single sound produced. Pretty much uncomparable to any of the music 'out there' nowadays, these are wild cuts by two wild …