New Arrivals
Piano Music
Two compositions exploring the decay of the piano from Wandelweiser composer Eva-Maria Houben. Fading sound is the link between life and art; between perception in daily life and perception while performing, while composing.“Fading sound is the link between life and art; between perception in daily life and perception while performing, while composing. And the awareness of fading sound may become the awareness of presence.” Halfway through Eva-Maria Houben’s abgemalt, the pianist unfurls a …
Das Testament
Backwards proudly presents the reissue of a private Maurizio Bianchi vinyl LP, issued in a small edition of 300 copies in 1983 and titled "Das Testament". M.B. is an Italian pioneer of noise music, born near Milan. Bianchi began to produce music in 1979, and since 1980 has used electronic equipment with the avowed goal "to produce technological sounds and in such a way to work on complete realising of the modern decadence". Now remastered, for this release MB plays electronics, rhythms, neutroni…
Coin coin chapter two: Mississippi Moonchile
2013 release. Mississippi Moonchile is the much-anticipated new installment of Matana Roberts' unique and forward-looking project and it finds Roberts conjuring some of the most nuanced, thoughtful and substantial American liberation music of the 21st century. Mississippi Moonchile was developed for an intimately woven New York jazz sextet and represents the next leap forward in Roberts' iconoclastic and complex project of memory and recuperation, where historical and contemporary musical tropes…
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 …
Pink pearl
Frans de Waard (1965) has been producing music since 1984. First as Kapotte Muziek, but throughout the years, he also worked as Beequeen (with Freek Kinkelaar), Goem (with Roel Meelkop & Peter Duimelinks, both of whom are also a member of Kapotte Muziek these days), Zebra (with Roel Meelkop) and such solo projects as Freiband, Shifts as well as his own name. He played various solo concerts as Goem-FDW in Japan, as part of a package tour with Pan Sonic. Frans de Waard also likes to play sets of i…
Dutch Tvashar Plumes
'Dutch Tvashar Plumes' seems to map the changes in Lee's approach to music making over the last 4/5 years. From his initial exposure and subsequent immersion into Jungle as a teenager, he soon began experimenting with structure and sound design which led him to a more 'academic' approach with 'Computer Music'. There were many self-imposed rules he adhered to during this time. These last few years he decided to break with that and make an intuitive venture forward. This record is the first real d…
No. 2
Developed over a four year period, and entirely funded by a part time job working as a SAT university entrance exam mathematics tutor, Nº2 was composed using synthesizers and a variety of unidentiï¬ÂÂÂed samples that were manipulated beyond recognition. Christina Vantzou then collaborated with Minna Choi of the San Francisco based Magik Magik Orchestra. Vantzou and Choi worked on the notation and arrangements and recorded the compositions with a 15-piece ensemble at Tiny Telephone studios in S…
Don't tell the driver
Finally, after 15 years, Big Mick Turner has turned in the big rock record we always knew he had in him. Yeah, Don't Tell the Driver is a different kind of record from all the Mick Turner records -- not just his own, but the ones he's done with Dirty Three, Bonny Billy, Cat Power, Fungus Brains, and Venom P. Stinger put together. So, what's so different about Don't Tell the Driver anyway? Well, Mick grew a mustache for this one. That must mean it's his Sgt. Pepper; a consolidation and developmen…
The Weight Of Accumulation
few copies available - creen printed & hand numbered mail-order only edition of 500, sold out at source. Weight Of Accumulation contains two long magnifications of a piece that has been performed, in various versions, in Berlin, Amsterdam, Brooklyn and Seattle. This work is based on John Coltrane's composition Living Space.
"Moving from minimalism to free jazz for inspiration, this new album by Eleh is inspired by the later period of John Coltrane’s career. Although elements of these two pieces …
Voyage a l'ombre
CD in 4-panel chipboard sleeve. The complete, unabridged masterpiece from 1997. Almost impossible to find since more than 10 years. After a vinyl reissue (but not complete) here\'s the CD version again ! Voyage à l\'ombre was originally released in 1997, as a limited CD on the France-based Demosaurus label run by David Fenech, a frequent Tazartes-collaborator. With tracks featuring Pambin Thullal, Syeta Choir, and Yumi Nara. Original lbel note \'Ghédalia Tazartes combines an orchestra and a pop …
Another temple of the great beast 666
K11 is a project of Italian sound artist Pietro Riparbelli and lives within the world of radio signals, transcommunication and other invisible phenomena, to create a dimension where the main sound sources are signals from shortwave radio receivers. Another temple to the Great Beast 666 has been composed from said sound sources recorded during an Instrumental Transcommunication Action realized within the Temple of Diana in Cefalù, Sicily. The temple is famously known for its association wi…
New Ear
With this new album, Melmac reveals a new maturity gained in the course of three French and european tours that have enabled the group to initiate a major part of the ideas presented here through extensive improvisation sessions on stage in the spirit of the instant composing sessions ran by Kraut Rock bands during the psychedelics years. These new experiments have opened the artistic spectrum of the band to new horizons clearly rock, heavy, trippy or noise reminiscent of bands like Sleep or Sku…
(B)Haunted
Following his collaborations with Fabio Orsi and Luigi Turra published in 2012-2013, it’s time for another Gianluca Becuzzi solo album on Silentes. This electronic / electro-acoustic composer and sound-artist boast an enviable curriculum: active since the first half of the ‘80s as founder of the historic Darkwave / Industrial project Limbo, since 1999 his artistic production is characterized by a strong experimental imprint and by a clear tendency toward abstract aesthetic forms and micro/macro …
Sleeper line
Sleeper line is a five-track EP constructed from the original components of a live set performed in December 2012. These components — manipulated found sounds — were recorded at various times and in various environments: Dungeness Power Station (2012), street recordings post-Notting Hill Carnival (2007), a prior live performance at the White Building in London (2012), and a cassette recording made in the cloakroom of the Metalheadz Sunday Sessions club night (1997). The cyclical process of merg…
Bandits of Stature
LP edition, sold out at source: Darla is pleased to offer a new record of string quartets by Harold Budd. Bandits of Stature is a first as it comprises 14 compact Budd composed string quartets played by the Formalist Quartet. Harold Budd is a one-of-a-kind, modern neo-classical artist with a career spanning 40 years. Bandits of Stature has the characteristic Budd minimalism one may expect, yet in new, or classical, form. On Bandits of Stature, he has created 14 elegantly simple, av…
Berberian Sound Studio
To coincide with Halloween we can announce that Warp Records will be releasing Broadcast's original soundtrack that accompanied the recent Warp Film 'Berberian Sound Studio' - Peter Strickland’s brilliant homage to 1970s Italian horror. The film's integral soundtrack was composed by Broadcast before Trish Keenan's untimely passing last year.
Second Breath
CD. Ken Vandermark, tenor sax, Paal Nilssen-Love, drums, Lasse Marhaug, electronics. Recorded live November 23rd 2011 at the Vortex, London UK by Mick Ritchie. Mixed by Lasse Marhaug. Produced by Fire Room. Artwork by Naiel Ibarrola.
The Marianne
Awesome shimmery concept record about the foamy sea "Kye is proud to present the long-awaited new LP by Folkestone's Call Back the Giants. The Marianne takes the questing, narrative themes last heard on The Rising LP (2011) and Incidents of Travel EP (2012) and extrapolates them into a three-part conceptual odyssey. Set aboard the cruise liner of the same name, The Marianne charts the epic voyage of Capt Fletcher and his patrons as they passage across the 'sour ocean,' through a prism of supern…
The Hebrides suite
How does history - past lives and past events - leave sonic traces and how can we hear them? The Hebrides Suite is the result of an attempt to answer this question and the culmination of composer Cathy Lane's three decade long engagement with the Outer Hebrides. The Outer Hebrides form a 130-mile long archipelago about 40 miles off the north-west coast of Scotland. There are more than 200 islands but only a few are now inhabited. In the 2001 census the total population of the islands was 26,502.…
Mountains Of Tongues
Important collection of recordings documenting and preserving "fringe" or under-represented folk cultures and voices from a unique region at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. It spans a diverse cross-section of music by Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Georgians, Chechens and many other ethnicities which fall outside their country's definition of national folk music - Azeris from Georgia, Kurds from Tbilisi, Avars and Lezgis from Azerbaijan, or Molokans in the South Caucasus - giving room for al…