New Arrivals
Shunt
Strøm are Gaudenz Badrutt, pianist and electronic musician (1972) and Christian Müller (1971), clarinettist and electronic musician. Under the name of strøm the two artists from Biel mix since 2001 various ingredients: free improvisation with conceptual music, contemporary music ideas with free jazz explosions, down to earth, drifty energy with spherical sound. The duo mixes electro-acoustic chamber music skillfully with allusions to contemporary pop-aesthetics. Both musicians studied at …
Drum Dance to the Motherland
Deluxe reissue of this outsider holy grail, cosmic free jazz at the top!!There's not another record on the planet that sounds even remotely like vibraphonist khan jamal's eccentric, one-of-a-kind masterpiece, drumdance to the motherland. in its improbable fusion of free jazz expressionism, black psychedelia, & full-on dub-like production techniques, drumdance remains a bracingly powerful outsider statement thirty-four years after it was recorded live at the catacombs club in philadelphia…
Early Tapes
The Neon Judgement was formed in 1980/1981. Instantly they self-released two cassettes. With a limited amount of electronic instruments, they recorded their debut: "Suffering". The first version of their classic track "Factory Walk" is on this tape, a much more raw version than the one which would later become an underground clubhit. "Sweet Revenge" and "Schyzophrenic Freddy" remind of Suicide and the almost claustrophobic sounding tracks "Harem" and "Army Green (WOIII) are in the veign o…
Krewton the Knewtron
'Previously unreleased material by the legendary Rick Potts of the Los Angeles Free Music Society (LAFMS), to commemorate his solo tour of Japan. Raw, lo-fi avant-garde experiments with field recording, improvisation and tape music, recorded in the late seventies when Rick was in his early twenties. Featuring contributions by Le Forte Four and Doodooettes on one track, and two recently recorded unreleased tracks. " In 1977 I wanted to make an animated film filled with the strange creatures…
Nature Data
Why is the phoneme the most 'ideal' of signs? Where does this complicity between sound and ideality, or rather, between voice and ideality, come from? When I speak, it belongs to the phenomenological essence of this operation that I hear myself [je m'entende] at the same time that I speak. The signifier, animated by my breath and by the meaning-intention, is in absolute proximity to me. The living act, the life-giving act, the Lebendigkeit, which animates the body of the signifier and tra…
Blueprints
Over the past 10 years 12k has established itself as a label on the forefront of minimalist music and has become home to some of the most important artists of the genre. It is label that time and time again has not been afraid to release debut albums from new artists, drawing on the new energy they interject into both the scene and the label.With the release of Blueprints, 12k presents 2 tracks each from 6 artists new to its roster and showcases some of the new sounds and influences that will ca…
Radiant intervals
Radiant Intervals' is the first Eleh LP on Important since '08s 'Floating Frequencies/Intuitive Synthesis Vol.3', and follows one of the Wire magazine's (and our) top records of 2010, the incredible 'Location Momentum' for Touch. Continuing with investigations into physically tactile tones and drones, this LP offers four further modular synth expeditions eternally moving towards the distant point depicted on the gorgeous, letterpress printed sleeve. After a stoically inert start 'Night Of Pure E…
Malpais
Malpais is the first collaborative effort between William Fowler Collins and Gog. With both musicians based in the American Southwest (WFC in New Mexico and Gog in Arizona), the music is layered with hallucinatory visions of abandoned mines, atomic bomb blasts, genocide, and space travel. The listener is taken to a place that feels as though it could be the surface of the moon or a scorched earth strewn with bone dust and ash. Photograph by Max Aguilera-Hellweg.
Asleep On The Floodplain
Ben Chasny has spent many years at this point perfecting his very personal vision of the American landscape. With his early LPs he managed to grab a groundswell of support for his distinctly lo-fi recordings, and since hitting the Drag City label with the breathtaking 'School of Flower' he has managed to extend his vision to countless others. 'Asleep on the Floodplain' continues his exploration, and while it doesn't change up the formula too much (apart from the odd analogue synth blurt here and…
Murmurios
TONARTENSEMBLE: Georgia Ch Hoppe (clarinet, mandolin, objects), Nicola Kruse (violin), Ernesto RODRIGUES (viola), Robert Klammer (zither, electronics, analog synthesizer), Heiner Metzger (soundtable), Helmuth Neuman (trumpet, waldhorn), Thomas Niese (double bass), Thomas Österheld (bass clarinet), Krischa Weber (cello) and Hannes Wiennert (soprano saxophone, trompsax, sheng). Recorded December 2009 in Hamburg.
Lifetime Of Romance
Heartland synthesist Dylan Ettinger follows up 2010's widely lauded New Age Outlaws imaginary cyber-soundtrack with a stark, dark, and intensely different collection of misshapen new wave weirdnesses, Lifetime Of Romance. Recorded at a proper studio, and written over the course of a year, the seven songs of Romance reflect a heavy influence from the fringier strains of bummed out quasi-industrial synth-pop in the vein of Fad Gadget, certain Cabaret Voltaire, early Human League, etc, but dra…
Clear and Not Clear
Another due reissue of valuable New Wave materials “Made In Italy” that stretches around thirty-seven tracks contained on a double CD. Bi Nostalgia was the solo project of Luca Rigato, already part of the duo Endless Nostalgia. Composed and recorded between 1984 and 1987 (with the addition of one more recent unreleased track), all songs have been completely remastered from the original master tapes of "Anthems for Losers", "Dances of the Pessimism", "The Seeping Mouth”, “Cathedrals EP","Art Is N…
Foundations
With an explorative approach Orquere organizes concrete sounds into experimental structures of cold and dry sonic landscapes where sounds appear as objects. Stripped down to their bare essence. No effects. No electronic noise. Just raw analogue manipulations with magnetic tape which carves out a sound that has its roots in both industrial, field recording and sound art. Orquere is Viktor Ottosson, a sound artist active in Gothenburg, Sweden. V O was one of the key figures of the now defun…
Ullakkopalo
This is the first release from Finland's Kemialliset Ystävät since 2007. Kemialliset Ystävät equals Jan Anderzén. He is one of the few Finnish musicians to have achieved renown in the international experimental circuit. In the case of Anderzén -- who also plies a trade as a visual artist -- this is not a matter of juxtaposition between experimental and mainstream, or a calculated career choice. Using music and images, he is busy creating a world that is a law unto itself, a world of exceptional …
Untitled (angle. 1)
'Untitled (angle.1) is a stereo composition based on the eight-channel installation Untitled.First exhibited February 11 Ð March 13, 2009 at the Art Gallery of the University of Maryland (USA), Untitled is the unique first collaborative project between visual artist Linn Meyers and sound artist Richard Chartier, in an installation where optical and sonic patterns intersect. With an architectural transformation of the space, two fifteen foot long by eight foot high walls meet in an enfolding chev…
Lean Left, Volume 1
Earlier this year The Ex toured with a wonderful brass section, which comprised saxophonists Mats Gustafsson and Ken Vandermark, trumpeter Roy Paci and trombonist Wolter Wierbos, fleshing out the core quartet. Thrilling as that show was, however, the horn section were deployed firmly in counterpoint to the Ex’s rhythm throughout. Lean Left is another matter entirely. Recorded live in Amsterdam in March 2008, it’s an exhilaratingly vivid and spontaneous workout focused on just two or three…
M.O.S.
'A new series designed by Clare Cooper. M.O.S. is Ingar Zach's second solo release for Sofa, six years after the critically acclaimed 'Percussion music'. M.O.S. reveals a large and almost monolithic sound world. Zach's horizontal bassdrum (gran cassa) functions as a gigantic, resonating membrane, where metallic and ceramic percussions create articulations over the bass vibrations in a ritualistic dance of pulses and overtones. The music moves slowly, but with a continuing drive, and stretc…
Fotheringay
Fledg'ling's 2004 reissue of one of the highest-regarded British folk-rock albums, featuring Sandy Denny. Originally issued by Island in 1970 (previous Hannibal CD long o/p). With additional artwork and bonus tracks. Fotheringay's beautiful debut album was recorded in 1970, and has long been regarded as one of the greatest achievements of British folk-rock. Sandy Denny, Trevor Lucas, Jerry Donahue, Pat Donaldson and Gerry Conway created a magical ensemble sound and one of the finest albums of…
The Buried Stream
For the better part of the past decade, Loren Chasse has been refining his compelling sonic approach, which generally involves "activating" the latent sound-making qualities of natural / commonplace objects, such as pine cones, leaves, stones, or paper. This approach will seem immediately familiar to fans of John Cage, although Chasse's work has always felt more humanist to me than Cage's—driven less by theory and more by a romanticism that isn't afraid to get muddy or wet. You could also align…
Nuojuva halava
The Preservation label presents Nuojuva Halava, the debut album from Helsinki, Finland’s Ous Mal. Ous Mal is the recording project for 22-year old Olli Aarni. With previous CD-R releases for both Finland’s 267-Lattajjaa and the UK’s Under The Spire, Ous Mal has already gained fine notice for his expansive sound, further developed in widescreen ways on Nuojuva Halava, his first full-length. Finding common ground between the dusty tenor of old-school hip hop cassettes and the fog of deep ambience …