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to celebrate the release of the new failing lights "s/t" disc on intransitive, we are running a "4 for the price of 3" incentive on all in-stock intransitive cd releases !!! simply place an order for any 3 intransitive discs, making sure to mention in the comments field which title you want as your 4th and voila, we'll include it free of charge !!! act fast, as the incentive is limited to the inventory on hand ...

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there are 13 titles featuring charlemagne palestine in stock.
they are listed below.
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 jean pallandre 
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$26.18

back in stock as of
june 15th, 2010

first in stock on
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threads:
modern-composition
minimalism-drones
concert-recordings
electro-acoustic-improvisation
digital-musics

alga marghen (italy) #alga planamgolpal lp
planam (italy) #planam golpal lp

gol / charlemagne palestinepandamoniahbleeummm!!!!” long playing record

  • pandamoniahbleeummm!!!! • pt. 1 (17:54)

  • pandamoniahbleeummm!!!! • pt. 2 (14:12)
click the play button to hear an excerpt of "pt. 2"
december 2008 release ; second of two lps pitting the french gol ensemble against various musical avant-garde figures ; in this case minimalism giant & sock monkey enthusiast charlemagne palestine ...

as opposed the ensemble’s direct interference on the dumitrescu / avram set, here they seem to act mainly as augmentation to palestine’s swelling organ clusters, adding a thin layer of bass / guitar / flute / voice / electronic sonority to the rising sound throughout (listen to the sound-sample for an example) ...

lp in full alga marghen spec, comes with a single-sided insert with credits, dedications (one is to philips-prospective 21 siecle lineage composer jean guillou) and a fun panda-bear sketch (detail below) ...
alga marghen press release...

g o l  /  c h a r l e m a g n e   p a l e s t i n e
"pandamoniahbleeummm!!!!"
(cat no. planam golpal)
lp record

entering their twentieth year of existence, the gol orchestra, together with the label planam, celebrates and starts a new program of collaborations: the gollaboration series.

volume 2, "pandamoniahbleeummm!!!!" marks the encounter with charlemagne palestine, pionneer of strumming music and piano maximalism, in the st. eustache church in paris, known for its world famous church organ. the following battle, in form of a long incantatory improvisation, charlemagne palestine playing the church organ and gol doing the electronics, bass, guitar, and the flutes part, combines many attributes of a pagan ritual.

gol was formed in 1988 in paris by jean-marcel busson, frédéric rebotier, ravi sharda and samon takahashi. the quartet embodies, within a post-dada spirit, a lost rural tradition. gol plays flute, horns, guitar, violin, toys, selfmanufactured instruments, tapes, turntables, voices, various percussion instruments and electronics, an appropriateness of both traditional string instrument and handmade low fi equipment. gol's first lp (gol lp 01), issued in 1993, compiles their first items (88-92) based on vinyl- record's scratching, tape's cut-ups and acoustic instruments. the issuing of this lp was followed by a 9 years long hibernation. since 2002, the band is back together to pursue its common research and play together of instinct and invention. their music, electroacoustic oriented, is partially improvised and partly tense. at the time of a collaboration with roumanian composer iancu dumitrescu, gol developped a score system knowned as « layer's leaf ». through this system, they could elaborate an hybrid music, between orchestral conduct and free interpretation of movements.

edition limited to 300 copies, also including a large insert with liner notes great graphics by jean-marcel busson who also design the front and back cover.

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$19.07

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threads:
modern-composition
minimalism-drones
1970s-electronic

alga marghen (italy) #alga nmn32 cd

charlemagne palestinefour manifestations on six elements” compact disc

  • two perfect fifths, a major third apart, reinforced twice (18:51) 1973
  • one + two + three perfect fifths, in the rhythm 3 against 2, for piano (1) (5:09) 1973
  • one + two + three perfect fifths, in the rhythm 3 against 2, for piano (2) (5:40) 1973
  • one + two + three perfect fifths, in the rhythm 3 against 2, for piano (3) (13:15) 1973
  • sliding fifths for piano (16:38) 1972
  • three perfect fifths, a major second apart, reinforced twice (14:30) 1973
click the play button to hear an excerpt of "one + two + three perfect fifths (3)"
may 2010 release ; definitive contemporary issue of charlemagne palestine’s landmark 1974 sonnabend gallery lp, recorded by phillip glass’ engineer kurt munkasci in new york that winter & featuring a series of gorgeous, chiming, polyrhythmic solo piano pieces bookended by two electronic drone works ...

comes in a digipack with roland spekle’s excellent liner notes (originally printed in his 1996 barooni cd edition) ; essential listening !!!
alga marghen press release...

c h a r l e m a g n e   p a l e s t i n e
"four manifestations on six elements"
(cat no. plana-p 32nmn.080)
digipack cd

"four manifestations on six elements", one of charlemagne palestine most well-known works, has now finally been included in the alga margin "golden research" series of cd editions presenting the composer's relevant historical recordings.

in 1973 charlemagne palestine was commissioned to make "four manifestations on six elements" by the sonnabend gallery in new york. as the gallery was well known for its presentation of conceptual art palestine decided to create a record similar to an exhibition space with four walls to expose on, each wall corresponding to a side on a double lp record.

"two perfect fifths, a major third apart, reinforced twice" (1973) is an electronic piece that deals with the search for the essence of timbre, sound color, through exploration of the inert chemical activity in the overtone series of tone fundamentals. in this genre of his work palestine feels akin to a kind of sound alchemy - blending elements over and over again through the years searching for the golden sound - the essence of the chord or harmonic structure itself.

in "one + two + three perfect fifths, in the rhythm 3 against 2, for piano" (1973) the elements introduced are now elaborated upon on the piano. the resonant bösendorfer allows palestine to create a more lively and complex variation of tones, intervals, overtones and rhythms. "one fifth" evolves by reinforcing the fundamentals of a fifth with their higher octave. each performance of this work is different as palestine reinterprets these simple elements listening within them for variations of amplitude, mixture and inertia at the moment of the performance. "one + two fifths" deals with the way a rhythmic sonority sounds when the sustain pedal of the piano in not used, thus focusing on its rhythmic aspect. gradually by adding the sustain pedal the external rhythmic pattern begins to internalize becoming an inert part of the whole tymbral fabric - a piece expressing the battle of rhythm versus timbre for dominance. in "one + two + three" a third fifth is added - variations of melody and sonority reinforcements culminating in a rhythmic deceleration process ending the work.

"sliding fifths for piano" (1972) is an impressionistic version of the three fifths used in the entire work. the continuous liquid waterfall of pure romantic piano sound and color is a homage to debussy, ravel and monet.

"three perfect fifhts, a major second apart, reinforced twice" (1973) is the complexification and continuation of wall one. a pure and sonorous phenomenon.

first pressing limited to 500 copies in digipack sleeve, with a full color 12 page booklet including two essays, originals score and visual material related to these composition.

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back in stock as of
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first in stock on
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threads:
1960s-electronic
minimalism-drones
modern-composition

 best of 2005 !!! 
alga marghen (italy) #alga nmn19 cd

charlemagne palestinein mid-air (golden 3)” compact disc

  • sine wave study (1965) 03’44”
  • open-closing (1965) 03’37”
  • seven organism study (1968) 07’50”
  • negative sound study (1969) 23’47”
  • tymbral for pran nath (1970) 15’18”
click the play button to hear an excerpt of "seven organism study (1968)"
alga marghen press release...
late night recordings at the n.y.u. intermedia center.
buchlas 100 & 200 systems.

the first time i heard electronically generated sounds probably came from the machines that i encountered in ordinary daily urban life the refrigerator electric motor electrical generator and the hammond electric' organ but it was especially the sounds of motion race cars motor cycles war planes rocket ships that first excited my sonic imagination as a young teenager then i heard the electronic musics of tod dockstader alwyn nikolais pierre henry & schaeffer poeme electronique of varese and xenakis and gesand der junglinge of stockhausen

i immediately bought a cheap reel to reel tape recorder took a class on tape music manipulation and started to cut and paste recording tape making collage sound experiments and fooled with reverb tricks and bass / treble tone knob filterings trying to create already an electronicesque language of my own at first i used my own voice and the bells of my carillon and sounds i recorded around the house as my sound sources then one day i experienced at an electronic music studio what electronically produced sound waves looked and sounded like through an oscilloscope and began studying helmholtz's on the sensation of tone

i started to dream of an expressive continuous evermoving everchanging sound form an enormous sonorous 3-dimensional sculptural canvas in mid-air using electronically produced sounds at first i began experiments with simple sine tone generators emitting the purest sound waves without any overtones then gradually with access to moog buchlas and arps i constructed sounds using the sine / sawtooth / square wave oscillators in a fluid everchanging mix of adding or filtering overtones and white noise to create sonorities constantly changing timbres and weight

i experimented in this way from 1964 till 74 in nyc and then california finally i assembled my own drone machine of 16 ultra stable oscillators designed by serge tcherepnin and 4 band pass filters designed by donald buchla and began to travel presenting spectral continuum searches for the golden sonority day week month long journeis of harmonies and their overtones in constant evolution and transformation in space untill the late seventies when i stopped composing & performing for nearly 15 years

when i resumed in the nineties my jamaica heinekens soundscape was made using arp and rubery oscillators and filters in holland and performed many sonorities in progress these last years with several simple yamaha synthesizers and now i am constructing a small electronic studio at home in bruxelles around the analog oberheim matrix 12 and expander that i bought just before the end of analog in the late eighties

electronic sound forms continue to have a major place in my compositional palette.

...charlemagne palestine

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file under:
sound-research
minimal-drones
 best of 2005 !!! 
alga marghen (italy) #alga nmn14 cd

charlemagne palestinecontinuous sound forms (golden 2)” compact disc

  • duo strumming for two harpsichords (1978) - three excerpts (25’25” - 6’45” - 10’40”)
  • piano drone (1972) 22’10”
click the play button to hear an excerpt of "duo strumming for two harpsichords (1978)"
alga marghen press release...
“elisabeth freeman and i met in 1971 at cal arts near los angeles. she was a disciple of the great harpsichord virtuoso fernando valenti and i was in residence there as assistant professor and graduate student in multi-media. immediately we had a great chemistry between us and the sound and clarity of the harpsichord perfectly fitted my sonic approach. i invented a strumming for her eventually in 1975-76 that premiered in london + ny afterwards to critical success. then in 78 we played together at a harpsichord factory of willard martin in pennsylvania and the 3 exceprts come from sessions at that time she is playing far away + me up close. they were magic moments.

in 1972 while still at cal arts terry jennings, visionary composer, wonderful woodwind player clarinet soprano saxophone always in another time sense in another world. he and i played together from time to time for the moment all recordings are lost but this piano drone played the first bosendorfer imperial that inventited my piano music styles to come is a rare and special moment. he left the room with this stuff and some years later he left this world totally for his other world.

this piano moment on the original imperial of california i dedicate to him as in those days time was different. time passes time elusive liquid time stood still all that at the same time. piano drone is from that time and for terry.”

nayastay charlemagne logo d’orta 9/2000

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threads:
early-electronic

file under:
minimal-drones
sound-research
early-electronic
 best of 2005 !!! 
alga marghen (italy) #alga nmn13 cd

charlemagne palestinealloy (golden 1)” compact disc

  • holy 1 & holy 2 (1967)
  • alloy (1969)
click the play button to hear an excerpt of "alloy (1969)"
so the listing is a little misleading on this one... the first track is a full-on straight drone piece for 20 minutes, holy 1. the second track is the same drone with extra sonorities (aka holy 2) mixed in, thus holy 1+2. the third track is merely the holy 1 + 2 tape played in a large room (possibly the merce cunningham space?) with added accompaniment from tony conrad, robert feldman, deborah glaser palestine and cp himself. regardless of what the hell is actually on this cd, it sounds like: holy 1: the bones of a large whale being bowed from inside, holy 1+2: same whale, resisting, alloy: whale, now transplanted to chelsea piers, field documentation of whale on microcassette & accompaniment by a-list of factory hangers-on/”drone music.”
alga marghen press release...
holy 1 & holy 2
recorded in new york city n.y.u. intermedia center (1967)
late night electronic sonorities

alloy
tony conrad, robert feldman, deborah glaser palestine, charlemagne palestine
recorded live at free music store, radio station wbai, new york city (1969)

“holy 1 and holy 2 were both recorded in nyc in 1967 i was reading helmholz - and listening to a lot of ethnic world music but i was also very immersed in the late night new york soundscape

my friend saxophonist bob feldman and i would often take long long walks 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning from battery park at the lowest point in manhattan to where we lived on 87th street and riverside drive and absorb the spacial sound diversity and beauty that such a big city could only express very late at night then other nights when i composed i worked also at night.

from midnight to 7 or 8 in the morning with a mattress on the floor i would build up a sound oscillator by oscillator then add ever so slightly to the oscillators input tiny increments of white noise that would gr adually make the sounds thicker and thicker untill they were immense sacred machines humming like gargantuan tibetan bees making all the room and objects in it resonate while outside all was quiet and sleeping i worked like a painter with a palette and a canvas and i mixed and added and mixed and added over entire nights

i played them very very loud mixing adding and then lying on the mattress and listening and fine tuning finally at a certain point after several nights the sonority seemed ready to record i'd put on the tape prepare the tape machine with the proper level as not to overload it and i'd record the texture. holy 1 & 2 were done in this way

later on i was asked by gus solomons a choreographer at new york university to create a texture for a new dance work he wanted to present and as he was a student of merce cunningham he had the same habit of asking a composer to create a work without ever hearing it until the performance we just agreed on how long it would be we chose something lik e 70 minutes and in 1968 i brought both holy 1 & 2 to the theatre to decide which one to use for the dance and found that for me at that moment each one was too thin played alone for such a big open space and finally tried the 2 sonorities together

they fit strangely but wellso i used them both and after that i played them sometimes separately together and sometimes and so holy 1 & 2 became a work itself

then in 1969 tony conrad asked me to make some carillon music for his: film "coming attr actions we were seeing each other regularly for that when the free music store of radio station wbai asked me to create a piece for an event they were preparing to broadcast live on radio 1 so i asked tony my saxophonist friend bob feldman my then-wife and sopr ano debor ah glaser to collabor ate on a workthat i would organise around an instrument that i invented at that time called an alumonium made from pieces of aluminium siding attached with fishing wire each a different length thus different pitch when you hit them and a spanning sound as well if you hit them a special way and they'd begin to spin

tony played an instrument that he invented the long string drone that was a long string attached to a long wooden structure and amplified bob played the chimes and a conch deborah sang and played chimes and i sang also played the chimes and some percussion instruments that we found lying around the hall where we played

the piece became alloy and the sound that begins played through loudspeakers in the hall 'were holy 1 & 2 from 1968”

...charlemagne palestine

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threads:
analogue-synth
machine-music
live-electronic

alga marghen (italy) #alga 31 lp

charlemagne palestinerelationship studies” long playing record

  • relationship study no. 1 (18:20) 1967

  • electronic (18:25) 1967
click the play button to hear an excerpt of "relationship study no. 1"
may 2010 release ; two recently unearthed buchla pieces, rendered by charlemagne palestine at nyu’s legendary intermedia center in 1967 ...

while i’m not sure about emanuele’s claims about this foreshadowing the “early power electronic scene”, but it’s worth noting that music really couldn’t be any more different than morton subotnick’s (largely recorded on the same machines in the same studio the same year) ... palestine’s largely aleatoric blat, left to simmer & repeat over long duty cycles, shows early evidence of the kind(s) of minimalist rhetoric he’d become more commonly associated with in coming decades ...

a really great record, especially for anyone enamored with those early buchla days ...
alga marghen press release...
c h a r l e m a g n e   p a l e s t i n e
"relationship studies"
(cat no. plana-p alga031)
lp record

edition limited to 350 copies

"relationship studies" lp includes 2 seminal electronic music radical realizations by charlemagne palestine, or "relationship study no. 1" (1967) and the generally titled "electronic" from the same year.

sounds in motion like race cars, motor cycles, war planes, rocket ships excited charlemagne sonic imagination when we was still a young teenager. then came the experience of listening to the electronic music of tod dockstader, alwyn nikolais, pierre henry and pierre schaffer, xenakis and "poème electronique" by edgar varese. immediately fascinated charlemagne palestine bought a primitive electronic equipment and started to experiment, creating his original electronicesque language.

the two previously unreleased 18 minute masterpieces presented here directly come from this early period of intense experimentations in a fluid ever-changing mix of adding and filtering white noise and simple sine tone generators. both pieces are late night compositions created at the electronic music studio of the new york n.y.u. intermedia center using buchla 100 and buchla 200 systems.

even if dating back from the mid-1960s these intense sonorities might very much recall the best early power electronic scene from the late 1970s, in particular to the first brut music works created by maurizio bianchi. for sure they represent a very unique and inspiring approach to electronic creation, sounding more and more actual and surprising nowadays.

edition limited to 350 copies.

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back in stock as of
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first in stock on
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threads:
minimalism-drones
analogue-synth
modern-composition
electro-acoustic-composition

alga marghen (italy) #alga 26 lp

charlemagne palestinesound 1” one-sided long playing record

  • 2 separate chords • blending in space • sculptural (18:30)
click the play button to hear an excerpt of "sound 1"
december 2008 release ; single-sided lp featuring an 18-minute piece by charlemagne palestine, “published in collaboration with “vidéo et après” for the first “œuvres sonores” event, december 15th, 2008 nouveaux media dept, musée national d’art moderne, paris” ...

no word on when the piece in question was physically laid to tape (different reports / opinions range from the mid 60s / mid 70s to present day) ... regardless, you get a static wall of tremulous oscillator patternage that rivals/exceeds contemporary work in the field by such folks as eleh and damion romero ... charlemagne fans (esp. those of the “negative sound study” lp) will need this in their lives ...
alga marghen press release...
c h a r l e m a g n e p a l e s t i n e
"sound 1"
(cat no. plana-p alga26)
1-sided lp record
edition of 500 copies
(only 200 copies available for sale)

as the title well underlines, "sound 1" electronic sonority is a starting point in charlemagne palestine researches for the golden sonority. previously unpublished, this radical and foundamental work has now been released on lp record in collaboration with the new media dept of centre pompidou (national museum of modern art) in paris for the first "œuvres sonores" event, december 15th, 2008.

charlemagne palesitne started to dream of an expressive continuous evermoving everchanging sound form; an enormous sonorous 3-dimensional sculptural canvas in mid-air, using electronically produced sounds. at first he began experiments with simple sine tone generators emitting the purest sound waves without any overtones. then, gradually, with access to moog and arps, he constructed sounds using the sine / sawtooth / square wave oscillators in a fluid everchanging mix of adding or filtering overtones and white noise to create sonorities constantly changing timbres and weight. palestine experimented in this way from 1964 till 74 in nyc and then, in california, finally he assembled his own drone machine of 16 ultra stable oscillators designed by serge tcherepnin and 4 band pass filters designed by donald buchla. he would build up a sound, oscillator by oscillator, then add ever so slightly to the oscillator imput, tiny increments of white noise that would gradually make the sounds thicker and thicker untill they were immense sacred machines humming like gargantuan tibetan bees. charlemagne played them very very loud, making all the room and objects in it resonate while outside all was quiet and sleeping. he worked like a painter with a palette and a canvas and he mixed and added and mixed and added over, entire nights, mixing adding and then lying on the mattress and listening and fine tuning. finally, at a certain point, after several nights, the sonority seemed ready to record. he'd put on the tape, prepare the tape machine with the proper level as not to overload it and record the texture.

this 1-sided lp was issued in an edition limited to 500 copies, and about 350 of those copies were offered to the audience partecipating to the first "œuvres sonores" event at centre pompidou. less than 200 copies are available for distribution.

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$15.81

new to stock as of
july 24th, 2007


threads:
minimalism-drones
modern-composition

cold blue (usa) #cb 0025 cd

charlemagne palestinea sweet quasimodo between black vampire butterflies for maybeck” compact disc

  • [introduction] (4:03)
  • a sweet quasimodo between black vampire butterflies for maybeck (36:49)
cold blue press release...
a sweet quasimodo between black vampire butterflies for maybeck cb0025

a sweet quasimodo … is a piece for two pianos played simultaneously in a tremolo style that palestine calls "strumming," a technique that has defined his piano music since the late '60s. it spins out its sonic tapestry in surges and ebbs, and dense sonorities with hypnotically dancing overtones grow from its few opening pitches.

this live recording from the maybeck recital hall also contains palestine's short comments about his life in california in the '70s and, accompanied by a rubbed brandy snifter, his singing of a few very short "ritual" songs in his unique falsetto vocal style.

charlemagne palestine is a composer/performer/visual artist, who grew up in brooklyn, singing in his synagogue choir. at age 16, he became carilloneur at nyc's st. thomas episcopal church. in the early days of his professional career, he had important musical associations with tony conrad, morton subotnick, pandit pran nath, ingram marshall, simone forti, and philip glass. during the 1970s, he was active as a much-acclaimed composer-performer on new york's minimalist music scene. his performances, particularly his piano "strumming" events, have always embraced eccentric elements--extremely physical performances on pianos covered with stuffed animals while consuming prodigious quantities of cognac and clove cigarettes. in the '80s, he all but retired from music and turned to creating visual art, often involving animal and stuffed-animal imagery, which has been exhibited throughout the world. in the 1990s, he resumed his music career. today, his audience larger than ever, he tours throughout the world, performing his own music and creating installations. a large, illustrated book about his life and work, sacred bordello, was published in 2003.

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$56.89

new to stock as of
february 7th, 2009


 best of 2009 !!! 
shiiin (france) #shiiin 2 cd

charlemagne palestinethe golden mean” deluxe compact disc set

  • the golden mean (part 1) (26:12)
  • the golden mean (part 2) (14:25)
click the play button to hear an excerpt of "the golden mean (part 1)"
may 2007 release ; exceedingly nice edition from stephane roux’s shiiin imprint offering an otherwise unavailable 1979 recording of charlemagne palestine performing simultaneously on two bösendorfer imperial grand pianos at the sorbonne chapel in paris on november 2nd, 1979 ...

the music picks up right where “strumming music” left off ; palestine climbs the keyboard chromatically, pausing on each intervallic change to reveal endless variations of upper-harmonic activity ... as far as early recordings of his solo piano music go, this is one the best ; the ringing architecture of sorbonne emphasizes the swirling overtones drastically ...

now, back to the edition (as i’m sure you’re wondering why these are so expensive !!!) ; each copy comes as a digipack cd (with a poster in the booklet-sleeve, detailed below) with a varying-color chunk of crushed-velvet hand-glued to the “cover” ... this is then placed inside a separate slip-case (presumably to protect said velvet from any outside influence) ... it’s got “gallery-quality” written all over it (well, not literally) & i felt compelled to inaugurate a “deluxe compact disc set” category in the mms db to cover these sorts of painstakingly produced editions ...

ps. i received only a few copies of each color ; early adopters here are welcome to choose from ::

shiiin press release...

'the golden mean' for two bösendorfer imperial pianos. chapelle de la sorbonne, paris, november 2, 1979, festival d'automne.

recorded by radio france for a broadcast by daniel caux for france culture (atelier de création radiophonique). very luxurious object (which explains the price !) : each cd is hand-made, one by one, and each box is fully covered by the velvet material ! the first 1,000 copies will be a limited and numbered edition with a velvet cover specifically designed by charlemagne himself ! five different colours will be available, 200 cds for each colour.

part 1 : begins on middle c each piano every so slowly sounding this tone first one piano then the other soooo slowly then gradually gradually a little stronger a little faster but everever sooo gradually all the overtones ringing and singing amazing how just two repeated middle c's can have so many ever changing rich little cascading voices behind them then the middle c# is also added little by little creating the interval of a minor second between with beating and beating and overtones beating and beating then the middle d is introduced smoother less sharp and dissonant the major second rich and reinforcing one with the other and their overtones less strident than before a collaborative resonant interval a sing-song then the d# is introduced creating a minor third some say melancholy is the ringing of the minor third soon the middle e the major third arrives brighter more triumphant and jolts and battles with our minor third each pulls its sonic punches minor major minor major and finally major holds on and minor retreats and soon our old major second comes to greet major third and they dance the majors dance such a vibrant and victorious sound but soon the middle f arrives and gradually the majors give up their dancing to let the middle f and the interval of the perfect fourth clang in it's perfection and resolution but this perfection will not last and the devil arrives the f# brings the dreaded tritone the devil's interval is here and all balance and harmony are in confusion it clangs its famous dies irae and ends the first section.

part 2 : we begin with one piano that plays middle c while the other plays the c one octave higher this time the c is lighter and the 2 octaves have overtones that meet in the middle and rise upwards soon the upper c meets a b creating a higher minor second descending much different that the minor second of the first section but the middle c revisited the c# and we have ascending and descending minor seconds undulating together which leads to the higher minor second descending to a major second bb and the middle c ascending to the major second d creating a smoother and jollier high-low sing-song then 2 minor thirds one descending from above the a and the other ascending from below the d# a melancholy augmented chord feeling that continues until the majors arrive though this time one descending from above the ab and the other ascending from below the e again we feel an augmented chord feeling but this time brighter and sunnier and more optimistic and then from above we hear a perfect fourth the higher c with the middle g and from below the middle c to the middle f create a beautiful sonorous chord of cfgc' which gets to dance and sing for a very short luvly time because here comes 2 devils the tritone middle cmiddle f# and the higher c middle f# who dance their devilous prance like little children hand in hand round and round singing dies irae dies illa solvet saeclum in favilla and then the devils fade away and fade away and fade away and fade away.

- charlemagne palestine 2006

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$14.78

back in stock as of
april 16th, 2010

first in stock on
march 13th, 2009


threads:
modern-composition
minimalism-drones
electro-acoustic-improvisation
electro-acoustic-composition

 best of 2009 !!! 
streamline (usa) #streamline 1026 lp

charlemagne palestine / christoph heemannsaiten in flammen” long playing record

  • saiten in flammen (1) (14:45)

  • saiten in flammen (2) (12:45)
click the play button to hear an excerpt of "saiten in flammen (1)"
march 2009 release ; “strings in flame” from christoph heemann & charlemagne palestine ...

so this is just about the perfect record ; starting in the lower registers of a (97-key !!!) bösendorfer imperial, palestine begins banging out a threnody of pulsing dread, which is immediately picked up & processed into a blur of impossibly deep electro-acoustic static by christoph ... the transparency of the collaboration is impressive ; rarely does this sound like two discrete components coming together, but instead a single monolithic work of epic proportion ...

easily one of the finest art-drone sets of the year thusfar ; that’s it’s housed in a gorgeous sleeve & issued at such an attractive price-point (drag city’s domestic manufacturing of all streamline issues these days certainly played a part in the record’s cost) is just icing on the cake ... i give this my highest recommendation !!!
streamline press release...
charlemagne palestine + christoph heemann saiten in flammen lp
march 17, 2009

saiten in flammen, a new album by charlemagne palestine and christoph heemann follows their collaborative work on palestine’s heavy-metal-piano workout “the apocalypse will blossom” with a more textural aproach. as on “the apocalypse...” the only sound source used throughout these two electro-acoustic explorations of the lower depths is the bösendorfer imperial grand piano, notorious for its unique resonant qualities. the title is a german translation of “strings aflame.

... looking directly at the the cloud, he saw that it was not a cloud, although what it was he did not know. it was a massive wall of utter blackness that rose from where it met the surface of the downward sloping sand far into the sky, so that he was forced to crane his neck to see the top of it. lightning bolts still slashed across its face with devastating ferocity, and thunder crashed and rumbled. the wall, he saw or thought he'd saw, was a monstrous dam raised against the sky, and over the lip of it was pouring something that was not water, a gigantic waterfall of blackness that was not water, crashing down across the face of it, a waterfall so solid and unbroken that he did not see the actual falling of it, but only had the hypnotic sense of its falling. watching it, he realized that it was not only thunder he heard, but the deep, awful roar of whatever was falling over the lip of the dam, the niagara-like rushing sound of something falling down from great height, falling from the unknown into the unknown. it seemed to him that the very ground beneath him was trembling with the roar.


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back in stock as of
may 4th, 2009

first in stock on
november 22nd, 2006


threads:
concert-recordings
minimalism-drones

 best of 2006 !!! 
sub rosa (belgium) #sr 204 cd

charlemagne palestine / tony conradan aural symbiotic mystery” compact disc

  • an aural symbiotic mystery (51:32)
click the play button to hear an excerpt of "an aural symbiotic mystery"
this is the recording of the concert from october 2005 in brussels; the one at which i both opened (awful; one of the worst sets of my professional career due to hardware/software failure and that nagging “the show must go on” sensation...) as well as joined in an encore with these two minimalist heavyweights (which was about 2 minutes long; “a minuet” as charlemagne was kind enough to dub it...) which i’m kind of glad isn’t on here (considering all things; it wasn’t very good...)

at the concert, i had the strange feeling that something wasn’t right with tony’s violin sound (this was probably the 10th time i’d seen him perform over the past 15-odd years - i could tell that something was amiss as the volume of his violin kept dropping out; the gain-stage needed to send it into full-on distortion was never quite reached...) - but it sounds lovely on the disc here...

the night in question was, even with everything that went wrong, one of the highlights of the past few years for me (oh, did i mention that i met phill niblock that night as well?), especially charlemagne’s enebriated ranting at the post-show dinner. it’s nice to be able to revisit it whenever i need to via this disc...

while not exactly the best thing either has done; there’s a fair bit of synergy and shared tonal language that propels the music forward - definitely making it a succesful venture.
sub rosa press release...
an aural symbiotic mystery
charlemagne palestine + tony conrad
sr204

"more that 30 years had passed since our last experimental duet. tony arrived and decided he could stay for several days in brussels and we casually started to play together one afternoon aude, my wife, remarks about that special moment that in 5 minutes if not less she heard a natural musical chemistry of beauty and power that greatly impressed her yet. tony and i hadn't played discussed or conversed about sound or anything in over 30 years none the less the result were totally surprising dazzling and deeply satisfyingg so that we do some concerts together in paris, nantes, naples & brussels, the present recording made in october 2005 at the mercelis theatre in brussels on " luc ferrari day " (the day that pompidou center in paris presented an entire day in honor of the french composer luc ferrari who had jsut recently died in italy) our duet had no title though we were very conscious of luc ferrari's " presence in spirit " during that evening. how is it that tony and i can play so magically together without ever discussing or planning or or anything ? ? ? i have no idea ! ! ! it's an aural symbiotic mystery ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! "

charlemagne palestine lago d'orta 7/2006

charlemagne palestine wrote intense, ritualistic music in the 1970s, intended by the composer to rub against audiences' expectations of what is beautiful and meaningful in music. a composer-performer, he always performed his own works as soloist. his earliest works were compositions for carillon and electronic drones, and he is best known for his intensely performed piano works. he also performs as a vocalist. palestine's performance style is ritualistic; he generally surrounds himself (and his piano) with stuffed animals, smokes large numbers of kretek (indonesian clove cigarettes) and drinks cognac.

works/selected discography
four manifestations on six elements (barooni, 1974), strumming music (shandar, 1977) was revolutionary in that it turned "strumming" into an avantgarde technique, and minimalism into highly dynamic (and noisy) music. palestine improvised on a piano emphasizing otherworldly overtones. schlingen-blaengen (new world, 1998), karenina (durtro), recorded in 1997, jamaica heinekens in brooklyn (barooni, 2000), a symphony of drones and found sounds.

tony conrad is an avant-garde video artist, experimental filmmaker, musician/composer, sound artist, teacher and writer. along with john cale, angus maclise, la monte young, and marian zazeela conrad was an ealy member of the theater of eternal music, which utilized just intonation sustained sound to produce what they called dream music. this group performed compositions by la monte young in which the other performers would sustain certain harmonically related pitches determined by young for the duration of each piece. conrad continues to teach at the department of media study at university at buffalo.

works/selected discography
four violins (1964 - table of the elements, 1997), and his collaboration with faust - outsidethe dream syndicate (caroline, 1973 - table of the elements, 1996), works which, in his ownwords, explored the border "between pitch and rhythm". after leaving young's ensemble in 1965, he focused mainly on cinema, starting with "the flicker" {1966), fantastic glissando (1969 - table of the elements, 2003) was a performance of electronic music, while music and the mind of the word (1977), slapping pythagoras (table of the elements, 1995), recorded with a handful of post-rock musicians, is basically the logical continuation of outside the dream syndicate., early minimalism (table of the elements, 1997), thunderboy (table of the elements, 2002) is a typical avantgarde swindle: conrad recorded his son while the child was playing with turntables and other objects, bryant park (table of the elements, 2005)

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$9.81

new to stock as of
april 23rd, 2007


threads:
minimalism-drones
modern-composition
digital-musics
guitar-themed
electro-acoustic-composition
playback-music
sound-art

 best of 2007 !!! 
idiosyncratics (belgium) #id 001 cd

idioscapes” compact disc

  • janek schaefer : scarlett arrives - for scarlett schaefer
  • keith fullerton whitman : quest appartments, newcastle nsw
  • critikal : critically fluffy
  • rapoon : the moment screams
  • kk null : idioscape / decomposition
  • charlemagne palestine : la beauté et la bête
  • steffen bashô-junghans : the blue hour
  • sébastien roux : d 821
  • troum : fantauma
  • eve and the sickness : infected nature
  • jazkamer : ruido rosa 5 minutos
  • daniel menche : cadence
  • idiosyncrasia : filt_h
click the play button to hear an excerpt of "quest appartments, newcastle nsw"
spring 2007 compilation of “idiosyncratic” music curated by yannick franck... includes music by a pretty damn excellent selection of contemporary drone/repetition practitioners ranging from the minimalist swell of charlemagne palestine to the munged roar of lasse marhaug & jon hegre’s jazkamer to steffen basho-junghan’s ringing steel-string figures...

just about everything is exclusive to this reasonably priced and quite lovely set (featuring tatiana klejniak’s scribbled-out paintings...) with a nice blend of darker & lighter tonalities. something for every fan of long-form sound. properly chilled.
idiosyncratics press release...
idcd 001
various artists : idioscapes 2007
digipack / 1000 copies

“the idea was to ask some of our favourite sound artists to take part in a compilation... and, to our surprise, they accepted. the only concept was that they had to provide a specific / particular / idiosyncratic piece. qualified as a “drone paradise” by lasse marhaug (of jazkamer), the result is a fine and coherent whole, full of extended textures, contrasted acoustic surfaces, subtle and strong. idioscapes contains 70 minutes of authentic acoustic researches, with glitches, loops, noises, deep and glittering textures, subliminal frequences and narrative inserts, punctured with sensible musical moments. idiosyncratics is honoured to present these sound masters on idioscapes. infinite thanks to all of them.” y.f.

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$18.91

back in stock as of
may 4th, 2009

first in stock on
january 25th, 2008


threads:
1950s-electronic
1960s-electronic
1970s-electronic
electro-acoustic-composition
musique-concrète
digital-musics
sound-art
sound-poetry

 best of 2008 !!! 
sub rosa (belgium) #sr 270 cd

anthology of noise & electronic music / fifth a-chronology 1920-2007” double compact disc set

  • rogelio sosa - vinylika (7:02) 2003
  • christian galaretta - maranon (part vi) (10:27) 2004
  • li chin sung aka dickson dee - shame (4:57) 1994-2007
  • francois-bernard mache - prelude (5:28) 1959
  • richard maxfield - pastoral symphony (4:01) 1960
  • wolf vostell - elektronicher de-colagge. happening raum. (3:00) 1968
  • charlemagne palestine - seven organism study (7:53) 1968
  • andre boucourechilev - texte 2 (4:36) 1959
  • helmut lachenmann - scenario (12:30) 1965
  • alireza mashayekhi - shur, op.15 (6:28) 1966
  • claude ballif - points, mouvements (10:14) 1962

  • mauricio kagel - antithese (9:21) 1962
  • vladimir mayakovsky - and would you? (0:32) 1920
  • raoul hausmann - fmsbw (recorded by henri chopin) (0:45) 1918
  • gil joseph wolman - megapneumies, mars 1963 (4:54) 1963
  • leo kupper - electro-poeme (5:54) 1963-1970
  • josef anton riedl - leonce und lena (2:17) 1963
  • sten hanson + henri chopin - tete a tete (5:08) 1973
  • dajuin yao - satisfaction of oscillation (9:27) 1997
  • pere ubu - sentimental journey (7:01) 1978
  • ground zero - live 1992 (1:01) 1992
  • masonna / yamazaki "maso" takushi - spectrum ripper (part i-ii-iii) (3:32) 1996-1997
  • sutcliffe jugend - blind ignorance (5:39) 2007
  • club moral - l'enfer est intime (6:32) 1985
  • dub taylor - lumiere (part i) (17:11) 1972
click the play button to hear an excerpt of "francois-bernard mache - prelude"
january 2008 release ; the fifth volume of this ongoing series of double-disc compilations collecting newly unearthed/discovered/licensed gems from the assorted back alleyways of early electronic music with contemporary offerings from a current crop of like-minded electronic music practitioners ...

for this volume the (many) highlights include françois-bernard mâche’s “prélude,” wolf vostell’s “elektronicher dé-collage,” helmut lachenmann’s “scenario,” and from the more recent end of the spectrum a particularly nice blast from maso yamazaki & a bit of gristle from legendary early uk noise act sutcliffe jügend ...

given the purview of mms; these compilations are becoming something of a yearly festival - much in here to be excited about, thanks to the hard work of sub rosa’s guy-marc hinant. highly recommended, of course; and not just this most recent volume (the prior four all contain a veritable king’s ransom in early electronic music gold...)
sub rosa press release...
an anthology of noise & electronic music vol. 5 - fifth a-chronology 1920-2007

charlemagne palestine, père ubu, sutcliffe jügend, li chin sung aka dickson dee, alireza mashayekhi, rogelio sosa, christian galaretta, françois-bernard mâche, richard maxfield, wolf vostell, andré boucourechliev, helmut lachenmann, claude ballif, mauricio kagel, vladimir mayakovsky, raoul hausmann, gil joseph wolman, léo kupper, josef anton riedl, sten hanson + henri chopin, dajuin yao, ground zero, masonna, club moral, dub taylor

digipack 2 cd + 50 pages booklet
sr270

here i am, for the fifth time, facing this impossible task no one has asked me to do. how can one bring together the history of electronic and concrete music to the history of noise music? for this volume, i want to highlight pieces illustrating a technique (claude ballif's points,mouvements), a country (shur, op. 15 by alireza mashayekhi), a studio (helmut lachenmann at the ipem), there are also historic (françois bernard mâche's prélude), and radical (spectrum ripper by masonna) works that have ripped apart ancient definitions. all this organized with internationalism in mind and, for once, a focus on the voice - not as sung words, their traditional facet in music (from pop songs to lieder and operas), but as the word itself, recited, distorted, rendered abstract or disaggregated and screamed (the incantation so often a part of rock and noise music).

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 pale blue sky 
...and that's everything in stock featuring charlemagne palestine.
(why not take a look at the previous and next artists?)
next artist:
 jean pallandre 
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... this page was last updated on wednesday, september 1st, 2010 @ 12:56 pm