alvarius b “baroque primitiva” compact disc and book set

• the dinner party (3:17)
  
• mussolini's exit (2:07)
  
• humor police (2:21)
  
• you only live twice (3:20)
  
• face to face with a couple of axes (2:44)
  
• well know stranger (4:15)
  
• naturally absolute (3:45)
  
• funny thing is... (3:41)
  
• 3 dead girls (1:45)
  
• like that mardi gal (4:21)
  
• god only be without you (5:13)

abduction press release...

alvarius b. baroque primitiva 2/15/2011: lp (poon village: lp006) 4/12/2011: cd (abduction: abdt046) by my count, baroque primitiva is the sixth album cut by alvarius b and is, like its predecessors, a deep swim through mysterious waters. the 11 tracks here were recorded at various sessions over the course of several years and range from "humor police" (a track that imagines what syd barrett might have sounded like had he been a devotee of rembetika) to a trippily beatles-damaged version of "you only live twice" (the sole surviving shard of the aborted alavarius b plays the bond songbook project). baroque primitiva is first long-format telegram from alavrius b since he lost his mothership (the sun city girls, with whom he employed his slave name, alan bishop) and it also feels like his most consistently non-acerbic — perhaps even beauty-oriented — work. the songs often have a meditative pace and are filled with a gorgeous lo-fi blends of vocals, guitar, bass and keys. eyvind kang guests on several tracks, but the bulk of the material was broadcast direct from the naked soul of alvarius b, which turns out to be a warmer, sweeter place than you might imagine. the record also marks the return of the equally legendary poon village label, whose 1993 sun city girls lp, live at c.o.n. artists, is a rare and lovely piece of that band's sonic puzzle. poon village's productions are always extraordinary in visual terms, and baroque primitiva is no exception. the cover's meditative human mandala is a brilliant ocular ode to shifting visions of feminine pulchritude, and is worthy of the best framing job you can afford. issued in a strict edition of 300, baroque primitiva will be available for roughly the time it takes you to draw a deep breath of appreciation. it would be a stone shame to deny yourself its bountiful pleasures. — byron coley lp version, on poon village (lp006), is packaged in a screenprinted jacket feature a double gate, hand-cut spine, and metallic photo print featuring 16 naked girls and was released february 15th, 2011. the cd version, on abduction records (abdt046), is packaged in a deluxe 32 page full color erotic art hardcover cd casebook and will be available april 12th, 2011.

eyvind kang “visible breath” long playing record

• visible breath (14:46)
  
• monadology (6:23)
  
  
• thick tarragon (16:64)

jessika kenney / eyvind kang “aestuarium” long playing record

• orcus pellicano (6:31)
  
• figura nox (5:18)
  
  
• unnamed figures (7:36)
  
• dies mei (3:26)
  
• towards solitude (3:47)

ideologic organ press release...

soma002 / jessika kenney & eyvind kang aestuarium lp release date 21.06.2011 recorded, mixed and mastered at the cove, vashon island, wa & aleph studios, seattle, wa by mell dettmer august 2005. vinyl cut by rashad becker at dubplates & mastering, berlin may 2011. jessika kenney (voice) eyvind kang (viola) written by jessika kenney & eyvind kang (1, 3, 4) & traditional (2, 5) speculum magorum by giordano bruno. jessika kenney is a vocalist known for her haunting timbral sense, as well as her profound interpretation of vocal traditions. eyvind kang is a violist for whom the act of music and learning is a spiritual discipline. aestuarium is a meditation on a psalm of lamentation and the unary tone in the metaphor of salt and fresh water, inspired by gaelic psalmery, tibetan notational gestures, and the microtonality of the tetrachord. recorded on the shore of colvos passage in 2005 by renowned engineer mell dettmer. stephen o'malley comments: amongst many other amazing pieces jessika & eyvind collaborated on sunn o)))'s "monoliths & dimensions" album, jessika leading the choir on the piece "big church" and eyvind composing the acoustic arrangements for "big church" & "alice". i learned an immense amount about music through these collaborations, specifically the idea of spectral music through research and discussion / reference points of composers such as grisey and murail. aestuarium is a beautiful piece of minimalist spectral music which has brought great pleasure to my ears over the years. originally released on cd by endless records 2005. ideologic organ curation and art direction by stephen o'malley manufactured and distributed by editions mego.

william hooker / bill horist / eyvind kang “this season’s fire” compact disc

• realize
  
• outcry
  
• pitch,under the hammer
  
• baron
  
• seasons ii
  
• fate

oren ambarchi “audience of one” compact disc

• salt (5:32)
  
• knots (33:23)
  
• passage (6:41)
  
• fractured mirror (8:20)

touch press release...

to:83 | oren ambarchi "audience of one" cd - 4 tracks - 53:51 artwork & photography: jon wozencroft mastered by francois tetaz at moose, melbourne on "audience of one", oren ambarchi presents a four-part suite which moves from throbbing minimalism to expansive song-craft to ecstatic free-rock. his previous solo albums for touch exhibited a clear progression towards augmenting and embellishing his signature bass-heavy guitar tones with fragile acoustic instrumentation. audience of one, while also existing in clear continuity with these recordings, opens the next chapter. remarkable in its confidence and breadth, but also in the sensuous immediacy of its details, this is the first time a single record has come close to encapsulating ambarchi’s musical personality in its full range and singularity. the techniques and strategies developed in his refined improvisational work with keith rowe and his explorations of the outer limits of rock with sunn o))) and keiji haino are both in evidence, alongside the meticulous attention to detail and composition of his solo works. and on the cover of ace frehley’s ‘fractured mirror’ which closes the record, ambarchi even points to his roots as a classic rock fanatic, in an epic yet faithful version which extends the shimmering guitar patterns of the original into a rich field of phase patterns reminiscent of the classic american minimalism of reich and riley. the album features a multitude of collaborators, who, far from appearing in incidental roles, are integral to the pieces on which they perform: on ‘salt’, ambarchi paints a hypnotic, chiming backdrop for paul duncan’s (warm ghost) vocals, and joe talia’s virtuoso drumming and driving cymbals are at the core of the epic ‘knots’, in which ambarchi, alongside a chamber arrangement by eyvind kang, weaves a net of frequencies and textures with the organic push and pull of a 70s psych jam, the bass response of a doom metal ritual and the psycho-acoustic precision of an alvin lucier composition. on his previous records, ambarchi’s signature guitar tone was the ever-present bedrock over which other elements sounded. at moments on audience of one, this disappears entirely, as on the beautiful ‘passage’, which, recalling the 70’s italian non-academic minimalism of roberto cacciapaglia and giusto pio, is composed of overlapping tones from hammond organ and wine glasses, jessika kenney's voice, various acoustic instruments, and the delicate amplified textures of canadian sound-artist crys cole. rather than being provided by any particular sound, the unified feel of audience to one stems simply from the unique, patient sensibility ambarchi has developed over the last twenty years; abstracting musical forms into their barest forms, while somehow always managing to leave their emotive power intact. - francis plagne