| $15.12
new to stock as of
march 18th, 2010
threads:
1970s-electronic
analogue-synth
electro-acoustic-composition
machine-music
live-electronic
psych-prog
sound-art
electro-acoustic-improvisation
modern-composition
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| | | kvist (usa) #kvist 006 cd tom hamilton “pieces for kohn • formal and informal music” double compact disc set - modhera
- bonampak
- girnar
- fatehpur
- formal & informal music
- crimson sterling mvt. 1
- crimson sterling mvt. 2
- crimson sterling mvt. 3
| march 2010 release ; long-awaited “legit” reissue of these two seminal mid-70s “private” electronic music lps from composer/synthesist tom hamilton ...
not to put too fine a point on it, but many of you may remember that, a good five years back, “pieces for kohn” was both the impetus for and the inaugural “replication” from the fledgeling creel pone series, about which ::
a package arrived on the reckankomplex doorstep just now return-addressed from a “creel pone” (i suppose we’ll have to leave everything else up to speculation) containing a few copies of this item here ... a rather well done (albeit of dubious-legality) repro of an absolute gem of a 1975 pointillist bleep-fest (the colors even come close to approximating the neons of the original somnath-label lp artwork and the cdr is printed very neatly! damn i’ve got to get one of these new inkjet printers...) by mr. thomas hamilton, now better known as a member of robert ashley’s ensemble & the member of various ensembles on the pogus label.
being someone enamored with all of the elements that make the lp great (1. private press edition, 2. musical accompaniment to visual art, 3. created on a serge modular) i will spare the gush and let you know that this is the real deal ... super dense multi-occurence synth freakouts in varying degrees of complexity. no hokey trance-like arpeggiations, in fact no regular rhythms at all. super mysterious and ultra-inviting, just the way it should be... |
... this version adds the successive “sister” album “formal and informal music” to the equation (featuring the talents of human arts ensemble member j.d. parran & st. louis new music figure rich o’donnell), ups the ante with a detailed booklet of liners & reflections and offers improved (read: non-transcribed-from-vinyl ; frankly both “pieces” and “formal” sound incredible) mastering from tom’s own tapes ...
while the rag-tag percussion/synth grappling of “formal and informal music” offers a wild ride, i (still) consider “pieces for kohn” no less than one of the most important american electronic music statements of the 20th century ; it should be mentioned and observed/experienced alongside the (frankly, far less interesting) canon(s) of morton subotnick, jacob druckman, priscilla & bart mclean, et.al ... fans of 60s / 70s electronic and/or synthesizer music (ala douglas leedy, nik pascal, steve birchall, and the like) ; i give this, to you, my highest recommendation !!! |
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kvist006 - tom hamilton - pieces for kohn/formal & informal music
artist: tom hamilton
release date: fall 2009
limited run of 500 on 2xcd
reissue of 2 out-of-print works originally released on the artist’s own somnath label. formal and informal music contains the title piece formal and informal music (1980), and crimson sterling (1973) for electronics, winds and percussion, and also features jd parran, woodwinds and saxes, and rich o’donnell, percussion. pieces for kohn is comprised of four electronic pieces, musical responses to four paintings by artist bill kohn.
disc one – pieces for kohn
disc two – formal and informal music
tom hamilton – arp 2500 synthesizer, e-mu microprocessor keyboard, serge synthesizer, custom electronics.
rich o’donnell – bass drums, bowed cow bells, tabla, gamelan gongs, talking drum, marimba bars, timpani, cymbals, tubalum, koto-veen, aqua-lips, sprahng, chinese cymbal, tom-toms, timpani, roto-toms.
jd parran – flute, clarinet, alto flute, alto clarinet, nagaswaram, alto saxophone.
the “pieces for kohn” celebrate the process of an extremely gratifying collaboration. it has been a constant challenge to work with artistic concepts that have been first defined by another form. that is, the “intangibles” came first from the paintings, rather than from just own own fantasies.
the titles of the pieces correspond to the titles of four selected paintings. in each of the four pieces, i have considered expression of both the general style and the specifics of that painting. in this way. i was able to let each piece develop its own character while still complementing the painting.
bill’s paintings are warm, vibrant, and best of all, have a personal identity that is all-kohn! i hope a little bit of it rubbed off on me.”
t.h. |
...
thomas hamilton is the director of the washington university electronic music/recording studio. he was born in 1946 and received early musical training from thelma taglin and thom davis mason. he attended the university of wisconsin and studied there with john downey. he holds an m.a. from washington university and studied composition with robert wykes. his favorite food is cheese.
bill kohn is a painter and printmaker who teaches at the washington university school of fine arts.
the original tapes were performed at the opening of bill kohn’s exhibit at the terry moore gallery in st. louis, in january, 1976. the recording was supported by a research grant from washington university. bill schulenburg assisted the re-mix and did the mastering. |
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