| $10.52
new to stock as of
july 21st, 2006
threads:
early-computer
minimalism-drones
1970s-electronic
electro-acoustic-composition
digital-musics
machine-music
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| | | creel pone (iceland) #creelp sigurbjornsson cd thorkell sigurbjörnsson “la jolla good friday i - ii” compact disc recordable - la jolla good friday i (17:10) 1975
- la jolla good friday ii (21:15) 1975
| ... reproduction of this 1981 lp featuring two wasted / buzzing / side-long / go-nowhere early computer-music pieces recorded on march 28th, 1975 that sound not unlike an airplane landing/taking off as realized by the programmers of an atari 2600 console video game...
this one’s kind of a tough nut to crack actually (mainly due to its’ inherent “nothingness”) but what i do find appealing is that despite being birthed from well within an “academic” environ (the hallowed halls of ucsd) this is probably more zonked / “automatic” -sounding than most private/bedroom-electronic lps of the same era (or of any time between 1975 and now) ...
one thing’s for certain; this does a bang-up job of capturing a certain digital-age claustrophobia (think: wargames) than any other record i’ve heard... and yes, that “one man against the world” spirit i’m often referencing is here in droves ...
one of the very few releases of early electronic / computer music by an icelandic composer (actually... i’m surprised it’s taken mr. p.c. c.p. this long to dig this one up !!!) fans of the second disc of the pietro grossi creel pone will be in familiar/alien territory, as will those of the colder end of the minimal-synth spectrum, and any number of stoned, outsider 70s synth-jams ... |
| | creel pone press release... |
| this creel pone edition includes:
1 x crystal-clear resealable polypropylene cd sleeve with a black / silver foil stamp affixed to the exterior
1 x single-sided six-color inkjet-printed hand-cut glossy-photo-stock booklet
1 x four-color inkjet-printed compact disc recordable in a high-density round-bottom cd sleeve
in 1975 i was invited to the center for music experiment at the university of california at san diego. arriving there, one's mid-atlantic tempo was not only 7 timezones out of phase, but one had traded wintry gales for balmy california sun. this entirely different world wasn't wholly peopled by strangers. there i met again after 15 years my old teacher from illinois, kenneth gaburo, and soon found other kindred spirits in new acquaintances. one of them was ed kobrin who showed me his adaptation of hybrid iv, and most congenially told me that i could "fool around with it", when studio-time allowed. such a time obviously had to wait for a vacation...
another was warren burt who, in between emitting strange sounds, was untiring in revealing some "secret" patches...
other possibilities presented themselves at this fascinating place, then run by roger reynolds. the extended vocal techniques group traversed nimbly what i had believed to be vocal boundaries. yes, it was like an unclouded sky with many, many visible stars to wonder at.
those six weeks passed quickly.
i wrote a pastorale for four instruments for a forthcoming concert tour, and sketched an orchestral piece. both of these were as far from being experiments as an icelandic "brrr" (befitting the season at home) was far from the people saying "have a nice day" with sunny smiles at la jolla - which goes to show that even the most commonplace expression for them could be an experiment in behavior for someone like me.
i am no typist, but i was drawn to kobrin's teletype.
on good friday, everyone had left the center for easter vacation. i should be returning home in four days.
sitting there, all alone, admiring all the paraphernalia from the computer to the 4-channel tape recorder, all my grand plans about how i was going to use the day slowly disintegrated. they were replaced by something else: mysterious and beautiful harmonies filled my head. they came and they went. i was in tune with kepler! a true and wondrous inspiration!
however, i soon discovered its source. it was not of divine origin. outside the studio doors, an old janitor was just using the opportunity, when nobody was around, to wax the floors with his machine. they were creating this din.
what followed, can be heard on this record, with one modification-the four channels are compressed into two...
- thorkell sigurbjörnsson |
thorkell sigurbjörnsson was born in 1938, in reykjavik, iceland. he studied at the reykjavik college of music, his principal instrument being the piano. he continued his studies in the united states, first at harnline university, st. paul, minnesota, where he studied composition with r. g. harris and received his b.a. in 1959. he continued his studies at the university of illinois where he studied composition with kenneth gaburo and electronic music with lejaren a. hiller. other studies also included the darmstadt summer courses for new music and the academie internationale de musique, nice.
sigurbjörnsson teaches theory and composition at the reykjavik college of music, organizes various musical events in iceland, and regularly serves as commentator for programs of contemporary music broadcast by the icelandic state broadcasting service as a pianist he is a member (together with robert aitken and haflidi hallgrimsson) of the icelandic-canadian-ensemble, which has toured extensively in europe, and has introduced many icelandic works. his compositions include both vocal and instrumental works, solo, chamber, and orchestral, a few of which have been performed quite extensively on both sides of the atlantic. |
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