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... happy spring everyone !!! to commemorate our favorite season (and to help get this place back to some sort of workable condition) we're having a "spring cleaning" sale !!! please visit the spring (2013) cleaning page to view a list of (recent, mostly 2012) releases that we're now offering at reduced prices (while supplies last, no rainchecks, etc) ...
previous artist:
 lucy hamilton 		there are 6 titles featuring tom hamilton in stock.
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 $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

 best of 2010 !!! 
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 !!!
kvist press release...

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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 $12.61

new to stock as of
october 20th, 2009

threads:
modern-composition
electro-acoustic-composition

mutable (usa) #mutable 17533 cd

tom hamilton “local customs” compact disc

  • corral (11:47)
  • brq ten (5:01)
  • counterpoint four (11:40)
  • what fell through (8:11)
  • all the mapping shifted (9:00)
april 2009 release ; five chamber pieces from composer / electronic musician tom hamilton, created using an “electronic harmony generator” circuit, which manifests itself here as a stream of synthesized string parts, which are in turn interpreted by the ensemble ...

nice that hamilton is re-united with 70’s cohort rich o’donnell (with whom he released the excellent “formal and informal music” lp on his somnath label in 1981 ; reissue forthcoming on kvist) ; o’donnell’s stray free-form percussion throughout makes an otherwise coldly conceptual & entirely a-tonal affair that much more weighty ...
mutable press release...
tom hamilton - local customs
(mutable 17533-2)

jacqueline martelle, flute
richard cohen, clarinets
james martin, trombone
terry kippenberger, contrabass
rich o‘donnell, percussion

tom hamilton, electronic harmony generator

composer tom hamilton’s stunning new cd, local customs, explores some obscure notions about music theory and performance practice, leading to sound combinations that are at once unsettling and yet somehow familiar. one discovers that there is very little in local customs that follows from conventionally intentional music writing. it is perhaps better to regard it as a group of artifacts of little-known origins, modified through new transformations into something further unexplained.

the foundation for the piece is an "electronic harmony generator" that plays an endless sequence of chords exhibiting curious relationships with no purposeful direction. the musical lines for the ensemble consisting of flute, clarinets, trombone, contrabass, percussion, and electronic harmony - accumulated from coding and decoding various readings, investigations, and experiences during a summer residency in italy.

tom hamilton has been composing and performing for over 40 years, and his work with electronic music originated in the late-60s era of analog synthesis. he often explores the interaction of many simultaneous layers of activity, prompting the use of "present-time listening" on the part of both performer and listener. hamilton appears on synthesizer in his own ensembles, and has participated in groups led by peter zummo, david soldier, and michael schumacher. he has recently performed with thomas buckner, lisle ellis, chris mann, al margolis, and jacqueline martelle. his cd london fix received an award in the 2004 prix ars electronica. he is a longtime member of composer robert ashley's touring opera ensemble, and his work can be found in over 60 cd releases of new and experimental music. hamilton’s cd shadow machine with guitarist bruce eisenbeil has just been released as well on the pogus label.

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 $12.61

back in stock as of
october 20th, 2009

first in stock on
february 11th, 2009

threads:
electro-acoustic-improvisation
analogue-synth
modern-composition
sound-poetry

mutable (usa) #mutable 17507 cd

thomas buckner / tom hamilton “jump the circle, jump the line” compact disc

  • segment a (6:22)
  • segment b (5:55)
  • segment c (3:16)
  • segment d (4:29)
  • segment e (10:37)
  • segment f (5:49)
  • segment g (3:49)
  • segment h (4:37)
  • segment i (5:08)
  • segment j (9:27)
nice set of contemporary synthesis / voice (more like sound-poetry) duets between tom hamilton (whose 1975 somnath-label lp “pieces for kohn” is something of a personal touchstone) and noted avant-vocalist thomas buckner ...
mutable press release...
jump the circle, jump the line
vocal music by thomas buckner
electronic music and voice processing by tom hamilton

thirty-five years ago when i began to explore solo and group improvisation the idea was to make improvisations that sounded like compositions. i’ve evolved away from this idea gradually to the point where i want my improvisations, both solo and group, to sound (and be) unpredictable—to take me, my fellow improvisers and the audience to places we haven’t been before.

for this piece tom hamilton and i decided to carry independence as far as we can. each part is developed independently, and the goal is not to modify our independent ideas in the act of putting them together. the "wild card" in this practice is the live electronic processing of the voice, for which tom has developed a system that guarantees unpredictability while integrating the voice into the electronic soundscape. the result is an organic whole with independent but integrally connected parts.

- thomas buckner

...

after a decade of wringing inspiration from observation, it is with great pleasure and some relief that i’ve returned (for awhile) to making pieces that address essentially formal procedures. this performance uses techniques of analog electronic synthesis to structure, phrase and pace the music, as well as to generate the actual sound material.

revisited here is my crackpot theory - that art after euclid has been in a constant state of decline. what can i imagine to be more perfect than the representation of circle, square and triangle? so while i try to reflect on the musical analogies, i strive to displace and subvert the inherent symmetry of that visualized ideal; music balanced by instability.

- tom hamilton

thomas buckner and tom hamilton have performed together in a myriad of circumstances since the early 1990s. their past recordings include act of finding and off-hour wait state. they also produce the cooler in the shade/warmer by the stove series of improvised music and intermedia at lotus music and dance in new york.

recorded live in concert, december 1, 2000; emf @ engine 27, new york, by jody elff
mixed and mastered by tom hamilton at the pickle factory, new york.
electronic instruments used in this recording include the nord modular keyboard, alesis q20 and quadraverb processors. our thanks to the electronic music foundation and engine 27, especially holland hopson, bernadette speach, jody elff and jack weisberg, who provided the perfect jumping-off point for this performance.

© thomas buckner, 2000; © tom hamilton, 2000
published by data day music (ascap)
cover design: matt schickele
photo credits: lia chang (buckner) ; michal shapiro (hamilton)

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 $14.62

back in stock as of
may 15th, 2013

first in stock on
november 28th, 2007

threads:
modern-composition
electro-acoustic-composition
digital-musics

new world (usa) #nw 80460 cd

robert ashley “superior seven” compact disc

  • superior seven (30:17)
  • tract (23:49)
new world press release...
“i am finally able to say that i write for orchestra— even if i have to make the orchestra myself.” — robert ashley

robert ashley is known primarily for his theater-based pieces and television operas. this new release presents the world premiere recordings of two of his “orchestral” pieces, superior seven (concerto for flute), and tract (for orchestra and voice), where the orchestra is provided by a midi synthesizer.

in superior seven, the flute floats freely in and out of an atmospheric electronic sound tapestry. it is a colorful, kaleidoscopic, ever-changing soundscape pervaded throughout by a sense of playful whimsy.

tract, on the other hand, is cut from an altogether darker cloth. the voice is used as one of the orchestral timbres in a piece that is resolutely mournful and dirge-like in tone, a wordless lament. 

barbara held (flute)
thomas buckner (voice)

midi orchestra

...

superior sevenconcerto for flute and orchestra (for barbara held)
the midi sequencer programming was done by tom hamilton and barbara held.
synthesizer orchestra voices were designed by robert ashley and tom hamilton.
the cd realization of superior seven was processed and mixed by tom hamilton.

tract
for orchestra and voice
the recording engineer for thomas buckner’s voice was tom hamilton.
the midi sequencer programming was done by nathaniel reichmann and robert ashley.
synthesizer orchestra voices were designed by robert ashley, tom hamilton, and nathaniel reichmann.
the cd realization of tract was processed and mixed by tom hamilton.
superior seven and tract were produced by robert ashley.

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back in stock as of
january 6th, 2011

first in stock on
october 20th, 2009

threads:
electro-acoustic-improvisation
guitar-themed

pogus (usa) #p 21051 cd

tom hamilton / bruce eisenbeil “shadow machine” compact disc

  • dusting off dada
  • dryer mouth
  • shadow machine
  • dot dot dot
  • mars fell on alabama
  • walleye spawn
  • the salt eaters
  • little left on the left
  • silver through a straw
march 2009 release ; nord modular & electric guitar duets between tom hamilton & bruce eisenbeil ...

while eisenbeil’s playing rarely gets beyond a sort of post-derek scrabble, hamilton’s crackly, keening pointillism keeps a few tricks up it’s sleeve, dotting the pavement with stray blobs of discordant oscillator spazz-out & some fine, crispy dc-offset ...
pogus press release...
21051-2  cd

tom hamilton / bruce eisenbeil
shadow machine

nord modular synthesizer / guitar

shadow machine is the first cd by tom hamilton and bruce eisenbeil, who began playing music together in 2007. coherence without predictability, speed without tempo, direction without a roadmap - an unlikely foray into the world of out-jazz and free improvisation.

it's a duo that thwarts expectations of its specific instrumentation. the artists hybridize the language of electronic sound through eisenbeil's guitar and hamilton's virtual analog synthesizer, and the live-in-the-studio tracks insure that the performances impart maximum physicality and spontaneity.

their aim is to generate new forms, new ways of listening, new definitions of music. equal rights for all sounds is one goal, and since each musician is a maximalist, a dizzying array of sounds and techniques are employed to sustain a visceral experience. contrasting sonic elements are played one against another, simultaneously and successively. modern jazz and improvised music have just now begun to really embrace the language and sounds of electronics; these two artists are positioned on the forefront of a trend that aims to subvert orthodoxy and challenge old assumptions.

tom hamilton has been composing and performing for over 40 years, and his work with electronic music originated in the late-60s era of analog synthesis. he often explores the interaction of many simultaneous layers of activity, prompting the use of "present-time listening" on the part of both performer and listener. hamilton appears on synthesizer in his own ensembles, and has participated in groups led by peter zummo, david soldier, and michael schumacher. he has recently performed with thomas buckner, lisle ellis, chris mann, al margolis, and jacqueline martelle. hamilton was a 2005 fellow of the civitella ranieri center in umbria, italy. his cd london fix received an award in the 2004 prix ars electronica. he is a longtime member of composer robert ashley's touring opera ensemble, and his work can be found in over 60 cd releases of new and experimental music.

composer/guitarist bruce eisenbeil was born in chicago in 1963 and grew up in plainfield, nj. he began playing the guitar when he was four and performing professionally since he was 15. throughout the 1980’s he played jazz and r&b. since then he has performed and/or recorded with: cecil taylor, david murray, evan parker, ellery eskelin, karl berger, perry robinson, milford graves, badal roy, andrew cyrille, edgar bateman, nasheet waits, lukas ligeti and many others. he has twelve cd's released on a variety of labels, including: esp, nemu, konnex, cadence, c.i.m.p., and nine winds. recent recordings include totem, inner constellation, and home again.

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 $18.91

back in stock as of
january 6th, 2011

first in stock on
april 3rd, 2007

threads:
sound-poetry
analogue-synth
electro-acoustic-improvisation

pogus (usa) #p 21029 cd

tom hamilton / mike silverton / al margolis “analogue smoque” double compact disc set

  • a rift in the ceiling (6:30)
  • a keyhole for peeking (3:16)
  • laundering butt floss (3:47)
  • asbestos abatement, that closer to health (4:59)
  • fire and ice and a reliable chronometer (3:05)
  • the enchanted kielbasa (9:45)
  • yanking anchors, shoulder dislocations (11:17)
  • exchanging anvils
  • broken toes (6:38)

  • the clouds, to whom do they belong? (7:53)
  • he can't take you with him (6:47)
  • a cozy place by the crevasse (4:56)
  • if a tree falls on a conscript... (8:16)
  • five, alive and thriving (4:35)
  • but absent a spleen (12:05)
  • terminal euphoria (7:47)
pogus press release...
21029-2

tom hamilton, mike silverton, al margolis
analogue smoque

tom hamilton - sounds, assemblage
mike silverton - text, voice
al margolis - sounds

"analogue smoque's deportment owes much to dada, which positions it some 85 years late for lunch. the work's disjunct, shard-like character looks in significant measure to the manner in which it came together as a pastiche of youthful bits." -- mike silverton

a surreal stew of story and sounds, analogue smoque joins poet and la folia honcho mike silverton's non-transactional prose with music, electronic and otherwise, by tom hamilton and al margolis. sounds combine with, highlight and ignore silverton's ramble, which in turn ignores the rational world.

...

tom hamilton has composed and performed electronic music for over 30 years. rather than addressing traditional modes of presentation and observation, hamilton prefers to explore interaction and simultaneity as aspects of "present-time listening" on both the performers' and listeners' parts.

mike silverton will only say that "at first blush, the alert listener detects a link between analogue smoque and madam blavatsky. the magi demur. rather, they say, the text reveals its author's interest in cryptorchidistics, i.e., states of non-descent."

al margolis has been working with electronics/sounds since new year's day 1984. his work can best be described as "sound fingerpainting."

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... this page was last updated on sunday, may 19th, 2013 @ 7:42 pm