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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) ...
mimaroglu music sales best of 2011
 ( - )  p ::  1  (2)  3  4  y :: 2013   2012   (2011)   2010   2009   2008   2007  ( + ) 
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 $8.82

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december 6th, 2011

first in stock on
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threads:
film-video
psych-prog
1960s-electronic
lo-fi
folk

 best of 2011 !!! 
taniwha’s (usa) #twc 001 ep
puck productions (usa) #puck 001 ep

jonathan halperleaving my old life behind b/w i am a hermit” seven inch single record

  • leaving my old life behind

  • i am a hermit
august 2011 release ; ... kenneth anger originally scored his 1949 film “puce moment” with an excerpt of a verdi aria, yet inexplicably changed the soundtrack in the early 70’s to include these two songs by the obscure scottish singer/songwriter jonathan halper ...

... purportedly recorded in 1968in essex”, these two tracks have long haunted / baffled / infuriated those who have been privy to showings of the 70’s re-cut ; equal parts syd barrett & peter grudzien (albeit earlier), & jim shepard (ditto), “leaving my old life behindspecifically hits many pleasure-centers at once, with its odd tape-music flourish & crudely home-tracked exhortations towards exiting society-at-large & taking up refuge in a remote upper hebridean bungalow, awaiting the pending apocalypse ...

grey-area issue of positively white-light music ; cover reprints “puceingenue yvonne marquis in a particularly euphoric state of undress ...
taniwha’s press release...

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 $29.01

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may 14th, 2013

first in stock on
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threads:
concert-recordings
experimental-instruments
analogue-synth
harsh-noise

 best of 2011 !!! 
editions mego (austria) #emego 115 lp

russell haswellin it (immersive live salvage)” long playing record and digital versatile disc set

  • budapest, march 29, 2010, part 1 (uhj)
  • zurich, march 24, 2010, part 2 (uhj)
  • berlin, april 1, 2010, part 2 (uhj)
  • encore from bologna, march 27, 2010 (uhj)

  • encore from nantes, march 21, 2010 (uhj)
  • encore from luxembourg, april 8, 2010 (uhj)
  • london, april 10, 2010, part 4 (uhj)
  • hamburg, april 6, 2010, part 3 (uhj)
  • encore from hamburg, april 6, 2010 (uhj)

  • milan, march 25, 2010, part 1 (5.1)
  • leeds, march 17, 2010, part 2 (5.1)
  • encore from brighton, march 18, 2010 (5.1)
  • birmingham, march 12, 2010, part 2 (5.1)
  • amsterdam, april 8, 2010, part 2 (5.1)
  • brussels, april 9, 2010, part 2 (5.1)
  • encore from manchester, march 11, 2010 (5.1)
  • geneva, march 23, 2010, part 3 (5.1)
  • lyon, march 22, 2010, part 3 (5.1)
march 2011 release ; killer combo-pack, presenting a series of extracts from russell haswell’s opening sets during autechre’s “oversteps” tour presented in either “c-formatstereo (the lp) or ambisonically-derived 5.1 multi-channel (the dvd ; audio-only) ...

this is a complete aside from his more known computer-music & field recording work, with all sounds sourced to an array of small electronics laced with light-sensors & various contact mic’s ... i.e. in & of the “cracked everyday electronics” mould & quite hectic / brazen / amazing ...
editions mego press release...
emego 115 / russell haswell
in it (immersive live salvage)
5.1 dvd (dolby digital + dts, 'audio only') + uhj lp

approximate total time (dvd + lp) = 1:28:38.31

uhj vinyl lp cut by rashad becker at dubplates & mastering, berlin, january 2011
5.1 dvd encoded & authored by ian robinson & sophie elder at ascent 142, london, january 2011

a 5.1 surround dvd (dolby digital + dts, ‘audio only’) + ambisonic uhj vinyl lp (stereo compatible) set.

following an invitation from autechre to support them on their 2010 european 'overstepper' tour (30 concerts, 15 countries), russell haswell filled a pelicase with a contact mic, crystal mic, electronics w/ light sensors, fx pedals, sos whistle, various multi-color headlamps w/ flashing modes, and boarded the tour bus.

each night, while performing his solo free improvisation, haswell also recorded as many gigs as possible with a surround recorder. selections from these live recordings are presented  in surround on this unique package containing a uhj lp* and 5.1 dvd, housed in a 12" sleeve.

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... on sale for only ::
 $17.47 

new to stock as of
september 16th, 2011


threads:
electro-acoustic-composition
experimental-instruments
field-recordings
musique-concrète
minimalism-drones

 best of 2011 !!! 
 spring cleaning !!! 
the helen scarsdale agency (usa) #hms 021 lp

jim haynesthe decline effect” double long playing record set

  • ashes

  • terminal

  • half-life

  • cold
september 2011 release ; ... i greatly admire jim haynescommitment to his chosen modus :: he exclusively captures the sounds of decay, which he then weaves these into long-form electro-acoustic macro-tures that are no better evidenced anywhere else but here, where four discrete unfoldings of rusting electronics & sea-sick / side environments await the intrepid listener ...
the helen scarsdale agency press release...

jim haynes
the decline effect
the helen scarsdale agency : hms 021 : 2lp
release date : september 20, 2011

parapsychology introduced the notion of the decline effect as a statistical phenomenon of diminishing results whilst investigating extra-sensory perception and psychokinesis. where initial findings might substantiate proof of such abilities, further studies would almost always demonstrate the contrary. as such, this ontological disappearing act stands in allegorical parallel to the entropic art of jim haynes and frames his 2011 opus of the corroded drone and a compacted disintegration of sound

this san francisco bay area artist has long defined his work through the pithy phrase: "i rust things." the decline effect continues his investigations with electroacoustic decay through four bodies of evidence left behind from ephemeral aktions, shipwrecked electronics, re-engineered field recordings, and transmissions from the ether. haynes composes through all of these sources through a patient suturing of sympathetic elements, whether they be texturaltonal, visceral, heavenly, sodden, or monolithic. here, embers foretelling a nuclear winter gently waft upon industrial chorales amassed from an army of fidgeting motors; the sulfur-laden hiss from volcanic vents erupts from an organic thrum into boiling crescendos of environmental noise; geiger counter palpitations stream along a leaden sea of modulated radio noise; a warm explosion of sun-bleached distortion caresses the evanescent halos from an undulating mesmerism inexplicably not sourced from a guitar and / or digital patch authored by christian fennesz. haynes' broken minimalism orbits somewhere near the work joe colley, g*park, nurse with wound, and bj nilsen

the 2lp of the decline effect is strictly limited to 350 copies, comes in a handsome gatefold sleeve. zener cards not included.

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first in stock on
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threads:
analogue-synth
concert-recordings
live-electronic
machine-music
modern-psych

 best of 2011 !!! 
nna tapes (usa) #nna 020 cs

head boggleunsounds and domo live” c35 cassette

  • pink lloyd
  • crunch saddle mxi
  • dode pansere
  • pontone
  • one rockers

  • head boggle domo live
january 2011 release ; expert-level live-electronic grappling from the inestimable derek gedalecia ...

i’m glad labels (well ; boutique, european vinyl labels would be ideal, but nna here’s not a bad choice when it comes to tape-imprints) are finally picking up on derek’s transmissions ; the well seems far from dry & in fact, the last few things have gotten better & better ... case in point is this set, compiling some very edit-heavy micro-assembled miniatures (a-side ; listen to the sound-sample for his almost brian ruryk-ian approach) alongside an extended live-take (fully blown tape composition with real-time synth accompaniment) that shows the bogglelive experience” is just as enthralling as his through-composed work ...
nna tapes press release...

nna020: head boggle "unsounds and domo live" c35

derek gedalecia's latest creation brings us mutated electronic music from the extreme far out. a seemingly endless stream of synthetic gurgles, gulping, and goop in chaotic bursts of unpredictability

includes a live audience / soundboard recording that delivers in the masterful live hb style.

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new to stock as of
december 13th, 2011


threads:
digital-musics
sound-design
sound-art
sound-poetry

 best of 2011 !!! 
presto!? (italy) #p!? 018 ep

florian hecker2/8 bregman 4/8 deutsch 7/8 hecker 1/8 hõller” double ten inch single record set

  • untitled (1)
  • untitled (2)

  • untitled (3)
  • untitled (4)

  • untitled (5)
  • untitled (6)

  • untitled (7)
  • untitled (8)
november 2011 release ; ... a collection of 8 (eight) immaculately presented works from florian hecker (with input, framework, and “auditory scene assistance” from carsten höller, alberto de campo, sabisha friedberg, oliver pasquet, stefan bernard, & tina frank) spread across four sides of color-coded vinyl (below) ...

... ranging from pure barber-pole / shepard-tone exercises (listen to the first half of the sound-sample) to almost trautonium-esque sub-octave / ring & amplitude-modulated sliding(s - ditto, the second half) to various super-impositions of looped, rhythmically & harmonically transposed spoken texts, this acts as a fantasticcalling card” of florian’s whole ca.2011gesamtkunstwerk” ...

... i can’t think of another artist whose work this year was as thoroughly stimulating as florian’s (full disclosure :: he’s been in town giving talks & presentations for the past few months, all of which have been super great) ; this one’s just the icing on the proverbial cake ... highly recommended !!!
presto!? press release...

p!? 018 - florian hecker "2/8 bregman 4/8 deutsch 7/8 hecker 1/8 hõller" 2 x 10"

total time: 40' 21"

limited edition: 500

layout: tina frank

vinyl cut: rashad becker

release date: 01/11/11

written and produced by florian hecker, except gelbgrün by carsten höller

presto!? is happy to announce the release of "2/8 bregman 4/8 deutsch 7/8 hecker 1/8 hõller", a double 10” vinyl set produced and compiled by florian hecker with a contribution by carsten höller. the title "2/8 bregman 4/8 deutsch 7/8 hecker 1/8 hõller" indicates the percental inputs of the eight pieces, intertwines practical, theoretical and conceptual proportions and its audible dramatizations. 6/8 of the pieces are untitled, 2/8 and are titled ‘gelbgrün’ and ‘updown’, 8/8 play on 45 rpm.

for further information also see:

arnheim, rudolf and grundham, uta. 2001. the intelligence of vision: an interview with rudolf arnheim. in cabinet 2: 95-100.

bregman, albert s. and mcadams, stephen. 1979. hearing musical streams. in computer music journal 3, no. 4 (december): 26–43. cambridge, massachusetts: mit press.

bregman, albert s. 1994. auditory scene analysis. cambridge, massachusetts: mit press.

deutsch, diana. 1974. an auditory illusion. in journal of the acoustical society of america 55: 18- 19.

1986. an auditory paradox. in journal of the acoustic society of america 80: 93.

gibson, james j. 1966. the senses considered as perceptual systems. boston: houghton mifflin.

kubovy, michael and van valkenburg, david. 2004. from gibson’s fire to gestalts. in: neuhoff, (ed.) ecological psychoacoustics. london: elsevier academic press, p 114.

mackay, robin. 2010. these broken impressions. in gaensheimer, susanne (ed.) florian hecker. event, stream, object. cologne: verlag der buchhandlung walther könig: 11-12.

moore, brian c. j.. 1977. introduction to the psychology of hearing. cambridge: university press cambridge.

roitmeister, carl and schneider, eckhard. 2008. carsten höller: carrousel. cologne: verlag der buchhandlung walther könig.

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

 best of 2011 !!! 
kranky (usa) #krank 154 cd

tim heckerravedeath, 1972” compact disc

  • the piano drop (2:54)
  • in the fog i (4:52)
  • in the fog ii (6:01)
  • in the fog iii (5:01)
  • no drums (3:24)
  • hatred of music i (6:11)
  • hatred of music ii (4:22)
  • analog paralysis, 1978 (3:52)
  • studio suicide, 1980 (3:25)
  • in the air i (4:12)
  • in the air ii (4:08)
  • in the air iii (4:02)
february 2011 release ; ... for tim hecker’s third kranky album (either his sixth or seventh overall, depending on your scheme) he decamped to reykjavik, met up with australian composer ben frost (something of a ... let’s face it ... tim hecker biter) & spent a single day recording the pipe organ tones & patterns that are the majority sound-source (along with a fair bit of ben’s spry ivory-tinklings) of the 12 fragments contained herein ...

one expecting a departure from tim’s largely nihilisticmetal” -informed music as of late into a spiritual miasma will perhaps be pleased to instead bear witness to the familiar crushing, piled-up voids of all-sound that make up his productions herein ; as heavy and atmospheric as his guitar-based work, retaining the full-spectrum thrills but imbuing it here with a newfound sense of acoustic realism (listen to the sound-sample ; plenty of witness of humans interacting with musical apparatus in a huge, resonant room) that, imho, makes this his most nuanced outing yet ... highly recommended !!!
kranky press release...

artist: tim hecker
title: ravedeath, 1972
catalog #: krank154
release date: february 14, 2011

tim hecker's latest work approaches a form of secular musical transcendentalism from within the battered temple of spirituality. recorded in a church in reykjavik, iceland and using a pipe organ as the primary sound source, this new piece is essentially a live recording. in reality, it exists in a nether world between captured live performance and meticulous studio work, melding the two approaches to sonic artifice as a unity. it is in parts a document of air circulating within a wooden room, and also a pagan work of physical resonance within a space once reserved for the hallowed breath of the divine.

while the title of the piece "hatred of music" might be a clue, the album is also partly an attempt to confront a pervasive negativity surrounding music. historical rituals of destroying pianos, mountains of pirated cdrs pushed by bulldozers in eastern europe, or the melancholy of the digital music era began as sideline motifs which quickly informed the work on this record. they also really didn't at all.

despite that the context is wide open in such a form of musical abstraction, the substance of these immersive compositions showcases hecker's continued mastery of organizing sound into a visceral near entity. it is an almost physical presence that the listener feels as much as hears. this work is a significant contribution to hecker's oeuvre, one which spans over ten years of musical production. ravedeath is an enigmatic document of beauty and force.

the album was recorded mostly over the period of one day in july of 2010. iceland-based musician ben frost assisted with the engineering and performs on this recording.

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threads:
electro-acoustic-composition
digital-musics
concert-recordings
minimalism-drones
site-specific

 best of 2011 !!! 
kranky (usa) #krank 154 lp

tim heckerravedeath, 1972” double long playing record set

  • the piano drop (2:54)
  • in the fog i (4:52)
  • in the fog ii (6:01)

  • in the fog iii (5:01)
  • no drums (3:24)
  • hatred of music i (6:11)

  • hatred of music ii (4:22)
  • analog paralysis, 1978 (3:52)
  • studio suicide, 1980 (3:25)

  • in the air i (4:12)
  • in the air ii (4:08)
  • in the air iii (4:02)
february 2011 release ; ... for tim hecker’s third kranky album (either his sixth or seventh overall, depending on your scheme) he decamped to reykjavik, met up with australian composer ben frost (something of a ... let’s face it ... tim hecker biter) & spent a single day recording the pipe organ tones & patterns that are the majority sound-source (along with a fair bit of ben’s spry ivory-tinklings) of the 12 fragments contained herein ...

one expecting a departure from tim’s largely nihilisticmetal” -informed music as of late into a spiritual miasma will perhaps be pleased to instead bear witness to the familiar crushing, piled-up voids of all-sound that make up his productions herein ; as heavy and atmospheric as his guitar-based work, retaining the full-spectrum thrills but imbuing it here with a newfound sense of acoustic realism (listen to the sound-sample ; plenty of witness of humans interacting with musical apparatus in a huge, resonant room) that, imho, makes this his most nuanced outing yet ... highly recommended !!!
kranky press release...

artist: tim hecker
title: ravedeath, 1972
catalog #: krank 154
release date: february 14, 2011

tim hecker's latest work approaches a form of secular musical transcendentalism from within the battered temple of spirituality. recorded in a church in reykjavik, iceland and using a pipe organ as the primary sound source, this new piece is essentially a live recording. in reality, it exists in a nether world between captured live performance and meticulous studio work, melding the two approaches to sonic artifice as a unity. it is in parts a document of air circulating within a wooden room, and also a pagan work of physical resonance within a space once reserved for the hallowed breath of the divine.

while the title of the piece "hatred of music" might be a clue, the album is also partly an attempt to confront a pervasive negativity surrounding music. historical rituals of destroying pianos, mountains of pirated cdrs pushed by bulldozers in eastern europe, or the melancholy of the digital music era began as sideline motifs which quickly informed the work on this record. they also really didn't at all.

despite that the context is wide open in such a form of musical abstraction, the substance of these immersive compositions showcases hecker's continued mastery of organizing sound into a visceral near entity. it is an almost physical presence that the listener feels as much as hears. this work is a significant contribution to hecker's oeuvre, one which spans over ten years of musical production. ravedeath is an enigmatic document of beauty and force.

the album was recorded mostly over the period of one day in july of 2010. iceland-based musician ben frost assisted with the engineering and performs on this recording.

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 $20.01

back in stock as of
april 17th, 2013

first in stock on
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threads:
analogue-synth
minimalism-drones
harsh-noise
electro-acoustic-composition
machine-music

 best of 2011 !!! 
spectrum spools (austria) #sp 009 lp

hive mindelemental disgrace” long playing record

  • elemental disgrace i (15:24)

  • elemental disgrace ii (16:08)
october 2011 release ; ... crushing, indelible music from greh holger, his first release in many, many years after burning his bridges & re-locating to los angeles a few years back ...

... all that aside, john’s assertions (below) are accurate ; without greh’s stream of releases from 2003 on essentially re-framing the synthesizer as the go-to sound-producing box in the noise world, we wouldn’t have any of the “synth-renaissance” stuff from the last odd-decade, including emeralds, et.al ...

... needless to say, but greh’s in fine form here ; his meticulously carved granite walls of ms-20 gristle are reproduced in arguably the most hi-fi fashion ever, thanks to the (i know, i know, redunant to even bring it up) expert-level d&m cut (this really does sound like a million bucks ; listen to the sound-sample) ...
spectrum spools press release...

sp 009 / hive mind
elemental disgrace
lp

release date 18.10.2011

elemental disgrace” is an album that needs to happen now. finally, the next phase has arrived - a stunning double side-long record of some of the u.s. best underground synthesizer music we have heard here at the spectrum spools headquarters.

whatever rise to the synthesizer came later on in the 00's is hardly of any concern to greh holger and his hive mind project. having released private press cassettes of solo synth works as far back as 2002, hive mind exists as enigmatic in world of new-jack synthheads and the tidal wave of “neo kosmische” that goes with it by flying far under it’s radar.

the silence is now broken and here we are treated to some of the most unique sounds spectrum spools has yet presented. no blisscapes to be found here. no soaring latched arpeggios, no cosmic vistas. not a single melody. this is two sides of ancestral ruin in its clearest and most focused presentation. the brutality of the earth and the harsh reality of all that it holds. unknowable sounds - that of the dawn of the earth, or perhaps the sound of its demise. a toxic swamp of chemicals and mutated organisms left behind long after man has wiped himself away for good. field recordings from the end of the world.

while others are racing for the stars, hive mind’s tectonic plate shifting and brutal rumble will give you a brand new way to look at modern synthesizer composition. with a focus on textural sounds and shifting frequency registers, this album gives the listener the a full range of listening possibilities with infinite replay value.

it’s worth noting that spectrum spools as a label would not exist without hive mind. an inspiration and a pioneer in the modern u.s. synthesizer circuit, it’s with pleasure and honor to release “elemental disgrace” into the world.

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

 best of 2011 !!! 
type (uk) #type 096 lp

indignant senilityconsecration of the whipstain” double long playing record set

  • waking extirpation (15:16)

  • color absolution (17:12)

  • no one (elapsed) (15:45)

  • i work for the whip (15:06)
november 2011 release ; ... 2ndproper album from patdj yo-yo dietingmaher’s indignant senility, rife with creaking drones & a gorgeously rendered multi-fidelity approach (most sounds were re-broadcast through speakers & re-recorded with microphones ; this approach makes a huge difference in the overall “power” of the music, lending a sort of “all directions at onceclaustrophobia that would have been lacking in a direct-board capture of the same approach) ...

... four lengthy sides (which play at 45rpm, btw) ; each concerned with a different momentum of crackling interference & barely trace-able background ghost-whisper ...

my favorite work of pat’s by a mile ; highly recommended !!!
type press release...
consecration of the whipstain” by indignant senility

desecrated and haunted offerings from the pacific northwest's most splintered mind.

pat maher’s outsider sounds have emerged in many different forms; the syrup-laced rap remixes of dj yo-yo dieting, the ketamine house of diamond catalog and of course the wheezing industrial ambience of indignant senility. ‘consecration of the whipstain’ is maher’s second widely available album under the indignant senility moniker, and its long-form abstractions place him a step apart from his peers. where ‘plays wagner’ took a selection of thrift store charity records as source material, ‘consecration…’ works with a wider palette and sees maher roughly paste together clattering percussion, wretching environmental sounds, opium drones and much more to emerge with a sound that owes more to iannis xenakis and lustmord than to the contemporary set.

maher’s noise roots have always given him a rougher, more abstract edge than others in the genre, but this album finds his shadowy ambience chiseled into four pitch-perfect explorations of his very particular alternate timeline. recorded through amplifiers and microphones to give the music a chance to ‘breathe’, the fuzzy pictures slowly come to life and offer a shocking amount of depth and variety. at times it sounds like a decaying sound strip from a 30s suspense reel, with all the crackle and flicker you’d expect to come alongside that. maher’s sounds take us into places we might not want to go, but there’s no denying that once you’re there it’s hard to wrench yourself free.

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threads:
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site-specific
experimental-instruments
field-recordings
minimalism-drones
1980s-electronic

 best of 2011 !!! 
western vinyl (usa) #west 083 cd
small music (germany) #small music no. 2

rolf juliusmusic for a distance • small music no. 2” compact disc

  • music for a distance (39:53) 2003-2009
  • music in a corner (6:53) 1983
february 2011 release ; second title in western vinyl’s renewal of rolf julius’ “small music” campaign, covering two pieces ... the first, a impeccable electro-acoustic composition consisting of bubbling upper-mid range gloss (echo’ing françois bayle’s “toupie dans le ciel”) executed between 2003 & 2009 & the second, a shorter installation piece created in 1983 ... both pieces offer a rich palette of in-situ sounds, rife with machine-shop allure ; highly recommended !!!
western vinyl press release...

rolf julius music for a distance

release date: february 22, 2011
catalog number : wv 83
format: cd
packaging: cardboard wallet

music for a distance is the second release in the small music series. the title of the work in relation to the cover images (abstract photographs of julius’ wife resembling landscapes merging into a distant horizon) suggests a work of uncommon poetic perception and inspiration. with the opening track "music for a distance," julius achieves a sensitive balance of unpredictability and deliberate design, at times resembling a symphony of insects, complete with crickets and cicadas and rustling leaves. listening closely, you can hear old fractured melodies float by only to be hidden again under a thunderous sky and rain.

music for a distance” began as a 2003 live performance of “musik für eine weite ebene(music for a wide plain) at the donaueschinger musiktage in germany. over the next 6 years julius continued to refine the piece in the studio, in addition to live performances of the piece in europe, asia, and north america.

the dense and nocturnal closing track, “music in a corner” was composed for an installation at moma ps1 in new york in 1983. though different in proportion and point of view, it nevertheless captures the stillness of the horizon that would inspire “music for a distance” many years later.

julius' pioneering work “dike line (1979), was presented at the ground breaking collective exhibition “f r augen und ohren” in 1980, together with works by john cage, nam june paik, joe jones, bill fontana, harry bertoia, and david tudor.

julius' works have since been shown in countless major exhibitions and important musuems around the world, such as new york's ps1 (1983), the 1985 paris biennial, documenta 8, kassel (1987), the hamburger banhof, berlin (1998), pittsburgh's mattress factory (2001), the centre pompidou, paris (2004), the two editions of sonambiente, berlin (in 1996 and 2006), museum bochum (2006), national museum for modern art, japan (2007), as well as in various galleries and non-profit spaces in berlin, paris, tokyo, bordeaux, san francisco, montpellier and barcelona.

• in 2005, in berlin, julius was awarded the prestigious hannah-höch-preis for an outstanding artistic life's work.

• a selection from julius’ music for the ears (wv75) was featured on the popular npr show radio lab.


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threads:
modern-composition
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electro-acoustic-improvisation
musique-concrète
free-improvisation
field-recordings
experimental-instruments

 best of 2011 !!! 
erstwhile (usa) #erstwhile 063 cd

greg kelley / olivia blockresolution” compact disc

  • pinholed and perpetual light, part 1 (11:08)
  • looking through bone (9:28)
  • how much radiance can you stand? (8:06)
  • some old slapstick routine (8:24)
  • pinholed and perpetual light, part 2 (9:05)
november 2011 release ; ... long in the works (i remember dropping greg off at olivia’s place in chicago around the time of the first neon marshmallow fest way back when) collaborative work between musique concrète composer olivia block & trumpeter / composer / connoisseur greg kelley ...

... largely involving olivia’s prepared piano crackle & greg’s metal tube-resonance air-movement this relates to similarly-aligned through-composed sub-aquatic piano renderings (such as g*park’s “one hour as bernel & hofmann”) while keeping a leg in the purely improvised-music sphere ... the results are incredibly rich, dense, multi-layered, and as complex & rewarding as you can possibly imagine ...

one of my favorite discs of the year thusfar & a perfect complement to the style / sound / conceptual framework of lambkin & lescalleet’s discs for the label ; highly recommended !!!
erstwhile press release...

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threads:
1960s-electronic
modern-composition
electro-acoustic-composition

 best of 2011 !!! 
edition rz (germany) #rz 02003-04 cd

gottfried michael koeniggottfried michael koenig (*1926)” double compact disc set

  • zwei klavierstücke • i. klavierstück 1 (8:18) 1957
  • zwei klavierstücke • ii. klavierstück 2 (5:55) 1957
  • suite »materialien zu einem ballett« (20:48) 1961
  • streichquartett (10:04) 1959
  • »terminus x« (11:46) 1967
  • »funktion grün« (8:25) 1967
  • »funktion gelb« (12:42) 1968

  • blatt 1 (0:42)
  • blatt 2 (0:42)
  • blatt 3 (0:21)
  • blatt 4 (0:45)
  • blatt 5 (0:36)
  • blatt 6 (0:36)
  • blatt 7 (0:37)
  • blatt 8 (0:32)
  • blatt 9 (0:36)
  • blatt 10 (0:21)
  • blatt 11 (0:38)
  • blatt 12 (0:31)
  • blatt 13 (0:35)
  • blatt 14 (0:31)
  • blatt 15 (0:44)
  • blatt 16 (0:34)
  • blatt 17 (0:36)
  • blatt 18 (0:37)
  • blatt 19 (0:44)
  • blatt 20 (0:46)
  • blatt 21 (0:35)
  • blatt 22 (0:34)
  • blatt 23 (0:40)
  • blatt 24 (0:39)
  • blatt 25 (0:29)
  • blatt 26 (0:38)
  • blatt 27 (0:30)
  • blatt 28 (0:27)
  • blatt 29 (0:41)
  • blatt 30 (0:47)
  • blatt 31 (0:26)
  • blatt 32 (0:44)
  • blatt 33 (0:41)
  • blatt 34 (0:49)
  • blatt 35 (0:43)
  • blatt 36 (0:36)
  • blatt 37 (0:33)
  • blatt 38 (1:00)
  • blatt 39 (0:37)
  • blatt 40 (0:56)
  • blatt 41 (0:46)
  • blatt 42 (0:48)
  • blatt 43 (0:19)
  • blatt 44 (0:43)
  • blatt 45 (0:46)
  • blatt 46 (0:39)
  • blatt 47 (0:52)
  • blatt 48 (0:24)
  • blatt 49 (0:26)
  • blatt 50 (0:38)
  • blatt 51 (0:40)
  • blatt 52 (0:45)
  • blatt 53 (0:52)
  • blatt 54 (0:34)
  • blatt 55 (0:27)
  • blatt 56 (0:49)
  • blatt 57 (0:46)
  • blatt 58 (0:38)
  • blatt 59 (0:53)
  • blatt 60 (0:51)
2006 release ; ... while the second disc of conciseblatts” for string trio is all well & good, the first disc here collects pretty much the core of koenig’s 60’s electronic work at the wdr, starting with the 1961suite »materialien zu einem ballett«(with it’s helicopter-blade oscillations & rich plate-reverb thwack coalescing into a honey of a bleep-out) & continuing through “»terminus x«” & both “»funktion grün«” & “»funktion gelb«” (listen to the sound-sample for the mile-a-minute, coruscating throb of the latter, done with utmost precision in arguably the era’s most high-tech institution, presaging just so much of the timbral palette of both “abstractanalog & digital electronic music of the following four decades) ...
edition rz press release...

ed. rz 2003/4 double cd
gottfried michael koenig

2cd set with electronical and software-generated compositions by pioneer g.m. koenig

cover design: ott + stein, berlin; scan: christine berkenhoff

performers: jan marc reichow, lasalle quartet, trio recherche

two piano pieces 1957 (wdr 1995) 14:13 [ jan marc reichow, piano ]

suite "materialien zu einem ballett" 1961 (wdr 1961) 20:48

streichquartett 1959 (wdr 1961) 10:04 [ lasalle quartet: walter levin, 1. violin; henry meyer, 2. violin; peter kamnitzer, viola; jack kirstein, violoncello ]

terminus x 1967 (institut for sonology in utrecht 1967) 11:46

funktion grün 1967 (institute for sonology in utrecht 1967) 8:25

funktion gelb 1968 (institute for sonology in utrecht 1968) 12:43

60 blätter for string trio 1992 (wdr 1996) [ trio recherche: melise mellinger, violin; barbara maurer, viola; lucas fels, violoncello ]

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threads:
analogue-synth
digital-musics
concert-recordings
live-electronic
machine-music
electro-acoustic-improvisation

 best of 2011 !!! 
editions mego (austria) #emego 121 lp

thomas lehn / marcus schmicklerlive double séance [antaa kalojen uida]” long playing record and digital versatile disc set

  • live double séance (1) (23:24)

  • live double séance (2) (23:24)

  • live double séance (dvd) (46:48)
july 2011 release ; ... you wouldn’t expect anything less than a full-on, bang, drag-out sound-war from these two veteran electro-acoustic improvisors, active as a unit for nigh on 12 years, perfecting a shared vocabulary of analogue & digital electronic music timbres that they’ve essentially built from scratch through a rigorous performance schedule that’s shown them the greater part of the western world ...

here, we’re treated to a single live set sans editing, studio “makeup” or any sort of post-event manipulation of any kind ; even the concert’s initial multi-channel staging has been preserved on a dts 5.1 dvd (included in its own slipcase, slipped inside the lp sleeve) ; its of course a mind-fuck to hear this music whiz around, but it works just fine as a stereo recording (the lp is ... you know what i’m going to say here ... rashad becker’s a genius) highlighting the high level(s) of shared-mind interplay presented by two of the world’s most accomplished real-time electronic musicians ...
editions mego press release...
emego 121 / thomas lehn / marcus schmickler
live double séance [antaa kalojen uida]
lp+dvd

thomas lehn: analogue synthesizer
marcus schmickler: computer

live recording of a 6 channel loudspeaker concert of improvised electronic music, november 14th 2010 at äänen lumo festival for new sounds at myllysali, suomenlinna island, helsinki.

no editing, no mixing has been applied to this recording.
all spatialization was part of the live performance.
contains stereo vinyl lp and dts 5.1 surround sound dvd (audio only)
dvd playable on standard dvd players and home computers.

artwork: soma
recorded by teemu korpipää
mastered at piethopraxis tonstudio, köln, march 26th 2011
dvd authoring at gop, köln
vinyl cut at dubplates & mastering, berlin, june 2011

the analogue-digital electronic duo of marcus schmickler and thomas lehn has been working since its first meeting in december 1998 during the german premiere of the music in movement electronic orchestra (aka mimeo) in cologne. since they have been extensively touring in europe, the usa and japan and performed at experimental intermedia / nyc, mills / oakland, bard college, lampo / chicago, princeton university, festival wittener tage fuer neue kammermusik, amplify / tokyo, cca / glasgow, darmstadt and many other known presenters of contemporary and electronic music. they released several highly acclaimed productions on labels such as erstwhile records and a-musik.

editions mego is thrilled to release their fourth duo album "live double séance [antaa kalojen uida]", a lp vinyl with an attached dts 5.1 surround sound dvd. its the first 'live' recording of a concert that took place in helsinki's äänen lumo festival for new sounds on november 14th 2010. the concert was projected on a six channel system. a stunning, well paced and concentrated performance in which modern computer techniques collide with complex analogue synth playing.

a dynamic tour de force from these legends of modern electronic music housed in a dazzling stephen o’malley cover.

other recordings by thomas lehn / marcus schmickler:
bart cd (erstwhile records, erst 012, 2000)
kölner kranz lp (a-musik, a31, 2009)
navigation im hypertext cd (a-musik. a34. 2009)

forthcoming shows:
15.10.2011 kontraste, krems, austria
32 channel live diffusion.
cologne electronic music meets diffusion acousmatique parisienne.

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 $8.11 

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threads:
electro-acoustic-composition
minimalism-drones
plunder-phonic
playback-music
digital-musics

 best of 2011 !!! 
 spring cleaning !!! 
dekorder (germany) #dekorder 51 ep

stephan mathieuto describe george washington bridge” ten inch single record

  • to describe george washington bridge

  • in them a giant diverted himself
june 2011 release ; ... second 10 from dekorder covering stephan mathieu’s music :: in this case a pair of electro-acoustic transformations of haendel’s "twelve concerti grossi" & “messiah” sourced to early-mid-20th-century 78 rpm recordings ...

gorgeous, blissed-out stuff which, as always when mathieu is at the helm, sounds like liquid gold ...
dekorder press release...
[051]
stephan mathieu
to describe george washington bridge
10"

limited edition of 500 copies!

"to describe george washington bridge" is stephan mathieu's 2nd dekorder release in the 10" format (reflecting his interest in old 78rpm records) after 2009's sold out "the key to the kingdom", and, we're happy to say, again it features two of the composer's most outstanding short pieces. both are recorded utilizing similar methods as used on his most recent album "a static place" on 12k records yet they are presented in an even more condensed and melodic way. as source material he used transcriptions made from the marvelous 25x 12inch 78rpm set g.f. händel. "twelve concerti grossi" performed by the busch chamber players in 1946, and a columbia 10" record from 1912 with händel's usual smash hits from "messiah".

between 1928 and 1932 the earliest recordings of historically informed performances of music from the late gothic, renaissance and baroque era were etched into 78rpm records. i used some of these records from my collection, playing them back with two mechanical acoustic hmv model 102 gramophones. the initial soundwaves produced back then by period instruments like the clavichord, viols, lute, hurdy-gurdy are read from the grooves by a cactus needle to be amplified by the gramophones diaphragm housed in a soundbox. those vibrations travel through the tonearm which is connected straight to the gramophones horn, which releases the music to my space. here the sound is again picked up by a pair of customized microphones and send to my computer, to be transformed by spectral analysis and convolution processes. an imaginary room, inhabited by all the spatial information collected on the journey is created and will be projected in a final instance into the listeners space.

stephan mathieu is a self taught composer and performer of his own music, working in the fields of electroacoustics and abstract digitala. his sound is largely based on early instruments, environmental sound and obsolete media, which are recorded and transformed by means of experimental microphony, re-editing techniques and software processes involving spectral analysis and convolution; it has been compared to the landscape paintings of caspar david friedrich, the work of colorfield artists mark rothko, barnett newman and ellsworth kelly.

during the last decade stephan's music has been released on 30 cds and vinyl records, both solo and in collaboration with akira rabelais, douglas benford, ekkehard ehlers, janek schaefer, john hudak and taylor deupree.

i'm a collector of 78rpm records from the 1910s and 20s, the era of acoustic and early electronic audio recording. i love the way they transport sound.

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 $12.48 

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may 17th, 2011

first in stock on
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threads:
guitar-themed
folk
modern-psych

 best of 2011 !!! 
 spring cleaning !!! 
vin du select qualitite (usa) #vdsq 04 lp
thin wrist (usa) #vdsq 06 lp

matthew mullanevdsq • solo acoustic volume four” long playing record

  • once was, is once again (part i)

  • once was, is once again (part ii)
february 2011 release ; ... the pleasant surprise of the batch is this extended piece from ohio polyglot (in addition to his learned fingerstyle, he’s an avid field recordist, with a disc on greg davis’ “autumn leaves” series & a forthcoming set of electronic music for the johnouter spaceelliott-run editions mego sub-label spectrum spools) matthew mullane (aka fabric) ...

this one unfurls in a perfectly organic way, with the two side-length variations rife with dynamic changes & long, spare sections of rubato phrasing(s) ... excellent stuff !!!
vin du select qualitite press release...
vdsq - 004
matthew mullane

this recording came to us as an unsolicited demo and was a revelation in its intricate beauty and unique phrasings. hailing from small town ohio, this young player encapsulates everything exciting about modern composition for acoustic guitar. performed live in one take. no overdubs.

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threads:
electro-acoustic-composition
guitar-themed
playback-music
concert-recordings
live-electronic
modern-composition
free-improvisation
minimalism-drones

 best of 2011 !!! 
 spring cleaning !!! 
rel (usa) #rel 18 lp

geoff mullenaccidental guitars” long playing record

  • accidental guitars (1)

  • accidental guitars (2)
november 2011 release ; finally in stock !!!

... originating in a pair of concerts played in geoff’s native providence (one in a rope factory, one in cf’s storied operatheque) the subsequent recordings (made in the spaces with a comparably high-fidelity digital field recorder) were laterplayed along” with a number of times to an a-synchronous medium (cassette walkman, into which an electric guitar was directly plugged into the “mic” input) ... later still, the original room-fidelityrhythm track” was “aligned(although, not specifically so) with a pair of the tapedaccompaniments(panned left & right) and, voila, “accidental guitars” was born ...

... while this process may partially parallel brian ruryk’s, the resultant pan-fidelity / spatial crackle has virtually nothing to do with ruryk’s brand of mile-a-minuteguaifenesin blues” ; it’s slightly closer in spirit to mimeo’s “sight(there’s a similar, twombly-esque aesthetic at work here as well) only actively embracing chance as a partial compositional crutch than a holistic ethos ... the palpably deep image (again, crisp, but backgrounded elements cut with macro, but lo-fi foregrounds, rife with gain-staged “pumping”) gives the impression of a menagerie of miniature insectoid motion, made all the more impressive by geoff’s lexicon of fluttering preparations & extended techniques ...

... i love this record ; it captures geoff’s general approach to music in a way that had yet to be so well articulated on a tangible object... if you’re at all interested in the intersection(s) of “process music”, free improvisation, and the grayer areas of 21st century composition, i urge you to check this out (you’ll love it, trust me) ; highly recommended !!!
rel press release...

geoff mullen - accidental guitars - rel018
edition of 350

geoff mullen presents a new side of his ever-changing and open language, dealing here with his rawest material to date, and in many ways finding himself in a homecoming to the guitar. on ‘accidental guitarsgeoff expands his instrumental language with his unique variety of invented, accident-prone technique. re-contextualized live performances are filtered through an intuitive sense of form and pretexts, leaving us with an intense, jarring, pointed, and textural compositional language.

with little more than an electric guitar, he conjures abstract formations and clattering percussive tones that are starkly contrasted with tape hiss and sudden echoplex’d delay. sustains calm the mood throughout and create a beautiful and oddly soothing atmosphere that seems to move in all directions at once.

the music on ‘accidental guitars’ has an ability of creating form out of being lost, and achieves a lucidity through this sense. this record is a unique document, finding geoff between forms and excepted styles, and seeing him off, once again, in another new and exciting direction in his music.


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threads:
analogue-synth
minimalism-drones
modern-composition

 best of 2011 !!! 
no label (usa) #bn heat field cd

benjamin nelsonheat field modulation for pathetic string and electronics” compact disc-recordable

  • heat field modulation for pathetic string and electronics (29:04)
august 2011 release ; ... a joyous expansion on elemental themes, presumably sourced to the composer’s own cello & eurorack modular synthesizer stylings, whittled down to a mono-tonality that shares much with recent pieces by tashi wada, arnold dreyblatt, tony conrad, et.al ...

excellent work from one of boston’s more under-rated musicians, heard here in his prime ...

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threads:
analogue-synth
modern-composition
minimalism-drones

 best of 2011 !!! 
no label (usa) #bn blue gray cd

benjamin nelsonlife in blue and gray” compact disc-recordable

  • life in blue and gray (28:42)
august 2011 release ; ... one of a concurrent pair of label-less, self-issued discs from boston-area composer benjamin nelson, readied in anticipation of a joint tour with eli keszler ...

across a single 30-minute piece, benny wrangles an impeccable array of subtly phasing overtones out of a finely tuned bank of sawtooth oscillators, yielding an almost tangible mist of synchronized beat frequencies that recall aspects of richard lainhart & even eliane radigue’s more formative work ...

comes in a striking slim-line rife with negative space ...

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 $20.01

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first in stock on
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threads:
analogue-synth
beat-research
modern-psych
electro-acoustic-composition
machine-music

 best of 2011 !!! 
spectrum spools (austria) #sp 011 lp

no ufo’ssoft coast” long playing record

  • evidence / century park (5:22)
  • vertigo (0:52)
  • punx on the promenade (2:23)
  • broken glass (0:32)
  • freeze • drift (4:14)
  • untitled 1 (2:05)

  • cajmere dreams (1:19)
  • archer heights (1:36)
  • 00_00_2010 (4:39)
  • duck egg (0:56)
  • untitled ii (0:08)
  • fog in the pavilion (2.6)
  • soon come happy (0:58)
  • why be something you're not (4:55)
december 2011 release ; ... vinyl issue of the sought-after debut self-release by no ufo’s, about which ::

... just a sampling of the goings-on inside the skull of one konrad jandavs, electronically converted to sound & laid to tape (incidentally ; very nice tape-edition - pro-duped & within a nicely laid-out duo-tone j-card) ... huge mix of electro-jams, filtered-out chord-clouds, terry riley-style organ-panners, and more sci-fi oriented material(s) ...

... major upgrade of one of my favorite tapes of last year ; this ends out a hell of year for spectrum spools (already hearing rumors of a robert turman 2lp & plenty of other surprises for 2012) ...
spectrum spools press release...

sp 011 /  no ufo's
soft coast
lp

here at spectrum spools, one of the many missions is to make sure great, under-documented, and limited offerings get a chance to see a wider release. no ufo's debut cassette,"soft coast" (2010, nice up int'l), is surely no exception. it was said about the swell maps "a trip to marineville" that the album had been obviously crafted by true music lovers who were record collectors. it seems that konrad jandavs' debut as no ufo's was calculated and carefully pieced together to spawn a whole new universe from the omniverse of collective musics, a feat which many attempt but few succeed. lazy comparisons to neu! and other such kraut-oriented material have bubbled up here and there, but jandavs' vision, as with any great recording artist, is all his own; a new perspective from looking at musics past and present.

"soft coast" began jandavs' short, yet potent string of collaged "cosmic trash" which gripped the underground tape scene. since he's just seen the drop of his new "mind controls the flood" ep on public information and has future releases planned, it seems wrong to let this one slip thru the cracks any longer. a killer debut out of the blue, more than deserving of wider recognition, now available on vinyl.

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back in stock as of
april 9th, 2012

first in stock on
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threads:
outsiders-deviants
psych-prog
free-improvisation
experimental-instruments

 best of 2011 !!! 
 spring cleaning !!! 
de stijl (usa) #ind 042 lp

charlie nothingoutside / inside” long playing record

  • outside (20:54)

  • inside (11:35)
february 2011 release ; ... we literally could not get enough of the “charlie nothing & his dingulator” set (nicely repro’ed on cassette by the ptb @ de stijl last year) ; making this issue of charlie’s other classic lp (unlike “psychedelic sounds of”, this was one was originally self / private pressed on his everit enterprises label in 1969) a real treat ...

very much in line w/ the psychedelic emanations of “sounds”, this one features charlie on wandering flute, accompanied only by “tox drohan” ‘s wayward, moondog-esque percussion stylings ... it’s exactly the kind of exercise in pure free-spirit tactics that fuel the entire “outsider” music framework, with the two side-length pieces taking the listener on a journey of questionable import (but damn if the ride itself isn’t a smooth one) ...

... arguably the ultimate in hippie-den antics ; highly recommended !!!
de stijl press release...
charlie nothing
outside / inside
ind 042 lp

charlie nothing was the fractured-psyche pseudonym of author, father, horsekeeper, organic farmer, beekeeper, philosopher, clown and inventor of the dingulator (guitar sculptures made from american car metal), charles martin simon. charlie’s only visible offering to the record buying public was really anything but. due to it's rarity, the psychedelic saxophone of charlie nothing, issued by takoma records in 1967, has been a source of consternation for in-the-know types for years.

outside / inside, the second and only other charlie nothing lp, originally issued by everitt enterprises in 1969, thematically follows with two sidelong flute-based instrumentals. nowhere on wax will you find more palpable preserved air of a real-time dropout scene than with these sides of nothing. it is a wonder that these records circulated at all outside the vacuum in which they were created. nothingness, a california existentiality looping back on itself, preserved and disseminated as evidence. there are indeed very few records like these.

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threads:
guitar-themed
bedroom
lo-fi

 best of 2011 !!! 
editions mego (austria) #emego 119 cd

bill orcutta new way to pay old debts” compact disc

  • lip rich (4:46)
  • sad news from korea (l. hopkins) (2:50)
  • pocket underground (1:40)
  • too late to fly (6:49)
  • my reckless parts (3:34)
  • street peaches (2:11)
  • a new way to pay old debts (6:11)
  • cold ground (4:36)

  • high waisted (3:23)
  • big ass nails (3:07)

  • all the creatures of the ocean are alive (2:42)
  • more salt (3:29)
  • chicken wing (4:22)
  • poor black math (1:25)
january 2011 release ; in an impressive, albeit seemingly a-logical coup, emego’s peter rehberg has organized a “reissue” of one of the more pertinent titles here @ mms over the past few years, bill orcutt’s “a new way to pay old debts” ... about which ::

... nicely timed follow-up to the “high-waisted b/w big ass nails” single (which we had for about a minute back in june before it was termbo’ed & all copies immediately left the station amidst a flurry of profanity & virtual / non-actionable threats) ...

sticking to his trusted “4-string kay,” harry pussy’s bill orcutt here lets loose a pan-trajectorial spray of freedom-inflected guitar histrionics, captured gloriously in a room-tone / blown-amp fidelity (word on the street is that he’s got one of those “elmore james style” dearmond soap-bar pickups) that lends that perfect “bedroom-guitar” flair i’m always yammering about ...

best thing about this music (and there’s really a lot to love here) is that it never descends into cod-raga styles or straight bailey-esque free-plonk ; bill’s out on his own here, as comfortable channeling mississippi fred mcdowell-style monochord delta formations (replete with the odd grunt) as arto lindsay / rudolph grey style wanton abandon ... even at its wild & wooliest (listen to the sound-sample) there’s always a harmonic logic at the core of bill’s playing ; definitely not a straight “noise guitar” outing but rather something approaching the true coltranesheets of sound” ethos ...

low-run, self-released, vinyl-only ; reasonably priced. hands down the solo guitar (or, hell, any instrument) side of the year... highly recommended !!!

... this is coupled with the alluded-tohigh waisted b/w big ass nails e.p. & adds a quartet of contemporaneous recordings making their tangible debut here ; if you missed this music in its initial vinyl incarnation, consider this version the de facto bringer-up-to-speed ...
editions mego press release...

emego 119 / bill orcutt
a new way to pay old debts
cd

tracks 1-8 were originally released as a 12 lp record ‘a new way to pay old debts(pal-002. 2009)
tracks 9 & 10 appeared on a 7single (pal.001, 2009).
tracks 11-14 are previously unissued.

everything recorded may & june 2009 at 24th & york, san francisco.

bill orcutt: 4 string kay, voice

total running time 51:35

and now for something completley different .....

editions mego is suitably chuffed to announce a cd reissue of bill orcutt’s acoustic hardcore blues stormera new way to pay old debts’, previously released on palilalia in 2009. for many one of the highlights of recent years with its unique visionary take of solo guitar playing.

at the heart of orcutt’s sound is a vintage acoustic kay guitar equipped with a dearmond pickup. after the neck was broken and subsequently repaired, the guitar was downtuned so as to withstand the tension of the strings, and played with the a and d strings removed.

this all lends itsellf to an intense set of raw, blues-influenced songs that sound heavier than most of the guitar records in your collection put together !!

in addition to the orginal album this cd reissue contain 2 tracks from the high waisted 7 (also previously released on palialia), as well as 4 unreleassed tracks.

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threads:
guitar-themed
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modern-composition

 best of 2011 !!! 
editions mego (austria) #emego 128 cd

bill orcutthow the thing sings” compact disc

  • no true vine (1:12)
  • the visible bosom (6:03)
  • lost they book (2:39)
  • how the thing sings (4:13)
  • till i get satisfied (3:29)
  • heaven is closed to me now (3:30)
  • a line from ol'man river (13:45)
september 2011 release ; cd version ...

i’m glad bill stayed with emego ; despite the apparent disconnect between his work & that of ... pretty much everyone else on the label, there’s an undeniable irreverence that somehow ties in ... whatever it is that he does with the generalpersonality” of peter’s whole universe ... to wit ::


... anyways ; much like the “way down south” set (of which, i’m told, we have the last extant copies ; pick one up for your teenage nephew as a graduation present - he won’t mind at all) this begins as a conversation already-in-progress, continues unabated (with only scant breaks for catching-of-breath, etc) for entire side-lengths in a manner that is both exhilarating and quite impressive from a stamina-perspective ... in particular, “a line from ol'man river” builds from a grain of sand into a continent-spanning desert utilizing only that most basic building block :: the great idea, singularly executed ...

this music will be playing in my heaven, whether i’m deathless or not ... highly recommended !!!
editions mego press release...

emego 128 / bill orcutt
how the thing sings
cd

recorded spring 2011 in the liviing room, san francisco.
cut at 45 rpm at d+m, berlin, august 2011

yet another essential cracking new set of songs from bill orcutt, showcasing a further development of his unique visceral acoustic style.

the language that orcutt uses looks familiar at first glance, but cut deeper and its myriad of twisted audio thats both full on and drenched in melancholy, usually in the same gasping breath.

while a lot of it is the classic face melting style, some quieter segments counter balance on the title track as well the epic closeta line from ol’man river’ and ‘heaven is closed to me now

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threads:
concert-recordings
analogue-synth
electro-acoustic-improvisation
electro-acoustic-composition
digital-musics
minimalism-drones
modern-composition
live-electronic

 best of 2011 !!! 
old news (austria) #old news 5 lp

jim o’rourkeold news no. 5” double long playing record set

  • pedal & pedal (15:54)

  • detain the man to whom (20:20)

  • it's not his room anymore (19:05)

  • mother and who (16:32)
may 2011 release ; ... despite the catalogue number, this is the debut release on “old news” ; an (editions) mego sub-label set up to issue contemporary & formative work by jim o’rourke ...

this collection, featuring four side-length pieces recorded over an 18-year stretch, starts out with a bang ; namely “pedal & pedal” ‘s lovely floating aphorisms, owing (more than) a little bit to alvin curran’s prime-era work ... from there, the crackling morass of analogue mid-high tones, metallic klang, & grinding encephalography of “detain the man to whom” go in the other direction (listen to the sound-sample for an extended sip from wells on deep) ...

record #2 picks up with a gorgeously minimal, reverb-bathed synth-overdub piece that invokes the chattering splendor & odd, a-linear temperaments of tom hamilton & françois bayle’s live-electronic work, which leads directly into the b&m of the closing “mother and who” (which approaches the kind(s) of live-synthi blow-outs that hiroshiastrohasegawa has been dropping as of late) before receding into the aleatorical tonal wanderlust of the opening cut ...

... unlike the purely static / drone-based music jim has been pulling deep from his “archives” over the past few, these pieces are each tiny festivals of micro-detail ; personally speaking i’m hearing this as one of jim’s best releases thusfar (i can only wonder where he’ll take the series from here) ; highly recommended !!!
old news press release...

jim o'rourke
old news no. 5
2lp

1 recorded live at super deluxe, tokyo, 2010
2 recorded at steamroom, chicago, 1992
3 recorded at steamroom, tokyo, 2010
4 recorded at steamroom mobile, london, 2003

introducing a nearly regular series of vinyl albums documenting analog synth and tape works (both studio and live) from the depths of jim o’rourke’s archive, spanning a near quarter century of active duty in the field.

old news #5 kicks off with pedal and pedal, a refined beauty of a live set at tokyo’s super deluxe, to only be followed by a massive blast from the past in the shape of the monstrous detain the man to whom, recorded in 1992.

record two delivers the genuine weirdness of studio session its not his room anymore, backed with the ripping mother and who, which is an alternative version of what would become o’rourke’s live set at the 2003 all tomorrows parties festival in uk.

available only in this format.

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threads:
musique-concrète
analogue-synth
electro-acoustic-composition

 best of 2011 !!! 
old news (austria) #old news 6 lp

jim o’rourkeold news no. 6” double long playing record set

  • all that's cold is new again • part 1 (19:14)

  • all that's cold is new again • part 2 (17:48)

  • all that's cold is new again • part 3 (15:50)

  • all that's cold is new again • part 4 (18:09)
august 2011 release ; ... secondold news” issue, covering a single, 70-minute musique concrète piece, commissioned by christian zanesi & perfectly in thrall with the grm’s technical & conceptual modus operandi ...

... a mix of field recorded events, awesome channel-hopping electronic spray & almost imperceptibly backgrounded environments & events, this is jim both at his most abstract & technically capable ; highly recommended !!!
old news press release...

old news 6
jim o'rourke
old news no. 6
2lp

recorded at steamroom, tokyo, 2009-2011

hot on the hells of old new #5 comes #6. a new 70+ minute electronic piece split over four sides. two years in making, ‘all that’s cold is new again’ was partly commissioned by christian zanesi for grm’s présences électronique festival in paris.

an intense and rewarding listen rich in detail and of full of some classic o’rourke hooks and turns, which he has masterfully developed over the last two decades.

this one is for peter f.
available only in this format.

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threads:
electro-acoustic-composition
electro-acoustic-improvisation
experimental-instruments
guitar-themed
free-improvisation
modern-composition
minimalism-drones
modern-psych

 best of 2011 !!! 
type (uk) #type 094 lp

red horsered horse” long playing record

  • untitled (1)
  • untitled (2)
  • untitled (3)

  • untitled (4)
  • untitled (5)
august 2011 release ; second album from eli keszler & steve pyne’s red horse, here making their type debut...

... gorgeously recorded down at foxboro’s mercenary audio (those of you with a penchant for boutique mics & preamps are assuredly already aware of the treasure-trove that fletcher’s been buidling up there for the past 20-odd years) this is the decidelyhi-fivariant to the first record’s blown, home-recorded gristle ... in particular steve’s re-purposed speaker-array & assorted sound-sculpture-lineage constructs, placed up in the front of the mix, have some of the mystery surrounding them shed, instead acting as something of a “band of automatons” to which his gnarly, rectified guitar scream & eli’s drum-kit & computer-controlled shrapnel-arsenal are overlaid & embellished upon ...

... while bombast & tight, a-rhythmic complexities are the focus throughout, i’m hearing the b-side’s more spare ruminations as the new direction, reminding of euro-improv’s 70’s detour into similar sculptural & self-fashioned approaches (namely, hugh davies’ “shozyg” lp & the woolier end of michel waisivisz contributions to records like “saxophone special” ... listen to the sound-sample for an extended section that’s more moslang/guhl than lightning bolt) ...

... an incredible record(ing), showing these two at the top of their game(s) ... highly recommended !!!
type press release...
red horse” by red horse

mechanical free sound artifacts for the disenfranchised generation.

red horse is the blistering free-post-everything project of drummer/multi-percussionist eli keszler and guitarist/mad-scientist steve pyne. while both musicians are active in a number of different projects, red horse catches them working with a distilled sense of focus and is for many their breakthrough project. ‘red horse(not to be confused with the similarly titled debut) is the duo’s second album, and follows the rush of critical acclaim for the first which saw thick-skinned musos wowed by their blistering combination of rhythm and dissonance. as you’d expect in a sequel, the budget is higher and the production more widescreen, and a far cry from the near lo-fi grind of its predecessor this new full-length is exposed to the miniscule detail. the production technique might scare some, but the crisp sound of keszler’s innovative drumming and pyne’s complex instrumental destruction has never sounded better or more fitting.

garnishing keszler’s well-worn patented hyperactive splatter-beats, pyne experiments with a veritable arsenal of home made equipment – from gargantuan electrified, automated string sculptures to confusing sequences of reclaimed speakers (taken from a very well known eastern-themed music box) wired together creating a wall of screaming feedback. in the wrong hands their sound could easily be stuffy and academic, but red horse inject their experiments with a punk spirit rarely heard in the avant garde. sure, the instruments are being handled by a couple of the best musicians in their field, but it hardly matters – this is the sound of beautiful cacophony, and like supersilent before them there’s something undeniably attractive about that concept. it’s not your average noise, rock, improv, jazz or experimental record – it’s all of the above and a great deal more. just make sure you listen loud, there’s a lot to hear.

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mimaroglu music sales best of 2011
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