“activating the medium: 01.26.07” double compact disc recordable set

• aaron ximm (29:16)
  
• camilla hannan (26:47)
  
• tarab (29:42)
  
• bj nilsen (28:29)

“33 rpm • ten hours of sound from france” compact disc

• kasper t. toeplitz - purr#2 (2003)
  
• kristoff k. roll - zócalo masqué (2003)
  
• jean-claude risset - resonant sound spaces/bell brass metal (2002)
  
• jean-claude risset - resonant sound spaces/plectra (2002)
  
• jean-claude risset - resonant sound spaces/filters (2003)
  
• lionel marchetti - à rebours (1989)
  
• christophe havel - excerpt/metamorphosis (2003)
  
• laurent dailleau - it was too dark to hear anything (2003)
  
• mathieu chamagne - on sonne (2003)
  
• pizmo - nim (2003)
  
• jean-phillipe gross - gris épais (2003)
  
• mimetic - evolution (2003)

23five incorporated press release...

33 rpm: 10 hours of sound from france 23f/sfm 903, compact disc an exhibition companion compilation to sfmoma's 2003 listening room program 33 rpm: 10 hours of sound from france, curated by laurent dailleau. 33 rpm's compact disc companion features compositions from kasper toeplitz, kristoff k. roll, jean-claude risset, lionel marchetti, christophe havel, laurent dailleau, mathieu chamagne, pizmo, jean-philippe gross, and mimetic. comes with a 24 page booklet and original program details.

“variable resistance • ten hours of sound from australia” compact disc

• oren ambarchi - stactedit (2000)
  
• robbie avenaim - impulse control disorder (2002)
  
• philip samartzis - soft and loud (2001)
  
• david brown - were holes mended? (2002)
  
• jim knox (xonk) - never mind the ruddocks (2002)
  
• jim knox (xonk) - fuck to mandatory detention (2002)
  
• jim knox (xonk) - prophylactic liquidation of our pig government (2002)
  
• thembi soddell - violation (2002)
  
• darrin verhagen - p2 (2002)
  
• pimmon - steps gaps (flicker) (2002)
  
• délire - fxcr_2_r2 (2002)

23five incorporated press release...

variable resistance: 10 hours of sound from australia 23f/sfm 902, compact disc over the past three or four years, the australian experimental musical community has flourished, thanks in part to the tireless globetrotting from artists like oren ambarchi, pimmon, and philip samartzis. variable resistance — a co-presentation between 23five incorporated and the san francisco museum of modern art — originally celebrated this australian renaissance with a 10 hour ‘listening event’ in september of 2002. from those ten hours, curator philip samartzis distilled the best tracks to be featured on this cd compendium. variable resistance is a title that encapsulates the tone and extent of the work on hand, referencing not only the electronic gizmo (the variable resistor) as key to many of the featured homespun constructions filtered through state of the art dsp filters, but also as an applicable non-definition of those artists who “offer variable resistance in how they are defined and the positions they occupy in a broader cultural context, fragmented, and dispersed among remote cities and divided by enormous physical and psychological space.” within this disc, the australian aesthetic finds itself reflecting a number of ideas previously mined throughout the history of electronic music from mego’s fascination with the streaming micro-textures of digital fragmentation to metamkine’s conceptual riddles within their cinema pour l’oreille series to the brazen noise-junk collages from merzbow and otomo yoshihide. yet, variable resistance resolves its uniqueness by smashing these references with brutish noise and demonstrative force applied to the stereotypically delicate sensibilities of electro-acoustic composition. for instance, samartzis’ collages of environmental, plundered, and digitized sound meld into psychologically abrasive narrative scalded by toxic agents; pimmon transforms agitated chunks of granular synthesis into cybersonic lullabies; and david brown’s jarringly angular duet between a prepared guitar and a squeaking door stands as a steroid injected homage to pierre henry’s musique concrete classic variations pour une porte et un soupir. along with samartzis, brown, and pimmon, variable resistance also features exclusive compositions from oren ambarchi, robbie avenaim, philip samartzis, xonk, thembi soddell, darrin verhagen, and delire.

“ju-jikan • ten hours of sound from japan” double compact disc set

• tanami tono - dinergy 2 (1997)
  
• pain jerk - acid bath drip bones (1994)
  
• yasunao tone - trio for a flute player (1991)
  
• nerve net noise - thousand knocks (2001)
  
• otomo yoshihide - composition for two guitars (2001)
  
• atau tanaka - 28:33:23 (2002)
  
• i.d. - öô»..»..ßt (2001)
  
• masonna - love (2000)
  
• kozo inada - d[0] (2001)
  
  
• ichiro nodaira - neuf ecarts vers le défi (2001)
  
• hanatarash - 77up
  
• yuji takahashi - tori mo tsukai ka ii (2001)
  
• masahiro miwa - alleleuia (1998)
  
• ryoji ikeda - abstructures (2002)
  
• merzbow - electric for icc turn (1999)
  
• kazuo uehara - musique collage ii (1988)
  
• astro - apastron (2001)
  
• tetsuo furudate - der geist (2001)

23five incorporated press release...

ju-jikan: 10 hours of sound from japan 23f/sfm 901, double compact disc set in 2001, the san francisco sound-arts organization 23five and the san francisco museum of modern art co- presented ju-jikan — a ten hour ‘listening event’ documenting the past 50 years of japanese experimental music. the curators of ju-jikan; atau tanaka, ryoji ikeda, and shunichiro okada did not intend their exhibition to be a comprehensive encyclopedia of japanese experimentation; rather they sought “to trace the complex web of sonic style that constitutes the current japenese musical landscape.” tanaka, whose lucid writings are found within ju-jikan’s liner notes, takes great care in describing the contradictions and unspoken connections that linger not just within the niches of japanese audio experimentation but also throughout all of japanese culture. just as technology and electronics are the lone assimilating factors within the broad scope of ju-jikan, these same tools also gave the possibility for separation from the west and from each other to create a wealth of new languages. while the ten hour ‘listening event’ at sfmoma spanned 5 decades of historical recordings, the double cd centers upon the last decade, as a means to publish previously unreleased work from many of featured artists. all of the artists with ju-jikan (both the 2cd and the sfmoma listening event) draw from the recombinant power of electronic synthesis and the juxtaposition of disparate styles; which together have become a standard if elusively-defined musical vocabulary for japanese music. tanaka, ikeda, and okada offered convenient catagories (computer music, anti-academic movements, noise, anti-pop permutations, ambient fields, after improvised music, etc.) as ports of entry; however, they point out that many japanese experimental artists refuse to paint themselves into an aesthetic corner. ju-jikan’s cd companion features compositions from tamami toro, pain jerk, yasunao tone, nerve net noise, otomo yoshihide, atau tanaka, i.d., masonna, kozo inada, ichiro nodaira, hanatarash, yuji takahashi, ryoji ikeda, merzbow, kazuo uehara, astro, and testuo furudate. founded in 1993, 23five incorporated is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development and increased awareness of sound works in the public arena, and to the support and education of artists working with and discussing the medium of sound. for the past 14 years, 23five incorporated has remained at the forefront in bringing the most adventurous elements of sound art to the san francisco bay area. 23five has served as an important benefactor to artists such as john duncan, christina kubisch, francisco lopez, achim wollscheid, matt heckert, zbigniew karkowski, atau tanaka, and many more.

brendan murray “commonwealth” compact disc

• commonwealth (49:06)

23five incorporated press release...

brendan murray commonwealth in recent years, brendan murray has become a central figure in boston’s sound art vanguard through a reputation of exceptional live performances and a growing catalogue of slow-shifting compositions for rarified drones. he sets himself apart from the conventional wisdom that drone-based music is an open-ended exercise into the “realm of the infinite.” murray specifically shapes his repetitions and sinewy tonalities within the rigors of compositional frameworks and temporal restraints. this process does not lend itself to speed, as previous albums required up to four years to complete and commonwealth endured over fifteen drafts before murray perfected the album. a single crescendo terminating at the end of 49 minutes, commonwealth is an epic investigation into subtle harmonics and overtones expressed through layered slippages of pure sound. conceived through guitar, analog synthesis, and plenty of digital manipulation, commonwealth expresses a rare confidence in murray’s finely tuned detailing of sinewy tonalities and sculpted megalithic surfaces. murray himself has qualified this album as a “sincere bow to ‘classic’ minimalism,” and commonwealth is a worthy parallel to the work of phill niblock, eliane radigue, and iannis xenakis. founded in 1993, 23five incorporated is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development and increased awareness of sound works in the public arena, and to the support and education of artists working with and discussing the medium of sound. for the past 14 years, 23five incorporated has remained at the forefront in bringing the most adventurous elements of sound art to the san francisco bay area. 23five has served as an important benefactor to artists such as john duncan, christina kubisch, francisco lopez, achim wollscheid, matt heckert, zbigniew karkowski, atau tanaka, and many more.

chop shop “oxide” compact disc

• oxide (49:13)

23five incorporated press release...

chop shop oxide chop shop is the moniker of new york based sound artist scott konzelmann, whose activities have comprised installations featuring his speaker construction assemblages and sonic compositions since 1987. there have been plenty of micro-edition cd-r releases, 2 noted 3”cds for the prestigious v2 label, several old school cassettes, a handful of singles, and two legendary 10” vinyl productions. one of which was a double 10” bound in roofing tar strapped to a plate of steel. the other was a split 10” with small cruel party, which was literally chopped in half and assembled on the listener’s turntable at their needle’s peril. 23five incorporated is delighted to present oxide, the long overdue full-length cd from chop shop. konzelmann’s sound and noise are intrinsically connected to his sculptural objects. forged from repurposed junkyard fragments fitted with functional loudspeakers, these objects compress and articulate particular frequencies into hissing static, jet-engine drones, and noxious rumbles, all of which retain a metallurgist residue. such were the sounds on the original analogue tapes of oxide; unfortunately, those tapes had endured what konzelmann merely qualifies as “an unhappy accident,” which caused extensive and prolonged moisture damage to the tapes. in revisiting these tapes, konzelmann discovered drop-outs and print-throughs, as ghostly noises shadowed his muscular drone music. the tape itself had also begun to crumble during playback, making an eerily similar parallel to william basinski’s disintegration loops. however, chop shop does not share basinski’s melancholy theatrics, and oxide dials in a proper dose of distilled contemporary sonic dead-tech mantra through a leaden stream paralleling the hafler trio’s intoutof. founded in 1993, 23five incorporated is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development and increased awareness of sound works in the public arena, and to the support and education of artists working with and discussing the medium of sound. for the past 14 years, 23five incorporated has remained at the forefront in bringing the most adventurous elements of sound art to the san francisco bay area. 23five has served as an important benefactor to artists such as john duncan, christina kubisch, francisco lopez, achim wollscheid, matt heckert, zbigniew karkowski, atau tanaka, and many more.

tim catlin “radio ghosts” compact disc

• hysterisis (7:37)
  
• zumbido (10:23)
  
• black magnet (5:50)
  
• radio ghosts (6:01)
  
• everything must go (6:49)
  
• mirage (12:02)

23five incorporated press release...

tim catlin radio ghosts 23five011, compact disc the name tim catlin may not be terribly well known amongst the avant-guitarist circles; but his recorded output clearly stands amongst the best that glenn branca, keith rowe, and jim o’rourke have mustered from their six strings hard wired into the histories of electroacoustics, minimalism, and post-punk experimentation. based out of melbourne, catlin is a guitarist who incessantly tinkers with the mechanics of his instrument, envisioning it as alternately as a mimetic sculptural object and a pure sound generator. through his experiments with alternative tunings, atypical string gauges, and rube goldberg contraptions of interconnected motors, speakers, and radios, he seeks out the rasping textures of strings vibrating against each other, the acoustic phase patterns of two microtonally tuned strings, and the electrical purity of circuits feeding back upon themselves, essentially creating a polyglot drone symphony cast in smoldering monochrome. radio ghosts arrives nearly five years after his debut album slow twitch and showcases catlin’s unassuming expertise with the finer aspects of the mechanically prepared guitar. for all of its dynamic frequencies and crosshatched vibrations, radio ghosts is devoid of marshall stacks, sunn amps, and stomp boxes, as catlin captures the acoustic phenomenon of the guitar’s transient vibrations and steers clear of any tricked out sonic demolition. instead, radio ghosts focuses upon the minutiae of the guitar: wood, strings, and amplifier. through his refined, tabletop guitar techniques, catlin prefers to set his guitar in motion, allowing the process dictate the course of action with minor edits and sleights of hand from the composer himself. catlin’s drone guitar work is simultaneously capable of expressionistic illusions (e.g. cicada choruses, industrial grind, uncanny ephemera from the radio waves, etc.) and a sonic transcendence of pure sonic introspection. given that the final piece on radio ghosts replaces the guitar with a crash cymbal that catlin agitates through similar processes, catlin’s work shows that organum does not have exclusivity on the bowed cymbal for creating epic, tactile sound fields. founded in 1993, 23five incorporated is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development and increased awareness of sound works in the public arena, and to the support and education of artists working with and discussing the medium of sound. for the past 14 years, 23five incorporated has remained at the forefront in bringing the most adventurous elements of sound art to the san francisco bay area. 23five has served as an important benefactor to artists such as john duncan, christina kubisch, francisco lopez, achim wollscheid, matt heckert, zbigniew karkowski, atau tanaka, and many more.

tarab “wind keeps even dust away” compact disc

• wind (11:53)
  
• keeps (9:39)
  
• even (7:15)
  
• dust (9:30)
  
• away (13:30)

23five incorporated press release...

tarab wind even keeps dust away 23five010, compact disc eamon sprod (aka tarab) professes a romantic attachment to the notion that the world is falling apart, a terminal process only enhanced by the intrinsic obsolescence from the output of consumer culture. yet, this australian sound artist is not one to wallow in the nihilism of such poetics, rather he counterpoints these thoughts with the allegorical implications of his nom de plume. tarab is an arabic word that doesn’t readily translate into english, but it might be best defined as the ecstatic surrender one can experience when listening to music. through installation, performance, and composition, sprod reinterprets the physical detritus of the landscape within a hypothetical topography where dirt, soot, and smog emerge as privileged materials, in to which he has grafted the potential for a transcendent response. field recordings are fundamental to this creative process, bolstered by sympathetic sounds activated by sprod’s own hands rummaging through crumbling leaves, rusted bits of metal, broken concrete, and shattered glass, just to name some of the more obvious sources. wind keeps even dust away is only the second documentation of sprod’s compositions; yet, it is an accomplished work on par with the best of contemporary sound ecologists (e.g. chris watson, eric la casa, toshiya tsunoda, etc.). on this album, sprod presents an intertwining series of compacted collages that tease aquatic references from abandoned and overlooked sites of the arid australian landscape. every sound of a pipe gurgling with water is but a mirage of sand, rust, and dirt cleverly tricking the audience’s collective ear. with its subtle transitions and evolving sound structures, wind keeps even dust away figures into the models of psycho-geographical wandering, as sprod explores sets of roughly cut textures, resonant frequencies, and atmospheric vibrations that are intrinsic to an imagined space and then shifts into another with its particular idiosyncrasies. while the ecstasy that the word tarab implies may not be an immediate reaction to this album, wonder and discovery certainly are as experienced through this exemplary album of re-engineered sonic dislocation. founded in 1993, 23five incorporated is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development and increased awareness of sound works in the public arena, and to the support and education of artists working with and discussing the medium of sound. for the past 14 years, 23five incorporated has remained at the forefront in bringing the most adventurous elements of sound art to the san francisco bay area. 23five has served as an important benefactor to artists such as john duncan, christina kubisch, francisco lopez, achim wollscheid, matt heckert, zbigniew karkowski, atau tanaka, and many more.

jean-françois laporte “soundmatters” compact disc

• électro-prana (5:12) 1998
  
• boule qui roule... (7:27) 1997
  
• dans le ventre du dragon (8:10) 1997
  
• mantra (26:11) 1997
  
• plénitude du vide (17:04) 2005

23five incorporated press release...

jean-françois laporte soundmatters 23five009, compact disc the compositions of french-canadian sound artist jean-françois laporte have rarely emerged beyond of the context of international electro-acoustic competitions and festivals. his only widely distributed piece has been mantra, which metamkine published in 1997 through their cinéma pour l’oreille series. this exceptional work of acoustic minimalism drew considerable notoriety thanks in part to a public misidentification that laporte sourced the composition on the resonant frequencies of a zamboni, the ice-resurfacing vehicle used exclusively in ice rinks. with its luminous sounds gracefully shifting between the gentle mechanized purr and excited metal vibration, we can easily forgive those who wanted to assign authorship to an eccentric machine. yet, laporte reports that the source to mantra is an air compressor, albeit one that resides in an ice rink. with the original publication of mantra long out of print, 23five incorporated is delighted to present soundmatters, an anthology of jean-françois laporte compositions including the aforementioned 25-minute masterpiece mantra. the four accompanying compositions on soundmatters all share the unique sensibility found on mantra which balances formal precision and intuitive expressionism, resulting in a series of visceral compositions that build upon the traditions of minimalism, graphical composition, and phonography. here on soundmatters, laporte reveals his colossal talents for experiential composition through deftly processed recordings of tumultuous windstorms that would make chris watson proud, spiralling drones that he’s polished to a haflerian sheen, the majestic bellowing of sustained horns in the empty cargo hull of a decommissioned ship, and of course the metallic growl of his immaculate mantra. given the numerous parallels to xenakis’ smoldering electro-acoustics and tony conrad’s delirious harmonics, laporte’s work demands the attention as an under recognized genius in the realm of avant-garde composition. founded in 1993, 23five incorporated is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development and increased awareness of sound works in the public arena, and to the support and education of artists working with and discussing the medium of sound. for the past 14 years, 23five incorporated has remained at the forefront in bringing the most adventurous elements of sound art to the san francisco bay area. 23five has served as an important benefactor to artists such as john duncan, christina kubisch, francisco lopez, achim wollscheid, matt heckert, zbigniew karkowski, atau tanaka, and many more.

john duncan / carl michael von hausswolff “our telluric conversation” compact disc and book set

• ...like a lizard (23:38)
  
• entry (enhanced) (17:12)
  
• yet another (very) abridged and linear interpretation of the history of our planet as we know it. (22:43)

23five incorporated press release...

john duncan and carl michael von hausswolff our telluric conversation 23five008, compact disc 23five incorporated proudly presents our telluric conversation — the second collaborative album from john duncan and carl michael von hausswolff. this is an album which duncan describes as having been galvanized by magnetism. in a semantic sleight of hand, duncan and hausswolff reveal magnetism through a duality of meanings. one on hand, they speak of the physical phenomenon of charged objects that exert an attraction or repulsion upon other objects; yet on the other, magnetism can be defined the psychological influence wielded by charismatic individuals. our telluric conversation maps out the complexities that emerged through the collaborative pursuits of these venerated sound artists. the tools that the two employed for our telluric conversation are common to their respective catalogues of recordings, with duncan bringing his shortwave, data streams, and uncanny use of the human voice while hausswolff employed oscillators, sonar, and wire tapping microphones. the album opens with the mechanical rotation of modulated sonar, providing a hypnotic pulse which slowly submits to an obstinate surge of rumbling noise, that in turn collapses into focused white-noise turbulence and tone-bent ssb transmissions. all of this abruptly detours with a protracted spoken narrative from hausswolff who whispers a pynchonesque text about a maggot-infested individual who seeks to remedy his affliction by communing with cobras and geckoes. afterwards, duncan and hausswolff entertain the seduction of the long-form drone constructions; however, their sublime minimalism is so brilliant in its beauty as to be piercingly acute through the purity of honed sinewaves. the final entry from their conversation is the perfect marriage of the established duncan and hausswolff aesthetics, with a spare low-frequency hum deadening the sonic architecture before a static charge of crackled ether supplements the auditory smoldering. our telluric conversation stands as a bold, expressive piece of sound art, confident in its multiplicity of perspectives caught in a constant flux of attraction and repulsion. the recording comes with a 40 page booklet with an interview between duncan and hausswolff about their histories, ideas, and methodologies; furthermore, the packaging is completed by a curiously tactile o-card, which has been embossed with braille and covered with a rubbery coating. for almost a quarter century, john duncan has constructed a radical body of sonic provocation through noise, field recordings, installation, and perhaps most notably shortwave. his interests have long been grounded in the psychological implications of sound, and how it has the ability to bring ecstasy, hostility, empathy, abjection, etc. to the listener. always questioning himself and the world around him, duncan remains one of the most dynamic artists of the contemporary era.carl michael von hausswolff is a swedish composer currently working in stockholm. his work involves studies of electricity, frequency, intonation and even paranormal activities within the framework of a challenging conceptual ideology of sound. hausswolff’s audiovisual installations have been shown at biennials in istanbul and johannesburg, and his music has been performed throughout europe and north america. he is also co-monarch (with leif elggren) of the kingdoms of elgaland-vargaland. founded in 1993, 23five incorporated is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development and increased awareness of sound works in the public arena, and to the support and education of artists working with and discussing the medium of sound. for the past 14 years, 23five incorporated has remained at the forefront in bringing the most adventurous elements of sound art to the san francisco bay area. 23five has served as an important benefactor to artists such as john duncan, christina kubisch, francisco lopez, achim wollscheid, matt heckert, zbigniew karkowski, atau tanaka, and many more.

john bischoff “aperture” compact disc

• piano 7hz (10:20)
  
• interlude (7:00)
  
• graviton (7:33)
  
• immaterial states (9:32)
  
• override (3:51)
  
• sealed cantus (8:12)
  
• aperture (6:29)

23five incorporated press release...

john bischoff aperture 23five006, compact disc john bischoff has been composing music with computers and electronics since the mid 70s, and has always focused his compositions towards malleable forms that best suit live performances. within this context, bischoff seeks to position the construction of sound far beyond the common perception of synthetic music as a mere simulation of the intrinsic sounds of traditional instruments. instead, bischoff qualifies his work as the realization of a “reflective intention,” where he determines sonic structure not only through the predetermined elements which go into a piece, but also through the active process of listening to the music as it happens and responding accordingly. in describing his initial attraction towards computer technologies, bischoff states, “here was a single device that could contain a seemingly infinite range of pieces or configurations of elements and that could be interacted with in real-time.” during the ‘70s when programming involved crude systems of binary code, bischoff’s vision of the possibilities for computer-based composition fused to performative agency seemed implausible; yet in hindsight, his artistic imperatives were incredibly prescient of contemporary tools such as the nearly omnipotent audio synthesis language max/msp, which has been at the core of bischoff’s recent work. an aptly named set of compositions, aperture opens the possibility for multiple readings through a series of diverse techniques ranging from additive synthesis to fm synthesis to sampled-based processes. each of the pieces within the album was recorded in real-time with no overdubs. aperture introduces itself with clusters of samples that sprawl with the deliberate pacing of morton feldman’s later periods, yet bischoff renders what might be recognizable citations of a piano or percussion as pointillist condensations of digitized pixels and precise plastic details. during the ensuing pieces, bischoff unleashes coarse streams of electrons which flange and pulse within the caustic firestorm of divergent timestretching, giving the impression that bischoff is quite literally tearing the fabric of sound. bischoff also presents a collaboration with kenneth atchley in complementing the oversaturated physical noise of atchley’s water fountain sculptures with short digital articulations that ride on the top of atchley’s dense texture. bischoff is a current instructor at the esteemed center for contemporary music at mills college. his performances around the us include the new music america festivals in 1981 and 1989, roulette and experimental intermedia in new york, and the world music concert series at wesleyan university to name a few. he has performed in europe at the festival d’automne in paris, akademie der künste in berlin, steim in amsterdam, and fylkingen in stockholm among other places. he is a founding member of the league of automatic music composers, the world’s first computer network band; and from 1985 to 1996 he performed and recorded with the network band the hub, alongside fellow mills faculty member chris brown. numerous recordings have appeared on lovely music, centaur, artship, and artifact recordings. founded in 1993, 23five incorporated is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development and increased awareness of sound works in the public arena, and to the support and education of artists working with and discussing the medium of sound. for the past 14 years, 23five incorporated has remained at the forefront in bringing the most adventurous elements of sound art to the san francisco bay area. 23five has served as an important benefactor to artists such as john duncan, christina kubisch, francisco lopez, achim wollscheid, matt heckert, zbigniew karkowski, atau tanaka, and many more.

gum “vinyl anthology” double compact disc set

• stormy weather (3:54)
  
• testicle stretch (2:05)
  
• injected by a certain amount of charisma (3:36)
  
• sporadic acts of violence (10:19)
  
• smooth torture in exile (2:17)
  
• involuntary orgasms during the cleaning of automobiles (2:27)
  
• outfits for agony (8:15)
  
• stomach irritations (1:04)
  
• fear (6:24)
  
• arm fuck (3:49)
  
• snowtown (4:03)
  
• cocktail party effect (3:23)
  
• live at hard times, melbourne, australia, 1987 (21:03)
  
  
• 1-800-gum (5:57)
  
• okefenokee (5:56)
  
• cicada material (5:52)
  
• banning (20:26)
  
• melted limp fallout (18:14)
  
• tv eye (2:45)
  
• blood on the floor (13:42)

23five incorporated press release...

gum vinyl anthology 23five005, double compact disc set in 1986, an australian fellow by the name of andrew curtis posted an advertisement in a couple of record shops around melbourne expressing a desire to start a band with somebody who shared his interests in industrial music. the only person who answered the ad was philip samartzis, who has since gone on to international acclaim for his pristine electro-acoustic compositions published through staalplaat, synaesthesia, and dorobo. back in the late ‘80s, the curtis and samartzis collaboration resulted in the sonically volatile project simply called gum. with little expertise or training, the two gathered up what objects they were familiar with, in particular thrift store turntables and soiled records. eschewing their original attraction to the giants of industrial culture, gum quickly developed an aesthetic privileging the caustic rupture of skipping records and smoldering surface noise, predating the current avant-turntablist aficionados like philip jeck, janek schaefer, and otomo yoshihide. within a handful of recordings made during the brief span between 1986 and 1990, gum piled thick layers of electrically charged static channeled from their locked grooves. these spiraling repititions and arrhythmic palpitations were suspended in the instant moment of ecstatic release as an infinite crash of overstimulation. thanks to rrr and korm plastics who had published gum tracks on a couple of 7" compilations, gum received a considerable amount of notoriety during the last gasps of pre-digital cassette culture. since then, the two parted ways with curtis turning his passions to photography and samartzis infecting his students at rmit with his cravings for immersive and tactile experiences through sound. yet, gum’s frankensteinian grooves had remained a secret history within the prolific oeuvre of australian sound art. with the publication of gum’s vinyl anthology, 23five, inc uncovers the bulk of gum’s work, including all of the material from their self-published albums vinyl and 20 years in blue movies and yet to fake an orgasm as well as those aforementioned compilation tracks and plenty of unreleased material. founded in 1993, 23five incorporated is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development and increased awareness of sound works in the public arena, and to the support and education of artists working with and discussing the medium of sound. for the past 14 years, 23five incorporated has remained at the forefront in bringing the most adventurous elements of sound art to the san francisco bay area. 23five has served as an important benefactor to artists such as john duncan, christina kubisch, francisco lopez, achim wollscheid, matt heckert, zbigniew karkowski, atau tanaka, and many more.

coelacanth “the glass sponge” compact disc

• the electric hydrometer (21:53)
  
• the hexactinellidae (18:28)
  
• the leaden sea (8:56)
  
• the violet shell and its raft (8:35)

23five incorporated press release...

coelacanth the glass sponge 23five004, compact disc the glass sponge is a subclass within the sponge phyllum, distinguished by their silica spicules that unite into delicate geometric networks. these needlelike structures form the skeleton of this most simple animal, which when dried acquires an exquisite white hue. during the victorian era, these dessicated remains were prize possessions in the finest of wunderkammers; and from what we’ve been told, a pair of glass sponges mounted under a dome could fetch up to “5 guineas.” furthermore, glass sponges have the unique ability to respond to their harsh, deep sea environment through rudimentary electrical impulses that ripple through their bodies which are devoid of nerves and muscle. these are merely the beginnings of the fascination with the glass sponge for coelacanth, a sound art project whose name is of an ancient fish once thought to be extinct, but in truth has been flourishing in oceanic trenches. authored by the coelacanth duo of loren chasse and jim haynes, the glass sponge takes an abstracted yet empathetic view of its allegorical subject. throughout the glass sponge, coelacanth sets textural flutters, squeaks, and scrabblings in motion. these brittle events punctuate the boundless excursions of minimalism brought to life through elegaic bell tones, ghostly feedback, and tuning fork resonance, all spiralling together into translucent drones. despite the obvious submariner references for this album, it may be a surprise that very little water spilled into the recording of the glass sponge. loren chasse is also heavily involved in the much acclaimed jewelled antler music, where the multiple personalities of thuja, the blithe sons, the franciscan hobbies, the famous boating party, child readers, and of speak in the tongues of pastorally psychedelic improvisations. jim haynes is an artist describing his craft in the former with the pithy statement, “i rust things.” he might also be known for his writings from the wire. coelacanth’s previous work the chronographis also available through the helen scarsdale agency. founded in 1993, 23five incorporated is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development and increased awareness of sound works in the public arena, and to the support and education of artists working with and discussing the medium of sound. for the past 14 years, 23five incorporated has remained at the forefront in bringing the most adventurous elements of sound art to the san francisco bay area. 23five has served as an important benefactor to artists such as john duncan, christina kubisch, francisco lopez, achim wollscheid, matt heckert, zbigniew karkowski, atau tanaka, and many more.

tetsuo furudate / zbigniew karkowski “world as will ii” compact disc

• part i (24:19)
  
• part ii (29:00)

23five incorporated press release...

tetsuo furudate & zbigniew karkowski world as will ii 23five003, compact disc 23five incorporated proudly presents the launch of the 23five series of recorded sound works. founded in 1993, 23five incorporated is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development and increased awareness of sound works in the public arena, and to the support and education of artists working with and discussing the medium of sound. for the past 9 years, 23five incorporated has remained at the forefront in bringing the most adventurous elements of sound art to the san francisco bay area. 23five has served as an important benefactor to artists such as john duncan, francisco lopez, achim wollscheid, matt heckert, atau tanaka, and many more. the first in 23five’s series of recordings comes from tetsuo furudate and zbigniew karkowski, entitled world as will 2. the world as will collaborations between composers tetsuo furudate and zbigniew karkowski reflect their mutual adherence to the principles of the 19th century thinker arthur schopenhauer, who had demonstrated a necessarily pessimistic philosophy within the comprehensive four volume set entitled die welt als wille und vorstellung (world as will). it is the opinion of furudate and karkowski that “will keeps creating the world and history, will creates human tragedies, causes chaos and is the primary source of creation.” schopenhauer purported that scientific explanation can never do more than systematize and classify that which appears to be reality, and instead offered the theory that reality could be understood through the objectification of the individual will, as the capacity for consciousness to bring reality into being. it is a mistake, however, to assume that schopenhauer implied that will equates only as force. nevertheless, if each individual shapes their desires and understandings through the force of will, then social relationships are based upon a network of self-defining acts; thus, human suffering is not symptomatic but inherent to society as a whole. for schopenhauer, morality is the denial of the force of will, and should be eschewed in favor of the will as the primal creative force even at the inevitable price of existential pessimism. almost 200 years later, furudate and karkowski have forged a collaborative sound that builds upon these principles, highlighting that their synchronized wills can unleash an infernal majesty through the cruel manifestation of electronic sound. drawing also from the acknowledgement of schopenhauser’s influence upon richard wagner’s vigorous operas, furudate and karkowski have centered world as will 2 almost exclusively upon samples of karkowski’s little heard orchestral work and wagner’s masterful götterdammerung. augmented through the crucible of digital processing, these electronic samples of vivid polyphony found in the masculine crescendos of orchestral sound take a violent turn towards the realms of militant noise. world as will 2 results in an unrelenting soundtrack of expressive power and will, shaped within arenas of sound. tetsuo furudate is a japanese based composer who has dedicated himself to the dynamics of noise. zbigniew karkowski is a polish-swedish composer presently working in tokyo, japan, having worked extensively within the experimental noise scene during the past 11 years. along with furudate, karkowski has collaborated with francisco lopez, merzbow, pita, helmut schaefer, aube, john duncan, the hafler trio, cm von hausswolff, ulf bilting, and many others. he has performed at countless venues and festivals across the globe, including 23five’s most recent activating the media festival earlier this year. founded in 1993, 23five incorporated is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development and increased awareness of sound works in the public arena, and to the support and education of artists working with and discussing the medium of sound. for the past 14 years, 23five incorporated has remained at the forefront in bringing the most adventurous elements of sound art to the san francisco bay area. 23five has served as an important benefactor to artists such as john duncan, christina kubisch, francisco lopez, achim wollscheid, matt heckert, zbigniew karkowski, atau tanaka, and many more.

michel gendreau “55 pas de la ligne au nº 3” compact disc

• two worlds for now (16:50)
  
• 55 pas de la ligne au nº 3 (35:45)

23five incorporated press release...

michael gendreau 55 pas de la ligne au no. 3 23five002, compact disc composer and sound researcher michael gendreau posits that his lengthy, if understated career in the amorphous arena of the underground noise culture purposefully avoids the attachments to any stylistic concerns in music: “i don’t think it is possible to identify an illogical aesthetic goal, and reach it by logical deterministic means.” such has been the case for his solo work as well as his collaboration with suzanne dycus in crawling with tarts. in both instances, gendreau’s compositional techniques center on the actualization of conceptual agendas through the repression of the recognizability of any particular tool, medium, or instrument. it is an important distinction to make between repression and disguising, as gendreau and crawling with tarts have been quite forthcoming in what instrumentations and mediums they have decided upon, sometimes emerging as surreal anti-pop, ‘operas’ culled from antique 78s, or microsymphanies constructed from 9-volt motors. gendreau has constructed his most recent work, 55 pas de la ligne au no. 3, entirely on several turntables, a very common tool within gendreau’s catalogue. immediately upon listening to this album, it will become apparent that any associations to fellow bay area wax wizards as mixmaster mike or q-bert should be tossed out the window. this album doesn’t even have many similarities to such avant-turntablists as janek schaefer or philip jeck. rather, gendreau actively seeks out the rarely considered sonic spaces within the confines of the record player itself. this micro-space is alive with the muffled whirrings of motors quietly spiraling in place and the delicate precision of belts and gears designed to make as little noise as possible. gendreau amplifies such spaces through the use of accelerometers—technical devices used detect very minute vibrations with a far greater sensitivity than the more commonly used piezo-electric contact microphones. when gendreau inevitably drops the needle on the record, the whole cavity of the turntable resonates with those vibrations inscribed within the vinyl. for this album, gendreau relies upon run-out grooves and the hissing crackle of antique vinyl with only the tiniest of references to any appropriated sounds or cultural ready-mades, which appear as merely as quiet upsurge of incomprehensible voices. compositionally speaking, gendreau is at his best on 55 pas de la ligne au no. 3, as the album constantly shifts through subtle passages that incrementally increase up to a crescendo of nervous squeals and squalid whistles from his overworked turntables. 23five is very proud to have published this incredibly well-executed album. founded in 1993, 23five incorporated is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development and increased awareness of sound works in the public arena, and to the support and education of artists working with and discussing the medium of sound. for the past 14 years, 23five incorporated has remained at the forefront in bringing the most adventurous elements of sound art to the san francisco bay area. 23five has served as an important benefactor to artists such as john duncan, christina kubisch, francisco lopez, achim wollscheid, matt heckert, zbigniew karkowski, atau tanaka, and many more.