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previous record label:
 crippled intellect productions 		there are 8 titles on crouton in stock.
they are listed below.		next record label:
 crucial blast 
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$14.82

back in stock as of
february 10th, 2009

first in stock on
june 12th, 2008

threads:
electro-acoustic-improvisation
minimalism-drones
concert-recordings

file under:
modern-composition
xeric (usa) #xer 116 cd
crouton (usa) #crouton 39 cd

jon mueller / jason kahn “topography” compact disc

  • middletown • march 03, 2007 (8:07)
  • new york 1 • march 12, 2007 (10:42)
  • new york 2 • march 12, 2007 (10:15)
  • milwaukee • march 04, 2007 (8:45)
  • boston • march 08, 2007 (10:42)
june 2008 release ; co-production between tote sub-label xeric & jon mueller’s own crouton (with packaging / design sensibilites ala kahn’s cut imprint) this covers the duo’s trip up & down the east coast last spring, w/a brief trip back to mueller’s hometown. on a cursory listen, it’s hard to believe this flowing, drone-oriented sound was derived in any way from percussion instruments ; but that right there’s the crux of this particular formation ...
xeric press release...
jon mueller / jason kahn
topography

percussionist jon mueller continues his amazing run of releases (he appears on eight table of the elements titles in the first half of 2008!) with topography, a collaboration with zürich-based sound and visual artist jason kahn. as a drummer, mueller propels collections of colonies of bees and the occasional guitar army of rhys chatham; he also finds time to collaborate with artists ranging from wilco’s glenn kotche to swans’ jarboe. kahn draws on electronic and acoustic sound sources to create slowly developing compositions imbued with a sense of timelessness.

topography addresses the entity of sound as both a physical and psychological factor shaping our consciousness, and is a remarkable display of electroacoustic finesse. it’s a joint, limited-edition release with mueller’s own crouton label, exquisitely packaged in a debossed, white-on-white jacket.

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$16.66

new to stock as of
december 24th, 2007

threads:
film-video
free-improvisation
experimental-instruments
sound-art

crouton (usa) #crouton 38 dvd

jeph jerman / jon mueller “nodes and anti-nodes” digital versatile disc and audio file

  • dvd: nodes and anti-nodes

  • audio file: nodes and anti-nodes
crouton press release...
crouton no.38
jeph jerman and jon mueller
“nodes and anti-nodes”
dvd + audio file

after years of working with sound and vibrations, and documenting prepared and unprepared situations on recordings, jeph jerman and jon mueller now present a tapestry of visualizations to these sounds with ‘nodes and anti-nodes.’ the dvd shows close-up views of the subtle actions in vibrating bodies, both audible and not. these scenes are glimpses into situations that ernst chladni and hans jenny might have pursued in a more scientific direction. but for the lay viewer, it’s simply interesting to watch the real-time relationship between sound and material, and the juxtaposition of the results of natural movements paired with absolute silence. for those that would enjoy listening to the audio portion on the go, an individual mp3 file of the audio can be pulled from the disc.

the dvd is packaged in a 7 letterpressed and numbered chip board case and is limited to an edition of 300 copies.

about jeph jerman:

began playing drums in 1972 at the age of 13. spent my formative years in various bar bands while simultaneously seeking out more adventurous people to make more adventurous music. formed/joined a myriad of ensembles to that end, including: big joey, blowhole, city of worms etc. in the mid ’90’s i moved to seattle wa and became involved with the local improvised music community, playing with just about everyone. at some point i began to deconstruct my drum kit, ending up with a pile of sonorous things that i gradually replaced with stones, shells, sticks and feathers. i continue to investigate various ways of making/capturing sound and to document my efforts.

about jon mueller:

jon mueller has been an active drummer and percussionist since the mid-80s. whether utilizing bombastic minimalism, dense interplay, or electroacoustic practices, his approach focuses on a physical dialog between situation and material. he has been featured on numerous recordings, and has performed throughout the u.s., japan, and europe.

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$99.99

back in stock as of
december 24th, 2007

first in stock on
june 4th, 2007

threads:
electro-acoustic-composition
sound-art

crouton (usa) #crouton 36 lp

raymond dijkstra “maskenstilleben” long playing record

  • maskenstilleben (1)

  • maskenstilleben (2)
june 2007 release; the first non self-released title (at least in a while; he tends to issue his own records via the le souffleur imprint) by composer raymond dijkstra. over-sized slotted/silkscreened wooden box with the lp and an insert tucked inside...
crouton press release...
crouton no.36
raymond dijkstra:
"maskenstilleben"
lp

we are very pleased to present this enchanting special edition lp from sculptor, painter, drawer and composer, raymond dijkstra. since 2003, his recorded work has been released in very grandly designed (though extremely small editions) on the le souffleur label, all of which are out of print and not easy to obtain. those who have, discovered the odd, yet personal world of raymond dijkstra, whose recorded output relies heavily on the acoustic side of electro-acoustic music.

in dijkstra's own words:

“my overall philosophy is to keep my kitchen closed. and the lid on the pot. i need to build up pressure; the only time i release pressure is when playing music. it's all about transformation.

i guess i need to have some distance between me/my music and the public. in fact i like to see the public as non-existent. releasing my work i only do for metaphysical reasons; to keep all psychic and physical channels open, and maintaining a healthy system. it is not much more then relieving yourself in the toilet. if not, there'll soon or later come a point when your system gets clogged, the energy flow will cease, and the transformation into music stops...

i need complete isolation to protect my work.”

"maskenstilleben" will be released in a limited numbered edition of 100 in a painted wooden box on 200 gm virgin vinyl.

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$16.66

back in stock as of
december 24th, 2007

first in stock on
march 19th, 2007

threads:
experimental-instruments
free-improvisation
sound-art

crouton (usa) #crouton 34 cd

hal rammel “like water tightly wound” ten inch single record

  • on balance scattered (8:41)
  • like water tightly wound (10:08)
crouton press release...
crouton no.34
hal rammel:
"like water tightly wound"
10"

visual artist and musician hal rammel has been involved in the creative arts for the past 40 years. "like water tightly wound" marks rammel's latest installment of his recorded documentation of solo sound palette studies. beginning with a series of three separate 7" records (titled lost data), released on his own penumbra music in early 2006, "like water tightly wound" captures every nuance of this intriguing instrument. invented and built by rammel, these instruments are as curious for their sounds, as they are as artifacts - finely crafted wood and metal devices one would expect to find in an obscure section of a museum. melodic, yet buzzing with texture, these sound palette recordings represent an overview of artistic endeavor, ranging from electro-acoustic theory and practice, to sculpture and craftsmanship.

“i’ve let the form of the palette be my launching point for opening possibilities and followed the road of possibility. that is the advantage of mixing media, that music might be shaped by a sculptural form rather than the instrument shaped to play any preconceived notion of what should be musical.” - hal rammel

released in a limited, numbered edition of 300 with an exclusive photographic print by hal rammel. extended liner notes included, housed inside an antiqued-themed 78 record package.

...

hal rammel's work as a visual artist encompasses drawing, sculpture and collage, cartooning, and, most actively over the past ten years, photography (pinhole and alternative cameraless processes). his photographs have been shown at the wustum museum of fine art (racine, wi), gallery 1926 (chicago), woodland pattern book center (milwaukee), corbett vs dempsey (chicago), and the john michael kohler arts center (sheyboygan, wi) and have been reproduced on the covers of compact discs released by hat art (zurich), penumbra music (grafton, wi), and long arms (moscow).

as a composer and improviser he utilizes musical instruments of his own design and construction, releasing recordings on his own label penumbra music. during the 1980s he was an active member of chicago's experimental and improvised music scene performing frequently with gene coleman, michael zerang, john corbett, terri kapsalis, lou mallozzi, jim baker, don meckley and others. in the 1990s he performed at numerous music festivals in north america including the newfoundland sound symposium (in 1996 in duo with johannes bergmark), the no music festival (in 1998 with the nihilist spasm band), and several others. presently residing in southeastern wisconsin he performs and records in a variety of projects with steve nelson-raney, thomas gaudynski, jason wietlispach, chris rosenau, and jon mueller in various ensembles including audiotrope, raccoons, and i-beam releasing recordings of these ensembles on crouton records, soutrane, utech records, and necessary arts.

as an author hal rammel has written on musical instrument invention for experimental musical instruments, rubberneck, and musical traditions. his full-length study of surrealism and american folklore nowhere in america: the big rock candy mountain and other comic utopias (including discussion of blind blake, bo diddley, al capp and the shmoo, jack benny, and spike jones and red ingle) was published by university of illinois press in 1991. his liner note essays may be found on recordings released by atavistic records and cri.

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$11.66

back in stock as of
december 24th, 2007

first in stock on
november 19th, 2006

threads:
electro-acoustic-improvisation
musique-concrète
minimalism-drones
electro-acoustic-composition

crouton (usa) #crouton 31 cd

robert hampson / steven hess “s/t” compact disc

  • untitled (4:00)
  • untitled (4:59)
  • untitled (4:21)
  • untitled (5:59)
crisp, minimal sound-research set from main’s robert hampson & chicagoland percussion maverick steven hess (fessenden, duos with greg davis, etc...) - not the musique concrète process-piece set you’d expect; more a set of digital treatments of hess’ attack-based material(s) into gritty, granular clouds punctuated with hess’ acoustic percussion.

quite stark... but ultimately a pretty bold step in a new direction for hampson (hess is in familiar territory)
crouton press release...
crouton no.31
robert hampson/steven hess:
"s/t"
cd

a sensible combination, brought to light by a chance contact resulting in a fairly lengthy process of recording, listening, and mixing. robert hampson, is, of course, the visionary behind sound behemoths loop and main, and even served a highly productive position within godflesh, organum, and also collaborated with jim o' rourke. steven hess is a percussionist who provides comfortably obscure rhythms and textures for pan american, fessenden, on, and haptic.

together, hampson and hess create a delightful peephole into the space where resonance from various percussions exist. these are the indirect moments that are just as real as those obvious times when a drummer nails the snare drum in 4/4 time. this is the stuff that for without, the attack, the beat, the percussion itself, would be lifeless pricks of meaningless sound. these recordings are filled with the active and excited ghost of interaction with material; highly unreal at times, and undeniably human at others. for those familiar with their previous endeavors, this is certain to please. for others, you are about to hear the collaboration of two people who know exactly what they are doing, and have created an even more powerful joined effort. clearly tasty.

cdep released in an edition of 500, packaged in mulitple layers of clear material. see?

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$13.33

back in stock as of
december 24th, 2007

first in stock on
november 30th, 2006

threads:
modern-composition
free-improvisation

crouton (usa) #crouton 26 cd

jon mueller “what’s lost is something important. what’s found is something not revealed.” compact disc

  • what’s lost is something important. what’s found is something not revealed.
crouton press release...
crouton no.26
jon mueller: "what's lost is something important. what's found is something not revealed."
cd

after seven years in existence, crouton is pleased to announce its first solo release from jon mueller.

for the past two years, individuals have been invited to contribute their beards, which would then be filed and placed in a special wooden case, for no apparent reason. the process, on the other hand, revealed many conversations that would not have taken place; moments of understanding, insight, curiosity, and and overall positive manifestations that possibly would not have happened under 'normal' circumstances. the intent of this recording is to mimic this process. on the surface, it is two compositions for solo percussion, using pieces from a typical drum set. but one would likely not realize this by listening.

jon mueller either spent the necessary time to teach his drums how to actually sustain something, or he found them lying in the same swamp as the warner bros. frog. in any case, he has coaxed a gorgeous cd out of them: complex textures of sustained snares, nocturnal bells, and asymmetrical rhythms arising as if from within the drums; all subtly ordered, sometimes melting from passage to passage, sometimes popping with tape-edit precision. the pieces have the gravity of fine drone work, but they are also injected with a dry wit and assembled with the mechanations of a puzzle master. there are no singing frogs on this disc, no merely novel moments. mueller makes the most of his chorus, and the music resonates as something beyond the sum of its parts, however interesting those parts may be. thus hopefully this cd, like the collection of beards, will also inspire conversations that might not have otherwise taken place, moments of understanding, curiosity, etc.

mueller has worked with pele, asmus tietchens, jason kahn, bhob rainey, hal rammel, lionel marchetti, jack wright, achim wollscheid, steve nelson-raney, matt turner, and is a member of collections of colonies of bees. he has recorded for labels such as auf abwegen, penumbra, polyvinyl, rrrecords, mode, sixgunlover, feverpitch, and stasisfield. performances occur regularly in the basement, as well as public venues around the world.

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back in stock as of
december 24th, 2007

first in stock on
november 30th, 2006

threads:
digital-musics
minimalism-drones

crouton (usa) #crouton 24 cd

richard chartier “archival 1991” compact disc

  • archival 1991 (46:35)
crouton press release...
crouton no.24
richard chartier
"archival 1991"
cd

richard chartier is a designer, an artist, and perhaps, a neat freak. throughout his recent work,chartier has continued to present sound as design - clean, simple design, implying colors and direct lines and shapes; a spotless, modern room; a series of colored screens. his release on crouton predates this taste, when things were a bit more complex, a bit more intense. and as his recent work sucks the listener into white space, archival1991 takes you straight into a black hole, in the most comfortable way imaginable. this is a different kind of clean simplicity. the work is beautiful, stunning, and most of all, complexly powerful. the recording is based on two compositions from 1991, using analog and digital synthesizers. in 2003, these original pieces were used as source material for this new work, resulting in an extremely intriguing revisit, and aesthetically true to much of his work from the same period.

richard chartier (b.1971), minimal sound/installation artist and graphic designer, has produced critically acclaimed solo recordings for labels including trente oiseaux (germany), line (usa), meme (japan), and fallt (ireland), as well collaborative works with nosei sakata (*0),taylor deupree, and kim cascone on 12k (usa) and has appeared on numerous international compilations. his minimalist work explores the relationship between sound, silence, focus, and the act of listening. awarded one of twelve honorable mentions in the category of digital music by the prestigious prix ars electronica, 2001 (austria), chartier's cd s e r i e s, was featured in the whitney biennial 2002 exhibit at the whitney museum of american art (ny).

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back in stock as of
december 24th, 2007

first in stock on
march 19th, 2007

threads:
electro-acoustic-improvisation

crouton (usa) #crouton 23 cd

jon mueller / bob rainey / jim schoenecker “jon mueller, bhob rainey & jim schoenecker” compact disc

  • [shredded paper, but]
  • [here teething moths have passed]
  • [holes]
  • [too tattered to read]
crouton press release...
crouton no.23
jon mueller, bhob rainey & jim schoenecker
cd

recorded in a 110 degree room after a nearly sleepless 17 hour drive. yet, the material on this cd has nothing to do with that. here, bhob rainey transforms the saxophone from instrument to species, jon mueller plays snare drums with a home stereo system, and jim schoenecker sits across the room and stares at you, creepily. meanwhile, boston was melting under the relentless sadism of the sun. for the musicians, this recording involved discovery, survival, and dustin hoffman. its organization was the direct result of caffeine and unemployment. for the listener, it might very well be the impossible made possible. for in this recording lies a sense of urgent contact; a message understood, yet surely incredible to decipher. happy faces appear on food items. inanimate objects come actively to life.

...

jon mueller has worked within a variety of genres with the likes of pele, collections of colonies of bees, asmus tietchens, achim wollscheid, aranos, matt turner, hal rammel and others. his recordings are available worldwide and he has toured throughout the u.s. and japan.

bhob rainey has collaborated with gunter mueller, lionel marchetti, kevin drumm, ralf wehowsky, jerome noetinger, and jason lescalleet, to name a few. with trumpeter greg kelley, he is the cofounder of the unlikely improv supergroup, nmperign, and is also the founder and director of the premier electroacoustic ensemble, the bsc.

jim schoenecker has released electronic music under the name pressboard for a variety of labels including zod, antiopic, and stassisfield. he has performed in the u.s. and japan, and is 1/2 of the topscore label which releases electronic and experimental music and video.

previous record label:
 crippled intellect productions 		...and that's everything on crouton in stock.
(why not take a look at the previous and next labels?)		next record label:
 crucial blast 
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... this page was last updated on friday, february 10th, 2012 @ 6:24 pm