geoff mullen “accidental guitars” long playing record

• accidental guitars (1)
  
  
• accidental guitars (2)

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 guitars’ geoff 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.

oxtirn “oxtirn live” compact disc

• oxtirn live (1) (6:56)
  
• oxtirn live (2) (3:04)
  
• oxtirn live (3) (2:42)
  
• oxtirn live (4) (11:45)
  
• oxtirn live (5) (8:17)

rel press release...

oxtirn - live - rel017 edition of 300 oxtirn 'live' documents a performance in new york city, by the new trio of geoff mullen, ashley paul and eli keszler. following a score by keszler, the group performs on an array of instruments, using three guitars, drums, voice, auto-motorized harps, tenor harp, bass harp, microphones, clarinet, alto saxophone, crotales, drums and cymbals. the music drifts in a unique way between a wide variety of sounds, from incredible density of clattering metal textures and string attacks, wall of sound guitars, mechanical music, high pitched saxophone bends and an oddly dim shimmering high harmonic sound. all creating together, a harsh, jagged and angular wash of ricocheting materials. in other sections, metal and vibrating strings, crotales and horns create a calmer and high contrast atmosphere. in the end, the music evolves into an area of sustained sound, space and sparse gesture, featuring one of ashley paul's songs and vocals, where the music takes on a new formation, leaving the listener with a question mark, and in some way is a new form of intuitive song. the recording itself is a low fi document with a spacious, raw and aggressive timbre to it, adding to the already unique feel of the music. the packaging is intricately designed with a multi-color silk screen, based on a drawing by eli keszler. the cd itself is housed in a multi panel, fold-out, metallic paper print with pictures from the concert and excerpts from the oxtirn score, with gold stamping on the outside of the metallic paper. the cd is attached to a hub which sits on top of liner notes, with an embossed design on the flip. oxtirn live is a one time special edition of 300 copies.

aster “rel016” long playing record

• untitled (15:25)

rel press release...

aster - rel016 aster 'rel016' is the first release in the rel live series, which documents a show in boston from 2009. aster takes a different form in this set moving away from its distinct style of high pitch sustained overtone bends and song structure, pushing more towards a guttural blend of string scrapes and sustained tones in combination with an aggressive form of saxophone and drum textures. blending guitars, drums and horn with paul's unique green box set up, the music moves slowly and steadily through different areas ending with a sustained drum, string and saxophone section featuring an aggressive but oddly mellow texture and energy. 'rel016' is a one sided lp housed in a silk screened black cover with a metallic fold over paper with a unique laser die cut design. the inside has printed notes with the instrument details and information. the record is a one time limited pressing of 135 copies.

ashley paul “to much togethers” compact disc

• wedding song
  
• dear adelaide
  
• one one
  
• at last (least)
  
• and if only
  
• another walk in the park
  
• blank
  
• ask me

rel press release...

rel 015 ashley paul to much togethers over 2 years in the making, to much togethers is the follow up album to ashley’s 2008 ‘d.o.l’ release. patiently crafted and paced to much togethers continues on ashley’s unique path of ‘song’ style. combining clattering strings, (her custom green-box string set up), psycho acoustic sustain and decay, bowed metal, expressive saxophone, subtle and ear grabbing sense of color and distant voice all slowly creating mood and thought provoking miniatures, that succeed in fitting into no known forms. lyrically focusing on surreal and repetitive images contrasted by both harsh aggressive textures with quite moving and spacious moments. conflicting and deep energies and spaces seem to co-exist in ashley’ world. to much togethers is a unique creation as ashley moves deeper into her own individual realm, where she is truly on her own. as much as an audible experience as a visual. to much togethers is remarkably packaged featuring drawings by gayle paul (ashley’s mother), whose intuitive creations compliment the feeling of the music. custom assembled, and printed by ashley paul the striking ‘lp style’ red cover features multi layers of screening with a screen-printed black obi wrapped around the spine of the fold out cover. the inside features another screened drawing by gayle paul with a green w/ black over-layed cd hub. the left side features a glued black folder containing 2 more inserts with screen printed drawings w/ liner notes, a metallic paper insert in addition to a oval ‘wagtail’ sticker, with full color on cd printing. to much togethers is a limited edition of 300 copies and marks the 2nd full length album in rel’s limited cd series.

eli keszler “endgrove” double c20 cassette set

• drums, crotales, guitar
  
• soprano string harp, banjo, charango
  
  
• crotales, snare, metal bow
  
  
• guitar, soprano string harp
  
• charango, cymbal, snare, banjo
  
  
• cymbal, floor tom, guitar

rel press release...

rel 014 eli keszler endgrove endgrove is the first new release by eli keszler in 2010, collecting three days worth of live recordings of percussion clatter, bells, crotales and metal mixed with bowed and attacked strings and guitar. creating complex textures, moving from extreme density to sparse harmonics. 5 pieces are scattered across two tapes, occupying a wide array of sound areas. the tapes themselves capture an amazing amount of detail and changes in tone color. housed in a butterfly style cassette box with fold out multi layer silk screened covers. the color pro printed/duplicated muted grey and purple cassettes contrast each other with detailed printed images. multi layer silk screened inserts on heavy metallic paper are found inside with liner notes printed on the reverse sides. all screened, drawn and designed by eli keszler. endgrove is a limited one time edition of 120 copies.

nmperign / jake meginsky “selected occasions of handsome deceit” one-sided long playing record

• selected occasions of handsome deceit (18:48)

rel press release...

rel012 nmperign w/ jake meginsky selected occasions of handsome deceit one sided lp edition of 300 rel012 is the recorded debut of the trio nmperign with jake meginsky. pressed on 160 gram copper plate mastered vinyl, rel012 features nmperign in an energized, turn-on-a-dime form. prodded by meginsky into unnamable, angular textures, the trio is agile and unpredictable, occupying many angles of musical extremes. rel012 is a one-sided lp cut to 45 for maximum dynamic range. featuring a striking cover, designed by eli keszler, printed by ashley paul. a light blue fold-over paper is integrated in to a heavy picture disc sleeve, labeled with a color sticker. screened notes are featured on the inside. rel012 is a one-time, hand-numbered edition of 300 copies.

usurper / malcy duff “let's just see what happens • 2.1.3” long playing record and comic set

• let's just see what happens (1) (15:20)
  
  
• let's just see what happens (2) (19:40)

rel press release...

rel011 usurper let's just see what happens lp edition of 200 rel is proud to present the debut lp of the scottish duo usurper (ali robertson and malcy duff). creating a sound nearly impossible to describe, usurper combines obsessive metallic clunk, destroyed voices, broken horns and dropped marbles (?), into dense fields of activity. working towards an intuitive sound logic all it's own, usurper creates a surreal, comic structure that is unmatched and an energy that will make you laugh as soon as you shake your head in bafflement. the b side features a trio set with the addition of sticky foster (a band, prick decay, coffee) who blends seamlessly into the group. the lp is a one time, hand numbered edition of 200 copies with bold design featuring malcy duff's illustrations silk screened by ashley paul. the inside features a liner note pocket housing the full 16 page comic "2.1.3" by duff.

ashley paul / eli keszler “aster” long playing record

• aster (1) (14:30)
  
  
• aster (2) (5:50)
  
• aster (3) (5:05)

rel press release...

rel 008 eli keszler / ashley paul aster aster is the duo and debut lp release of ashley paul and eli keszler. performing across the northeast the past 3 years they have developed a unique style of sound which combines keszler's piercing high pitched resonances from bowed crotales and cymbals with paul's altissimo sustains and drastic pitch bends on alto saxophone and clarinet. the split tone combinations from these instruments is surprising and overwhelming, creating continuously shifting, multi-layered harmonics and intense inner ear sound. spinning discs, invented resonating metal configurations, bending reed tones and voice interference carefully blend creating a wild texture that is both harsh and striking. in contrast, the final piece displays ashley’s wrenching string attacks and eli’s rapid-fire percussion, filled with low-end bowed cymbals and jittery crashes. recorded to 4 track with no sound modification, aster is the first 'official' release of this long standing duo, which plans on a series of releases in the future. pressed on 160 gram copper plate pressed virgin vinyl, the record is housed in a black inner sleeve. the textured paper cover features a layered silk screened drawing while the inside contains grey pasted notes with an attached 8 x 24 inch three part multi-tone picture printed across a fold-out frosted vellum book. all silk screened, hand assembled and drawn by ashley and eli. the record comes in a limited hand numbered edition of 300 copies.