pierrot lunaire “exercise in futility” c30 cassette

• qarin
  
  
• chimera

semata productions press release...

sem-021 pierrot lunaire - exercise in futility c30 this is a guy to watch out for, after a friend directed us to his music we were immediately hooked, the schonberg reference was just icing on the cake. pierrot lunaire is making some of the most well articulated and elastic music in the u.s. underground right now. heavy sax chops shuffled in with found sound collage, ghostly vocal incantations, cheap keyboard acrobatics and a really proficient and expertly executed sense of digital editing. with previous tapes on hooker vision and fadeaway, 'exercise in futility' is his strongest and most personal statement yet. two side long cuts that really showcase a deep sense of pacing, dynamics and overall musicianship. highly original and masterfully crafted, you wont hear anything like this all year. edition of 100 : pro-dubbed on black type ii high bias cassettes with 2-panel j card, silkscreened shells & shrink-wrapping.

alvars orkester “profess” c45 cassette

• weaken
  
• presence
  
  
• sprawl
  
• circulation

semata productions press release...

sem-019 alvars orkester - profess c45 jan svensson (frak, borft records) and joachim nordwall (skull defekts, ideal recordings) have been recording and performing as alvars orkester since the late 80's and have amassed a modest discography in that time, always releasing choice cuts focused on quality, not quantity, in contrast to many of their contemporaries. jan and joachim's versatility has been inspirational around these parts, both of them moving around dance music templates, abstract and cold electronics, drone, noise, rock, ect, all things dear to us, with such ease, it's hard not to be impressed. on 'profess' alvars orkester take their sound one step further and deliver an impressive song cycle of psychedelic industrial electronic music. throbbing analog synths and hi frequency bent electronics lay the base for this pyscho spiritual journey, filled with fear. the sense of urgency, claustrophobia and paranoia are prevalent throughout giving you moments of release, but only briefly as the derangement begins to take hold yet again. no one chord minor triad pad 'zones' here, not for the weak of heart - if you can stomach it, strap in and get fucked. edition of 100: pro-dubbed on black type ii high bias cassettes with 2-panel j card>, silkscreened shells & shrink-wrapping.

work/death “tender comrades” compact disc

• the grey elk plummets to earth and then is lowered beneath it. (13:44)
  
• like two little magnets. (7:04)
  
• visions of luke in revelation. (9:47)
  
• ascention of the many steps to porter square. (23:03)

semata productions press release...

sem-018 work/death 'tender comrades' cd providence, rhode island based work/death, operated by scott reber, is an intersection of musique concrete, electro-acoustic improv and composition, field recording, drone, harsh noise, physical performance, and the pop song. as the name suggests it is a labor of determination, focus, and quality accumulating over a lifetime. for the past 10 years he has synthesized sounds of the 20th century. his multimodal composition process navigates effortlessly between the intellectualist avant garde and the noise underground with its violent removal of musical structures. paraphrasing reber himself, "david tudor or alvin lucier as prototype wall noise via early mapping of crunch, crumble, cracks, crackle, ruptures, space, and moving air that would later be central to the rita, macronympha." each work/death release, previously on labels such as hospital, monorail trespassing, ekhein, ect. gives the listener an entry point to his exploration of a time, location, frequency or state of anxiety. 'tender comrades' his first official full length is his strongest statement yet. unapologetic harmonic/melodic moves surfacing through and being submerged by waves of white noise. 'tender comrades' is drenched in sweat, performed with piano, upright bass, guitar, machine, midi programming, cassette manipulation, synthesizer, his body, hiss, crackle, melody, hope and possibility. this is harsh noise composition, conceptual high volume, the aurality of negative space, the physicality of sound - filling rooms, bodies. work/death exemplifies the subtlety of pain and the intensity of tenderness. garbage in. garbage out. edition of 500: pro replicated compact discs housed in a deluxe full color digipak.

cowards “forgotten resonance” compact disc

• below the boards (7:54)
  
• tremble (7:58)
  
• forgotten resonance (8:01)
  
• trace amounts (10:54)

semata productions press release...

sem-016 cowards 'forgotten resonance' cd new york city's cowards, made up of jesse allen (the cathode terror secretion, migrations in rust) and nick pace (diaphragm) are part of the red light district collective, in which a handful of ambitious musicians explore a wide swath of what is known as modern noise; groups such as yellow tears, halflings, the cathode terror secretion, among others. with their debut 'forgotten resonance' cowards have stepped up the game in contemporary industrial/noise music. equally informed by harsh noise, industrial, musique concrete, black/death metal, world/ethnic, ambient and classical music 'forgotten resonance' is an album that is both physically and emotionally engaging the whole way through. the compositions are are extremely sectional and linear, they rely heavily on tension and release. heavy use of dynamics, thick clouds of natural and electronic sound, and dense tonal harmonic beds help to expose these emotions. a man looks at himself and he can see the apathy in his own life and his apathy towards the end times. this is music for the end times. edition of 300: pro replicated compact discs housed in a deluxe full color digipak.

scuba death “demon seed” long playing record

• dripsweat (10:52)
  
  
• ex-dream (9:06)

semata productions press release...

sem-015 scuba death - 'demon seed' lp dark brooding electronics from mystery project scuba death, originally released in a microscopic edition of 40 tapes. underneath the grime of oscillator abuse, clever tape manipulation & contact mic work 'demon seed' has to offer, lies a compositional framework that reveals another world all together. motivic material runs throughout each side long piece, revealing itself more & more upon each listen. dynamic feedback swells and tape crackle function as precise elements of the musical phrasing that comes & goes, and later returns, louder, softer, backwards, inverted. passages of harsh noise transform into delicate & melodic ambient textures only to crumble into desolate field recordings, to then go back and return to the 'head'. there is no 'stream-of-consciousness' or improvised pedal wankery on here, instead we have very concise and controlled compositions, starting off with an almost industrialized techno vibe, that then runs the gamut of wall noise to tonal ambience; its clear scuba death is a master of his craft. 'demon seed' has as much in common with the basement spheres of the noise underground as with contemporary electro-acoustic composition, and that is a great thing and something we hope to see more of. it's time for a shift in consciousness, and as the back of the sleeve reads 'do not stand in a place of danger trusting in miracles'. edition of 200: plain labels with the back of the sleeve silk-screened including a flap and a 12' x 12' pro-printed cover doubling as an insert. pressed at 45 rpm.

perispirit / brendan murray “untitled” c22 cassette

• compliant marsman
  
  
• birch victim

semata productions press release...

sem-013 perispirit & brendan murray 'untitled' c22 hot on the heels of their split lp, here we have the accompanying collaboration cassette between perispirit & brendan murray. moving forwards with the exoskeleton imagery, this tape finds both parties in rare form. the a side is a studio/mail collaboration between the artist's, resulting in a rising, enveloping drone. the b side is a live improvisation with no post processing or editing - less melodic than the a side, what where left with is a huge cloud of low end sub frequency rattle with piecing high end slowing creeping in and out of the mix. two takes on long form sound from these boston transplants, putting drone under the microscope for its ultimate dissection. co-released with razors & medicine.  edition of 100 : pro-dubbed on tan type ii high bias cassettes with 2-panel jcard, silkscreened shells & shrink-wrapping.

brendan murray / perispirit “birches and marksmen’s graves (voice and computer #1) b/w compliant victim” long playing record

• brendan murray - birches and marksmen’s graves (voice and computer #1) (16:30)
  
  
• perispirit - compliant victim (17:00)

vic rawlings / liz tonne “interference” c34 cassette

• vic rawlings - the middle of three days
  
  
• liz tonne - b
  
• liz tonne - arsonist

semata productions press release...

sem-009 vic rawlings / liz tonne 'truck krone' c34 vic rawlings and liz tonne have been working together for the better part of 2 decades, spanning various genres of music(s) including indie/art rock, country, and that nebulous nexus: "experimental". they continue to work together in the electroacoustic-improvisation octet the bsc and the undr quartet, both of which have been pushing the limits of extended technique and aesthetics for over a decade. one thing that both vic and liz have always brought to the table is an interest in experience and a lack of fear in the face of potentially uncomfortable or unsettling aesthetic territories. their distaste for comfort zones, "coolness", flash and the familiar have led some to refer to their work as alternately "frustrating," "harrowing," and/or "exhilarating." which adjective you choose depends on how far out on the plank you're willing to walk with them. but if you go the whole distance you realize the plank doesn't lead to shark-filled waters or a horrible void, but to a naked, (nearly hyper-) aware present. vic's piece, "the middle of three days," occupies "classic vic territory": an unhurried pace which blurs the lines between intentional and arbitrary, "cracked" electronics, beautifully tarnished bowed tones, beautifully stretched out memory man sonorities and plenty of what-the-fuck elements (coughing, "five-oh," wind machine ??). it ends as suddenly as it arrives following the classic show biz dictum, "leaves you wanting more."  liz's "b" is a tonal/character study of the title letter (in flattened form), showcasing liz' unique sense of song craft (or anti-song craft if you prefer). using timbral variations (mostly slight), flutters, and modulations, liz presents a shadowy, skewed version of standard song form where a very stripped down content is presented in nearly traditional repetitions. in a parallel world, someone is singing a standard with too much melisma. with "arsonist," this process is further distorted and fragmented towards abstraction, functioning almost as an extended coda or question mark.  vic and liz have appeared on numerous recordings for various ensembles and have collaborated with a who's who curriculum of improv heavy weights; surprisingly, this is the first solo release for both artists and it's a privilege to have it as part of our catalog. edition of 100: pro-dubbed on red type ii high bias cassettes with 2-panel jcard, silkscreened shells & shrink-wrapping.

zerfallt “to know the love of young witches” c46 cassette

• i
  
• ii
  
  
• iii
  
• iiii

semata productions press release...

sem-006 zerfallt - to know the love of young witches c46 zerfallt (ex-astronaut), scavenger of uneasy electronic pulse, presents 'to know the love of young witches'. these recordings use re-wired equipment and analog synthesizer in orchestrating saturated hymns. opening and closing with moldy synth blur, at the core lie tones salvaged from the swamps; belly up and hollowed out hiss, bleak feedback hypnosis, reversed tape incantations. zerfallt came to life in july 2008, in the foreboding light of a full moon. since, he has conjured two self released cassettes and another on the way as half of the duo mutations in the gryd. edition of 100: pro-dubbed on black type ii high bias cassettes with 3-panel jcard, & pro-printed double sided labels.

benjamin nelson “untitled” c42 cassette

• live at the piano factory
  9.23.08
  
  
• standing field

semata productions press release...

sem-005 benjamin nelson - c42 benjamin nelson's first boston show performing on modular synthesizer took place at semata's own series, opening up for john wiese in september 2008. 'live at the piano factory' features benjamin's set in its entirety, full of rich micro details and demonstrating masterful control of the instrument. very different to his previous work as a live member of f/i/t/h and playing electronics for the rock band tides; benjamin's work now tends to focus on the extremes of musical duration, density and volume - or the lack thereof. a name to look out for in the fields of minimalism, drone and electro-acoustic composition. edition of 100: pro-dubbed on white type ii high bias cassettes with 2-panel jcard, silkscreened shells & shrink-wrapping.

stillbirth / prurient “the mirror of purification” seven inch single record

• stillbirth - the view untangled (3:38)
  
  
• prurient - where secrets are guarded (1:55)

greg kelley “self-hate index” compact disc

• stimulus check (8:13)
  
• these are distractions (8:20)
  
• shearing husks (9:20)
  
• accumulating errors (what is peripheral?) (8:51)
  
• vessel (4:02)
  
• anxious drift (3:55)
  
• visiting microphones (3:42)

the epicurians “introducing the epicureans” compact disc-recordable

• sweetly violent revisionists (7:40)
  
• scum of the earth (5:19)
  
• not produced by john cale but dont you wish it was (3:20)
  
• benefits, disclosures and accommodation of nothing (2:05)
  
• the good life (6:59)
  
• thoughts i lost but it didn't matter because i'm sure it was bullshit (10:11)