| $20.01
back in stock as of
november 30th, 2011
first in stock on
december 15th, 2007
threads:
minimalism-drones
sound-art
modern-composition
site-specific
experimental-instruments
fluxus
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| | em (japan) #em 1074 cd
omega point (japan) #op 0004 cdyoshi wada “lament for the rise and fall of the elephantine crocodile” compact disc - singing (31:07)
- bagpipe (33:17)
| my prayers have been answered !!!
an inspired move by omega point’s osamu ibe (working in conjunction w/em’s koki emura) ; this deluxe reissue of one of my all-time top-ten holy grail drone records, yoshi wada’s 1982 india navigation (the same label that released tom johnson’s “nine bells,” arnold dreyblatt’s “nodal excitation,” and phill niblock’s “nothin’ to look at just a record”) lp “lament for the rise and fall of the elephantine crocodile” ...
recorded in 1979 at “dry pool” (literally, an empty swimming pool in which wada lived & slept for 24 hours prior to the performance) the two pieces here; “singing” and “bagpipe” wallow in the amazing acoustics of the space... the former features wada moving around in the space finding “sweet spots” while singing long tones in a deeply guttural style (reminiscent of stuart dempster’s trombone-and-natural-reverberation records...) - but for me the pinnacle is the second piece for a harry-partch-esque instrument of wada’s own devising, simply titled “the bagpipe” - producing an infinitely complex fog of rich, sliding overtones from an array of pneumatic tubes hooked in to reeds, over which wada vocally intones the root note ...
the fidelity of the original lp (even if you were to find it; don’t even ask what i paid for my original a few years back...) was always less-than-ideal; but of course em have tracked down the master tapes & have done a bang-up job with this reissue, restoring the pieces to their original unedited lengths for an even deeper submersion into wada’s overtone cloud-set ...
typically lavish production; gatefold cd packaging with a 10” x 15” fold-out poster-insert, including the original liner notes, contemporary musings by wada himself, and a biography, all in japanese & english.
easily one of my top 5 reissues of the year; i give this my highest recommendation !!! |
| | yoshi wada
lament for rise and fall of the elephantine crocodile
* 96khz/24bit digital remastered
* complete full length version (original lp edition was edited)
* new 2007 liner notes by yoshi wada
* english & japanese texts
* scarce photos inside
first issue of joint production of em records & omega point !!!
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if you have heard the music of yoshi wada, you have no doubt been impressed by his amazing sound-worlds.
born in kyoto, he moved to new york in the late 1960s. he is well-known as a fluxus artist with links to la monte young, and has been involved in many performances and sound installations. however, he has released only 2 recordings (as his solo albums) , both hard to find. finally, a cd reissue of his most important and rarest lp, "lament for rise and fall of the elephantine crocodile" (recorded in 1981, issued on india navigation in 1982).
this cd contains 2 pieces: track 1 - solo overtone voice (he studied with legendary indian vocalist pandit pran nath) recorded at performance space 'dry pool', with a deep underground echo feeling; track 2 - dense psychedelic drones using bagpipe-like self-made instrument. these wondrous sounds will take you to another, better world!!
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"lament for the rise and fall of the elephantine crocodile is a vocal and instrumental work, on which i started working in 1979. this recording is meant to be one continuous piece; side a: solo singing & side b: the instrumental music of the bagpipe with singing. the piece itself is an experiment with reed & improvisational singing within the modal structure. the instrument could be played solo or as a drone accompaniment for voice. i originally built the bagpipe instrument out of plumbing fittings & pipes pumped by a large air compressor. i called it "an adapted bagpipe with sympathy". since that time, the original instrument has been altered and improved for the stability of the air source and accuracy of the tuning".
"the photograph above shows the instruments used for this recording (note; see the cd back cover). the elephantine crocodile (right) & the alligator (left) are both reed instruments pumped by the air. the alligator instrument plays precise pitch and enables me to tune the elephantine crocodile drone pipe pitch. when i began to work with these cane reed pipes, i realized that they could be tuned to produce the intervals of extremely fine tolerance. one of the strong characteristics of these bagpipe drones is the clarity of harmonics & partials in the higher octaves. when these pipes are perfectly in tune, in unison, or in different intervals, one can hear the high microtonal partials very clearly."
"in 1979, i came to the "dry pool" (an empty swimming pool in the basement of media study, buffalo, n.y.) with "an adapted bagpipe with sympathy" to do a concert. although i normally do not like long reverberation added to my music, when i entered the pool i immediately liked the acoustics of the space, which had very long delay time. the pool gave rich resonance to the voice & bagpipe sound. since that time, i became much more aware of the psychological effect of the acoustics of the room."
"last november, i had a chance to come to the "dry pool" to do the recording. i stayed in the pool for preparation and slept there as well. it was very quiet. it gave me the feeling as though i were in an anechoic chamber. i started to hear all kinds of droning sound and almost could not tell as if i were hallucinating or not. when i began singing, it was with a very simple overtone series, then i gradually developed a series of intervals which i felt strong. my concern is with the timbre and tuning of the multiple chords which enable me to evolve my improvisational singing and the mode in progression."
(taken from original lp liner notes on "lament for the rise and fall of the elephantine crocodile" in 1982)
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(left photo) yoshi wada and "an adapted bagpipe with sympathy ii". at phil niblock's studio (this concert was sponsored by experimental intermedia foundation), 1979. photo by phil niblock. (right photo) "the lament for the rise and fall of the elephantine crocodile" by yoshi wada. at his loft in soho, ny, 1981. photo by marilyn bogerd. |
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