"The International Carnival of Experimental Sound, or ICES '72 for short, was an ambitious festival sprung from the mind of Harvey 'Job' Matusow (1926-2002). Jumping off from his associations with the influential Source magazine, Harvey brought together over 300 artists from more than 21 countries to perform in London, England over the course of two weeks in August of 1972. Based on the theme of Myth, Magic Madness and Mysticism, he assembled an amazing diversity of performers working in diverse range of audio-visual arts. Encompassing happenings, films, dance, a train ride, and the phantom soft pool table, the focus was on sound -- specifically that of artists who were both composers and performers. Most of the concerts were held at The Roundhouse, a cavernous structure that was formerly a railroad engine house. Now, for the first time in 30 years, these recordings can be heard. This first CD in a series documenting the festival features the complete concert given by legendary free improvising group AMM. Represented here by Eddie Prevost and Lou Gare, they offer up powerful explosions of saxophone and drums punctuated with their famous AMM silences. This is the first time this material is available, aside from two short excerpts were published as the only 7" release on Evan Parker and Derek Bailey's Incus Records (and a very rare and desirable record that has become)." -Forced Exposure
Third in the valuable Sub Rosa edition. The main work of this volume seems to be a proposed connection between early electronic productions evolved under the aegis of contemporary 'classical' music - yes, the terminology is deeply problematic - and recent, mostly computer and sample driven - work that floats unattached to any institution. From the first group there are pieces by Hugh le Caine, Ilhan Mimaroglu, Herbert Eimert, Robert Beyer, Bernard Parmegiani and Michel Chion; from the second Michael Schumacher, Francisco Lopez, Peter Rehberg, Asmus Tietchens, Rune Lindblad , Michael Rother (Kraftwerk), Lilith, Merzbow, Faust and a few sound artists: (Justin Bennet, Carsten Nicolai, CM Von Hausswolf. These are not complete lists, there are 23 pieces featured. A few stand out: Le Caine, Mimaroglu, Schumacher, Einert and Beyer, Faust but it is the sweep across somehow related fields that is useful to a listener trying to orientate in a profligacy of 'electronic' music. For the laptop generation, this will likely be an enjoyable collection, for students of the history of electronic music it should be informative; in any case it's a valuable resource. I still tend to the view that the claim to kinship between these different worlds is problematic and that many essential questions need to be answered before it can be easily accepted. The presence of Faust and Merzbow suggest this, but not deliberately. Perhaps I ask too much. In general this is an admirable and invaluable series. [OFFER. All three Volumes £48]
These two CDs and 72 page clothbound book offer the most comprehensive presentation of the experiments and innovations in the exploration of sound by the historical Russian Avantgardes ever attempted. This publication is based around the sounds themselves. Though much was not documented at the time, and some has been lost, what remains is collected on the second CD, which centres around Dziga Vertov's prescient environmental sound composition for the 1930 film Enthusiasm..The Dombass Symphony - and also collects together for the first time 22 original recordings of Mayakovsky, Mossolov, Jakobson, Khlebnikov, Lenin, Lunacharsky, Kollontay, Trotsky, Pasternak, Meytuss, Akhmatova, Mandelstahm, Naum Gabo, Shostakovich, and others.
"Volume 14 in INA GRM's continuing documentation of Francois Bayle's complete works. Featuring two long pieces: "Camera Oscura" (1976) & "Espaces Inhabitables" (1967). "Camera Oscura" is a literal 39 minute-minute tour de force of Bayle's stereophonic fabric, the perfect "ping", so to speak: "At first a rhythmic maze, mirrors-form that look more-or-less alike, that are assembled, woven, fuged. Then we find ourselves thrown into windings and crystallised sonorities, in which the lines would be lost if they were not supported by low layers, from plateau to plateau, seemingly leading to a muter and muter deep, to the bottom of an abyss that heat and light would reach (maybe), in extremis. But for the ear, those constructions in sequence, processes, stretching, extensions, transpositions, thickenings, harmonisation, spatialisation, reverberations and dissipation are only forms and impressions left on the memory, in view of a joy of a multidimensional, fulfilled hearing." -Forced Exposure
"Francois Bayle, born in Madagascar 1932, under most unusual circumstances found himself in Lebanon during January, 1969. Having been active director of the GRM since 1966 he was asked by Lebanese Artist and Sculptor Ghassan Klink to help celebrate the opening of the Grand Upper Gallery of the Jeita Grotto composed of two immense caverns. The lower galleries, discovered in 1836 and opened to the public in 1958, are filled with a vast subterranean river with limited access by boat. The upper galleries, discovered in August 1958 by Lebanese speleologists led by Sami Karkabe, required a hazardous climb to 650 meters above the entrance of the underground river. After a suitable entry was constructed -- this level was also opened for public access in January 1969. Though a 120-meter-long concrete tunnel does little to prepare you for the surprising world beyond. Formed several million years before the lower caverns, this section shows what the entire cave system was like before geological conditions displaced the subterranean river to its present level. Few caverns in the world approach the astounding wealth or the extent of those of Jeita. In these caves and galleries, the action of water and time has created cathedral-like vaults, mineral-stained stalactites and limestone roots supporting the wooded hills of Mount Lebanon. The perfect setting for an ELECTRONIC CONCERT-- of course. According to Karlheinz Stockhausen who also performed at this same location in November 1969 -- 'We had to lay a mile-long cable through the cave to reach the outside' and 'We had a hard time getting shortwaves there.' (they chose to perform 'Kurzwellen' ??) The first track on this CD, 'Jeita ou murmure des eaux', was originally released as an LP on the Philips Prospective 21st Century Silver Series in 1970. It is a 'remix' of sorts from recordings Bayle made within the Jeita cave system including excerpts of the actual concert. Thoroughly alchemical -- these 17 studies reinforce a main principle guiding much of the spirit of Musique concrete -- the sound object. What better way to appreciate sound in its original state -- a presence in the utter timelessness of a cave unfolding without regard to the changing external world. The second track 'L'infini du bruit' was recorded in the 80's and is previously unpublished. Audio graphite comes to mind. The last track 'Jeita -- Retour' is from 1985 and is a reworking of the original in recognition of the closing of the Jeita cave system due to the Lebanese war (it has since been reopened)." -Ashlie Taylor.
"One 22 minute piece from 1985, Bayle's entry to the recent series of EP's on INA-GRM. Bayle was the director of the GRM from 1966 until he retired in 1997 (when succeeded by Daniel Teruggi) to build his own 'digital/multiphonic' project room, The Magison Studio. He's considered by many to be the chief architect of the contemporary GRM sound, and has been amazingly prolific over the last 30 years (this is his 11th CD). Low-watt sonics with a high-gurgle factor mixed with more traditional acousmatic stylings." -Hrvatski.
"This is the seventh volume in the Acousmatrix series. In 1955, Luciano Berio and Bruno Maderna founded a Studio di Fonologia at a Milan radio station; it was the first electronic music studio in Italy. Berio became very active there, organizing concerts and also publishing a new music journal, both under the name Incontri Musicali. Berio explored the frontiers of sound, particularly vocal sound, thanks to his association with Cathy Berberian. She was willing and able to produce a remarkable variety of extended techniques with her voice, which she did with the utmost musicianship. Three pieces: 'Momenti,' 'Thema-Omaggio a Joyce' and 'Visage.' Bruno Maderna's celebrity in America was so short-lived that by 2004, Maderna's name was largely forgotten there, but not so in Europe, where he is yet regarded as one of the giants of post-war modernism. Two pieces: 'Le Rire' and 'Invenzione su una voce' feature Cathy Berberian." -Forced Exposure
"'Hanging above the audience, metal cans are linked to some strings of a piano frame by long steel wires (3 to 5 m.). Strings are excited by percussion, friction, magnetic fields and electric motors. First solo record from this musician/instrument builder from Liege, Belgium (after a collaboration CD of strange songs with Frederic le Junter and one long track on a Sub Rosa compilation), also collaborator of Arnold Dreyblatt for performances. You'll find the first part in a Dreyblatt style, a center part of layered and droning sounds (but without any effects) and a strong finale. Another very good step in the minimal exploration of one musical instrument." -Forced Exposure
"At ninety, the composer continues to produce formidable, trail-blazing symphonic works like 'Ice Field', which captured the Pulitzer last year. And his place in the history books is assured. Consider the specs: friend to Copland, Varèse, Antheil, Cowell and Partch, source of inspiration to scores of musicians worldwide, and the composer of over 100 strikingly original spatial works, a dozen of which incorporate truly massive ensembles. Nope, Brant looms large regardless. It's just that the scope and magnitude of Brant's work, its seemingly inexhaustible creative intensity, its expressive deployment of musicians in space, its fantastic combinations of tonal flavors, and, most importantly, its intrinsic listenability, would seem to make it a prime candidate for big-screen exploitation. As matters stand, though, Hollywood's denial is Innova's gain. It is with unbounded delight that we present the first installment of a great and glorious undertaking: a series of CDs featuring some of Brant's major works, most previously unreleased. The Henry Brant Collection, Volume 1, a deluxe 2-CD set featuring a pair of Brant's monumental works, 'Northern Lights Over the Twin Cities' (100 mins, 6 conductors) and 'A Plan of the Air' (25 mins, 2 conductors) provides a marvellous introduction to Brant's world." -Forced Exposure
"Let no-one say that Henry Brant, America's senior experimental composer, doesn't have a sense of humor. If Charles Ives had been into Monty Python it would not have reached the heights of epic grandeur and inspired lunacy heard on this second volume of Brant works. Here are three concertos: a triple concerto for Oberlin College's zaniest, a violin concerto for Daniel Kobialka (violin wizard of the San Francisco Symphony), and a double bass concerto for Lewis Paer (who has recorded for Steve Reich and Fame). 'Solar Moth' (a miracle of overdubbing technique whereby Brant himself plays most of the parts) creates some of the mothiest sounds ever heard, at least in this solar system. At the other underwater extreme, 'Ghost Nets' protests the destruction of marine life by driftnet fishing practices. Part Two of The Henry Brant Collection. Certified dolphin safe." -Forced Exposure
Three sets of tapes, birds, Cage 'singing' and environmental sounds organised in a - you know - complicated non-random random way way. Plus two extracts from an interview with the composer about the recording.
Recorded in 1976 at Mills college. Cage at the piano. A categorically tonal work, derived from SatieÕs Socrate. Nice packaging and documentation (by Blue Gene Tyranny). Another Cramps reissue.
"South African pianist and composer Chris McGregor led racially mixed Blue Notes in South Africa in the early 1960's. But touring and performing proved difficult, and tiring of continuous government harassment, in 1964 McGregor and the band's core members left their South African homeland. They settled in London in 1966 where they befriended many in the city's emerging avant-garde jazz community and made a huge impact on London's jazz scene. He founded the big-band Brotherhood of Breath in 1970. The Brotherhood was essentially The Blue Notes augmented by musicians of the English avant-garde jazz community. Combining the rhythms of African music with those of American big-band jazz and the free playing of British improv, it produced 'one of the most vital and life-affirming big-band jazz ever played by anyone, anywhere.' (BBCi). The Brotherhood released only a handful of recordings in their lifetime, and the band was rather forgotten, until Cuneiform released Travelling Somewhere in 2001, a 1973 radio broadcast, in 2001, which gained rave reviews. This release, Bremen to Bridgewater, contains two CDs of previously unreleased live recordings made in Germany and England during two very different periods of the band's career. The German radio recordings were made on June 20th, 1971 at Lila Uele, a well known jazz club in Bremen. The English recordings were made at the Bridgewater Arts Center, during two tours that the band made with different lineups in February and November of 1975, and feature some of the very last recordings of trumpeter Mongezi Feza, who died in December of that year. The band's lineups on these recordings are a veritable who's who of British free jazz, and include Harry Beckett, Marc Charig, Elton Dean, Nick Evans, Harry Miller, Louis Moholo, Mike Osborne, Evan Parker, Dudu Pukwana, Alan Skidmore, Gary Windo and others. In addition to the stunning music, this CD features a 12 page booklet with rare and beautiful photos and detailed liner notes by Francesco Martinelli". -Cuneiform
"South African born and raised pianist/bandleader Chris McGregor formed the racially mixed Blue Notes in the early 1960's, touring and trying to get by in extremely difficult political circumstances as best they could. By 1964, facing continuous government harassment, Chris & the Blue Notes fled their South African homeland, finally settling in London in 1966. They made a huge impact on London's jazz scene and befriended many in London's emerging avant-garde jazz community. By 1969, the Blue Notes had drifted apart. Not too long afterwards, Chris formed The Brotherhood Of Breath, which was essentially the Blue Notes, augmented by a large number of the friends that they had made in the British jazz community. The band toured constantly during their peak years of 1971-74, but they only released 3 albums in their lifetime. Traveling Somewhere was recorded at a well known jazz club in Bremen, Germany on January 19th, 1973 for radio broadcast, and is by far the best recorded live document of the Brotherhood. The 12 piece band is a who's who of many of the big names of British free jazz of the early/mid 1970's: Harry Beckett, Mark Charig & Mongezi Feza (trumpets), Nick Evans & Malcolm Griffiths (trombones), Mike Osborne, Evan Parker, Dudu Pukwana & Gary Windo (saxes), Chris McGregor (piano), Harry Miller (double bass) and Louis Moholo (drums). Called 'One of the truly legendary modern jazz big bands' by The Penguin Guide To Jazz On CD, Traveling Somewhere adds to the band's still growing legacy, and will bring their music to a new generation of fans." -Cuneiform
Pioneering works from the legendary Koln studio - founded in 1951 at one of Germany's major radio stations - that move through the early strict serial approach to synthetic materials into the many and different approaches to the sonic opportunities synthesis uncovered. Where Musique Concrète took all recordable sound as its instrument, Koln began with purely electronically generated sound - first using a trautonium and a melochord, and then simple tone generators, filters and primitive processing equipment. These pieces, mostly never released before in any form, represent according to one of the composers, a fair cross section of the work done at the studio between 1952 - 58 (with the exception of already famous works by Stockhausen, Kagel and Krenek). Represented are: Herbert Eimert, Robert Beyer, Gottfried Michael Koenig, Henri Pousseur, Franco Evangelisti, Györgi Ligeti, Karel Goeyvaerts, Paul Gredinger, Giselher Klebe and Herbert Brün. Excellent booklet notes.
Some of the most revered compositions of the twentieth century arose from the collaboration of composers and choreographers. Henry Cowell sought solutions that would treat both art forms with equal respect. Works on this disc -- the majority of which are recorded for the first time, many from unpublished manuscripts -- were composed for Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman (Dance of Sport), Bonnie Bird, and Martha Graham (Heroic Dance and Suite for Woodwind Quintet).
This is a Limited Edition of 1969 numbered copies, pressed into 180 gsm virgin vinyl and rather extravagantly packaged. The music was recorded in California in 1999 with guest Beth Custer (clarinet) on one track and carefully mastered by Tom Dimuzio in wide frequency, solid footprint, broad compass stereo. Though we waved goodbye to vinyl decades ago, we felt this release was made to be an LP - a CD just wouldn't be the same, sonically, visually or ontologically. And of course we took advantage of the exaggerated dimensions and physicality to make it a thing visually to savour. Off the groove, Dimuzio, Cutler, Frith and Custer do what they do and you get a ringside seat.
This is a Limited Edition of 1969 numbered copies, pressed into 180 gsm virgin vinyl and rather extravagantly packaged. The music was recorded in California in 1999 with guest Beth Custer (clarinet) on one track and carefully mastered by Tom Dimuzio in wide frequency, solid footprint, broad compass stereo. Though we waved goodbye to vinyl decades ago, we felt this release was made to be an LP - a CD just wouldn't be the same, sonically, visually or ontologically. And of course we took advantage of the exaggerated dimensions and physicality to make it a thing visually to savour. Off the groove, Dimuzio, Cutler, Frith and Custer do what they do and you get a ringside seat.
This is a Limited Edition of 1969 numbered copies, pressed into 180 gsm virgin vinyl and rather extravagantly packaged. The music was recorded in California in 1999 with guest Beth Custer (clarinet) on one track and carefully mastered by Tom Dimuzio in wide frequency, solid footprint, broad compass stereo. Though we waved goodbye to vinyl decades ago, we felt this release was made to be an LP - a CD just wouldn't be the same, sonically, visually or ontologically. And of course we took advantage of the exaggerated dimensions and physicality to make it a thing visually to savour. Off the groove, Dimuzio, Cutler, Frith and Custer do what they do and you get a ringside seat.
"Dhomont is one of the key historical figures in the INA GRM electroacoustic scene; the main document of his work to date is a double CD overview on INA in association with Empreintes Digitales in Montreal (Mouvances/Metaphores). This new release is a hi-fidelity speaker-ripping college of sound that Dhomont has put together utilizing material from composers such as Christian Calon, Yves Daoust, Stéphane Roy, Robert Normandeau and many others. It's as energetic and forceful and disruptive as anything to emerge from the this scene in years and highly recommended to anyone remotely interested in this stuff. 'A hybrid thing in four movements, made of cut-up pieces, pasted, assembled, sowed parts that are alike and contrasted, and that I have named for obvious reasons, the Frankenstein Symphony: an unusual electroacoustic adventure. Armed with a scalpel and a splicing (operational) block, I sampled several morphological organs from the works of 22 composers and friends (many of whom were students of mine), and with their imprudent blessings, brought to life this acousmatic monster which I hold particular close to my heart. The elements were chosen amongst the works according to their typo-morphological affinities or contrasts, and with formal considerations in mind. Though I often allowed myself to play layering games, mixing works together, never did I use filtering, internal editing, transpositions or processing on the sounds...In the end, this is only a game, with no other goal than to bring to light how astonishingly rich acousmatic music can be.' --Francis Dhomont." -Forced Exposure
This release is the third and last in a three part series. Volume One has been released in March 2005 inside a slipcase's limited edition. Volume Two and Three are released separately and packaged in individual standard jewel cases that will conveniently fit into the slipcase provided with Volume One. Dockstader describes the work in which he plays the radio, as if it were a musical instrument. He "...followed David Myers' suggestion to allow each piece to flow into the next - making a continuous journey to the end." This return of Dockstader is something to cherish, not just because his output has been so limited and scarce but because what we do have is so intriguing, persuasive and cliché-free; the music of an inspired explorer who trails in nobody's slipstream' - The Wire
"This release is the second (Vol. 2) in a 3 part series. Vol.1 has been released in March 2005 inside a slipcase. Vol 2 and 3 will be released separately and packaged in individual standard jewel cases that will conveniently fit into the slipcase provided with Vol.1. Volume 3 to be released early 2006. 'Definitely one of the best electroacoustic albums of 2005' -ALL-MUSIC GUIDE. ' Unequivocably awesome...Grand in scope, colossal in sound' -MIMAROGLU MUSIC.'One of the great figures of musique concrete composition' -DUSTED. 'Somewhere in the invisible night, the signal remains strong, broadcasting anew' -CITY PAGE. 'This return of Dockstader is something to cherish, not just because his output has been so limited and scarce but because what we do have is so intriguing, persuasive and cliche-free; the music of an inspired explorer who trails in nobody's slipstream' -THE WIRE". -Sub Rosa
The first, 25 minute, piece is closest to a hörspiel, with clear narrative content employing rich chords of military drums, contemporary melodies, an actress (discretely deployed), a horse drawn carriage and - above all - electronics to invoke the final journey of Louis to the Guillotine and the ghost of the glorious revolution. It's a substantial and satisfying piece. Passades explores the sonic possibilities of software that can slow, freeze-frame and reverse sound in the course of 6 studies which, while being different - and persuasive - share a kind of radiant stasis. A fine collection.
Back in print. Marcel reads, lectures and is interviewed by George Hamilton and painter Richard Hamilton, plus two of his scores, one for harmonium, one for three voices.
"Beautifully produced 5" hardcover book with 48 pages of notes & photos about Dufour's work (in French & English), with CD. The disc features 2 major Dufour pieces: "Douze Melodies Acousmatiques" (1988) and "Dix Portraits" (1984). "It is to answer Michel Chion's 'Dix Études de Musique Concréte' that Denis Dufour has composed the 'Twelve Acousmatic Melodies'. A such a title is needed to emphasize the passage from the art of making (which means the working on concrete matter) to the act of hearing (for the acousmatic listening involves the perception of acoustic and mental pictures deprived of their sources). The concept of melody is here extended to the size of the perceptive field allowed by the acousmatic vocabulary. Procession of images, collage of resonant objects, ghostly breath, all these by turns put on stage, piece into space, handled by the 'acousmatic sorcerer' whose quick interventions barely leave the ear enough time to adjust its perception. Through their kaleidoscopic series, the 'Twelve Acousmatic Melodies' supply also the elements of a portrait, image after image, the one of Dufour's resonant world which is built up with its colors, its quarters of shadow, its moods, and we always perceive the sensitive fiber which binds one to another in an unique constellation." -Forced Exposure
"English jazz saxophone legend Elton Dean has been in the public eye for over 30 years, & has played in numerous acclaimed groups over the years, including the Keith Tippett Group, Soft Machine and many others. This is the LONG awaited reissue on CD of Elton's very first solo album, recorded & released in 1971, while he was still a member of Soft Machine. In addition to the original album, we have added 25' of never heard bonus material, recorded live in 1972. The music on this release is a cross between the musical freedom that Elton's career would later take & more composed music comparable to Soft Machine's output". -Cuneiform
"Moorsong shows British jazz sax legend Dean entirely at home with an impressive range of jazz settings & styles. The CD begins with a swinging Hammond Organ-driven session. The latter part of Moorsong features spacier, more atmospheric sets, with the music more based on modes & drones. Moorsong shows Dean in top form throughout, exploring the varied topography of British jazz, with appeal to afficionados of jazz, fusion and free music alike". -Cuneiform
Krautrock legends, Faust are back with an unbelievable 4 disc live set. Recorded last year in the UK, it features many enduring Faust classics performed live for the very first time after all these years. The first two CDs in the set consist of an ideal recording of a complete and unedited show from the Carling Academy, Newcastle. The 3rd CD is a collection of tracks culled from other dates on the tour. The 4th disc is a DVD compiling the finest footage from the tour, which has been hailed as their best tour since Faust's reformation in 1992. This fantastic box set really captures a legendary band at the absolute top of their game and truly on fire! Includes a 32 page booklet and liner notes from Faust frontman JeanHerve Peron.
"Faust Wakes Nosferatu was composed as a sort of companion piece to the classic vampire film Nosferatu, and Faust's music runs the gamut from delicate, ambient minimalism to cacophonous rock passages". -Steve Huey, AMG
"Luc Ferrari is one of the most legendary musical figures of the twentieth century, whose work and aesthetic continue to influence several generations of contemporary composers. Among the founders and pioneers of the 'Groupe de Recherche Musicale', he is recognized to be alongside P. Schaeffer and P. Henry, one of the great masters of concrete music. He is also among the first to influence the 'musique concrète' with elements from other fields of electronic and acoustic music. Educated by Honegger and Messiaen, some steps, as an example the research work in Darmstadt or in Colony or the crucial meeting with Varèse, remain however fundamental. From Varèse, above all, Ferrari learned a fundamental lesson in his search: to consider and to accept the sounds 'for themselves'. The sounds must retain their own original identity, as an abstract quality. This has then been inserted in works in which the sound folds towards a form of narrative, and towards something, eventually, that has been called 'an imaginary musical story'. In this 'story' voices, sounds, orchestral sound, magnetic tape reach levels of extraordinary elaboration and effectiveness. Besides his work in the electronic and electro-acoustic area, Ferrari has composed instrumental music, ranging from solo for pianoforte, to works for orchestra that have obtained wide recognition. We also cannot forget his works for radio and television. As some have suggested, Luc Ferrari among many 'excellent' researchers holds an important position, because of his peculiar training, not academic, often ironic, that he declares to be characterized by 'intelligence, sensuality, extreme sonorous realism, not serious analytic ability, attention to social and the love for the good kitchen'. With recent publications with some labels (Tzadik by J.Zorn or Blue Chopsticks by D. Grubbs) L. Ferrrari is enjoying a deserved 'rebirth'). In the Milan concert L. Ferrari performed with Erikm, one of the most interesting musicians to work with new technologies." -Forced Exposure
"This is the second of three Sub Rosa releases of instrumental works by this important artist. Luc Ferrari is considered one of the most legendary musical figures of the twentieth century, whose work and aesthetic continues to influence several generations of contemporary composers. Director of the Groupe de Recherche Musicales which he established with Pierre Schaeffer in Paris from 1958-1966, he is also one of the masters of musique concrète who influenced and expanded the genre with electro-acoustic instrumentation. Right from the start, the idea had been to release three very different CDs: one hörspiel, one of concrete music (new and older pieces) and one CD of instrumental works. Les Anecdotiques was the first step: a vast sound-film of more than an hour that explores in 15 steps the intensity of re-composed sounds from his continual travel around the world, with electronic additional structures. This album is the second step -- one that offers a retrospective -- the previously unreleased 'Promenade Symphonique dans un Paysage Musical' from 1976-78, the final 'Presque Rien #4' and a fresh reflection dating from the last months of 2002, 'Saliceburry Cocktail,' a large-scale composition exploring the idea of hideout, scrambled listening -- a tortuous entanglement of concrète and electronic. The forthcoming third and final release will be three recent instrumental compositions for electronics, piano and viola which were recorded under Luc's supervision -- the last works he ever recorded, as he passed away in August 2005". -Forced Exposure
"Like a hidden relic from the far side of the Harry Smith catalog, these early 1960s recordings are a splendid collection of High lonesome hillbilly fiddle and ukulele instrumentals that are surely Henry Flynt's most articulated statements to date of his honest to god, true to life affinity and love for that dry earth choogaloo upper mountain lower boogaloo foot stomping folk music. Standouts include the acid fried 13th Floor Elevators-ish 'Sky Turned Red' and the 15 plus minute lazy zen epic hum and strum album closer, 'Blue Sky, Highway and Tyme'. No doubt, this is Appalachian bruit driving music bar none." -Forced Exposure
"Reissue of this long unavailable 1998 album, with new cover artwork. As surrealist painter, poet, novelist, audio experimenter, inventor of the Dream Machine, and favorite collaborator of William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin would influence the most creative minds of the '60s and '70s. In 1954, Gysin launched his 1001 Nights club in Tangier. In his mythic restaurant that stayed opened only a few months, Gysin invited the best traditional Moroccan musicians to perform all night long. The first CD of this document is what the lucky Western and Moroccan customers of the interzone could hear at the time: a varied selection of pure traditional and trance music (along with other Joujouka master musicians, Bachir Attar's father). Joujouka utilizes the technique of circular breathing backed by trance-inducing rhythms and sounds from the rhaita, reed flutes and small drums. A decade before Brian Jones brought this timeless music to the world, this is a unique document recorded by the inventor of the cut-up method himself, digitally remastered by Brion's recordings heir Ramuntcho Matta and includes Paul Bowles' exclusive introduction. The second volume of this double CD document is based on a spoken word tape called Dilaloo that is a precise description -- written and read in 1956 by Brion Gysin 'Master Brahim' himself -- of an initiation ceremony in the village of Jajouka. Ramuntcho added a quiet electronic music background generated by a computer algorithm program that he created in Gysin's random permutative spirit. Between the music of trance and the raw cry of being, we see the process of transformation at work. Trust your bones and put your faith in the Third Mind! Rare archives filed in the Aural Documents collection." -Forced Exposure
"1993 CD of Brion Gysin's songs, poems and stories, set to music by Ramuntcho Matta, performed by Gysin and Matta, with Don Cherry, Elli Medeiros, Steve Lacy, Lizzy Mercier Descloux & Carolline Loeb, Abdoulaye Prosper Niang, Polo Lombardo, etc. 'Album based on texts by the legendary American poet, painter and writer who has influenced two generations of artists. After a brief involvement with the Surrealists, Gysin was one of the first Anglo-Saxons who moved to Morocco in the early Fifties. He became a close friend of William Burroughs', and invented the cut-up technique, which was largely used by the author of The Naked Lunch throughout his work. Recorded shortly before his death in 86, this album is a unique document featuring Brion Gysin singing/rapping his own texts on music by Ramuntcho Matta." -Forced Exposure
"Originally devised as a performance for the Club Integral, in South London, at the height of the military activity, 'Switch on War' was a harsh and brutal response to the media coverage of the conflict informed by a grotesque and disconcerting anti-music aesthetic heavily influenced by the disorientating, overloaded sound world of Space Invaders arcades. The CD version was recorded binaurally some weeks later, live in a disused morgue, as the war came to its stalemate close. By this time the anger had a bleak streak of sadness, a distorted expressionist requiem. This CD had the life expectancy of a magazine article or some such, no more than a year and it would be archive, a mere souvenir". -Sub Rosa
"This is a truly stupendous archival find, with broad appeal to both jazz and early fusion fans. This never before released album was recorded on October 7th, 1969 by John Surman and British jazz superstars. It is a mix between the vibrancy of late 60's uk jazz and spacey early electric jazz/rock ala 'In A Silent Way'; listening to this album, you can hear that the fusion explosion is on the cusp of happening. Soprano/baritone saxophonist John Surman is one of the UK's best known jazzmen, having released 8 albums under his own name between 1968 - 1974 for mainstream labels such as Deram and Island. He was a member of John McLaughlin's final UK-based group, recording John's famous first solo album, Extrapolation with him in 1969, six months before recording Way Back When. Since the late 1970's, he has mostly recorded for the ECM label, recording dozens of albums as either the leader or as a sideman. 'In mid-October, 1969, I left the UK to meet up with bassist Barre Phillips and drummer Stu Martin to begin working with them as 'The Trio'. Before I left however, a few close friends and I held a sort of 'farewell' session in Tangerine Studios in London. On hand were drummer John Marshall, electric pianist John Taylor and Brian Odgers on bass guitar - later Mike Osborne appeared with his alto and joined us. Shortly after I left England, the studios closed down and, although a few test pressings were made, the original tapes got lost in the general confusion. Much to my surprise the masters had survived and were uncovered in 2003...what you are hearing accurately reflects the sound of the sixties...it offers genuine insight into some of the musical directions that were being explored at the end of that swinging decade in the UK.'-John Surman". -Cuneiform
Gendos Chamzyryn – Tim Hodgkinson – Ken Hyder For "Going Up" these musicians have superimposed performances from different occasions and places, some dating back to Hyder and Hodgkinson's initial trip to Siberia in 1990, but also concerts staged in Western Europe. These recordings, with their disparate acoustic properties, are overlaid and overlapped to form dense sonic thickets alive with action and event, palpably embedded in the multi-idimensional flux of the world and lived social structures. Human voices conversing, footfalls on frozen ground, a blackbird singing, the sound of the wind or water, the crackling of wood in a fire, audience applause - sounds from specific sites with their own peculiar resonance and significance leak through the K-Space mesh into the listening present.
The crucial thing is to hear and feel it. It's made for those of us who want listening to remain a real adventure and an ongoing process of discovery."-Julian Cowley-Wire Magazine
"Zbigniew Karkowski studied composition at the State College of Music in Gothenburg, Sweden, aesthetics of modern music at the University of Gothenburg's Department of Musicology, and computer music at the Chalmers University of Technology. After completing his studies in Sweden, he studied sonology for a year at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Den Haag, The Netherlands. During his education, he also attended many summer composition master courses arranged by Centre Acanthes in Avignon and Aix-en-Provence, France, studying with Iannis Xenakis, Olivier Messiaen, Pierre Boulez, and Georges Aperghis, among others. He works actively as a composer of both acoustic and electroacoustic music. He has written pieces for large orchestra (commissioned and performed by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra), plus an opera and several chamber music pieces that were performed by professional ensembles in Sweden, Poland and Germany. He is a founding member of the electroacoustic music performance trio 'Sensorband.' Karkowski has lived and worked in Tokyo, Japan for the past eight years, and is active in the underground noise scene there. Professionally active in contemporary, industrial, rock and experimental music for the last 15 years. One and Many: an ode to loudspeakers -- These life conditions lead to a radical conclusion: the traditional definitions of music are irrelevant and music theories and music as a cultural concept must be destroyed. That is what we find in his latest works, in which his main concern is to produce pieces out of electronic sounds and acoustic walls on scores developed from the architecture of ruins. His last opus called 'who am I' is the exact development of years of theories and practices. As many of Karkowski's pieces, this is a highly delicate yet physical work, which can be seen as an ode to loudspeakers". -Forced Exposure
"In what has become a cult holiday tradition, Phil Kline goes 'electronic caroling' through the streets of Greenwich Village with a parade of boomboxes. Creating a euphoric blend of otherworldly voices and bells, Kline's ambient clouds of sound emerge from choirs of boomboxes. This is the first recording of this 21st century ritual. A unique and engaging contribution to the history of holiday music, Unsilent Night makes a truly unusual gift. Phil Kline's musical activities range from being part of Glenn Branca's guitar ensemble to his more recent collaboration with Luc Sante to writing commissions for ensembles across the globe." -Forced Exposure
"Zippo Songs is a collection of deeply moving and intense songs featuring poetry inscribed on the cigarette lighters of American GIs during the Vietnam war. Kline has set these profound and often desperate poems with a calm and sacred spaciousness that echoes through the listener as if the soldiers themselves are singing to us from the afterlife. Coupled with songs set to texts by current US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Zippo Songs is Kline's fascinating and eloquent statement on war and politics of war, and a fresh and new take on the age-old tradition of the protest song. Phil Kline studied at Columbia University and Mannes College of Music, later founding the art punk band the Del-Byzanteens with filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, writer Luc Sante, and painter James Nares, and worked on film and video projects with artists such as Nan Goldin and Wim Wenders." -Forced Exposure
One of the key figures in electronic music development, though better known as an inventor, Le Caine did make pieces and some of the best are collected here. Some humorous and plunderphonic (happy birthday made from the scream in Berg's Lulu), some informative - demonstrations by Le Caine of his instruments and some just very entertaining or ear-turning. Echoes of Raymond Scott.
"Lokomotiv Konkret has existed since 1975 and is the catalyst of a new wave of Swedish free improvised music. Kein Aber was recorded live in Stockholm in 1994. The line up of the group is Dror Feiler on reeds, Sored Runolf on electric guitar and cello, and Tommy Bjork on drums and percussion. -Leo Records
"Another classic Lucier catalog item, a 45-minute recording made in 1991 of this piece that he first conceived in 1978. The piece is for: amplified clock, performer with galvanic skin response sensor and digital delay system. The sounds that emanate are beautifully shifting patterns of tock-collage that reveal dramatic sonic detailings. 'I wanted to make a work in which a performer could speed up and slow down time, stopping it, if possible, simply by thinking. I bought a Westclox Silver Bell Monogram in a local store and ordered a galvanic skin response sensor through the Edmund Scientific Catalogue. A GSR is designed to measure differences in skin resistance caused by changes in emotional state. A small current is sent through the body, the response to which is amplified, producing an output voltage which can be used to control various devices...later I added a bank of fixed delays which, as they splay out from the voltage controlled delay, create multiple reflections that almost convince the listener that the room is changing size." -Forced Exposure
"1990 CD reissue of prime-era Lucier product, with works from 1982-85. Features 'In Memoriam Jon Higgins (for clarinet in A and slow-sweep pure wave oscillator)', 'Septet for Three Winds, Four Strings and Pure Wave Oscillator', and 'Crossings (for small orchestra with slow-sweep pure wave oscillator)'. Said slow-sweep pure wave oscillator produces slowly swept pure waves that oscillate (on separate occasions) a clarinet, three winds and four strings, and a small orchestra. Maximum beat frequency heterodyning, often at an audible pitch. Similar acoustic phenomena as Tony Conrad/Penderecki string work and just as aurally stimulating (for those with lazy ear-ciliae)." -Forced Exposure
"Three new pieces for piano soloist with accompanying pure wave oscillation. Titles: 'Music for Piano with Slow Sweep Pure Wave Oscillators' (performed/composed for Marilyn Nonken), 'On the carpet of leaves illuminated by the moon' (performed/composed for Ryuko Mizutani), and 'Still Lives' (performed/composed for Joseph Kubera). All pieces exhibit Lucier's unique take on performance-environment concepts. Quiet, melancholy, rather soothing. Gaining age with grace I suppose."-Forced Exposure
"Double CD release of of a four-part work, initiated in 1972 and recorded as presented here in 1983/4 and 2001. This reissues 2 long o/p LPs on Lovely, with 4 added parts released for the first time. A series of mostly solo instrument works for the likes of: clarinet, marimba, viola, voice, xylophone, violin, flute, glockenspiel, cello, horn, vibraphone. Performed by: Thomas Ridenour, William Winant, Dan Panner, Rebecca Armstrong, Conrad Harris, Susan Palma, Gregory Hesslink, James de Corsey. An absolute masterpiece of 'interference sound' ". -Forced Exposure
PAL ONLY (Will play in all computers) In a Limited Edition of 500 copies in North America, this DVD comes in a threefold art DVD case with a full colour 48 page book offereng substantial exegetical essays (in English and Italian) by Tim Hodgkinson and Sebastiano Giacobello) and additional artwork by Ale Sordi and Ester Curcio. It s is a fully integrated electronic composition/animation exploring and aestheticising the contemporary fact of the digital unification of visual and aural data.
This whole work is based on satellite images of our planet. We are overrun by this type of "gaze" which reaches the outer limits of the stratosphere and then turns to look back on ourselves and our 'geographies' (like looking down through the eyes of the Divine, God's)... and furthermore without recognising anything; the micro and macro having become the same. This technological extension is completely optimised to map out the globe (a form of outlining territories), to be able to 'find' each thing, each address, one's own home (as if we were 'losing' it). It doesn't take long to realise that once the curiosity has worn off (after inviting us to recognise the places we have visited, like our friends' houses) we can then just marvel at that 'other' beauty, those unrecognisable colours and strange shapes on our earth (everything seems to contain all of this century's history of painting). These images of our planet, multiplying during the "eco-debate" era, seem to darkly foresee (what is in fact a certainty) its disappearance, the irreversible pollution (which brings to mind the coincidence between the arrival of hi-fi for sound diffusion and music recording and the overall drop of all civilisation's technological and contemporary industrial environmental acoustics). In brief, a "discussion" about the planet, cosmos, God and the transfiguration of the "technological whole".
"An important new musical work, Meredith Monk's eighth ECM recording is released just prior to the 60th birthday of the composer. For almost 40 years, the great interdisciplinary artist has been overturning categories, transcending the limitations of any of the idioms. 'Mercy' was first unleashed in America as a multi-media stage work which Monk realized together with noted installation artist Ann Hamilton. The album, though, is far more than a 'soundtrack'. Not only did some of the music predate the stage work - incorporating several pieces that Meredith had written before joining forces with Hamilton - the stage material has been rigorously rearranged with "many changes, compressions, expansions of forms." Meredith's Monk's work touches on so many areas, but at the heart of it is singing, exploring the human voice in all its possibilities. Her innovations in what is now called 'extended vocal technique' have been enormously influential. When she began her vocal pioneering, in 1965, this area was largely unexplored. Since then echoes of Monk's work can be heard across the genres, influencing artists as diverse as Joan La Barbara and Kate Bush, Laurie Anderson and Björk (whose current live set includes Meredith's 'Gotham Lullaby')".-ECM
"3CD boxset highlighting thriller/suspense soundtracks of Ennio Morricone: OST Una Lucertola Con La Pelle Di Donna, OST Il Gatto A Nove Code, OST Gli Occhi Freddi Della Paura." -Forced Exposure
"Repackging of previous Dagored albums, 3 jewel cased CDs in a heavy cardboard box. "3CD boxset highlighting the groovy, swinging soundtracks of Morricone: OST Le Foto Proibite Di Una Signora Per Bene, OST La Donna Invisibile, OST Slalom." -Forced Exposure
"Previously unreleased recordings, made 1964-68. Different realizations than those featured on the Columbia LP Electronics and Percussion -- Five Realizations from '68 (available on the Japanese Sony CD SICC 79). "The term 'New York School' refers to a circle of composers in the 1950's who orbited around John Cage: Morton Feldman, Earle Brown, Christian Wolff and David Tudor above all. Their music paralleled the music and events of the Fluxus group, and drew its name from the New York School of mostly Abstract Expressionist painters who had got their start in the 40's: Motherwell, Pollock, de Kooning, Rothko, Kline. What brought these artists together was a faith in the liberation of the unconscious and an excitement drawn from the street energies of Manhattan. This compact disc offers multiple realizations by the solo percussionist Max Neuhaus of scores by three key members of the New York School: Earle Brown (three realizations of 'Four Systems - For Four Amplified Cymbals', recorded between 1964 and 1968), Morton Feldman (three realizations of 'King of Denmark', recorded between 1965 and 1968) and John Cage (one realization '64 and two realization '65 of 27'10.554'). All three composers conformed to the ethos of the 60's, not to the blend of hippie mysticism and pop commercialism that defined that decade towards its end, but to a broader notion of personal liberation. In this context Max Neuhaus was allowed to express himself, to revel in timbral color (including the use of electronics, as in the amplification of the cymbals in the Brown performances, or in the use of a FM tuner, of a self-built electronic mini-instrument or of a tape with concrete sounds in the Cage performances) and in giddy dialogues between notated compositional intention and performed expression. Each of the realizations on this disc is a valid response to the scores, yet each is different, almost a new piece of music. This edition includes a 16 pages booklet with original photos and concert programs, Max Neuhaus' own comments on the original scores, an editorial note by John Rockwell, reviews by Malcolm Goldstein and Theodore Strongin." -Forced Exposure
"Four previously unreleased realizations of 'Zylus' (different recordings than the one featured on the Columbia LP Electronics and Percussion -- Five Realizations (CD: SICC 79). Recorded 1959-68. 'Zyklus' was written in 1959 and is one of the first solo pieces to utilize such a large number of percussion instruments (twenty one). When Neuhaus first started to play this piece there were only three percussionists in the world who could play it. Stockhausen's idea was that a performer would play the piece spontaneously, making its complex decisions on the fly. No one played it this way; it was too difficult. Everyone wrote out his own version of the score and played from it. Coming from the world of jazz, Neuhaus decided he wanted to take up the challenge of playing it spontaneously. At that time percussionists generally played only one instrument at a time. Playing twenty one simultaneously was unheard of. Neuhaus quickly realized that the only way to do it, in fact, was to think of all them together as just one instrument, one multi-surfaced bank of timbre. Neuhaus decided to travel to Europe and go to Darmstadt where Stockhausen was teaching. He wanted to talk to him about the piece. Stockhausen was interested in the idea that the twenty one instruments had to be physically formed into one instrument and that so much work had been done already. So he offered Neuhaus the big opportunity to perform 'Zyklus' on the first American tour. Stockhausen came over to New York to hear Neuhaus play, but he wasn't satisfied with the improvisation version. It was too long. Neuhaus was determined to teach himself how to do it for this tour. He had another six months. He got down to seven minutes; and he was still improvising, not writing it out. He was ready to play that piece, and played it like nobody had ever heard it before. Each of these four recordings is a document of a true solo performance, one person and two hands, with no additional live help and no overdubbing. This CD also offers four different kinds of beauty, four proofs that the latitude that Stockhausen allowed, when capitalized on by a performer with creative imagination, could validate Stockhausen as a composer and an entire aesthetic of freedom and control. This edition includes a 12 pages booklet with original photos of both official concerts and performances for invited audiences, Max Neuhaus' own comments on the original score and an editorial note by John Rockwell."-Forced Exposure
Microtonalists perform with Harry Partch instruments Harry's great Castor and Pollux and new pieces for the instruments by harpist Anne Lebaron, Elizabeth Brown and Dean Drummond (assistant to HP and performer w/ HP's ensemble). Please check first
In 1977, the death of Beate Nitsch drove Hermann into an unequivocal depression. It only logical, that his strongest and most powerful aktionen is dedicated to his wife. It is also a crucial point in the development of his art. Before, Hermann Nitsch's music was basically released as a wall of noise. The musicians could play what they wanted and the only instruction was to play as loud as possible. Only the duration, the starting point and the noise level of each instrument was fixed. For the first time with the Requiem, Nitsch started to conceive longer tone clusters, especially for the wind instruments. The perfect acoustics of the church with its wonderful organ, which shocked Nitsch with its intensity and power, suggested him a new direction in music. Among the lucky audience were many friends coming from all over the world to witness the event. For everyone the Requiem was an important and ecstatic experience. The big success of the aktion gave Nitsch the strength to continue his work. For the first time, this 2CD edition, in tri-folded digipack, reproducing the impossible-to-find 3LP art gallery edition issued in Naples in 1977 for the Radiotaxi series, is available, including a 12-page folded insert with drawings and directions from the LP box set original graphics. This edition also includes a 32-page shocking full color photo documentation of the aktion, available for the first time, and only consists of 1000 copies.
Clara Rockmore, Olivier Messiaen, Pierre Schaeffer, John Cage, Herbert Eimert/Robert Beyer, Otto Luening, Hugh Le Caine, Louis and Bebe Barron, Oskar Sala, Edgard Varese, Richard Maxfield, Tod Dockstader, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Vladimir Ussachevsky, Milton Babbit, MEV, Raymond Scott, Steve Reich, Pauline Oliveros, Joji Yuasa, Morton Subotnick, David Tudor, Terry Riley, Holger Czukay, Luc Ferrari, Francois Bayle, Jean-Claude Risset, Iannis Xenakis, La Monte Young, Charles Dodge, Paul Lansky, Laurie Spiegel, Bernard Parmegiani, David Behrman, John Chowning, Maryanne Amacher, Robert Ashley, Alvin Curran, Alvin Lucier, Klaus Schulze, Jon Hassell, Brian Eno. Aside from a couple of names on this list (which are like shards of glass in a succulent pudding) these are seminal and classic works. Please look at the list again, and then glance at the price.'nuff said.
"As the conflicts and divisions in American society deepened in the mid-'60s, Phil Ochs sharpened his songwriting pen on 1965's 'I Ain't Marching Anymore' to deliver some of the most passionate and pointed protest songs of the decade. WIth topics ranging from American militarism, civil rights, labor struggles and the Vietnam War, the album may sound dated...or maybe not. Includes 'I Ain't Marching Anymore; In the Heat of the Summer; Draft Dodger Rag; That's What I Want to Hear; That Was the President; Iron Lady; The Highwayman; Links on the Chain; Hills of West Virginia; The Men Behind the Guns; Talking Birmingham Jam; Ballad of the Carpenter; Days of Decision', and 'Here's to the State of Mississippi'". -Collector's Choice Music
"Recorded between 1962 and 1964, The Broadside Tapes 1 is a perfect showcase for Ochs' unique emotion, humor, and political perspective. This set features one of the most compelling voices of the '60s topical song movement performing 16 original songs, one with Eric Andersen. Produced by Paul Kaplan". -Smithsonian Folkways
The long awaited soundtrack of the Ghostdance music and dance collaboration between Oliveros and Paula Josa-Jones, commissioned by Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors. Performed by: Pauline Oliveros (accordion/EIS), David Gamper (djembe/EIS) & Julie Lyon Rose (voice/EIS). "The Expanded Instrument System (EIS) used in this recording is an evolving electronic sound processing environment dedicated to providing improvising musicians control over various interesting parameters of electronic transformation of their acoustic instruments. Performers each have their own setup which includes their delay and ambiance processors, microphones, signal routing and mixing, and a computer which translates and displays control information from foot pedals and switchs." -Forced Exposure
"Before Sampling, there was analog tape, and...Bob Ostertag's Getting A Head with Fred Frith and Charles K. Noyes. An underground classic of tape manipulation from before the days of samplers. Best known for his work with computers, here a young Ostertag plays an instrument consisting of a highly unstable and peculiar recording system, which uses helium balloons to hold up tape loops between three tape recorders made to malfunction in a variety of ways. Even today there is no computer that can do quite what this contraption does. Ostertag uses this rather sculptural and bizarre contraption to manipulate the brilliant guitar playing of Fred Frith, and the elusive percussion work of Charles K. Noyes. Originally released 21 years ago as an LP on Rift, the 1,000-copy run quickly disappeared into the abyss of the collectors item." -Forced Exposure
Troublemaker, prankster, collaborator with Cage and Stockhausen, Fluxus alumnus Paik has here for the first time some of his recorded work released on a CD . Includes Hommage a John Cage (for tape and piano) and Study for piano and Simple (1958-60) both of which are in effect, classic early tape-works - incorporating plenty of stolen - sorry, referential - audio material. Plus Prepared Piano for Merce Cunningham (1977) a live performance by Paik for detuned piano and voice, and Duetti (as above but with Takis duetting on his metal sculptures). An historic release, very nicely presented.
"This newly remastered reissue marks a welcome return to the catalog of the first volume of the classic 4-CD collection that was formerly available on the CRI label. The works recorded on this disc span the first six years of what Harry Partch (1901-1974), slightly tongue-in-cheek, called the 'third period' of his creative life. They show him moving away from the obsession with 'the intrinsic music of spoken words' that had characterized his earlier output (the vocal works of 1930-33 and 1941-45) and towards an instrumental idiom, predominantly percussive in nature. This path was to take him through the 'music-dance drama' King Oedipus (1951) -- the culmination of his 'spoken word' manner -- to the 'dance satire' The Bewitched (1954-55), in which his new percussive idiom manifests itself. The three works on this disc show Partch before, during, and after this period of transition. In their quiet, forlorn way, the Eleven Intrusions are among the most compelling and beautiful of Partch's works. The individual pieces were composed at various times between August 1949 and December 1950, and only later gathered together as a cycle. Nonetheless they form a unified whole, with a nucleus of eight songs framed by two instrumental preludes and an essentially instrumental postlude. Although foreshadowed by the dance sequences of King Oedipus, the Plectra and Percussion Dances (1952) are the first of Partch's major works to be wholly instrumental in conception. The final work on this disc is Ulysses at the Edge, written at Partch's studio at Gate 5 in July 1955. Ulysses, which Partch describes as a 'minor adventure in rhythm,' is unique among his mature compositions in that, in its original form, it did not call for any of his own instruments." -Forced Exposure
"2005 remaster, from original mono master tapes (recorded in 1957). 'The Bewitched' was Partch's first work solely intended for dance (and mime-dance at that; he was not overly enamored in his lifetime of so-called 'modern dance'). Drawing heavily from his deep affection for the music-theatrical performance traditions of Greek theater, as well as those from Africa, Bali, and Chinese opera, Partch conceived of a contemporary American music ritual-theater where musicians not only play, but also function at times as movers-singers-actors. Such is the case of The Bewitched, where the instruments are the set, in front of (and around) which dancers 'dance,' but where the onstage musicians also move and sing. Partch's masterpiece has been lovingly remastered from the original mono masters and the 24-page booklet includes never-before-published photographs from productions of The Bewitched. This is the definitive document of this very important work.' 'The Bewitched is in the tradition of world-wide ritual theatre. It is the opposite of specialized. I conceived and wrote it in California in the period 1952-55, following the several performances of my version of Sophocles' Oedipus. In spirit, if not wholly in content, it is a satyr-play. It is a seeking for release --through satire, whimsy, magic, ribaldry -- from the catharsis of tragedy. It is an essay toward a miraculous abeyance of civilized rigidity, in the feeling that the modern spirit might thereby find some ancient and magical sense of rebirth. Each of the 12 scenes is a theatrical unfolding of nakedness, a psychological strip-tease, or -- a diametric reversal, which has the effect of underlining the complementary character, the strange affinity, of seeming opposites.' -- Harry Partch." -Forced Exposure
"Finally, the major missing piece of the Partch discography has been reissued! "To mark the 25th anniversary of the composer's death (on September 4, 1974), and just in time for his centenary (June 24, 2001), Delusion of the Fury, the monumental work of ritual-theater that propelled Harry Partch into the limelight, is being released on CD. Originally recorded for Columbia Masterworks and long-since out of print, Innova, in conjunction with Sony Music Special Products, has reissued this central item of American musical history. With the appearance of this recording, the complete works of Harry Partch (1901-1974), one of the most important of American artists, are available for the first time (the remaining works are published largely by innova's Enclosure series and the CRI Partch Collection). Like composer Conlon Nancarrow, Partch had to wait until late in life for his radical contributions to the arts to receive wide attention. With the 1969 production of Delusion he was 'discovered', idolized, and gurufied, as a 43-tone-to-the-octave, ex-hobo, eccentric, maverick, iconoclastic instrument-builder, and a 'philosophic music-man seduced into carpentry.' Hippy hyperbole notwithstanding, Partch was a genuine far-out radical whose time has come. Again. Delusion of the Fury is a 72' totally-integrated, corporeal, microtonal, elemental work of ritual theater, incorporating almost all of Partch's hand-built orchestra of sculptural instruments. Using mime, dance, music, vocalizations, lighting, and costume, Partch presents two tales concerning reconciliation of life and death, one after a Japanese Noh drama, the other after an Ethiopian folk tale. The video release Enclosure Four: Harry Partch (Innova 404) features the film version of Delusion, but this is the first time that the high-quality stereo sound version is available on CD. Perhaps the most astonishing, seductive and compelling of Partch's works, Delusion stands as the 'Choral Symphony' or 'Ring Cycle' do to other composers: a culminating testament to a lifetime of 'doing your own thing.' The 16-page illustrated booklet features Partch's introduction and a new text by conductor Danlee Mitchell." -Forced Exposure
"The fifth part of The American Composer's Forum series chronicling the life and work of Harry Partch (1901-74), one of America's most extraordinary, yet central, composers. Partch was a self-taught musician, eclectic visionary, instrument-builder, microtonal theorist, gay, sometime-hobo, who conceived and composed a Corporeal, integrated, ancient ritual theater. Enclosure Five is a 3-CD set focussing on Partch's works inspired by ancient Greece. It includes important works published here for the first time, reissues of out-of-print recordings, and new performances. With this issue, the entirety of Partch's recorded ouevre (with one exception) is publicly available for the first time. Taken with the rest of the Enclosures series and the Harry Partch Collection on CRI, we can now begin to assess Partch's whole output. Works include: A reissue of 'Ulysses at the Edge' with Jack Logan playing the trumpet part originally intended for Chet Baker; 'Revelation in the Courthouse Park (after The Bacchae of Euripides),' in its original version recorded at the University of Illinois in 1960 and excerpted on Partch's own Gate Five records; 'King Oedipus,' the culmination of Partch's Speech-Music period, in its original version using the translation by W.B. Yeats. Although Partch considered this his most important work (it took 19 years to write) and an excellent performance (featuring the incomparable Allen Louw as Oedipus), it was never released because of a permission dispute; Miscellaneous short Speech-Music works: 'By the Rivers of Babylon' (reorchestrated from the version heard on Enclosure Two); 'Come Away, Death' from the lost collection, December 1942. This work, for voice and guitar, appears in with the work by Douglas Moore that inspired Partch's own setting; and 'Minuet,' a curious Baroque duet performed by Partch and his then-student, Ben Johnston; 'The Bewitched (A Dance Satire)' in a 1980 recording from Cologne featuring an extraordinary performance and recording of this major Partch work (produced by Kenneth Gaburo for the Berlin Festival, with Danlee Mitchell, music director and Isabelle Tercero as The Witch). Partch's own spoken introductions to two of the works are included as well as an extensive booklet. The Enclosures series, named after Partch's last contemplated work and released on the Innova Recordings label of the American Composers Forum, is the culmination of a 13-year endeavor by Dr. Philip Blackburn, a Minnesota-based composer, performer, administrator and scholar. Inspired by Partch's pioneering spirit and dearth of published materials, Blackburn worked with the Harry Partch Foundation, colleague Kenneth Gaburo, and many others to bring Partch's singular voice to the public, attempting to 'let Harry speak for himself.'" -Forced Exposure
Louis Pernot: Baroque Lute This is the first recording of the seventeenth-century masterpiece, "The Book of Perrine". It comprises some of the most beautiful pieces exclusively written for baroque lute by Ennemond Gaultier, professor to the Queen of France, and his equally notable cousin, Denis. Much of the score was lost until quite recently, and the French, master lutenist, Louis Peron, has worked tirelessly for the past decade to perfect its performance. The historical importance of this disc to the world of classical music cannot be overstated. (Really, I'm not worthy ! – Dave K.). Maestro Pernot, a Protestant Minister who holds PHD's in both philosophy and engineering, was the star pupil of master lutenist, Antoine Geoffrey-Dechaume. He is also a lerned scholar of theology, Hebrew and Ancient Greek. Prior to this recording, EMI Records chose him to be the lute master for their box set, "A Treasury of Bach", and he was the featured artist on Universal's recording of Gaultier's "Devine Rhetoric", another historic, first recording.
"Created in 1977 for the Centre Pompidou foundation on the stage of Paris's Beaubourg, at the instigation of Luciano Berio, 'Liège à Paris' is a fifteen-part composition lasting one hour, where Henri Pousseur takes us on voyage of exploration, mixing the voices of travellers of divers languages and accents, with the sounds of planes, trains, the atmosphere of streets and Iranian restaurants, noises of every sort, cries, ritournellos, nursery rhymes, fragments of former compositions ('Trois visages de Liège', 1961) - a polyphonic story through with the voice (and texts) of Michel Butor - leaving Paris for a world air tour..." -Sub Rosa
"This is the fourth Henri Pousseur CD in Sub Rosa's Early Electronics series, exploring the work of this Belgian theoretician and experimental/avant garde composer. Along with previous releases in this series, Musique Mixte will cover all his electronic music and his most radical works between 1953 and 1988 -- 35 years of research and experiments. These recordings are a continuation of Sub Rosa's earlier releases, namely: Liège à Paris (a piece composed thanks to Luciano Berio and premiered at the grand opening of the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, in 1977), the 8 Études Paraboliques box set (over 220 minutes of music realised in Cologne, 1972, at the WDR's studios -- the last étude featuring Stockhausen's participation) and 4 Parabolic Mixes, (four takes on the work by Henri Pousseur himself, Robert Hampson, Philip Jeck and Markus Popp). The two pieces featured on Musique Mixte (voice, pianos, various electroacoustic devices) are magnum opuses in Pousseur's body of work, though they are seldom heard - 'Jeu de Miroirs de Votre Faust' has been unavailable for a long time, while 'Crosses of Crossed Colors' is released here for the first time ever. 'Already for 'Couleurs croisées,' my initial idea was to add an amplified voice to the orchestra, a voice that could stand up to it and would clarify and explain the meaning of the piece, in the form of a black Baptist minister-style preach. So, besides the voice ('black,' if possible), we have: five pianos, whose assembled parts re-use almost all the harmonic-rhythmic contents of the orchestral piece.' --Henri Pousseur" -Forced Exposure
A signature collection of exquisite works for onde Martinot and piano by Olivier Messiaen, N'Guyen Thien Dao, Jacques Charpentier and Tristan Murail, exploring the many voices of this extraordinary instrument. The onde (or ondes musicales or le Martenot) was first demonstrated at the Paris Conservatoire in 1928 and immediately attracted the attention of Varese, Milhaud, Koechlin, Jolivet, Honegger and Messiaen, who all wrote for it - cumulatively ensuring its survival. Although only a year younger than the theremin, the onde is a far more sophisticated, complex and versatile instrument, not least because of the combination it offers of pitched and glissando tones, and the wide range of filters and different resonating media through which it can sound: loudspeakers, gongs, sympathetic resonating strings and reverberant enclosures. The compositions here exploit every unearthly aspect of the instrument and are beautifully performed: a remarkable and exquisite collection.
2 CDs in a hard bound 148 page (colour) book, beautifully illustrated and laid out, well documented. What to say about this extraordinary document? Raymond Scott, best known as a bandleader and composer whose quintet performed fast and furious pieces - many of which found their way into Bugs Bunny cartoons - was also an inventor and pioneer of electronic instruments (Sequencers, Bass line Generator, Elektronium, Clavivox, Bandito the bongo artist), ran electronic R&D for Motown and produced a significant amount of electronic music for soundtracks, commercials, demonstration purposes - and for the hell of it. Many of the pieces painstakingly assembled here have never been heard outside Scott's studios. Musical content. Stranger than Negativland, stranger than fiction are the real commercial's of the late 50's and early 60's that were the bread and butter work of Manhattan Research, making much of this collection more post modern than post modern. I mean some of these pieces are deeply odd, others breathtakingly kitschy. And so much great copy-writing. A minute is the average length. Sometimes Raymond talks about the pieces (from lectures). It says a lot about the "future" as conceived in the late 50's and early 60's. Then there are demonstration recordings, work tapes and experimental extracts featuring some of RS's many invented electronic instruments (he designed the first sequencer in 1960 - way ahead of the game - which like another great pioneer, Les Paul, he first kept to himself. Then there are short film soundtracks and instrumental pieces - in the Forbidden Planet vein (or even electro-poppy) rather than art-electronic, but still using state of the art technology and techniques. So much that seems contemporary is already stated here, and sometimes what is achieved is up to and beyond any art electronics of the period. Still the approach is always popular, if sometimes warped. This collection hits on so many levels- musical, experimental, sociological, historical that it is impossible to exaggerate it's importance. And it makes great listening. The book is superb and the research impressive. This is a thing of beauty, of history and of strangeness. It's not stunning but it is incomparable- a glimpse into one eccentric life. Priceless. And cheap.
"The fourth in our Soft Machine archival series. Backwards is comprised of recordings from three different and interesting eras of the band: First on the CD is a recording of the quartet from May, 1970, made just about the time that the band had finished recording their Third album. The recording is mono, but the sonic quality is superb; this may be the single finest recording of the quartet version of the band, surpasing even their official studio relases. Next is two performances from November, 1969, featuring the septet version of Soft Machine. Since the only other available material by this version of the band is 20' of BBC recordings, this is an invaluable addition to the band's recorded legacy. Lastly there is Robert Wyatt's original demo of 'Moon In June', which would eventually appear on Third. The first half of this demo version was recorded in the USA in the fall of 1968, after Soft Machine had disbanded after their 2nd US tour, but before the band reformed for their 2nd album. Then, in 1969, the trio version of Soft Machine recorded the ending to their piece, and spliced on the final half". -Cuneiform
"The Soft Machine line-up of Elton Dean, Hugh Hopper, John Marshall and Mike Ratledge lasted under half a year and recorded just one half of an album (side two of '5'). Live in Paris is a rare recording of this quartet during that lineup's final days; Dean left Soft Machine later that month. It is also a special, rare example of a Soft Machine concert recorded and released in its entirety. Live in Paris shows Soft Machine playing in top form. The tracklisting consists of works from 'Third' and '5' in often significantly different versions, as well as several piece not recorded elsewhere. This excellent quality release - formerly released as 'Live In France' on another label - is taken from the less than 2 dozen shows performed by this version of the band, and shows that despite such a short life, that this version of the quartet definitely had their own style and sound". -Cuneiform
"Noisette was recorded January 4th, 1970, by the short-lived quintet formation of the group: Elton Dean & Lyn Dobson-reeds, Hugh Hopper-bass, Mike Ratledge-keyboards & Robert Wyatt-drums & vocals. Noisette showcases a band in transition from their earlier psychedelic/progressive sound towards the jazz rock sound of Third & Fourth. It features the quintet performing versions of material from their 1st two albums as well as material not available on their studio albums. Mastered directly off of the 30 year old 15ips master tapes, this release boasts superb live sound for the time period, & includes rare, unseen photos and liner notes by Aymeric Leroy". -Cuneiform
"This is previously unreleased studio recordings recorded in mid 1969 by the 'classic' Soft Machine trio line-up of Hugh Hopper, Mike Ratledge and Robert Wyatt. These heavily manipulated/looped/etc. recordings were originally presented as the backdrop to a multi-media work entitled Spaced. After it's week-long performance, the tapes were forgotten for over 25 years until rediscovered by Mike King. These recordings feature the band at their most radical, & while they would never again use the studio in such an extreme fashion, the work done here definitely influenced later works such as Third & Hugh's 1984. With liner notes by Hugh & Bob Woolford. 'Fantastic archival release...showing them at their most experimental, tranced-state ever, an organically looped masterpiece of sound construction...' -Forced Exposure". -Cuneiform
"This is a previously unreleased show recorded 3/23/71 by the classic quartet Softs (Elton Dean/Mike Ratledge/Hugh Hopper/Robert Wyatt) during their final European tour & just 4 months before their dissolution. The recording (licensed from German radio & taken from the master tapes) is superb for the time period, & the performance really sparkles, with everyone shinning. With versions of all the tracks from Fourth, most of Third and much more, this 78' release, which captures the entire concert, is absolutely essential for any fan". -Cuneiform
Two related classic Saturn LP reissues on a single CD, both recorded at the Detroit Jazz Centre - in 1980 and 1981 respectively. They share an excellent sound quality and great playing - there's a classic version of Rocket No.9 and plenty of otherworldly Moog and electronic keyboards - up there with Ra's best on record. Rocket excepted, all the pieces are original to these LPs and don't appear elsewhere, though the first track of Purple Star Zone is heard again at the end, with another name (exactly as it was on the 2 LPs), so it was clearly much liked by the boss. These were 10 -14 piece bands, featuring the regulars, including June Tyson, and some visiting guests. The first LP features prominent electric guitar (not identified in the personnel list on the CD - but every listing I've seen for these LPs is different; this one should be fairly accurate in general, since the promoter helped to get the CD together). A fine release, touched with greatness. And with a good sound. Comes in the usual elaborate gatefold digipack covers for which the Artyard label is justly praised.
From the Unheard Music series, a luminous document from formative period of the Arkestra while they were resident at the Wonder Inn in Chicago (1960). There are 7 tracks from there and 10 from a concert at Majestic Hall (also Chicago) in the same year. The band for both includes Gilmore, Allen and Boykins but the rest of the lineup changes. There are 6 players at the Wonder Inn and 8 at the Majestic. The recording at the Wonder Inn (the stuff of legend and long thought lost) has a fabulous open, relaxed quality, rough but clear. You can hear the room, and a time separate from the playing (I'm not going to try to explain that). Material includes Ra compositions and two Gershwin Songs - and great audience and bar ambience. Serious Ra fans need this recording.The Majestic sound is fuller and more lush (as are the band arrangements) with more Ra originals. It's less experimental and more of a performance. And it's more safely jazz too, great soloing but less of the radical strangeness of the Wonder Inn. With thorough, informed and exemplary booklet notes by John Corbett. An important document.
Nidhamu & Dark Myth Visitation Equation complete the Egypt trilogy. Most remarkable is 'Nidhamu' (the second release of the series, half recorded at the Balloon Theatre, the other half at Hartmut Geerken's house in Heliopolis) - a remarkable document: austere and very out there. Electric keyboards and an eerie 'Discipline No.11'set the scene, and after some solo Moog there's a spooky miniature 'Discipline No.15' introducing another long Moog and keyboards solo: 35 pretty abstract minutes that just slip by. 'Dark Myth Visitation Equation' follows (this was the first LP release, and has also been known as Sun Ra in Egypt Vol 1 and Nature's God). The first tracks are from the Cairo TV broadcast and the whole collection features more familiar groove-based pieces characteristic of the period, interspersed with Moog and electric keyboard solos. June Tyson reappears for 'To Nature's God' and the highly eccentric 'Why go to the Moon?'
This was recorded live at the Festival de Musique Actuelle in Canada; a collaboration between classically trained violinist, Carlos Zingaro, and Teitelbaums' electronic improvisations. Richard Teitelbaum is on keyboards, synthesizers, computers, while Carlos Zingaro handles the violin and electronics. The cover drawing is by Carlos Zingaro.
"This CD of early works by David Tudor, available also as the CD insert to Volume 14 of Leonardo Music Journal, presents three previously unreleased works. 'Anima Pepsi' (1970), which combines sounds of animals, insects, and other like sounds with electronic processing, was composed for the EAT (Experiments in Art and Technology) pavilion at the World's Fair in Osaka, Japan, in 1970. 'Toneburst' (1975), a classic, commissioned by the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, is based on pure electronic feedback. 'Dialects' (1984) combines and transforms vowel-like and fricative sounds into relentless rhythms." -Forced Exposure
The three works are: Pulsers - a rattling punkish, uneven, messy pulse (with violin by Takehisa Kosugi), Untitled for bubbling chaos, speech fragments and a lot of feedback loops - and the more interesting Phonemes, full of low tones, silences, small sounds and intermittent events. Essentially pieces derived from messy procedures and circuitry. Interesting and part of the history..
Important contemporary documents from Luigi and Antonio Russolo, Filippo Marinetti, Luigi Grandi, Wyndham Lewis, Appollonaire, Tristan Tzara, Marcel Janco, Richard Huelsenbeck, Marcel Duchamp, Kurt Schwitters, Jean Cocteau. Music and Spoken Word. Invaluable.
Luigi and Antonio Russolo - John Cage - Sonic Youth - Einsturzende Neubauten - Walter Ruttmann - Pierre Schaeffer - Iannis Xenakis - Paul D. Miller aka dj Spooky - Gordon Mumma - Angus Maclise, Tony Conrad and John Cale - Philip Jeck, Otomo Yoshihide and Martin Tétreault - Survival Research Laboratories - Konrad Boehmer - Nam June Paik - Henri Pousseur - Edgard Varèse - Pauline Oliveros - Ryoji Ikeda
This is just the great beginning of a vast anthology of "noise and electronic music" that is planned for the following years in 7 double volumes. This volume begins in the 1920s, with the Russolo brothers, and looks at each decade in turn - Varèse, Cage, Schaeffer, Xenakis, the great pioneers - the first traces of a music that was necessarily revolutionary: electronic music, created from nothing (and hence to be entirely invented). some pieces on these CDs are certainly classics, but there are others, which, though old, were distributed informally or never even released. our more contemporary pieces are, wherever possible, previously unreleased.
This is yet another great collection from the Greek Archives series. Arguably the highlights here are the songs of Stratos Payoumitzis, who had one of the greatest singing voices of early Rembetika. Sadly, like so many of the musicians, Stratos' golden years were difficult and tragic ones. He died performing on stage in New York in 1971, and a collection had to be taken up to ship his body home. There is quite a bit of work by Kavouris and Skarvelis on this disc as well. Also some great tracks from Markos, Hatzichristos, and an absolutely great version of Artemis doing his classic, "Girl From Tsitsifies".
A Diamandidis and A Amiralis: Hassapiko Laterna G. Kavouras: What Can I Do? I Love You! Takis Nikolaou: In Marigo's "tekes" Kostas Roukounas: Marika, The Hashish Smoker Stellakis Perpiniadis: You Don't Remember Who I Am Stratos Payoumtzis: Amanes Sabah G. Kavouras: I Have A Secret Sorrow Markos Vamvakaris: Antonis The Boatman Anestis Delias: Girl From Tsitsifies Stratos Payoumtzis: Warm-Hearted Dina Stellakis Perpiniadis: You Are Not For Me Marika Frantzeskopoulou ("Politissa"): You Can't Fool Me G. Kavouras: I Don't Want You To Look At Me A. Hatzichristos, M Vamvakaris and G. Papaioannou: I'll Drop By Tonight Georgia Mittaki: Mother, I Want A Man Stratos Payoumtzis and Stellakis Perpiniadis: I Want Money And A House Giorgos Kavouas: Don't Refuse Me, Little One Stellakis Perpiniadis: Magdalo Stratos Payoumtzis: I Met A Dark-Eyed Girl
"A cardboard disc recorded by Tennessee Williams in a New Orleans penny arcade, a home recorded letter from World War II, the songs of a 1930s fish vender... sounds, lost & found. This eclectic collection of radio stories and sonic snapshots chronicle how recorded sound has captured and shaped American life". -from description on back of CD
This is the perfect addition to Vol. 1, and generally follows up on that disc's attitude to capture the music of the outcast, fringe society. Especially great here is the Artemis stuff; He was one of the Rembetises to succumb to heroin and was found dead in the streets, clutching his Bouzouki, at age 31. There are also great pieces here by his contemporaries from the Piraeus Quartet, and main staples from Stelios Keromitis and Kostas Skarvelis.
Markos Vamvakaris: Alana From Piraeus Nota Kalleli: My Girl From Pangrati Stellakis Perpiniadis: Wily Woman Markos Vamvakaris: When You See Me Go By Nontas Sgouras: Gambler Kostas Roukounas: Don't Speak To Me Any More Stelios Keromitis: In Baboulas' Dive Stellakis Perpiniadis: It's Showing Zacharias Kassimati and Rita Abadzi: The Widow And The Manghas Yorgos Batis: The Recording Producers Antonis Diamantidis or Dalgas: Elenaru Kostas Roukounas: My Pipina A. Kostis: I Wasted Away Kostas Roukounas: Soropis Yorgos Batis: Athenian Taxim And Zeibekiko Katina Tsakiri and Stratos Payoumtzis: My Zoitsa Yannis Ioannidis: These Cops Antonis Diamantidis or Dalgas: Manghas
When Gareth Williams died on Christmas Eve 2001 at the age of 48, the world lost a huge personality and a unique creative talent, yet little is known of his work outside of the legendary group This Heat. With this first official release on Compact Disc of Williams's solo and collaborative works from 1985, Life and Living Records take the first steps to correcting this imbalance. "Flaming Tunes" was recorded by Gareth Williams and Mary Currie with input from a variety of contributors including fellow This Heat member Charles Bullen, long term collaborators Martin Harrison and Rick Wilson, Mick Hobbs and others.
Red Bird (a political prisoner's dream) is the 1977 work where 'birds, animals, words and mechanisms' are 'orchestrated and transformed into one another'. A classic introduction to Wishart's trademark morphing procedures, as well as being a powerful and extraordinary creation. And unique in the catalogue of electronic/concrete/electroacoustic works. Anticredos, for six amplified vocalists, was reviewed (see website) when previously released. It is also available separately on Trevor's own imprint. Classic.
Bill Gilonis / Tim Hodgkinson / Amos - Chris Cutler By 1982 drummer Rick Wilson had left The Work to study Katakali in India, and bassist Mick Hobbs followed shortly afterwards over disagreements about what the group should be playing. The remainder of the band then asked Amos (bass) and Chris Cutler (drums) to join them for a tour of Japan that had already been scheduled before the breakup. Together with sound engineer Chris Gray, the group flew there in June to play three concerts in Tokyo and one in Osaka. The recording that became "Live in Japan" was taken at the Osaka concert, the only one on the tour that was recorded. A Japan-only release followed (on Recommended Records Japan), which has been out of print for over 20 years and is virtually impossible to find anywhere. This disc re-issues the concert for the first time, adding the extremely rare, red flexi-disc, live version of the classic, "I Hate America", as a bonus track.
Performed by the percussion ensemble red fish blue fish, directed by Steven Schick. "The first complete set of Xenakis' percussion ensemble, percussion duos, and solo percussion works. As Steven Schick states in his comprehensive essay accompanying this set, Xenakis was the 'progenitor of modern percussion music.' Of course, Iannis Xenakis did not create percussion music, his first major contribution to the percussion repertory came more than three decades after the American percussion revolution of Edgard Varèse, John Cage and Henry Cowell. But as Jorge Luis Borges said of Kafka, he was so important that he influenced even those who came before him. Indeed, our early 21st century ear for percussion music has been so tuned by the music of Xenakis that we cannot fail to understand the first cacophonous noise constructions of Varèse's 'Ionisation' (1931) and Cage's 'First Construction' (1939) through the retro-lens of the raw and terrifying noises in Xenakis' percussion works. 24-bit audiophile recordings. Available as a 3CD set or specially priced single DVD-A release (forthcoming)." -Forced Exposure
One of the key figures in electronic music development, though better known as an inventor, Le Caine did make pieces and some of the best are collected here. Some humorous and plunderphonic (happy birthday made from the scream in Berg's Lulu), some informative - demonstrations by Le Caine of his instruments and some just very entertaining or ear-turning. Echoes of Raymond Scott. 
