Brand new hot off the presses albums from Damian Valles on Experimedia and Marielle V Jakobsons on Students of Decay. Two exciting reissues of classic GRM albums on the new Recollection GRM imprint. New Vinyl on Demand boxsets from Conrad Schnitzler, Kluster and Robert Haigh now up for preorder. Fantastic reissue of Jean Piche’s Heliograms courtesy of Digitalis. Sublime new cassette from Evan Caminiti debuting his own Dust Editions imprint. A brand new batch of 4 new records from Aguirre. A massive new double disc by Monos from Infraction. A big new batch of new arrivals from Blackest Rainbow. An ‘“Important” and massive 12 disc collection of Pauline Oliveros’ early and unreleased electronic work. A hefty stack of restocks… and many more selectively handpicked titles worthy of the fine shelves here at Experimedia Ltd. World Headquarters.
We dropped in on the Excruciating Sound show in Norton Ohio on May 19th with our projector and added some live visual mixing to each performance. These are just a few excerpts we happened to capture on video. The visuals are manipulated and adapted on the fly to fit with the style of the audio content and work within the constraints of the room, it’s lighting, and the surface we are projecting on. In this case our approach was on the frantic, extreme and schizophrenic side. Fast frantic sudden transitions etc. Where as with mellower content we often take a more subtle paced approach utilizing softer blown out effects. Since the surface we were projecting on wasnt flat, solid, and light colored we needed to often effect the visuals to have sharper edges, lines, contrast, and saturation. Overall a great time and great experience mixing video to this kind of work. Will be adding example reel’s for other events and styles of music in the near future.
Performances by: Cocaine Wolf, Fascist Insect, Northern Aggression , Extreme Noise Terrier, Cunting Daughters
Quicksails
Silver Balloons In Clusters
(Under The Spire)
As I sit here listening to this new vinyl-edition of Quicksails best work-to-date, I am thankful that Spring is upon us. “Silver Balloons in Clusters” is a joyous, cathartic romp of brilliantly-executed compositions. Quicksails is the solo moniker of excellent Tiger Hatchery’s Ben Billington. While synthesizers are a central feature of the pieces on “Silver Balloons,” where Billington really finds is voice through the careful layering of all sorts of divergent textures and sounds. This is far more than simply a ‘synth record.’ Considering he provides the percussive backbone to the aforementioned Tiger Hatchery, it’s no surprise that with Quicksails he skillfully augments the synth passages with a spray of drums, cymbals, and who knows what else. Everything is highlighted and blurred in all the right places, adding considerable depth. Billington pieces together haunted, hollow shells and proceeds to fill them in a dizzying array of intricately connected sonic webs. It’s a beautiful thing indeed. Special note of the fantastic cover art by David Russell Stempowski. - Brad Rose, Experimedia
Concern
Misfortune
(Isounderscore)
I would guess, at this point, my love for Gordon Ashworth’s Concern project is pretty well-documented. So I’m kind of bummed that “Misfortune” represents the final album for the project, but at the same time it’s such a cathartic send-off that whatever Ashworth does next (hopefully a continuation of his incredible “S.T.L.A.” solo tape from last year) is bound to be stunning. “Misfortune” is based on the 15-string box harp in that all the music was created using said box harp (as well as field recordings) and the compositions represent Ashworth’s “direct impressions of traditional melodies for the Valiha Marovany (a box-harp instrument from Madagascar) and the Kora (a West African gourd-harp instrument).” That’s a lot to get your head around, but truthfully it doesn’t change the fact that “Misfortune” is a minor-masterpiece, no matter where it came from or what inspired it. When it comes to droning, electro-acoustic composition it doesn’t get much better. Shimmering string movements swim through silver aural streams like notes borne of the sun. As with most of Concern’s music, there is something innately organic with how these pieces are put together. Warm tones that feel natural, like they’ve always existed somewhere in the Earth waiting for someone to come along and dig them up flicker together until disintegrating into dust. Ashworth’s music, especially as Concern and under his own name, is always emotional; it resonates in ways that are at times uncomfortable, but always cleansing. This isn’t music you simply hear - you feel every micro-shift; every fleeting melodiy; every forlorn layer. As ever, Gordon Ashworth has created something beautiful and bleak and has sent his most memorable project into the darkness as a spectacular beacon of burning light. Highest recommendation. - Brad Rose, Experimedia
Dimmer
Ascent
(Isounderscore)
Dimmer is the duo of Thomas Dimuzio and Joseph Hammer, both longtime figures within California experimental music. “Ascent” is their first studio album in over five years and let me tell you, the wait is well worth it. “Ascent” is sprawling in the best sense of the word. Over the course of an hour (divided into eight individual pieces), the duo create dense, synthetic webs that flit between glacial precision and encompassing warmth. Restricting themselves to vintage synthesizers and tape loops, Dimuzio and Hammer, time and time again, show their expertise in skill when it comes to composition. Each piece moves logically to the next, giving the album even greater cohesion and ensuring that the whole is greater than just the sum of its parts. At times this music feels oppressive, like it’s a heavy weight pushing down on your chest. That element of claustrophobia works, though, and only heightens the release when Dimmer open things up into the sky. So much thought has been put into every detail of “Ascent” that it’s impossible to hear it all on first listen, but that’s what makes it better than most records like this. The dynamics are subtle, but far-reaching and the more you listen to it, the deeper you get. - Brad Rose, Experimedia
Gareth Davis & Frances-Marie Uitti
Gramercy
(Miasmah)
If for no other reason, the Miasmah label should be commended for cultivating an aesthetic and sticking to it. Home to artists such as Kreng, Elegi, Jacaszek and Greg Haines, it has steadily issued baroque, ghostly post-classical records with eye towards consistency and pace over the last few years, and, to my ears, “Gramercy,” the product of a well-suited collaboration between Gareth Davis and Frances-Marie Uitti, is one of their finest outings to date. On “Detour” Uitti’s bowed and scraped strings engulf Davis’ clarinet, hovering thick and suffocating in the air. The atmosphere cultivated by the pair over the course of this long-form recording is nothing short of remarkable. With any Miasmah release, words like “haunting,” “noir,” and “spectral” are bound to pop up in critical appraisals. In my estimation, “Gramercy” should give us pause to add another term to this list: “focus.” - Alex Cobb, Experimedia
Je Suis Le Petit Chevalier
An Age Of Wonder
(Shelter Press)
Je Suis le Petit Chevalier is the nom-de-plume of Belgian songstress Felicia Atkinson. While she’s done a number of releases under her own name, JSPC came into being early in 2011 and has been haunting stereos ever since. “An Age of Wonder” is her best release yet. On “Fever Dunes,” the mood is nostalgic. Simple keyboard loops float in the air around a series of minimal beats. Atkinson’s vocals emerge from the mist like a beacon leading you somewhere unknown. There’s a sadness in the repeating chords that pulls out fragile emotions from the deep end of the ocean. The pieces ends with the beats picking up steam like a heart racing, eventually overcome by the darkness and left to spiral into the abyss. “The First Forest” picks up where the A-Side leaves off, though with added crunch. Hopeful notes drift out from the washed-out undercurrents of organ and guitar like a distant destination in a sullen landscape. Atkinson is reaching for the top of the mountain as the piece gets more and more oppressive. It’s heartbreaking and beautiful, each note carefully considered and left to wallow in the aural murk. “An Age of Wonder” simply goes one step further in proving what a force Felicia Atkinson is. stunning work. - Brad Rose, Experimedia
David Orphan
Songs For Hannah Henley
(Pre-Cert Home Entertainment)
The thing I love about the Andy Votel-curated Pre-Cert Home Entertainment label is that you’re never quite sure what to expect. There’s always some vague and crytpic occult connotations with the music and visual element to the releases, but it’s all genuinely mysterious in the best way. David Orphan’s “Songs for Hannah Henley” is no exception. Orphan, a member of the Finders Keepers brigade, is the founder of the Devon Folklore Tapes research project/label and “Songs for Hannah Henley” is a natural extension of all that he’s been documenting with that project. This soundtrack has a strong, running narrative throughout that guides you through valleys of wheezing, mechanical organs and clattering percussion. Unsettling, desolate vocals are like pinpoints of light throughout this aural sea of grey. As the record jumps from one scene to another, the jumbled-medley quality to how the record is sequence becomes one of its greatest strengths. It’s like being lost inside some kind of ancient madness, fumbling through dusty corridors while being chased by an unseen, ghostly presence. It is wholly unnerving and I simply cannot get enough. - Brad Rose, Experimedia
Padang Food Tigers
Ready Country Nimbus
(Bathetic)
Close to the very definition of pastoral music, Spencer Grady and Stephen Lewis, operating here as Padang Food Tigers, allow the sounds of rural life – rain, children playing, and wind – to become just as necessary as the guitar, piano, and banjo, the three traditional instruments that appear most often on “Ready Country Nimbus.” The two musicians are better known as two-thirds of Rameses III (Type, Important Records) and, though their style is similar, the music on this LP is noticeably pared back in order to illuminate naked, rough-hewn folk songs without a hint of the technological world. Even song length is cut down with none of the record’s fifteen tracks eclipsing the four minute mark. Unlike many other acts who take a similar approach to folk and minimalist tropes, Padang Food Tigers carry an optimistic mood throughout “Ready Country Nimbus,” allowing a warm, inviting feeling to pervade this enticing album. - Ryan Potts, Experimedia
Robert Curgenven + Richard Chartier
Built Through
(Line)
One phrase really jumps out at me when reading over the information included with the new album from Richard Chartier & Robert Curgenven: Acoustic Architecture. That is exactly what “Built Through” is. Chartier and Curgenven use a multitude of processes to dissect and digest a wide range of sound. At times, they’re taking apart past compositions of Chartier’s and processing them ‘through three improvisations for a 16 foot single manual pipe organ.’ The results speak for themselves, adding new space and depth to any already impressive piece. Field recordings of Curgenven’s are reworked by Chartier, contrasting digital sounds and processes with something that feels entirely organic. This is sonic engineering at its finest. There’s a real delicacy to each of the four pieces on “Built Through,” and with each successive listen a new layer is revealed. - Brad Rose, Experimedia
Frank Bretschneider
Kippschwingungen
(Line)
For his new release on LINE, Frank Bretschneider presents an album of compositions sourced from the Subharchord, an obscure “electronic instrument developed during the 1960’s at the RFZ, the technical center for radio and television of the East German postal service.” These sounds, augmented by material culled from Clavia Micro Modular synthesizer, were arranged into the eight part composition “Kippschwingungen.” Austere and alien, Bretschneider’s compositions are uncompromising in execution. Pulsing white noise and click rhythms abound here, evolving slowly over time but ultimately resulting in a type of sonic stasis. By “Part 7,” things open up a bit more, with Bretschneider allowing his oscillators to finally breathe. Formally immaculate and unyielding in focus, “Kippschwingungen” fits perfectly with LINE’s body of work. - Alex Cobb, Experimedia
Pinkcourtesyphone
Foley Folly Folio
(Line)
Pinkcourtesyphone is the bizarrely-named alter-ego of Richard Chartier. There’s enough similarities between this and Chartier’s solo material that fans of his work will find a lot to dig into on “Foley Folly Folio.” Among many descriptions of Pinkcourtesyphone, perhaps the one that rings most true is “Pinkcourtesyphone operates like a syrupy dream.” This is especially true on the cryptic opener, “Wistful Wishful Wanton.” A looped, childlike voice endlessly repeats the line “The most wonderful night of my life” on top of a bed of melodic, slow-moving electronics. There’s an almost dystopian, sci-fi feeling to it with the cold and clinical nature that envelopes the piece. The album gets more menacing as it saunters ahead, crawling along at a glacial pace and filling in any discordant cracks. These pieces may be sprawling, but they’re quite dynamic as well. “Foley Folly Folio” acts as a separate, but still related, meditation on minimalism that Chartier does so well. Great cover art, too. - Brad Rose, Experimedia
Evan Caminiti
Night Dust
(Immune)
Absolutely stunning new full-length solo outing by Barn Owl guitarist Evan Caminiti. “Night Dust” finds Caminiti operating in a mode a bit more akin to his work with Lisa McGee as Higuma than when playing spectral, doom-laden drones alongside Jon Porras in the aforementioned Thrill Jockey duo. Throughout the album, hazy, distant sounding drones serve as a lush backdrop for Caminiti’s dusty chord shapes. However, despite the predominance of gorgeous guitar/tube amp sourced material, I’d be remiss not to mention the lengths Caminiti goes to on “Night Dust” to incorporate other elements into his sound. “A Memory or a Mirage” finds what sounds like pulsing synthesizers nestling around a degraded wash of guitar tones. Recorded entirely to 4 track cassette, this is a warm, analog sounding album through and through, with Caminiti making expert use of his chosen production medium. I’d urge even those listeners who might feel overly inundated with the output of Barn Owl-related releases not to miss this fantastic album that stands as a high point in Caminiti’s already storied discography. - Alex Cobb, Experimedia
Konntinent
Closer Came The Light
(Home Normal)
Antony Harrison’s always interesting Konntinent project returns with his latest album, “Closer Came the Light,” and has plenty of surprises up his sleeve. I’ll admit that I’ve long been a fan of Harrison’s work, but after multiple listens to his latest album, I am confident that this is Konntinent’s finest work. Impressively, the majority of this record was improvised and recorded live in a single-take. When you consider the lushness of “Zentrum” or the grainy nostalgia of “Hi Res,” it’s even more impressive. Washed-out guitar passages nestle beside arpeggiated synth sequences, weaving a sparkling neon tapestry of sonic sprawl. Harrison does well to match the futurist leanings of “Closer Came the Light” with scratchy tonal warmth. Simply, this is beautiful music and there are more good things to come from Konntinent. - Brad Rose, Experimedia
Micah Blue Smaldone / Big Blood
Split
(Immune)
Superlative split album by two names that are new to me. Micah Blue Smaldone’s side opens with barnstorming guitar chords that give way to his plaintive vocals. The press release notes that Smaldone and Big Blood have worked together under the guise Fire on Fire, and have released an album on Young God (one that I certainly plan to check out). Indeed, to my ear, the Young God aesthetic proves to be a useful touchstone for describing this music. It’s folk music to be sure, but it’s baroque and haunting in the same way that, say, Devendra Banhart’s first three albums are. This is elegiac and beautiful contemporary Americana. The Big Blood tracks here occupy a more psychedelic, though no less iconic and familiar, sonic space. If someone told me these songs were from a private press West Coast psych record from the 60s, I wouldn’t question if for a moment. A great, truly well-suited split from the always reliable Immune Recordings. - Alex Cobb, Experimedia
