Still Available A-M 1..2..3

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25-Aug-2019. 20% Off Until Next Catalog!

 

Still Available A-M

The Idea Fire Company - Anti-Natural (Swill Radio 018).....LP $14

Idealized field recordings that capture the hallucinatory isolation of an abandoned arctic base. Anti-Natural combines organic mechanistic processes into an aesthetic whole. Both severe and opulent, naïve and self-confident, Anti-Natural offers an escape route from the false dichotomies of man/nature and man/machine and attempts the transcendence of the impossible. Electronic recreations of the world around us, both real and imagined, foment immutable revolutions in sound.

Idea Fire CompanyDays (Swill Radio/ Plinkety Plonk)          7" $9

A new IFCO single. This one went through the tortures of the damned, but here it finally is. The First Days is a different and more sprightly version of Romance from Impossible Salon. The Last Days was originally going to be on The Island Of Taste. I always thought it would make a great B side to a single and now I am vindicated.. Happy and sad. Just like life. Although it doesn't say so on the sleeve, this record plays at 45 rpm. I forgot we were not having printed labels.

Idea Fire CompanyE.1027 (ORL/Noise Below) Cassette $10

Two complete live shows featuring material we have been working on with Matt Krefting over the last couple of years. The sides of this somehow got switched, so the title track is actually the A side, but this becomes obvious if you check the credits. The recording of Perati Bridge is a particular favourite of mine, although we have updated the arrangement since then. Apart from my trumpet and radio on The Perati Bridge, the music is all keyboards and synths. Somewhat repetitive and droney, but always with motion. Three pieces. Excellent sound. Beautiful cover. Already a hit with Greek mushroom hunters:

Mushroom hunter     mushroom hunter

Idea Fire Company - Explosion in a Shingle Factory (Swill Radio 010).....2LP $20

Our debut. Karla and I developed the IFCO style of using collaged improvisations. In this sense, our music is both improvised and composed. Lots of synths, field recordings, and whatnot. Now comes with one of a series of four color drawings by Karla. No more hand marbled prints.

Idea Fire Company – The Island Of Taste (IDDB) CD $10

The Island Of Taste was originally released on Swill Radio in 2007. It was the last studio recording IFCO has done, at least so far. A CD reissue might be a bit insane these days, but Matthias of IDDB loves this record and wanted to issue a CD, so here it is. (I did 500 copies of the LP in 2007 and still have 50 or so left, so this is a labor of love.) Apart from Lost Victories and Last Man… Last Round, which Karla and I played together (I always play the radio live), this is entirely a studio construction made on my trusty 4 track cassette machine from tapes people sent us and from our own recordings. The other thing I did on this recording, which I have never done before or since, was that I would pick a basic track for each piece and every addition would be speed-modulated so that the tape hiss/room sound would be in tune. I think that is what gives this recording its very subtle, but odd sound quality. This is also the only record I have ever done where I had all the song titles worked out in advance and built the music to suit. A lot of people think Island is our best LP. These days I tend to think Anti-Natural or Music From The Impossible Salon, but I am not one to quibble. The CD sounds great too. Take a chance!

Idea Fire Company - The Island Of Taste (Swill Radio).... LP $16

IFCO follows up our conspicuously ignored Stranded LP with an equally, if not more so, strong statement. Core members Karla Borecky and Scott Foust are joined by an all star cast: Meara O’Reilly and Jessi Leigh Swenson from Stranded, as well as Frans de Waard, Graham Lambkin, and Dr. Timothy Shortell. The Island Of Taste depicts a manoeuvre in which the beauty becomes more beautiful as the desperation becomes more desperate. A stark and romantic mission to the rocks. Lavish package featuring an excellent Karla cover painting as well as a booklet presented as a set of 5 x 7 art cards with another Karla painting, band photos, and an essay of mine. Perhaps The Island Of Taste is the first LP to make explicit a certain nostalgia for itself. Along with The Shadow Ring’s Swill Radio trilogy (Lighthouse, Lindus, I’m Some Songs), I’d put IFCO’s trilogy (Anti-Natural, Stranded, The Island Of Taste) up against anyone’s three LP run. We’ll see…

Idea Fire CompanyThe Laboratory EP (Dischi Del Barone) 7" $10

During the recording of the still unreleased The Synthetic Elements LP in December 2013 and January 2014, Karla got out her old RMI synth and we recorded some synth duets, just like back in the Anti-Natural days so many years ago. These two pieces were originally going to be the title track(s) of that LP, but I decided they were a little too icy and dark for their purpose. I immediately had the idea they would make a great single and, thanks to Dischi Del Barone, here they are. Two exquisite thick drones, busy and monolithic as an artificial rain forest. Atom smasher. Cold fusion. Excellent presentation by DDB, the new Swedish powerhouse. 33 RPM. I love this record!

Idea Fire Company - Live Archives Volume 1 WMUA (LAH 001) CDR...$10

The series begins with a legendary IFCO radio show from 23 May 1999 with Karla and me joined by Graham Lambkin. This was our second show with Graham, the first being earlier in the day at the then-nascent Flywheel in Easthampton MA. (The Hardest Working Band In Rock!) We all worked together so well that it wasn't long before Tart was formed, but that's another story. This set showcases IFCO at its most languid, spacey, and electronic. Ill-fitting machine dreams. Excellent recording straight from the radio feed. A gorgeous representation of IFCO live during our 'Anti-Natural' period. Professionally printed CDRs in full colour jackets.

Idea Fire Company Live Archives Volume 2 – RRR (LAH 003) CDR ... $10

Two early IFCO duo shows recorded at RRRecords. I consider the 1997 show to be the first real IFCO show. We had played a year or so earlier at RRRon’s request at a noise night he curated for the Northampton Music Festival. I had never thought of doing IFCO live before and the experience led Karla and me to record an LP with stripped down instrumentation that we could perform live. Thus Anti-Natural was born. The first show features three pieces from Anti-Natural, including an excellent version of the rarely performed ‘Against Gravity’. The second show has a good version of Metropolis, a live staple for quite a while, as well as different material we were trying out for the follow up to Anti-Natural, which never appeared. (Or at least not until 2004’s Stranded.) 'Production' is a particularly effective piece.  Two great shows of minimal electronics.

Idea Fire CompanyLost At Sea (Recital) LP $15
I am so very glad for Lost At Sea to finally see the light of day. Thanks Sean! I really love this music and I love the cover and presentation as well. I have had a few emails saying that this was the best IFCO LP ever. I would not go that far as I have a five year limit on assessing the long-lasting worth of any work, But, I am extraordinarily happy to see this baby out in the world. Below is the promo I wrote for the LP and the fine promo video Sean made. Let's drink!

Lost At Sea imagines the Idea Fire Company as the bar band on a small cruise ship. There are approximately 40 passengers aboard. Around 2/3 of them are in the lounge for the nightly IFCO performance. Most of them seem more interested in drink than in music. The ship has become lost and seems to be endlessly circling. Well stocked with booze and food, etc., the ship continues on. IFCO, armed with only a piano and trumpet/ radio/ synth, provide the nightly entertainment.

Lost At Sea is certainly the sister of the also piano-heavy The Music From The Impossible Salon, but Lost At Sea has an air of weary optimism replacing the bleak sadness of Impossible Salon.

For almost 30 years IFCO has carved their own path, or dug their own hole, depending on your view, through the ever-changing world of underground music. Still violently committed to the avant garde and to new forms of beauty. Still Romantic. Still idealistic. Despite the odds. In the old days, this sort of commitment was better appreciated. IFCO remains IFCO. As a number of people have said over the years, every IFCO record sounds different, but they all sound like IFCO.

Idea Fire Company - Postcards  (Swill Radio 033)                LP $18

2013 marks both the 25th anniversary of IFCO and the 30th anniversary of Swill Radio, so what better way to start the celebrations than with a brand new IFCO LP? Postcards is a reworking of a cassette originally released by No Basement Is Deep Enough in 2011. Re-ordered, remixed, remade, and remodeled Postcards presents a more charming atmosphere than Music From The Impossible Salon's (Kye) stark melancholy. There is still plenty of piano and sad scenarios, but there are also flights of electronic fancy. Eight imaginary impressionistic portraits of cities we have never been to. Karla Borecky and Scott Foust. Deluxe edition. 220 g vinyl. Cover painting and artwork by Karla; booklet with highly subjective text by me. Postcards from a past that never existed. IFCO march on and on.

Matt Krefting's Review of Postcards

Idea Fire Company - Stranded LP (Swill Radio 024)...LP $20 Last box!

Since 2002, Idea Fire Company has performed and recorded as a quartet with core members Karla Borecky and Scott Foust (me!), joined by Meara O'Reilly and Jessi Swenson. (Meara and Jessi, along with Matt Krefting, start in my finally completed feature-length film Here's To Love!)

I feel this LP is as strong as any I've been involved in, and I feel pretty strongly about my body of work. Stranded is the perfect companion to Anti-Natural. Excellent Karla Borecky cover. 180 gram luxury object. Listen to samples.

Idea Fire CompanyThe Synthetic Elements (Crisis Of Taste) LP $15

Karla and I are both very excited to have this fine edition of The Synthetic Elements out on LP, courtesy Crisis Of Taste. Four short synthetic buffers at the beginning and end of each side and four fantastic piano-based longer pieces in the sandwich. I think the piano pieces feature some of Karla's best piano playing ever. Recorded live in the studio and slightly edited as usual. For good or ill, there is not another band in the world that sounds like IFCO. Below is the eloquent promo from label boss Thomas DeAngelo.

Crisis of Taste is thrilled to offer The Synthetic Elements, a new LP by stalwarts of the outré Avant Garde, Idea Fire Company. For the better part of three decades Karla Borecky and Scott Foust have charted their own distinct course through the choppy waters of the experimental underground, their only interaction with the countless flash in the pan trends whipping passed their sails being a direct refutation of them. Often enjoying the company of a number of like-minded champions of the cause, The Synthetic Elements sees the core duo of Borecky and Foust continuing the reductive tactics of their most recent 'chamber music' period, as heard on landmark albums Music from the Impossible Saloon (Kye, 2011) and Lost at Sea (Recital, 2015), whilst simultaneously expanding the infrastructure towards new heights of grandeur. An intoxicatingly playful, yet hopeless atmosphere is established through deceptively simple conversations between Borecky's stately, withering piano phrasing and Foust's dicey, yet assured treatments for synth, radio, guitar and occasionally more discreet sources. The looping artificial pieces that open and close each side (harkening back to 1999's Anti Natural) seal up shop with no hope for escape. Another superb IFCO record, it is as simple and complex as all such a statement suggests. The Synthetic Elements arrives in an edition of 300, black vinyl w/ full color, Borecky-designed sleeves, expertly mastered by Grammy-nominated producer Zupe. "The Sinking Ship" hasn't sunk just yet.

If you have any interest, you can listen to a podcast Tom recorded with me. I talk about IFCO, my other work, and music and art in general as well as playing some unreleased IFCO and some of my recreational listening favourites.

https://soundcloud.com/difficultlisteningmadeeasy/dlme-sf

Idea Fire Company - Vital: Live In Europe CD (Swill Radio 025) ... $11 

In March 2006, IFCO made their first appearances in Europe. Core members Karla Borecky and Scott Foust linked up with Frans de Waard and hit selected hot spots in The Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. Adding de Waard (Beequeen, Shifts, Kapotte Muziek, Freiband, etc) was a brave gamble that paid off handsomely. Armed with only a tiny digital keyboard (Borecky), a radio/cassette boombox and small echo unit (Foust), and a sawed off MS 20 (de Waard), the trio captivated audiences large and small. On these selected recordings, IFCO exhibit a virile murkiness, an almost desperate muscularity. Warnings from a dwindling outpost. Five tracks, 52 minutes. Includes two versions of the haunting 'Pleasure Cruise'. Digipak edition of 300.

Il Grande SilenzioST (Meeuw) 7" $9                  

Meeuw returns after a slight hiatus and I am very glad. This time we have a banjo and electronics duo from Japan. I have to say that the banjo is one of my least favourite instruments, even worse than the dreaded acoustic guitar. Thankfully the banjo playing is very sparse; it could well be a koto or some other twangy string instrument. The electronics are sparse too and both sides have a delicate and appealing atmosphere. Superb single! Another jewel in the already gaudy Meeuw crown.

Ilta HamaraSaivo (Sloowax) LP $24

Ilta Hamara is Timo van Luijk, who you all know, and Bart Paeoe, whose work I am not familiar with. This is quite an odd record. On the first side there are two short-ish percussion (as in bells and gongs) and electronics (maybe) pieces. Then two pieces anchored by bass. One is electric and lumbering with some free stringed instrument playing along with some keyboards and other things. The other has a sequenced bass with all kinds of drones and pips as accompaniment. The final piece on the side has an Indian sympathetic string drone, along with a low drum and some ominous sounds. Side two is a side long piece based on percussion, both drums, and bells and gongs. Other instruments enter and leave at times. There is a particularly great insistent synth that appears about a third of the way through and occasionally again, although not as insistently. The whole track has a nice cohesion which is hard to achieve with non-repetitive long form pieces. It took me a few plays to wrap my head around this record, but I am glad I did. Saivo is a superb LP worthy of your attention.

Ilta HamaraVelloa (Meeuw Muzak) 7" $11

Ilta Hamara is Timo van Luijk and Bart de Paepe. The first side is hyper distorted guitar, some bass, and drums (mainly cymbals) and sounds a lot like an attempt at a Les Rallizes Denudes cover. Very strange. The second side is a more lo-fi and out version of the same song with effects and surface noise added. Ho-Ho! Meeuw Muzak!

Chris ImmlerVorwarts (Meeuw) 7" $8

Two slices of synth-pop that sound remarkably like 1982. I would have loved this had it come out at the time, and I certainly enjoy it now. Meeuw Muzik is where it's at!

In CameraRumours (Dom BW) LP $22

Two simultaneously released LPs from In Camera (Timo van Luijk and Christoph Heeman). Let us do Rumours first as that was the first one I heard the first time I played them.

Rumours – Excellent relentless drone and sound collage with most of the instrumentation and other sound sources remaining quite obscure. In my mind, it is very easy for this sort of thing to go wrong in my ears. Rumours stands out from the pack due to the superb pacing, editing, and sound selection. These guys sure know what they are doing. Such well put-together sound work should not be ignored. Beautiful cover art too.

Frampton Comes Alive – [Out of stock]

Despite the 70s rock titles, these are two fantastic and quite odd and beautiful LPs, I cannot imagine anyone of taste not liking them.

David JackmanLaus (Die Stadt) 7" $12

Another great David Jackman single. Orchestrated orchestral bits which will leave you both hopeful and woozy. Or maybe just woozy. Both sides may be the same. Very fine.

Vikki JackmanOf Beauty Reminiscing (Faraway Press)...CD $27

CD reissue of this excellent and very limited Vikki Jackman LP. Beautiful and very slow side long piano wanderings with subtle studio work and tapes. As you slowly disappear into the thick, syrup-like whirlpool, you'll be glad you did. Top Shelf work. Give yourself something nice for a change.

Vikki Jackman - Whispering Pages (Faraway Press)...CD $26

Superb follow up to Vikki Jackman's first release, Of Beauty Reminiscing. Rather than the long form of her first release, Whispering Pages consists of nine shorter pieces, all of them gems. This CD has such an air of calm beauty; it is like a warm bubblebath with a bottle of fine wine and a fine cigar. The piano is blended with field recordings, various electronics and other instruments, as well as treatments.  Immaculately put together, this one has already spent a lot of time on my stereo. There is a lot of quiet mystery locked up in these fragile tracks. If you are a fan of the beautiful melancholy of the Budd and Eno LPs, this one is for you. I think Whispering Pages is going to slug it out with The Island Of Taste for album of the year, Who will win? You, the consumer, if you make the right decision and pick them both up. The usual Faraway Press first-rate cover.

G.X. Jupitter-LarsenCinema Noise (Icefactory/Troniks) DVD $11

You might think Jupitter-Larsen's films would be all cut-ups and random noise-style activities, but you would be wrong. Most of these films have an odd and perhaps, flimsy, narrative, but a narrative, or maybe a better word would be concept, they certainly have. A nice collection of avant garde films for cheap. I love Holes On The Neck which features Lesbian vampires frolicking on their garlic farm. Go for it!

K9 Cognition LabsST (The Gift Of Music) One-sided C60 $10

Noise Big Band! Danny Propert, Erik Nystrand, Jon valdez, Sam Linetti, and Stewart Skinner. Four tracks of Heavy Duty Noise, a bit more sample heavy (although very cut up) and less piercing than Zwangsbeglucktertem. A different sort of Heavy Duty Noise. Not my cup of tea these days, but well done. Ridiculous audio book/ gas station style packaging with great band photos. It made me laugh.

Osvald KabastaBruckner Symphony #4 (Arkadia) CD $8

Osvald Kabasta, a name consigned to The Dustbin Of History. Kabasta's reading of Dvorak's New World Symphony was so masterful, it was mistakenly issued as a Furtwangler recording in the 60s. Kabasta has an excellent way with Bruckner. Bruckner puts the BIG into classical composition the way no one apart from Wagner ever has and Kabasta's interpretation is not to be missed! Recorded in 1943 with the Munich Philharmonic in fine form.

Kostis KilymisCrystal Drops/ Ground Loops (Il Dischi Del Barone) 7" $11

Kostis Kilymis is an artist associated in my mind with the Fireworks Edition crew. Crystal Drops features a sort of bad sounding digital kick drum with a bunch of unaffected field recordings. Not bad, but not the greatest thing I ever heard. Ground Loops also has collaged field recordings, but it is a superb piece, slow and steady. Is the cup half full or half empty?

Matt KreftingLymph Est (Kye) LP $16

Matt's follow up to the outstanding High Hopes LP. This time we get twelve discrete tracks of Matt's cassette based music. For those unfamiliar with Matt's work, he collages recordings from cassettes, sometimes with his own recordings, sometimes with things he has discovered. There are loops, editing, and taste, etc. To me, Lymph Est sounds a little sadder and less paralyzingly angry and depressive than High Hopes. Lots of excellent ambiences and extremely good focus. Each piece has a set of ideas to be explored. Beautiful miniatures well-ordered in a superbly crafted jewel box of memories and missed opportunities. You can't lose! If I said Lymph Est was a homemade cross between On Land and Music For Films, I would not be a liar. Denton Welch! Kitty!

Graham LambkinCame To Call Mine (Penultimate Press) Book $35

Another superb book of Graham's artwork from Penultimate Press.  Came To Call Mine features approximately 50 of Graham's paintings, each with a corresponding poem on the facing page. The paintings are highly coloured, fanciful, and gorgeous. Plenty of strange creatures lurking all over the pages. Watch out! The writings are great as well. Sometimes alluding to the dilemmas posed by the paintings. Another fine book by Graham which really belongs on your art book shelf.

Graham LambkinCommunity (Kye) LP $23

The first Graham Lambkin solo LP since 2011. (That would be Amateur Doubles.) No French Prog car rides on this one. Instead, five of the eight tracks have Graham's vocals and lyrics. There are six contributors, four of whom play actual instruments, combined with Graham's highly honed editing skills and the use of a wide range of textures which come from who knows where. Community is a very complex work and, although I am on listen #4, I still do not feel like I have my head wrapped totally around the whole thing. The title track is a real standout with its somewhat sinister and yet optimistic voice and lyrics, as well as some fine production. The closing track on side one, Rib Glass, featuring some beautiful violin by Sean McCann is also outstanding. Graham works with the violin and various bells and other sounds, making it sound sort of like a Classical piece from the mid 60s, only a lot better. Side two is no letdown. The Saver starts it off with a very sinister voice and a superb whooshing design. The last piece, The Personality, has ocean sounds, mournful cello, electronics, and Graham's dire, but humorous vocal. Who could ask for anything more? There is a little harmonica on the first side and a lot on the track, The Harmonica on side two. The harmonica always makes me gag, but that is just me. Late 70s style newspaper collaged gatefold with printed inner sleeve. First Class all the way.

LedaCity/ Clear (Il Dischi Del Barone) 7" $10

Leda is Sofie Herner and this 7" is my introduction to her work, and a fine introduction it is. City is a monolithic pounder with very repetitive guitar and synth and a sort of solo synth keeping things moving. There is also a very plaintive vocal in the background. Clear is a much quieter and more intimate piece with slow keyboards and slightly more audible, slightly more plaintive vocals. A great single that has both whiffs of New Zealand and the Fierce label. Very nice.

LedaJapanese Key/ The Silent Contest (IDDB) 7" $11

Leda is Sophie Herner. This is the second 7" I have heard of her music. It is excellent, as was the first 7". Japanese Key is dominated by a sludgy synth riff, with spoken word, somewhat wild slide guitar (mixed low for the most part), and a clicky rhythm that reminds me of Cabaret Voltaire. The Silent Contest has hissy loops, synth, and singing (which is also mixed low). It still has the New Zealand/ Fierce feel of the first 7". This is what singles are made for.

Maurice LemaîtrePoèmes Et Musiques Lettristes Et Hyperphonie (Alga Marghen) LP $30           

Maurice Lemaître is the other main Lettriste along with Isidore Isou. This LP is a collection of pieces recorded between 1953 and 1968. The first three tracks are early 60's French pop music with Isou doing his Lettriste poetry over top. Loudly. They certainly are odd, but also a little annoying. The rest of the LP is mostly choral Lettriste chants which sound a whole lot like Furious Pig or some of the choral bits from Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother. The most ridiculous piece is L'Alcove which features 14 (!) minutes of Lettriste chanting with a girl moaning over the top. Oh boy. It is about as un-erotic as 14 minutes of a girl moaning and panting could be. This might not clear the room like the God-like Jose Luis Castillejo, but it comes close. Sometimes there exists a need to see who is in for the long haul.

LlarksHaunted Sea Forever (Lathelight) 7"   $11

Llarks is Chris Jeely. Haunted Sea Forever is a record of digital melancholy, sort of in the vein of Gas, with some guitar and who knows what else. Both sides seem well conceived for the decaying world of the lathe cut. The ticking fade out. Nice work.

LlarksLike A Daydream (Vanguard Flowers Publishing) LP $13

Llarks on LP! Llarks is, of course, Chris Jeely. While Llarks' music has always been somewhat Ambient, it is not Ambient with a capital A. I believe all the sound is from processed guitar, although you can rarely spot a regular guitar sound. I think this is Llarks' strongest effort to date. The pieces have a great slow drifting quality and also have a good sense of movement. There are toes in Ambient and Kosmiche Music and maybe a whiff of Shoegaze. There is nothing noisy/ hip/ or far out about this record, but if you are not afraid of tonal music, this is a very nice LP. I think fans of Ian Middleton would like this music, although the sound is different.

LlarksMetallic Summer Sea (Scalatapes) One sided C60 $11

Llarks (AKA Chris Jeely) continue on a journey on the Ambient/ Kosmiche Plain. Llarks music is, I believe, all guitar oriented, but you would never know it for all the processing and loops. The guitar is apparent at times, but usually obscured. Metallic Summer Sea is not going to appeal to noise-niks or 'the installation set', but it is a nice tape with influences of beatless Ambient Techno, Kosmiche Music, and maybe a whiff of Gas (which can't be a bad thing). This one seems to have a bit more rhythm than I remember, but it is more of a pulse than a beat. Do not worry. You will not be tempted to dance, only vibrate a little. The track 'Lighthouse' is particularly gorgeous. Nice tape.

LlarksReflections (Lamour) C50 $10

I do not have to tell you who Llarks is anymore. Reflections is another fine tape in the Llarks catalog. The moods between the tracks vary, but this is a very consistent release. This one has a lot of endless vistas with the occasional interruption, like the mad organ-sounding bit on side A. Llarks mixes it up enough to keep a fine forward momentum throughout the tape. Another nice release of ambient (not quite) guitar (hard to tell) music.

LLarksThrough The Sun/ Chrysalis (LLL) 7" $11

Llarks is Chris Larks and this is his second lathe-cut 7". I thought the first one was pretty good, but this one is a step up. Lots of layered, vaguely distorted and vaguely melancholic guitars. The old-time, somewhat noisy lathe-cut is perfect for this sad, drifting music. It is late afternoon. Bottle open. Time to play this over and over until it is gone.

Annea LockwoodGround Of Being (Recital) CD $14

Annea Lockwood has been around a long time (she's even older than me!), but does not have that many releases. So, this CD by Recital is quite welcome. I first heard Lockwood's music when I got The Glass World Of Annea Lockwood LP sometime in the late 70s. Weird records were scarce on the ground in those days, so I would buy almost anything that seemed odd or strange. The Glass World… is a fine LP that I still own today. Ground Of Being has four pieces. The first, Bouyant, is an excellent mix of water and clanking sounds. The next piece, Dusk, features recordings of a black smoker (a marine term, not an African tobacco enthusiast), bat calls, and William Winant on tam-tam. It too is superb, very minimal and atmospheric. Then arrives Ear-Walking Woman, a piece for prepared piano. It is quite a ghostly piece with not many traditional piano sounds to be found. Instead there are lots of electronic sounding and bell-like tones. The piece plays out like its title. A journey that pauses to investigate and then continues on to the next interesting phenomena. The last piece is the title track, which is also somewhat ghostly. It starts with very minimal sounds punctuated by a Senegalese speaker with lots of natural reverb and a few editing effects used with subtle restraint. It then build to include rumbling and a very neat rhythm. So many people do edited field recordings these days that it is increasingly difficult to catch my ear. Annea Lockwood has certainly done that. This is a CD that needs concentrated listening to pay off, but if you put the time and effort in, it will. Nice triple gatefold package with many infos.

Arrigo Lora-TotinoOut Of Page (Recital) LP $16

Arrigo Lora-Totino was an Italian Sound Poet who was pretty much there at the beginning of the incredible Sound Poetry explosion of the 50s and 60s.  (He lived to be 88, which seems extremely old for a sound poet to me. I always imagine they live a much more dissolute lifestyle than my own. Always the Romantic.) Much like Henri Chopin, he stuck with Sound Poetry to the end. Lora-Totino, also like Henri Chopin, is of the tape school of Sound Poetry, all of the pieces utilizing multi-tracking and tape effects. This LP features pieces from 1968-2000. It is superb. A few of the pieces have recognizable words in Italian (or, in one case, English), but the majority are more concrete Sound Poetry, concentrating on sounds, textures, and atmospheres. I am also happy to report that the later tracks do not have any digital nonsense. Great stuff. Everyone should buy this, from me or Sean, or whomever. Let's support Recital's Sound Poetry reissue series. We all need them.

Gabi LosoncySecurity Besides Love (Recital) LP $16

Gabi Losoncy was half of the excellent Good Area. Two untitled side long pieces on this one. The first is a field recording of a subway ride with a very annoying conversation with two idiots. It's annoying! No shit! The second side is a long spoken piece about her involvement and personal interaction with music, art, and the world. Not something I would want to listen to every day, but Gabi's voice has a fragile, sad, and sort of lost quality, that brings a certain poignancy to the piece which is appealing. Perhaps it is the constant mechanical throb in the background that helps as well. I quite like the second side. The first, not so much. Hey! Where is the cornet?

Timo van Luijk + Frederik CroeneFortune De Mer (La Scie Doree) LP $20

Timo should be well known to readers of this catalog and Frederik Croene should be somewhat known as well as I have distributed a number of his records. Fortune De Mer is a very odd record. Some of the music reminds of those excellent hash baked French Minimalist Prog records from the early 70s. There is one track that sounds a bit like an Ennio Morricone score for a Spaghetti Western. Add to this mix some drones and rather ambient music and that, my friends, is a recipe for success. And that is just the first side. The second side has more silence and drama and one excellent Dome impersonation. A very enjoyable record all the way through to the hesitant acoustic guitar outro. I hate to use the word 'soundtrack' to refer to a record that isn't, but this has that feel in the best possible way.

Timo Van Luijk/ Daniel DuchampLes Soers Noires (Editions Delvoyeurs) One-sided LP $24

This one-sided LP was released as part of an art exhibition. Timo's piece is a superb slow and quiet piece with bells, drones, and a few squalls. It is a superb and delicate piece of music. A very humid world. Duchamp's piece is also good, although the sampled choirs remind me a little of Dead Can Dance. Still, that's my problem, not yours.

Timo van Luijk & Kris Vanderstraeten Arrêt Au Lac Chemire (La Scie Doree) LP $20

Superb recording of a live show by Timo and Kris Vanderstraeten, recorded in 2013. This is mostly percussion based music, especially if you consider rubbing or sawing on an instrument to be percussion. There is also some flute and a lot of sporadic echo. There are times when the recording sounds like more than two people live, but it could be A) They are both very busy, B) Lots of echo, C) Tapes, or D) Editing. Whichever, this is a great ride through changing and unexpected territories from start to finish. There is also lots of what sounds like live electronic manipulation. Because of the instrumentation and the droning, parts of this definitely have that Apocalypse Now! feel, but these guys are heading up a different river. It must have been a great show. Excellent LP.

Timo van Luijk and Kris VanderstraetenCosta Del Luna (La Scie Doree)      LP $26

Two more side long pieces from these two. The first side is a scuttling crab moving in and out of focus. It's great, but the second side is utterly fantastic. A lot of percussion and drones, as well as flute sounds, etc, with a touch of faux Orientalism. Enough that bits of the music could be seen as an alternative soundtrack to Apocalypse Now!. (And I mean that as a compliment.) Vanderstraeten and van Luijk sound so together, it could be mistaken for a piece of modern classical music. (And I mean that as a compliment too.) Beautiful cover as well.

Luke & WendyTony Conrad I + II (Meeuw Muzak) 7" $11

Let's see… Luke & Wendy give us quite the concoction. Tony Conrad I has a lot of unidentified sawing, some pretty straight up 4/4 drumming, screaming, percussion, bass, etc, and adds some Indian flourishes at the end. Tony Conrad II is a jumpier affair, going a lot of places. Very short and a little noisy. Who knows? I sure don't. I would like to see a follow up single of Tony Conrad doing a piece called Luke & Wendy. It could happen!

Lyoto MusicST (Urashima) LP $25

Lyoto Music is Pierpaolo Zoppo (Mauthausen Orchestra) and Pierto Mazzocchin (The New Sadism, Observation Clinique, etc) collaborating in 1984. As could be expected, the music is a bit denser than either of their solo projects. The first side is an unrelenting brutal assault with harsh feedback, synths, and some very submerged yelling. Side B is slightly more sparse and has a couple of odd, vague rhythms near the start as well as some excellent feedback/ synth bits. Not as crucial as the Mauthausen Orchestra LPs, but if you are fond of this sort of thing, you will not come up short.

Ross ManningDeforming A Virtual Ribbon (More Mars) C30 $11

Ross Manning is no stranger to these pages. He has had a number of fine, low profile releases and Deforming A Virtual Ribbon continues that trend. Two tracks per side. The first side is collaged together. It starts out with a sort of Gamelan/ Apocalypse Now!/ Free percussion piece, followed by a quick edit- voice cutup, and then some unidentifiable field recordings with a brief, but excellent ominous synth. The second side starts with a very Maximalist percussion, organ and who-knows track, followed by a very minimal percussion and field recording piece. The Maximalist track might be a bit much for me, but the rest of the tape is superb. Ross has a great ear for combinations of sounds and his music sounds more played than a lot of solo music these days. Another winner.

MarsfieldThe Towering Sky (Faraway Press) CD $27

Just a beautiful atmospheric CD by the supergroup Marsfield. (Brendan Walls, Vikki Jackman, Andrew Chalk, and Robin Barnes.) Two long tracks of otherworldly shimmering and sawing, each with a gorgeous ebb and flow. I've heard this one quite a few times and I am still finding new nuances to enjoy. I keep picturing the band carving out these great wedges of sound in an empty, half ruined, Greek amphitheater. The music has an understated majestic quality that is rare to find in such a fluid and organic stew. Some smartypants should issue this on LP. Top Shelf all the way. As I've said many times before, Andrew's covers are works of art themselves, all meticulously hand assembled. Here's to The Beautiful Object!

Mauthausen OrchestraST (Menstrual) LP $26

This LP is a reissue of the first Mauthausen Orchestra release, originally on Broken Flag in 1982. I have been a big fan of the heavy feedback nihilistic recordings of Pierpaolo Zoppo (who was Mauthausen Orchestra) for some time. He does not quite have the God-like status of early MB here at HQ, but his music hits some of the same exquisite spots in a different way. Nothing in the Mauthausen Orchestra catalog that I have heard prepared me for this LP. Side one starts out with a 'noisy' piece, which seems to be loops of some kind of static, but it is not really that noisy, just repetitive and alien. The rest of the side is very minimal, very quiet tonal manipulations. Nothing much happens at all, but it is very atmospheric and captivating. Side two starts out with another noisy piece, which sounds like shortwave radio to me, but it is also not very noisy. After that, the minimalism increases until the end of the LP. Ghostly repeated hums and buzzes, which by the last half of the second side have receded into almost nothingness. This is a fantastic, very ART LP. I think if it were not for the Nazi/concentration camp imagery, this LP would be known as a minimalist classic. Nothing much happens, but it is all saturated with a feeling of dread. Excellent!

Sean McCannA Castle Popping/ Tub Of Green Ink LP/CD $24

Sean describes this release as not actually a coherent album in the strict sense, but more of a collection of various things he has been working on circa 2011-2014. A Castle Popping is the LP. The first side has three heavily edited modern versions of Musique Concrète, with a lot of manipulated voice sounds, some piano, and who knows what else. This sort of thing is not really my bag these days, but on my fourth spin through the LP, I can see these pieces are very well done and I even enjoyed them a bit, despite myself. The second side is a different plate of oysters altogether. The first piece, Victorian Wind is the first notated piece Sean has ever had performed, performed by The This Edge New Music Collective in Toronto, 2014. It is a superb and very evocative piece, which has a very organic quality for a notated piece. The other two pieces on Side B are both piano based, the first having some fine tape work, the second just solo piano. Both are quite fine. The CD, Tub Of Green Ink, continues on in a similar vein as the LP. Again, I am not as fond of the computer edited Musique Concrète pieces, but the dizzy strings on Piano And String Figure are a treat and the pieces that bookend the CD, for synthetic oboe and synthetic piano respectively, are also very nice. Beautiful package with three inserts.

Sean McCannMusic For Private Ensemble (Recital) LP $14

I have been a big fan of Sean's music for some time now, but I was in no way prepared for this blast. The three part opener, Introduction, sets the tone with its highly organized, and yet sparse, string and orchestral parts. The piece has a weird ebb and flow that I am not sure I ever heard before. The other remarkable thing about this piece is that it really sounds like a chamber group playing together. Sean played all of the instruments himself, apart from a few samples, but Introduction has the feel of a group in a room. The other piece on the first side is sort of Gamelan-based and acts as a minty chaser before side 2. Said side 2 opens with City With All The Angles (For Dick Higgins), which starts out with slowed down growling and ominous plunks, and progresses through a series of events: a woozy, yet beautiful string section, a lost lounge band, bells… Sounds come and go like a dream. The finisher is the gorgeous Conclusion, also a three part piece like Introduction. There is some bumping and tape business in the first part before the piece condenses into what sounds like organ swells and the beautiful voice of Kayla Cohen. The arrangements throughout this record are meticulously detailed and very ornate, yet the music seems somewhat sparse. This is quite a feat indeed! Maybe I don't get out enough, but I haven't heard anything remotely like this for years. Top marks to an ever-more-fascinating potent new force.

Sean McCannMusic For Public Ensemble (Recital) 2LP $24

Sean's Magnum Opus finally sees the light of day after three years of work. The basic idea is that Sean asked friends and musicians he liked (34 in all including Sean) to contribute music and voice and he wove and coaxed it all into a whole. This record is astounding. I am on my sixth complete play through and it is still hard to wrap my head around the whole thing. The music features a lot of voices, sometimes in a beautiful choral mode, sometime reading or more dramatically speaking words. There are also a lot of violins and other acoustic instruments. The entire effect is like a well-designed funhouse of certain Avant Garde practices from the last 70 years. Imagine a cocktail of Eno's Obscure label, The Lovely Music label, 60s/early 70s Classical Avant Garde a la the Nonesuch Explorer label, some Fluxus,  some Harry Partch, and a whole lot of shaking and mixing. I am more excited every time I take the full 85 minute plunge. I know Sean did a lot of very baroque studio work on this record as my trumpet playing on String Quartet With Ski Response makes it sound like I know what I am doing. (I also got a charge out of Graham Lambkin's rising synth sound on Pearling, which I recognized from the Fossils side of the Million Dollar Spree LP.) The cover is excellent and there is also a superb booklet. The booklet adds to the mystery with photos, paintings, lyrics, drawings, scores, and performance instructions. This really is a fantastic all around package. I cannot believe Sean is not on the cover of The Wire for this record, but I suppose my taste and interests are not in vogue at this time coordinate. I am looking forward to playing this one enough to become quite familiar with it. Top Marks! Let's have a drink!

Sean McCannPreclusion (Root Strata) LP $18

Another beautiful LP from Sean McCann, who also runs the Recital label. The side-long first piece (Our Silhouette) is a sparsely orchestrated piano led twenty minutes of melancholy. Excellent. The two pieces on the second side are not so obviously piano oriented, but retain the same air of a foggy, sad, and mysterious morning. One of these grey days, I will (after my Health Walk, of course) have a bourbon and coffee and listen to this and Vikki Jackman's A Paper Doll's Whisper Of Spring back to back and lose myself in reverie. That will be an excellent day. Sean is one of my favourite younger composers and Preclusion is another reason why.

Sean McCannTen Impressions For Piano And Strings (Root Strata) LP $17

Simply gorgeous LP that lives up to its name and then some. Besides the piano and strings (which Sean plays himself), you get some very fine processing and editing, a compliment I do not hand out very often these days. Sean is a master of orchestration and layering, not to draw attention to its cleverness, but to make the piece of music as good as it can be. Somewhat in the Budd/ Eno Ambient range, Ten Impressions For Piano And Strings also has a darker quality at times. This is a very, very nice record. Oh! Also superb cover art that really fits the LP.

Sean McCann & Matthew SullivanVanity Fair (Recital) LP $15

Debut release on Sean McCann's new Recital label and what a fantastic start it is. I have not heard music with so much mystery and drama since IFCO's The Island Of Taste. Vanity Fair has six pieces with lots of field and location recordings as well as played instruments, all meticulously arranged for maximum effect. Each of the pieces has its own character, but they all flow together to make a coherent whole. Superb sequencing throughout and the arrangements, which heavily feature the juxtaposition of played music and tapework, are astonishingly great. The overall atmosphere is both mournful and somewhat decadent, which are two of the things I enjoy most in music. Highly recommended. I am very excited to see younger composers and musicians resist the cash temptation and stupidity of retro New Age music and the empty rebellion of Noise. The real Avant Garde never gives up! This LP is a perfect realization of the haunting awareness of the sadness of things and the pleasure of the beauty of great art. Great cover too. Corners bumped during shipping if that offends you.

Sean McCann/ Matthew Sullivan/ Alex TwomeyThe Bird (?) C60 $12

There is no information on this excellent tape apart from the above. The Bird has a number of sections, but all of them follow the same basic plan. Very slow, somewhat lyrical piano with, variously, violin, cello, sax, perhaps other instruments, and a lot of room sound. It is a superb mix. Nothing much really happens, but the atmosphere builds and builds as the tape goes on. Superb underplaying by everyone throughout the tape. In my mind, less is almost always more. There is something about this music that reminds me of the great Walter Marchetti, and I almost never say that. One of my favourite tapes from the last few years that doesn't have me on it. Get it and see why!

Sean McCann/ Matthew Sullivan/ Alex TwomblyCharlotte's Office (no label) C60 $11

Another nicely obscure tape from these nicely obscure artists. Most of the tracks have a fine slow, limpid piano accompanied by other things. Lots of room sounds and rummaging. Some guitar and some wind instruments. Although there is the occasional bit of excitement, most of the tracks (all untitled, I lost count of how many) are very languid and content to stay that way. Listening to this tape is like being lost in a fog. Or, perhaps lost in a fog in Charlotte's Office. One might wonder just what sort of office it was. If you like slow meandering sounds with some wistful piano here and there, Charlotte's Office might be a good destination for you. I particularly enjoy the occasional hissing sounds, which sometimes sound like someone spraying a bottle of spray cleaner and other times sound like an old fashioned steam press. There is a very long spectral drone that finishes off side 2 that has not much piano and some very steam press-like sounds. Great tape.

Louis de MeesterAlpha Recordings (Dead Cert) LP $24

Louis de Meester was a Belgian composer of many types of music. The Alpha recordings compiles three pieces realized between 1958- 1971. Incantations (1958) combines electronic sounds and effected male and female voices (reciting Lettrist texts by Isidore Isou!) to great effect. Spielerei (1970) combines Modernist flute and cello with all sorts of electronic sounds and cut-ups. It is a very odd piece of music and, I think, a great one. The side long Mimodrama is all played on the Magnetaphone, which I assume is some sort of tape machine along with some effected voices. There are a lot of really nice bits in this piece, but there are also some rather silly bits that kind of break the spell for me. It seems a bit unfocused compared to the first two pieces. If you like Hyper-Modernist 50s and 60s electro acoustic experimentation, you cannot do too much better than the first side of this LP. Oh! Did I forget to mention that Mr. Meester is smoking a cigarette on the cover?

Madalyn MerkeyScent (New Images Limited) LP $16

I sort of stumbled upon this one and, boy, am I glad I did. Very sophisticated synth music with some vocoder. I know that 'synth and vocoder' could be used to describe any number of bland, useless retro-80s records, but Scent is an entirely, entirely different matter. It is much more oriented towards a FUTURE future, rather than a future as ironically imagined through the past. Not Pop at all, but very pleasing to listen to from beginning to end. Scent also has a whiff of that Asmus queasiness that for me is the cherry on the pie. Very synthetic. Excellent. I will be smelling this Scent again and again.

Harry MerryAustralian Sun (Meeuw Musik) 7" $9 

Really horrible 'sincere' song about the sun in Australia shining brightly. From the 'poem' on the back, I gather the song has something to do with global warming. Organ and sticks and terrible vocals. The B side is an instrumental version with some instrument playing the vocal line just so you don't forget how poor it was. I hope this song doesn't start running through my head. Ho-Ho! Meeuw!

MicrotubStar System (Sofa) LP $23

OK. Microtub is not a name that particularly grabs me, but it makes some sense as Microtub is a microtonal tuba trio. Robin Hayward is the leader of the group and his compositions take the form of three dimensional sculptures. The sculptures are pictured on the front and back of the LP cover and there is a short description of the process. What does a microtonal tuba trio sound like? Yoshi Wada and Phill Niblock would be some obvious starting points, but Microtub has a different feel, both more organic and more clinical if that is possible. Star System is an outstanding LP of low end, slowly revolving acoustic drone music. Both side long pieces are slow, but also a bit different. It is like being submerged in a timeless pleasure-jelly, slowly spinning and enjoying the beautiful, slow moving shapes and sounds. Excellent! Includes a CD of the same material, suitable for repeat play.

Ian Middleton - Aural Spaces (Swill Radio 029) ....LP $16    

I've been in touch with Ian Middleton for over 13 years now, lured into contact by a Remora lathe-cut LP, I believe, which sounded similar in intent to IFCO material that Karla and I were working on at the time. Ian was a somewhat prolific figure of the 90's UK underground scene, both with his music and his visual art. There was an LP for Swill Radio 'in the can', which ended up on Eclipse as there wasn't any money here to release it. Ian's music has always had both organic and artificial elements combined with the vague melancholy of distant beauty. With Aural Spaces, Ian has refined and distilled his processes into a gorgeous electronic diamond. To quote my good friend Oskar Spee, "Aural Spaces is an exotic, scientific, and beautiful perfume that slows down time and allows one to live, however briefly, in a better possible world". I couldn't agree more. There is not a wasted moment. Ian has kept a low profile the last few years, preferring to concentrate on his work and make it better, an approach of which I heartily approve. The sequencing of this LP is immaculate, a skill that is becoming a lost art in this shuffle-play world. Aural Spaces is totally removed from the confines of today's backwards looking fads and instead points its bow directly towards The Future. Fighting the good fight.

Ian MiddletonWell Of Sorrows (Skire) LP $24  

Finally. A new Ian Middleton LP! And what a striking LP it is. I have known Ian for quite some time now and I have been privy to a few earlier versions of this record as it was being worked over. Ian has a meticulousness and attention to detail that really pays off here as every synthetic gesture seems both etched in fine glass and as organic as an open field. This is not an easy accomplishment. If you like the synthetic Cluster side of Krautrock or any of today's new synth wizards, I would advise checking out Ian's music immediately. Ian's compositions seem otherworldly, coming from a whole different musical landscape all his own. The side long Snowdrops is very sad and very beautiful. Excellent stuff. A glittering dream jewel.

Moebius & Tietchens – ST (Bureau B) LP/CD $17

Asmus and Moebius! Together at last! A collaboration between the two was first proposed years and years ago and here it finally is. If you are familiar with both artists work (and if you aren't, shame on you), this LP is everything you could have hoped for and imagined for a meeting between these two great artists. Moebius (always the slightly more experimental of the Cluster duo to judge from his solo work) and Asmus (who is a bit more in his Sky/Hematic Sunsets mode here) combine for a fantastic LP of somewhat rhythmic and somewhat tonal electronic music. Moebius' melodic sense and Asmus' queasy melodicism fit together perfectly for a superior instrumental ride. The illuminating textures, fascinating electronics, and stellar arrangements of these pieces will keep me busy for quite a while. I would not have expected any less from these Great Men. Totally enjoyable. Comes with free CD of same material.

Michael MorleyMoonrise (Kye) LP $17

Michael Morley, whom you all know from Dead C and Gate, here present his first all acoustic recording. Anyone who knows me knows that the acoustic guitar is, for the most part, not my thing. The acoustic guitar is not as bad as the harmonica, banjo, or digital fritzing, but still… I have mellowed a bit about this issue over the past few years (not that much!), and perhaps this is why I found this LP to be reasonably enjoyable. Despite the odds. About half of the LP features sparse, weirdly mumbled vocals which, again despite the odds, I liked a little better than the instrumental bits. I used to listen to a lot of outsider folk acoustic guitar 30 years or so ago and I think what I like about this record is it avoids a lot of the clichés of the genre. If you have any inclination towards this sort of thing, I predict you will like it. I must be getting soft.

Charlie MorrowToot! Too (Recital) LP + Book $22

Charlie Morrow (1942) has certainly done a lot. Mostly known for his sometimes site specific, large outdoor extravaganzas, he has also arranged the music for some hit tunes and written advertising jingles. Five of the six pieces are from the Wave Music Series and feature such lineups as a drum and bugle corps piece (with counting!) and a piece for conch shells and bagpipes. The non-Wave piece is Requiem For The Victims Of Kent State, which is a piano and tape piece that starts out sad and ends up angry. My favourite piece is the one for 60 clarinets and a boat horn. 60 clarinets tootling away as a huge swarming clarinet ball. The end of the piece is quite excellent, but I won't give that away. If you are interested in mass sound events, this is certainly a very nice ride. Comes with a beautiful informative booklet with lots of phots, a score, texts, etc.  Recorded between 1970 – 2014, Toot! Too is a very interesting release from a very interesting man.

Still Available A-M 1..2..3

Still Available N-Z

 

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