ANTHEA CADDY + THEMBI SODDELL - Host CD ROOM40 ANTHONY PATERAS - Collected Works: 2002-2012 5CD Immediata BARBARA MORGENSTERN - Sweet Silence CD Monika BÉRANGÈRE MAXIMIN - No one is an Island CD Sub Rosa BONG-RA - Monolith CD PRSPCT CALLIOPE TSOUPAKI - MEDEA: A Melodrama for 8 Instruments CD Unsounds DON PRESTON - Filters, Oscillators & Envelopes 1967-82 LP/CD Sub Rosa FOSTERCARE - Altered Creature LP/CD Robot Elephant FRANCISCO LOPEZ - Untitled#284 CD Crónica GAZELLE TWIN - The Entire City LP/CD Anti-Ghost Moonray GUY REIBEL - Granulations-Sillages/Franges du Signe LP Recollection GRM HEATSICK - Déviation 12" PAN HELM - Impossible Symmetry LP PAN JIM COLEMAN - Trees CD Wax & Wane KEITH FULLERTON WHITMAN - Occlusions LP Editions Mego KILO - The Wildernis CD+DVD Experimentalstudio Brigittenau LAUREL HALO - Quarantine CD Hyperdub MIKA VAINIO/KEVIN DRUMM/AXEL DÖRNER/LUCIO CAPECE - Venexia LP PAN NAZORANAI - s/t 2LP/CD Ideologic Organ NICOLAS BERNIER - Travaux mécaniques DVD-A empreintes DIGITALes PIERRE SCHAEFFER - Le Trièdre fertile LP Recollection GRM PLVS VLTRA - Parthenon LP Spectrum Spools POLYSICK - Digital Native 2LP/CD Planet Mu ROBERT HAMPSON - Repercussions CD+DVD Editions Mego SIMON SCOTT - Below Sea Level CD 12K SIR RICHARD BISHOP - Intermezzo LP Ideologic Organ V.A. - Störung: Sound & Visual Art DVD+Book Störung >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top ANTHEA CADDY + THEMBI SODDELL - Host CD/DL ROOM40 RM448 www.room40.org/store/caddy_soddell_host For their second major recording project Host, Australian sound artists Anthea Caddy and Thembi Soddell rigorously shape aural representations of physical environments to express psychological experience. Recorded in scientifically controlled spaces and unpredictable natural and man-made environments, sampler and cello interact to generate acoustically opposing atmospheres. Interwoven with abstracted found sounds, instrument and environment merge to create a dynamic interplay between physical reality, sensory perception and psychological interpretation. Host presents an edition of tense electroacoustic compositions that define new, dense, and sonically detailed environments that highlight and shadow the interaction between human psyche and the physical world. "The fusion of these different kinds of electroacoustic presage cracks our fake tranquillity, dragging us into an uncertain kind of awareness that doesn't admit the presence of danger but at the same time almost expects it with unpronounceable pleasure." - Touching Extremes Artist Biography Anthea Caddy and Thembi Soddell have been said to be a "formidable duo" (The Wire) that "deliver a strong and convincing product" (Phosphor Magazine). Since the release of their first collaborative album, Iland, in 2006, they have been commissioned for a number of multi-channel concert presentations and gallery installations (Immersion, Melbourne 2008; Westspace Gallery, Melbourne 2009; Parisonic Festival, Paris, 2011); performed internationally at venues and festivals such as Instants Chavirés (Paris), Cave 12 (Geneva), Vibra @ OCCC (Valencia), Café Oto (London), La Malterie (Lille), WORM (Rotterdam), Hörkunstfestival (Erlangen), and Biegungen Festival (Berlin); and regularly participate in major Australian experimental music festivals such as Liquid Architecture and The Now Now. Their work is also discussed in the book Experimental Music: Audio Explorations in Australia, published by UNSW Press in 2008. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top ANTHONY PATERAS - Collected Works: 2002-2012 5CD box Immediata IMM001 www.anthonypateras.com Throughout the last decade, the works of Anthony Pateras have been performed by some of the world's leading ensembles and performers. He has collaborated with a broad array of contemporary artists including Han Bennink, eRikm, Christian Fennesz, Paul Lovens, Stephen O'Malley, The Necks and Mike Patton. He is also one half of the mind-blowing piano/drums avant-grind outfit known as PIVIXKI, and is founder of the Electro-Acoustic-Free-Concréte quintet THYMOLPHTHALEIN. This 5-disc set covers many aspects of his musical output. Disc 1 features chamber and orchestral pieces, containing a string quartet, small ensemble works and a mammoth electric violin concerto with spatilized orchestra and quadraphonic electronics. Disc 2 is a re-issue of his widely performed Chasms for prepared piano, accompanied by a brand new piece to smash any cute-sy post-Cageian grooves right back into the emotronica abyss. Disc 3 features menacing pipe organ textures recorded on the largest instrument in the southern hemisphere. Disc 4 features two extended solo piano works captured live in the opulence of Sydney's State Theatre, and Disc 5 features mind-bending works for solo and ensemble orchestral percussion. As a self-contained box - handsomely packaged with foil text, satin ribbon and containing an informative, full-colour 16-page booklet with sketches and notes - this is an astonishing overview of one of Australia's most unique, uncompromising and exciting composers. Usually releasing material on flagship labels Tzadik and Editions Mego, this is the first release on the composer's own Immediata imprint. Limited to 500 copies worldwide. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top BARBARA MORGENSTERN - Sweet Silence CD Monika Enterprise 74 Release date: June 8 www.monika-enterprise.de www.barbaramorgenstern.de SWEET SILENCE is no less than the sixth album by Berlin based musician Barbara Morgenstern. Following 2010's Fan No. 2, a greatest hits compilation of a different kind, the album contains a fresh collection of all new songs sung for the first time only in English. As with all of Morgenstern's music, SWEET SILENCE exudes a glorious honesty which is just what makes her electronic-pop sound so appealing. The record was mixed by Shitkatapult founder Marco Haas aka T.Raumschmiere giving the whole thing that unmistakable Berlin sound. In keeping with The Tremeloes classic, BM breaks the ice on the album with the title song Sweet Silence, an anthemic intro enriched with vocal delays which sets the mood nicely. Morgenstern soon picks up the pace though on Need To Hang Around. This spirited song is a friendly reminder of how important it is to step back every once in a while. It's lighthearted while still carrying an important message; indeed it remains a large part of the singer's charm that she never takes her music seriously. SWEET SILENCE is in many ways Barbara's most accessible record to date, not least of all for all those international listeners out there as this time the lyrics are sung exclusively in English. As German fans already know, Morgenstern's song texts have always contained a great depth of meaning and imagery as well as humour. Now with SWEET SILENCE, everyone can join in understanding the ideas and experiences at the heart of Morgenstern's songs, rather than just enjoying the sound of her voice on a purely instrumental level. That said, KooKoo works on both levels with both profound lyrics and extensive creative use of vocal sampling. Jump Into The Life-Pool tells the time old story that is the cycle of life, spiraling ever onwards just like the arpeggiated synth loops that are to be heard in the song. Side two of SWEET SILENCE opens with a short interlude Bela. It is one of only three instrumental tracks on an album so reliant on Morgenstern's tremendous vocal presence. Highway is probably the most orchestral tune with a swelling string arrangement setting the mood and the song is proof that the way is the goal, and you never know what's around the next bend. The Minimum Says is one of the few songs to feature guitar on a predominantly electronic album. While Auditorium switches instrumentation again, this time to a rhodes and some seriously jazzy riffs. Hip Hop Mice is the second instrumental number on SWEET SILENCE and so is somewhat reminiscent of Morgenstern's collaboration with Robert Lippok on Tesri, with the focus being purely on electronica and less weight being given to any pop aspect in the music. At just over five and a half minutes, Status Symbol seems to have almost epic proportions on an album that otherwise pretty much sticks to the 3 minute golden rule of pop. It is the penultimate song on SWEET SILENCE and with it long drawn out hypnotic-jam nature, certainly has something of a Nichts Muss feel to it. And SWEET SILENCE draws to a close with Love is in the air, but we don't care the third and final instrumental on the album, which appropriately enough fades out unassumingly leaving only silence. SWEET SILENCE is in many ways a milestone in the career of Barbara Morgenstern. A career which has spanned achievements such as collaborations with the likes of Robert Wyatt and Bill Wells and the afore mentioned Robert Lippok, as well as side projects such as the improvised trio September Collective (with Stefan Schneider and Paul Wirkus) and tours which has seen her travel to the furthest reaches of the globe and earn fans throughout the world. SWEET SILENCE is a journey or at least the next leg in Morgenstern's ongoing musical journey, one on which gladly we are all invited to come along. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top BÉRANGÈRE MAXIMIN - No one is an Island CD Sub Rosa SR337 www.subrosa.net www.berangeremaximin.com Featuring: Rhys Chatham Christian Fennesz Frédéric D. Oberland Richard Pinhas "I eagerly seized the opportunity to work with these amazing four men. I loved that. Their wits and energies were just what I needed: a sonic journey that simultaneously develops intuition and teaches understanding, this among many other subtle effects. It certainly impacts on my way of listening, and therefore on the music I shall make in the future. My warm thanks go to them and also to those who not only offer drama, but who also can help keep on track and blossom." - Bérangère Maximin Berangere Maximin was born on the remote French colonial island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean and moved to France at the age of fifteen. Performing first as a singer, she later studied electroacoustic music with the composer Denis Dufour at the Perpignan Conservatoire. Her first professional experiences occurred in Paris, and in 2002 she moved there permanently. From 2002 to 2007, whilst running the organisations Motus (concerts production and label, Paris) and Futura (International festival of Acousmatic Art, Crest, France) as the assistant of Denis Dufour, she started to work as an independent composer (collective concerts and audiovisual installations). After the release of her debut album Tant Que Les heures Passent (As Long As The Hours Go By) on Tzadik Records (August 2008), she performed a series of pieces for live voice and laptop which continued to develop on the road. In the thirty-concert tour that followed in the USA, France and Italy, she shared the bill with strong personalities such as Christian Fennesz (Florence, Paris), James Blackshaw (St-Ouen), ZU (Vandoeuvre) and Fred Frith (Brest, Oakland, San Francisco). At the beginning of 2011, Berangere Maximin completed a tour in the USA (eleven concerts in New York, DC, Philly, San Francisco, Oakland) and formed a double laptop duo with Chuck Bettis (Tzadik), 'Pretty Clicks' (first concerts in New York in February and March, and in France in September and October, 2011). Berangere Maximin has recently been included in the 2011 Residency Program Institut Français Hors Les Murs and spent two months in the USA (February and March) to write the libretto of Dora-Rose Hits New York, a piece for 4 actors and electronics (ongoing production, stage direction: Lionel Parlier). >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top BONG-RA - Monolith LP/CD PRSPCT Recordings RVLT01 Release date: May 7 www.prspct.nl www.bong-ra.com Bong-Ra's new album Monolith is a new step in pure hybrid electronics. Seamlessly mixing all styles with ease. Be it Metal, Drum and Bass, Hip Hop and Dubstep. A musical characteristic he has gained international praise for. Monolith is divided up into two segments : "Alpha" and "Omega". "Alpha" are four Hiphop-esque colossals featuring the American rapper Sole, who has proven himself over the years with his crew and label Anticon. "Omega" is the dancefloor orientated part of the album where Bong-Ra continues with his trademark Metalbreaks style which made him remix the likes of Bolt Thrower and even screamo legends Therapy? Since 1996 Bong-Ra has released 5 full length albums, and has released on labels such as DJAX. Planet Mu, Ad Noiseam, Kid 606's Tigerbeat 6, Jason Forrest's Cock Rock Disco to name a few. The biggest success came with the 2003 album Bikini Bandits, Kill! Kill! Kill! managing a full rotation with the videoclip "666MPH" on MTV. BBC's Radio 1 DJ, John Peel, was also a big fan, inviting Bong-Ra to do a famous John Peel Session in 2001, and was asked to be part of the Peel Tribute CD Kats Karavan containing Peel's 125 favourite session artists. This CD contained the likes of Bob Marley, Boomtown Rats, The Jam, PJ Harvey and Bong-Ra amongst others. In the last decade Bong-Ra has played all the big festivals: Glastonbury, Lowlands, Fusion, Dour, Eurosonic, etc and has toured Europe, the US and Japan. Bong-Ra is further known for being one of the pioneers of the "Breakcore" genre. Together with artists like Venetian Snares, Shitmat and Jason Forrest they developed this unique and energetic crossbreed in the early 2000's With Monolith Bong-Ra continues to pave the way into heavy electronics, always re-inventing and evolving himself with every album. He recently won the Dutch 3voor12 Award (the largest Dutch music platform) for Best Musician, for his Bong-Ra and The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble projects. CONCEPT : MONOLITH The year 2012: a timeframe where mythology meets reality. Predictions and premonitions clash with impending political and financial catastrophes. Coincidence or a fore warning? Whichever way we look at the era we find ourselves in, if by chance, circumstance or choice, evolving through centuries, it is clear mankind has reached the tipping point in its current phase of existence. Peak oil, diminishing resources and over-population, the graphs of exponential growth have reached their peaks, the sell by dates have all expired and the scales are starting to tip. MONOLITH is where mythology and reality clash. Civilization's vicious circle in which mankind's destructive nature makes her orbit. A species with the powerful gift of knowledge, abstract thinking and the perception of emotion, remains in conflict with its primary instinct of violence, treachery, greed and megalomania. An era where concepts like religion and superstition overpower science and reason. Where law enables minorities to control majorities, dominated by race, heritage and wealth, resulting in a false distribution of power and strength. Resulting in centuries of rape and pillaging of land, cultures and traditions, in which our history is dictated by powers that be. The winners of battles write future's history books. MONOLITH is the end of a civilization. As many before this one, a pinnacle has been reached caused by excess and arrogance, war and corruption. A MONOLITH must be created to signify the start of a new era. The Mayans calendar predicted the end of a cycle in 2012. The Egyptians built blueprints to preserve knowledge which could outlive civilizations. Signals towards turning points to a new golden age in which a new period of darkness will first engulf humanity. This darkness is creeping upon us. Crisis upon crisis, mass corruption, unemployment, injustice, totalitarianism disguised as democracy, poverty, (holy) wars, disease, famine & This darkness is the MONOLITH. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top CALLIOPE TSOUPAKI - MEDEA: A Melodrama for 8 Instruments CD Unsounds 28U www.unsounds.com www.calliopetsoupaki.com Performance: Ensemble MAE (live recording) Medea, a melodrama for 8 instruments by Calliope Tsoupaki is the first in a series of chamber music compositions focusing on drama. The composition is written for ensemble MAE, that distinguishes itself for its colorful, direct, physical and improvisatory character; Tsoupaki uses the ensemble's palette, composing solos, duets, trios, wrapped in larger sonic fields, with a strong associative and visual impact. Further there is no story-telling for the listener to be led into the piece; the music material itself is suggestive, and the melodies have a leading role, as characters in a theater play. Coming back as in different scenes in a film, each time changed and transformed, they are the vectors of tangible dramatic development. As the music material unfolds, we get close to an ultimate Medea, ever changing, beautiful, and wild, but also dignified and powerful. But next to an exploration of the myth, Medea attempts to compose a self-portrait, the composer shedding light onto a deep, unspoken part of herself. Pasolini's Medea was an inspiration for writing this piece, and most of all Maria Callas in the role of Medea, "so tragic that she did not sing a word." Calliope Tsoupaki, Greek composer based in the Netherlands, has composed over 70 pieces from solo to orchestra pieces, vocal works and operas covering the repertoire from concert music to dance, theater and multimedia music projects, often inspired by great female figures in art and history. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top DON PRESTON - Filters, Oscillators & Envelopes 1967-82 LP/CD Sub Rosa SR334 www.subrosa.net en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Preston Previously Unreleased Electronic Music From Original Mothers Of Invention Keyboardist. One could hardly not see in Don Preston a key musician within Frank Zappa's oeuvre. He is not only that, but his presence has marked The Mothers' major records from 1966 to 1974. His touch was already there before the arrival of Ian Underwood, and it continued after Ian left. You all remember King Kong (its magnificence as interpreted by Dom DeWild) from the second Uncle Meat suite. A certain form of jubilation emanates from this track, thanks to Preston's fluid style and lightly astringent tone on the Moog synthesizer - that instrument never sounded quite like that before or after. This might have to do with his double training, his twin interests, since he had been simultaneously working with Gil Evans and listening intensely to Luciano Berio, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Tod Dockstader. Immersed in jazz music, he was imagining secret ties with the nascent electronic music. In the mid-'60s, Preston started developing an electronic instrument, using a home-made synthesizer and a series of oscillators and filters. Out of this instrument came Electronic (1967), his first piece. Two years later, he became a close friend of Robert Moog, and their discussions gave birth to a number of applications in relation with the flexibility of the instrument. Nowadays, you can't mention the Mini-Moog without thinking of Preston. Bob Moog himself said about his solo in Waka Jawaka: "That's impossible. You can't do that on a Moog.". Filters, Oscillators & Envelopes features the other side, the hidden side of Don Preston: the composer of purely electronic music. Don Preston: "We're coming to the beginning of a new era wherein the development of the inner self is the most important thing. We have to train ourselves. So that we can improvise on anything: a bird, a sock, a fuming beaker. This is, this too can be music. Anything can be music." Extracts from Uncle Meat, 1969, The Mothers of Invention >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top FOSTERCARE - Altered Creature LP/CD Robot Elephant Records RER015 Release date: May 21 www.robotelephant.co.uk soundcloud.com/fostercare After successful releases on Robot Elephant Records in form of a split album with Ritualz (Ritualz vs. Fostercare from July 2011), Disaro and Clan Destine Records, as well as a litany of digital self-releases and remixes, Minneapolis based producer Fostercare releases a bold new album entitled Altered Creature. For Altered Creature, Fostercare worked 12-16 hours a day, endeavouring to create emotional electronic music that combines elements of techno, trance, rave and their many sub-genres. With heavy visual influences from the hyperrealist world of advertising, pornography, violence, virtual environments, post humanism and fetish societies; Fostercare has shaped a strange world behind his strain of electronic music. Driven by arpeggiated sequences, breakbeats and apocalyptic sentiments, Fostercare is music for the simulacrum - a peeling away of future underworlds, neon pulses, alternate screens, genetic maps and urban sprawl. Skating between many genres, his music is connected by its emotional intensity and third-eye hyperactive visions. His credentials as a producer extend back to 2008, where he earned praise for exploring a darker, syrupy, warped-808-inspired sound teemed with surreal visuals. Inspired by Deleuzian and Zizekian trajectories of thought, Fostercare makes music that's impossible to pigeonhole. Never is this more accurate than with Altered Creature. "The skink of the witch house cauldron is a strong one that, here and there, still pervades into 2012. Thankfully, some of those who were active in the better end of the genre are starting to emerge with new music far from those nodding-off beats and lazy synth wash. Step forward Fostercare, who will be releasing his new album Altered Creature via the Robot Elephant label on April 30th, 2012. The record was apparently recorded in mammoth 16-hour sessions and is inspired by anything from porn "post humanism and fetish societies" and "Deleuzian and Zizekian trajectories of thought", which sounds bold. We've got the album's opening track, 'The Empire Will Drain U' streaming on our Soundcloud & it's a hectic, dystopian beast, a flashing nocturnal blur that manages to take in Suicide, the aggression of Nitzer Ebb, and the soaring grace of Simple Minds' 'Theme From Great Cities' in just over four minutes." The Quietus about Fostercare's Altered Creature >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top FRANCISCO LOPEZ - Untitled #284 CD Crónica 066 www.cronicaelectronica.org www.franciscolopez.net Behind every image, something has disappeared. And that is the source of its fascination. Behind virtual reality in all its forms [ &] the real has disappeared. And that is what fascinates everyone. According to the official version, we worship the real and the reality principle, but - and this is the source of the current suspense - is it, in fact, the real we worship, or its disappearance? - Jean Baudrillard, Why hasn't everything already disappeared?, translated by Chris Turner, Seagull Books 2009. Untitled #284 was created in 2011 by extensive evolutionary transformation of original environmental recordings made in Lisbon during the year of 1992. These sources were recovered for a commission of the Teatro Municipal Maria Matos, where the composition was premiered on 16 July 2011. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top GAZELLE TWIN - The Entire City LP/CD Anti-Ghost Moonray Records Release date: June 22 www.antighostmoonray.com www.gazelletwin.com "It's a mashed-up, cryptic world of ghost-cities, dead ideologies, imagined futures, ancient rituals, childhood dreams and wounded creatures." Gazelle Twin Gazelle Twin aka ELIZABETH WALLING, b.1981, is a multi-disciplinary artist based in London/Brighton, UK. Working in music, performance, film, visual art, costume and multimedia, Walling is primarily the sole creative force behind everything made under the Gazelle Twin moniker, an androgynous, masked identity which continuously transforms with each project, "they're like puppets. Different forms through which I can render my human self into something else, another species, an object, a cloud of smoke...". As a composer, musician and self-taught producer, Walling has released three Gazelle Twin singles to date, each from her debut album, The Entire City - released on digital worldwide and physical in the UK in 2011 on her co-run label, Anti-Ghost Moon Ray Records (AGMR). The LP received critical praise from international press, radio and music blogs; The Guardian and The Independent both awarded it 5-star reviews and it ranked highly in reviews by Drowned in Sound, Subba Cultcha and the BBC. Support has also come from magazines; Dazed and Confused, Bullett, Notion, Clash and DIVA in various features. THE ENTIRE CITY - ALBUM Art, history, civilisation, science-fiction, film, nature, dreams and even video games are all intrinsic to The Entire City. The title itself - taken from a series of paintings by Max Ernst - preceded any music, such was it's importance to Walling pre-Gazelle Twin, and thus inspired the album's narrative of multiple meanings in a fictional landscape. Likewise, the songs Men Like Gods - taken from the novel by HG Wells - and When I Was Otherwise - a song by the 16th Century composer William Byrd - both existed before any music was written to befit their titles. The novels of JG Ballard and an array of science fiction films including: Terminator, Stalker, Colossus, Eraserhead and Alien were all aesthetic as well as sonic references and this marriage of classical, cinematic, futuristic and dreamlike visual elements is so vital to Gazelle Twin's world that the digital release of The Entire City was accompanied by an interactive visual version' made by Champagne Valentine. Featuring the LP's sleeve artwork - which uses a photocollage entitled "Athne" by UK artist Suzanne Moxhay - the application allows anyone to stream the album in full, whilst witnessing warped visions of the various Gazelle Twin identities and other homemade footage through a single, gazing eye. It is these various identities, created through the use of costume, together with immersive staging concepts which add further 'weight' and intrigue to the music itself. Gazelle Twin's live performances are rare, but prove to act as exploratory and physical expressions of the themes and emotions in her music. At her debut performance in Germany, at the legendary Berghain in Berlin, October 2011 (supporting Planningtorock), Gazelle Twin and live band (Jonny Wildey and Owen Thomas) took to the stage in full costume covering the entire face and body - a design inspired by David Lynch's depiction of Joseph Merrick in The Elephant Man (1980). Unsurprisingly, with such specific visual devices, comparisons have been and continue to be made to the equally mysterious Karin Dreijer Andersson of Fever Ray and The Knife, both of whom Elizabeth consciously admits as a huge influence, "I'm indebted them for the epiphany they inspired in me about the power of disguise". (continued)... The dreamscape vocals of the Cocteau Twins and iconic artists such as Kate Bush and Bjork have also been regular points of reference, as has Prince - of whom Walling is a new but "very obsessive" fan and whose album, Purple Rain (1984), inspired many of the rhythmic elements and drum sounds in The Entire City. Although predictable, such prestigious comparisons can also be seen to express how exciting and rare it is for a true artist like Gazelle Twin to emerge from the UK - something the METRO decided back in 2009 before any official GT releases, "...the exciting thing is that there is no one exactly like her...". "Walling is both star and morphing other, warping breathy harmonies and siren miasmas into elegant cyborg operas. A stunning debut" 5/5 - The Guardian "this is an album which hints at subconscious fears and will haunt you long after listening.' 5/5 - The Independent "The Mercury Prize panellists should probably pencil her in for 2013's shortlist today" - BBC "fragile, understated and frightfully beautiful... crystal clear of ambition and concept" 8/10 - Drowned in Sound "a dream-like tableau evoking Bjork, The Dirty Projectors and Vienna's Soap & Skin as well as (Fever Ray's) sly gift for otherness." - The Quietus >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top GUY REIBEL - Granulations-Sillages / Franges du Signe LP Recollection GRM REGRM002 Release date: June 5 editionsmego.com/recollection-grm en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Reibel Cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, March 2012 Layout: Stephen O'Malley Translations: Valérie Vivancos Coordination GRM: Christian Zanési & François Bonnet Executive Production: Peter Rehberg Franges du Signe (1974) Franges du Signe, the third part of an electroacoustic triptych completed in 1973-1974, is the first major "purely acousmatic" work composed by Guy Reibel. Franges du Signe explores the mathematical idea of the limit by translating it musically, searching for unstable states of equilibrium. Thus, several conflicting tendencies or logics act upon the sounds. They overlap and fight, each one seeking to assert its trace on the phenomenon in progress, generating de facto an ambiguity that is unique to all phenomena that obey the "logic of the living". Granulations-Sillages (1976) Granulations-Sillages develops an idea glimpsed at in Franges du Signe: the existence of extreme times, at the edge of our faculties of perception, which only the electroacoustic music tools allow us to realise. Two natures of phenomena, opposed in all respects (the Granulations-Trails and the Tutti), alternate through seven movements that constitute the piece. The work is designed for six channels diffused in concert on a main stereo system facing the public and two auxiliary stereos (group of crossing speakers: front-back and left-right in the room). Recollection GRM is one more label within the Editions Mego family of labels. It's aim is to is make available on vinyl known and lesser known works from the vast archives of Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM). Being released in batches of 2 every 3 months, it will present both known and lesser known works. All releases will be recut at Dubplates & Mastering and be packaged in new gatefold artwork by Stephen O'Malley, featuring bi-lingual (French/English) texts. Some of these pioneering works have been out of print in this format for over 30 years, and would be a valuable addition to any serious collection of electronic music. It is worth pointing out that this series is neither a rerun of the original Collection INA-GRM series or the Phillips Prospective 21 Siecle series, but something new altogether. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top HEATSICK - Déviation 12"/DL PAN 29 www.pan-act.com perpendicularrain.blogspot.com If "Dream Tennis" was any indication, Heatsick has struck a nerve with his singles that stretch preset washes of polyphony through sunset-hued landscapes of disco and house. Equipped with only a Casio keyboard, he's played alongside everyone from Omar Souleyman to DJ Harvey, Daniel Wang and Legowelt, and has demonstrated his ability not only to extend his keyboard to its limits, but to transcend its musical territory, opening up a diverse range of styles, genres and gestures to his dance-addled mimicries and musings. Déviation marks Heatsick's most expansive dance release to date, featuring four tracks of kaleidoscopic house that combine a lo-fi aesthetic with clear, textured structures akin to wandering through a densely gridded, sultry urban environment. With influences ranging from Fela Kuti to Todd Terry, the EP revolves around as much of a disco aesthetic as it does a leisurely soundtrack to a casual day of hanging out. The dub-influenced title track begins with a rhythmic, Latin-oriented introduction that delicately deviates towards its shimmering second half as the pitch spirals in a locked progression. The climax refuses to come quickly, however, and a flow of excitement frames the track until it finishes in step. The EPs subdued second track, "C'était un rendez-vous", presents a sort of chill-out vibe with a cinematic consciousness. This track features backing by the prodigious saxophonist André Vida, whose snippets of smooth to free jazz are seamlessly interlaced within the last two tracks as well. On the B-side, the B1 track "The Stars down to Earth" is overlaid with a vocal sample and brims with a frenetic energy that calls to mind an ebulliently bassy, Bristol mentality. The concluding track, "No Fixed Address", takes the territory of the B1 and introduces it to a '90s Todd Terry treatment, providing a jacking conclusion to this varied, densely-packed release worthy of multiple listenings. The 12" was recorded by Mauro Martinuz & Luca Sella at Transfert Studios and mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at D+M. It is pressed on 140g white vinyl which itself is housed in a silk screened pvc sleeve with artwork by Kathryn Politis & Bill Kouligas. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top HELM - Impossible Symmetry LP/DL PAN 27 www.pan-act.com Impossible Symmetry is the third full length record by Helm, the project of London based artist LUKE YOUNGER. It marks a new chapter in the artists' canon as it's his first to be informed by live performance rather than studio experimentation. The recording and engineering was primarily a solo venture, with some technical assistance from John Hannon on a few tracks. Most of the compositions were created out of ideas / improvisations that were conceived in a live context and then fed back into the studio work. The album was recorded over the duration of a year in London with source material culled from acoustic sound sources in a similar methodology to his previous album Cryptography, whilst also simultaneously incorporating more extensive use of electronic elements and moments of rhythmic dark ambience recalling the outputs from early Coil and Cabaret Voltaire to even Traversable Wormhole's industrial minimalism. Helm is Luke Younger - a sound artist and experimental musician based in London, working with a vast array of revolving instrumentation and abstract sound sources. Younger's compositions build a dense aural landscape that touches on musique concrete, uncomfortable sound poetry, noise, and hallucinatory drones. His most last LP Cryptography, presented a five-part suite of expertly rendered electro-acoustic study which uses processed piano, Casio MT-40, cymbal and broken guitar strings. Younger creates a world where these instruments morph into spectral rust, a shimmering klang swims alongside passive noise and the relationship between acoustic and electronic derived sounds forms a solid foundation. This sound is steered through a melange of fringe territories: glacial drone meditations, reconfigured gamelan clusters, and howling walls of organized feedback, all coalesced in a post-industrial fashion with a commitment to homemade exploratory zeal. For the past ten years, Younger has also performed extensively in Europe and the US with Steven Warwick as pioneering avant-drone duo Birds of Delay. The LP is mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at D+M, pressed on 140g vinyl and comes in a poly-lined inner sleeve. It is packaged in a pro-press color jacket which itself is housed in a silkscreened pvc sleeve with photos by Traianos Pakioufakis & artwork by Kathryn Politis & Bill Kouligas. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top JIM COLEMAN - Trees CD Wax & Wane 001 Release date: August 7 www.jimcolemanmusic.com jimcolemanmusic.wordpress.com Classically trained in piano and French horn, Jim Coleman exploded onto the indie rock scene in the 1990s with his seminal NYC band, COP SHOOT COP, playing alongside the likes of Sonic Youth, Pussy Galore, Helmet, and Marilyn Manson. His creative work has transitioned over the years into a unique blend of cinematic, electro-acoustic music. Trees, Coleman's debut release in this genre, creates an intensely personal yet universally transcendent sonic experience. Initially an art student at The University of Hartford, Coleman went on to obtain a BFA in film from S.U.N.Y. Purchase, being the only student in his class working in experimental film. In the 1990s Coleman's talents in music, film and art merged with the inception of the seminal band, Cop Shoot Cop. Joining up with a group of like-minded musical misfits, CSC released four full-length albums and several EPs and Singles on Big Cat Records and Interscope Records. Coleman also co-directed several of their music videos. Internationally acclaimed, CSC toured during the 90s doing shows with Iggy Pop, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soul Coughing, Jesus Lizard, and Henry Rollins. By the time Cop Shoot Cop self imploded in 1996, Coleman had already begun scoring indie films and television series. He has worked with directors such as Todd Phillips, Hal Hartley, Beth B, and Richard Kern. He has also done a number of series and one-offs for television networks such as PBS, A&E, HBO and TLC. From the late 1990's to the present, Coleman has been releasing original music and doing remixes as Phylr. This material is beat driven electronica, firmly rooted in sound collage with a strong cinematic sensibility. Coleman also has had two notable collaborations. The first was with Italian composer Teho Teardo and was called Here. The second was with J.G. Thirlwell as Baby Zizanie. Trees features some extremely talented musicians: Kirsten McCord plays cello. Kirsten has a release on Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace label, and has worked with musicians such as Elliott Smith, Vic Chesnutt and Jarboe. Phil Puleo, drummer of Cop Shoot Cop and Swans, plays a variety of instruments, from wood flute to a variety of percussion. Phil was the drummer/percussionist in Cop Shoot Cop, and has since played extensively with Michael Gira in Swans. Dawn McCarthy adds vocals to 2 tracks. Dawn has several releases as Faun Fables on the Drag City label. Ellen Fullman plays her self-created long stringed instrument on two of the tracks as well. Ellen's music has been represented at The Whitney Museum, Lincoln Center and The Walker Arts Center. Coleman on-goingly continues his sonic and visual explorations, creating original music and remixes as Phylr and continuing his forays in to the world of experimental video. He is also currently working on an ambient follow up to Trees, which is based on recordings of individual's near death experiences. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top KEITH FULLERTON WHITMAN - Occlusions LP Editions Mego DeMEGO026 Release date: June 19 www.editionsmego.com www.keithfullertonwhitman.com Cut at 45 rpm Occlusion (Rue de Bitche) Recorded on February 18th, 2012 at LES ATELIERS DE BITCHE, Nantes, France. Performed on a 4.2 Quad Array, captured in stereo from the performer's perspective on a Zoom H1 HANDY RECORDER (auto level :: OFF) Occlusion (Weteringschans) Recorded on February 25th, 2012 at PARADISO, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Performed on a 4.2 Quad Array, captured in stereo from the performer's perspective on a Zoom H1 HANDY RECORDER (auto level :: ON) Occlusion is a loose framework for a multi-channel, freely improvised piece of LIVE ELECTRONIC MUSIC, performed without the aid or consent of pre-recorded or even pre-arranged materials of any kind. A given realization will last between 10 and 30 minutes ; time is elastic. Every effort has been made to avoid divisible rhythms (although mistakes are occasionally made) ... Still, I consider it a "kind" of Dance Music. These two realizations, recorded a week apart at festivals in France and The Netherlands during February 2012, capture the piece (much like those on the Generators LP) in two entirely different iterations, in states of (A) a mildly inebriated bliss & (B) an arbitrarily triggered blind rage. Both recordings were made at 24-bit, 96khz through the absolute cheapest means available to the consumer to do so. They sound fantastic. Occlusions is a companion piece to Generators in that they share the same tool-set ... however, it is the FREE JAZZ yang to Generators' MINIMALIST yin. It is not recommended to those seeking meter, melody, cleanliness, or a clearly outlined organizational sense. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top KILO - The Wildernis CD+DVD Experimentalstudio Brigittenau EXB002 Release date: May 25 www.experimentalstudio.at www.kilomusik.com On their new album "The Wildernis" Kilo are clicking, plucking, bowing, hitting and singing their way through a diversified Electronica plot that contains elements of techno, jazz, rock, contemporary music and improvised music. Subtle melodies arise to be deconstructed or smashed into pieces by harsh soundstructures in the next moment. So "The Wildernis" does not only stand for exploring the musical possibilities of the interaction between electronic sounds and acoustic intstruments, but also for a charming mixture of different musical styles and elements. Playfully kilo gains space in "The Wildernis" and so the third album arises in easiness. Electronica in it's sense -interwoven with the work of brilliant guestmusicians. They get supported by Didi Bruckmayer and Sigmar Aigner (both from Fuckhead), Vera Fischer - Flutes and Benedikt Leitner- Cello - both members of the ensemble Klangforum Wien, Christof Dienz - Zither, Hannes Löschel - Fender Rhodes and Clayton Thomas - doublebass. But The Wildernis is more than just a new KILO Album, it Is a collection of 11 tracks and 11 videos. The whole album has been visualized by Ulrike Ostermann, Adnan Popovic, Walter Rafelsberger, Christian Stoppacher, Markus Urban as well as KILO, who put together a stunning collection of experimental music videos and animations to enrich the listening experience and build the base for further experiments. Guitars, Electronics, Devices and Vocals by Florian Bogner and Markus Urban. Written and produced by Florian Bogner and Markus Urban. Mastering by Erich Fahringer and Kilo. DVD Authoring by Erich Loibner Kilo is an electronic music duo founded in 2003 by the two viennese sound artists and composers FLORIAN BOGNER and MARKUS URBAN. Using their laptops and guitars, Kilo are trying to find a self-contained form of techno/house -influenced music. So far they released the albums "augarten" (onitor/kompakt 2004) and "KILO" (onitor/kompakt 2006). Together with different guest musicians Kilo are redefining their own sound universe over and over again - reaching from electronic dance music to rock, jazz, contemporary music and free improvisation. Their label "Experimentalstudio Brigittenau" was founded in 2011. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top LAUREL HALO - Quarantine CD Hyperdub HDBCD014 Release date: May 28 www.hyperdub.net www.laurelhalo.com Since 2010's King Felix and into last year's highly lauded Hour Logic, Laurel Halo has developed a self-contained take on electronic music, collapsing the boundaries between ambient, pop, synthetic psychedelia, dub and the techno music of her Midwest roots. Fixed stylistic territories fold in on themselves, time quickens -- her music is meant for transit, body listening and loud soundsystems. Quarantine, her debut album and first release on Hyperdub, is her most focused and evolved release yet. This is an album of transporting songs, various altitude shifts via effecting pop-concrete, built on a rich synthesis of intuitive but exacting electronic abstraction, bass pulse and heartfelt songwriting. Like Halo's previous releases, Quarantine slams ambient suspension and disorienting detail up against each other. The twelve songs here operate as complex vacuums, airborne harmony and movement met with incidental noise and sub bass pressure, sample details and synth lines as trails across a mutilated sonic topography. What is different on Quarantine is that Halo's voice is foregrounded - the vocals are dry against lush arrangements, and her confidence with lyrics and delivery is more pronounced. Her expressive singing works as a pivot in songs that eschew the usual melodic routes to generate emotion, serving as contour and human definition in contrast to the forbidden synthetic space. Sensual melodies are bent to the point of nausea, inducing the torque of a psychedelic pop that simultaneously recalls elevation and trauma. This is a kind of music you might not have heard before, and in 2012 that in itself is rare. Quarantine will be released worldwide by Hyperdub in late May 2012. Halo will tour the UK and EU shortly thereafter. Laurel Halo live 24.05. PT Lisbon, ZDB 25.05. PT Guimarães, Centro Cultural Vila Flor 26.05. IT Modena, May Day! Festival 27.05. GR Athens, Bios 30.05. FR Paris, Point Ephémère 31.05. SC Glasgow, The Arches 01.06. UK Manchester, Islington Mill 02.06. UK London, Field Day 05.06. UK Liverpool, Kazimier 06.06. SE Stockholm, Färgfabriken 07.06. DK Copenhagen, Loppen 08.06. DE Berlin, Berghain 09.06. CH Luzern, Südpol 11.06. RU Moscow, The Design Center Artplay 14.06. ES Madrid, Picnic Sessions / CA2M 15.06. ES Barcelona, Nitsa / Off Sonar >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top MIKA VAINIO / KEVIN DRUMM / AXEL DÖRNER / LUCIO CAPECE - Venexia LP/DL PAN 28 www.pan-act.com Mika Vainio: Electronics Kevin Drumm: Electronics Axel Dörner: Trumpet, computer Lucio Capece: Soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, sruti box The original idea of this project was to allow musicians from different scenes (but who shared common ideas) to work together. In this case, a development of two pre existent duos. Quite often musicians from different sonic languages can be seen being put together, trying to push the artists to develop unexpected works. Vainio, Drumm, Dörner and Capece have mainly strong points in common, that have been executed in different contexts. The music map is generally divided into categories that are determined by it's most evident and often banal elements; if it has beats or not, if it is quiet or loud, if it has raw material or a carefully worked aesthetic. These four musicians have been working using all the previous elements, but these elements did not determine the music, they were used at the service of deeper ideas related to time and perception. How the sound of our environment can become music, how can music be attractive without telling a story, the work of sound in it's extreme: noise, granular and delicate, digital, electronic, instrumental extended techniques, preparations. Kevin Drumm and Axel Dörner started working together in the late 90's as part of a trio with Paul Lovens, As a duo they released an influential album on Erstwhile Records. Vainio and Drumm met in 2005 in Australia, both as part of the touring festival What is Music?. Even if both musicians declared to have a great time touring in Australia, they did never played together. Drumm's and Vainio's music is often compared by critics. Capece has released a duo CD on L'Innomable label with Axel Dörner and a trio one with Dörner and tubist Robin Hayward on Azul Discográfica label from New York. Dörner and Capece worked in several projects together, including a residence with Keith Rowe working on "Treatise" by Cornelius Cardew. Mika Vainio and Lucio Capece have released together the album "Trahnie". An album they worked for three years on, and also did several concerts as a duo. In May 2008 the quartet made a 6 days residency and concert at Vooruit, in Gent, followed by a 5 concert European tour, that took them to Venice. In 2011 the group played at Konfrontationen Festival in Austria. In the meanwhile Capece and Vainio have been part of the Vladislav delay Quartet. Capece has played, and toured with Kevin Drumm in a trio with Radu Malfatti and Dörner has played with Drumm in a trio with Paul Lovens, at the Meteo festival, in France. The recording in Venice is a multitrack one. It was mixed by Capece with minimal edits, basically panning and volume adjustments. The LP is mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at D+M, pressed on 140g vinyl and comes in a poly-lined inner sleeve. It is packaged in a pro-press color jacket which itself is housed in a silkscreened pvc sleeve with photos by Traianos Pakioufakis & artwork by Kathryn Politis & Bill Kouligas. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top NAZORANAI - s/t 2LP/CD Ideologic Organ SOMA009 Release date: July 3 www.editionsmego.com KEIJI HAINO (guitar, vocals & synth) STEPHEN O'MALLEY (bass guitar) OREN AMBARCHI (battery) Recorded by Chris Fullard at Gâité Lyrique, Paris 8th November 2011. Edited by Oren Ambarchi in Sydney January 2012. Mixed by Joe Talia & Oren Ambarchi at Chinatown, Melbourne 8th February 2012. Mastered by Joe Talia at Chinatown, Melbourne 17th April 2012. Vinyl cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin April 2012. Artwork: Lars Teichmann "Bathing Girls" & "Nymphos" (detail, 2010, photos by Annette Apel), "Fever" (detail, 2010, photo by Martino Gerosa). Oren Ambarchi has been an active colleague, we have collaborated on a number of SUNN O))) projects, and also SUNN O))) related projects, film scores, tours, meals etcetera over the years. He brought us to Australia for the first time in 2004 (see SOMA010 notes), we toured Israel with Attila Csihar as GRAVETEMPLE TRIO in 2006. Oren introduced us to Haino-san in 2006 when SUNN O))) played FIMAV festival in Victoriaville Quebec (Oren was in the ensemble on that tour), in a stinky locker room (the venue was a hockey rig). Had no idea what to expect but a few hours later he was on stage with us. It was one of those "what now" moments you never imagine happening having been a fan/follower of Haino's playing, concerts and recordings over the years. 5 years later somehow we ended up as this trio. Haino, Oren and I were all in Holland for one reason or another and decided to try it. I played bass for the first time on stage with this group. Maybe it shows but the idea was a power trio backing up Haino-san, with a lot of amplification. We had the chance to repeat the trio twice again so far, and this recording comes from a concert in Paris November 2011. It's hard to describe the lessons through realtime communication in music with such a master of form, but needless to say they were much different than what I was expecting and beyond! Proof again that expectations lead to dead ends. Was a most challenging experience in real-time music. I feel incredibly honored to be part of this trio. - Stephen O'Malley >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top NICOLAS BERNIER - Travaux mécaniques DVD-A empreintes DIGITALes IMED 12114 www.empreintesdigitales.com www.nicolasbernier.com DVD-Audio - Advanced Resolution: Surround 3.1 / 5.1 (MLP 4424) + Stéréo (MLP 4424) ** DVD-Vidéo [NTSC, multi-région]: Surround 3.1 / 5.1 (DTS, Dolby Digital) + Stéréo (4824) ** DVD-ROM: fichiers MP3 (320 kbps), AAC (320 kbps) *** Masterisation: Dominique Bassal 1 Antithèse électronique (2011) 1m00s 2 Dans le ventre de la machine (2010-11) 10m40s 3 Liaisons mécaniques (2006-07) 10m02s 4 Les chambres de l'atelier (2008, 10, 11) 10m48s 5 Writing Machine (2005) 15m28s Nicolas Bernier is joyfully flowing from musique concrète to live electronics, post-rock, noise improv, performance, installation, video art while also working with dance, theatre, moving images and interdisciplinarity contexts. In the midst of this eclecticism, his artistic concerns remain constant: the balance between the cerebral and the sensual, and between organic sound sources and digital processing. The sound of Nicolas Bernier is somewhere between the old and the new. It is electronic music made from objects of the past: typewriter, old machines, tuning forks, soundscape memories and, yes, musical instruments. It is made with a modern apparatus but feels like completely handmade. It is gently articulated textures alongside enormous masses. His works have been of interest for Prix Ars Electronica (Austria), SONAR (Spain), Mutek (Canada), DotMov Festival (Japan) and Transmediale (Germany) and have been published on lovely labels like Crónica (Portugal), Ahornfelder (Germany), leerraum (Switzerland) and Home Normal (UK). He his currently undertaking a PhD in sonic arts at the University of Huddersfield (UK) under the direction of Dr. Pierre Alexandre Tremblay and Dr. Monty Adkins. He his a member of Perte de signal, a media arts research and development centre based in Montreal. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top PIERRE SCHAEFFER - Le Trièdre fertile LP Recollection GRM REGRM001 Release date: June 5 editionsmego.com/recollection-grm en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Schaeffer Cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, March 2012 Layout: Stephen O'Malley Translations: Valérie Vivancos Coordination GRM: Christian Zanési & François Bonnet Executive Production: Peter Rehberg Le Trièdre Fertile full version 1975-1976, with the participation of Bernard Dürr. This trihedron, Schaeffer's last piece, echoes the physicists "reference trihedron" linked to the three fundamental measurements of sound: frequency, duration and intensity. The basic signs of traditional sol-fa that enable to transcribe pitches, rhythms and nuances also correspond to these three measurements. However, it is precisely outside or beyond these parameters that, all through his life, Schaeffer researched music. Hence, qualifying this trihedron as fertile, is the confession "of a late repentance". On the other hand, and against all odds, this piece was only composed from synthetic sounds, developed by Bernard Dürr. It is Pierre Schaeffer's only purely electronic music work. Here, the synthesizer is rather monitored by sensitivity than by computation principles, thus letting uncanny structures emerge. Recollection GRM is one more label within the Editions Mego family of labels. It's aim is to is make available on vinyl known and lesser known works from the vast archives of Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM). Being released in batches of 2 every 3 months, it will present both known and lesser known works. All releases will be recut at Dubplates & Mastering and be packaged in new gatefold artwork by Stephen O'Malley, featuring bi-lingual (French/English) texts. Some of these pioneering works have been out of print in this format for over 30 years, and would be a valuable addition to any serious collection of electronic music. It is worth pointing out that this series is neither a rerun of the original Collection INA-GRM series or the Phillips Prospective 21 Siecle series, but something new altogether. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top PLVS VLTRA - Parthenon LP Spectrum Spools SP018 Release date: June 19 www.editionsmego.com/releases/spectrum-spools www.soundcloud.com/plvs-vltra Spectrum Spools is pleased to release the debut album by veteran musician Toko Yasuda's PLVS VLTRA project. Toko has been working for years already in established pop acts such as Enon, Blonde Redhead and now touring with St. Vincent handling synthesizer duties for live events. In all her years of songcraft there have been sparse, if any solo output, until now. "And now for something different..." as we say here at the Spectrum Spools headquarters. Parthenon is a sugar-sweet album of catchy pop songs, crafted with expert precision and outstanding composition logic. Everything is locked in in a way that seems at once like clockwork, and also somehow very free. As if Alice Coltrane's Universal Consciousness was re-imagined and sent into the future to be reimagined as an electronic pop record. Most of the album's focus lies on the glowing, ethereal voice that is unmistakably exclusive to Yasuda. Swirling, fine tuned electronic washes and collaged clouds of ambiance swirl and hover around these mega catchy tunes giving them a fantastic depth which commands attention and repeat visits. Yasuda's songcraft here is in peak form as well, with ultra catchy hooks and addictive melodies that have been dialed in to perfection over the many years of making music. One of the most brilliant facets of Parthenon is the anti-genre omniverse vibe, where all borders and boundries set to confine music to a general one word descriptor are shattered. "Pop" is a word abused to catch-all, and like any great, well-thought album, Parthenon refuses to be pinned down. Here is your summer jam! Enjoy! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top POLYSICK - Digital Native 2LP/CD Planet Mu Records ZIQ324 Release date: June 18 www.planet.mu/discography/ZIQ324 Rome's EGISTO SOPOR has been making little waves with his releases for quite a while now. Since we've known him he's released a cdr album on Legowelt's Strange Life Records and put a cassette out on the much admired 100% Silk label, both under the name 'Polysick'. As 'TheAwayTeam' he's released a DVD 'Relax & Sleep' and a cd 'Star Kinship' on Japanese label Maomoo. He is also one half of the low key video unit AAVV, whose work has graced many of the important releases of new lofi electronic movement. Well, here is his first album proper 'Digital Native', 15 tracks of glowing, nocturnal, analogue grace that hark back to acid house and early techno, but with a mood and intent that seems to be designed for watching images dance on closed eyelids. It's no surprise that his work as a video artist resonates so strongly with the music he makes. Polysick says of his approach, "When I make music I always have a visual part in mind. In this case, many of the tracks have been influenced by visions of tribal nocturnal mysterious explorations like in 'Preda' which is the italian word for "quarry". I tried to convey a sense of mystery and danger with those swirling flutes and the timpani rolls too, like if you were in the middle of a jungle, in a deep dark night and you're running away through the trees, haunted, like in some of those old zombie splatter movies from the 80's.. same with 'Tic-Tac Toe', with that clock ticking and the deep bass..." Polysick has tapped straight into the synthetic pleasures of early dance music's otherworldly pulses, the hypnotic arpeggios of Italo disco, soaring Detroit chords, cosmic disco, the '4th World' music of Jon Hassell and the library exotics of Piero Umiliani. This is body music for the resting body, Imagine a nexus between early acid house and Italo music being used for mental therapy, exotic travelling and imagining, exciting the brain waves and journeying into imagined spaces. 'Digital Native' is set in this imagined line of enquiry. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top ROBERT HAMPSON - Repercussions CD+DVD Editions Mego eMEGO132 Release date: June 12 www.editionsmego.com www.roberthampson.com Disc One: Stereo Version Disc Two: 5.1 Surround Mix Version Editions Mego is very happy to announce the release Robert Hampson's 2nd solo album under his own name. Released as a special Stereo CD and 5.1 Surround DVD. Répercussions: An Acousmatic multi channel piece commissioned by the Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM) in Paris for a performance the Akousma festival, diffused on the Acousmonium speaker system in 2011. Recordings of percussive intruments of all kinds - Piano, Drum skins, Gamelan, Metal grates etc are treated and manipulated to form a dense nonlinear or non rhythmical narrative. Each instrument has been "remixed" repeatedly, to change its sonic shape or timbre, to try and form new textures from normally recognisable ones. A more direct 2 channel Stereo version is available and a 5.1 surround version, mixed at the GRM, gives an idication of how the piece was originally conceived as a diffusion. De la Terre à la Lune: An Acousmatic multi channel piece commissioned by Espace Mendes France for a performance at The Planetarium in Poitiers, France, diffused on a 8 channel system. The second piece, following Ahead - Only The Stars (released on Vectors, Touch 2009) which takes it influence from the early Nasa missions into space, but more directly from films such as Kubrick's 2001, Tarkovsky's Solaris and even earlier films such as Pal's Conquest of Space. Of course, there is also a serious debt to Jules Verne's novel of the same name. Again, a straight Stereo version and 5.1 diffusion mix are available. Antarctic Ends Here: Originally released as part of a split 10" vinyl only issue with Cindytalk on Edtions Mego, this piece has its first digital format release in Stereo and also 5.1 surround. 3 Textural drones, derived from single piano notes, stretched and looped blend with a field recording of large Bamboos rustling on a breezy Autumn day. Overlayed is a simple and repetitive piano motif which gradually disintegrates into a spectral blur. Its title is in homage to John Cale's final song on the album Paris 1919. Antarctica Starts Here and the piece is dedicated to him. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top SIMON SCOTT - Below Sea Level CD 12k 1071 Release date: May 28 www.12k.com www.simonscott.org Below Sea Level is the first 12k release from seasoned electronic/post-rock artist Simon Scott. The inspiration behind Below Sea Level, including its music, title, artwork and photography (see accompanying journal) originally derives from Scott's desire to musically explore the desolate and controversial environment of the Fens in East Anglia, UK. The memories Scott has of visiting this area as a child makes this a poignant and highly personal project that explores nostalgic familiarity with a desire to capture the musicality of the landscape. For two years Scott ventured into this former wetland with hydrophones and self-built recording devices to explore the land that is cartographically below mean sea level, trace the devastating history of this environment caused by the drainage of the land, and arrange it into conceptual musical and visual project. Scott has, in the main, eschewed the guitar backbone of his previous releases, preferring instead to capture the timbres and textures of the landscape to form the basis for the seven tracks. His signature reverberated guitar does still surface, the beginning of the album begins with sparse finger picking reminiscent of Laughing Stock-era Talk Talk, but it only adds brief flickers of colour to the central field recordings throughout the album. Below Sea Level explores the aesthetics of active listening and, via a self-built MaxMSP patch, digitally disects the natural and man-made recordings Scott discovered within the Fens. The juxtaposing of analogue and digital timbres and textures, the man-made and natural world sounds, create epic interwoven soundscapes that blend the recognizable (birdsong) with undistinguishable sounds, sometimes confusing what is natural and synthetic. Scott presents an abstraction of a place that is arranged and manipulated for aural contemplation outside of the Fens (in alien environments) where the music collaborates with each unique listening environment. The aforementioned journal is a limited-pressing 68-page-color, small (13X20cm), hardcover book that includes Scott's essay entitled "An Exploration of the Subterranean Fenland Environment", many pages of hand-written notes and sketches and a section of photography from the area. This book will be available on its own with a download code for the album as well as bundled with the CD. It is a beautiful and essential look at the process and thoughts behind Scott's passionate and in-depth work on this subject. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top SIR RICHARD BISHOP - Intermezzo LP Ideologic Organ SOMA010 Release date: June 26 www.editionsmego.com/releases/ideologic-organ www.sirrichardbishop.net All songs composed & recorded by Richard Bishop. Master & vinyl cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin April 2012. Photo by Ronald Dick. All Songs published by Karakoram Publishing (BMI). Originally self released on CDR by Sir Richard Bishop 2011. "I met Richard in 2004 on a crazy tour in Australia (Oren Ambarchi's last "What is Music?"). He was a founding member of The Sun City Girls but he came out to play solo. Instantly we were entranced by his playing, so many beautiful elements of why I love guitar come through in his music and presence, without floating around in genre space at all. Here on the road with Kevin Drum, Dead C, Residents, Gang Gang Dance, Black Dice, etc & amongst this insane lineup Richard ended up supporting Pan Sonic and really held it down, as a soloist. A few years later Peter Rehberg and I (as KTL) were invited to join a tour Richard was doing with EARTH. His incredible communication of atmosphere and texture was even more fluid than I remembered & a real pleasure. If the reason to start a record label is to release the music you are truly enamored by, this is a true example of that philosophy." - Stephen O'Malley, Paris 2012 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top V.A. - Störung: Sound & Visual Art DVD+book Störung str009 www.storung.com "Störung: Sound & Visual Art" is the ninth release of Störung, and has been published together with Cameo. This DVD+Book will be available next 11th of April and contains eleven exclusive audiovisual works made by more than twenty artists from different parts of the world. It includes a book with synopses written by the artists, their biographies and selected photographs taken during the past six years of Störung. The selection of pieces is a representative sample of various artistic tendencies that fall into the sound and image concept of Störung. The techniques employed in the pieces are very diverse and include both analogical and digital processes in their sound and visual elements. Apart from its documentary function as audiovisual file, this release is intended to inspire all people interested in art and its contemporary music tendencies. 01 D-Fuse - Gradualism #01 02 Dextro & aM!"[aem] - 26_071_auda 03 Sergio Brauer, Sergio Subero & Alan Courtis: Malabia bla bla 04 Paul Prudence & Francisco López - Hydro-Organic Machine Study 05 Kim Cascone - Black Flame 06 XX+XY Visuals and Sound Art Project - Matter States 07 Aleix Fernández & Asférico - Shapes 3.0 08 Andy Guhl - Laptop-Condensored 2:29 (expanded cracked everyday electronics) 09 Hugo Olim & Simon Whetham - Rhizoid 10 elufo & Asférico - Fuerza Natural II 11 Diego Alberti & Federico Monti - Untitled 09 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> top We are not responsible for the contents of external internet sites