|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LP
|
|
SP 023LP
|
Repressed. "The seven pieces on this LP were developed over a period of about five years; 'Rain in Coffee' is built on a Hyperborean Trenchtown-era demo, while 'Pinq Drinq' -- sorrel, for the record, and neither guava nor antacid as certain wags have already ventured -- was reanimated directly from the cutting-room floor, 11th hour, 2012. As a whole, they should probably be considered the proper 'sequel' to Canzoni dal Laboratorio del Silenzio Cosmico, extending that record's preoccupation with the dream interiors of post-1965 Fellini and synthesizing (pun very much NOT intended) it with Elegy for Beach Friday's fascination with the lush and abject facets of advanced gastronomy and the embrace of the recursive, solipsistic, simultaneously expansive and claustrophobic universe of the sampler on Vaporware/Scanops. However, in direct contrast to each of those prior works, When We Were Eating Unripe Pears draws more deeply on formal ideas from the history of records than any Bee Mask release to date. Toward this end, most of its constituent tracks were hammered into their finished shapes 'on the road' throughout 2011 and 2012. Those of you who heard me on tour in the United States, Canada, Australia, and Japan, and particularly at Voice of the Valley, the Bunker, and Labyrinth played a part in the process of shaping this material and so may well experience the shock of the familiar. When We Were Eating Unripe Pears was recorded in Cleveland and Philadelphia between 2007-2012. It was edited and mixed at Tranquility Base in Summer 2012, mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates and Mastering, and pressed by Pallas Group. The first 300 copies are on translucent green vinyl. Mark Price did the photography and layout. Special thanks are also owed to Jason Anderson, Katherine Brady, Matt Carlson, John Elliott, Lawrence English, Daniel Lopatin, and Alex Moskos, without whose perspectives this would be a very different and much lesser beast." --Chris Madak, Philadelphia, October 2012
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
RM 450LP
|
Bee Mask is a project from Chris Madak, a native of Cleveland, Ohio now residing in Philadelphia, and a vehicle for an intricate and deeply warped sensibility which remains coherent without being beholden to specific techniques or materials, drawing equally on the ecstatic human/machine couplings of 1970s West Coast synthesis, the fractured gloss of sampler concrète, the iridescent thumbprint of high minimalism on the IQ-decimating throb of trunk bass, and the barely-sublimated currents of vertigo and terror that course beneath the most unsettling moments in the canon of home-recorded psychedelia. Editions of his recent work are available on Spectrum Spools and Room40. His new edition for Room40, Vaporware/Scanops charts a new and at times unfamiliar musical universe, a galaxy of complex patterns in constant states of evolving and dissolving. These are pieces that unfold with an unerring organic sensibility that belies the sound-sources used. Like much of Bee Mask's output to date, this is a world of controlled voltage and sequenced chaos. But there is a twist in the form of the unexpected and utterly welcome addition of voice. Over the two long-form pieces, Bee Mask reveals a juxtaposition of deeply electronic materials with a swelling cascade of vocal loops recorded by Autre Ne Veut and Katherine Brady. The resulting sound is quite unlike anything we've heard from Bee Mask before. Cut at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin. Limited vinyl edition of 500 copies housed in a gorgeous matte celloglazed sleeve.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
SP 005CD
|
Chris Madak has been on a tangled and cryptic path toward the full realization of his Bee Mask alter ego. Now, for the first time, there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel -- a chance for old plans to come to fruition and for new ideas to blossom into the unknown. Elegy For Beach Friday is a personal selection of highlights from a slew of limited cassette and CD-R editions recorded between 2003 and 2010, re-imagined, re-edited, and remastered, offering both a cross-section for the uninitiated and a fresh enigma for the already-enchanted. The original documents will age on the shelves of those fortunate enough to have been in the know, and for the rest of the world, we now have this CD retrospective of Chris' favorite time-stopping microcosmic suites. Here, the full range of Bee Mask's sonic palette has been carefully compressed into a dazzling and infinitely dense time capsule of mind-altering Martian sound fields and psychedelic dimension-bending, bridging the worlds of Nikola Tesla and La Monte Young and giving us the ideal soundtrack for our collective walk down a dirt road into the gaseous cloud of our final days. Synthesizers, percussion, piano, guitar, tape, electronics, and max/MSP recorded 2003-2010 in Northampton, MA, New York, NY, Cleveland, OH, and Philadelphia, PA. Edited and mixed at Tranquility Base, February 2011. Cut at Dubplates & Mastering, May 2011.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
2LP
|
|
SP 005LP
|
Chris Madak has been on a tangled and cryptic path toward the full realization of his Bee Mask alter ego. Now, for the first time, there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel -- a chance for old plans to come to fruition and for new ideas to blossom into the unknown. Elegy For Beach Friday is a personal selection of highlights from a slew of limited cassette and CD-R editions recorded between 2003 and 2010, re-imagined, re-edited, and remastered, offering both a cross-section for the uninitiated and a fresh enigma for the already-enchanted. The original documents will age on the shelves of those fortunate enough to have been in the know, and for the rest of the world, we now have this double LP retrospective of Chris' favorite time-stopping microcosmic suites, woven together over four instantly classic sides of wax. Here, the full range of Bee Mask's sonic palette has been carefully compressed into a dazzling and infinitely dense time capsule of mind-altering Martian sound fields and psychedelic dimension-bending, bridging the worlds of Nikola Tesla and La Monte Young and giving us the ideal soundtrack for our collective walk down a dirt road into the gaseous cloud of our final days. Synthesizers, percussion, piano, guitar, tape, electronics, and max/MSP recorded 2003-2010 in Northampton, MA, New York, NY, Cleveland, OH, and Philadelphia, PA. Edited and mixed at Tranquility Base, February 2011. Cut at Dubplates & Mastering, May 2011. Housed in a deluxe, full-color gatefold sleeve with spot-varnished lettering.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
WEIRD 044LP
|
"I think Chris Madak was born after impact in a car crash, and his Hyperborean Trenchtown will enter the world in a similar fashion. The album resonates a future sound vision that can only come from an old soul destined to further pave the paths laid by electronic and minimalist pioneers. Thorough audio examinations covering every facet of sound/tone property as a whole will reveal astonishing new layers listen after listen. Undeniably pure processes of creating and sustaining sound visually, sonically and otherwise brings a mathematical and scientific accuracy that hasn't been seen since the days of Lovely Music Ltd. or GRM. The album's two side-long cuts are divided into two displays of versatility with varied sound sources including amplified acoustic instruments, hand-made electronics, phonography and more. Brilliant textures and audio hallucinogenic time/space wormholes create infinite listening possibilities for this album. Few albums can create such a disorienting tunnel that it sounds as if the record has multiple albums locked within itself -- you can hear these sounds and interpret them in so many ways that only time can unlock its many possibilities. Great albums only gain significance and this is surely no exception. Listen to this record on your turntable and stop time completely or melt into the past or the future with it -- your choice." -- John Elliott. Silkscreened jacket.
|
|
|
|