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2LP
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KRANK 202LP
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Double LP version. Gatefold sleeve. "Physicalist is the third album from New York City synthesis trio Forma. Since their acclaimed self-titled debut in 2011, Forma have been perfecting a distinctive style of improvised kosmische and minimalism that blends swirling arpeggios, ambient soundscapes, and driving motorik beats. Physicalist is a sprawling, double LP journey featuring new member and multi-instrumentalist John Also Bennett. The first Forma album to include acoustic instrumentation, Physicalist owes more to American composers like Harold Budd or Terry Riley than Klaus Schulze and other Krautrock visionaries. The album was recorded during marathon sessions at Brooklyn's Gary's Electric studio, and is packaged in a gatefold jacket with original artwork by Robert Beatty and a liner notes essay by writer and critic Michael Barron. Physicalist was mastered by Bob Weston. Formed in 2010 by Mark Dwinell in Bushwick, Brooklyn, Forma released their first two full-length LPs on John Elliot's influential Editions Mego imprint, Spectrum Spools. Physicalist is the first full-length statement from the new lineup, which also includes founding member and percussionist George Bennett. The double LP contains two distinct halves; the first consisting of rhythmic compositions derived from the trio's formidable array of modular and vintage synthesizers, and the second breaking from the grid with ambient, free-flowing experiments on piano, flute and acoustic percussion. The album marks a departure from Cool Haptics, the group's techno-leaning 2014 EP on The Bunker New York. Physicalist takes its title from physicalism, the philosophical belief that all phenomena in the universe are created entirely from physical interactions. Using a synthesizer as its foundation, kosmische music turns algorithms into art by investigating infinite possibilities within a set of physical parameters. The electronic composer Laurie Spiegel once suggested that a looped algorithmic sequence could go on forever, and as long as humans were able to interact with it, it would never cease to interest us. This is the bedrock of improvisation, and it is from this vantage point that Forma have created Physicalist, an American kosmische music in which a boundless voyage gives way to a structured environment -- a programmed jazz with the grid as guidepost. 'We're not interested in providing an escapism for people,' says member Mark Dwinell, 'We want to instead connect with people through a vigilantly monitored present. To us, that real moment, shed of any fancy, is just as divine.'"
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CD
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KRANK 202CD
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"Physicalist is the third album from New York City synthesis trio Forma. Since their acclaimed self-titled debut in 2011, Forma have been perfecting a distinctive style of improvised kosmische and minimalism that blends swirling arpeggios, ambient soundscapes, and driving motorik beats. Physicalist is a sprawling, double LP journey featuring new member and multi-instrumentalist John Also Bennett. The first Forma album to include acoustic instrumentation, Physicalist owes more to American composers like Harold Budd or Terry Riley than Klaus Schulze and other Krautrock visionaries. The album was recorded during marathon sessions at Brooklyn's Gary's Electric studio, and is packaged in a gatefold jacket with original artwork by Robert Beatty and a liner notes essay by writer and critic Michael Barron. Physicalist was mastered by Bob Weston. Formed in 2010 by Mark Dwinell in Bushwick, Brooklyn, Forma released their first two full-length LPs on John Elliot's influential Editions Mego imprint, Spectrum Spools. Physicalist is the first full-length statement from the new lineup, which also includes founding member and percussionist George Bennett. The double LP contains two distinct halves; the first consisting of rhythmic compositions derived from the trio's formidable array of modular and vintage synthesizers, and the second breaking from the grid with ambient, free-flowing experiments on piano, flute and acoustic percussion. The album marks a departure from Cool Haptics, the group's techno-leaning 2014 EP on The Bunker New York. Physicalist takes its title from physicalism, the philosophical belief that all phenomena in the universe are created entirely from physical interactions. Using a synthesizer as its foundation, kosmische music turns algorithms into art by investigating infinite possibilities within a set of physical parameters. The electronic composer Laurie Spiegel once suggested that a looped algorithmic sequence could go on forever, and as long as humans were able to interact with it, it would never cease to interest us. This is the bedrock of improvisation, and it is from this vantage point that Forma have created Physicalist, an American kosmische music in which a boundless voyage gives way to a structured environment -- a programmed jazz with the grid as guidepost. 'We're not interested in providing an escapism for people,' says member Mark Dwinell, 'We want to instead connect with people through a vigilantly monitored present. To us, that real moment, shed of any fancy, is just as divine.'"
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LP
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SP 024LP
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LP version. Off/On is an evolutionary act of fissure, the opening of a rift in Forma's sonic landscape. The second LP from the Brooklyn cosmic synth trio of Mark Dwinell, Sophie Lam, and George Bennett, Off/On's universe is darker, its terrain more enigmatic and aggressive than 2011's critically-acclaimed self-titled album. Recorded at the renowned Schoolhouse space in Bushwick, Off/On combines swirling arpeggios, gnarled sequences, and deconstructed motorik rhythms to conjure an atmosphere of entropic propulsion by unseen forces. Yet the emotional summits of Off/On are greater than those of its predecessor, its crystalline melodic peaks made more pronounced by the shadowed depths below. It is this synthesis that gives Off/On its singular vision; a sense of unity forged by its own inner tensions. Mark Dwinell and Sophie Lam: Moog LP, Moog Prodigy, Roland SH-1000, Roland RS-09, Oberheim SEM, Yamaha CS-15, Korg Lambda, Akai AX73, DSI Tetra, DSI Mopho, Crumar DS-2. George Bennett: Roland TR-707, Roland TR-606, Alesis HR-16B. Mastered by Andrew Veres. Cut at Dubplates and Mastering, Berlin.
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CD
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SP 024CD
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Off/On is an evolutionary act of fissure, the opening of a rift in Forma's sonic landscape. The second LP from the Brooklyn cosmic synth trio of Mark Dwinell, Sophie Lam, and George Bennett, Off/On's universe is darker, its terrain more enigmatic and aggressive than 2011's critically-acclaimed self-titled album. Recorded at the renowned Schoolhouse space in Bushwick, Off/On combines swirling arpeggios, gnarled sequences, and deconstructed motorik rhythms to conjure an atmosphere of entropic propulsion by unseen forces. Yet the emotional summits of Off/On are greater than those of its predecessor, its crystalline melodic peaks made more pronounced by the shadowed depths below. It is this synthesis that gives Off/On its singular vision; a sense of unity forged by its own inner tensions. Mark Dwinell and Sophie Lam: Moog LP, Moog Prodigy, Roland SH-1000, Roland RS-09, Oberheim SEM, Yamaha CS-15, Korg Lambda, Akai AX73, DSI Tetra, DSI Mopho, Crumar DS-2. George Bennett: Roland TR-707, Roland TR-606, Alesis HR-16B. Mastered by Andrew Veres. Cut at Dubplates and Mastering, Berlin.
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LP
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SP 003LP
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FORMA (Mark Dwinell, Sophie Lam, & George Bennett) emerged on the NYC minimal synth scene in 2010 with a singular vision of cosmic Krautrock for a new age. On their eponymous debut LP, the Brooklyn-based electronics trio merges the melodic flow and primitive rhythms of their motorik predecessors with the hypnotic drones of minimalism, creating an intricate work both addicting and rewarding with repeat listens. Like many of the LP's 11 tracks, the churning and relentless "FORMA237B" draws its energy from a precarious equilibrium between structural rigidity and free improvisation, a dynamic at the heart of FORMA's universe. With lush, distant soundscapes as interludes between these peaks, FORMA's inaugural full-length is a harmonious and expansive expression of the enduring power of kosmische musik. Mark Dwinell and Sophie Lam: (Roland RS-09, Roland SH-1000, Roland RE-101, Yamaha CS-15, Crumar DS-2, Oberheim SEM, DSI Morpho, Moog LP, Farfisa Compact Combo), George Bennett (Roland TR-707, Alesis HR-16B). Cut at Dubplates & Mastering, March 2011.
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