Sub Rosa is a Belgium-based label exploring a wide range of sounds and musical journeys. The name derives from the Latin phrase sub rosa, literally translating as "under the rose", and figuratively meaning something secret or undercover. The label was founded in the mid-80s and expanded its catalog in the mid-90s with the release of electronic music. The catalog ranges from archives and voices (William Burroughs, Belgian Surrealism, Marcel Duchamp) to proto-electronic forms (Angus MacLise, Luc Ferrari, Henri Pousseur, Léo Kupper), contemporary (Christian, Wolff, Julius Eastmann, John Cage Morton Feldman, Nam June Paik) and traditional music (Inuit, Yanomami shamanist ceremonies, Tibetan rituals, Gongs from Southeast Asia), "In the Margins" forms of expression (Jean Dubuffet, Karel Appel, Adolf Wölfli), as well as echoes of the Belgian underground scene (Pseudocode, Etat Brut, Kosmose, Punk in Brussels) and the Framework Series, devoted to the many shapes of electronic music. To which should be added regular collaborations (long-term or recent ones) with artists such as David Shea, Bill Laswell, Ulrich Krieger, David Toop, Scanner, C.M. Von Hausswolf, Opening Performance Orchestra, Oiseaux Tempête, Charlemagne Palestine, Hastings of Malawi, Palo Alto, Michel Redolfi. But this just the tip of the iceberg, for Sub Rosa has been a home, since the '90s, for out-of-range music, which lead to various "non-compilation" conceptual projects: Anthology of Noise & Electronic Music Volumes 1 to 7, Persian electro, Chinese, Turkish, Greek experimental and electronic music, Folds and Rhizomes for Gilles Deleuze...
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SR 547CD
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$14.50
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 5/17/2024
Seen from the outside, Ensemble(s) is in a sense a kind of compilation of unreleased or rare pieces covering nearly three decades. Five essential pieces that count in the evolution of the Jean-Luc Fafchamps' writing. Post-spectral works that definitively position Fafchamps as one of the important European composers. It also weaves subtle links between him and Jean-Paul Dessy and Musiques Nouvelles, once created by Henri Pousseur. This disc is undoubtedly the best introduction to his work. Performed by Musiques Nouvelles. Conducted by Jean-Paul Dessy.
"At the instigation of Jean-Paul Dessy, the Musiques Nouvelles ensemble initiated all sorts of configurations to which I was often associated, and glad to be. This album is the journal of these criss-crossing collaborations: sometimes as part of the ECO (European Contemporary Orchestra) project, through which Musiques Nouvelles met the Ensemble Télémaque (from France) and Orkest de ereprijs (from the Netherlands) in a large orchestral formation; sometimes for a project produced with Art Zoyd (France); sometimes as a string ensemble or with Claire Bourdet as a soloist. I am glad to present, united in one album, such different periods, contrasting collaborations and multiple encounters not merely due to coincidence but also to affinities. May my style, and the story of my questionings, give a certain consistency to this ensemble of beautiful collaborations." --Jean-Luc Fachamps
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2CD
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SR 560CD
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$18.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 4/26/2024
Five Traces is a wordless opera in three acts. Its sound includes words and images. The notes must speak: "This wordless opera is certainly my most daring experiment with text in sound. Over the ten years I spent discovering the majestic Geomungo, the six-string Korean bass zither played with a suldae plectrum, working on Héros de la pensée gave soft, poetic, melodious and appeasing sounds. Some of my studies continued the reduction process I had started for the piano and the violin (and then for the Gayageum), in the compositions I wrote between 1986 and 2023, attempts at extreme reducing and simplifying down to lines, music stated on one and single note (with exceptions). Lines allows the interpreter to express themselves within the scope of rhythm, nuance, vibratos, stresses and attacks, and to show the many unheard orchestral possibilities at the root of this unique instrument. In stark contrast, Chanson Cubique (Vol II) or Trace III include moments with an excessive variety of notes driving the instrument into a corner. With the warm timbres of the recordings featuring on the first two CD volumes, the listener is an accomplice to the interpreter, standing in the wings while they rub strings on fret, prepare their fingers and release the strings, tune the instrument while playing, etc. On the other hand, 'Traces' (once every five of them have been listened to) offers a more panoramic view, a look at the geometric structures of the compositions. Vol I was my doorway to the geomungo, while the compositions gathered in Vol II were explorations (experiments, studies) with a more technical aspect, in preparation for the writing of Five Traces." --Baudouin De Jaer
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2CD
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SR 567CD
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$20.50
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 4/26/2024
The only example of a working sixth-tone harmonium in the world belongs to the collections of the National Museum and is permanently exhibited in the Czech Museum of Music in Prague. Sub Rosa presents these new compositions that were written by Phill Niblock, Klaus Lang, Bernhard Lang, Milan Gustar, Judith Berkson, Idin Samimi Mofakham, and Ian Mikyska. The premiere of these compositions took place in August 2023 as part of the Ostrava Days contemporary music festival. Performed by pianist Miroslav Beinhauer, who is currently the only musician in the world to be able to play this unique instrument. The first model of the sixth-tone harmonium was created in the 1920s on the basis of a commission from the pioneer of microtonal music, Alois Hába, whose visions for its construction convinced the company August Förster. The improved model of the harmonium dates from 1936 by the same company. The first Czechoslovak president Masaryk supported the purchase of the new instrument by contributing ten thousand crowns, and the same amount was added by the Ministry of Education and National Enlightenment at the time. In 2018, Miroslav Beinhauer participated in the premiere of Hába's sixth-tone opera Come Thy Kingdom, followed by the staging and recording of Alois Hába's opus Six Compositions For Sixth-Tone Harmonium, op. 37, which was the only solo composition for this instrument for more than ninety years. In the last three years, new repertoire for sixth-tone harmonium has been written by renowned Czech and foreign composers.
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SR 548LP
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This LP reveals the extraordinary diversity of research -- almost all hidden -- by Spanish musicians in the '50s and '60s. Those pieces were composed while the country was under the tyranny of Francisco Franco. It is truly the ultimate grail, developed by musicologist Miguel Álvarez-Fernández: he is its curator, editor and commentator. This undoubtedly marks a major step in the approach and understanding of this music which had to fight to exist before the death of Franco in 1975. Miguel Álvarez-Fernández (Madrid, 1979) is a writer. He hosts the weekly radio broadcast Ars Sonora -- dedicated to sound art and experimental music, and offering hundreds of freely available podcasts on Radio Clásica (Spanish National Radio). Five Spanish Pionniers of Eletronic and Experimental Music aims to present five composers who most often work outside the rules and without the possibility of help from their own country. Jose Val del Omar (1904-1982) is essentially a creator, a filmmaker developing a dreamlike art -- not without links with Federico Garcia Lorca or Luis Buñuel. Eduardo Polonio (b. 1941) has published, in forty years, more than a hundred works. Josep Maria Mestres Quadreny (1929-2011) joined the Manuel de Falla Circle in 1952 and in 1974 he founded the Laboratori de Música Electroacústica Phonos. During his life he collaborated with Joan Miró and Antoni Tàpies. Juan Hidalgo (1927-2018) participated in the music festival XII Internationale Ferienkurse Fur Neue Musik in Darmstadt in 1957. The following year he met the American composers John Cage and David Tudor. A member of Fluxus, in 1966 he participated with Gustav Metzger, Otto Muehl, Wolf Vostell, and Hermann Nitsch in the Destruction in Art Symposium in London. Cristóbal Halffter (1930-2021) was soon considered one of the most important composers of his generation. As a lecturer at the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in Darmstadt, he worked with Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Luciano Berio.
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SR 554CD
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The album, featuring Milan Knizak, Petr Ferenc (aka Phaerentz) and Opening Performance Orchestra, includes Knizak's 1973 private recording Broken Music, released as a multiple of forty copies by Armin Hundertmark in 1983 on Edition Hundertmark, and a live version of Broken Rebroken, performed in January 2020 at the Museum of Czech Music in Prague. The album comes with a comprehensive 24-page booklet that includes an interview with Milan Knizak on the topic of Broken Music, an extended essay by Petr Ferenc that originally appeared in Czech Music Quarterly, visual documentation from the archives of Maria Knizakova and Opening Performance Orchestra, as well as Anna Bastyrova photographic documentation from the 2020 performance of Broken Rebroken. The cover of the album consists of photographs of Milan Knizak's now-defunct 1963 assemblage. Mastering was done by Stephan Mathieu and Gabriel Séverin, who also made the audio restoration of the archival recording Broken Music.
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SR 462CD
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The anthology Spectra Ex Machina brings together rare documents pertaining to so-called occult phenomena, most of them taken from little-known archives. In the course of three volumes, this series traces an audio history of parapsychology through the exploration of spiritualism and haunted houses (Vol. 1); musician mediums (Vol. 2); experiences of extrasensory perceptions (clairvoyance, psychokinesis, etc.) and electronic voice phenomena (Vol. 3). The link between music, sound and the paranormal is manifested in many different ways. Gerard van der Leeuw, the Dutch historian and philosopher, wrote "Music represents the great struggle of reaching the wholly other, which it can never express." Furthermore, "The effect of music on the emotions is so mysterious as to seem magical. There is no logical explanation why a particular combination of musical notes, whether in the form of a tune or of a simple chord, can affect the heart. Nothing in nature has perhaps so persistently resisted explanation," as said Derek Parker, the British journalist. Since music is arguably the most intangible of the arts and since the paranormal, in all its manifestations, continues to intrigue people, the placing of these two subjects together seems obvious. This second volume of musical and audio anomalies continues and expands upon the works initially reproduced in the latter. Rosemary Brown makes a welcome re-appearance, especially with a performance of Grübelei via Liszt, as well as the Caruso-inspired tenor Leo May making a repeat performance. Few people realize that both Anton LaVey and Aleister Crowley were quite fine musicians and Alex Sanders was also interested in music. The background music of Wagner's Tannhäuser used by the latter combines both pagan and Christian elements. So close your eyes and let the magic of sound take over! Also featuring David Behr, Jack Webber, Robert, Rita Goold, Leslie Flint, Leo, Carmen Rogers, Uri Geller, Jean-Louis Victor, Joe Meek, Howard Menger, Barbara The Gray Witch, and Rev. Patrick J. Berkery, Ph. D.
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SR 545LP
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Those recordings of gongs orchestras were produced in 2003 and 2004 during funeral ceremonies in two Kung villages and one Jaraï village in Ratanakiri province, Cambodia by Laurent Jeanneau (Kink Gong), during a time when the jungle had not been replaced by rubber plantations. Focusing on funeral ceremonies, these hypnotics pieces are intense and haunting sonic experiments.
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SR 461CD
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The anthology Spectra Ex Machina brings together rare documents pertaining to so-called occult phenomena, most of them taken from little-known archives. In the course of three volumes, this series traces an audio history of parapsychology through the exploration of spiritualism and haunted houses (Vol. 1); musician mediums (Vol. 2); experiences of extrasensory perceptions (clairvoyance, psychokinesis, etc.) and electronic voice phenomena (Vol. 3). The documents gathered here are, by their extravagance and far-fetched aspects, more than the mere objects of belief one would be tempted to reduce them to. They are vestiges of aberrant phenomena, fossils of an unknown civilization buried in the depths of the unconscious that are revived, in a way, when audiences listen to them. They can be understood as "works," in the full artistic sense of the word, and constitute a kind of "cabinet of sound curiosities" that is worthy of aesthetic interest. Sometimes imbued with a disconcerting dramatic intensity, these documents bear the features of an authentic time machine, placing the listener in the position of a witness of the time immersed in the dim darkness of the experimental hall. And it is at that precise moment that the aesthetic power of these archives takes precedence over their probative value. Their somewhat old-fashioned charm, maintained by the surface noise of magnetic tapes and old wax disks, gets stronger with each listen. Comes with 32-page booklet.
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SR 538CD
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With "Folksong Distortions," Tom Pauwels and Liesa Van der Aa create a journey of lament through the soul of times gone by. Their radical renditions of works by Larry Polansky and Christopher Trapanido do not distort the more upbeat rhythm and tradition of folk songs, but rather reveal and highlight the essence of hard lives, imposed choices -- choices that were illusions in the first place -- and the difficult times and conditions they have always depicted. Christopher Trapani arranged two classics from the U.S. South, reimagining folk songs with microtones, improvisation, and electronic effects. The work, developed in collaboration with Tom Pauwels and Liesa Van der Aa, was originally made and featured on ICTUS' American Lament program. The duo was given considerable room for improvisation and interpretation in the process. The first song, "Wayfaring Stranger," is a well-known folk/gospel melody in A minor. The lyrics contrast an aimless journey through a harsh, hostile world, with the Christian promise of heaven as a "home" and reunion with lost loved ones. The second song, "Freight Train," was written by Elizabeth Cotten, a left-handed guitarist who held her guitar upside down, resulting in a very recognizable strumming style. "Sweet Betsy from Pike" and "Eskimo Lullaby" are taken from Larry Polansky's 2005 Songs and Toads, a five-section piece that consists of three settings of American folk songs and two computer-composed pieces. The work was originally written for guitar, more specifically for the national steel guitar, refretted in a specific intonation designed by Lou Harrison. Each piece explores a different guitar tuning. A significant intervention to the original work is made to accommodate Liesa Van der Aa's violin with effect pedals, opening to an epic re-reading of the work as conceived by the American composer Larry Polansky. What this set-up enables is a melancholy, slow-paced approach that quite radically opposes the more upbeat and joyful nature of the folk songs.
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SR 538LP
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LP version. With "Folksong Distortions," Tom Pauwels and Liesa Van der Aa create a journey of lament through the soul of times gone by. Their radical renditions of works by Larry Polansky and Christopher Trapanido do not distort the more upbeat rhythm and tradition of folk songs, but rather reveal and highlight the essence of hard lives, imposed choices -- choices that were illusions in the first place -- and the difficult times and conditions they have always depicted. Christopher Trapani arranged two classics from the U.S. South, reimagining folk songs with microtones, improvisation, and electronic effects. The work, developed in collaboration with Tom Pauwels and Liesa Van der Aa, was originally made and featured on ICTUS' American Lament program. The duo was given considerable room for improvisation and interpretation in the process. The first song, "Wayfaring Stranger," is a well-known folk/gospel melody in A minor. The lyrics contrast an aimless journey through a harsh, hostile world, with the Christian promise of heaven as a "home" and reunion with lost loved ones. The second song, "Freight Train," was written by Elizabeth Cotten, a left-handed guitarist who held her guitar upside down, resulting in a very recognizable strumming style. "Sweet Betsy from Pike" and "Eskimo Lullaby" are taken from Larry Polansky's 2005 Songs and Toads, a five-section piece that consists of three settings of American folk songs and two computer-composed pieces. The work was originally written for guitar, more specifically for the national steel guitar, refretted in a specific intonation designed by Lou Harrison. Each piece explores a different guitar tuning. A significant intervention to the original work is made to accommodate Liesa Van der Aa's violin with effect pedals, opening to an epic re-reading of the work as conceived by the American composer Larry Polansky. What this set-up enables is a melancholy, slow-paced approach that quite radically opposes the more upbeat and joyful nature of the folk songs.
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SR 552LP
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Musik für animierte Tonspurfilm, the twelfth album by Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung (or DAAU, as they are commonly known), is the soundtrack to a series of short, abstract animation films by Rudy Trouvé, who also acted as a creative director during the recording process. The music originates from acoustic improvisation sessions by accordionist Roel Van Camp, clarinetist Han Stubbe, double bass player Hannes D'Hoine and percussionist Jeroen Stevens. These took place according to conceptual guidelines set by Trouvé. Sometimes the starting point was a play on words or a random chord sequence, sometimes a specific atmosphere, but the playing field was always kept deliberately limited. Hence, the musicians were forced to build a musical structure with minimal means. The result was cut on cassette, after which the Antwerp enfant terrible Rudy Trouvé, known from his work with dEUS, Kiss My Jazz, Gore Slut, and I H8 Camera among others, happily hit the tracks with a virtual sledge hammer. DAAU's pieces were cut up, sampled, drastically restructured and pasted together again, a method that had been applies earlier on the retrospective album Hineininterpretierung (2017). On top of that audio collage, the musicians added new electronic layers, using a digital accordion, synths, digital bass and marimba.
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SR 555LP
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LP version. Univers Zero's new album follows the lineage of Phosphorescent Dreams, originally released only on CD in Japan in 2014, and reissued as an LP on the Sub Rosa label in 2019. Lueur is the fruit of two years' work and reflection, the foundations of which were laid by Daniel Denis (keyboards, drums, percussion), then enriched by the contributions of Nicolas Dechêne (guitars), Kurt Budé (clarinet / bass clarinet) and Nicolas Denis (bass, percussion, vocals), all three present on Phosphorescent Dreams. With this reduced line-up, Lueur offers a dense journey, rooted in the balance between power and calm, raging and serene sound. A balance, too, between complex arrangements and more contemplative moments. While this album continues the avant-rock tradition of Univers Zero, it also features some very short pieces, more electronic, tribal and haunting sounds, and voice work that is new to the U.Z. universe. Between tradition and subtle evolution, Lueur is a major new contribution to the discography of this band, which will be celebrating its fiftieth anniversary in 2024. Univers Zero represents one of the longest-living bands in Belgium. It was established in 1974. Drummer Daniel Denis had the brilliant idea to gather together a team of professionals sharing the same taste for music. The band has adopted an instrumental progressive style. Over the last couple of decades, the band has also implemented a series of influences from chamber music -- most commonly, chamber music from the 20th century. Even if the line-up changes a lot over the years, the overall sound of UZ remained fairly consistent.
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LP
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SR 462LP
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The anthology Spectra Ex Machina brings together rare documents pertaining to so-called occult phenomena, most of them taken from little-known archives. In the course of three volumes, this series traces an audio history of parapsychology through the exploration of spiritualism and haunted houses (Vol. 1); musician mediums (Vol. 2); experiences of extrasensory perceptions (clairvoyance, psychokinesis, etc.) and electronic voice phenomena (Vol. 3). The link between music, sound and the paranormal is manifested in many different ways. Gerard van der Leeuw, the Dutch historian and philosopher, wrote "Music represents the great struggle of reaching the wholly other, which it can never express." Furthermore, "The effect of music on the emotions is so mysterious as to seem magical. There is no logical explanation why a particular combination of musical notes, whether in the form of a tune or of a simple chord, can affect the heart. Nothing in nature has perhaps so persistently resisted explanation," as said Derek Parker, the British journalist. Since music is arguably the most intangible of the arts and since the paranormal, in all its manifestations, continues to intrigue people, the placing of these two subjects together seems obvious. This second volume of musical and audio anomalies continues and expands upon the works initially reproduced in the latter. Rosemary Brown makes a welcome re-appearance, especially with a performance of Grübelei via Liszt, as well as the Caruso-inspired tenor Leo May making a repeat performance. Few people realize that both Anton LaVey and Aleister Crowley were quite fine musicians and Alex Sanders was also interested in music. The background music of Wagner's Tannhäuser used by the latter combines both pagan and Christian elements. So close your eyes and let the magic of sound take over! Also featuring David Behr, Jack Webber, Robert, Rita Goold, Leslie Flint, Leo, Carmen Rogers, Uri Geller, Jean-Louis Victor, Joe Meek, Howard Menger, Barbara The Gray Witch, and Rev. Patrick J. Berkery, Ph. D.
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SR 543CD
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This second project released on Sub Rosa by the Japanese artist Kaoru Tashiro, manages to create a subtle dialogue between four composers, and four musical pieces, mixing a delicate blend of Japanese and European sensibilities. Those different approaches convergence thanks to the highly recognizable sensibility of Kaoru Tashiro's way to play. After "drifting" through unpublished pieces from Toshi Ichiyanagi (Fluxus) and Claude Ledoux on the album Cloud Atlas, Kaoru Tashiro is now highlighting the works of: Kenji Sakai, Claude Ledoux, Jean-Pierre Deleuze, and Julia Purgina. Sakai dilates space through a virtuoso piece, "Reflecting Space I - Bell, Cloud and Disincarnations," based on the idea of the metamorphosis of classical repertoires. Claude Ledoux, already present on the first disc, is wandering through mysterious, disquieting landscapes, that gives pride of place to the hushed sounds coming from the piano strings, hammered and muffled by the imprint of the pianist's fingers. Jean-Pierre Deleuze whom creates through this piano composition a dreamlike space that unfolds. Julia Purgina, a young Austrian composer, whose piece that was composed in full confinement, turned out to be "dark," as she attempted to create an atmosphere of an almost surreal expressivity between exaltation and pessimism. This work has been premiered in Vienna in 2021 and this is a first recording.
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SR 555CD
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Univers Zero's new album follows the lineage of Phosphorescent Dreams, originally released only on CD in Japan in 2014, and reissued as an LP on the Sub Rosa label in 2019. Lueur is the fruit of two years' work and reflection, the foundations of which were laid by Daniel Denis (keyboards, drums, percussion), then enriched by the contributions of Nicolas Dechêne (guitars), Kurt Budé (clarinet / bass clarinet) and Nicolas Denis (bass, percussion, vocals), all three present on Phosphorescent Dreams. With this reduced line-up, Lueur offers a dense journey, rooted in the balance between power and calm, raging and serene sound. A balance, too, between complex arrangements and more contemplative moments. While this album continues the avant-rock tradition of Univers Zero, it also features some very short pieces, more electronic, tribal and haunting sounds, and voice work that is new to the U.Z. universe. Between tradition and subtle evolution, Lueur is a major new contribution to the discography of this band, which will be celebrating its fiftieth anniversary in 2024. Univers Zero represents one of the longest-living bands in Belgium. It was established in 1974. Drummer Daniel Denis had the brilliant idea to gather together a team of professionals sharing the same taste for music. The band has adopted an instrumental progressive style. Over the last couple of decades, the band has also implemented a series of influences from chamber music -- most commonly, chamber music from the 20th century. Even if the line-up changes a lot over the years, the overall sound of UZ remained fairly consistent.
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SR 544CD
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At the border of genres, Ogives is an ambitious musical project, initiated and led by composer and musician Pavel Tchikov. This large ensemble leads us onto a path to a sacred universe, to a cathedral of sounds, whose foundations are rock and classical music. Born in Liège (Belgium), Ogives offers a resolutely intense personal and poetic work, dominated by layers of melodious, polyphonic, shouted or lyrical voices. This first album from Ogives, La Mémoire Des Orages ("The Memory of Storms"), is build and orchestrated around poems written by two members of the group. These texts revolve around the themes of the perception of time and the perspective of death. We find here all the group's influences, ranging from post-rock, prog, to contemporary music, baroque and medieval music, through electronic music and noise, all exploited to forge a homogeneous and singular material. From the first choral notes to the last sharp riff, it is a dense and melancholic epic, carried by inhabited and versatile musicians. The album was mixed by Steve Albini.
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SR 550LP
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LP version. Marbled vinyl. In 1995 the self-titled full-length debut of Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung (DAAU) was released. The band consisted of four young, "classically derailed" musicians who played their own compositions exclusively with their with acoustic instruments such as violin, cello, clarinet and accordion. Their work contained influences from Roma music, Eastern European folk, klezmer and jazz, and was performed with energy and true punk spirit. DAAU was part of the fertile Antwerp scene, which also produced dEUS, Zita Swoon, and Kiss My Jazz, and soon signed an international record deal with Sony Classical. The group's influential first record, which has been out of print for a while, is now finally being released again and is available on vinyl for the very first time.
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SR 544LP
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Double LP version. Gatefold sleeve. At the border of genres, Ogives is an ambitious musical project, initiated and led by composer and musician Pavel Tchikov. This large ensemble leads us onto a path to a sacred universe, to a cathedral of sounds, whose foundations are rock and classical music. Born in Liège (Belgium), Ogives offers a resolutely intense personal and poetic work, dominated by layers of melodious, polyphonic, shouted or lyrical voices. This first album from Ogives, La Mémoire Des Orages ("The Memory of Storms"), is build and orchestrated around poems written by two members of the group. These texts revolve around the themes of the perception of time and the perspective of death. We find here all the group's influences, ranging from post-rock, prog, to contemporary music, baroque and medieval music, through electronic music and noise, all exploited to forge a homogeneous and singular material. From the first choral notes to the last sharp riff, it is a dense and melancholic epic, carried by inhabited and versatile musicians. The album was mixed by Steve Albini.
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SR 550CD
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In 1995 the self-titled full-length debut of Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung (DAAU) was released. The band consisted of four young, "classically derailed" musicians who played their own compositions exclusively with their with acoustic instruments such as violin, cello, clarinet and accordion. Their work contained influences from Roma music, Eastern European folk, klezmer and jazz, and was performed with energy and true punk spirit. DAAU was part of the fertile Antwerp scene, which also produced dEUS, Zita Swoon, and Kiss My Jazz, and soon signed an international record deal with Sony Classical. The group's influential first record, which has been out of print for a while, is now finally being released again and is available on vinyl for the very first time.
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SR 551X-LP
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Maurice Louca and his band Elephantine announce Moonshine, shining brightly with a live, raw, collective sound. One of the most gifted, prolific and adventurous figures on Egypt's thriving experimental arts scene, Louca has in recent years garnered a global reputation through three previous solo albums and an expanding, evolving lineup of genre-defying collaborations. The Wire called his 2014 sophomore solo effort, Salute the Parrot, "remarkable music-dense, driven and splashed with colour." For Louca, Elephantine serves as both the pinnacle of his wide-ranging experience and a bold next step in his development as a composer, arranger and bandleader, from cosmic jazz, African and world music, to transcendental modal traditions. The music-from its pensive lulls through its stretches of hard-grooving hypnosis and moments of avant-jazz. All copies on red/black vinyl mix.
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SR 553CD
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"All my music is night music," says the composer Petr Bakla. Three pieces featured on the new album Late Night Show span almost a decade and provide varied examples of his style, "so specific and personal, so allergic to fashion or aesthetic trend," as Eric Wubbels puts it in the insightful liner note. The central instrument is the piano, operated by Bakla's longtime collaborator Miroslav Beinhauer, accompanied by the musicians of Brno Contemporary Orchestra. Digipack and booklet.
Petr Bakla (born 1980) composes orchestral, chamber, and solo pieces. In his compositions, he often employs basic material, typically chromatic and whole-tone scales. He is interested in constructing situations and structural contexts in which these frugal musical elements can acquire a unique expressiveness and energy. A frequent feature of Bakla's work is a simultaneous course of two musical/sound layers which, although usually markedly differing in dynamics to allow for a sense of "figure and background", are not mutually subordinating -- they are of equal importance, their "friction" creating specific tension and ambiguity. Petr Bakla's music has been played in Europe and the USA, in many cases commissioned and/or performed by distinguished ensembles, soloists and conductors. Of particular importance for him has been his collaboration with the Ostrava Days festival, which has made possible the performance of numerous works of his for large ensemble or symphony orchestra.
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SR 536LP
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LP version. From his early days with Henry Cow, Fred Frith was seen as a brilliant instrumentalist and improviser, but what has been overlooked is what a first-rate composer he is. This recording offers both aspects. His most complex orchestral composition and two selected improvisations with the Ensemble Musiques Nouvelles. Fred Frith, as an infusion of energy and inspiration.
"Something about this Landscape was commissioned by Ars Musica in 2018. I composed the piece during a residency at Lou Harrison's straw-bale house in the desert at Joshua Tree, California. It's an inspiring place for a number of reasons -- the silence, the light, the life, the history. The extraordinary diversity of birds during the migration season. Both other pieces are improvisations. The first one is the one we did during the concert (in public), the other one, very different, is the one we did during the dress rehearsal (on the day of the concert)." --Fred Frith
Musiques Nouvelles is one of the two most successful and diversified contemporary music ensemble in this country with Ictus. With, under the influence of Jean-Paul Dessy, a deeply spiritual and mutual listening aspect. This meeting with the legendary Fred Frith will remain as an important step.
Personnel: Fred Frith - guitar, composition + Ensemble Musiques Nouvelles: Berten D'Hollander - flute; Charles Michiels - clarinet; Adrien Lambinet - trombone; Hughes Kolp - guitar; Pierre Quiriny - percussion; Claire Bourdet et Laurent Houque - violins; Karel Coninx - viola; Jean-Paul Zanutel - cello; Jean-Paul Dessy - conductor.
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2LP
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SR 539LP
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Double LP version. Gatefold sleeve; includes 24-page large booklet. All in all, there are more than 50 pieces, new and old, live and studio, finished pieces and scores to be performed, acoustic and classical, solos and pieces for ensemble, using classical and special instruments. This Fluxus edition features (in alphabetical order): Eric Andersen, Ay-O, George Brecht, John Cage, Giancarlo Cardini, Giuseppe Chiari, Henning Christiansen, Philip Corner, Öyvind Fahlström, Ken Friedman, Sten Hanson, Geoffrey Hendricks, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Joe Jones, Bengt af Klintberg, Milan Knízák, Alison Knowles, Larry Miller, George Maciunas, Sara Miyamoto, Nam June Paik, Yoko Ono, Opening Performance Orchestra, Benjamin Patterson, Josef Anton Riedl, Terry Riley, Takako Saito, Tomas Schmit, Dieter Schnebel, Mieko Shiomi, Yasunao Tone, Ben Vautier, Yoshi Wada, and La Monte Young. The musicians and performers Anna Clementi, Agnese Toniutti, Deborah Walker, Werner Durand, Luciano Chessa, Miroslav Beinhauer, Petr Bakla, Nicolas Horvath, Petr Ferenc, and Premysl Ondra have played, performed and declaimed the Fluxus pieces, Arditti Quartet and S.E.M. Ensemble provided one piece from their archives. Milan Knízák, Petr Rezek, Petr Kotík, Olaf Hanel, Eric Andersen, Per Brunskog, Peter van der Meijden, Pavlína Morganová, Natasha Lushetich, Joseph Nechvatal, Natilee Harren, Martin Patrick, Diedrich Diederichsen, Christopher M. Reeves, and Hubertus von Amelunxen have written Fluxus-themed texts. Archivio Conz in Berlin provided access to their extensive Fluxus archives and Edizioni Conz provided coproduction. Ursula and René Block made possible the realization of John Cage's historical composition "Rozart Mix" from the Edition Block archive. The photographic material comes from Marie Knízáková and Milan Knízák's private archive, the German photographer Wolfgang Träger, Archivio Conz's Fluxus archive and Opening Performance Orchestra's digital archive. The cover themes are paintings by Milan Knízák, while the graphic design is the work of Jaroslav Buzek.
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SR 536CD
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From his early days with Henry Cow, Fred Frith was seen as a brilliant instrumentalist and improviser, but what has been overlooked is what a first-rate composer he is. This recording offers both aspects. His most complex orchestral composition and two selected improvisations with the Ensemble Musiques Nouvelles. Fred Frith, as an infusion of energy and inspiration.
"Something about this Landscape was commissioned by Ars Musica in 2018. I composed the piece during a residency at Lou Harrison's straw-bale house in the desert at Joshua Tree, California. It's an inspiring place for a number of reasons -- the silence, the light, the life, the history. The extraordinary diversity of birds during the migration season. Both other pieces are improvisations. The first one is the one we did during the concert (in public), the other one, very different, is the one we did during the dress rehearsal (on the day of the concert)." --Fred Frith
Musiques Nouvelles is one of the two most successful and diversified contemporary music ensemble in this country with Ictus. With, under the influence of Jean-Paul Dessy, a deeply spiritual and mutual listening aspect. This meeting with the legendary Fred Frith will remain as an important step.
Personnel: Fred Frith - guitar, composition + Ensemble Musiques Nouvelles: Berten D'Hollander - flute; Charles Michiels - clarinet; Adrien Lambinet - trombone; Hughes Kolp - guitar; Pierre Quiriny - percussion; Claire Bourdet et Laurent Houque - violins; Karel Coninx - viola; Jean-Paul Zanutel - cello; Jean-Paul Dessy - conductor.
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LP
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SR 533LP
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Hailing from the Agouza district of Cairo, Egypt, this brilliant trio consists of Alan Bishop (acoustic bass, vocals, alto sax), Maurice Louca (keyboards, drum machine), and Sam Shalabi (electric guitar). Born in 2012 when the three were living in the same apartment building in Cairo's Agouza district, the trio's instrumental improvisation-based explorations are propelled by Louca's North African percussion loops and shimmering keys, Shalabi's West African tinged free jazz guitar and grounded by Bishop's driving Krautrock-style acoustic bass. High Tide in the Lowlands was recorded in Brussels at Les Ateliers Claus on September 5, 2017 and is quite an intense experience. Most performances and recording sessions are improvised and this set is no different and even though the group opened the show with "Baka of the Future" from their first album Bes, it is almost unrecognizable and everything the trio plays is continually morphing into the next unknown idea. As the sound, energy, and instantaneous composition flows, the trance is growing and growing, ranging from raw shapeshifting "no (un)wave", free jazz, traditional Arabic, and modern experimental explorations to a concrete mystic trip from a universe expanding and contracting constantly. This is earth interrogating the sky, the sky rejoining the earth, an unknown and unwritten cosmogony.
Maurice Louca is an Egyptian musician and composer born in Cairo where he lives and works. As well as being the co-founder of the bands Bikya, Alif, and Lekhfa, Louca lends his sound to numerous other projects, composing for theatre, film, dance and contemporary art. Previous releases on Sub Rosa: Elephantine (SR 474LP), Saet El-Hazz (SR 519LP). Alan Bishop is a founding member of Phoenix/Seattle avant-garde trio Sun City Girls, who, for 27 years, explored the outer reaches of improvisation and composition (from free jazz/post rock psychedelic, and sound collage to outernational Arabic and Asian inspired folk music). As founder of the Sublime Frequencies record label, Bishop has released over 100 records, introducing previously ignored musical genres from Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Sam Shalabi is a prolific Egyptian-Canadian composer and improviser living between Montreal, Quebec and Cairo, Egypt. As the founder of Land of Kush, Shalabi Effect, and many other projects, he began with punk rock in the late '70s and his work has evolved into a fusion of experimental music that incorporates modern/traditional Arabic, shaabi, noise, and classical music with spoken word, free improvisation and jazz.
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