|
|
|
|
viewing 1 To 7 of 7 items
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LP
|
|
VAA 007LP
|
Whisky soaked, nocturnal, brooding. Aging's album Troubles? I Got A Bartender was a noteworthy, film-noir infused suite that quietly slipped out on cassette in 2015 by a then budding Manchester avant-jazz ensemble, led by David McLean. In 2020, amidst the pandemic's tempest and winter's gloom, the idea manifested of showcasing McLean's slow burning, wistful soirée in a new light via a curated effort by Berlin's Vaagner label, which invited a series of hand-picked artist to rework selected compositions from the album, rendering its mournful, smoke-tinged resonances into new shapes. Its result is Reworks (Rewoven), and it presents six new interpretations by five artists. These range from ruminating, tape smudged ambient works interlaced with sublime acoustic strums by fellow Manchester musicians The Humble Bee and Tape Loop Orchestra, to poignant steel guitar renditions by Nashville based Kelby Clark. Furthermore, Barcelona based Dania and London based Laila Sakini, each present pieces that draw the listener into opaque realms harbored by swooning reverie and eerie, glistening prophecy. Carefully assembled across two sides of vinyl, McLean's penchant for hard-boiled detective novels, vintage Japanese crime flicks and film noir iconography have a continued lurking presence in the reworks, yet the new pieces each add a modern facet to the original's cinematic narrative, its morose and sulky mood now opening into new avenues of interpretation. And whilst some artists have chosen to dive further into the themes of contentious ambivalence and pensive solitude, others have sought to slightly lift the haze, stirring up melodies tinged with a sense of hope, hinting at times, towards instants of poise and vivacity. In the end this leaves us with a new body of work that manages to feel poignant in its complexity whilst remaining dissonant and elusive in its renditions, hinting at a moder-day existence even more opaque, intricate and convoluted than the film noir classics of old might have pictured the world.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
VAA 006LP
|
In the past few years, Clarice Jensen has forged her own path. Recently, her focus has shifted to film scoring, successfully recording work for three feature films between 2020 and 2021. At the same time, Clarice continues to serve as artistic director of the American Contemporary Music Ensemble, while continually collaborating with an impressive array of musicians, such as Max Richter, Björk, and Stars of the Lid, to name a few. That being said, it was her 2019 tape release on Geographic North, Drone Studies, that initially caught the attention of a wider audience, with the work showcasing a compelling assembly of deeply immersive drones, and elegantly orchestrated compositions, in which neoclassical elements collide with electric density. Three years later, the work has lost none of its innovative character and appeal. It also documents a turning point in Clarice's career, one where her classically trained background started to converged and overlap with her interests in improvisational electronics and drone music. As a result, the aptly titled Drone Studies shows Clarice at her most exploratory, introspective, and daring, channeling her areas of interest into a collage of richly textured timbers and cello movements of sublime tension. Now for the first time, the original album can be experienced through an expanded vinyl reissue, mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri, and carefully adjusted for vinyl by Ian Hawgood. The new reissue also features an additional track by Clarice called "Platonic Solids 2", which was originally conceived around the same time as Drone Studies, and which has now been made available exclusively for the vinyl edition. Edition of 300.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
2LP
|
|
VAA 005LP
|
4-Track Guitar Music is the unassuming title of a cassette by Swedish composer Mats Erlandsson, which was originally released on Kali Malone and Maria W. Horn's XKatedral label in 2018. Composed using only, as the album title implies, a 4-track tape deck and an electric guitar, the music was later modified on the computer and re-amplified in the machine hall of Ställbergs Gruva, a disbanded Swedish iron mine. The music is primarily composed using melodic motifs and canonical structures in which a set of pitches are transposed in octaves and delayed, creating an ever-evolving cyclical polyphony. Contrary to the album's modest title, the music is a tour-de-force of exuberance and stoic catharsis, continuously bordering on a sense of ecstatic serenity, sincere contemplation and restraint. Now, Vaagner present the work on vinyl for the first time via a fully remastered reissue of 4-Track Guitar Music, with the double-LP including a bonus track titled "Cellar" by Mats Erlandsson which was not included on the original release.
As a composer, musician and sound artist, Mats Erlandsson is part of the vibrantly reemerging field of drone music in Stockholm, Sweden, and is associated with practices characterized by the extensive use of sustained sound. Erlandsson has undergone studies in composition in Stockholm, where he received a Masterʼs degree in Composition of Electronic Music. In addition to his own artistic practice, Erlandsson holds a position as studio assistant at the world-renowned Elektronmusikstudion (EMS) in Stockholm. He presents his work both as a solo artist and in collaborations, most notably together with Yair Elazar Glotman. Recent releases include Minnesmärke on Hallow Ground (2020), the collaboration Emmanatemade with Yair Elazar Glotman on 130701 (2020), Hypodermic Letters on Portals Editions (PRTLS 014CD, 2018), Selective Miracles and Valentina Tereshkova (PI 165LP) on Posh Isolation (2016), and again together with Glotman, Negative Chambers on Miasmah (MIA 038LP, 2017). Erlandsson has performed his work extensively, most recently at Présences Électronique hosted by the GRM in Paris, CTM 2019 and The Long Now in Berlin, Norbergfestival in Norberg, Sonica Festival in Ljubljana and in various music and arts venues around the world.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
12"
|
|
VAA 003EP
|
2018 release. Back in 2015, two of Sweden's most coveted electronic musicians quietly collaborated. The outcomes where complied and made available via a trifling 20 self-released tapes, circulated by the duo during an event in Lithuania that same year. Soon after, a few of the tapes showed up in the second hand market occasionally trading hands for staggering prices, yet who ever came across one of the tape rips circulating the web quickly understood what the commotion was all about; brittle noise sequences and industrial laden overtones where contrasted against perplexingly rich dub techno arrangements and uplifting ambient soundscapes. The two tape sides contained densely interwoven material which both, reflected on the duos habitual outcome while also showcasing the two explore and express a new sonic thematic that was swelling in the concurring Swedish tape scene. In the end, the entire release felt like a strikingly personal glimpse into the esteemed duo's creative minds and to this day, it remains their only released collaborative endeavor. Now, three years later, Vaagner present this sought-after cassette release on vinyl for the first time.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
2LP
|
|
VAA 001LP
|
2018 release. 55 minutes of relentless power electronics coming via courtesy of OAKE, presented for the first time on vinyl. Originally recorded during a live performance in Marseille in 2015, and previously released on tape via Ascetic House in 2016. Live In Marseille is presented here on four sides of wax which have been supervised and editing by OAKE, remastered and cut at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin and pressed at Record Industry, Holland. The double-LP comes housed in a 6mm full cover record sleeve and includes an individually, hand-printed artwork. Also includes download; edition of 300.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
12"
|
|
VAA 002EP
|
2018 release. 30+ minutes of life-affirming ambient and drone coming from Zen Zsigo, otherwise known for his work under the Cremation Lily alias and as one of the spearheads of the current UK tape scene, where he has been mixing things up for seven years via his Strange Rules label. Winter Orbit was inspired by science fiction and its relation to modern life, recorded in 2015 using a mix of both modern and archaic equipment it was later released on Belgian tape label Audio. Visuals. Atmosphere. on an initial run of 33 tapes. Winter Orbit is now newly presented via an expanded re-issue, chronicling the original material, re-issued on one side (Fragments in Hologram Snow) while showcasing new material (For Artifice Rose) which was created in response to the initial release by Zsigo in 2017. Remastered and cut at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin and pressed at Record Industry, Holland to ensure optimum listening quality.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
VAA 004LP
|
In 2017, the track "Still Numbers" on Ekin Fil's album Heavy caught the attention of a certain Richard D. James, who under his "user18081971" username reposted the track to his now historic Soundcloud dump. This is also how Ekin's work initially caught the attention of labels; at first listen it sounded like an unearthed Grouper demo, a parallel that can be drawn respectfully, seeing Ekin's trademarks are also those forlorn, muffled vocal whispers, layered under sentimental tape loops, paired with ambience and feedback. The album itself was originally produced during what Ekin Fil recalls as a down right depressing and tumultuous time during which she turned to music as a measure of rehabilitation. Heavy was later released on tape via Lee Nobles No Kings label in 2016 and re-mastered in 2018 from the tape rips by Rashad Becker, preserving the fragile and heavy-hearted auditory sensibility found in the original work, while making one of Ekin's earliest and most personally endearing releases available to a new audience of listeners. Includes download code.
|
|
|
|