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Search Result for Artist or Label or Title or Catalog like mark gergis
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BT 137LP
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$33.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 11/21/2025
Recorded in concert at the University of Sheffield in March 2025, Reality Is Not A Theory is the first collaboration between Mark Fell and Pat Thomas. Major figures in British experimental music since the 1990s, Fell and Thomas have developed their rigorous practices from radically different backgrounds and perspectives: where Fell's singular take on synthetic abstraction emerged from Sheffield's electronic underground, Thomas is a virtuoso improvising pianist steeped in jazz and modernist art music who has simultaneously worked with sampler-based electronics for decades. As the record's wonderfully academic subtitle explains, listeners are presented here with two sides of "algorithmic and improvised music for computer and piano," exemplifying both players' insatiable search for new (and sometimes uncomfortable) playing situations. The performance begins with Fell's electronics close to the timbres of acoustic percussion, attacks that suggest wood, metal or glass threaded along a rapid pulse while Thomas focuses on the lowest registers of the piano, deadening the strings. As Fell's electronics start to ring out and occupy more harmonic space, Thomas turns to wide, repeated clusters, which slowly expand into patterns of chords. Like in his recent solo recordings and his trio work with Joel Grip and Anton Gerbal, Thomas' playing combines extreme dissonance with a deep lyrical sense. Fell's work gradually shifts its focus toward drum sounds, drawing on the microtemporal processes that have characterized his practice in recent decades. Heard together with Thomas' probing piano, the computer sounds call up unexpected associations with the klangfarben antics of improv drummers like Paul Lovens or Tony Oxley. Throughout its second half, the music grows increasingly frenetic, as Thomas sounds out rapid, irregularly repeated figures and beautifully sour chords in the upper register, while Fell's percussion develops into angular pan-pipe-like feedback and waves of glissandi. With great confidence and patience, Fell and Thomas often let their individual contributions remain rhythmically distinct and unsynchronised, allowing unexpected correspondence and coincidence to guide the music's development. Recorded in a hall named after Sheffield steel manufacturer and Master Cutler Mark Firth, the location might suggest a model for understanding how Fell and Thomas interact here: two workers in the same workshop, each immersed in their own part of the production process. Arriving in a striking sleeve designed by Mark Fell, with liner notes by Francis Plagne, Reality Is Not A Theory is an invigorating document of the meeting of two mavericks of contemporary music.
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CVSD 125CD
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It's not a stretch to say that saxophonist and clarinetist Ken Vandermark's path into creative music was paved by Joe McPhee. In particular, McPhee's landmark 1976 LP Tenor -- recorded casually in a Swiss chalet and featuring four new compositions that effortlessly combined experimentation and lyricism -- was Vandermark's ear-opener. The two musicians would go on to begin a fruitful working relationship in 1996, a partnership that continues today, and now Vandermark has paid homage to his friend and mentor with a suite of compositions and improvisations. These solo works, performed on an array of horns (clarinet, bass clarinet, baritone and of course tenor saxophone), are as melodious and unapologetically beautiful as anything in Vandermark's oeuvre, interweaving tremendous swells of emotion and ingenious linear inventions. Vandermark played the six pieces in the suite in front of an invited audience at Corbett vs. Dempsey, the gallery's natural acoustic drawing out every nuance of his playing. He augmented the suite, each part of which is named for a flower with significance to McPhee or Vandermark, with several powerful free improvisations, all titled after "filler flowers," making the entire program a bouquet for Mr. McPhee. Exquisitely documented by Alex Inglizian, with cover art by Arch Connelly and liner notes by Vandermark.
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2LP
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FR 040LP
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Frozen Reeds presents Mark Fell's Psychic Resynthesis, an instrumental work performed by Explore Ensemble. This double LP, with included digital download, is the label's eighth release, arriving 13 years after its foundation. Fell is a multidisciplinary artist, composer, and theorist based in Rotherham, UK. Renowned for his rigorous and conceptual approach to electronic music and sound art, his work explores the limits of structure, rhythm, and perception through a blend of computational systems, philosophical inquiry, and cultural critique. Over the last decade, Fell's practice has visibly shifted from a world of technical intricacy and myopic microdetail to one of collaboration and community. He has purposefully sought out diverse musical partners from a wide variety of traditions and disciplines and found equally diverse ways to work and create together -- not to integrate their playing into a musical fusion, but rather to discover how such combinations of approaches and experience can stimulate unique and heretofore unheard results. The music here emerges from a commission for contemporary chamber group Explore Ensemble, situating Fell's work in a new context entirely. Having been a notable critic of classical music's slavish adherence to traditional musical notation, "the score," and its associated issues of control and hierarchy, one might expect a provocative or abrasive approach. Instead, a work of deep, tonal introspection unfolds -- an elegant structure navigating the artist's trepidatious relationship with linear or timeline-based musical approaches. In Fell's selection of timbres and events, the dynamic of composer and performer is interrupted by his twin adoption of system and flexibility. Mathematical determination and sonic fixation vie for dominance. The conflict governing combinations. Upsetting preconceived strategies. Published in an edition of 777 double LPs, with included digital download, the result, Psychic Resynthesis, represents both a prismatic object for repeated examination and an abstruse table of musical correspondences. Artwork and design by Mark Fell. Mastering by Jim O'Rourke.
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12"
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BOND 12080EP
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Bondage-Music presents the new vinyl EP from Markus Homm, titled Twingo. Homm delivers four tracks that epitomize his deep, grooving sound. Homm blends influences from classic house with techno textures, continually evolving his sound across releases and DJ sets. Twingo showcases Homm's signature sonic palette, balancing uplifting grooves with a precise edge. The EP highlights his ability to fuse organic house vibes with driving techno energy, creating a cohesive journey for both dancers and listeners. Two of the tracks on the EP are vinyl-only, reinforcing Bondage-Music's commitment to offering exclusive material for vinyl enthusiasts.
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FTR 789LP
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LP version. "While they have collaborated a good many times, Next is the first recorded evidence of Danish guitarist (or more properly Bastardist) Jørgen Teller playing with American ex-pat multi-instrumentalist Mark Cunningham. The pair both have long histories on the fringes of known sounds. I first heard Teller as a member of the dizzily freakoid Tzarina Q Cut and Cunningham's decades of musical adventurism with Mars, Don King, Bestia Ferida, Blood Quartet, etc. have been well documented, not least by us. This is Mark's tenth FTR release! The four pieces here are improvised instrumental duets. The material was recorded in October 2023, as part of an ongoing residency Mark has at the Fabra I Coats creation center in Barcelona. Throughout, Teller plays Le Bastard (a Hofner 137 electric guitar with two bass strings and three guitar strings). Cunningham plays mostly trumpet and delays, but also whips out his old Dan Electro for one of the tracks. Overall, the sonic results are droney, druggy, lightly-noisesome slabs of brilliant buzz. In a general way, Jørgen's amped strings set up a humbucking sound-sheet against which he and Mark can each toss spontaneous squibs of creation and destruction, When Mark is playing trumpet and pedals, the music sometimes manifests a strange sort of charm that almost has the feel of a noise rock approach to the Canterbury Sound. By which, I mean the stuff is rackety, but there are built-in glissandos that make me think of nothing less Camel's brilliant live work on the Greasy Truckers Live at Dingwalls Dancehall. Of course, these moments resolve themselves in weirder ways than any Pete Bardens has ever dreamed up, but it demonstrates the duo's avant-prog game is strong! The doubled guitar track (called 'Next 3' to contrast it with 'Next 1,' 'Next 2,' and 'Next 4') is a superb piece of string work with rockist overtones that put fellow in mind of some of the best moments by classic two-man string units like the Smashchords or early Half Japanese. But with a more overtly hypnagogic overlay that forces your brain's receptors to stretch themselves in new ways. It's all amazing stuff. Sounding so fully evolved you'll be tempted to swear it weren't improvised! But you'd be wrong, friend. Some people just have the gift. To paraphrase that old softy, Lou Reed, their week beats your year. Get up with it!" --Byron Coley, 2025
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2CD
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EDDA 080CD
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Limited edition (400) vinyl with artwork by Ian Anderson and double CD. CD contains the tracks from Plan For A Miracle. Pioneering British electronic musician Mark Van Hoen presents his latest solo album, The Eternal Present, a remarkable collection of tracks spanning nearly three decades of recordings from 1998 to 2024. The Eternal Present embodies its philosophical title, inspired by Joseph Campbell's concept that "Eternity is that dimension of here and now that all thinking in temporal terms cuts off." The album explores music as the ultimate expression of existing in the present moment, transcending time and creating a sonic experience that is simultaneously "spectral, ghostly, melodic, harmonic, and decayed." An influential contemporary of Aphex Twin, Autechre, LFO and Boards of Canada, Van Hoen is best known for his solo work as Locust in the mid-'90s, which helped push post-rave electronic music into newly challenging realms. The Eternal Present continues the lineage of Van Hoen's most significant works, with artwork by Ian Anderson (Designers Republic) reflecting the album's "eternal present" concept with a mysterious visual approach, allowing listeners to form their own imaginary landscapes. The mastering by Stefan Betke (Pole) enhances this document of the evolution of the artist over the years as he continues to hone his signature sound. Using a host of instruments including analogue synthesizers and employing various recording approaches, Van Hoen's equipment changed dramatically over the years, contributing to the album's rich sonic diversity. Throughout The Eternal Present, ideas are woven together through spoken word quotations and abstract vocals featuring notable collaborations from Rachel Goswell on the Slowdive cover "Shine" (from 1998), Megan Mitchell (Cruel Diagonals) on "Somewhere", and session vocalists Clare Dove and Dorothy Takev on "No-One Leave" and "It's Not You (In A Way)" respectively. The album was recorded across multiple locations including Somerset, London, Los Angeles, and New York, reflecting Van Hoen's changing personal circumstances, environments, and situations throughout the years.
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LP
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EDDA 080LP
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LP version. Limited edition (400) vinyl with artwork by Ian Anderson and double CD. CD contains the tracks from Plan For A Miracle. Pioneering British electronic musician Mark Van Hoen presents his latest solo album, The Eternal Present, a remarkable collection of tracks spanning nearly three decades of recordings from 1998 to 2024. The Eternal Present embodies its philosophical title, inspired by Joseph Campbell's concept that "Eternity is that dimension of here and now that all thinking in temporal terms cuts off." The album explores music as the ultimate expression of existing in the present moment, transcending time and creating a sonic experience that is simultaneously "spectral, ghostly, melodic, harmonic, and decayed." An influential contemporary of Aphex Twin, Autechre, LFO and Boards of Canada, Van Hoen is best known for his solo work as Locust in the mid-'90s, which helped push post-rave electronic music into newly challenging realms. The Eternal Present continues the lineage of Van Hoen's most significant works, with artwork by Ian Anderson (Designers Republic) reflecting the album's "eternal present" concept with a mysterious visual approach, allowing listeners to form their own imaginary landscapes. The mastering by Stefan Betke (Pole) enhances this document of the evolution of the artist over the years as he continues to hone his signature sound. Using a host of instruments including analogue synthesizers and employing various recording approaches, Van Hoen's equipment changed dramatically over the years, contributing to the album's rich sonic diversity. Throughout The Eternal Present, ideas are woven together through spoken word quotations and abstract vocals featuring notable collaborations from Rachel Goswell on the Slowdive cover "Shine" (from 1998), Megan Mitchell (Cruel Diagonals) on "Somewhere", and session vocalists Clare Dove and Dorothy Takev on "No-One Leave" and "It's Not You (In A Way)" respectively. The album was recorded across multiple locations including Somerset, London, Los Angeles, and New York, reflecting Van Hoen's changing personal circumstances, environments, and situations throughout the years.
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FTR 789CD
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"While they have collaborated a good many times, Next is the first recorded evidence of Danish guitarist (or more properly Bastardist) Jørgen Teller playing with American ex-pat multi-instrumentalist Mark Cunningham. The pair both have long histories on the fringes of known sounds. I first heard Teller as a member of the dizzily freakoid Tzarina Q Cut and Cunningham's decades of musical adventurism with Mars, Don King, Bestia Ferida, Blood Quartet, etc. have been well documented, not least by us. This is Mark's tenth FTR release! The four pieces here are improvised instrumental duets. The material was recorded in October 2023, as part of an ongoing residency Mark has at the Fabra I Coats creation center in Barcelona. Throughout, Teller plays Le Bastard (a Hofner 137 electric guitar with two bass strings and three guitar strings). Cunningham plays mostly trumpet and delays, but also whips out his old Dan Electro for one of the tracks. Overall, the sonic results are droney, druggy, lightly-noisesome slabs of brilliant buzz. In a general way, Jørgen's amped strings set up a humbucking sound-sheet against which he and Mark can each toss spontaneous squibs of creation and destruction, When Mark is playing trumpet and pedals, the music sometimes manifests a strange sort of charm that almost has the feel of a noise rock approach to the Canterbury Sound. By which, I mean the stuff is rackety, but there are built-in glissandos that make me think of nothing less Camel's brilliant live work on the Greasy Truckers Live at Dingwalls Dancehall. Of course, these moments resolve themselves in weirder ways than any Pete Bardens has ever dreamed up, but it demonstrates the duo's avant-prog game is strong! The doubled guitar track (called 'Next 3' to contrast it with 'Next 1,' 'Next 2,' and 'Next 4') is a superb piece of string work with rockist overtones that put fellow in mind of some of the best moments by classic two-man string units like the Smashchords or early Half Japanese. But with a more overtly hypnagogic overlay that forces your brain's receptors to stretch themselves in new ways. It's all amazing stuff. Sounding so fully evolved you'll be tempted to swear it weren't improvised! But you'd be wrong, friend. Some people just have the gift. To paraphrase that old softy, Lou Reed, their week beats your year. Get up with it!" --Byron Coley, 2025
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SHCD 168CD
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"The band showed up, four folks from three different spots on the globe -- Chicago (Vandermark, Reid); Nickelsdorf, Austria (Gustafsson); Philadelphia (Taylor). They assembled their gear and sound-checked at the studio. There was a four-way freedom at play, structures but liberties and no need for elaborate explanation. Everyone spoke the same shorthand. Cues were understood; timings were implicit and considered; space was made for chances to be taken. In creative music, you sometimes need to rehearse a band incessantly to get to a level of understanding, that 'condition of secrecy' that Inger Christensen speaks of in relation to poetry. Not so with this ensemble. Some scores with directions and motifs that specify the relationships, but also the relationships prefiguring their being directed, relationships between the people themselves, the standing understanding between Mats and Ken, who worked together extensively for the last 30 years including the quartet version of Gustafsson's AALY and of course the Brötzmann Tentet. The relationship between Chad and Tomeka including the cellist's Hear in Now Expanded and in Rob Mazurek's bands; the one between Ken and Tomeka including a quartet with Hamid Drake and Lemuel Marc; one between Chad and Ken in the trio Side A, with pianist Håvard Wiik; one between Mats and Tomeka dating back to a 2017 studio session that might someday see light of day. The relationships and their prepositions. Not only simple prepositions, like 'on' or 'in,' 'above' or 'below.' More subtle ones, like 'across' or 'through.' Relationships of duration and transfiguration. Not just 'since,' but 'until.'" --John Corbett
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2LP
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BEWITH 174LP
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Originally released in 2000, Mark de Clive-Lowe's Six Degrees captures the early essence of what would later be known as broken beat, club-jazz and future soul; bridging the sounds of '70s jazz-fusion, jungle, hip-hop, house and Afro-Cuban rhythms. With Fender Rhodes, synths and an MPC2000 at the core of his production, de Clive-Lowe blended live musicianship with beat-driven sensibilities in a way that was ahead of its time. Originally released in New Zealand via Kog Transmissions, the album found its way onto the global stage when Universal Jazz UK picked it up. Now, 25 years later, Be With presents a special anniversary vinyl reissue, celebrating a landmark album that laid the foundation for an international career spanning continents, collaborations, and countless musical evolutions. Limited to just 400 copies for the world. In 1998, a 23-year-old Mark de Clive-Lowe set off on a year-long journey that would shape his career and musical identity. Fueled by an insatiable curiosity and a grant from New Zealand supporting emerging artists, he traveled across the globe -- digging through record stores in San Francisco, immersing himself in the rhythms of Havana, collaborating in London's underground studios and experiencing the jazz legacy of New York. Along the way, he crossed paths with pioneers, mentors and kindred spirits who would deeply influence his sound. Six Degrees is the sonic diary of that transformative year -- a musical world tour distilled into one groundbreaking album. It's both a snapshot of a pivotal moment in de Clive-Lowe's life and a timeless statement of creative exploration. Speaking to Be With, de Clive Lowe explained just how much celebrating the 25-year anniversary of this album means to him: "Since then, I've released so much more music, but Six Degrees still resonates -- it captures a really special moment in my life. A turning point, a fork in the road that ultimately changed everything." Mastering for this 25-year vinyl edition was overseen by Be With regular Simon Francis and it was cut by the esteemed Cicely Balston at Abbey Road Studios to be pressed in the Netherlands by Record Industry. The original artwork has been lovingly brought back to life by de Clive-Lowe himself, with updated liner notes written specially for this landmark reissue.
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2CD
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SR 563CD
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A unique artistic partnership. This project represents a distinct and carefully considered artistic endeavor. Developed by Mark Springer (Rip, Rig and Panic) and Neil Tennant (The Pet Shop Boys), it combines a suite for piano, quartet, and quintet with vocals, accompanied by lyrics offering thoughtful introspection. The collaboration explores the intersection of divergent creative approaches-one characterized by radical expression, the other by meticulous craftsmanship. The result is a work that invites reflection and demonstrates the potential of disciplined artistic dialogue. Neil Tennant: "I bought a book of Goya's print series Los Caprichos which had inspired Mark's music and saw that the artworks were a satirical, cruel, nightmarish portrayal of the politics, corruption and culture of his era, exploring his dreams -- or nightmares -- while exposing the double standards of the ruling establishment. The lyrics I wrote for Sleep of Reason, in response to Los Caprichos, are intended to be sardonic and dreamlike, looking back to Goya's nightmares but then reflecting on my experiences in 21st Century popular culture and media in which I have located the 'monsters' Goya saw in his dreams. It often feels like we're living in an era dominated by monsters with their grotesque egos hollering through social media, unfiltered and untruthful, leaving a trail of wreckage behind them. Maybe it's always felt like that."
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2LP
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SR 563LP
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Double LP version. A unique artistic partnership. This project represents a distinct and carefully considered artistic endeavor. Developed by Mark Springer (Rip, Rig and Panic) and Neil Tennant (The Pet Shop Boys), it combines a suite for piano, quartet, and quintet with vocals, accompanied by lyrics offering thoughtful introspection. The collaboration explores the intersection of divergent creative approaches-one characterized by radical expression, the other by meticulous craftsmanship. The result is a work that invites reflection and demonstrates the potential of disciplined artistic dialogue. Neil Tennant: "I bought a book of Goya's print series Los Caprichos which had inspired Mark's music and saw that the artworks were a satirical, cruel, nightmarish portrayal of the politics, corruption and culture of his era, exploring his dreams -- or nightmares -- while exposing the double standards of the ruling establishment. The lyrics I wrote for Sleep of Reason, in response to Los Caprichos, are intended to be sardonic and dreamlike, looking back to Goya's nightmares but then reflecting on my experiences in 21st Century popular culture and media in which I have located the 'monsters' Goya saw in his dreams. It often feels like we're living in an era dominated by monsters with their grotesque egos hollering through social media, unfiltered and untruthful, leaving a trail of wreckage behind them. Maybe it's always felt like that."
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Book
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9781878972446
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Paperback. 480 pages. "The legendary French filmmaker's labyrinthine memoir, first published by Exact Change in 2002 as a CD-ROM, now reconfigured into book form after a laborious process initiated by the artist before his death in 2012. Filmmaker, photographer and writer Chris Marker never adhered to the conventions of a particular art form. Each of his films, from La Jetée to Sans Soleil, pushes the boundaries of its medium, merging at times with the essay, political manifesto, personal letter, art installation and even, finally, a computer game. For Immemory, first published in 1998 (French) and 2002 (English), Marker used a CD-ROM to create a multi-layered, mixed-media memoir. The reader investigates 'zones' of travel, war, cinema and poetry, navigating through image and text as if physically exploring Marker's memory itself. The result is a veritable 21st-century Remembrance of Things Past, an exploration of the state of memory in our era. With it, Marker both invented a literary form and perfected it, just before the digital format he chose for the experiment was quickly rendered obsolete. Immemory: Gutenberg Version reinvents this unique work for the printed page, a project the author dreamed up, titled, and began working on with Exact Change before his death. Now finally realized, it brings this seminal work into the present and future through a time-tested, durable format of the past: the book. Chris Marker (1921-2012) served in the French Resistance, and then the US Air Force, during World War II and worked as a journalist while honing his film career. He received international acclaim with La Jetée in 1962, and became a critical voice in film theory and production as well as a widely admired 'cult' artist, a filmmaker's filmmaker."
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9783955752378
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Paperback, 251 pages, illustrated, 13x19.5 cm. Existing for a few short years (1984 - 1988), él records was perhaps the most "cult" of the UK so-called "indie" labels. él records was created in 1984 by Mike Alway. Alway was A&R man for Cherry Red signing artists such as Everything But the Girl, The Monochrome Set, and Felt. Alway left Cherry Red to help run Blanco Y Negro (an offshoot of WEA) but soon felt constrained but the conservativism of the commercial music sector and left to set up his own label. él was once described as "the most innately English record label there has ever been" and yet had a global appeal. Alway's mercurial approach was to take complete control of the repertoire, the philosophy of the label's releases and even the titles of songs in the manner of pop impresarios of the past. He became a curator, selecting, shaping and overseeing the records issued on él. He employed songwriters proficient in classical pop techniques such as Nicholas Currie (AKA Momus) and Philippe Auclair (AKA Louis Philippe) who in addition to issuing their own records wrote, arranged and performed for other él artistes and used creative talents such as photographer Nick Wesolowski and designer Jim Phelan to create the él "look." él had a unique flavor eschewing the traditions of rock and indie music of the mid 1980s, exhibiting instead a taste for 1960s bubbelgum and chamber pop, the European chanson tradition, Latin rhythms and film scores (one of él's key players was child prodigy Simon Turner who wrote music for the films of Derek Jarman). The ethos of the label was decidedly un-macho and many of él's key artists were female. Él's first single "I, Bloodbrother Be" by Shock Headed Peters was an uncompromising gay anthem. Alway saw él as a celebration of elegance and beauty, in his own words, "a pop world beyond leather jackets and jeans". While record sales were disappointing, this unique blend was critically acclaimed in the UK and popular in America and mainland Europe while in Japan él had a profound effect, directly influencing the Shibuya-kei phenomenon that included Pizzicato Five, Cornelius, and Kahimi Karie. Bright Young Things is the first book to tell the fascinating story of él, one of the most influential indie labels of all time.
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LANRH 006LP
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Fully licensed and remastered, limited to 500 copies. Gary Marks' Gathering is exactly what you would call a miracle. Self-produced in 1974 and engineered at Vitra Sonic Recording Studios in New York, the album introduced the crispy talent of the guitarist/pianist and producer. A genuine blend of folksy harmonies and jazzy arrangements, the record could have been possibly the missing link between Tim Buckley Starsailor and some early seventies Impulse! session. Now it's about time to get a hold of this masterpiece. Gathering includes guitar legend John Scofield, the amazing jazz pianist Michael Cochrane, and one the of the top vibraphonists in the world, David Samuels.
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MIA 060LP
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ISKRA is the debut album by Polish multi-instrumentalist and composer Olga Anna Markowska. Starting at "Dawn" and ending at "Dusk," it is a journey of melancholic depth and true beauty filled with warm memories from what was and what could be. Using zither, cello, electronics and occasional wordless voice, Olga weaves together something so affecting and under the skin beautiful that it is hard to shake, bringing to mind classics from artists like Jacaszek and William Basinski, or the films of Kieslowski. However, there's a personal touch in her playing and compositions that stands out. Olga explains: "The cello pieces, in particular, were born from a desire to reconnect with the instrument I've known intimately since childhood. However, I had to step away from it for two years to gain perspective and find a fresh approach when I returned." She continues: "ISKRA is an album about 'ignition' -- a gradual shift in how I think about music and a search for new values. It also marks the closing of a chapter, blending archival recordings with the dawn of new ideas." The album feels deeply personal from the first note, and bridges the difficult point between classical and ambient music in a truly natural way, leaving any typical tropes far off, instead demanding your full attention. Olga uses plenty of loops throughout, which together with the cello and zither builds a transcendent atmosphere. Standouts contain amongst others the stunning "Train Ride Home" -- a seven-minute piece with zither as main focal point; "Fever Dream" -- a plunge into warm static noise and deep plucks, as well as the beautiful "Helix," which sounds like a washed out dream with its minimal tape loops and ambient vocal washes. Overall, the album connects very well with Olga's subjects of identity, memory of the places and human relations with nature. There is a deep humanity burrowed within these 40 minutes of music which feels immensely appropriate in these contemporary times. ISKRA was recorded in different times and places from 2017 to 2022 and lands with perfection on Miasmah -- connecting the dots from the early years while reaching into the stars.
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INT 34372CD
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"When Markus Stockhausen composes, he creates a multi-dimensional cosmos from sounds. He succeeds in doing that even with compositions for small ensembles. However, when he does this for a large orchestra as here, then he has an almost inexhaustible range at his disposal. And he understands how to use it: The two pieces 'YIN' and 'YANG' were composed between March and May 2011 and were first performed in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in the same year. 'The idea was to compose specifically for the Metropole Orkest and its soloists. I tried to make 'YIN' softer and more colorful with warmer qualities of sound. On the other hand, 'YANG' starts powerfully with a sudden heightening; it has a great deal of expressive power with a high energy level and clear rhythmic grooves. The end is then again carried by the four soloists from 'YIN.' With that, the circle is closed and Yin and Yang are reconciled,' Stockhausen wrote about his thoughts concerning the two compositions. A composition follows with 'Tanzendes Licht' that Stockhausen once composed for the Camerata Bern and Swiss Jazz Orchestra and enhanced for the Metropole Orkest. The piece was intended as homage to Paul Klee, and Stockhausen was inspired by the shimmering light at sunset on a large body of water. These reflections are again found in the music and stimulate the tones to dance in an unusual beat (9/8), but which is played around with so easily and loosely that you hardly notice it. The encore piece 'FELICE' was -- as are YIN & YANG -- composed for this concert evening, which was recorded live. Judged by the thunderous applause, he certainly succeeded in that. The radio orchestra, which has existed since 1945, has earned an almost legendary reputation since its founding and is considered the last of its kind in all of Europe. The influence of the conductor Jules Buckley is not to be underestimated either; he carefully led the orchestra into Stockhausen's style."
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NA 5275LP
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"The last great rock LP from Nigeria's post-Civil War underground. Be Nice to the People was recorded in 1977 by Fela producer Odion Iruoje as he chased the runaway success of high school band Ofege. The Western world was in the throes of peace, love and flower power as Nigeria descended into civil war in 1967. The rock scene that developed during the following three years of bloodshed and destruction would come to heal the country, propagate the world-wide ideal of the modern Nigerian, and propel Fela to stardom after the conflict ended in 1970. The members of Question Mark were children when the Nigerian civil war ended and by the time they recorded their only album in 1977 they were college students, chasing rock n' roll dreams as Afro-beat turned to Afro-disco. Theirs is a fiery reminder of a once vibrant scene."
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BT 125LP
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The 2015 edition of Winnipeg's send + receive festival, focussed on rhythm, turned out to be a generative meeting of minds. There, Mark Fell encountered the music of Will Guthrie, a meeting that was eventually to result in the frenetic acoustic drumkit and digital synthesis pairing heard on Infoldings and Diffractions (2020). At the same festival, Limpe Fuchs first heard and appreciated the music of Mark Fell, planting the seed of a collaboration that came to fruition when Fell (along with his son Rian Treanor) visited Fuchs at her home in Peterskirchen, Germany in September 2022. Black Truffle now presents the release of the results of this extensive session in the audacious form of a triple LP, housing over two hours of music across its six sides. The collaboration might appear unlikely: what common ground could exist between Fuchs, classically trained pianist, legend of improvised music, instrument builder and sound sculptor active since the 1960s, whose group Anima Sound connected the dots between free jazz, krautrock and ritual, and Fell, proponent of radical computer music, known for his bracingly austere productions that twist remnants of club music into algorithmic stutters. For all their seeming disparity in technology, approach and background, the music on Dessogia/Queetch/Fauch makes it immediately evident the pair share a great deal in their essentially percussive approach and ability to, in Fuch's phrase, "establish silence." Recording at her home studio, Fuchs had the use of her entire array of instruments, found, invented, and traditional, and treats the listener to some that don't often make their way to concerts, including extensive passages performed (with Gundis Stalleicher) on pieces of wooden parquetry. Fell also stretched himself, with his contributions ranging from characteristically fizzing pitched percussive pops to swarms of sliding tones and abstract digital noise. Showing both remarkable restraint and improvisational freedom, much of the music consists of duets between a single percussion instrument and a distinctive mode of digital sound, often lingering in one timbral-rhythmic space for minutes at a time. Improvisational forward momentum coexists with a free-floating, wandering quality. Epic in scope, immersing the listener in an entirely distinctive world of sounds, and thrillingly bold in its melding of the most ancient musical procedures with cutting edge technologies, Dessogia/Queetch/Fauch is an unexpected major statement from two of the great mavericks of contemporary music.
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LP
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GUESS 254LP
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2025 restock. Recorded when he was just nineteen, Dreaming With Alice by British folk musician/artist Mark Fry was (barely) released only in Italy in 1972, making it one of the rarest and most desirable acid-folk/psychedelic albums ever. Tracks like "The Witch" or "Mandolin Man" are considered nowadays classics of the genre. Original artwork in hard cardboard sleeve. Sourced from the original master tapes. Includes insert with liner notes by Mark Fry and photos. RIYL: Donovan, Nick Drake, Incredible String Band, Dr. Strangely Strange, Comus.
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FAITICHE 037LP
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Mark Templeton is a Canadian media artist and the founder of Graphical, an audiovisual label dedicated to publishing his own musical and image-based experiments. Mark's audio compositions are constructed from reel-to-reel tape loops and sampled cassettes that are contrasted with contemporary sound techniques. In his published photobooks, he incorporates his own 35mm pictures and found images, focusing on intangible fantasies and realities. During his audiovisual performances, he utilizes digital instruments while projecting his own photographs, VHS footage, Super 8 film, and other sampled video. Mark Templeton's reinterpretation of outdated media as musical instruments makes him a compelling artist for the Faitiche label roster. For his debut on Faitiche, he browsed his old hard drives and invited Andrew Pekler to listen through and co-produce a selection of Mark's unreleased works. The compositions act as a series of snapshots: a look back at a decade of archived sounds, re-envisioned and re-imaged for Faitiche. The album contains nine tracks that follow an AB song structure. Each piece begins with verse A, transitions into verse B, and then ends. This simple formula creates a dichotomy that is also present in Mark's diptych photographs, featured in the artwork. Throughout the album, both juxtaposition and inherent connections are simultaneously at play. One way or another, Two Verses provides a beginner's guide to Mark Templeton's highly idiosyncratic catalog.
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CD
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CVSD 109CD
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Joe McPhee is one of the great multi-instrumentalists of contemporary improvised music. His instrumental battery has included saxophones, clarinets, valve trombone, pocket trumpet, sound-on-sound tape recorder, and space organ, but another arrow in his quiver is text. McPhee has been writing poems since the 1970s. He occasionally introduces one into performance, as an introduction or afterword to music, and in recent years he's been known to do full-on readings, text only, featuring his inimitable sense of dramatic timing intoned in his rich voice. The poems range from the observational to the political to the surreal. They're composed in rhyme or according to an internal rhythm, sometimes utterly prosaic, sometimes fantastic and flamboyant. A few of them capture the immediacy of improvised music more acutely than any critical writing on the subject, his half-century immersion in the craft of free music having given him a bottomless cup to draw on and his sensitivity to the nuances of language providing a host of palpable metaphors and metonyms, similes and strophes. The poems are marvels on the page, but they really take flight in McPhee's mouth. In 2021, during a flurry of pandemic-inspired poetic activity, he traveled to Chicago expressly to record a program of his poems. For the studio date, he invited saxophonist and clarinetist Ken Vandermark to play duets as interludes between groupings of the poems. Then Vandermark, engineer Alex Inglizian, and the CvsD team sat breathless in the Experimental Sound Studio control room as McPhee proceeded to perform his poetry nonstop and without repetition for nearly two hours. The result is Musings of a Bahamian Son, the first full-length release dedicated to McPhee's writing, with 27 poems interspersed with nine musical interludes and a postlude.
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EDDA 064LP
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"I like to work with a variety of instruments and set ups," says Mark Van Hoen, sometimes known as Locust or Autocreation but here working under his own name on the excellent Plan For A Miracle, his first physical release of solo music since 2018's Invisible Threads (TO 104CD). "Sometimes it's literally in my studio, with all the hardware electronics available. Sometimes the laptop, using software instruments. Some of the tracks on this record were recorded in the desert (Joshua Tree) using a four-track tape machine and small modular synthesizer set up. Each track was recorded in different location using different instruments, which accounts for the distinction between each piece. It's also about my own reaction to my environment, and what's going on in my life at the time." Mark Van Hoen has worked on a number of collaborations, including with Nick Holton and Neil Halstead of Slowdive, under the moniker of Black Hearted Brother -- their Stars Are Our Home was released in 2013. Each track on Plan For A Miracle does indeed sound like a world unto itself, a mini-environment, a weather condition, an ecosystem created for the moment. It's a collection of tracks recorded over the past few years, released on Bandcamp -- despite his apparent absence, Van Hoen works constantly. Although the album is non-thematic, non-specific in its atmospheres, sound paintings, elegant structures it most certainly stands as a magnificent monument to Osho's memory. Album mastered for vinyl by Stefan Betke at Scape. Artwork by Ian Anderson (Designers Republic).
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SNS 025CD
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Audio Archaeology Series Volume 3: Brest. Sheet Erosion is the third episode in a series of works based around ideas of audio archaeology and found sounds. The setting this time is the city of Brest in France. It is composed of field recordings made in early 2020 during the storms Ciara and Desmond plus a batch of found open-reel tape recordings dating from the '70s and '80s. The tapes include domestic home recordings but mostly document recordist Michel's tastes in music and radio programs of the time. Daily life bleeds into these lo-fi recordings of radio and TV shows. Captured with a mic in front of a speaker rather than directly cabled, ambiguous activities can be heard in the background; babies crying, feedback, chairs scraping and muffled conversations. In the composition, family histories and musical tastes are transposed over a more contemporary soundscape of Brest. Over-saturated tape distorts time as well as sounds. Speeds change. Chronologies become confused. Different instances in time are blended and fused. What seeps through these chronological crevices are events and incidents unmoored from linear time taking place in a chimerical non-space.
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SCIE 3123CD
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Reissue of Home Comfort by Mark Glynne and Bart Zwier, originally self-released in 1980. With this album, Glynne and Zwier, based in the Netherlands and connected to the Ultra scene, drew an insular blend of intimate post-punk and chamber (bedroom) songs with surreal scenic reflections. Probably its naked singularity defying categorization has left it so unnoticed, even 43 years after the making. It also features a reciting Marlène Dumas still quite unknown at the time. With biggest gratitude to Mark Glynne who instantly felt confident with my proposal to reissue this silent witness of lasting beauty.
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