Tuesday, May 31, 2011

[Cotton Goods 001 ep] Pawn - A Hum Of The Library CDr 2010

Pawn - A Hum Of The Library
Label: Cotton Goods
Catalog#: 001 ep
Format: CDr, EP, Limited Edition
Country: UK
Released: Apr 2010
Genre: Electronic
Style: Ambient
Notes: First release in Cotton Goods 'Lending Library' series. Packaged in hand-made and stamped card envelope with inner wallet. The outer envelope is sealed with gumstrip. On purchase sealed outer envelopes were stickered with recipient's address and mailed out like that.
Edition of 100

Tracklist:
1 Entrance - Stairs
2 The Book That Is Never Read
3 The Creak Of The Chair
4 Quiet Room
5 Ventilation Fans

*STRICTLY LIMITED TO 100 INDIVIDUALLY NUMBERED COPIES FOR THE WORLD* And so a brand new Cotton Goods outing comes our way, and this time its an EP length set from Tokyo-based artist Hideki Umezawa under his Pawn guise.  Previously Umezawa has released music under the Dynamophone and Symbolic Interaction labels and this new release makes for a great match.  Pawn's music is incredibly tender and melodic, grounding itself in the faintest residue of acoustic instruments on opener 'Entrance - Stairs'.  Umezawa processes a gently tuneful ambience from piano and room sounds, fashioning an outstandingly immersive and roomy production in so doing.  Second track, 'The Book That Is Never Read' strips away much of the electronic presence, allowing distant piano keys to get tangled up in Danny Norbury's cello.  Norbury's guest spot on this track proves to be a real highlight, lending a beautifully lugubrious lead melody.  After the rainy location recordings of 'The Creak Of The Chair', Umezawa revisits the spatial noises and processed piano submersion of his opening track via 'Quiet Room', leading up to the nine-minute finale that makes up nearly half of the disc's duration.  'Ventilation Fans' grounds itself in the sonorities of the air conditioning system referenced by the title but manages to transform itself from a potentially hum-drum field recording exercise into an overtly harmonious drone piece that duets with faint piano reverberations and the ear-pleasing babble of digital ephemera.  As ever with Cotton Goods releases, this won't last long..

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[Cotton Goods 003 EP] Scissors And Sellotape – Scissors And Sellotape EP CDr 2009

Scissors And Sellotape – Scissors And Sellotape EP
Label: Cotton Goods
Catalog#: 003 EP
Format: CDr, Mini, EP, Limited Edition
Country: UK
Released: Dec 2009
Genre: Electronic
Style: Glitch, Experimental, Ambient

Limited to 100 copies.
Handmade packaging with hardback book covers inside a card envelope pressed with the Cotton Goods logo.
Each case is unique and individually numbered.

Tracklist
1 Untitled 1:49
2 Untitled 3:10
3 Untitled 1:40
4 Untitled 2:55
5 Untitled 2:11
6 Untitled 3:58
7 Untitled 2:03
8 Untitled 2:31

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*LIMITED TO 100 INDIVIDUALLY NUMBERED AND HAND-PACKAGED COPIES FOR THE WORLD* The latest Cotton Goods release arrives in typically mysterious and anonymous looking fashion, revealing only a catalogue number and the words "Scissors And Sellotape", which sounds suitably like a summary of how the release was put together - both in terms of its packaging and the music itself, which is typically delicate and homespun; a bit like a school arts and crafts project. Actually, Scissors And Sellotape is the artist name, and it's the latest alias of John McCaffrey, aka Part Timer, whose work has previously appeared on Moteer, Mobeer, Flau and various self-releases. Here the beautiful music draws on sounds from gamelan-style metallophone percussion, location recordings, tape noise and haunting instrumental fragments, all cut into shape and stuck back together in new song-shaped forms. Divided into eight 'Chapters' over twenty minutes, these collages are cradled in hiss and glitch-like pops and crackles where the cuts are made. The unbuffed edges only enhance the earthy texture, and this approach reaches the height of its powers and effectiveness by 'Chapter 4', whose downtrodden piano and clicking, pattering beats make for a sublime combination, very much in the vein of the Remote Viewer's most enduring works. The emphasis on drum patterns and melodic progression becomes all the stronger during the wonderful 'Chapter 6' and 'Chapter 7', but the slightly more abstract, textural tracks that surround them really underline the sense of sonic dislocation and archive-trawling from which these compositions originated. Lovely and enigmatic as ever, this latest bespoke Cotton Goods release comes in the usual print run of 100 copies, so no snoozing...

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Monday, May 30, 2011

[Cotton Goods 002 lp] Sub Loam - Earthern Circle (Album) CDr 2010

Sub Loam - Earthern Circle
Label: Cotton Goods
Catalog#: 002 lp
Format: CDr, Album, Limited Edition
Country: UK
Released: 02 Sep 2010
Genre: Electronic
Style: Experimental, Ambient

Notes: Fourth release in Cotton Goods 'Lending Library' series.

Packaged in hand-made and stamped green card envelope with inner wallet. The outer envelope is sealed with gumstrip. On purchase sealed outer envelopes were stickered with recipient's address and mailed out like that.

Outer envelope contains inner printed wallet with title, catalogue info and picture. Inner wallet contains folded green card with 'lending library' library card, cd and two folded paper inserts with maps and track titles.

Tracklist
1 Lady's Bedstraw - Thistles Rising On Close-Cropped Ground - Rank Undergrowth - In A Summer Landscape
2 The Heat Of The Day Escaping Out Towards The Late Evening Sky, A High Blue Haze Over The Drifting Hills, The Soil Of A Path Underfoot, Cracked A Little, Brushed By Dry Grasses, Walking Back Across Moors In The Ancient Light

It's always worth mentioning the packaging of these editions, and Earthern Circle is no exception. Housed within the by-now customary arrangement of multi-layered envelopes, this album also arrives with a little more textual information than tends to be the case for Cotton Goods releases. In addition to some fairly abstract liner notes you'll find two maps printed up on luxurious paper stock - one for each track. This goes someway towards setting up a relationship between the music and notions of a rural landscape, and its history. The aged, implicitly otherworldly feel of the project and its presentation conspires to transmit a bit of a Children Of The Stones vibe, which is most certainly a welcome thing. The first of the disc's two lengthy pieces corresponds to the 'Northern Sheet', taking the form of a curious, very vintage sounding multi-instrumental excavation that features wiry, discordant guitar musings, untamed analogue oscillations and a scratchy old production style that perfectly distills the evocative mustiness at the heart of Sub Loam's sound. Clocking in at just under half-an-hour, 'Northern Sheet' begins with some detuned, Derek Bailey inspired six-string digressions, with occasional bouts of padded synthesizer chords joining in. As the piece develops the electronics come closer to the forefront of the mix, with slowly modulating oscillator arcs sounding almost as if they were a natural phenomenon - perhaps mimicking bird calls or whistling winds. Moving on to the 'Southern Sheet', there seems to be more of a dissolved feel presiding over the composition, as if the guitar and synthesizer passages have been corroded away by interference and tangled radio waves. Perhaps a little more ambient and textural in character, this second piece (itself a healthy quarter-hour in length) further emphasises Earthern Circle's undercurrent of rural mysticism, leaving you with an album at least partly characterised by a strange, haunted sensation.

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[Cotton Goods 001] E And I - An Inch Of Air (Album) CD Limited Edition 2010

E And I - An Inch Of Air
Label: Cotton Goods
Catalog#: LP001
Format: CDr, Album, Limited Edition
Box Set
Country: UK
Released: Sep 2010
Genre: Electronic
Style: Experimental, Ambient


Credits: Mastered By [Uncredited] - Miles*
Written-By - Humble Bee, The , Whisperer
Notes: First release in the Cotton Goods 'Reference Library' series.
Limited edition of 100 copies.
Each cd is housed inside a paper info pouch which is stuck to a modified hardback book cover. This then sits inside a handmade box, lined with rough grained tissue paper and a pull cord made from tape reel.
E thanks: a(v), a(l), d, tz, e(l), a(m).
I thanks: The a's and of course e.
©&℗ Cotton Goods 2010.


Tracklist:
1 Tiniest Smile 1:50
2 The Incredible Softness 6:13
3 An Inch Of Air 6:59
4 Fingers Of April 1:06
5 Known Things 2:46
6 Timeless And Time 5:05
7 Balloonman 6:11
8 November Sunset 3:39
9 A Perhaps Song 4:38
10 A Stranded Star 8:20
11 Flight In The Blue 7:35
12 In The Last Light 4:04

*Strictly limited to 100 individually packaged copies for the world, each cd comes inside a customised outer box and includes a modified hardback book cover holding each disc* Reference Library is a new series of releases from Cotton Goods, taking the bespoke packaging to even further heights of loveliness. We should really stress how gorgeous these look - the CD is attached to a hardback cover inside handmade boxes lined with rough grained tissue paper and attached info sleeve - a bespoke, genuine labour of love worthy of the delicate sounds within. 'An Inch Of Air' is a collaboration between The Humble Bee aka Craig Tattersall ov The Boats and The Remote Viewer, and Whisperer aka Emmanuel Witzhum, a respected Viola player and member of the Parisian Ensemble Intercontemporain. Together they've crafted a suite of gorgeous burred neo-classical strings and submerged electronics with the most endearingly shy and introverted manners. In just under an hour they conjure 12 tracks of intimately blissed, yet lonely and bleak moods, perpetually shifting focus under changing atmospheric weather systems to feel at the mercy of some unknown, overarching presence. From the Paavoharju-like small-sound blur of 'Tiniest Smile' to the ferric eroded drone topography of 'The Incredible Softness', into the anachronistic meld of folk strings and majestic miniature electronic symphony of 'Timelessness And Time', and the pastoral cadence of 'A Stranded Star', we're left heart in mouth and completely at their will. Beautiful material - no snoozing with this one.


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[Cotton Goods 01 lp] Hybernation - E2 & E8 CDr (Album) 2010

Hybernation - E2 & E8
Label: Cotton Goods
Catalog#: 001 lp
Format: CDr, Album, Limited Edition
Country: UK
Released: 23 Jul 2010
Genre: Electronic, Non-Music
Style: Field Recording, Ambient

Credits: Photography - Stuart Bowditch and Damien Robinson
Written By, Recorded By - Stuart Bowditch

Notes: Third release in Cotton Goods 'Lending Library' series. Packaged in hand-made and stamped card envelope with inner wallet. The outer envelope is sealed with gumstrip. On purchase sealed outer envelopes were stickered with recipient's address and mailed out like that.

front flap of inner wallet contains'lending library' library card with limitation info.

Fold-out printed map insert pasted into inner wallet. Map insert also contains track details and credits. For each track there is a corresponding location on the map where sounds were sourced from, given by a grid-reference, along with a photo of each location.

''All songs written and recorded by
Stuart Bowditch
Cars borrowed from Indigo Luksch
Photography by Stuart Bowditch
and Damien Robinson''
Edition of 100

Tracklist:
E2
1 Lock 7
2 Columbia Road
3 Haggerston Park
4 E2
E8
5 Cars On The 7th Floor
6 Washing Machine Vs Dishwasher
7 A London Field
8 A Forgotten Patch

The first full-length on Cotton Goods' Lending Library offshoot, this album arrives in the label's customarily handmade packaging, housing eight compositions by Stuart Bowditch, aka Hybernation.  This British composer/producer draws much of his work from the continual flow of sounds surrounding everyday life, and E2 and E8 finds him interacting with sound recordings of unfolding auditory happenings - weaving his own musical narrative into the fabric of these events/environments.  Sounding like a duet with a slightly rainy, blustery day, opener 'Lock 7' seems to fade in with footsteps sploshing around in shallow puddles while quietly pensive synth melodies begin establish themselves in the foreground.  It's often hard to pin down exactly what you're listening to, but you might make out more tramping around during 'Cars On The 7th Floor', as Bowditch apparently documents the sound made by roaming about in squelchy rubber boots before outlaying a more tuneful setting with high register keyboard motifs.  Occasionally Bowditch sheds the location recordings in favour of more purely musical compositions, leading to the predominantly synth-based motions of 'Columbia Road' and the ambient electric piano routines of 'E2'.  Although there's the odd moment of gently bucolic soundscaping (as best put to use on the pastoral, open air loveliness of 'Haggerston Park'), Bowditch also manages to coax the rough beauty out of household appliances during 'Washing Machine Vs. Dishwasher', which offsets the surprisingly rowdy, motorised venom of the titular devices with some ear-pleasing drones.  Once again, Cotton Goods showcases the wares of a new artist that somehow slots perfectly into the label's uniquely approachable brand of experimental music. Limited to just 100 copies - don't miss out.

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Tuesday, May 17, 2011

[Cotton Goods 002 LP] Tape Loop Orchestra - 1953 Culture Festival (Album) CD 2009

Tape Loop Orchestra - 1953 Culture Festival
Label: Cotton Goods
Catalog#: 002 LP
Format: CDr, Album, Limited Edition
Country: UK
Released: 16 Jul 2009
Genre: Electronic
Style: Experimental, Ambient


Credits: Producer [Uncredited] - Andrew Hargreaves
Notes: Each CD packaged in handmade case made of hardback book covers inside a card wallet pressed with the Cotton Goods logo.
Each case unique and individually numbered. Limited to 100 copies.


Tracklist
1 Reel One 0:15
2 Yasujiro Ozu 4:31
3 Late Spring 4:31
4 Early Summer 2:36
5 Tokyo Twilight 3:09
6 Reel One End 3:13
7 Reel Change 0:32
8 Reel Two 0:26
9 Setsu Ko Hara 2:55
10 The End Of Summer 2:38
11 Late Autumn 4:34
12 Tokyo Stars 3:47
13 Reel Two End 3:38
14 Tails Out 0:33

LIMITED TO 100 INDIVIDUALLY NUMBERED AND HAND-PACKAGED COPIES FOR THE WORLD...! On my desk there sits a pile of records waiting to be written about for these pages. Today, amongst the vinyl, CD jewel cases and digipaks is a rather fetching old book whose innards have been scooped out only to be replaced by a compact disc and a Cotton Goods hand-numbered, embossed identification card. You can't help but wonder where all these reclaimed books are coming from, though we should probably give Craig Tattersall and co. the benefit of the doubt that the public libraries of Lancashire have not been ransacked in the production of this lovely object. As is the case with all the Cotton Goods editions there's a real resonance between the homely mysteriousness of the music itself and its presentation. That's especially true here: the warming hiss sculptures and faded melodies are as inviting and elusive as the pageless books that house them. This is also just about the only release in living memory that might be said to smell the way it sounds - explicitly redolent of an amiable fustiness. This album comes from Andrew Hargreaves of The Boats, here recording as the Tape Loop Orchestra, fashioning music from muffled analog tones, scratchy, semi-pulverised recordings and above all the rich, static crackle of tape noise. You can hear traces of both electronic and 'real' instruments running through these compositions, yet it's the residue left by the magnetic reels that capture those sounds that provides the main focus of the music, presenting harmonious passages in a jerky, crumbling state that becomes the most seductive and tactile element of the album. The saturated, scratchy hues of 'Early Summer' sound like the sort of musical antiquities Boards Of Canada, and more recently Bibio have channelled, while the haunting likes of 'Yasujiro Ozu' and 'Late Autumn' could pass as lost, analogue Vladislav Delay recordings, taking on a shadowy dub-style quality that fits so beautifully with the loop-based structure of the album. 1953 Culture Festival is a must-have for followers of Cotton Goods, The Boats and analog electronic ambience more generally, but as ever, there are only 100 copies in existence, so you best be quick.

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Monday, May 16, 2011

(MP 303) Kabutogani - Bektop CD (Album) 2010

Kabutogani - Bektop
Label: Mille Plateaux
Catalog#: MP 303
Format: CD, Album, Digisleeve
Country: Germany
Released: 07 May 2010
Genre: Electronic
Style: Glitch, Abstract, Minimal, Experimental, Ambient

Tracklist:
1 Protocole 1 1:52
2 Cxema 3:49
3 120 Degrees 3:09
4 Clave 3:56
5 Seisen 3:40
6 The Green Dome 1:59
7 Sigint 3:51
8 Book Gills 1:53
9 Ducts 3:57
10 Airlock 1:31
11 Production Peripherals 3:51
12 Kuril Probe

The 4th album by french producer KABUTOGANI is his most conceptual to date. Made entirely of mostly rhythmic glitch sounds (aka Clicks & Cuts), the album still has traces of melodies or tones - unlike many other minimal glitch productions. The cold, dry and noisy sound transports an almost morbid atmosphere. Experimental electronic music seldomly was so full of feelings - rather inconvenient ones, but feelings. This is what makes this album special.

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Sunday, May 15, 2011

[YoungAm 002] Suum Cuique – Midden LP (Album) 2010

Suum Cuique – Midden
Label: Young Americans
Catalog#: YoungAm002
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition
Country: UK
Released: Aug 2010
Genre: Electronic
Style: Drone, Minimal, Ambient
Limited to 400 copies

Tracklist:
A1 Lithic Reduction 4:19
A2 Red Binary 4:34
A3 Entropy 8:16
B1 Cyclic Redundancy 5:41
B2 Frontogenesis 7:50
B3 Even In Death 8:06
.
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*Immense, dark and unbelievably heavy analogue productions somewhere between Eleh, Pan Sonic and Eliane Radigue on this limited edition vinyl pressing. It doesn't really matter when this music was made or by whom, all you need to know is that only 400 copies have been made for the world, housed in a suitably anonymous white-on-white embossed sleeve* Suum Cuique (pronouned Soom Kwi-Kwe, Latin for "To Each His Own") follows the remit of Young Americans to explore uncharted, experimental, and personal synthscapes, guided by the hand of intuition with an entirely analogue array of machines. There's a confidence and ability to these productions which elevates them above the masses of lo-fi synth meanderings currently murmuring in the underground, occupying the tantalising space between Eliane Radigue and James Ferraro, or Thomas Köner and Daphne Oram, creating a dialogue between their shared and opposing aesthetics to give an emotional response with deeply chilling and engrossing results. In 'Lithic Reduction' concrète textures grind like a millstone to release powdery clouds of analog dust, settling only to be dispersed by gusts of blackened distortion, whereas 'Red Binary' is distinctly electronic, revolving around muted radar bleeps like the resonance from SAW II soundtracking a speckly pill experience that's starting to go west. The album's centrepiece, the aptly titled 'Entropy' nods to the sublimely stoic work of Eleh, radiating microtonal bass shifts while a bitter northerly wind builds in intensity. Brilliantly out of place, 'Cyclic Redundancy' opens the flipside with a majestically submerged slab of completely obliterated and submerged 4/4, like an unholy collusion between Mika Vainio, Sandwell and Bernard Parmegiani soundtracking a trade union rave in the 1950's, before 'Even In Death...' conjures imagery of a eulogy given by a Mongolian throat singer with crows circling overhead. Strictly limited copies, catch it while you can.

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Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Electric Deluxe Podcast 043 ADMX-71 (Adam X)

Electric Deluxe Podcast 043 ADMX-71 (Adam X)

Tracklist:
1.Biosphere & Pete Namelook-X2 Gebirge
2.Dicabor-I
3.Locust-Xenophobe
4.Klinik & Vidna Obmana-Track 7
5.Delirium-Morpheus
6.ADMX-71-In Decay We Lurk
7.David Morley-Ghosts
8.Cylob-Foid
9.Pain Station-Sinking
10.Thomas Heckmann-Astral Chains
11.X-10-Radiation
12.Peter Benisch-Part 6
13.Ø-S Bahn
14.Reload-1624 Try 621
15.Klinik-Lies
16.Anthony Rother-Elixor Of Life Pt9
17.Click Click-Skripglow
18.Clock DVA-Hacked
19.Luke Slaters 7th Plain-Reality Of Space
20.Legowelt-Airplanes In The Rain
21.Ringtailed Snorter-Deprivation
22.Beaumont Hannant-Sym-Phon 5
23.Monolake-Bicom
24.Skinny Puppy-Jackhammer
25.Arpanet-Probability Density
26.Biosphere-Chuckhung

Electric Deluxe Podcast 043 ADMX-71 (Adam X) by electric deluxe

[PAN 16] Valerio Tricoli / Thomas Ankersmit – Forma II CD (Album) 2011

Valerio Tricoli / Thomas Ankersmit – Forma II
Label: Pan
Catalog#: PAN 16
Format: CD, Album, Limited Edition
Country: Germany
Released: 01 Mar 2011
Genre: Electronic
Style: Abstract, Drone, Experimental, Minimal, Musique Concrète

Artwork By – Bill Kouligas, Kathryn Politis
Mastered By – Rashad Becker
Mixed By – Valerio Tricoli
Instruments: Serge Analogue Modular Synthesizer, Alto Saxophone, Guitar Pickups, Holosonic Speakers, Revox Tape Recorder, Walkman, Computer.
Composed and recorded 2008-2010.
Limited edition of 1000 copies.
Packaged in a pro-press digisleeve jacket which itself is housed in a one-tone silk screened pvc sleeve with interweaving geometric designs.

Tracklist:
1 Zwerm Voor Tithonus 11:00
2 Brent Mini 6:06
3 Hunt 9:12
4 Plague #7 13:19
5 Takht-e Tâvus 15:33

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*First CD release on the incredible PAN label, limited to 1000 copies, housed in pro-press digisleeve jacket and containing another dose of flawlessly curated, picked and realised music from the extremes of the electronic spectrum - do not miss* Pan Records' first CD release is also the first collaborative output by respected electroacoustic sound artists Thomas Ankersmit and Valerio Tricoli. Their five tracks on 'Forma II' were composed and recorded in Berlin from 2008 to 2010, and include four shorter electroacoustic pieces based on experiments with a Serge Modular Analogue synthesizer and one long-form tract of overdubbed saxophone exploring the timbral extremes of Ankersmit's instrument. The four hyper-sensitively detailed electroacoustic pieces range from 6 to 13 minutes in length and move between ultra-vivid blizzards of textural detail to plangent drone and vast atmospheric diffusions. Through deft computer and tape processing coupled with almost tangibly "real" sound sources such as metal foil floating on ultrasonic soundbeams or the man made resonance of the radar domes at Teufelsberg outside Berlin, the pair create a kinetic space which challenges our perception of simulated, or virtual shapes and spatial settings, and non-virtual, acoustic tangibility. In particular, the thirteen minute 'Plague #7' is an immersive passage of deep, thrumming bass tones and glassy hi-frequencies with the potently surreal effect, while the longer finale, 'Takht-e Tâvus' builds a swarm-like cluster of sumptuously discordant saxophone tones amassing a slow, gripping intensity and uncannily natural detailing. The CD is really brought to life by Rashad Becker's mastering at Clunk, and comes housed in one-tone silk screened pvc sleeve with interweaving geomteric designs, with artwork by Kathryn Politis and Bill Kouligas. Another exceptional transmission from PAN, a label that's fast attained buy-on-sight status.


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[R-N 132] Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto – Summvs CD (Album) 2011

Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto – Summvs
Label: Raster-Noton
Catalog#: R-N 132
Format: CD, Album, Digipak
Country: Germany
Released: 09 May 2011
Genre: Classical, Electronic
Style: Glitch, Modern Classical, Minimal

Grand Piano – Ryuichi Sakamoto
Music By – Alva Noto, Ryuichi Sakamoto

The title "Summvs" refers to the latin word "summa" (eng. sum) and "versus" (eng. towards) serving as a metaphor for the work being oriented towards a collaborative whole.
The tracks "Microon I-III" contain recordings of one of the 15 pianos using a 16th tone interval tuning built by Sauter, Spaichingen/Donaueschingen, Germany. The original "piano metamorfoseador en dieciseisavos de tono" was designed by Julián Carrillo Trujillo.

Tracklist:
1 Microon I 3:00
2 Reverso 6:57
3 Halo 7:10
4 Microon II 2:38
5 Pionier IOO 5:46
6 Ionoscan 4:08
7 By This River 4:08
Written-By – Brian Eno, Moebius*, Roedelius*
8 Naono 11:20
9 Microon III 3:00
10 By This River - Phantom 8:03
Written-By – Brian Eno, Moebius*, Roedelius*

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on may 09th, 2011, raster-noton. archiv für ton und nichtton releases alva noto and ryuichi sakamoto’s album summvs, the latest result of the unusual creative partnership between the oscar-prize honored film composer ryuichi sakamoto and the fine artist and electronic music pioneer carsten nicolai.

the name of the artists’ fifth collaborative release summvs refers to the latin word ‘summa’ (engl.: sum) and ‘versus’ (engl.: towards) serving as a metaphor for the work being oriented towards a collarorative whole. summvs is the last of a series of five releases that started with vrioon in 2002 and continued with insen (2005), revep (2005) and utp_ (2007).

passages of sparse yet emotionally charged and passionate piano solos are embedded in sine waves or reworked to establish new aesthetics of piano sound. sparse percussions and throbbing bass pulses hover above and below – the music being contemplative and minimal at the same time.

the tracks microon I-III contain recordings of one of the 15 pianos using a 16th tone interval tuning built by sauter, spaichingen/donaueschingen, germany. the original ‘piano metamorfoseador en dieciseisavos de tono’ was designed by julián carrillo trujillo. thanks to the music department of berne university of the arts for making this instrument available.

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Tuesday, May 10, 2011

[12k1 065] Fourcolor – As Pleat CD (Album) 2011

Fourcolor – As Pleat
Label: 12k
Catalog: 12k1065
Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: 29 Apr 2011
Genre: Electronic
Style: Abstract, Experimental, Ambient

Artwork By [Cover Painting] – Moskitoo
Composed By – Keiichi Sugimoto
Design [Uncredited] – Taylor Deupree
Mastered By – Taylor Deupree
Mixed By – Keiichi Sugimoto
Photography – Keiichi Sugimoto
Limited edition of 1000.

Tracklist:
1 Quiet Gray 1 5:14
Voice [Featuring] – Moskitoo
2 Skating Azure 3:24
3 Bleach Black 3:57
4 Frosted Mint 2:17
5 Carmine Fall 8:52
6 Ecru Diver 6:16
7 Snow Petal 8:18
8 Iris (Familiar) 4:56
Voice [Featuring] – Moskitoo
9 Canary Breath 3:11
10 Quiet Gray 2 4:17

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The solo project of Keiichi Sugimoto of Minamo, Fourcolor is his chance to explore a more minimal, pensive sound. ‘As Pleat’ is Sugimoto’s third album, and follows its well-received predecessors with a bubbling stream of choppy DSP and haunting, nostalgic instrumental samples. As with many recent 12K releases, the guitar is at the center of the album, but Sugimoto expertly manipulates these peculiar strings almost beyond recognition, making them chime, drone, buzz and sing. Rhythms fizz and erupt from a soupy slop of ambience, occasionally bringing to mind Alva Noto if he’d thought about collaborating with Robin Guthrie instead of with Ryuichi Sakamoto. The very essence of dream pop is at the center of ‘As Pleat’ and feels like its guiding force; from the bliss-inducing harmonies down to the prickly percussion it feels like Sugimoto has a mind set on giving his music that downy warmth that only dream pop can. While this tendency is far more hidden than would usually be the case from others working in the genre, underneath the Max/MSP hiccups and layers of effects is the same rich compositional element and the same glow we know and love. I think when it comes down to it that is exactly why people keep coming back to Fourcolor, and when he introduces Moskitoo’s silken vocals it seems like all could be right with the world. Gorgeous stuff.

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[TYPE 088V] Ezekiel Honig – Folding In On Itself LP (Album) 2011

Ezekiel Honig – Folding In On Itself
Label: Type
Catalog#: TYPE088V
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Blue
Country: UK
Released: 2011
Genre: Electronic
Style: Minimal, Ambient


Artwork By – Ezekiel Honig
Guitar – Mark Templeton (tracks: 6), Nicola Ratti (tracks: 7,8,10)
Mastered By – Loop-o
Written-By, Producer – Ezekiel Honig
Edition of 100 copies on blue vinyl. All subsequent copies were pressed on black vinyl.
℗ & © Type Recordings LLC 2011


Tracklist:
A1 Material Wrinkle
A2 Subverting The Memory Of Your Surroundings
A3 Between Bridges
A4 Drafting Foresight
A5 Folding Us In On Itselft
B1 High & Low
B2 A Closed Loop That Opens Everywhere
B3 Ancestry Revisiting Each Other
B4 Tradition Is The Illusion Of Permanence
B5 Distant Breakfast Highway

Buy from boomkat 
*Strictly limited pressing, initial copies on clear blue vinyl* Manhattan's Ezekiel Honig makes a welcome appearance on Type with the beautifully melancholy 'Folding In On Itself'. The frayed, spectral layers of ambient sound and dusty pulses within recall the works of jan Jelinek, The Remote Viewer or even elements of the first MvO Trio LP, but his serene, almost sorrowful palette of tones comes from somewhere more private and personal. While those artists are all defined by a sense of intimacy in wide open space, Ezekiel's location in one of the most densely populated areas on the planet perhaps gives it a more introverted insularity, as though he's cosily enveloped by his memories while the world scurries about on the outside. Those memories and their corruption or decay are at the core of this record, like the overlaid family photos on the sleeve, capturing a sense of entropy in his quickly disintegrating city. Locally made field recordings are placed as rhythmic and textural clues to the shape of his environment, and when they happen to fall in sync with his instrumentation the effect is lush, creating and effortless illusion of everyday aleatory syncopation. This beautifully measured sense of drifting, stigmergic arrangement with programmed elements makes for a captivating narrative as varied as a walk through the city itself, but subtly enhanced like some sort of moody augmented reality app or wandering blindfolded through some vivid sound art installation. If anything, it's as softly spoken and moving as anything Type have put out to date, so handle with care.


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[Sagittarius A-Star 06] Conrad Schnitzler – Slow Motion LP 2010

Conrad Schnitzler – Slow Motion
Label: Sagittarius A-Star
Catalog#: Sagittarius A-Star 06
Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Limited Edition
Country: Italy
Released: 2010
Genre: Classical, Electronic
Style: Abstract, Minimal, Experimental

Limited edition of 26 copies, 3-sided LP, black vinyls (heavy wax, around 160/170gr).
Different Cover Photo than the 200 Copy Edition.
Unreleased soundtrack to an underground movie made in 1972. Classic Schnitzler (recorded same year as the electronic masterpiece "Rot").

Tracklist:
A Untitled
B Untitled
C Untitled

Buy from soundohm discogs
http://www.sensationalxhols.org/sagittarius_a/page_one.htm
"deeper into... Schnitzler's discography (the missing link, finally !): the unreleased soundtrack to an underground movie made in 1972. classic Schnitzler (rec. same year as the electronic masterpiece Rot) and for sure among the most fascinating music ever received from Con... so long ! ah, and don't worry if you'll have the illusion of being an illusion ,while listening... it's just a maya." ep


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Sunday, May 8, 2011

Prologue Special - Notfromearth - message##1

Prologue Special - Notfromearth - message##1: From the dark beaches of Uranus to Prologue

We are very happy to share the first live session from notfromearth.
Prologue Special - Notfromearth - message##1: From the dark beaches of Uranus to Prologue

Track-List
[1] Live Ideas 1 - Notfromearth - Prologue
[2] Galaktian - Persor - Sutemos
[3] Digitalis - Monolake - Imbalance Computer Music
[4] Live Ideas 2 - Notfromearth - Prologue
[5] Live Ideas 3 - Notfromearth - Prologue
[6] Live Ideas 4 - Notfromearth - Prologue
[7] 853 - Sraunus - Sutemos
[8] Live Ideas 5 - Notfromearth - Prologue
[9] Live Ideas 6 - Notfromearth - Prologue
[10] Live Ideas 7 - Notfromearth - Prologue
[11] Dried flowers mirrored world - Sabi - Sutemos
[12] Im Herbs - Sraunus - Sutemos
[13] Live Ideas 8 - Notfromearth - Prologue

Prologue Special - Notfromearth - message##1: From the dark beaches of Uranus to Prologue by Prologue

http://www.prologuemusic.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Prologue-Music/238649784654

giorgio gigli - room of secret memories [anatomy 05]

giorgio gigli - room of secret memories [anatomy 05]

giorgio gigli hails from rome, italy, and over the past few years he has developed a distinct style of deep, hypnotic, darkly romantic techno. more recently, he has been busy releasing his music through limited-edition vinyls alongside obtane on their label, zooloft records.

no interview for now, and no more explanation... about this set, giorgio only had this to say:
"shadows never sleep"



smilecoldanatomy blog
for more info about giorgio and zooloft, check out the zooloft blog