[MIA CD 016] Kreng – Grimoire CD (Album) 2011

Kreng – Grimoire
Label: Miasmah
Catalog#: MIACD016
Format: CD, Album
Country: Norway
Released: 03 Jun 2011
Genre: Electronic
Style: Modern Classical, Dark Ambient, Drone

Design – Erik K. Skodvin*
Mastered By – Nils Frahm
Photography By – Stef Lernous
Written By, Producer – Pepijn Caudron

Tracklist:
1 Karcist 2:43
2 Le Bateleur 7:29
3 Opkropper 3:11
4 Petit Grimoire 4:21
Piano – Nils Frahm
5 Wrak 9:04
6 Ballet Van De Bloedhoeren 4:36
7 Girl In A Fishtank 3:38
8 La Poule Noire 3:49
9 Balkop 4:57
10 Satyriasis 7:18
Percussion – Eric Thielemans
11 Konker 2:45

Having first entered our lives in 2009 with an album so singularly terrifying that it still gives us nightmares, Pepijn Caudron - the elusive mastermind behind Kreng - plunges even deeper into the heart of darkness with a new full-length offering for Miasmah. The results are just phenomenal, combining a palpably European antique grandeur with cutting edge sound design and a pervasive occult charge (a 'grimoire' is a book of spells, don'tcha know). 'Karcist' is the curtain-raiser, wherein ambiguous midnight ambience soon gives way to hands-around-the-throat dread; 'Le Bateleur' is a zombie waltz of baleful clarinet, muted horns and snares flapping like bat's wings. On 'Opkropper', Kreng's neo-classical ambitions swell to the fore, plangent cello lavishly swelling amid Ligeti-style piano jabs and snatches of soprano opera singing that sound like Edith Piaf trapped down a well. 'Petit Grimoire' is the album's seductive highlight, impish strings hanging off a muffled techno pulse, and 'Wrak' is a veritable symphony of things that go bump in the night: shrill violins and discordant woodwind scrapping and scraping over a steadily iterated, Morricone-esque motif. The stately orchestral vibe returns for 'Ballet Van De Bloedhoeren' only to dissolve into a fetid swamp of the sickest drone; 'Girl In A Fishtank' sounds like one of Leyland Kirby and Philip Jeck's clammiest nightmares, a real Death In Venice dirge, its 1920s pomp racked by the threat of cholera, drowning, forbidden lust and war. 'La Poule Noire is a grimm tale with an almost industrial momentum, its reverbed percussion rolling horribly, unstoppably onwards like a steam train to the death factory. Has gothic minimalism ever sounded this vivid, this all-consuming and three-dimensional? Not to our knowledge.

miasmah | boomkat (LP)

[LINE_050] Seth Horvitz – Eight Studies For Automatic Piano CD (Album) 2011

Seth Horvitz – Eight Studies For Automatic Piano
Label: Line
Catalog#: LINE_050
Format: CD, Album, Limited Edition
Country: US
Released 14 Jun 2011
Genre: Classical
Style: Contemporary

Composed By – Seth Horvitz
Mastered By – Taylor Deupree
Edition of 500.
From the disc's liner notes:
Inspired by the works of James Tenney, György Ligeti, Charlemagne Palestine, and Conlon Nancarrow, "Eight Studies for Automatic Piano" makes use of simple, computer-aided compositional processes to test the limits of human perception and machine precision. It relies on a bare minimum of technical means to explore notions of temporal distortion, iterative process, and elegant complexity. Presented in an immersive concert setting without the presence of a human performer, "Eight Studies" questions traditional notions of live performance and musical "life."
A "Listener's Guide" containing detailed descriptions and visual scores for each piece can be downloaded from www.lineimprint.com/eightstudies.pdf.
All works performed by the Yamaha Disklavier C7 Mark III. Recorded at Littlefield Concert Hall, Mills College,

Tracklist:
1 Study No. 14: Arch Study For The Highest Eight Notes 5:18
2 Study No. 4: Sixteen Diatonic Glissandi Moving At Harmonic Rates 2:22
3 Study No. 2: An Approximate Series Of Approximate Harmonic Series 6:05
4 Study No. 13: Echoes 3:57
5 Study No. 21: Bells 5:20
6 Study No. 1: Octaves, Systematically Filled And Folded 5:46
7 Study No. 29: Tentacles 4:26
8 Study No. 99: Strumming Machine 12:31

Completely brilliant, brain-boxing suite of piano minimalism from Seth Horvitz, inspired by the works of James Tenney, Ligeti, Charlemagne Palestine and Conlon Nancarrow. The aim of Eight Studies was apparently to use simple computer-aided compositional pieces to "test the limits of human perception and machine precision"; it was performed by a Yamaha Disklavier C7 without the presence of a single human being, and recorded live; indeed, it's a work that questions the very nature of "live". It's pointless to go into too much depth about the techniques deployed - the curious can download an in-depth Listener's Guide from the L-ne website - but to take just one example, 'Study No.2: An Approximate Series of Approximate Harmonic Series' finds Horvitz (or at least his electronic avatar) introducing a basic repeating shape and systematically layering it, transposing it, and rhythmically offsetting it against itself. Then, in Reichian style, the length of each repeating shape is incrementally shortened, producing a rhythmic phasing process. It's huge credit to Horvitz that his rigorously mathematical approaches to composing nonetheless yield richly melodic music, lyrical and addictive. Once you've digested this remarkable album, you'll never think of the piano the same way again.

boomkat | lineimprint

Mark Fell – Manitutshu LP (Album) 2011

Mark Fell – Manitutshu
Label: Editions Mego
Catalog#: Editions Mego 116
Format: 2 × Vinyl, 12", 45 RPM
Country: Austria
Released: May 2011
Genre: Electronic
Style: Abstract, Minimal, Experimental
Mastered By – Andreas 'Lupo' Lubich*
Photography – Mark Fell

Tracklist:
A1 Acids In The... Thin Razor, Attack Noise Hat, Linn 2:29
A2 Acids In The... Primes Version 0:51
A3 Manitutshu (New Algorithm)... LatelyBass And NewElectro, Attack Pulse Hat 5:42
B1 Acids In The... Razor Experiment 0:51
B2 Manitutshu... Parameter Set 2, Linn Hi Tom, JazzOrg, Vortex Study Performance Overdub, And Synthesis Reminiscent Of Duet Emmo 6:23
B3 Acids In The... Stochastic Energy Pause With Thin Razor, Attack Noise Hat, Linn 1:47
C1 Manitutshu... First Algorithm Test 3:41
C2 Occultation Of... Razor Simple Acid Pause Version With LFO To Cutoff 1:47
C3 'Materialisation' Epic Razor Chord And LatelyBass With Found Voice 3:26
D Occultation Of... Mat Steel Extended Remix 14:57
Remix – Mat Steel

Following last year's devasting UL8 set, Mark Fell returns to Editions Mego for a 2x12" excursion into advanced rhythm mechanics. Back in January 2011, the SND man was invited by Erik 'Errorsmith' Wiegand to create some presets for the Native Instruments soft-synth he was building. In the end, NI rejected Fell's sounds, but their loss is our gain: he's further developed the pattern-Generating systems he used for UL8 and connected them to sounds produced in Wiegand's synthesizer with a result so tantalising you're almost reminded of Wiegand's own classic MMM production 'Donna'. Fell is just at his ballistic best, delivering nine tracks that manage to sound at once coolly scientific whilst also suggesting a kind of mutant, angular rave music. 'Acids In The... thin razor, attack noise hat, Linn' in particular is possessed of an itchy funk that is just completely addictive, while 'Manitutshu' is electro fit to soundtrack a 2045 block party, and 'Manitutshu... parameter set 2, Linn HI Tom, JazzOrg...' pays homage to Duet Emmo (the seminal 80s collaboration between Daniel Miller and Wire's Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis) in a morse code techno style. Don't get us wrong: though playful, this album isn't exactly an easy ride, but for the more adventurous ears out there the rewards are enormous. The set ends with an industrial-strength remix from Fell's SND partner Mat Steel, taking on 'Occultation', a track which in is original form sounds like Richard D. James' Cornish acid focussed into a single, searing laser beam. If you need further incentive, know that Manitutshu was mastered by Lupo at Dubplates and Mastering and is packaged with a A1 full colour poster. Most artists pay lip service to the future, Mark Fell is busy making it happen. Highly recommended.

eMEGO (LP)  |  boomkat (digital)

[fluidaudio 008] Various - Kanshin Compilation 2CD 2011

Various – Kanshin
Label: Fluid Audio, hibernate
Catalog#: fluidaudio 008
Format: 2 × CD, Compilation
Country: UK
Released: Jun 2011
Genre: Electronic
Style: Modern Classical, Drone, Experimental, Ambient

Art Direction – Ian Hazeldine*
Hosted By [Kanshin Curated By] – Daniel Crossley, Jonathan Lees
Mastered By – Wil Bolton
Track 2-4 recorded in Gothenburg 2010-2011. Performed, produced and mixed at The 63rd.
Kanshin is a compilation album that has been put together to raise money for the current recovery in Japan following March’s earthquake.
100% of profit from compilation sales will go directly towards the Japan recovery and on-going relief efforts.
Released in a A5 sized cardboard jacket
The Fluid Audio catalog number (008) does not appear on the release. It is, however, mentioned at the label site.

Tracklist:
1-1 Clem Leek – Light Passage II (Grief) 5:08
1-2 Hummingbird (2) – Dancing Shadows 3:58
1-3 Relmic Statute – Lopery 5:02
1-4 Scissors And Sellotape – Heal 3:34
1-5 P Jørgensen & Ian Hawgood* – Isles 3:34
1-6 Wil Bolton – Lost In Transit 4:12
1-7 Field Rotation – A Pondering Silence 4:38
1-8 Caught In The Wake Forever – Lia Fail (At Dawn) 3:34
1-9 Damian Valles – Clime 5:42
1-10 Library Tapes – May (Variation) 1:45
1-11 Yellow6 – Repeat 6:20
1-12 Maps And Diagrams* With Ylid – Again 4:54
1-13 Felicia Atkinson – Chaleur Vacante 8:44
1-14 Hessien – Flightless And Nocturnal 2:42
1-15 Yann Novak – 3 Surfaces Excerpt 5:04
1-16 Offthesky* With Ten And Tracer – Therapy Refuge 7:10
2-1 Orla Wren With Katie English – Swallowtail Yellow 5:16
2-2 Moving Dawn Orchestra, The – We're Here 3:48
2-3 Spheruleus – Residue 4:48
2-4 Silence Set, The – So Will Everything We Love
Performer, Producer, Mixed By – Dag Rosenqvist, Johan Gustavsson 3:46
2-5 Aaron Martin (2) & Machinefabriek – Utsutsu 3:04
Instruments, Recorded By – Aaron Martin (2)
Other [Further Adjustments] – Machinefabriek
2-6 Szymon Kaliski – And Longing 4:55
2-7 Jeremy Bible & Jason Henry – Grainslip 7:34
2-8 Bengalfuel – Gorgon 4:44
2-9 David Newlyn – Landscape (III) 2:02
2-10 Tom White (4) – Bright Rooms 4:04
2-11 Listening Mirror – The Cause Of It All 6:19
2-12 Talvihorros – Perigee 7:49
2-13 Alex Durlak – Bellows 5:40
2-14 Antonymes – Kiotsuketene 2:56
2-15 Kyle Bobby Dunn – Britannia Into Morning 8:00

Kanshin is a two CD compilation album that presents a collection of sound design work from some of the scene's finest artists from across the globe. It has been put together to raise money for the current recovery in Japan following March's earthquake.

As the sensationalist media broadcasters find other things to talk about in the news, a huge recovery operation is still on-going as we speak. Many people have lost everything. So we decided to put together Kanshin so that via Ian Hawgood, 100% of profit from compilation sales will go directly towards the Japan recovery and on-going relief efforts. Ian lives in Japan and his wife is currently working with both the Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support organisation (JEARS)
in Sendai and surrounding areas, as well as the Direct Help for Victims and Animals Rejected from Shelters in Japan group who are going up to areas which are not receiving government support for food, water, basic
supplies, as well as rebuilding and cleaning up. By this means they are able to transport food, clothing and aid directly almost every other weekend and during holidays to areas which are not getting enough or any support.
Ian's wife has also arranged a house as a base in Sendai for volunteers and a temporary home for found animals who are then moved on through JEARS either to foster homes or animal centres. We felt that any funds we can send this way would probably have more of an immediate impact than donating via one of the larger UK charities.

Ian himself has contributed to the compilation in a collaboration with Peter Jørgensen and through 3 hours and some 30 tracks, the line up that comprises this album is surely as exciting as it gets...

Kanshin is curated by Daniel Crossley (Fluid Radio/Fluid
Audio/Facture) and Jonathan Lees (Hibernate/Rural Colours), with invaluable assistance from Ian Hazeldine (Cover art), Wil Bolton (Mastering) and Damian Valles (Digital distribution). This release is made possible by the generosity of all of the artists involved.



Fluid Audio

[Unseen 004] Various – For Nihon Compilation 2CD 2011

Various – For Nihon
Label: Unseen Records
Catalog#: Unseen004
Format: 2 × CD, Compilation
Country: US
Released: 2011
Genre: Electronic
Style: Modern Classical, Ambient

Design [Layout Design] – Luke Twyman
Mastered By – Keith Kenniff
Photography By [Cover] – Irene Suchocki
All profits of this release benefit the Japan Earthquake Relief Fund set up by The Japan Society.

Tracklist:
1-01 Rhian Sheehan – Places In Between
1-02 Arms And Sleepers – Crash
1-03 aus – Daylight
1-04 Christina Vantzou – Your Changes Have Been Submitted
1-05 Dustin O'Halloran Ft. Adam Wiltzie – Opus 43
1-06 Peter Broderick – Quiet Long Enough
1-07 Ryuichi Sakamoto – Kizuna
1-08 Cokiyu – Volar
1-09 Clem Leek – A Light To Guide You
1-10 Biosphere – Inner Ohm
1-11 Last Days – Hanami
1-12 Robin Guthrie & Harold Budd – We Enter The Night
1-13 Goldmund – Nihon
1-14 Amman Abbasi – Fragmented Earth
1-15 Ex Confusion – Chapter 5
1-16 Colin Kenniff Ft. Hollie Kenniff – Wind And Distance
1-17 Hammock – Sora
1-18 Sawako – Lightlit
1-19 Deru – Days Then... (Japan Version)
2-01 Hollie Kenniff – This Time Tomorrow
2-02 American Dollar, The – Near East
2-03 Joseph Minadeo* – Roads
2-04 Bexar Bexar – Gold I
2-05 Ametsub – Opening
2-06 Olafur Arnalds* – Endalaus II
2-07 Nils Frahm & Anne Muller* – Aussenseiter
2-08 Jon Hopkins – Abandon Window
2-09 Rafael Anton Irisarri & Goldmund – Dissolution
2-10 Helios – Sing The Same Song Twice
2-11 Ulrich Schnauss & Mark Peters (4) – Balcony Sunset
2-12 Taylor Deupree – For A Morning When
2-13 Alva Noto – Is Otto Roessler Right?
2-14 Balmorhea – Clamor
2-15 Near The Parenthesis – This Too
2-16 Little Phrase – Time Is Golden
2-17 Ryan Teague – Even Space
2-18 Rob Simonsen – 2.4 Metres
2-19 Max Richter – Bach Mirror

After learning about the tragic events of the Japanese earthquake on March 11th my wife, Hollie, and I were talking about ways to help. We decided to ask a few friends to join a compilation to help raise money. A few quickly became many as we were overwhelmed and warmed by the eagerness of these musicians to get involved.
"For Nihon" features some of the premier names in ambient / experimental music. 100% of the profits from the sale of this album will be donated to the Japan Earthquake Relief Fund set up by New York's Japan Society.

boomkat / unseen

Kamikaze#64 - Anworth Kirk

Kamikaze#64 - Anworth Kirk

Kamikaze (@radiokamikaze)- radio show presented and mixed by paul ackroyd covering the best and weirdest in all walks of electronic music, and quite a lot more besides...

This time out it's all about sinister collagists Anworth Kirk. You might have caught their superb debut at the end of last year, and this followup, Avonwaith, is another slice of the same. Tune in for a big ol' chunk of stuff from this new Anworth Kirk record, plus a load of dark, bleak, and plundered nonsense from the likes of Frieder Butzmann, Stockhausen, Broadcast, The Focus Group, The Advisory Circle, Myrmyr, Demdike Stare, The Body, Steve Reich, A Silver Mt Zion, Nova Scotion Arms, Andrew Liles, Bernard Parmegiani, and Pop-Off Tuesday...

Tracklist:
Demdike Stare - Of Decay & Shadows [Modern Love]
Karlheinz Stockhausen - Kontakte (Edit) [Ellipsis Arts]
Frieder Butzmann - In Einem Netzwerk [Pan]
Bernard Parmegiani - Ponomatopees [GRM]
Myrmyr - Golden Ashes [Under The Spire]
The Haxan Cloak - The Growling [Aurora Borealis]
The Body - Empty Hearth [At A Loss]
Pop-Off Tuesday - Unworldly [Pickled Egg]
Nova Scotion Arms - Current (White) [Sweat Lodge Guru]
Andrew Liles - What Never Will Be [Infraction]
Broadcast & The Focus Group - We Are After All Here [Warp/Ghost Box]
The Advisory Circle - We Cleanse This Space [Ghost Box]
Broadcast - Through The Gates Of Yesterday [Warp]
The Focus Group - Starry Wisdom [Ghost Box]
Anworth Kirk - Avonwaith [Pre-Cert Home Entertainment]
A Silver Mt Zion - Lonely As The Sound Of Lying On The Ground Of An Airplane Going Down [Constellation]
Steve Reich - Come Out [Nonesuch]

Kamikaze#64+Anworth Kirk by Kamikaze on Mixcloud

[senufoeditionfourteen] Alessandro Brivio – Associazioni Poro LP 2011

Alessandro Brivio – Associazioni Poro
Label: Senufo Editions
Catalog#: senufoeditionfourteen
Format: Vinyl, LP, Limited Edition, Clear
Country: Italy
Released: 2011
Genre: Electronic
Style: Rhythmic Noise, Experimental

Numbered edition of 200 copies. Transparent vinyl. Silkscreened cover (black on black carboard), with small insert.

Tracklist:
A Untitled
B Untitled

Alessandro Brivio’s new record is another collection of complex and obsessive rhythmic tracks, reflecting his studies and passion for african aesthetics. The title is an homage to the Senufo secret society (the Poro) and to the Associazione Poro, a foundation of africanists founded by the great italian collector Carlo Monzino.

Numbered edition of 200 copies. Transparent vinyl (cut at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin) with printed labels. Silkscreened cover (black on black carboard), with small insert. 15 euro + shipping costs.

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[TO:84] Biosphere – N-Plants CD (Album) 2011

Biosphere – N-Plants
Label: Touch
Catalog#: TO:84
Format: CD, Album
Country: UK
Released: 27 Jun 2011
Genre: Electronic
Style: Abstract, Downtempo, Ambient

Art Direction – Jon Wozencroft
Cover [Cover Image] – Yusuke Murakami
Mastered By – Denis Blackham
Recorded By – Geir Jenssen

Tracklist:
1 Sendai-1 8:01
2 Shika-1 7:54
3 Jōyō 5:31
4 Ikata-1 5:05
5 Monju-1 2:42
6 Genkai-1 6:37
7 Ōi-1 5:10
8 Monju-2 3:58
9 Fujiko 4:56

Okay so this is weird - in February 2011 Gier Jenssen finished an album dedicated to the Japanese post-war reconstruction and, specifically, the country's futuristic nuclear program. After surveying numerous photos he became fascinated by the idea that nuclear power plants could be built so close to the sea in earthquake-prone areas, and this slowly became the focus for his recordings. A few months later and, alas, the album has gained considerable poignancy - we are now in the aftermath of one of Japan's most serious disasters and Jenssen's concepts have a strangely prophetic quality to them. The music itself is hardly melancholy, but has a damaged, cold, digital edge which mirrors the clean architectural perfection of the ominous structures, pre-earthquake of course. As Jenssen's clipped, purposeful rhythms slowly make their way into synthetic patterns, they guide the record and imbue proceedings with a fitting Kubrickian haze. 'N-Plants' almost reminds of early SND (think 'Stdio' or 'Makesndcassette') but played at the wrong speed. These are slow, booming passages of sound carried out with a masterful ear, displaying the razor sharp precision of a true veteran of the field. Lazy, lackadaisical witch-house this is not, but 'N-Plants' shares threads with its purposeful slow-down of dance music tropes. It's a powerful record: without the context 'N-Plants' is an affecting, engrossing listening experience, but with the added air of melancholy, it becomes all the more haunting and memorable. Highly Recommended.


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