Browse by Artist: RABELAIS, AKIRA

Artist:	RABELAIS, AKIRA
Title:	Void
Label:	FALLT (IRELAND)
Format:	3" CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	FALLT 14.0022

"What is called the spirit of the void is where there is nothing. It is not included in man's knowledge. Of course the void is nothingness. By knowing things that exist, you can know that which does not exist. That is the void. People in this world look at things mistakenly, and think that what they do not understand must be the void. This is not the true void. It is bewilderment. In the Way of strategy, also, those who study as warriors think that whatever they cannot understand in their craft is the void. This is not the true void. To attain the Way of strategy as a warrior you must study fully other martial arts and not deviate even a little from the Way of the warrior. With your spirit settled, accumulate practice day by day, and hour by hour. Polish the twofold spirit heart and mind, and sharpen the twofold gaze perception and sight. When your spirit is not in the least clouded, when the clouds of bewilderment clear away, there is the true void. Until you realize the true Way, whether in Buddhism or in common sense, you may think that things are correct and in order. However, if we look at things objectively, from the viewpoint of laws of the world, we see various doctrines departing from the true Way. Know well this spirit, and with forthrightness as the foundation and the true spirit as the Way. Enact strategy broadly, correctly and openly. Then you will come to think of things in a wide sense and, taking the void as the Way, you will see the Way as void. In the void is virtue, and no evil. Wisdom has existence, principle has existence, the Way has existence, spirit is nothingness. Twelfth day of the fifth month, second year of Shoho (1645) -- Shinmen Musashi."

Artist:	RABELAIS, AKIRA
Title:	Spellewauerynsherde
Label:	SAMADHISOUND
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.00
Catalog #:	SAMAD 003CD

"Spellewauerynsherde: Spell. Wavering. Shard. Spell as in speaking, incantation, a digitally constructed matrix of words and voices, summoning up a strange, distant past. Wavering: the shivering of those voices as they dissolve and recombine in Rabelais... rich filtering systems, turning into pulsating, frequency rich drones. Shard: fragments, of voices, of ideas, of memories, of the past, brought back to life again. Spellewauerynsherde is built up from found sounds, field recordings of traditional Icelandic a cappella lament songs recorded in the late 1960s or early 1970s on Ampex tapes and then forgotten about. After discovering the neglected tapes, cleaning them up and digitizing them for a library, Rabelais became fascinated with the heartbreaking sadness of the voices and began to think of them as source material for a series of compositions."

Artist:	RABELAIS, AKIRA
Title:	Caduceus
Label:	SAMADHISOUND
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.00
Catalog #:	SAMAD 019CD

"On his samadhisound debut, Spellewauerynsherde, Akira Rabelais crafted austere settings to found recordings of Icelandic songs of lament. His follow-up, Caduceus, is a different beast -- a study of guitar and extreme distortion that's both harsh and mesmerising. samadhisound founder David Sylvian describes it as 'caustically romantic': 'Akira's recording presents you with an auditory experience quite unlike any other. It's by turns a brutal and discomforting ride. Outside of the full-on audio assault, there's unsettling disquiet in its quietude. Once heard it won't be forgotten and for those seeking out recorded music that is transformative, experiential, this material has that potency.' To create the distortion, Rabelais wrote a filter by modeling sources such as fuzz boxes and old guitar pedals. Samples of AM radio also lurk in the mix. 'You can hear faint fragments of voice in a couple of places on the album. I used static concretely and as a data modeling source. It's exceptionally tasty... right up there with a wedge of Red Leicester and a well structured Nero d'Avola.' Several of the pieces on Caduceus evolved in multiple directions, and all but one of the tracks are presented in two parts -- for example, the opening and closing cuts, or tracks three and four. 'As with just about everything I do it's mostly a matter of listening and waiting for the tracks to reveal their intentions. The album came to have a cinematic quality in my mind's eye, something like a soundtrack to a Western by Cocteau and Chris Cunningham.' Listening suggests scenes -- the slow-motion gunfight, the hero's death, the peace of sleeping under the stars. But usually a soundtrack sticks to the background; few films could stand up to Caduceus' onslaught. Perhaps the most challenging release in samadhisound's catalogue, Caduceus is rigorous, uncommon, and essential. Its sonic rewards are matched only by the chance to grapple with the personality behind it, which is as mercurial as the title suggests."

Artist:	RABELAIS, AKIRA
Title:	Hollywood
Label:	SCHOOLMAP (ITALY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$20.00
Catalog #:	SCHOOL 003CD

"The birth of Akira Rabelais' Hollywood has its roots in the composer's lifelong interest in field recordings and in the desire to create a piece of work dedicated to Los Angeles: Texas-born Rabelais has used a Tascam recorder to capture almost four hours' worth of sounds on Hollywood Boulevard, between Betty Grable's and of Rod Serling's stars. These original recordings have been lightly edited, cut and mastered into a composition that encapsulates the sounds of casual chats, drunken tourists, peddlers, passing cars, music coming from surrounding shops. An extremely dynamic and always changing soundscape dedicated to 'the pleasure of being present.' Akira Rabelais, composer and software developer based in Los Angeles, has released records on Ritornell, Orthlorng Musork and Samadhisound. He has collaborated, among others, with Björk, David Sylvian, Harold Budd and Stephan Mathieu."

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