Browse by Label: ERSTWHILE

Artist:	ROWE/BURKHARD BEINS, KEITH
Title:	ErstLive 001
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	EL 001CD

"ErstLive is a new series of releases from Erstwhile Records, documenting notable live sets associated with the label. The discs are designed to simulate a concert experience, each in the same template design using two colors chosen by the musicians involved, with a photo of the concert on the back cover. Each will be in an edition of 800 CDs and will not be reprinted. The initial releases will be chosen from the AMPLIFY 2004 festival which took place in Cologne and Berlin in May 2004. ErstLive 001 is from the duo of Keith Rowe and Burkhard Beins, and took place during the first night of outside shows in the Berlin half of AMPLIFY 2004: addition in May 2004. This was their first set as a duo since the sessions which resulted in 'Grain' on Zarek 3 1/2 years earlier."

Artist:	ROWE/TOSHIMARU NAKAMURA/THOMAS LEHN/MARCUS SCHMICKLER, KEITH
Title:	ErstLive 002
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	EL 002CD

ErstLive 002 is from the quartet of Keith Rowe, Toshimaru Nakamura, Thomas Lehn and Marcus Schmickler, the final quartet performance in the Cologne half of AMPLIFY 2004: addition, also in May 2004. This was the quartet's first performance together. Personnel: Keith Rowe: guitar, electronics; Toshimaru Nakamura: no-input mixing board; Thomas Lehn: analogue synthesizer; Marcus Schmickler: synthesizer, computer.

Artist:	STANGL/CHRISTOF KURZMANN, BURKHARD
Title:	ErstLive 003
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	EL 003CD

"ErstLive 003 is from the duo of Burkhard Stangl and Christof Kurzmann, titled 'schnee_live', the final show on the last night of AMPLIFY 2004: addition. Stangl and Kurzmann began working as a duo in late 1999, releasing Schnee in 2000, and playing numerous concerts over the past four years throughout Europe, the US, and Asia. 'schnee_live' documents how much their duo has changed since the initial recording of Schnee, which was the first time they ever played together as a duo."

Artist:	ROWE/SACHIKO M/TOSHIMARU NAKAMURA/OTOMO YOSHIHIDE, KEITH
Title:	ErstLive 005
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	3CD
Price:	$42.00
Catalog #:	EL 005CD

"ErstLive 005 is from the quartet of Keith Rowe, Sachiko M, Toshimaru Nakamura, and Otomo Yoshihide, the centerpiece show of AMPLIFY 2004: addition, the 'four hour quartet'. ErstLive 005 contains three individually packaged slimline CDs in a slipcase with original artwork by Keith Rowe, which wraps around the entire box, front, side, and back, as well as liner notes from all four musicians and numerous pictures from Yuko Zama. ErstLive 005 documents only the second performance of this quartet, after a brief set in Cologne the week before. One thing I can say for sure is that the boundary between listening to this CD and playing this music is totally dissolved, and there is only a difference of time and space where the sounds are heard." -- Otomo Yoshihide.

Artist:	VHF
Title:	Extracts
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 001CD

"Quiet, intense, saturated improv not miles away from AMM or Such. Personnel: Graham Halliwell (alto saxophone, percussion), Simon H. Fell (double bass), Simon Vincent (drums, tone generator)." "VHF utilise the classic line up of the power free jazz trio, but use their resources to achieve very different ends - producing a quiet introspective music which nevertheless crackles with circumvented energy. This trio are actively expounding a new vocabulary for these instruments - an intense, involving experience." -- Richard Sanderson.

Artist:	HAUNTED HOUSE
Title:	Up In Flames
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 002CD

"This is Loren Mazzacane's new quartet, which has been playing gigs in NYC for the last year or so. It's 3 tracks, 56 minutes, and is a little more structured and rock-based than most of his solo work. The record is culled from the six or so shows we recorded live. Personnel: Loren MazzaCane Connors (guitar), Suzanne Langille (vocals), Andrew Burnes (guitar), Neel Murgai (Persian daf)." Recorded Feb & May, 1999; includes a long version of Lonnie Johnson's "Blue Ghost Blues". "The sprawling guitar textures, wandering melodies, beautiful, dark vocal delivery, and loose song structure come together to make this one of Mazzacane's finest in recent memory. An essential recording for any fan of Mazzacane's work, and a splendid introduction for the uninitiated." -- Phil Waldorf

Artist:	HOWARD/DENMAN MARONEY, EARL
Title:	Fire Song
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 003CD

"Four long solo and duet pieces totalling 54 minutes from these two NYC-based, criminally underdocumented musicians. Howard and Maroney have been playing together sporadically since 1975, when they recorded a version of Stockhausen's 'Kurzwellen' as part of the Negative Band (a record engineered by Carl Stone for the Finnadar label). Howard plays alto saxophone and synth, while Maroney plays hyperpiano, which is further explained below. Howard has played over the years with such luminaries as Derek Bailey, Han Bennink, Takehisa Kosugi, George Lewis, Nam June Paik, and Richard Teitelbaum, but has barely recorded, except for a mostly solo electronics CD on Random Acoustics, Pele's Tears. Fire Song contains his first composition for alto to be documented on disc, the solo piece 'Orchid'. Maroney has pioneered a technique for the piano which he refers to as 'hyperpiano', which involves stopping, sliding, bowing, plucking, strumming and striking the strings directly with a variety of tools including bars, bowls, knives, bells and mashers of metal, boxes and bottles of plastic, mallets of various kinds, and blocks of rubber. Hyperpiano differs from prepared piano in that the piano is not prepared beforehand." "The week that I heard this CD, I also witnessed Wally Shoup put a rubber glove on his saxophone, his breath causing it to wave like a sarcastic hand. One could not find two more disparate, conflicting values in music performance, though both Shoup's gesture and the Maroney/Howard CD share something in that they are both instilled with an awareness that conscientious abstraction is an empty gesture -- Maroney and Howard perform with a humility that speaks more of functionality in a musical language." -- Dean Roberts

Artist:	ROWE/GUNTER MULLER/TAKU SUGIMOTO, KEITH
Title:	The World Turned Upside Down
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 005CD

"The World Turned Upside Down documents their first meeting as a trio (and the first meeting ever between Rowe and Sugimoto), captured in vivid detail in concert at Les Instants Chavires in October of '99. The performance builds upon Sugimoto's guitar reflections, with Rowe and Muller slowly tracing jagged spirals around his ever-evolving line. Much like an AMM performance, this is a journey with no discernible beginning or end, striking a precarious balance between tranquility and turbulence. The front cover was painted by Rowe, and the gorgeous drawings and calligraphy which adorn the rest of the package come from a tour diary kept by Masae Tanabe. 'The trio evolves into an electroacoustic ecosystem of insect chirps, bog-creature glissandi and Sugimoto's lone guitar qua guitar, whose ghostly presence soaks the proceedings with a sober grace. No strangers to the art of palpable restraint, the participants create a masterpiece of understatement in an idiom as unforced as it is entrancing.' -- Robert Lim

Artist:	DRUMM/MARTIN TETREAULT, KEVIN
Title:	Particles and Smears
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 006CD

"Chicago-based Kevin Drumm (guitar, electronics) and Montreal-based Martin T�treault (turntables) traveled in separate musical circles, each unaware of the other's work, until a Chicago-based organization, Lampo, booked T�treault for a concert with Drumm and the ubiquitous Jim O'Rourke in September of 1999. While T�treault was in Chicago, he and Drumm spent some time in the studio, and this CD contains the results, as recorded by TV Pow's Todd Carter. Drumm, best known for his two superb solo records on Perdition Plastics, and T�treault, best known for his collaborative series of discs on Ambiances Magnetiques with the likes of Otomo Yoshihide and Ikue Mori, meld their techniques seamlessly to form a thoroughly integrated record. While both musicians are more than capable of playing solo sets filled with compelling ideas from beginning to end, here both seem to make a conscious effort to subsume their identities in order to create a greater work." "The often brittle, overwhelmingly tactile sounds which Drumm and T�treault produce are so finely intertwined it's an act of futility to guess whose thwacks, crackles, pops, hums, and squeaks are whose. The duo's enjoyment practically oozes from their savvy interactions, as they rigorously reach deeper and deeper into themselves and their instruments to find new noises. But even as they forage, their sense of purpose is never lost. This is free improvisation of the highest level; stunning proof of imagination transcending scrap-heap technique." -- Peter Margasak

Artist:	BUTCHER/PHIL DURRANT, JOHN
Title:	Requests and Antisongs
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 007CD

"John Butcher and Phil Durrant have both been prominent members of the English improv scene since the mid-eighties, releasing everything from solo records to being members in all-star orchestras. In 1984, they formed a trio with John Russell, with Durrant on violin, a band which is in its 17th year together. In 1997, the two began their electromanipulation project, in which Durrant transforms Butcher's sounds electronically in real time, interacting with Butcher's live playing. The music has three potential strands; the amplified saxophone and two electronic processing chains -- individual controlled by Durrant -- which are triggered and/or derived from the saxophone's signal. No sampling is used. The electronics transform external sounds in real time, with MIDI faders enabling fast parameter manipulation. Numerous techniques are utilized to avoid the deadening blanket of digital delay, and many treatments employ feedback loops between effects modules, which 'generate' their own material. Feedback delay can be split for separate treatments, and, varying the delay time and gating the delay gives the impression of a 'frozen' sound without recourse to sampling. Other processes, such as self-oscillating filters, have inherent sounds that are transformed by the pitch and velocity of the incoming saxophone signal. Some treatments are virtually instantaneous, some evolve over many seconds, others have a life of their own. Throughout this, the characteristics of how the treatments react together depend on the current saxophone input, creating, for both musicians, the challenge of trying to make expressive use of a system that neither individual fully controls. The musicians' experiences as composers and improvisers are both vital for the duo. In many ways, Butcher has to approach the situation far more spontaneously than in his acoustic work, because Durrant is continually realigning the language of his saxophone, moment by moment. Equally Durrant's use of live electronics is usually with his own violin, where he can work to his own ideas and rhythm. In the duo he has to anticipate Butcher's placements and choices of material -- a process he finds leads to far more risk taking."

Artist:	STANGL/CHRISTOF KURZMANN, BURKHARD
Title:	Schnee
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 008CD

Stangl (acoustic & electric guitars, percussion), Kurzmann (G3). "Burkhard Stangl and Christof Kurzmann are both internationally known musicians from Vienna. Stangl is best known for being a member of the seminal improv group Polwechsel, for his superb solo record Recital and for his five part, work-in-progress opera Venusmond. Kurzmann is a co-leader of Orchester 33 1/3 with Christian Fennesz, runs Charhizma records, and appears on the self-titled improv document CD on Charhizma, along with Fennesz and Werner Dafeldecker, with guest performances by Kevin Drumm, Jim O'Rourke, and Martin Siewert. While both musicians have been involved in the Viennese music scene since the late eighties, and have been friends just as long, their musical interests lay in different areas until fairly recently. They never played in the same band until Kurzmann sat in with Polwechsel in September 1999 in NYC. When they returned to Vienna, they recorded this duo record, inspired by four favorite movies of theirs and by a quote from Swiss writer Robert Walser.Schnee consists of four long soundscapes, with Kurzmann's sedate electronics underpinning Stangl's atmospheric plucking." The following quote from Dean Roberts: "Schnee is not about freezing, it is about snow. Therefore anything 'liquid' is gone, and has been transferred into a malleable body -- its grainy patterns and particles are what Kurzmann creates circular asymmetrical patterns within. Stangl's guitar is brittle, dissolving like icicle drops. This record's beauty is in the critical fact that it explores the differences in computer generated and acoustic music, unlike a forced marriage or a systematic clash. Strikingly, it finds its entry at the extremity of fundamental difference between the worlds of the two instruments. It is not reductionist -- in that it does not lack matter to its dialogue. Simply these two artists are so assured and comfortable within the language that it leads to saying less."

Artist:	ROBERTS/WERNER DAFELDECKER, DEAN
Title:	Aluminium
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 009CD

"Two long improv pieces recorded in a studio in Vienna in April documenting the first time these two ever played as a duo; both are on guitar, electronics and percussion. Dean Roberts and Werner Dafeldecker seem unlikely collaborators at first glance. Roberts, who originally hails from New Zealand, began his career delving into guitar drones and feedback, both in the trio Thela and on his own, under the name White Winged Moth. He founded the label Formacentric Disk in order to document a wider range of his work, and released four projects in two years. In 1998, he began working with the influential German label Mille Plateaux, who put out his much acclaimed All Cracked Medias, and in 2000 And the Black Moths Play the Grand Cinema, on their more experimental sublabel Ritornell. Dafeldecker, a lifelong resident of Vienna, is probably best known for being an integral member of the improv supergroup Polwechsel, as well as for founding and running the influential label Durian. He's composed numerous pieces for various classical ensembles, and also appears on two recent notable CDs, Printer (Durian), and Martin Siewert's Komfort 2000 (Charhizma). Originally and primarily a bassist, Dafeldecker has been working more with guitar and electronics recently, both of which he plays to great effect on Aluminium. Aluminium was recorded during a marathon studio session in Vienna in April, and was brilliantly mastered by Tim Barnes. Both musicians play guitar and electronics, along with occasional percussion on a hi-hat placed between them. On the first track, Dafeldecker's sine wave electronics intersect with Roberts' rough guitar textures, priming the listener's aural palette for the marathon track which follows. This half hour-long piece is an atmospheric exploration fusing the legacy of AMM with the spirit of rock and roll. 'Roberts and Dafeldecker avoid flamboyant gestures as emphatically as a trust fund anarchist dodges the neighborhood Starbucks. They prefer to gradually generate magnetic tension by parsimoniously deploying contrasting squeals, scrapes, whines, and bell-like tolls like small objects on a vast, hushed soundfield. The two men evoke a space where humans are heard but not seen, crafting visions of a humming metalworks with nary a human in sight.' -- Bill Meyer"

Artist:	YOSHIHIDE/VOICE CRACK, OTOMO
Title:	Bits, Bots And Signs
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 011CD

"Otomo Yoshihide has explored the nature of sound in many different ways during his career. Over the last few years, Otomo has become increasingly interested in minimal wave-based electronics, as heard in his Filament and I.S.O projects. Swiss duo Voice Crack (Norbert M�slang and Andy Guhl) have been playing together since 1972. In 1977, they released the then underappreciated Deep Voices LP (FMP, reissued on CD by Urthona), which they created largely with acoustic instruments. Since 1983, they've been exclusively working with 'cracked everyday-electronics', modifying and/or abusing numerous small household machines in order to produce extreme, unique noises. Bits, Bots and Signs documents the long overdue first meeting of these pioneers, recorded in March 2000 in St. Gallen, Switzerland, although as M�slang says, 'from the beginning, it was as if we had played together for a long time.' The three musicians generate gently pulsing rumbles, piercing whistles and lingering whines, fusing these varied sounds into a series of expansive panoramas. The striking cover drawing was created by Swiss artist Alex Hanniman." The following quote from I-Sound "Otomo Yoshihide and Voice Crack expertly weave a brittle fabric of sound, unifying notions of instant composition with the radiating randomness of live electronics. Useful sonic "flaws" fold in upon themselves giving these works a vocabulary of fresh electronic elements that come across equally as well placed, spontaneous, and compelling. Electro-acoustic improvisation at its most fragile and leveling extremes."

Artist:	NAKAMURA/SACHIKO M, TOSHIMARU
Title:	Do
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 013CD

Repressed, new cover artwork. "Toshimaru Nakamura and Sachiko M are two of the most prominent members of the burgeoning onkyo movement. Onkyo, a Japanese word meaning 'reverberation of sound', places much more emphasis on sound texture than on musical structure, distilling elements of techno, noise, and electronic music into a unique hybrid. Nakamura plays the 'no-input mixing board', connecting the input of the board to the output, then manipulating the resultant feedback. Since 1998, he's been exploring the possibilities of his instrument in contexts ranging from solo to collaborations with Taku Sugimoto, Keith Rowe, and the duo project Repeat with drummer Jason Kahn. Nakamura is also a co-founder of The Improvisation Meeting at Bar Aoyama, a monthly concert series in Tokyo. Sachiko M was a member of the seminal nineties band Ground Zero, led by her frequent collaborator Otomo Yoshihide. Since Ground Zero ended in 1998, she has developed a unique style utilizing a memory-free sampler, creating pure, piercing sine waves with the device's built-in test tones and noise. Sachiko has worked extensively as a solo artist, and in groups such as Filament, I.S.O., and Hoahio. She also founded and runs the superb Amoebic label. Do is the second release from this duo, following 1998's Un (meme). Do consists of three live improvisations, recorded in the summer of 2000 at three separate concerts. 'do #1,' the 37 minute centerpiece track, is a masterpiece of gradual progression, inducing rolling waves inside your head, while constantly, infinitesimally, inexorably creeping forward." "Toshimaru Nakamura and Sachiko M minimize their music to a gorgeous maximum. In its reduction to electronic signals, the music becomes very physical. Your speakers become an instrument, and when you move your head or walk around, your ears also become an instrument, you get involved, you can participate. Another prominent aspect is how time seems to escape and how the listener can escape into time simultaneously. Not easy listening music for sure. Abstract music? No, to me it seems very concrete." -- G�nter M�ller

Artist:	DURRANT/THOMAS LEHN/RADU MALFATTI, PHIL
Title:	Dach
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 014CD

"Radu Malfatti has been a major presence in the European free improv scene since the early seventies. Phil Durrant has worked in a wide range of settings, in bands such as Lunge and Ticklish, and in acoustic and electroacoustic projects with John Butcher. While Durrant is an expert with live electronics, here he performs exclusively on his original instrument, the violin. Thomas Lehn's unique analogue synthesizer skills have made him one of the most prominent figures on the European festival circuit, in bands such as Konk Pack and Toot, as well as in duos with Gerry Hemingway and Marcus Schmickler. Dach (German for roof) is the second disc by this trio, following beinhaltung (Fringes), and is a live recording from the 1999 Kaleidophon festival in Ulrichsberg, Austria. Dach is an environmental improv record, in the tradition of Derek Bailey/Min Tanaka - Music And Dance (Revenant). Only the rain falling on the white plastic roof is audible as the performance begins. As the sun gradually emerges, warming the roof's metal supports, the creaking and cracking roof becomes a fourth sound source for the remainder of the performance. The artwork is composed entirely of photos of the venue, primarily of the roof, as captured by Olga Dafeldecker. Dach occupies the zone between silence and sound, forcing the listener into a state of hyperawareness."

Artist:	STILLUPPSTEYPA/TV POW
Title:	We Are Everyone In The Room
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 016CD

"Stilluppsteypa and TV Pow are two of the most prominent laptop trios in the world of experimental music. Stilluppsteypa originally hail from Iceland, while TV Pow are all from Chicago. In late October 2000, Stilluppsteypa and TV Pow embarked on a week-long tour of the US. The two groups, while familiar with each other's output, had never worked together before, but did so for part or all of each of these performances. We Are Everyone In The Room was compiled from these shows, including their first collaboration ever at Tonic in NYC. The captivating cover art was created by Leif Elggren, a Swedish conceptual artist and founder of the Kingdoms of Elgaland Vargaland. Stilluppsteypa and TV Pow combine a thorough knowledge and wide range of microscopic sounds with an uncanny sense of how to deploy them in an improv context." "The more established the contemporary genre of noise music becomes, the more surprising it is to hear serious creative distinctions. TV Pow and Stilluppsteypa, two long standing outfits in a field known for there-and-gone participation, have proven to be both dedicated and utterly engaging in their furthering of this most modern of musics. Informed by all concepts of avant garde art music, they successfully transcend any manner of description. In other words this shit full on rocks."--Thurston Moore

Artist:	FUHLER/GERT-JAN PRINS, COR
Title:	The Flirts
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 017CD

"Cor Fuhler and Gert-Jan Prins are both prominent members of the European improv world. Both live in Amsterdam, yet their paths rarely crossed before they became involved in the initial incarnation of MIMEO in 1997. Fuhler is primarily known for his work as a pianist, in ongoing projects with such mainstays of the Dutch scene as Han Bennink, Michael Moore and Tristan Honsinger. He released a superb solo prepared piano CD in 1994, 7CC in IO (Geestgronden). In The Flirts, Fuhler manipulates sounds from turntables and mbiras, filtering them through an analogue synth. Prins' background is as a drummer, but over the past decade, he's focused almost exclusively on electronic noise-based music, using radio and television transmitters to create a distinctive, physical sound. In 2000, he released a solo CD on Grob, Prins Live, as well as a superb trio CD with Thomas Lehn and Peter Van Bergen, e-rax-Live At the Bimhuis, on his own label, X-Or. Both Fuhler and Prins are also still members of MIMEO. Since joining MIMEO, Fuhler and Prins have worked more and more together, in and out of the band, and in early 2001, they recorded The Flirts over the course of two studio sessions in Amsterdam. The Flirts combines a relentless yet subdued energy with an endless stream of fresh ideas, resulting in a CD that is seemingly chaotic, yet very musical. The stunning packaging was entirely created by NYC-based designer Friederike Paetzold." "Prins Live was one of the best records of 2000. Here returns the man with Cor Fuhler: a serious, tender and yet kicking approach that is never just music. The real virtuality!"-Marcus Schmickler.

Artist:	ROWE/TOSHIMARU NAKAMURA, KEITH
Title:	Weather Sky
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 018CD

"Keith Rowe and Toshimaru Nakamura are two of the most important musicians in the world today. Fans of each other's work, they began to collaborate in early 2001, and have created in Weather Sky a timeless work of art. Rowe, who is best known for his groundbreaking work with AMM (the seminal improvising collective he co-founded in 1965 with Eddie Pr�vost and Lou Gare), also currently leads the Music In Movement Electronic Orchestra, an all-star group featuring many of Europe's premier electronic musicians. Nakamura plays the 'no-input mixing board', connecting the input of the board to the output, then manipulating the resultant feedback. Since 1998, he's been exploring the possibilities of his instrument in contexts ranging from solo to collaborations with Sachiko M, Andrea Neumann, and the duo project Repeat with drummer Jason Kahn. Weather Sky was recorded in Saint-Etienne, France in June 2001, and consists of three live improvisations totalling 73 minutes. Both musicians almost entirely sublimate their egos throughout, creating a pure abstract feedback, with occasional flecks of sound jumping to the foreground, combining to produce a sense of eternity."

Artist:	KELLEY/JASON LESCALLEET, GREG
Title:	Forlorn Green
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 019CD

"Kelley and Lescalleet first met in early 1998. The following year, Lescalleet joined nmperign for the first in a series of collaborations culminating in the release of a split CD In Which the Silent-Partner Director Is No Longer Able to Make His Point To The Industrial Dreamer (Intransitive). Eventually, the duo project documented here materialized: the outcome of three years of enthusiastic aesthetic discussions, performances containing near silences one night or (literal) showers of sparks on another, countless phone calls and emails, and endless listening. Forlorn Green is the end result of four recording dates, two live collaborations, one recording of Kelley solo, and one recording of Kelley under Lescalleet's direction, employing uncommon recording equipment and unconventional techniques. Forlorn Green merges a remarkable variety of neo-industrial rumbles and incisive interruptions, all flawlessly fused and integrated, creating a lo-fi concr�te masterpiece."

Artist:	IELASI/DOMENICO SCIAJNO, GIUSEPPE
Title:	Right After
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 020CD

"Ielasi and Sciajno met in 1997, while searching for similarly minded musicians with which to collaborate. They began working in trio with Ruggero Radaele, later expanding to an acoustic quartet with Christian Alati, as documented on their Leo Lab release. Over the last few years, Ielasi and Sciajno have each moved separately towards a vocabulary of pure electronics. In July of 2001, Ielasi and Sciajno met in Palermo for a few days of intensive working and recording, the results of which are documented here. Right After compiles a series of perfectly crafted miniatures, featuring jagged shards of melody, slowly advancing crackles rippling with latent energy, and impeccably integrated techniques."

Artist:	MIMEO/JOHN TILBURY
Title:	The Hands Of Caravaggio
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 021CD

"MIMEO, the Music In Movement Electronic Orchestra, is a band composed of twelve of Europe's premier electronics improvisers. Due both to logistical and financial constraints, they have only performed together a handful of times since the establishment of the current lineup in 1998. After the remarkable success of their epic, 24-hour long performance in Vand'ouevre in May of 2000, the band did not assemble again until almost a year later in Bologna, for the Angelica festival (thanks to festival organizer Massimo Simonini). The concert was a singular one, as MIMEO was joined by the noted pianist John Tilbury, nonpareil Feldman interpreter and longstanding member of AMM. The performance was built around a concerto for piano and electronic orchestra, titled The Hands Of Caravaggio and loosely inspired by the Caravaggio painting The Taking Of Christ, as interpreted by Keith Rowe. The piece begins with a low test-tone drone from Cor Fuhler, working inside the piano, followed by Tilbury's entrance a few minutes later. Next, J�r�me Noetinger sets off a flare, signaling the introduction of the electronics. The accumulation of electronics gradually reaches critical mass, at times obscuring the piano altogether. But Tilbury is never completely hidden for long; space opens, and the piano emerges. As the piece evolves, the musicians discover a more delicate counterbalance to work within, which ultimately dissipates into silence." Personnel: Keith Rowe (guitar, electronics), Kevin Drumm (guitar, analogue synthesizer), Phil Durrant (software granular samplers and treatments), Thomas Lehn (analogue synthesizer), Kaffe Matthews (live sampling, computer), J�r�me Noetinger (electroacoustic devices), Gert-Jan Prins (electronics, FM modulations, radio), Peter Rehberg (computer), Marcus Schmickler (digital synthesizer, computer), Rafael Toral (guitar with analogue modular system), Markus Wettstein (amplified metal garbage), Cor Fuhler (inside piano), John Tilbury (piano).

Artist:	POIRE_Z
Title:	+
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 022CD

"Poire_z, the quartet of G�nter M�ller, Voice Crack and eRiKm, has been performing together since December 1998. In the summer of 2000, they began a series of performances which included a different fifth member each time. These guests have included Keith Rowe, Martin T�treault, L� Quan Ninh, Florian Hecker, and Kevin Drumm in addition to the three excerpted sets which make up +, featuring Otomo Yoshihide, Sachiko M, and Christian Marclay. + is poire_z's third CD, following the self-titled debut on For 4 Ears, and presque_chic (Sonoris). The guest musicians' distinctive personalities define each track, infiltrating the core quartet's whirlwind of ideas -- influencing, gently nudging, but never impeding or derailing the constant progress."

Artist:	POLWECHSEL/FENNESZ
Title:	Wrapped Islands
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 023CD

"The predominantly Viennese quartet Polwechsel have exhaustively explored the grey areas between composition and improvisation, electronic and acoustic, jazz and classical for much of the past decade. Austrian Christian Fennesz, while initially a guitarist, is primarily known for his abrasive yet melodic laptop explorations on labels such as Mego and Touch. Wrapped Islands documents the much-anticipated first meeting of these two driving forces of contemporary music. In January of 2002, the five musicians gathered in Christof Amann's Viennese studios for three days of recordings, from which Wrapped Islands was assembled. While the first three Polwechsel releases solely contain compositions, Wrapped Islands is fully improvised. The warmth and depth of the music induces an illusory simplicity, with different details and passages emerging to the surface with each listen."

Artist:	COSMOS
Title:	Tears
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 024CD

"Sachiko M and Ami Yoshida, both from Tokyo, met in 1997 and formed the duo of Cosmos the following year. Sachiko M has developed a unique style utilizing a memory-free sampler, creating pure, piercing sine waves with the device's built-in test tones and noise. Ami Yoshida strives to create a pure sound, abstracting her voice until it becomes almost completely unrecognizable. Though both women reside in Tokyo, Cosmos only perform together occasionally, so each meeting is very special. Tears is taken from two of those rare encounters, in September 2001 and February 2002. Sachiko and Ami incrementally build an atmosphere of fragile, yet deeply focused, intensity, forging a symbiotic fusion between human and electronic expression."

Artist:	STANGL/DIEB13, BURKHARD
Title:	eh
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 025CD

"Burkhard Stangl and Dieb13 are both integral members of the increasingly prominent Viennese improvised music scene, coalescing around the activities of the Durian and Charhizma labels. Stangl explores the full range of the guitar, from quiet melodic plucking to atonal walls of noisy drones. This range and adaptability has allowed him to become a ubiquitous presence on record over the past few years; in the collective projects Polwechsel (recordings on Erstwhile, Durian and hat ART), Efzeg (Grob, Durian), SSSD (Grob), in duos and trio with Christof Kurzmann and Taku Sugimoto (Erstwhile, Slub, Musica Genera), and solo (Durian, future release on Charhizma). Dieb13 (who uses a range of names for performing including his real one, Dieter Kovacic) is a immensely skilled turntablist, as demonstrated by his solo disc on Charhizma and his recorded work with Martin Siewert, Boris Hauf, G�nter M�ller, Jason Kahn, Werner Dafeldecker, and Uli Fussenegger (Durian, Grob, For 4 Ears).eh explores a constantly shifting tableau of guitar and electro-acoustic sound; utilizing a kaleidoscopic range of approaches, framed by lulling intro and outro pieces in which Stangl's melodies both battle and meld with Dieb's noisescapes. The instruments used (from Viennese contraguitar and portable gramophone to electric guitar, electronics, and computer) encompass over a century of musical history. The source material for the design comes from Viennese artist Billy Roisz, utilizing extreme closeups of old shellac records to create the proper gritty ambience."

Artist:	NEUMANN/BURKHARD BEINS, ANDREA
Title:	Liding�
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 026CD

"Andrea Neumann began her musical career as a pianist; but she has since reduced her instrument to strings, resonance board, and metal frame. She also utilizes electronics to manipulate and amplify the sounds, some of which would be otherwise inaudible. Because the original inside-piano frame is very heavy; she had a new, lighter one specially constructed for her. Burkhard Beins started as a rock drummer, gradually moving on to pieces for taped material and percussion. Since 1988, improvised music has been his primary focus; working in projects such as Perlonex (Zarek), Activity Center (2:13), and in duo with Keith Rowe (Zarek). Recorded in July 2002 in a studio in Berlin (by Rainer Robben), Liding� consists of loosely linked improvisations, forming a musical travelogue. The two musicians employ their impressive arsenal of precisely scraped, bowed, plucked, and rubbed sounds to conjure memories (both real and imagined) of the small Swedish island that lends the recording its name. The artwork showcases Erstwhile designer's Friedrerike Paetzold's modern twist on historical photos of Liding�."

Artist:	ROWE/THOMAS LEHN/MARCUS SCHMICKLER, KEITH
Title:	Rabbit Run
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 027CD

"Keith Rowe, Thomas Lehn and Marcus Schmickler are three of the most prominent names in the European experimental world, each with their own distinct history and discography. All three are members of the all-star electronic orchestra MIMEO, and in late 2001, they began performing occasionally as a trio, eventually resulting in Rabbit Run. Rowe, Lehn and Schmickler gathered together in June of 2002, in Schmickler's Piethopraxis studio in Cologne, for two days of recordings. The results were Rabbit Run, which is two records in one: a single 41 minute piece designed to be played linearly, and the same piece subdivided into 42 shorter tracks, designed to be played on random shuffle, creating a unique record with each play. The cover painting is by Rowe, in his unique pop-art style, subsumed by Cologne designer Heike Sperling into a startlingly original design. Personnel: Keith Rowe: tabletop guitar, electronics; Thomas Lehn: analogue synthesizer; Marcus Schmickler: digital synthesizer, computer."

Artist:	NOETINGER/ERIKM, J�R�ME
Title:	What A Wonderful World
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 028CD

"J�r�me Noetinger and ErikM have been focal points of France's experimental-music underground since the early '90s. They've explored concepts of context and copyright along parallel paths, converging only rarely. In 2001/2002, Noetinger and ErikM painstakingly edited and shaped the material into a coherent whole, flavoring their complex, abstract electronics with insistent repetitions and field recordings, creating instant concr�te -- each individual idea as carefully constructed as the impeccably chosen first and last sounds. Personnel: J�r�me Noetinger: electroacoustic devices; ErikM: 3-K.pad F system, MD, turntables."

Artist:	M�LLER/OTOMO YOSHIHIDE, G�NTER
Title:	Time Travel
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 029CD

"G�nter M�ller and Otomo Yoshihide are deeply respected musicians who have known each other for more than a decade. M�ller and Otomo first met in Matsushima, Japan in 1989 at a show M�ller was doing in an abandoned quarry with his band Nachtluft. Otomo had driven four hours from Tokyo to see the performance, and afterwards they met for the first time. They've since collaborated in a handful of contexts, most notably the Filament 2 record on For 4 Ears, with the trio of M�ller, Otomo and Sachiko M. Time Travel was recorded in October 2002, just before the Amplify 2002 festival, and marked their first meeting as a duo. Time Travel consists of seven focused, distinct pieces, which combine to create a unique sense of time, slowly but constantly developing and filled with intricate details. Friederike Paetzold's gorgeous design focuses on vector distortions of time zone maps to create a jet-lagged frequent flyer effect. Personnel: G�nter M�ller: ipod, minidisc, selected percussion, electronics; Otomo Yoshihide: electric guitar, turntables, electronics."

Artist:	ROWE/JOHN TILBURY, KEITH
Title:	Duos For Doris
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	2CD
Price:	$24.00
Catalog #:	ERST 030CD

"Keith Rowe and John Tilbury most likely need no introduction to anyone reading this. Since 1981, they have performed together within the legendary improvising ensemble AMM, as well as in numerous other contexts, both improvised and composed. Tilbury and Rowe first met each other in 1965 when both were asked by Cornelius Cardew to perform Treatise for a BBC broadcast. They have enjoyed a fruitful professional relationship ever since, in the Scratch Orchestra, various Music Now and Cardew groupings, performing Christian Wolff and John Cage pieces, and most notably, in AMM since 1981. They met in Nancy, France at the CCAM studio in January 2003 (on the same stage where AMM had recorded Fine in 2001) in order to record for the first time as a duo, with melancholy in the air due to the passing of John's 95 year old mother, Doris, two days earlier. Her loss, along with the perilous world geopolitical situation, hung as almost tangible events in the air, deeply affecting the atmosphere during the recording. The more than two hours of music presented here (selected from the three hours they recorded) is close to perfect in its conception and its arc from beginning to end, remarkable for totally improvised music. The understated, intricate beauty and modesty of the work belies its complexity. The cover painting is by Rowe, inspired by L.S. Lowry, a well-known British landscape artist and a favorite painter of Doris'. Personnel: Keith Rowe-guitar, electronics; John Tilbury-piano."

Artist:	SIEWERT/MARTIN BRANDLMAYR, MARTIN
Title:	Too Beautiful To Burn
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 031CD

"Martin Siewert and Martin Brandlmayr are two of the most active musicians in the ever-evolving Viennese music scene, in both improvised and composed settings. Siewert has been quite prolific recently, in projects such as Efzeg(Grob, Durian), SSSD (Grob). Brandlmayr is best known for his riveting percussion work as the linchpin in the superb trio Radian, who have released records on Rhiz, Mego and Thrill Jockey. Both musicians display relentless ingenuity, combining melodic guitar figures and cascades of impeccably bowed cymbals with a wide range of other acoustic and electronic elements, crafting a record that is at once resolutely abstract yet precisely musical." Martin Siewert: (acoustic & electric guitars, lap steel, electronics, synthesizers); Martin Brandlmayr: (drums, percussion, vibraphone).

Artist:	DAVIS/PHIL DURRANT/MARK WASTELL, MATT
Title:	Open
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 032CD

"Arising from these intensive rehearsals was a new group aesthetic and a shift in focus from acoustic to electronic based material. By this stage, Durrant had developed a personal language using software synths and treatments and Wastell had begun investigating a sound source comprising what he refers to as 'amplified textures', into which Davis' newfound interest in field recordings and electronics fit perfectly. open documents this exciting period in the group's evolution, with enough groundwork having been laid to develop a strong and unique musical identity but without the all-too-identifiable sound of a group overfamiliar with itself. Open was recorded in two sessions at LMC sound in March and May 2003, both superbly engineered by Tom Wallace. It represents the first recording of Durrant exclusively using a computer, and points to a new direction for the London scene, one more organic and less directly rooted in the free improvisation of the 1980's. open largely consists of tiny, connected events, never drifting into excessive caution, always taking risks and ceaselessly pressing against the overhanging silence." Matt Davis: (field recordings, electronics, trumpet); Phil Durrant: (software synths and treatments); Mark Wastell: (amplified textures).

Artist:	VA
Title:	Amplify 2002: Balance Box Set
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	7 CD BOX/DVD
Price:	$135.00
Catalog #:	ERST 033/40CD

New lower pricing. Extremely deluxe slip-cased boxed edition documenting this Erstwhile festival from 2002. "The Amplify 2002: Balance Box Set is designed to try to recreate (as much as possible) the experience of what it was like to be in Tokyo in late October 2002, witnessing this incredible week of music. Over 7 hours of music on 7 CDs will contain: 1) 8 of the 12 sets from the festival itself. 2) 2 CDs compiled from the smaller club shows which took place before and after the festival itself, including an entire disc by the all-star guitar septet of Keith Rowe, Tetuzi Akiyama, Oren Ambarchi, Toshimaru Nakamura, Otomo Yoshihide, Burkhard Stangl and Taku Sugimoto. 3) A studio recording by the duo of G�nter M�ller and Toshimaru Nakamura, recorded that same week. This disc has been carefully sequenced and constructed, and is essentially a regular Erstwhile release contained within the larger box. The box will also feature a DVD by filmmaker Jonas Leddington and a 52 page, full-color booklet with photos by Yuko Zama and twenty separate essays by many of the people involved in the festival." CD 1 (outside festival shows): 1. Thomas Lehn/Toshimaru Nakamura, 2. G�nter M�ller/Tetuzi Akiyama/Nakamura, 3. Christof Kurzmann/Nakamura, 4. Lehn/Nakamura/Taku Sugimoto. CD 2 (studio sessions): G�nter M�ller/Toshimaru Nakamura-tint. CD 3 (festival): 1. Cosmos (Sachiko M/Ami Yoshida), 2. Keith Rowe/Lehn/Marcus Schmickler. CD 4 (festival): 1. M�ller/Otomo Yoshihide, 2. Lehn/Schmickler. CD 5(festival): 1. Burkhard Stangl/Kurzmann/Sugimoto, 2. Rowe/Nakamura. CD 6 (festival): 1. Stangl/M�ller, 2. Nakamura/Sachiko. CD 7: (seven guitars): 1. seven guitarists: Rowe/Akiyama/Oren Ambarchi/Nakamura/Otomo/Stangl/Sugimoto (Cornelius Cardew-Treatise, pp. 82-84), 2. seven guitarists(improvisation). DVD-balance beams, a visual document of the festival as described above.

Artist:	ROWE/AXEL D�RNER/FRANZ HAUTZINGER, KEITH
Title:	A View From The Window
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 041CD

"Trumpeters Axel D�rner and Franz Hautzinger transcend many of the aesthetic and geographical factions that have evolved over four decades of European free improv, contributing their gorgeous tones to a wide variety of contexts. On A View From The Window, they join forces with the intensely focused Keith Rowe, one of the scene's founding fathers, and explore the abstract limits of their respective palettes. A View From The Window was recorded in a single day in Vienna in November 2003 by Christoph Amann, superbly as always. Photojournalist Yuko Zama was in attendance for the sessions, and became drawn to the glimpse of sky visible through one of the studio's windows. She took dozens of pictures from different angles, and her fascination inspired Rowe to title the record after the Cardew quote, and to paint a more 'optimistic' version of one of her photos for the front cover. A View From The Window captures these three musicians paring their signature sounds down to their essences, with the occasional plaintive trumpet cry or subtle radio snippet emerging from the delicate intertwining."

Artist:	M/TOSHIMARU NAKAMURA/OTOMO YOSHIHIDE, SACHIKO
Title:	Good Morning Good Night
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	2CD
Price:	$24.00
Catalog #:	ERST 042CD

"Free improvisation has rarely seen significant new movements as influential as the small group of Tokyo musicians once labeled as 'onkyo'. Sachiko M, Toshimaru Nakamura and Otomo Yoshihide are three of the scene's driving forces (along with Taku Sugimoto), and on Good Morning Good Night are documented together as a trio for the first time. While these three musicians have worked together in countless configurations in recent years, Good Morning Good Night is their first meeting as a trio. Recorded in August of 2003, the double CD contains essentially the full recording sessions, four tracks totalling over 100 minutes. Good Morning Good Night is a very conscious step in a new direction, an attempt to create a 'vertical' music (as opposed to most music, which moves in a linear, horizontal plane). The pointillistic placement of sounds by these three masters of delicacy results in a music that exists somewhere between foreground and background listening. Friederike Paetzold's design is inspired by James Turrell's work, and features four different covers for the four tracks/times of day, which the listener can fold according to their preference."

Artist:	ROWE/CHRISTIAN FENNESZ, KEITH
Title:	Live at the LU
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 043CD

"Keith Rowe and Christian Fennesz are recognized as two of the most prominent and influential musicians in experimental music. However, despite their joint participation in the 12 person MIMEO collective, their commercially released work has rarely intersected, which is why Live at the LU, a document of their first duo show together, is so revealing. Recorded in May 2002 in Nantes, Live at the LU finds the two musicians revisiting old pathways, further exploring territory they've separately mapped on records such as The Crypt, Harsh, and Hotel Paral.lel. Together they construct a soundworld that is jagged yet bright, stark and jarring, but in the end, somehow still soothing. Rowe's cover painting is deeply symbolic, rife with subtle references, many of which are fleshed out in Friederike Paetzold's brash pop design."

Artist:	AKIYAMA/G�NTER M�LLER, TETUZI
Title:	Points and Slashes
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 044CD

"M�ller and Akiyama first played together in the What Is Music? Festival in Melbourne, Australia in 2002. They later performed in Auckland, Tokyo and NYC, before recording Points and Slashes in April 2004 in Tokyo. Points and Slashes comprises six distinct pieces, warm and comfortable, yet still challenging the listener at every turn. Friederike Paetzold's strikingly minimal design is inspired by the work of the Italian 'Spatialist' artist Lucio Fontana."

Artist:	OTTAVI/DION WORKMAN, JULIEN
Title:	misenlian
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 045CD

"Julien Ottavi and Dion Workman are two of the most extreme of the younger wave of sonic explorers, pushing the boundaries of sound and art. Ottavi hails from Nantes, France and Workman from New Zealand, but their overlapping concerns and aesthetics have drawn them together, and misenlian contains the results of their initial collaborations. misenlian unites Workman's glacial, continuous pacing with Ottavi's love for challenging the limits of dynamic range, resulting in a single remarkable piece as jarring and unsettling in its own way as the fluorescent colors of the CD packaging."

Artist:	4G
Title:	Cloud
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	2CD
Price:	$24.00
Catalog #:	ERST 046CD

The Four Gentlemen of the guitar are: Keith Rowe: guitar, electronics; Oren Ambarchi: guitar, electronics; Christian Fennesz: guitar, computer; Toshimaru Nakamura: no input mixing board. "In mid-2004, they formed the Four Gentlemen of the Guitar (4g), and played a series of shows in Europe and Canada, three of which are contained on Cloud. The underlying concept of 4g is to unite four artists who each began their musical explorations as guitarists, keeping that mindset as a crucial underpinning of their work as they've each explored increasingly abstract territory, both with and without guitars. Cloud contains three performances (from Vand'ouevre, Paris and Victoriaville) from their seven city tour, totalling over two hours of music. The widely differing aesthetics of the four musicians meld fluidly, forming hovering, delicate masses of sound."

Artist:	YOSHIDA/CHRISTOF KURZMANN, AMI
Title:	a s o
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 047CD

"Ami Yoshida and Christof Kurzmann are both well-respected artists within the international community, each performing in a wide range of contexts from abstract to pure pop. Both are best known for their long-running duos, Yoshida for Cosmos (with Sachiko M) and Kurzmann for schnee (with Burkhard Stangl). This project finds them in far less comfortable territory, and a s o is the outcome of two years of hard work. a s o contains recordings from the first meeting of Yoshida and Kurzmann in March 2004. The collaboration was a difficult one, partly because of their wildly different backgrounds and partly because of the communication issues due to their language differences. Four translators helped the project along over the course of the two years it took to make this record (Taku Unami, Toshimaru Nakamura, Yuko Zama and Kae Uchihashi). Although it was a long and complicated journey, the end result is very organic and accomplished. a s o contains an extremely broad range of abstract approaches from both artists, resulting in a wildly different soundworld from any of their previous recordings, and has been beautifully captured as always by recording engineer Christoph Amann. The impeccably minimal yet lush CD design is by Hirozumi Takeda, utilizing images provided by Asuna."

Artist:	AVVA
Title:	Gdansk Queen
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	DVD
Price:	$22.00
Catalog #:	ERST 048DVD

"AVVA is the duo of Toshimaru Nakamura and Billy Roisz, based in Tokyo and Vienna respectively. AVVA stands for 'Audio Video/Video Audio,' referring to the working method of the duo. Nakamura produces the music using the internal feedback from his no-input mixing board, Roisz uses that as the basis for her optical moving patterns, and Nakamura has a TV monitor showing Roisz' output, so the whole process is circular and created in real time. Nakamura and Roisz first worked together as part of the Feedback: Order From Noise tour in the UK in the summer of 2004. They felt such an affinity for each other's working methods that they formed the AVVA duo, and have toured in both Europe and Japan. Gdansk Queen consists mostly of edited live recordings, as well as two pieces which were mail collaborations (the audio done by Nakamura in Tokyo, with the video later composed in real time by Roisz in Vienna). Nakamura and Roisz are ideal partners, their audio and video feedback combining to become far more than the sum of their parts, resulting in a mind-melting experience in which boundaries are constantly created and then destroyed. The design combines a cover photo from Dieter Kovacic with stills from the DVD in an elegant oversized jewel box." NTSC 4:3 Region Free, stereo, 66 minutes.

Artist:	ERIKM/DIEB 13
Title:	Chaos Club
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	2CD
Price:	$24.00
Catalog #:	ERST 049CD

"eRikm and dieb13 are two of the most prominent and well-respected experimental turntablists in the world, both working in a wide range of contexts, from the classical world to club DJing. Over the last two years, they have begun frequently working as a duo, and chaos club marks their first duo recording together. eRikm, from Marseille, burst onto the scene in the mid-'90s as a virtuoso turntablist. Since then, he has gradually shifted his output into a more abstract vein, often abandoning the turntables entirely. dieb13, from Vienna, who uses a range of names for performing including his real one, Dieter Kovacic, is a immensely talented turntablist, as demonstrated by his solo work (records on Mego and Charhizma). erikdieb recorded quite a bit of material for this project, five concerts plus an Amann Studios session. From this all-duo material, each musician made his own CD mix, stamping their own personalities back onto the combined material."

Artist:	ROWE/TOSHIMARU NAKAMURA, KEITH
Title:	Between
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	2CD
Price:	$24.00
Catalog #:	ERST 050CD

"Keith Rowe and Toshimaru Nakamura first began collaborating in 2001, and since then they have developed into ideal partners, perfectly balanced from decidedly different perspectives, a consummate rapport without lapsing into predictability. Since their first CD, Weather Sky, was released in 2001, they have toured as a duo throughout Europe and the US, playing dozens of shows together. Between was mostly recorded over two days and nights in July 2005 at Amann Studios in Vienna, combined with one long track from Lausanne a few months earlier. The music seems impossible to process or analyze, defying boundaries and ground rules as soon as they seem to be established. The packaging originated with a photo by Yuko Zama, commissioned by the musicians, which provided the starting point for Rowe's cover painting. Erstwhile designer Friederike Paetzold then filled in the gaps 'between' impeccably, splitting the differences between the aesthetics while not ignoring her own, all adding up to a gorgeous design." Between, for me is about the tension and space between objects, and how we might occupy this area, to reside if you like between the conventions, to locate the flexibility that comes from de-theorizing the dogmas.' -- Keith Rowe.

Artist:	R/S (PETER REHBERG/MARCUS SCHMICKLER)
Title:	One (Snow Mud Rain)
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 051CD

"Peter Rehberg (computer); Marcus Schmickler (digital synthesizer, computer). Peter Rehberg (Pita) and Marcus Schmickler have been two of the leaders in the electronic revolution of the last fifteen years, both on their own and in collaboration with others. One (Snow Mud Rain) is the first duo CD from these two long-time friends and associates. Rehberg and Schmickler met up in March 2007, in Schmickler's Piethopraxis studio in Cologne, for two days of recordings. Despite having barely worked together as a duo previously, the results were so successful that after two days, the record was basically completed. This is obvious when listening to the finished product, as a rawness and energy that hearkens back to the explosive power of early Mego bursts from the speakers, further enhanced by the remarkable density and clarity of the recording."

Artist:	LAMBKIN/JASON LESCALLEET, GRAHAM
Title:	The Breadwinner
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 052CD

"Graham Lambkin and Jason Lescalleet are both highly respected artists, with small but intensely hardcore followings. Since 2001, they've been gradually moving closer towards realizing a collaborative project, and The Breadwinner is the result of two years of recording, reworking and polishing. Lambkin first entered the public consciousness at 19 when he formed his band The Shadow Ring, in Folkestone, a small town in Kent, England. The band was memorable and built a rabidly passionate fan base because of its sui generis approach, blending elements of folk, noise, cracked electronics, and surrealist poetry, while radically changing the overall formula with each release. A decade of increasingly skewed and inspired work culminated in 2003's I'm Some Songs, constructed long distance as Lambkin had relocated to the U.S. in 1998. Over the last few years, Lambkin has primarily worked under his own name, most notably with 2007's brilliant Salmon Run, a precursor to The Breadwinner. Lescalleet has gradually and painstakingly built a compelling discography over the past decade. He uses reel-to-reel tape decks to explore the textures of low-fidelity analog sounds and the natural phenomena of old tape and obsolete technology. He is one of a growing list of master producer/musicians, whose skill lies as much in reworking, assembling and mastering the material available as in creating it (or helping create it) in the first place. He has worked with such wide-ranging artists as Ron Lessard, Joe Colley and Phill Niblock, and has released a string of superb solo discs. This is his second release for Erstwhile, after 2001's Forlorn Green (w/Greg Kelley), and his third is already in preparation. The material for The Breadwinner was recorded at Lambkin's house in upstate NY, over two recording sessions. The duo treated the entire building and its surrounding grounds as a studio, welcoming in outside sounds, which were later kept or eliminated as they felt appropriate. The subtitle on the front cover is 'musical settings for common environments and domestic situations,' layering numerous submerged fragments to find beauty in everyday life."

Artist:	NAKAMURA/ENGLISH, TOSHIMARU
Title:	One Day
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERST 053CD

"Toshimaru Nakamura is one of the most distinguished and original voices in the world of electroacoustic improvisation, with a vast body of work built up over the past decade. The duo of English, Joe Foster and Bonnie Jones, formed in 2004 in Seoul, have developed their aesthetic ever since, whenever possible given their bi-continental status (Foster lives in Seoul and Jones in Baltimore). In the summer of 2007, the trio played together in Tokyo for the first time, one concert followed by one day of studio recordings, and the latter became One Day.Three lengthy improvisations showcase a unique collective aesthetic, dense and organic, pointillistic but rough, focused but not overly polished. The gorgeous textures of the design come from original drawings by Baltimore artist Erin Womack."

Artist:	MAGIC I.D., THE
Title:	Till My Breath Gives Out
Label:	ERSTWHILE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	ERSTPOP 001CD

"The Magic I.D. is a Berlin-based quartet consisting of Margareth Kammerer, Christof Kurzmann, Kai Fagaschinski and Michael Thieke, which formed in the summer of 2005 after previously being connected via smaller groupings and projects, some more abstract and some more song-based. The six pieces contained here are precise collective compositions, three by the full quartet, and one from each of the three potential 'duos' (the two clarinets form one twinned instrument). Till My Breath Gives Out expands song forms through the prism of experimental sensibilities and meshes the two remarkably fluidly. Till My Breath Gives Out is being released simultaneously in two formats: foldout digipak CD and gatefold 180 gram vinyl. The content and the running order are identical; the LP version was mastered slightly differently to better fit the format. The LP is an edition of 500 copies; the CD is unlimited and inexpensive."