Browse by Label: EXTREME (AUSTRALIA)

Artist:	MERZBOW
Title:	Merzbox
Label:	EXTREME (AUSTRALIA)
Format:	50CD
Price:	$585.00
Catalog #:	XCD LTD003BX

Restocked! This 50 CD Merzbow as released in the year 2000. "Fifty CDs providing as many hours of Merzbow noise music. The collection spans from 1979 to 1997, 18 years of sonic decomposition. Many of the titles were only available as cassettes and have long since been deleted. Five LPs and a CD, which were originally released in limited numbers and have since been deleted, are now reissued in the Merzbox. Also included are 20 discs that have previously never been released. All CDs have four color cover labels, featuring new Merzbow artwork. All CDs are exclusive to the Merzbox." Comes with an interactive CD-Rom, Merzdallion, Merzshirt, Merzcards, Merzstickers, Merzposter, all wrapped up in a "fetish-rubber" Merzcase.

Artist:	TAKEMURA, NOBUKAZU
Title:	Water's Suite
Label:	EXTREME (AUSTRALIA)
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	XCD LTD005

"The sonic beauty of Water's Suite shows that Nobukazu Takemura has come a long way from his days as a successful scratch DJ. Known more recently for his thoughtful compositions and commissions for Issey Miyake, Takemura has decided to let the MIDI do the talking. In fact, he has utilized his own harmonies and melodies to improvise and create entirely new music. 'I played the original MIDI data and I input the scale, harmony, and melody in advance,' explains Takemura. He continues, 'However, I didn't use the typical method of replaying the sequence data. Instead, I did the SCRUB control change improvisation for MIDI data on my software.' Takemura is also intrigued by the very irregularities that MIDI systems try to eliminate. Japan has more than its fair share of earthquakes and these often unforgiving acts of nature have shown him just how varied a MIDI system can be. 'I'm also very interested in the reaction of the MIDI equipment in the blackout and the earthquake. (In Kyoto, it happened very strongly). The strange waves of sound at that moment seem to have a rule, but there is no rule at all,' said Takemura. From this subtle balance of composition and uncertainty, Takemura has taken the next step in his intriguing musical career."

Artist:	NIBLOCK, PHILL
Title:	The Movement Of People Working
Label:	EXTREME (AUSTRALIA)
Format:	DVD
Price:	$21.00
Catalog #:	MC 766DVD

New version (with slightly revised visuals, same video and audio content) of this classic Niblock DVD release, originally from 2003. Double-sided DVD; Total time: 3 hours, 28 min. Features 6 short movies (25 to 70 minutes each), plus separate 5.1 DVD-Audio tracks. "This DVD collects a number of Niblock's documentary films analyzing the dynamics of motion involved in manual labor. The images on the disc are all accompanied by Niblock's own minimalist approach to soundtracking. Niblock started making these films back in 1973, upon visiting Mexico and Peru. It was here that he set out on his observation of the impersonal machinations of work. These films concentrate specifically on the work of human hands, both in terms of crafts, like weaving, and on the more industrial scale of farming, as is focused on by the films shot in Hungary, made in 1985 (the most recent work here). In this Hungarian sequence a man reaps in a field using an old-fashioned scythe: the worker's rhythmic torsional movements are beautifully mirrored by Niblock's droning woodwind, as the composer continually renews his breath and restarts on the same pitch, replicating the visual cycle of unbroken repetition. Later on, we see a close-up of a woman milking a cow. Again, a rhythmic structure is established in both visual and auditory terms. It's pretty bewitching stuff considering how simple the component elements are. In addition to the conceptual success of the piece - which finds Niblock evoking a powerful sense of existential non-movement - he amply shows off his chops both as a filmmaker and a composer. The films here were produced on beautiful Kodachrome print stock, while the music is utterly timeless, the kind of infinite-chord drone work that only the very best artists in the genre can come up with. Magnificent." NTSC format, multi-zone format. 5.1 audio.

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