Browse by Label: KVIST

Artist:	RAGLANI
Title:	Web Of Light
Label:	KVIST
Format:	LP
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	KVIST 002LP

Joseph Raglani : Analog Synth, Sine/Squarewave Generator, Electronics, Tapes, Vocals, Guitar and Places. The record version of Web Of Light is available on KVIST Records. Limited to 500 copies on 140 gram vinyl with pro-printed covers and inserts. "Raglani's use of analogue electronics is tied to traditional Krautrock by a thread of dark romanticism extending, in Germany, back to the work of Caspar David Friedrich. Epic and tumultuous landscapes as images of psychic space; hazardous journeys through awesome and forbidding worlds; the hair-blown viewer looking down onto incredible canyons...The entire extended metaphor of Friedrich's work, linking the arc of a spiritual journey to the beautiful and tumultuous work of nature, is conserved in the work of the kosmische school. Raglani's relationship with the music of Schulze or Fricke is not 'retrospective,' but contemporary. The musical commonalities proceed from a shared commitment to the elaboration of exotic musical spaces, pursued chiefly through melody, adorned by figurative electronic flourishes and concrète motifs. What is missed in alot of drone and noise is the ability of the sound to paint a scene; too often, we're presented with a blandly ecstatic wash of lo-fi murk, more stoned than psychedelic. Raglani avoids these generic limitations by engaging more directly with the tradition to which his peers owe, arguably, the most considerable debt. What he deepens in that tradition is in the abstraction and development of themes--spreading out the narrative through textural variation, rather than driving ever forward through arpeggios and circular rhythms. If Raglani avoids the ascending freakouts of early kosmische music, however, it is because everyday life today is freaked out enough on its own. What is needed, rather, are sounds that can address our already-piqued uncertainty by involving it in a story it might recognize as its own. So there is little here, also, to tether Raglani to the generic vibrations of noise and drone, though he uses some of the machines that make them; instead of any massive simultaneous display, secrets are revealed gradually and cumulatively. Raglani's voice may sound familiar at first, and there is no doubting its context and sources, but the events described by his music trickle out in shapes, and at a pace, uniquely his. The scenes he composes, surreal but distinct, have all the luster of real paint." -- Mike Ferrer.

Artist:	EOD
Title:	Untitled
Label:	KVIST
Format:	12"
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	KVIST 003EP

"'I make tracks and that's about it' is what Stian Gjevik, AKA EOD said when asked for a biography. And he does make tracks. The 6 analog/acid/electro pieces on offer here show a balance between technical know how (including knowing when to stop -- there is no messy overproduction here) and acute instinct for detail, brought together by a real enjoyment of the craft of tune-creation. Operating out of Trondheim, Norway, EOD's music has already caught the attention of heavy-hitters, and his first EP, an obscure private-press 12" entitled EAP Tracks sold out extremely quickly. There is footage of Aphex Twin playing his music in a DJ set. Revered acid label 030303 will be releasing a record/album of his later in 2009. Kvist is extremely proud to be releasing this record." -- John Tamm-Buckle 2009

Artist:	EMMANUEL, JD
Title:	Solid Dawn: Electronic Works 1979-1982
Label:	KVIST
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	KVIST 004CD

"JD Emmanuel's privately-pressed 1979 album Wizards accumulated a cult following through the early part of this decade, culminating with a vinyl reissue by Bread and Animals in 2006, which quickly sold out. Influenced by the organ works of Terry Riley and the kosmische school of Krautrock, and rendered with a uniquely personal warmth, Emmanuel's work stands out as something singular in the world of early basement electronics. Solid Dawn collects material from long out-of-print tapes, remastered for the first time, with participation from the artist at every stage. Featuring liner notes and photographs by Mr. Emmanuel, this is an essential release for anyone interested in the history of underground electronic music."

Artist:	GARGAUD, GUILLAUME
Title:	Here
Label:	KVIST
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	KVIST 005CD

"Here is the third solo release by French guitarist Guillaume Gargaud. Nine tracks of guitar and electronics. The music on this CD is full-bodied and organic. When listening to the demo I found myself in a deeply contemplative mood. The sounds were detailed, often delicate, and not always comforting -- it put me in mind, in parts, of Coil's soundtrack for The Angelic Conversation, perhaps more for the tone than the arrangement style. The production work itself ranges from the digitally processed to the purely acoustic, generally compositionally minimal (with the notably exception being aedeiinae, an acoustic guitar piece reminiscent of Steffen Basho-Junghan's steel string playing), and texturally rich. The music is fundamentally human in its execution, though, cutting through the need for language and straight to the primal roots." -- John Tamm-Buckle / Kvist Records

Artist:	HAMILTON, TOM
Title:	Pieces For Kohn/Formal & Informal Music
Label:	KVIST
Format:	2CD
Price:	$15.00
Catalog #:	KVIST 006CD

"Kvist Records presents this 2CD release, reissuing out-of-print works originally released on the artist's own Somnath label. Although Tom Hamilton's more recent CDs (London Fix, Off-Hour Wait State, and Shadow Machine) are well known to fans of electronic music and reviewers alike, his earlier LP recordings became known as underground classics to the collectors of independent music from that era. This 2CD set was made from the original master tapes, and brings to light some of the best work of Hamilton's highly prolific St. Louis years, starting decades before he became involved with musical life in downtown New York. In the 1970s, Hamilton was working in semi-isolation, though connected to a burgeoning arts scene in St. Louis, and developing his idiosyncratic techniques with the ARP and Serge modular analog synthesizers of that era. The first CD, Pieces For Kohn, is comprised of four multi-layered electronic pieces, musical responses to four paintings by artist Bill Kohn. The second CD, Formal & Informal Music, contains the title piece 'Formal & Informal Music' (1980), and 'Crimson Sterling' (1973) -- both featuring improvisations by JD Parran, woodwinds, Rich O'Donnell, percussion, and Hamilton on analog synthesizers. The music on these CDs establish some of Hamilton's most prominent style characteristics: clouds of fast pitches hinting at pointillistic and kinetic imagery; suggestions of tonality without real resolution; and highly-charged rhythms contributing to intricate textures -- sometimes existing on their own, sometimes offering accompaniment to improvising soloists." Includes a 20-page booklet with liner notes by Hamilton and historic photos.

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