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LP
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DOME 004LP
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$22.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 12/6/2019
With the demise of the group Wire in 1980, founder members Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis joined forces to create Dome. With the assistance of engineer Eric Radcliffe and his Blackwing Studio Dome took the ethic of "using the studio as a compositional tool" and recorded and released three Dome albums on their own label in the space of 12 months: Dome (July, 1980), Dome 2 (October, 1980), and Dome 3 (October 1981). A final fourth album, Will You Speak This Word: Dome 4 was released on the Norwegian Uniton label in May 1983. These albums represent some of the most beautifully stark and above all timeless exercises in studio experimentation from early 1980s alternative music scene. Personnel: G. Lewis and B.C. Gilbert - instruments, voices, production; Vincent Clarke - voice, Fairlight computer synthesizer, track 1; Deborah Danahay - voice, track 1; David Drinkwater - violin, track 1; Terrence Leach - saxophones tracks 1, 3, 4, and 6; Eric Radcliffe - engineer. Previously issued in the out-of-print Dome 1-4+5 box set in 2011. Floating-point re-master by Russell Haswell, August 2011. Cut at Dubplates & Mastering by Rashad Becker, August 2011. New artwork by Dave Coppenhall. Includes download card.
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LP
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EMEGO 255LP
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$23.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 12/6/2019
Second phantasmagorical audio outing from Oto Hiax, the duo of former Seefeel and Loops Haunt members, Mark Clifford and Scott Gordon. Two expands the duo's unique take on spectral synthesis incorporating a diverse amount of approaches to experimental sound. Two expounds a hybrid mix of acoustic based audio design, ambient tonality, sound effects, music, abstraction, and world's hybrid video game soundtrack. There is something of an onomatopoeia quality to the release as the six tracks take on the character of their individual title. "Silt", "Dapple", "Overcurve", "Scutter", "Strain", and "Plates" appear as extremely well executed versions of the inferred intent of their namesake. This inquisitive approach will appeal to those interested in the more exploratory end of sound production providing hope as newly formed methods and colors are exposed from the duo's contemporary audio tactics. Seasoned veterans can lie in a bed of laurels whereas Two is an exemplary release reveling in the enthusiasm that comes from the joy of unabated exploration.
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2LP
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RD7
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$32.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 11/8/2019
The Elbow Is Taboo was Renaldo & The Loaf's fourth and last album of their initial phase prior to their return in 2010. Released by Ralph Records in America and Some Bizzare in the UK in 1987, this work represents a development in the overall sound as they utilize an 8-track recorder along with early digital effects. A large arsenal of acoustic instrumentation gives the record an additional unsettling atmosphere. Recorded over a three-year period this remains the definitive statement by the group in this early period. As clarified by Brian from the band, the themes remain as obtuse and alluring as ever with each song containing its own story: "be it a child's desire to control ('A Street Called Straight'), the ridiculous purdah of an innocent part of the body ('The Elbow Is Taboo'), a call for help in times of angst ('Here's To the Oblong Boys'), the rigours of a bread fetish ('The Bread Song'), the anger of a dance teacher to the terminally inept ('Critical/Dance') or a ritual call to prayer, somewhere ('Extracting The Re-Re')". Disorientating and delightful, this is a must for all fans of the Loaf and for those tickled by the more deranged spectrum of song. Remastered for vinyl and cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, Nov 2018. Original album recorded Chez Struvé 1984 to 1986. Cover design & layout by Nik Void. Original cover concept by Renaldo & The Loaf.
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LP
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EMEGO 252LP
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$23.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 11/8/2019
Editions Mego present the latest addition to the compelling discography of Thomas Brinkmann. Throughout his career Brinkmann has focused on the human operating amongst industry alongside rhythms that manifest as a result of technological advancement. With this new release Brinkmann makes a U-turn, looking back to the early industrial age. Comprised of recordings of various looms, Raupenbahn investigates the sonic properties and consequences of the first automatic loom as constructed by Jacques de Vaucanson in 1745. Thomas Brinkmann once again adheres to his tendency for clarity and simplicity whilst further investigating not only the sound and rhythms of the machines (looms) but also what role they serve in society and what consequences they have on the environment. Raupenbahn presents 21 tracks in total, 11 featured on the vinyl, the remaining ten as digital bonus tracks. The majority of recordings were undertaken by Brinkmann in 2017 with a Neumann KM 184 stereo set. Additional recordings were sourced with permission from Monika Widzicka recs. from 2014 Central Museum of Textiles Łódź, Poland. Each piece presents a diversity of material which borders on the breathtaking and beautiful in richness and complexity. The various looms unravel rhythms and patterns unexpected from machines of the early industrial age. The loom holds a significant role in shaping our world being the catalyst for Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine which, alongside the subsequent work of Byron's daughter Ada Lovelace, paved the way for modern computing. There is a linage of the loom that fits succinctly in Brinkmann's overall argument. Here we encounter a parallel between machine driven economies and the music that rose from such places, consider the Sheffield steel industries, the Manchester weaving industry or the Rhineland/Düsseldorf loom and machine industry. Is it a coincidence that the practice of such machines in the environment gave rise to today's predilection for electronic dance music, in pop, soundtracks, etc. Raupenbahn features no treatment or processing and explicitly displays varying tempo and timbres which ascertain a wide range of acoustic structures. The artwork features Ingrid Wiener, Rosemarie Trockel, and Alexandra Bircken, three different generations who would with ideas of fabric weaving, looming, and the like. This exceptional release works on a number of levels alongside it's striking sonic palette. The digital bonus tracks (and the LP tracks) can be redeemed with download card that comes with the LP.
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EMEGO 269LP
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With over two decades of formal exploration and exhilarating abstraction, Get On is, somewhat surprisingly, only the fourth solo Pita full-length. Peter Rehberg has always been vouched for pushing the very limits of the technology du jour, be it software or in recent years a complex modular set. Rehberg's motives are one of unbridled exploration often resulting in extreme and exhilarating audio works. Having spearheaded the contemporary electronic sound with his uncompromising explorations of noise, rhythm, and extreme computer music, he has also worked with numerous experimental musicians in collaboration. Rehberg stands in the wake of a sonic revolution, once fringe, which transformed over time into the sound of a generation of experimental geeks and club freaks worldwide. Get On follows on from the 2016 release Get In (EMEGO 218CD/LP, 2016). As with other titles in his Get series, Get On in an unwieldy blend of noise, abstraction, gnarled rhythm, and blurred melody. Both analog and digital tools are deployed as a means of expressing something outside of everyday electronics. "AMFM" launches proceedings with some delightfully disorientating ricocheting electronics setting off a subversive sonic spectrum. "Frozen Jumper" presents some ugly skittering electronics which rotate into exquisitely mangled forms before launching into an unsettling euphoria. The last piece "Motivation" is a towering sensitive work, simultaneously haunted and emotionally moving. Get On marks another monumental work in the ongoing evolution from one of the ground zero pioneers of contemporary radical electronic music. As uncompromising as ever, this is Pita in his prime. Emotion rung from the most twisted of frames. Artwork by Tina Frank. Recorded and mixed by Peter Rehberg at Twisted, Wien, 2018/2019; Mastered by Russell Haswell, July 2019; Cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, August 2019.
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EMEGO 266LP
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"Heaven is a work of contemporary church music. Centrally occupied with the subject of death, its conceptualization was catalyzed by Dino Spiluttini's discovering his mother's preparations both for her own death and for his. He arrived at her home in 2015 to be led into the local church and shown the two adjacent places she had reserved for their urns. The tracks on Heaven together consist of an analogously personal and anticipatory negotiation with death. Partly derived from organ recordings made in the same church, the album frequently enlists Arvo Pärt's compositional method of tintinnabuli. Aside from the thematic logic of its sacred associations, the method suits Spiluttini's tendency, in spite of heavy and dynamic passages, to minimize tonal complexity. His characteristic uses of gnashing bass, restlessly irregular pacing and serrated distortion return. This time, they combine with pads, harps, fluttering organs and swooping choirs. Track titles throughout Heaven conjure intense emotional conflicts, especially those arising from experiences of embodiment. Touch isolation is a term for the toxic masculine stigma against platonic touch between men. If such a reference on an album preoccupied with death and afterlife raises the question of whether Spiluttini considers any touch -- let alone platonic -- to be possible in Heaven, the title 'Flesh Angel' perhaps answers it. As with 'Body at War' and 'Weakened Centurion', such a title positions the agitation of its music among ongoing struggles with body acceptance. Meanwhile, 'Rainbow Bridge' recalls the 1980s prose poem promising an eternal reunion in death with one's beloved lost pets. In context, these various indices seem to capture the yearning speculation that, as the nexuses of experience, bodies are not discarded in death; on the contrary, they achieve a state of perfection. Heaven revolves within dramatic and ever-changing vignettes. As church music, it lacks real communal participation or fidelity to hymnal text. Instead, it must come to terms with negation and eternity as dependable threats to generational and spatial distance, to personal struggles with earthly embodiment and to the anxious, hyperactive navigation of identity in late modernity." --Edward Trethowan Front photos and layout by Dino Spiluttini. Recorded, produced and mixed by Dino Spiluttini. Mastered by Rashad Becker.
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LP
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DOME 003LP
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With the demise of the group Wire in 1980, founder members Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis joined forces to create Dome. With the assistance of engineer Eric Radcliffe and his Blackwing Studio Dome took the ethic of "using the studio as a compositional tool" and recorded and released three Dome albums on their own label in the space of 12 months: Dome (July, 1980), Dome 2 (October, 1980), and Dome 3 (October 1981). A final fourth album, Will You Speak This Word: Dome IV was released on the Norwegian Uniton label in May 1983. These albums represent some of the most beautifully stark and above all timeless exercises in studio experimentation from early 1980s alternative music scene. Previously issued in the out-of-print Dome 1-4+5 box set in 2011. Floating-point re-master by Russell Haswell, August 2011. Cut at Dubplates & Mastering by Rashad Becker, August 2011. New artwork by Dave Coppenhall. Includes download card.
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CD
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EMEGO 268CD
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"Masochism is cruel because, in subverting the model, it imposes it with exaggerated severity..." --Amy Ireland
Florian Hecker's latest CD release continues his work with computational techniques for analysis and re-synthesis. In Inspection II, you hear the progressive reconstruction of original source material using algorithms based upon human hearing and designed to capture timbral characteristics of sound. As the source is iteratively extracted from featureless noise, a complex ongoing dialogue commences between formal model and empirical experience of sound. Like Charon, the boatman who ferries souls of the dead across the styx, Inspection II crosses perpetually from one bank to the other: from the formal anticipations of analysis to the unexpected artefacts of synthesis. In Robin Mackay's libretto, recited by a synthetic voice, this inspective dialogue is transferred to the introspective psychoanalytic situation, where the continual re-narration of the self creates further disturbances and transformations -- to attain a definitive image of oneself would be to face one's own death. As discussed in Amy Ireland's essay "Beside a Cold Statue" commissioned for the CD sleeve notes, this process, whose symptomatology is recognizably that of masochism, sees the coldness of the formal model subverted as Hecker's continual re-synthesis delivers up a series of harsh, tantalizing, and bewildering textures and timbres. 16-page booklet. Written and produced by Florian Hecker, 2016-17. Synthetic Voice: Christophe Veaux, CSTR, The University of Edinburgh. Liner notes: Amy Ireland. Mastering: Rashad Becker.
"Inspection II is a very particular composition which deserves a privileged position not only in relation to attempts to exhaust and remove the unknown borders of the sonic universe, but also among the various endeavors of Expanded Psychoanalysis. By transcending the unique authority of Freudian discourse, by alienating and synthesizing the dialogue of analyst and analysand, by penetrating the realm of that babble that is the obvious origin of human language and communication, designated by Jacques Lacan as lalangue, Inspection II discloses a space beyond representation, and hence beyond sense, intelligibility and significance. In order to imagine the inconceivable and unattainable unconscious of an apparently amorphous real that lies outside the structured network of reality with its mediating instances of the imaginary and symbolic orders, Florian Hecker's project suggests an all-pervading realm of sounds and noises considered as one of the purest utterances of existence. Closing the screen of the cerebral computer, psychoanalysis emerges as the hard disk's synaptic music, echoing the big bang of our psychic genesis." --August Ruhs (Psychiatrist, Psychoanalyst, University of Vienna)
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2LP
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EMEGO 262LP
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First time outing from two ardent explorers of peripheral sound tactics. Cylene is the first collaboration by François J. Bonnet (Kassel Jaeger) and Stephen O'Malley (Sunn O)))). Laid bare, you have a subtle and nuanced study of their individual practices forming a titanic whole. O'Malley's guitar inscribes a void that patiently opens up a spacious universe for Bonnet to discreetly alter with perception re-orientating studio maneuvers. Cylene is infinitely rewarding for those that succumb to its delicate detours. A vast glacial plain unfurls slowly upon the listener invoking a mood similar to the stillness found following despair. As Joseph Ghosn succinctly outlines in his liner notes, "Stephen and François deal in those moments and instants that happen after the violence, and the ugliness and the mess. Their music is about chaos being summoned and ordered. It is about the noise that nurtures your ears after a long heartbreaking pain. I have heard the sounds of wars being fought and the noises of hearts being broken, and I have never found a shelter as soothing as this music which makes me think of sunken ships and beauty found in the depths of oceans long forgotten." Art direction: Stephen O'Malley. Portrait photographer: Eléonore Huisse. Recorded at GRM Studios, Paris May 2018. Edited and mixed by François Bonnet at GRM studios, Paris August 2018. Mastering by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin January 2019.
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LP
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EMEGO 264LP
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LP version. After a trilogy of spectacular explorations of relentlessly driving rhythms -- Sagittarian Domain (EMEGO 144CD/LP, 2012), Quixotism (EMEGO 202CD/LP, 2014), and Hubris (EMEGO 227CD/LP, 2016) -- Simian Angel finds Oren Ambarchi renewing his focus on his singular approach to the electric guitar, returning in part to the spacious canvases of classic releases like Grapes From The Estate (BT 036LP/TO 061CD) while also following his muse down previously unexplored byways. Reflecting Ambarchi's profound love of Brazilian music, Simian Angel features the remarkable percussive talents of Cyro Baptista, a key part of the Downtown scene who has collaborated with everyone from John Zorn and Derek Bailey to Robert Palmer and Herbie Hancock. Like the music of Nana Vasconcelos and Airto Moreira, Simian Angel places Baptista's dexterous and rhythmically nuanced handling of traditional Brazilian percussion instruments into an unexpected musical context. On the first side, "Palm Sugar Candy", Baptista's spare and halting rhythms wind their way through a landscape of gliding electronic tones, gently rising up and momentarily subsiding until the piece's final minutes leave Ambarchi's guitar unaccompanied. While the rich, swirling harmonics of Ambarchi's guitar performance are familiar to listeners from his previous recordings, the subtly wavering, synthetic guitar tone you hear is quite new, coming across at times like an abstracted, splayed-out take on the '80s guitar synth work of Pat Metheny or Bill Frisell. Equally new is the harmonic complexity of Ambarchi's playing, which leaves behind the minimalist simplicity of much of his previous work for a constantly-shifting play between lush consonance and uneasy dissonance. Beginning with a beautiful passage of unaccompanied percussion dominated by the berimbau, the side-long title piece carries on the first side's exploration of subtle, non-linear dynamic arcs, taking the form of a gently episodic suite, in which distinctive moments, like a lyrical passage of guitar-triggered piano, unexpectedly arise from intervals of drifting tones like dream images suddenly cohering. In the piece's second half, the piano tones become increasingly more clipped and synthetic, scattering themselves into aleatoric melodies that call to mind an imaginary collaboration between Albert Marcoeur and David Behrman, grounded all the while by the pulse of Baptista's percussion. Subtle yet complex, fleeting yet emotionally affecting, Simian Angel is an essential chapter in Ambarchi's restlessly exploratory oeuvre. Personnel: Oren Ambarchi - guitars & whatnot; Cyro Baptista - percussion & voice.
Recorded by Randall Dunn, Joerg Hiller, Iuri Oriente, and Oren Ambarchi. Photography by Traianos Pakioufakis. Design by Lasse Marhaug. Edited by Joerg Hiller and Oren Ambarchi at Choose Studios, Berlin. Mixed by Joe Talia and Oren Ambarchi at Good Mixture, Tokyo. Cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin. Executive Producers: Konrad Sprenger and Dick Wolf.
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Cassette
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EMEGO 263CS
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Cassette version. On Proxy States, his third release on Editions Mego, Jung An Tagen continues to expand his unique vision of oblique electronic music mixed with future dance club sound. On Proxy States techno is evolving into another realm, manifesting as his most formulated attempt to combine modern composition techniques with ritualistic techno aesthetics. Here he takes his obsession with structure to a more narrative build-up, creating new paths and textures around his infectious beats. With this structure, Jung An Tagen develops an emotional relationship between repetition and dissonance -- it's addictive music, music in constant explosion. The 12 seconds of the first track, "Spill (False)" sound like a recreation of The Big Bang, creating the perfect intro for this molecular polyrhythmic adventure. It also creates the connection/disconnection with his previous work, Agent Im Objekt (EMEGO 248LP, 2018), bridging the two but also creating a space to embark on a new sonic trip. This self-contained explosion offers the right coordinates and propels the listener to Jung An Tagen's sonic realm. All of this is done with his usual fearless but mindful approach. His unique exercises with structure, time and sound create an ecstatic familiarity with the sounds while at the same time inducing a creeping physical alienation. In other words, some parts may be rhythmically infectious, others will give you no chance to immerse. The stimulation is astute and continuous, encouraging an out-of-this-world experience. The main arc of Proxy States consists of a 16 against 17 poly-rhythmic synth line that through different intonations of the kick drum always transforms its syntax. This synth line always scales up 1 key, in the middle of the track, foreseeing the upcoming structure. While these tracks (3, 4, 5, 6: "Wreath Products") follow an almost obsessive-compulsive order, the remaining tracks seem to blow up the structure entirely like the last scenes of the 1970 Michelangelo Antonioni's film Zabriskie Point, creating an event inside the event. Proxy States was impossible to press on vinyl but the fast, sharp and wild grooves of Jung An Tagen's new album are incredibly synched with the concept of an ever accelerating future. Mastering by Cam Deas, artwork and layout by Stefan Juster.
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EMEGO 263CD
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On Proxy States, his third release on Editions Mego, Jung An Tagen continues to expand his unique vision of oblique electronic music mixed with future dance club sound. On Proxy States techno is evolving into another realm, manifesting as his most formulated attempt to combine modern composition techniques with ritualistic techno aesthetics. Here he takes his obsession with structure to a more narrative build-up, creating new paths and textures around his infectious beats. With this structure, Jung An Tagen develops an emotional relationship between repetition and dissonance -- it's addictive music, music in constant explosion. The 12 seconds of the first track, "Spill (False)" sound like a recreation of The Big Bang, creating the perfect intro for this molecular polyrhythmic adventure. It also creates the connection/disconnection with his previous work, Agent Im Objekt (EMEGO 248LP, 2018), bridging the two but also creating a space to embark on a new sonic trip. This self-contained explosion offers the right coordinates and propels the listener to Jung An Tagen's sonic realm. All of this is done with his usual fearless but mindful approach. His unique exercises with structure, time and sound create an ecstatic familiarity with the sounds while at the same time inducing a creeping physical alienation. In other words, some parts may be rhythmically infectious, others will give you no chance to immerse. The stimulation is astute and continuous, encouraging an out-of-this-world experience. The main arc of Proxy States consists of a 16 against 17 poly-rhythmic synth line that through different intonations of the kick drum always transforms its syntax. This synth line always scales up 1 key, in the middle of the track, foreseeing the upcoming structure. While these tracks (3, 4, 5, 6: "Wreath Products") follow an almost obsessive-compulsive order, the remaining tracks seem to blow up the structure entirely like the last scenes of the 1970 Michelangelo Antonioni's film Zabriskie Point, creating an event inside the event. Proxy States was impossible to press on vinyl but the fast, sharp and wild grooves of Jung An Tagen's new album are incredibly synched with the concept of an ever accelerating future. Mastering by Cam Deas, artwork and layout by Stefan Juster.
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EMEGO 264CD
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After a trilogy of spectacular explorations of relentlessly driving rhythms -- Sagittarian Domain (EMEGO 144CD/LP, 2012), Quixotism (EMEGO 202CD/LP, 2014), and Hubris (EMEGO 227CD/LP, 2016) -- Simian Angel finds Oren Ambarchi renewing his focus on his singular approach to the electric guitar, returning in part to the spacious canvases of classic releases like Grapes From The Estate (BT 036LP/TO 061CD) while also following his muse down previously unexplored byways. Reflecting Ambarchi's profound love of Brazilian music, Simian Angel features the remarkable percussive talents of Cyro Baptista, a key part of the Downtown scene who has collaborated with everyone from John Zorn and Derek Bailey to Robert Palmer and Herbie Hancock. Like the music of Nana Vasconcelos and Airto Moreira, Simian Angel places Baptista's dexterous and rhythmically nuanced handling of traditional Brazilian percussion instruments into an unexpected musical context. On the first side, "Palm Sugar Candy", Baptista's spare and halting rhythms wind their way through a landscape of gliding electronic tones, gently rising up and momentarily subsiding until the piece's final minutes leave Ambarchi's guitar unaccompanied. While the rich, swirling harmonics of Ambarchi's guitar performance are familiar to listeners from his previous recordings, the subtly wavering, synthetic guitar tone you hear is quite new, coming across at times like an abstracted, splayed-out take on the '80s guitar synth work of Pat Metheny or Bill Frisell. Equally new is the harmonic complexity of Ambarchi's playing, which leaves behind the minimalist simplicity of much of his previous work for a constantly-shifting play between lush consonance and uneasy dissonance. Beginning with a beautiful passage of unaccompanied percussion dominated by the berimbau, the side-long title piece carries on the first side's exploration of subtle, non-linear dynamic arcs, taking the form of a gently episodic suite, in which distinctive moments, like a lyrical passage of guitar-triggered piano, unexpectedly arise from intervals of drifting tones like dream images suddenly cohering. In the piece's second half, the piano tones become increasingly more clipped and synthetic, scattering themselves into aleatoric melodies that call to mind an imaginary collaboration between Albert Marcoeur and David Behrman, grounded all the while by the pulse of Baptista's percussion. Subtle yet complex, fleeting yet emotionally affecting, Simian Angel is an essential chapter in Ambarchi's restlessly exploratory oeuvre. Personnel: Oren Ambarchi - guitars & whatnot; Cyro Baptista - percussion & voice.
Recorded by Randall Dunn, Joerg Hiller, Iuri Oriente, and Oren Ambarchi. Photography by Traianos Pakioufakis. Design by Lasse Marhaug. Edited by Joerg Hiller and Oren Ambarchi at Choose Studios, Berlin. Mixed by Joe Talia and Oren Ambarchi at Good Mixture, Tokyo. Cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin. Executive Producers: Konrad Sprenger and Dick Wolf.
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2LP
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RD6
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A biomedical scientist and an architect form a band in the early '70s with nothing by the way of traditional musical talent or skill but with endless enthusiasm and their own unique musical sensibility. The ensuing career and creative output of this ongoing home studio/bedroom band remains one of the most significant song based 'outre' catalogs ever produced in the United Kingdom. This comprehensive two LP set contains their first official LP (originally released on The Residents' legendary Ralph Records label) along with an extra album of different versions and extra tracks which reside here for the first time on vinyl. The duo Renaldo & The Loaf, originally Portsmouth-based, and now in Portsmouth and Mid-Wales, remain an enigma whilst amassing an enormous cult following worldwide. Their singular take on music encompasses wit, strange melodic construction and an off-kilter sensibility which successfully rendered them engaging for each emerging generation. The ability of Renaldo & The Loaf to unnerve and entertain in equal measure is what binds these songs to a musical universe outside of all other forms that existed around the time of release -- The Residents are obvious spiritual heirs. Songs For Swinging Larvae is a classic collection of confounding songs which lead the listener into a surreal world of twisted tunes and perverted pop. Songs From The Surgery is made up of improvisations, early/alternative versions of various Larvae tracks and unreleased pieces from the same period. The results leave one laughing through a thick veil of unease. As the original Ralph Records press release said of Songs For Swinging Larvae: "This is an album of primitive modernism, energetic obnoxious noises, manic high pitched vocals and sweet brilliance." All tracks written and produced By Renaldo And The Loaf, originally mixed at Elephant Studios, London, November 1980. Cover and layout by Nik Void, original album artwork by Gary Panter. Re-mastered for vinyl and cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates and Mastering, Berlin, November 2018.
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DOME 002LP
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With the demise of Wire in 1980, founding members Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis joined forces to create Dome. With the assistance of engineer Eric Radcliffe and his Blackwing Studio, Dome took the ethic of "using the studio as a compositional tool" and recorded and released three albums on their own label in the space of 12 months: Dome (DOME 001LP, 2019), Dome 2 (1980), and Dome 3 (1981). A final fourth album, Will You Speak This Word: Dome IV was released on the Norwegian Uniton label in 1982. These albums represent some of the most beautifully stark and above all, timeless exercises in studio experimentation from early the 1980s alternative music scene. Previously issued in the out of print DOME 1-4+5 box set in 2011, Dome 2 is now available as standalone LP, with new artwork by Dave Coppenhall. Floating-point re-master by Russell Haswell, August 2011. Cut at Dubplates & Mastering by Rashad Becker. Includes download.
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EMEGO 239CD
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UUUU is a new outfit featuring Edvard Graham Lewis, Thighpaulsandra, Matthew Simms, and Valentina Magaletti. Individually these humans have implanted feathers in caps such as Coil, Dome, Wire, Tomaga, etc. Collectively they form UUUU, a powerhouse construction of fierce and free sonic exploration, as liberating as it is frightening, resulting in a richly rewarding sound. The artists united present a project of exquisite curiosity and confident chaos where the individual thumbprints mesh into a gloriously muscular frenetic free sonic soup. "It's Going All Over The Floor" presents itself as a terse meeting between dance, ambient, abstraction, and improvisation. "The Latent Black Path Of Summons Served" proceeds in a tense energy field where random elements bounce around until locking into a fourth world pattern designed to fall into a dense mass of ecstatic noise. "Boots With Wings" is classic Lewis -- a pop tune from the other side of the mind. UUUU is a schizophrenic seething/soothing masterpiece of a past/present hybrid, equally at home in the club, the home, and the mind. Photography by Antonio Curcetti. Recorded and mixed at Aeriel Studios, Brechfa by Thighpaulsandra; Mastered by Sarah Register. Track listing same as double-LP with bonus track "Electric Blanket" previously available on the UUUU 12" (EMEGO 239X-EP).
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LP
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EMEGO 259LP
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Repressed. Caterina Barbieri is an Italian composer who explores themes related to machine intelligence and object-oriented perception in sound through a focus on minimalism. Following 2017's acclaimed double-LP Patterns Of Consciousness (IMPREC 449LP), Ecstatic Computation is the new full-length LP by Caterina Barbieri. The album revolves around the creative use of complex sequencing techniques and pattern-based operations to explore the artefacts of human perception and memory processes by ultimately inducing a sense of ecstasy and contemplation. Computation is turned from being a formal, automatic writing technique into a creative, psychedelic practice to generate temporal hallucinations. A state of trance and wonder where the perception of time is distorted and challenged. Equally nervous and ecstatic, the fast permutation of patterns can create a state where time stands still whilst simultaneously being in motion. Is this propulsive music moving forward or backward? As long as the perception of the present is constantly enhanced and refreshed in an endless sense of loss, re-discovery and the search for self-orientation this question lies mute aside the thrilling and perplexing moment of the matter at hand. Vocals on "Arrows Of Time" performed by Annie Gårlid and Evelyn Saylor; recorded by Stefano Tucci at Failsafe Studio. Artwork by Ruben Spini. Mastered by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering.
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DOME 001LP
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Restocked. With the demise of the group Wire in 1980, founder members Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis joined forces to create Dome. With the assistance of engineer Eric Radcliffe and his Blackwing Studio Dome took the ethic of "using the studio as a compositional tool" and recorded and released three Dome albums on their own label in the space of 12 months: Dome (July 1980), Dome 2 (October 1980), and Dome 3 (October 1981). A final fourth album, Will You Speak This Word: Dome IV was released on the Norwegian Uniton label in May 1983. These albums represent some of the most beautifully stark and above all timeless exercises in studio experimentation from early 1980s alternative music scene. Previously issued in the out-of-print Dome 1-4+5 box set in 2011. Now available as standalone LP; Includes download card. New artwork by Dave Coppenhall. B.C. Gilbert: voices, guitars, bass, percussion, tapes, drums; G. Lewis: voices, guitars, bass, percussion, tapes, synthesizer; A.M.C. - voice on "Cruel When Complete". Recorded on March 10th & 16th, 1980 and April 1st, 1980; Produced by B.C. Gilbert and G. Lewis; Engineer - Eric Radcliffe; Asst. engineer - John Fryer; Floating-point re-master by Russell Haswell, August 2011; Cut at Dubplates & Mastering by Rashad Becker, August 2011.
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CD
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EMEGO 258CD
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As audacious as the sleeve it comes housed in, the UK's most eccentric audio malefactor returns with his eighth studio album, Practical Electronics with Thighpaulsandra. Unique in the Thighpaulsandra oeuvre, this one eschews the usual group-based recordings, consisting of electronics and vocals only. Hovering between haunted narratives and extended instrumental sequences, Practical Electronics is an eccentric excursion into playful pop and fearless electronic experimentation. Simultaneously intimidating and accessible, the energy of this untamed mind unleashes an artifact where high art unfolds as an oblique electronic cabaret. Having cut his teeth amongst such legendary outfits such as Coil and Spiritualized, Thighpaulsandra has constantly catapulted himself further and further into a musical landscape utterly of his own devising. Practical Electronics is the latest exemplary installment of a voice that is uncompromising as it is outlandish. Cover design by Liam Thonas; Photography by Siôn Oegon. Recorded and mixed by Thighpaulsandra at Aeriel Studios, Brechfa between 2017 and 2018. Mastered by Matt Colton at Alchemy Mastering, London.
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LP
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EMEGO 258LP
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LP version. As audacious as the sleeve it comes housed in, the UK's most eccentric audio malefactor returns with his eighth studio album, Practical Electronics with Thighpaulsandra. Unique in the Thighpaulsandra oeuvre, this one eschews the usual group-based recordings, consisting of electronics and vocals only. Hovering between haunted narratives and extended instrumental sequences, Practical Electronics is an eccentric excursion into playful pop and fearless electronic experimentation. Simultaneously intimidating and accessible, the energy of this untamed mind unleashes an artifact where high art unfolds as an oblique electronic cabaret. Having cut his teeth amongst such legendary outfits such as Coil and Spiritualized, Thighpaulsandra has constantly catapulted himself further and further into a musical landscape utterly of his own devising. Practical Electronics is the latest exemplary installment of a voice that is uncompromising as it is outlandish. Cover design by Liam Thonas; Photography by Siôn Oegon. Recorded and mixed by Thighpaulsandra at Aeriel Studios, Brechfa between 2017 and 2018. Mastered by Matt Colton at Alchemy Mastering, London.
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2LP
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EMEGO 261LP
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The playful confidence that exudes Finlay Shakespeare's practice is flagrantly laid out on Domestic Economy, his extraordinary debut full-length. Domestic Economy displays two eventful sides evidencing the unique musical approach Shakespeare has developed in such a short period of time. Let's get some facts straight, Finlay is young. And talented. His programming skills belie his years and one can detect a sharp appreciation of historical electronic pop whilst simultaneously developing a canny understanding as to where such a form exists in the current age. Shakespeare's brazen lyrical content and significant melodic prowess highlight a brave new voice in what can often be a sterile aesthetic environment. Domestic Economy bursts with edgy ecstatic electronic pop. A form not only unusual for Editions Mego (actually known for idolizing such forms) but somewhat of a scarcity amongst the modern electronic landscape. Belying age, form, and movement, Domestic Economy is a damn near perfect amalgamation of historical respect and contemporary anxiety wrapped in an exquisite song-form package. Made in Bristol. Published in Wien. Delivered to all brains, like a wayward dream. Artwork by Nik Void. All original material improvised whilst recorded live; All revisions made to pre-existing material carried out at B17, July-August 2018; All material by Finlay Shakespeare, except saxophone and clarinet on "Amsterdam" by Zoë Hutton and bugle on "Heston" by Jamie Neale. Mastered by Russell Haswell.
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7"
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EMEGO 260EP
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Snapshot release by new Editions Mego signing, the Bristol-based Finlay Shakespeare. Routine is a twitchy electro monster confronting the listener with a worked up a blend of AFX, Cabaret Voltaire, and New Order. The B-Side "Perris" propels itself as a crazed analog drama that is as ambitious as it is unholy. Simultaneously a modern throwback to the brooding synth pop age and an absolute belter in the contemporary mainframe, Finlay Shakespeare has made it quite clear, that he is here.
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LP
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EMEGO 249LP
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Hence is the third collaborative release from Oren Ambarchi and Jim O'Rourke, following on from Behold (EMEGO 176LP, 2015). Building on the refined combination of electronics and acoustic instrumentation found on their previous releases, Hence presents two side-long pieces combining synthesizers, heavily effected guitar tones, and tabla rhythms played by special guest Uzhaan. On the first side, an explosive opening chord sends out ripples of sparse, irregularly pulsing guitar and synthesizer tones, aleatorically changing in pitch and jumping around the stereo image. Combined with the tabla, which gradually builds in busyness throughout the side, the piece is like a dream collaboration between David Behrman and the Henry Kaiser of It's A Wonderful Life (1984), gradually overtaken in its second half by a swarm of lush live electronic sizzle. The second side begins in a similar area, combining tabla, shimmering Leslie cabinet guitar tones, and a wandering melodic line. Undergoing a series of subtle variations, this initial area eventually builds to a climax of twittering synthesized birdsong reminiscent of Alvin Curran's '70s work. As on the first side, Ambarchi and O'Rourke craft a piece that is both comforting and subtly strange, as the constantly shifting dynamics and changes of focus (which recall the flow of improvised music) refuse to allow the music to settle into any one moment for too long or to build in too linear a fashion. Combining influences from post-minimalism, the pioneers of live electronics, and eastern music into a unique sound world, Hence is a seductive work from two of the most singular sensibilities in contemporary music. Cut by Rashad Becker at D&M, Berlin. Photos by Traianos Pakioufakis. Sleeve/type design by Stephen O'Malley.
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LP
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EMEGO 254LP
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Ilpo Väisänen returns to Editions Mego under the guise of I-LP-ON with, ÄÄNET, an immense tribute to the outfit he played in alongside his friend and former creative partner Mika Vainio. ÄÄNET takes inspiration from the life of Pan Sonic, the outfit they inhabited for over two decades. Recorded in Kuopio, Barcelona and Karttula, ÄÄNET is made up of a series of miniatures that harness the many shadows this legendary act absorbed: industrial, ambient, dub and club all figure into this edgy slow burning menace of a release. Featuring recordings made on the 2000 Pan Sonic world tour, Väisänen has crafted a unique homage to the outfit which redefined experimental electronic music by embracing pulsing club aesthetics coupled with more abstract avant-garde tendencies. The seismic fingerprint left by Pan Sonic avoids dating and genre identification finding a new definition here both as a nod to a notorious past whilst laying the groundwork for reigniting something utterly contemporary. ÄÄNET is an essential release of Väisänen's as it allows further expansion and broadening of the paths carved out from this resolutely unique form of scratchy and sublime electronic music. All music and sounds by Ilpo Väisänen. Recorded at Kuopio, Barcelona, and Karttula. Contains (field) recordings from 2000 Pan Sonic world tour. Mixed at Juniper & Stone, Karttula, Finland. Record is influenced by the life of Pan Sonic. Recitation on B9 by Ilpo. Conversator on B3 Dave Burton. Mika photo by John Duncan. Mastered at Dubplates & Mastering. Cover by Ilpo, layout/typo via Soma. Mika Vainio 1963-2017.
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CD
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EMEGO 257CD
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On Throne, Heather Leigh takes her place as queen of pedal steel with a suite of heart-rending ballads cauterized with burning riffs. After the rawness of its precursor I Abused Animal (SOMA 023LP, 2015), Throne is a record of late night Americana and heavy femininity; intimate love songs smoked in sensuality. The songs on Throne are woozy, gorgeous and uncomfortable, smothered in thick layers of bass but lifted by multi-tracked vocals. These are rich song forms that stand in contrast to the stripped down steel in her duo with Peter Brotzmann. "Prelude To Goddess" sashays in wearing leopard-print jeans under the twinkling fluorescent illuminations of the British seaside, like Brighton Rock with extra bass. It is followed in by "Lena" -arguably Leigh's "Jolene" - a perverse love song soaked in a subversive sexuality, weighed down with a heavy pulse. "Soft Seasons" is anchored with sunken beats shrouded in wailing, growling steel and an earwormy melody. "Gold Teeth", the longest track on the record, crests and breaks in waves; ecstatic peaks balanced and echoed by melancholic troughs. It soars on an updraft, and from cosmic heights dives seaward into a gnarly and riotous pedal steel breakdown, before catching the breeze again. "Days Without You" and "Scorpio & Androzani" are shorter, intimate songs; in the latter the synths seethe and the steel bows and bends as Leigh's voice falters above a Greek chorus of shadows and reflections. But this isn't autobiography, and Throne departs on "Days Without You", a confrontationally unfinished romantic song, anxious with half-thoughts and missed connections. It glides into the night on stilettos leaving unanswered questions, in a fugue of psychic disturbance and lovesick sensuality. Leigh's artwork (which she photographed and designed) is a visual mirror of the songs on Throne. It is an album of cosmic echoes, abstractions and introspection, of characters and stories that make up Leigh's first best pop record, its melodies and hooks set alight with the fiery core of her unique and distinctive pedal steel. Additional instrumentation by John Hannon (violin, synthesizer) and David Keenan (electric bass). Recorded and engineered by John Hannon, Rayleigh, Essex, March 2018. Photographs and design: Heather Leigh.
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