Friday, August 31, 2007

Pamelia Kurstin - Thinking Out Loud


from Tzadik website:

The long awaited first solo CD by world renown thereminist Pamelia Kurstin, who has been a rock star, rollerskater, party girl, classical virtuoso, jazz bassist and more.
Here she explores the unique sound of this exotic cult instrument through digital delay and electronic effects.
Her work is haunting and quirky—a perfect compliment to a moonlight drive, rainy afternoon or a soft summer evening. Perhaps the strangest recording ever made by one of the strangest musical instruments ever invented. Also included are several lyrical compositions for piano.

Label: Tzadik
Cat. #: 7717
Format: CD
Release date: 2007

Tracklisting:
01 - London (09:30)
02 - Edinburgh (09:17)
03 - Copingheaven (01:56)
04 - Eschschloraque (07:44)
05 - Creature To People (02:36)
06 - Barrow In Furness (05:11)
07 - Tonic (16:20)

Links:
Pamelia Kurstin
Tzadik

Freida Abtan - Subtle Movements


from Jnana Records website:

Subtle Movements was completed over four years in the sidelines of Freida's other projects and of her schooling in Montreal. It's a collection of her favorite pieces, combining her love of electro-acoustic music with her love of found melody.
Two of the songs that appear on the album are collaborations with Steven Stapleton of Nurse with Wound.
They were recorded in Colin Potter's studio in Preston, England when Freida travelled there to play a show as part of Scribble Seven in March 2006 alongside Steven, Colin, Andrew Liles, Matt Waldron, Joolie Wood, and Maja Elliott.

Label: Jnana Records
Cat. #: United Jnana 111
Format: CD
Release date: 2007

Tracklisting:
01 - Lightness And Weight (06:40)
02 - Creeping Ivy (01:25)
03 - The Works And Days Of Hands (03:21)
04 - Manifold (04:21)
05 - Cackles Of My Heart (04:08)
06 - Hereditary Disorder (03:11)
07 - The Act Of Repetition (07:37)
08 - Electric Smudge (05:52)
09 - Yellow Flowers (04:45)
10 - Shimmer And Dissolve (20:26)
11 - Even Small Things Break (Into Smaller Things) (05:28)
12 - Carnival Lights (04:11)

Links:
Freida Abtan
Jnana Records

Julia Kent - Delay


from Durtro website:

This is an astonishingly beautiful album from my heroine Julia Kent, who has played, or plays, in Antony and the Johnsons, Larsen, Backworld and C93 amongst many others.
(David Michael Tibet)

Label: Shayo
Cat. #: Shayo 012
Format: CD
Release date: 2007

Tracklisting:
01 - Airport Atmosphere (1:09)
02 - Gardermoen (4:10)
03 - Airport Atmosphere (0:22)
04 - Idlewild (3:15)
05 - Elmas (4:06)
06 - Airport Atmosphere (0:17)
07 - Barajas (4:16)
08 - Airport Atmosphere (0:24)
09 - Fontanarossa (4:03)
10 - Airport Atmosphere (0:19)
11 - Arlanda (4:04)
12 - Dorval (3:51)
13 - Venizélos (3:21)
14 - Airport Atmosphere (0:20)
15 - Schiphol (3:50)
16 - Tempelhof (2:26)
17 - Airport Atmosphere (0:21)
18 - Malpensa (4:28)

Links:
Julia Kent
Shayo Records

Taylor Deupree + Christopher Willits - Listening Garden


from Vital Weekly # 585:

Line boss Taylor Deupree teams up with Christopher Willits, who himself is also a big shot in the world of ambient glitch or whatever one calls it, for a work which they composed for two 'quiet indoor/tea spaces installed at the Yamaguchi Center For Arts and Media in Japan in June of 2004.
This is ambient music in the sense that Eno intended it to be when he first thought of it. Music that wouldn't be really present but fill the ambiance in a nice way.
Deupree and Willits recommend the listener to hear this in a similar situation, low background level and without headphones. Tea drinking is not too well spend on this coffee junk, and actually I must admit that I found more pleasure in turning up the volume quite a bit and listen quite carefully - quite the opposite to what they want, but I found their music more enjoyable that way. The details come out much better of course, and one hears all the subtle differences of environmental recordings, Willits guitar and Deupree's synthesizer humming. Even then things are quite textured, but quite rich.
It has moved away from the old Eno sound (which I only enjoyed on 'Music For Films' in his first ambient phase) into richer musical tapestries. Quite nice, even when not entirely new.
(Frans de Waard)

Label: Line
Cat. #: Line_032
Format: CD
Release date: 2007

Tracklisting:
01 - Untitled (5:17)
02 - Untitled (6:07)
03 - Untitled (10:16)
04 - Untitled (7:41)
05 - Untitled (4:09)

Links:
Taylor Deupree
Christopher Willits
Line

Heribert Friedl - Trac(k)_t


from Vital Weekly # 585:

When I first played the Heribert Friedl CD 'Trac[k]_t' I must admit I felt a bit annoyed, a bit tired. Another one of those microsound releases of one 'instrument' recorded and then making endless computer processings, in this case the cymbalon, an instrument that was extensively explored by Friedl before on MP3 releases by Con-V, or releases on Trente Oiseaux and his own Nonvisual Objects label. But upon hearing this work a couple of times, there is some interesting things to be noted.
One of them is that it seems to be more or less a live album of sorts. Perhaps I am entirely wrong, but I mean that much of the pieces sound a bit improvised, while it feeds through various stages of computer processing.
Delay, reverb are perhaps common places, but there is a sine wave undercurrent to be noted in this music, which makes this somewhat more irregular in the micro-field, although he never leaves the field entirely.
At times a bit more loud, more angular and less 'flowing' than his contemporary friends, this is quite a nice release, but one that gives away it's own character after a few rounds of intense listening.
(Frans de Waard)

Label: Line
Cat. #: Line_031
Format: CD
Release date: 2007

Tracklisting:
01 - 0.1 (3:40)
02 - 0.1.2 (3:58)
03 - 0.2 (5:14)
04 - 0.2.1 (5:38)
05 - 0.3 (2:23)
06 - 0.3.1 (4:31)
07 - 0.4 (7:32)
08 - 0.1.3 (4:51)
09 - 0.1.4 (0:46)
10 - 0.1.5 (1:44)
11 - 0.5 (3:55)

Links:
Heribert Friedl
Line

CoH - Super Suprematism


from Post-pop website:

is a COH album released in edition of 33 numbered and signed copies.
The box contains a CD-R and nine offset printed cards - these are a series of nine text sketches made in 2000-2001 to celebrate the work and the spirit of Kazimir Malevich.
The nine pieces of music have been recorded in 2007 to illustrate each of the sketches. An additional music piece (track No.10) is dedicated to the people whose trust and support made the publication possible: Andrij Kopytko, Arild Strømsvåg, Aymeric Lozet, Christina Frank, Claus Laufenburg, Doug Roark, Gregg Smith, Kenn Kirby, Lava, Ludovic Trocmé, Massimo & Pierce, Nigel R. Smith, Praveer Baijal, Robert Brown, Rob Tebworth, Steve Theisinger and Sandro Liebscher.

Label: none
Cat. #: none
Format: CD
Release date: 2007

Tracklisting:
01 - Untitled (3:12)
02 - Untitled (2:56)
03 - Untitled (3:47)
04 - Untitled (2:56)
05 - Untitled (4:27)
06 - Untitled (4:30)
07 - Untitled (4:33)
08 - Untitled (5:02)
09 - Untitled (3:19)
10 - Untitled (4:52)

Links:
CoH

Christopher Willits - Plants And Hearts


from Room40 website:

Christopher Willits is a ceaseless creative force focused on teasing out the most from his instrument of choice – the guitar. With 'Plants and Hearts', he sets out on a divergent exploration of the tonal qualities of guitar, rendering out a composition that references in equal doses the minimal harmonic shifts of Terry Riley and the phasing works of Steve Reich.
Incorporating 4hz isochronic pulses and panning at the same frequency, this work encourages the formation of 4hz brainwave patterns associated with states of meditation, deep relaxation, enhanced creativity, light sleep and lucid dreaming.
Using a MS (mid side) recording of guitar made by Ryan Kleeman at UMKC, the unique mixing technique of panning the cardioid M of the M-S array left and right four times at one second intervals alters spatial cues, and phase relationships. WARNING: this recording may cause dizziness and a sense of vertigo. You are advised not to drive while listening to this music.
From Willits: “I've always wanted to release a pure droning guitar piece and equally wanted to incorporate 4hz pulses and panning into something long form. These long drones, were recorded MS giving me some great stuff to experiment with, and allowed me blend these concepts in an unusual way.”

Label: Room40
Cat. #: EDRM413
Format: CD
Release date: 2007

Tracklisting:
01 - Plants And Hearts (21:30)

Links:
Christopher Willits
Room40

Oren Ambarchi - In The Pendulum's Embrace


from Touch website:

Oren Ambarchi continues his otherworldly investigations with "In The Pendulum's Embrace", a dark twin to his landmark 2004 album "Grapes from the Estate" [Touch # TO:61].
Returning again to the hallowed halls of BJB Studios in Sydney, Ambarchi expands the scope and range of his unique musical language, incorporating an even broader pallette of instruments and sensibilities.
Despite the use of glass harmonica, strings, bells, piano, percussion and guitars, it's startling that the world created is still unmistakably his own, and that there is such a cohesion of vision throughout the albums's three lengthy pieces.
With this record there's an even more tenuous coexistence of fragility and density; sounds as light as air mingling with wall shaking low-end.
The converted already know the kind of trance-inducing euphoria of Ambarchi's music.

Label: Touch
Cat. #: TO:78
Format: CD
Release date: 2007

Tracklisting:
01 - Fever, A Warm Poison (17:54)
02 - Inamorata (10:19)
03 - Trailing Moss In Mystic Glow (12:36)

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Links:
Oren Ambarchi
Touch
Touch radio
Touch shop