Electronic / Experimental

The contact between electronic sound and live instrumental sound, and the contact of the moment 'now'.

Contacte means contact. It is the contact between the electronic sound and the live player (instrumental sound), and also the contact of each moment of what Stockhausen calls the 'instant form'.
Regarding the 'momentary form,' Stockhausen said in a late-night music program on West German Radio in Cologne on January 12, 1961: "In recent years, a lot of music has been composed that is far from a form with a dramatic finale. There are no climaxes, no signs of climaxes, and no stages of development in these works. Rather, they suddenly and violently build up and try to maintain the 'peak' until the end of the work. It is always at a maximum or minimum, and the listener cannot predict how the piece will progress. It is not a moment that is part of a passage, nor is it a part of a constant duration. The concentration on the 'now' creates a vertical line that breaks the horizontal concept of time and leads us to the timeless..."
As the listener listens to the booming sounds coming from various directions, dark noises, percussion instruments, piano sounds, etc., the listener is freed from this world dominated by time flowing inexorably, and has a very dense and mysterious musical experience.
There are two versions of "Contacte": one for electronic sounds only, and the other for electronic instruments, piano, and percussion.

Clear vinyl. This is the miracle of Hawaiian lounge music! The third album "Primitiva" from 1958 by Martin Denny, the undisputed king of exotic fantasy music, is now available as an analog reissue! This is a great masterpiece by the "father of exotica" who was the first to incorporate Asian, Polynesian and Latin music into his own music and broaden the horizons of American audiences. A masterpiece of the century, Primitiva is an imaginative and fascinating space age music with dripping melancholy and exotic and fantastic moods.

LA harpist/composer Nailah Hunter has released her latest 12" EP on Leaving! It includes covers of Nan, Donovan's "Guinevere" and Radiohead's "Talk Show Host". The album is a masterpiece of unworldly beauty, blending the spirit of Alice Coltrane, alternative soul music, ambient, new age, and even acid folk! The original bonus song "The Brook" is also included on the vinyl-only version. It's a great piece of work that takes full advantage of the vibrant energy around "Leaving".

This is an officially licensed reissue. This is the 20th anniversary edition of the IDM masterpiece "Slow Motion Process", which Martin Haidinger, who used to run the electronica mecca Toytronic, released under the name Gimmik on Worm Interface in 2001. The album is a masterpiece of crystalline ambience and glitchy noise that crawls on the ground, reminding us of the wisdom of the golden age of electronica and IDM! The analog version includes an additional unreleased track "Typologic" from 1999.

This is a miraculous repress in a limited edition of 50 copies. Ben Vida is a famous synth player/composer from New York, who is known for his collaborations with cutting-edge artists such as Marina Rosenfeld and Rhys Chatham, as well as his participation in the famous band Joan Of Arc. In 2019, he will miraculously re-release his classic drone album, which was originally released as a USB card. This is a memory stick work that contains a single piece of work that is just over four hours long, pushing the limits of digital and analog. The recording and editing process took place between 2015 and 2019 and concludes the arc of ideas and practices that first appeared in 2016's Damaged Particulates. It's a truly immersive experience, a holy grail of drone music that compares favorably with the masterpieces of La Monte Young and Éliane Radigue. mastered by Stephan Mathieu, it's an album that's twice as good. Playable in MP3 / WAV / FLAC.

A long awaited repress of a very popular album! A sensual and innovative sound that can be called the midpoint of Batu, Farben, Lee Gamble and Isabella! Peder Mannerfelt, a talented artist from Stockholm, Sweden, who has been pushing the boundaries of left-field dance and experimentalism, released an EP on his own Peder Mannerfelt Produktion label in 2018. It's a masterpiece of modern dub techno/experimental electronic music, with a repulsive slow techno feel, a heavy but intuitive ambient tone, and even Mika Vainio's afterimage. Contains 6 tracks, 25 minutes in total. Limited edition of 500 copies.

A miraculous sequel to the 2001 Mo Wax raga/dancehall compilation "Now Thing" is now available on analog. The legendary first compilation, which became a gateway to a different dimension of dancehall sound for many people, was released by Chrome, a label run by London DJ Felix Hall, who also boasts a cult following with his mixtape cassettes for The Trilogy Tapes and Cav Empt. Just as roots reggae and dub influenced disco and post-punk in the '70s, jungle, rap, garage, and even pop and rock have all come together in the same way. From Dave Kelly to Steely & Clevie, NYC's Bobby Konders to Ward 21, only the most important cuts from the scene's leading producers are featured. Mastered by Rashad Becker, with art & design by Will Bankhead & Oliver Payne. The album was mastered by Rashad Becker, with art work & design by Will Bankhead, Oliver Payne, and liner notes by Lloyd Bradley.

This is a remix of a song by Madvillain, a very popular hip-hop duo consisting of MF Doom & Madlib, by Four Tet, one of the best diggers in the world. It was released as a promo in 2005 without a jacket and has been out of print for many years, but now it's back with a jacket! ! An exceptional electronic funk masterpiece that reconstructs the songs included in the album "MADVILLAINY"! An instrumental version is recorded on the B side.

The French label Shelter Press, run by Bartolomé Sanson and Félicia Atkinson, has released the debut album by Brooklyn-based sound designer John Also Bennett (JAB), who is also a member of RVNG. This is the 2019 debut album by Brooklyn-based sound designer John Also Bennett, aka JAB. The album was recorded independently in between collaborative projects with artists such as Forma, a Brooklyn, NY synthesist trio known for their releases on Kranky, Christina Vantzou, and Jon Gibson. It is an exercise in the fusion of the organic and the inorganic, including playing with presets adjusted for Aphex Twin's DX7, restrained by the intonation tuning system (genuine tuning). The minimalist ambient drone sound is uniquely layered with electronic synthesizers and a Chinese bamboo flute called "Dizi" that he borrowed from his father. Mastered by Rashad Becker at D+M. Mastered with D+M by Rashad Becker, design by Bartolomé Sanson, artwork by Zin Taylor. recommended if you like La Monte Young, Phill Ninblock, Takehisa Kosugi!

NTsKi is a Kyoto-based artist and musician. She began making music while living in the UK and began working in earnest in 2017 after returning to Japan. She works seamlessly to create tracks with gentle but somewhat eerie vocals and a mixture of diverse musicality. In 2021, she was selected by Bijutsu Techo as one of the newcomer artists who will open up the 2020s. Her collaboration with 7FO, released through EM Records, was selected as one of the best of the year by Shintaro Sakamoto. In addition to her self-produced works, she has participated in the works of Giant Claw, CVN, Shokuhin Matsuri a.k.a foodman, Dengaryu, KM, etc., and has released through overseas labels including TAR and Orange Milk. Also, she has contributed music to the Japan Pavilion hosted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry at SXSW 2019, where Yoichi Ochiai was the general director, virtual singer te'resa, and an Australian bag brand. On August 6th, 2021, her debut album "Orca" will be released via Orange Milk / EM Records.

Glacial, sensual psychedelic music that ranks alongside Lustmord, Deathprod and Basinski. Thomas Köner, the incarnation of dark ambient and innovator of the genre, is still making completely unique sounds decades later, and his 1997 masterpiece album about Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, is now available again. The deep, creaking bass sounds, rough synth pad ambience, and ambient sounds that seem to be about to break down, create a frozen soundscape that is still breathtaking after 24 years.

Minamata features music by internationally renowned composer, musician and environmental activist Ryuichi Sakamoto composed for the 2021 film directed by Andrew Levitas. The sweeping, atmospheric and somber orchestral score is a poignant accompaniment to the story of industrial disaster in the Japanese port town of Minamata, as told through the lens of American photojournalist Eugene Smith. Of the film’s music and working with Sakamoto, director Andrew Levitas says “Ryuichi was my dream collaborator – he would be on any film – but on this mission in particular, there could be no one else…The music quite literally needed to represent both the absolute best of humanity as well as the worst…In my opinion, Ryuichi was able to elegantly ride this razor’s edge and deliver on this concept entirely” Also included on the original soundtrack is the film’s end credit song “One Single Voice” performed by Welsh mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins, who stars in the film alongside Johnny Depp. The vinyl release of Minamata is pressed on a pair of translucent grey with black and gold smoke discs and comes housed in gatefold packaging with a 12” photo insert, credits and liner notes from director Andrew Levitas.

The album also features remixes by Kuniyuki, Bartosz Kruczynski, Knopha, Yoshiharu Takeda and more. The album "We hear the last decades dreaming" (SAGCD035) is the first release under the Chari Chari name in 18 years and marks the return of the independent label "Seeds And Ground" by Kaoru Inoue, who has been active as a DJ and producer for over 25 years. In addition to a series of remix EPs (three analog releases) from "We hear the last decades dreaming" (SAGCD035), the first album under the Chari Chari name in 18 years, a new album with additional unreleased tracks has already arrived.

The fascinating team of remixers includes Kuniyuki, a treasure from the north (Sapporo) who has been active overseas, and Chida, a veteran house DJ who has opened up DJ gigs overseas on his own. Chida, a veteran house DJ who has been active in the underground scene for a long time, and Mamazu (Hole & Holland), a DJ/producer who has been very active in the underground scene in recent years. The album also includes two tracks of self-rework by Kaoru Inoue himself.


Also based in Warsaw, Poland, Takeda's rave-revival sound production under the name Earth Trax has become a hot topic, and under his own name, he has been releasing excellent new music on the popular German digger label Growing Bin. "Bartosz Kruczyński, who is based in Warsaw, Poland, and has released two excellent New Age-style albums under the name Earth Trax, and Knopha, a popular underground DJ in Xiamen, China, whose two previously released analog EPs sold out in an instant. The album also includes a number of reworks by overseas artists.

This is the long-awaited repress of Grouper's seventh album from 2011, which was discontinued in 2011 and is now available from Chicago's Kranky. It is a timeless masterpiece that was voted the 21st best ambient album by Pitchfork. A timeless classic, voted #21 on Pitchfork's Best Ambient Albums. This is the kind of beauty you don't know how many times you'll hear in your life... how many times have you been swallowed up by this splendor? This is a fantastic piece of music, with vaguely shimmering, spacey guitars and pianos, and Liz Harris' heavenly voice, creating a mysterious sound world in broad daylight. Once you drop the needle, you will be enveloped in a blissful glow that will make you wish the time would never end.

Master drummer Jaki Liebezeit was very pleased that the craft of drum making has not changed much over the course of time. Be it that a skin is stretched over a drum with cords or bolts or be it that the skin is out of plastic or animal hide – the principle remains the same: Either enclose a hollow space without which there would be no sound (just imagine a drum filled with clay!).

The same applies to the perception of rhythm.
Everything is reduced to the essential: the hollow space in the centre.
It is the invisible that matters.

All tracks on the second Drums Off Chaos EP revolve around this vacant space in the middle.
A centre that is filled with – nothing.
The focus is on abstract, grooving drum music.
Rhythms are reduced to their elementary nucleus to such an extent that they can be perceived as clearly singular but also as universal.

And something emerges that follows universal laws such as gravity, ergonomics and acoustics.

“Play what the drum demands,” was one of Jaki’s sayings.
Together with him, Drums Off Chaos took this to heart. The EP centres on rhythms that are based on simple numerical relationships allowing their richness to unfurl from within.

“This sound / synapse transposition is as haunting as it is beautiful—surely Grouper’s best.”—Tiny Mix Tapes “If past Grouper releases have inhabited abyssal trenches and damp backwoods, here Harris takes us journeying across constellations and stars. Two of the most beguiling albums of the year, exquisitely realized and singularly evocative.” —The Quietus “This music feels both spacey and expansive and also oddly intimate and grounded, the work of someone who has mastered her tools and knows how to get the most out of them.”—Pitchfork “Harris finds a way to dive deeper in simple and unassuming ways.”—NPR

It comes as no surprise that Andrei Tarkovsky, master of Soviet cinema, turned to composer Eduard Artemiev to score his two lyrical and haunting films, The Mirror (1975) and Stalker (1979), as he had done for Solaris (also available on Superior Viaduct).
 
Artemiev’s magnificent soundtrack to The Mirror is the natural follow-up to Solaris. Dense, slow-moving, and often disorienting mood pieces with Baroque sensibilities resonate beyond the film’s dream-like images. For Stalker―Tarkovsky’s other science fiction masterpiece―Artemiev was inspired by Indian classical music and employed layers of synth tones, flute and tar (a traditional Iranian stringed instrument) to create a central theme as spellbinding as The Zone, a setting in the film where laws of physics no longer apply.
 
Superior Viaduct presents the first-time official release of these two astonishingly unique soundtracks. Recommended for fans of Lech Jankowski’s music for Brothers Quay films, BC Gilbert & G Lewis and Oneohtrix Point Never.

• First-time official release of original soundtracks for two classic films by Andrei Tarkovsky
• Follows the recent release of Artemiev’s acclaimed soundtrack for Solaris
• Recommended for fans of Philip Glass, Aphex Twin, Tim Hecker

Synth legend Suzanne Ciani, Demdike Stare's Sean Canty & Finders Keepers' Andy Votel come together on this killer hour-long 2014 synapse popper of a collaboration pooling the occasional group’s esoteric collage-based approach into a remarkably foreboding session pregnant with a dread that’s never quite resolved. Think Vladimir Ussachevsky, Todd Dockstader, Spectre and Company Flow melted thru the Deutsch-Italo industrial DIY tape era and funneled thru an almost impenetrable fog of Ann Arbor basement noizze. 

Hustling some of Neotantrik’s most amorphous gestures, ’241014’ is a four-segment movement of reduced Buchla treatments, destroyed vinyl loops and scraping foley suspense; like a cosmic dream diary layered into a collage of drones and clatters. Little in Ciani's extensive catalogue has hinted at what's on display here; the joyful lullaby-pop of "Seven Waves" or metallic alien soundscraping of "Flowers of Evil" are only hinted at. She instead paints new sonic vistas, allowing space for her collaborators to make themselves known; Votel's chiming toy autoharp and Bubul Tarang (a Punjab string instrument) add a distinctive flavor, while Canty's grimy drones and noise-soaked textures drizzle pitch-black molasses into the cracks and crevices. Together, the effect is a bit like hearing Philip Jeck improvising over Popol Vuh's peerless Moog-led debut "Affenstunde" or Demdike Stare knocking out impromptu reworks of Tangerine Dream's abstrakt early run.

Perhaps unusually, the trio have still never set foot in a studio together, exclusively maintaining their practice in-the-moment and on stage when schedules intersect. So it’s all the more remarkable that their improvisations naturally find a democracy of role and such a heightened level of intuition, beautifully converging their thoughts to mutual, open-ended conclusions that leaves billowing room for interpretation. In a most classic sense, it's like the sensation of sleep paralysis or dream/nightmare ambiguity, with a level of suggestiveness that’s disorienting from end to end.

For the first time the recordings are now available in high fidelity (there was a tape version a couple of years back) - now remastered by Rashad Becker to better represent the otherworldly scope of their actions on stage, from the NWW-like queues and drone of ‘Scanned Accents’ and keening silhouette of ‘Second Action,’ to new sections of subaquatic Porter Ricks-like murk in ‘Anti-Contraction’ and the levitating webs of synth and tactile, sampled textures in ‘Last Canción.’  

Tape music and synth music have long shared a passionate embrace, and here turntablism coolly slides in on the action. Canty and Votel's background in beat tape assembly and crate digging pays off: they're keenly experimental creators but bring an unfussy sense of rhythm and performance that's miles beyond any facile repetition of a nostalgia for vintage glory. Combined with Ciani's delicate Buchla work - it’s a unique proposition.

Whether it’s Hip Hop, it’s face pointed reverentially to the Old School, or House stealing Disco riffs by the truck load, people are increasingly intrigued by back-in-the-day. And common to both the aforementioned scenes and much more is one person, Arthur Russell, a man some regard as the best songwriter of the 20th century. In 1981 Arthur set up Sleeping Bag Records with Will Socolov. The first release was the album “24-24 Music” as Dinosaur L. If you’re wondering about the name it would appear Arthur would often use the names of extinct or near-extinct animals. On one production credit he’s “Killer Whale, whilst the logo for Sleeping Bag is a Koala bear! Will remembers how they came up with the name for their label. “We were joking about names, and James Brown was on with “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag” and I was sleeping in a sleeping bag in my apartment and I kind of made a joke about that, and Arthur said that was a great idea for the name of the company!” The line up was pretty much the same as the Loose Joints sessions, (which boasted the Ingram Brothers rhythm section) and a similar stream-of-conscience approach was taken with the recording itself. Russell arranged the beats so there’d be a change every 24 bars (hence the title) and the band would have to improvise the songs over the top. He also made sure he went into the studio when there was a full moon! The album is again very experimental, and makes occasional uneasy listening but the same magic is very much in evidence. Arthur would continue to be involved in production and mixing duties for the label, but parted company with Socolov in 1985. Arthur sadly died of AIDS in 1992 leaving behind many songs; as one obituary put it, it was though he simply vanished into his music.

Limited color vinyl (Marble Orange & Red)/ Gatefold sleeve specifications. The masterpiece "Kaleidoscope" released in 2000 released from the DJ Food project devised by the founder Coldcut. Produced by then-members Kevin Forks, aka Strictly Kev, and Patrick Carpenter, aka PC, this work sets it apart from DJ Food's original concept of providing DJ material, and the future of beat music. It was a perfect work as if I had foreseen. Twenty years after its release, Kev and PC celebrated the 20th anniversary of Kaleidoscope by discovering different versions, different mixes, and unpublished ideas from past archives and original recording session material. It was decided to put together a mixed sound source, make improvements and make it into a work as "Kaleidoscope Companion", and release it as a 4-disc LP together with the original album.

The opening "The Ents Go To War" has a gloomy arrangement and heavy drums, "Skylark" has a hypnotic dance between the bassline and the snare, and "Zoom Zoom" has a whimsical percussion. The airy synthesizer is impressive. In addition, "Kaleidoscope Companion" is full of moments that fans will be surprised at. The big band meets easy listening "Hip Operation" was reused in the first version of Sukia's "Feelin'Free" remix, and "A Strange Walk" was included in the compilation "Xen Cuts". An unreleased version of the remix. "Stealth" is another version of the Gentle Cruelty Remix of "The Aging Young Rebel", also included in "Xen Cuts".

Another version of DJ Food's signature song, "The Crow (Slow)," extends the melodic theme to a calm soundscape that eventually blends into another dub version. The 13-minute-long "Quadraplex (A Trip To The Galactic Center)" is made by stitching together various takes from different synthetic tracks. Closing Kaleidoscope Companion, Boo Hoo is an early short version of The Sky At Night that conveys the cinematic mood of the album.

It's not a new DJ Food album, it's an album that wasn't born at the time. In another reality, these songs may have been on Kaleidoscope, but now, 20 years later, they will be released as an adjunct to the original album. --Strictly Kev

French house master Gilbert Cohen, who runs Versatile Records and is also known for his work with I:Cube in the famous duo Château Flight, presents his latest LP as Gilb'R. This is the latest LP that transcends 25 years of time. Last year, Cohen collaborated with French new age/electronic music genius Ariel Kalma on "Plantlife" and "Super Spreader" (with guest appearance by I:Cube!). He also collaborated with the great Ariel Kalma (!) on "Plantlife" and "Super Spreader" (with I:Cube as a guest!), a cosmic ambient dance number, the heavenly Balearic ambience "Café Del Pijp" with Jonny Nash of "Melody As Truth" fame, and the hot and quietly vibrant lefty A total of 10 tracks are included in this album.

Totally absorbing new album flush with ambient-jazz-electronic touches from Vegyn, following their production chops for Frank Ocean, Travis Scott and JPEGMAFIA with an ear-snagging new showcase on London’s PLZ Make It Ruins.

Affiliated with James Blake and Frank Ocean and known for work on some of the most prominent, boundary-probing rap releases of recent years, Vegyn brings a refreshingly optimistic, laid-back, dreamy aesthetic to the table in ‘Only Diamonds Cut Diamonds’. If this album had reached ears this summer it would have bene among the season’s most played, but as it stands it’s going to keep us warm all winter with its collaged mosaic of fleeting field recordings, Satie-esque melodic wist and sparingly used but super crispy R&B/hip hop snap.

A big, big look for fans of Klein, Gila, BoC, Oli XL.

Fortunately for us, Dmytro Nikolaienko agreed to open up the jewellery boxes of his tape-loop archive for his debut album on Faitiche. What came to light was a collection of dreamy glittering gems, masterfully presented using the compositional possibilities of analogue tape machines. Some may consider a tape machine to be limited as a musical instrument, but Rings makes a convincing case with its sure-handed use of the available parameters – moving tape over the tape head mechanically and manually, cutting loops, manipulating timbre and creating noise by means of saturation. The results are eleven blurred, repetitive, rhythmic patterns that can be understood as an intervention against digital precision, as mechanical irregularities and background noise become musical events.

For those familiar with Nikolaienko’s work, his nostalgic approach here will come as no surprise: born in Ukraine and now based in Estonia, he has chosen a historical medium (that has been enjoying a renaissance for some years now) to record historical-sounding sequences. The way he manages his own back catalogue is similarly archival, documenting the chronology of his tape loops in such a way as to leave no doubt as to their advanced age. And then there are his two wonderful labels Muscut and Shukai, the latter being an archival project releasing electroacoustic obscurities from the Soviet past.

Before there was Rimarimba, Suffolk-born, Felixstowe-based musician and home recording enthusiast Robert Cox assembled a cast of friends, some musicians and some not so much, for an experiment in group exploration and ecstatic expression under the name The Same. Sonically and gravitationally defined by Cox’s collaboration with guitarist Andy Thomas (a partnership which formed in 1976 to record as General Motors), Sync or Swim, The Same’s one and only album, also featured keyboards by Florence Atkinson and Paul Ridout, and vocals by Robert’s sister Rebecca.

Originally released in small cassette and vinyl quantities on Unlikely Records, Cox’s imprint and a meeting point for many other musicians found at the fringe, the back cover of the original album jacket is as much a map of the personnel, place, and process fundamental to Sync or Swim as it is a table of contents for DIY music-making at the beginning of the 80s: “Recorded in peaceful Wiltshire between September 18th and October 6th 1981 (using a miscellany of home made devices) onto a Teac A-3300SX via a Teac A-3440. No noise reduction systems were used.”

Cox’s own definition of British psychedelia is “folk music meeting technology and going bonkers.” It’s by this definition that Sync or Swim takes unexpected forms, from tape-speed tomfoolery, concrète sound collage and analog delayed marimbas, to the colorful spectrum of interwoven guitar play between Cox and Thomas reminiscent of Ghanaian Highlife but more accurately indebted to Jerry Garcia.

On the album’s culminating final track, “E Scapes,” all of these elements are brought together in twenty-minute journey through layers of chiming guitar loops and spritely solos, keyed percussion, and tape experiments, all played as though the sun were rising over the standing stones of Salisbury Plain. Cox would later go to similarly greath lengths with certain solo sound endeavors, but the confluence of musicians on “E Scapes” pushes the piece to exceptional, unforgettable heights.

Transferred and remastered from the original tapes, The Same’s Sync or Swim arrives June 4, 2021 on Freedom To Spend, just in time for the album’s 40th anniversary.