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This 1995 album is one of those extraordinarily rare instances in which a remix album was actually a great idea. For one, it focuses almost entirely on material from Evanescence, an album that many (myself included) consider to be Scorn's peak, capturing Mick Harris during that all-too-brief nexus in which his more visceral impulses and his love of disquieting ambiance were in perfect balance. Then, of course, he managed to assemble several of the most compelling and uncompromising denizens of electronic music's shadowy fringes (Coil, Autechre, etc.) to warp it all to their liking.
Ellipsis opens, appropriately enough, with the monster lead track ("Silver Rain Fell") from Evanescence, now remixed by Meat Beat Manifesto.I find it to be a somewhat amusing remix attempt, as the primary difference is that Jack Dangers just removed all of Nick Bullen's pointless vocals.He also made some subtly funky and unobtrusive additions and dispelled a little bit of Harris's harshness, but it is basically the same song, only edited to remove anything that Dangers didn’t think was quite working ("Here you go, mate- I fixed your song.You're welcome.").The awesome shuffling beat from the original, thankfully, stayed intact.
Most of the other contributors make much more conspicuous changes, however.Robin Rimbaud, for example, essentially obliterates every recognizable feature from "Night Tide" and transforms it into an ominously ambient Scanner piece (enhanced byalternately amusing and tense snatches of ill-gotten cell phone conversations, predictably).Autechre, quite similarly, absolutely gut "Falling," leaving only a very minimal lurching early-Autechre-style beat and some spectral, echoing snatches of Mick Harris’s original ethnic percussion.
Coil, for their part, rather unexpectedly contribute the most sympathetic and well thought-out work on the album with their re-envisioning of "Dreamspace."I suppose I am a pretty big Coil fan, but they were never a group that I considered particularly restrained or reverent.Like Dangers before them, they wisely discarded Bullen’s vocals and kept just about everything else.They then went one step further though, and slathered the track with some inspired and well-placed mindfuckery.Aside from a very conspicuous, submerged, and psychotropic repeating note motif, it is extremely difficult to pinpoint exactly what Sleazy and Balance did, but quite clear that the song has been vastly improved somehow- it’s just more squelchy, more shivery, and more weird.Notably, Coil also did a (lesser) second version of the same song that was only included on the original vinyl version, but it has since resurfaced on Anamnesis.
The rest of the album takes a bit of a downturn, but is still generally enjoyable:P.C.M. enlivens "The End" with some frantic (but now dated) drum-and-bass rhythms, Mick Harris perplexingly reworks "Exodus" and "Light Trap" to make them slightly less cool than the original versions, and Germ takes one of the least impressive tracks from Evanescence ("Automata") and turns it into a different unimpressive track.Then, regrettably, there is Bill Laswell, whom I just don’t understand at all.Unlike everyone else, he picked a song from an earlier album ("Night Ash Black" from Colossus).Also unlike everyone else, he made his song dramatically worse than the original by doubling the length, playing up the guitars and the vocals, adding some didgeridoo, and tossing in some wildly overdramatic movie samples.I'd like to believe that he was just being hilariously contrarian, but I have some very serious doubts.  
Aside from Coil, no one on Ellipsis quite manages to eclipse the source material, but it is certainly fascinating to hear everyone take a crack at it anyway.Part of the reason is that Nick Bullen's heavy, muscular bass lines were one of the best things about Evanescence (and Scorn in general) and many of the remixers neutered the songs a bit by removing or downplaying them.The other problem is that, with few exceptions, most of the remixes fall victim to Scorn’s own Achilles' Heel of stretching great ideas too thin and going on a bit too long.  Ellipsis is not quite a classic in its own right, but it has some great moments and serves as an excellent companion piece to the more essential Evanescence (with which it has now been conveniently reissued).
Samples:
- Dreamspace (Coil "Shadow vs. Executioner" Mix)
- Silver Rain Fell (Meat Beat Manifesto Mix)
- Night Tide (Scanner "Flaneur Electronique" Mix)
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Unavailable for over 10 years, this new edition of “Lebenserinnerungen Eines Lepidopterologen” (“Memoirs of a Lepidopterist”) collects the collaborative and early solo works of Andreas Martin and Christoph Heemann as an extensive 2CD retrospective.
Moving between minimalist guitar compositions, tape-music narratives, and an array of cascading electronics, each of Martin and Heemann’s solo recordings blend seamlessly within the milieu of their collaborative work.
While one can hear how this forged the groundwork for much of the late-period H.N.A.S. material, the work here took the vision further, and helped shape a path toward their respective solo endeavors. Included are compositions from their first solo releases: Martin’s “Doppelpunkt Vor Ort” (1993) and Heemann’s-“Uber den Umgang mit Umgebung and Andere Versuche” (1991), each originally released as small edition 10” vinyl. Also featured is a prime selection of previously unreleased material, obscure 7” tracks, and their collaborative opus from the (H.N.A.S.) “Ach, Dieser Bart!” LP (1988).
This deluxe set includes two additional tracks (not appearing on the previous edition), remastered audio, and fully restored visuals. All packaged in a beautiful mini-LP gatefold jacket with an updated 4-page booklet. Over 100 minutes of music covering the years 1987-2000
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"In the early eighties Robert Haigh released several highly acclaimed albums under the name of SEMA on his own label Le Rey Records.
The most notable being 'Three Seasons Only'. He also contributed piano and recordings to various Nurse with Wound projects including: Homotopy to Marie, Sylvie and Babs Hi Fi Companion, Spiral Insana.
The final release on Le Rey Records was his solo piano album 'A Waltz in Plain C' (CD) in 1989 and after that release Robert left London and settled in Hertfordshire.
20 years have passed since then. "Notes and Crossings" is the album that Robert has jokingly referred to as the follow up to 'A Waltz in Plain C'. "Notes and Crossings" is an album of pure piano music (with some treatments) - there is no use of percussion and electronic sequencing etc. The album is comprised of 14 pieces of written and improvised piano music, including an unreleased (but re-recorded) track from 1989 : 'Tomorrow Never Came'.
Robert says : "Piano is my real love and I am excited to have the challenge to work within the (limitless) limitations and expressions of this medium"
This is what long-time SEMA listeners expect from Robert Haigh, and will appeal to those who love works by Erik Satie, Claude Debussy and Harold Budd. In an edition 500 copies with hand-made miniature jacket sleeve designed by Faraway Press.
Siren Records is very proud to release this long awaited beautiful new album by Robert Haigh."
http://ghostsonwater.blogspot.com/
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SOROW is a new work by David Jackman aka Organum after completing the recent "Holy" trilogy ('Sanctus', 'Amen' and 'Omega').
SOROW is not an album that expands the trilogy still farther, but opens a new chapter in Organum's career.
On the basis of the European organ drones and the Indian Tanpura foundation, the gentle Japanese temple bell compliments the piece. It is neither of European Middle Age by a revisionist nor Oriental music composed from a European viewpoint. Its actions are of international minimalism and SOROW is 'Universal Music' in the true sense of the word. In an edition 500 copies with high quality gatefold sleeve designed by Jonathan Coleclough.
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The major recurrent theme for Soundway compilations is documenting that fragile and fleeting period when two cultures collide and the resulting music still seems exciting, fresh, and revolutionary. Palenque Palenque certainly fits nicely within that aesthetic, but the absorption of African music into Colombia did not follow a predictable path all, as this is a deeply strange and somewhat baffling album (albeit quite a likable one). Rather than sounding like a Latinized Fela Kuti, some of the artists more closely resemble a young Steve Reich on amphetamines trying to construct an Afro-Latin dance album from tape loops.
Champeta was born in the early '70s when soukous, highlife, and Afrobeat records started finding their way into Columbia around the same time that sound system culture was beginning to flourish.Notably, Colombians took to these new African sounds much more enthusiastically than any other country in their vicinity—in fact; co-compiler Lucas Silva is quite fond of proclaiming that Colombia was the first (only?) "Afrobeat nation" outside of Africa.This seeming anomaly actually has some very logical roots, as the north coast of Colombia featured quite prominently on the slave trade route and gradually became home to many displaced Africans who resisted completely assimilating themselves into Columbian culture.
Naturally, covering the hottest African music of the day quickly became quite a common practice for musicians in Cartagena and Barranquilla, but it is quite hard to fathom just how that ultimately progressed into something like Cumbia Siglo XX's "Negala Pedale," which begins with spastic auctioneer-like vocals before kicking into what sounds like a two-note locked groove.It's so ridiculous that it seems far more like a provocation than an honest attempt at a song ("Oh, you like to dance, do you? Try to dance to this, you bastards!").Unexpectedly, however, that "locked groove" aesthetic is strewn all over the rest of the album, encompassing everything: percussion, bass lines, guitar parts, and even vocals.Most of the tracks on Palenque Palenque are built are built upon endlessly repeating loops of frenzied funkiness coupled with similarly insistent call-and-response vocals.Often, the only fluid elements are the lead vocals and (maybe) some drum fills.In fact, some songs are repetitive to such a deranged degree (particularly Son Palenque) that they veer quite firmly into avant-garde territory, a truly odd place for dance music to wind up (especially when it originates from poor ghettos with a—possibly undeserved—reputation for violence).Also, it is both charming and mystifying to hear exuberant live musicians emulating loops.
The popularity of sound systems must have played an enormous role in shaping the improbable Champeta sound, as nearly all of the contributions seem to be based upon a very simple and true premise: all you need to get some asses on the dance floor and make them go wild is a great beat and a hook that becomes instantly familiar.A handful of overachievers go beyond the formula a bit and write some cool, fully-formed songs (Bandos Los Hijos De La Niña Luz, for example) or display great musicianship (like La Tromba), but most sensed that when people are having the time of their lives, they do not care what the hell is being sung or if the trombone player has sick chops.At least I hope that is the case. Otherwise, I have no explanation for the cartoonish duck impressions in "La Negra Kulende" or the onomatopoeic gibberish of "Burumburumbum."
On one hand, it is pretty easy to see why Champeta's popularity was relatively brief and highly localized and why Silva and Soundway's Miles Claret had to do quite a bit of scavenging to assemble this album, as dance music has a definite sell-by date and always falls victim to the next cool thing that comes along.Also, sometimes aggressive Latin rhythms make me feel like I am trapped in an elevator with a hyperactive child.On the other hand, however, it is abundantly evident why Silva has dedicated his life to preserving this music (he runs a Champeta-centric label of his own): Colombia has a thoroughly vibrant, weird, raucous, and unique musical legacy that almost no one has had a chance to hear.Palenque Palenque makes me very nostalgic for those wonderful days when wild and creatively fertile new scenes could still erupt and flourish in cultural isolation, vanish before becoming lame or commodified, then resurface to startle people like me several decades later.
Samples:
- La Nelda Pina – El Sucusu
- Cumbia Siglo XX – Naga Pedale
- Banda Los Hijos De La Niña Luz – Dejala Corre
 
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This piece for two pianos and a viola was one of the last pieces Luc Ferrari wrote and this recording documents its posthumous premiere along with a rehearsal performance. The two sides of this LP demonstrate that Ferrari was by no means running out of steam by the end of his life. The music as captivating as any of his other works for conventional instrumentation. Tense, violent and beautiful, Didascalies 2 is a potent reminder of Ferrari’s talent as a composer.
The first side of the LP features a rehearsal performance for Ferrari’s wife, Brunhild Meyer Ferrari, and covers a lot of ground in 18 minutes. Beginning with a dual piano pulse that sounds like a number of Morse code signals copulating, the piece slowly begins to fan out as the pianists (Jean-Philippe Collard-Neven and Claude Berset) incorporate clusters of notes around the central piano motif. "Didascalies 2" is at times ferocious; an atonal pounding erupts throughout the piece which is reminiscent of some of Ferrari’s earlier scores. When Vincent Royer’s viola appears towards the end of the piece it sounds like war has broken out; the viola is an oncoming bomber making a raid as the pianos replicate the explosions on the ground.
The world premiere performance of "Didascalies 2" takes up side B and the piece takes a different trajectory despite only a day between this and the aforementioned rehearsal performance. Emerging from the same one note pulse as described in Ferrari’s score, when Collard-Neven and Berset begin to develop the piece, it does not sound as jarring as in the rehearsal (not that jarring is a bad thing). Thunderous chords erupt late in the piece as lighter, melodic refrains pour from the pianos like rain. As the storm hits fully, the violence of "Didascalies 2" becomes apparent in a very different way to the other version of the piece; these recordings highlight the power of a good performer in interpreting and realising Ferrari’s works. The viola is far more intense here, Royer sounds like he is weathering the storm with the tenacity of someone desperate to push through the floods to safety.
Not only are the performances full of vigour and deftly played but they are immaculately recorded; the pianos sound like they are in the room with me. Although, the viola does sound a little flat compared to the two pianos but it is not clear whether this is because Royer is playing that way or because he was not recorded as astutely as the pianos. Yet this is only a small problem in an otherwise terrific release.
 
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For this album the Magic Carpathians have played many roles: field guides, sonic scouts, and acoustic archaeologists investigating the musical heritage of the land they call their home. They have been applying the varnish to some improvised sessions recorded over a nearly sleepless two day period high up in a mountain lodge back in 2008. The results are like the whorls in a piece of wood picked up off the forest floor: fractal like, mesmerizing and endlessly intricate.
Besides being fine musicians the Magic Carpathians are also adept ethnomusicologists. Marek Styczynski has had a long standing interest in preserving musical instruments from the Carpathian Mountain region, which forms a long arc stretching across Central and Eastern Europe. Some of these, like the gajdica–a unique clarinet from Slovakia–can be heard on Acousmatic Psychogeography. Marek is interested in preserving these instruments not only as artifacts, but by bringing them into modern and electronic musical scenarios he extends their cultural reach, sustaining them longer in time; in doing this important work he finds a new audience for their sounds.
The album opens with long player "Detournament." Marek sings "faces of passing people," which forms a kind of refrain, evoking images of the flaneur. Anna Nacher further elaborates the theme, singing of "wasting time endlessly, roaming the streets, circling around, looking down." The music is perfect for the idle lounging and rambling she describes. Lazy guitar lines, fed with a bit of drive from the tube amps, meander over a thin sheet of watery loops, gradually building in distortion. The hallucinatory improv set climaxes with sounds of frayed analog fire.
"Derive" is a psychedelic sand box of open source synthesis. Slide guitars start the affair, before graduating onwards with heavy strains on the wah-wah pedal. The flubbering bass line gels together the other musical elements, which form a kind of ad hoc bricolage. This song along with "Drifting," faithfully evince the Situationist concept of the drift. Sputtering like a late night basement session, the songs create new maps out of old territory, psychically manipulating familiar psych-rock terrains, molding and shaping it into new contours. This is accomplished not only by the inclusion of instruments like the gajdica, mentioned earlier, but also the uchiwa-daiko, a type of Japanese fan drum, dulcimer, pistiala and other unusual sound devices.
The final song, "Ley Lines," picks up where "Drifting" left off, using vocal loops and ethnic wind instruments. The trajectory moves sideways from what is typically expected of a song, just as the old straight tracks, affectionately known as leylines among various seekers investigating Earth mysteries, allegedly connect sacred geographical sites, without recourse to modern notions of urban planning. The energy of the album is concentrated in the middle, making this closer a pleasant departure, as the last swirls of a dream moving from the unknown back into the known.
samples:
 
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21 years ago Steven Stapleton was invited to swing by BMS Studios inLondon late one night by resident engineer Nicky Rogers. Stapletongathered up friends John Fothergill and Heman Pathak and made somerecordings with a few goals in mind: very long tracks and no vocals -they hated songs. With the eye catching infamous artwork a classic wasborn, pressed in a limited quantity of 500 (probably because thereweren't enough fans or enough money to make more). It was actuallyquite buzzworthy around London and reviews did pop up around town(maybe not the most favorable) but people were interested in the wackcover artwork at least. In retrospect, it's a bunch of sloppy noisemade by three drugged-out naive kids who were frustrated doing boringjobs of making signs for example, bringing a ton of noisy toys into thestudio. Do I hear a Merlin in here? Loads of wanky guitars color thefirst side of the LP while the second side consists of morenon-conventional noisemakers and randomness. The beauty is that theseguys weren't taking themselves nearly as seriously as modernimprovisationalists, there was indeed an element of purity apparent.None of the tracks really end up where they started, and might servethe purpose of being a great soundtrack to a drug-influenced evening.This album provides an excellent reference point, and the newlyreleased repackage has a complete booklet with old photos of theoriginal trio, a restored front and back cover and even a letter froman A&R Rep at Epic Records in NYC asking to hear some more NWWrecords. (Imagine a world with NWW signed to Epic!) Anyhow if thatwasn't enough, the music's been cleaned up from the analogue tapes andthere's a bonus 15+ minute track recorded in September with Tibet andColin Potter. What's a new track doing on an old reissue? In a strangejustification it belongs, as the track consists of Tibet reading thatfamed list of influencors from the original sleeve, over a minimalamount of sound. It's nothing too impressive but mildly amusing andneat to have an archive of (pretty much like the rest of this record).While the new edition is a nice thing to own, if you're not all thatconcerned with new packaging or a new track, this might not be worthyour cashola. On the other hand if you never picked it up, there's nobetter time than the present. Once again I must state that I wouldpersonally like to see 'Insect and Individual Silenced' and 'AutomatingVol. 2' surface on CD before more reissues like this and 'ThunderPerfect Mind' materialize.
samples:
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After listening not nearly enough times, I find myself returning overand over to the same conclusion: amazing. Tara Jane's one of thosemusicians where those 'in the know' will already have everything shehas been a part of. Her multi-instrument playing and singing can beheard on Retsin, Rodan, and Sonora Pine records as well as her fabulousdebut solo release last year, 'Peregrine.' It's inevitable you'd misswho she is if you were also a fan of Rachel's, Ida, or Shipping News asshe's bound to be making an appearance at a show here or there or sharemusicians. There's something almost magical in nearly anything shetouches. I know it sounds queer but if you've ever paid witness to oneof her shows, the amount of bleedingly direct and honest charm whicheminates from her shines really bright. People at her shows can't helpbut be captivated and completely swept up. The recorded sound is a muchmore intricate woven tapestry, however, with a mishmosh of unpluggedinstruments and varying arrangements. 'Peregrine' was such a boldstatement, as Tara Jane collected some of her best friends in andaround NYC and created a solid album of intricate instrumentation, ascattering of styles and an honest production which makes the musicianssound like they're in your livingroom. There's a lot of similar facesstill around, like Dan Littleton of Ida, Rachel Grimes of the Rachel's,Cynthia Nelson of Retsin and Ruby Falls and Ida Pearle, but guestcontributions seem much less prominent than last time. Tara's comehome. This year's album sees her moving away from the urban setting,with more production in Louisville than NY, subsequently the music ismore vocal and the subject matter appears more personal. It almostseems to me as if she proved her point last time around — that she isan accomplished arranger and skilled instrumentalist. This time she'sgot more personal stories to tell as a developing songwriter, who'soften being compared to the likes of Joni Mitchell and Cat Power.Recently I bought a new pair of higher quality headphones and deeplistening has taken on a new meaning, this disc has not let me down.
samples:
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There's a lot of electronic music out there that either plain bores or annoys the absolute piss out of me. So much of it sounds the same, and what it sounds like is something so pedestrian that it was all created using standard ACID loop libraries. That's why it's so refreshing when something like loscil comes around. "Triple Point" is a fantastic release just based upon the rather unique palette of sounds here. But there's so much more going on in the mix. Sampled sounds so buried you really only hear them faintly, and treated keyboards that sound hollow and distant have such an eerie effect. Each track starts of easy enough, but builds to amazing heights as more sounds are added and volume increases. Scott Morgan, who is loscil, has an amazing ear, as these songs are dense and droned-out but you never lose sense of this music and Morgan never lets you stray from the path long. "Triple Point" is reportedly based on the concepts of thermodynamics, and that couldn't be a more appropriate analogy for the effect this music has on the listener. It soothes, it relaxes, it resonates with a warmth that almost defies description, and it propels you in the same instant, willing you to create or submit to its will. Never has an artist's debut on a label impressed me more. loscil has obviously just begun, and there's great promise for the future.
Samples can be found here.
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