XENAKIS, IANNIS Electronic Music 1: La Legende d'Eer (Mode) cd 16.98
Greek avant garde composer's 1977/78 46-minutework for 8-channel electronic tape. Challenging, to say the least. You dig Merzbow? Well test your mettle against this - piercing tones from a true master.

XENAKIS, IANNIS Electronic Music 1: La Legende d'Eer (Mode) dvd 26.00

XENAKIS, IANNIS Electronic Works 2 (Mode) cd 16.98

XENAKIS, IANNIS Kraanerg (Asphodel) cd 12.98
Asphodel, always adventurous, branches out further with two new releases, one "world music" (Min Xiao-Fen, below) and this 20th century classical item, a Xenakis piece performed by Xenakis-experts the ST-X Ensemble, with none other than Aphodel mascot DJ Spooky running the A-DAT machine. The music? Orchestra plus tapes = music that even the Wall St. Journal considers "terrifying masses of sound."

XENAKIS, IANNIS La Legende d'Eer (Montaigne) 2cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Greek avant garde composer's 1977/78 46-minute work for 8-channel electronic tape. Challenging, to say the least. You dig Merzbow? Well try your mettle on this -- piercing tones from a true master.

XENAKIS, IANNIS La Lˇgende D'eer (Montaigne) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Repressed, now at a more attractive price! Greek avant garde composer's 1977/78 46-minutework for 8-channel electronic tape. Challenging, to say the least. You dig Merzbow? Well try your mettle on this -- piercing tones from a true master.

XENAKIS, IANNIS Metastasis / Pithoprakta / Eonta (Le Chant Du Monde) cd 14.98
These three pieces date back to the early orchestral work of Xenakis in the mid '50s and early '60s when the Greek composer / mathematician was shifting away from Serialism towards what he called "Formalised Music." "Metastatis" divided the orchestra into its individual elements, with 61 instrumentalists playing 61 different parts. This strategy of aesthetic decision through mathematics was the basis for his awesome electronic work including those found within Xenakis' "Electronic Music" anthology. "Pithoprakta" was one of Xenakis' early scores that employed a Stochastic model of exploring the theories of probability within music, as a means of creating a dense granular sound from a 50 piece orchestra (46 strings, 2 trombones, 1 xylophone, and 1 woodblock, if you must know). "Eonta" was almost an impossible score to perform, as certain parts for the piano and brass solos were calculated on an early IBM mainframe computer. Either you're impressed by such conceptual overdrive or you're not.
RealAudio clip: "Eonta (deuxieme partie)"
RealAudio clip: "Metastasis"

XENAKIS, IANNIS Music For Keyboard Instruments (NEOS) cd 23.00

XENAKIS, IANNIS Musique Electro-Acoustic (Fractal) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This disc premieres two compositions of electro-acoustic work from legendary composer Iannis Xenakis, both utilizing his UPIC system, a method of composition also documented on the recent "CCMIX: New Electroacoustic Music from Paris" double cd compilation. The UPIC system was invented by Xenakis as a means of computer-translating a kinetic motion into music. Thus, scribbles from Xenakis' lightpen become, to the ear, zany modulations of granular synthesis. In the first piece, "Pour La Paix," Xenakis' spiked blurts of electronic noise punctuate an ongoing spoken French narrative written by Xenakis' wife Francoise, denouncing the evils of warfare. The use of vocals are a rarity in Xenakis' electronic works, and so this piece seems closer to the theatrical concrete work of Michel Chion than Xenakis' usual stuff. The second piece, "Voyage Absolu Des Unari Vers Andromede," is a trippy piece of electronics, much more in line with the loose cosmic-tinged Krautrock of Cluster or Tangerine Dream. Not surprisingly, Xenakis intended this to be "a space voyage far in the future, toward the galaxy of Andromeda, with episodes while crossing the spaces between the stars." While these high falutin' sci-fi references were meant with a great deal of earnestness, "Voyage Absolu..." really works much better simply as fodder for being stoned, than for serious 'academic' listening!
RealAudio clip: "Pour La Paix"
RealAudio clip: "Voyage Absolu Des Unari Vers Andromede"

XENAKIS, IANNIS Oresteia (Montaigne) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
From the liner notes for this orchestral and choral piece: "Xenakis' 'Oresteia' -- written in 1966 and complete in 1987 with the addition of the scene entitled 'Kassandra' -- is neither Aeschylus' tragedy in its entirety, nor a work written independently of the classical text. In Xenakis' version the history of the kings is recounted by the people: the tragic chorus becomes the central character in the 'Oresteia.' It interprets its own role, but also, collectively, that of the legendary heroes and gods, sung to Aeschylus' lines which were a powerful inspiration to the music."

XENAKIS, IANNIS Persepolis (Fractal ) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Attention all you avantgarde electronic music fans! Important reissue alert! Iannis Xenakis' "Persepolis" was originally commisioned in 1971 as large-scale sound installation for the Shiraz-Persepolis Festival of the Arts in Iran. "Persepolis" -- Xenakis' longest electro-acoustic composition -- originally involved 8 channels of dense electro-acoustic material broadcast through the vast complex of the ruined Palaces of Persepolis along with a massive display of arclights, fireworks, and bonfires. Even without the visual explosiveness of the original performance (which we are amusingly told is somehow made up for by the presence of 16 page booklet in this release), "Persepolis" is a challenging and evocative piece of electro-acoustic music. Xenakis arranges slow tectonic rumbles and rough granular trebliness with extended passages of what could have been the bowed metal of Organum if Jackman et. al. were tumbling down a flight of stairs. In the liner notes, Xenakis explains that these complex noises correspond to the history of Iran as transcribed through a system of hermetic hieroglyphics. This history, as turbulent micromirror of the world's history, is elliptically described in a series of violent clashes and explosions. For this metaphor, Xenakis the Greek found himself in a bit of predicament as Alexander the Greek was responsible for the obliteration of the Palace of Persepolis where this performance was taking place. Regardless, "Persepolis" engages the visceral and the physical in a way that no other academic / musique concrete / electro-acoustic / minimalist piece has ever done before. It's frightening how powerful this piece of music is, even to one familiar with more recent massive electronic displays by MB, Merzbow, and Organum.

XENAKIS, IANNIS Persepolis + Remixes Edition 1 (Asphodel) 2cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
One of legendary 20th century new music composer Iannis Xenakis' most heralded works, "Persepolis" is here remixed by some of today's most adventurous musicians. Though the liner notes clumsily attempt some high brow hoo-ha internationalist theory about why the chosen remixers are appropriate for this project -- "Creative modernism is left with choosing between authoritarianism and religion. Hence, the inclusion of a second disc of remixes..." (hence? huh?) -- the obvious reason why these remixers appear is because, like Xenakis, they manipulate noise, musique concrete, and take experimental music to conceptual and sonic extremes. It makes aural sense; don't give me political wish-wash. Anyway, here's what we've written about Persepolis, which is on the first disc here:
Attention all you avantgarde electronic music fans! Important reissue alert! Iannis Xenakis' "Persepolis" was originally commissioned in 1971 as large-scale sound installation for the Shiraz-Persepolis Festival of the Arts in Iran. "Persepolis" -- Xenakis' longest electro-acoustic composition -- originally involved 8 channels of dense electro-acoustic material broadcast through the vast complex of the ruined Palaces of Persepolis along with a massive display of arclights, fireworks, and bonfires. Xenakis arranges slow tectonic rumbles and rough granular trebliness with extended passages of what could have been the bowed metal of Organum if Jackman et. al. were tumbling down a flight of stairs... "Persepolis" engages the visceral and the physical in a way that no other academic / musique concrete / electro-acoustic / minimalist piece has ever done before. It's frightening how powerful this piece of music is, even to one familiar with more recent massive electronic displays by MB, Merzbow, and Organum.
The remixers include: Ryoji Ikeda, Zbigniew Karkowski, Otomo Yoshihide, Francisco Lopez, Antimatter, Merzbow, Laminar, Ulf Lanheinrich, and more. A veritable noise fest. Construction site rumblings. Very difficult listening. If nothing else, this is a perfect introductory sampler of not only Xenakis but also some of AQ's favorite experimentalists. Nice price -- two discs for the price of one.
RealAudio clip: "Persepolis (Ryoji Ikeda remix)"
RealAudio clip: "Persepolis (Merzbow remix)"

XENAKIS, IANNIS Pleiades: Les Percussions De Strasbourg (Harmonia Mundi) cd 11.98

XENAKIS, IANNIS s/t (Edition RZ) 2cd 25.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

ZEITKRATZER & KEIJI HAINO Electronics (3) (Zeitkratzer) cd 17.98
The gorgeous image of a stagecoach barreling down a mountain roadside, as if being watched by a crow perched in a fir tree, has great appeal to an imagination that begins listening the moment it beholds a record's cover. Unfortunately, the music inside this cover does not really correspond to what is evoked by that image.
Not quite so mysterious, or adventurous, this live recording, complete with polite audience applause and the pristine but cold high end of a digital room recording, is probably less satisfying than actually having been at the performance(s) that brought together Japanese improv psych shaman Keiji Haino and the German experimental chamber music outfit Zeitkratzer. The physicality of Keiji's input - his vocalizations and percussive noises - rescues Electronics (3) from the banality of the "noise" its liner notes make such a fuss about. Sometimes it's a bad idea to read the liner notes! Whether it's just very naive or, more annoyingly, a stab at self-important academic validation, the essay that accompanies this disc offers little to make Zeitkratzer's project any more exciting or "important". Some name-dropping - Levi-Strauss, Nietzsche, Bach, musique concrete, Carlyle, Dionysus, Susan McClary (?), Debussy, etc. - sprinkled amidst lines of academic jargon and just a bit of actual information about the "construction" of this music, and rehearsals behind this record (aren't there artists and bands spontaneously creating such 'noise' music all the time? Artists like Haino?) makes one wonder why they just didn't opt for a photo of the the ensemble's gig bags for the cover? Couldn't the liner notes have simply said that these musicians were stoked to jam with Haino, and really let their hair down??
Having said all that, liner notes aside, for any Haino fan, this may be worth the purchase just for the dramatic track 3 alone, the approximately 25-minute "Sinfonia", given the peaks of ecstatic beauty reached by Haino's noise-making therein... tracks 1 and 2, "Aria I" and "Aria II", are rather more typical of haunting, eerie-sounding 20th century classical, albeit with added extremity due to the Haino factor.
This is the third in a series of Zeitkratzer collaborations entitled Electronics, the other two featuring Carsten Nicolai and Terre Thaemlitz respectively, and thus this is the most "out there" of 'em all, being more about improvisation than composition, Haino himself (on guitar, Theremin, voice, drums...) the equal of the entire ensemble that's accompanying him (on tuba, trombone, clarinet, cello, drums, etc.).
And now that we're listening to the disc, rather than reading that cd booklet, we've gotta say we're also really digging the "bonus" track 4, a "Drum Duo" (presumably of Haino and one lucky Zeitkratzer member). Their freeform percussion blitz gets down to business without any of the highbrow posturing of the previous, larger scale pieces.
MPEG Stream: "Aria II"
MPEG Stream: "Sinfonia"

ZORN, JOHN Chimeras (Tzadik) cd 16.98
A 20th-century (not 21st, as it specifically references Schoenberg and others from the 1900s) chamber piece composed by avant-jazz-maestro John Zorn in 2001. Scored for virtuoso female voice along with various combinations of piccolo, piano, flute, celeste, violin, cello, percussion (hi Willy!), organ, clarinet, etc. Conceptually, Zorn employs an Oulipo-inspired conceit here: each movement is prohibited from using a particular pitch, making a musical lipogram of sorts. Sonically, this is quite nice, if you're partial to soprano wordless aaaa-aaahh-ah-ah operatic type vocals continually soaring over mysterious horror movie strings, atonal piano, randomly struck bells, everything very ominous and dramatic and high-art beautiful. There's sound effects (wind machines??) and rustling percussion that add some pleasing "glitch" to the proceedings. Maybe you don't buy a 20th century classical disc everyday, but this would be nice one to keep your Jonathan Bepler "Cremaster" soundtracks company...
This does make us wonder, do academic composer aficionados feel about Zorn doing stuff like this the same way some of us felt about Faith No More's Mike Patton doing "Zorn" type stuff?
MPEG Stream: "Five"

ZORN, JOHN Love, Madness and Mysticism (Tzadik) cd 16.98
Three new compositions by Zorn, wonderfully executed by Jennifer Choi (violin), Erik Friedlander (cello), and Stephen Drury (piano). As to be expected, these pieces range from subtly beauty to harsh dissonance, just as the title might suggest: madness and love. Mysticism? We'll leave that for you to discover. Recommended, as this is definitely one of the better Zorn releases of this year. From the accompanying obi strip: "Definitive performances of three dynamic new chamber pieces pushing the boundaries of virtuosity and intensity. Le M™mo, for violin and piano is a work of extremes, a ritual about exorcism and possession inspired by the works of visionary 20th Century shaman Antonin Artaud. Untitled, dedicated to Joseph Cornell, the hermetic New York artist whose delirious box constructions mix innocent nostalgia with uncomfortable personal obsessions, is a tour de force for solo cello brilliantly performed by Erik Friedlander. The piano trio Amour Fou explores love -- obsessive love, mad love, doomed love in a compendium of moods ranging from Bu–uel to Bataille, Scriabin to Messiaen. A mysterious and romantic new direction from John Zorn."
RealAudio clip: "Amour Fou"