KOPP, HERMANN Nekronology (Red Stream) cd 12.98
Some of us here are definitely beginning to show our age, as we got this in, a collection of soundtracks from these cult eighties (and nineties) horror films, we wanted to reminisce about the movies, and pretty much no one we asked had even heard of them! But for those of you who ARE our age, and who came of age in the eighties and nineties, or who are just weird transgressive film obsessives, you are no doubt familiar with cult horror film director by Jorg Buttgereit, and if not, you are probably at least familiar with his most infamous film, Nekromantik,
Buttgereit was the toast of underground film (although was also loathed by many), his films were ridiculous, and gross, and sometimes hilarious, other times totally disturbing, 1987's Nekromantik is arguably his masterpiece, focusing on a guy who does crime scene clean up and who finds a corpse and brings it home for his wife and him to have a menage a trois with, but then his wife leaves him and takes the corpse with her after he is fired (there's an infamous scene where she sticks a steel pipe into the corpse's pelvis and puts a rubber on it so she can have sex with the corpse), he hires a prostitute, kills her and has sex with here, then kills himself, and ejaculates while dying, nice huh? But at the time, it was like nothing any of us had ever scene. 1989's Ter Todesking was way more disturbing, very abstract and experimental, an episodic look at suicide and violent death, each episode corresponding to a day of the week, and a different death, culminating in an infamous scene where a character bangs his head against the wall until he finally dies (one which aQ Jim remembers as being particularly disturbing), and then finally, the Nekromatik sequel from 1991, with the new main character digging up the old main character from the first film, then of course lots of killing and sex with dead people, severed heads (a scene where the new main character decapitates her partners head and replaces it with the head from the corpse she dug up in the beginning of the film), and so on. Like we said, ridiculous and over the top, perversely entertaining.
We had sort of forgotten about the music, the visuals being so completely mesmerizing, but we just managed to scare up a handful of these collections, which gather the music from all three films, and holy cow, even, removed from the films, these tracks are surprisingly haunting and powerful, darkly evocative and mysterious, strange operatic vocalisations, haunting gypsy folk, minor key string sections augmented by moody synths, chanted voices, chiming bells, wheezing violins, sound effects liberally included, dripping water, which in some cases are heavily effected and transformed into weirdly rhythmic arrangements, mournful horns bleat, drones drift and undulate, a lot of this sounds a bit like those funerary violin cd-r's, super freaky instrumental squeals that ends with what can only be the sounds of a dead limb being hacked off, haunting almost atonal string quartet. like a slowed down, warped Balanescu Quartet, haunting Tom Waits-ish creepy clatter, with whining violing being transmitted through a crappy little transistor radio, with clanking slow motion rhythms, creepy underwater sound scapes of burbling and swooshing space sound effects, industrial buzz, with a distant mournful melody, all scratchy played over the top and even occasional full on synth heavy Goblin horrorscapes, all of the tracks here are pretty great, weird and moody, dark and a little bit ominous, definitely has us wanting to see the movies again, but on their own, if you're after some dark sonic mystery, this stuff might just do the trick.
MPEG Stream: "The Loving Dead"
MPEG Stream: "Poison"
MPEG Stream: "Unholy"
MPEG Stream: "Man Drowning Himself In Bathtub"
MPEG Stream: "Zwi Sabbatai"

KORBER, TOMAS Effacement (Cut) cd 17.98
Tomas Korber is a Swiss avant-guitarist who has enjoyed many a collaboration with the likes of Keith Rowe, Toshimaru Nakamura, and Otomo Yoshihide. His work emerges from the microsound school of pristine digitality, with the guitar being an electro-acoustic springboard for noise, grains, textures, harmonics, and overtones that get further distilled through laptop tricks. Effacement is not unlike a Christian Fennesz / Bernhard Gunter collaboration, if such a thing were to take place. Fizzing electricity steadily builds up to crescendos of thick locust chorales; shimmered surfaces of post-Birchville Cat Motel amplifier drones slowly dissolve down to the point of near silence; and rasping clatters of digital noise do blast forth, but in very small doses cast against the long passages of subdued activity.
MPEG Stream: "Thermo"
MPEG Stream: "Too Thin A Skin"
MPEG Stream: "The Synaptic Spell"

KOREIN, GEORGE Memoirs Of A Trilobite (2001-2004) (BatHotAxe) cd 9.98
Hey, remember that crazy Infidel?/Castro! double cd we reviewed last list? Well the guy from the I?/C! duo who isn't also the guy from Behold The Arctopus has released a 28-track solo album about, uh, trilobites! (Y'know, those three-lobed Paleozoic marine arthropods.) It's a completely wacky concept album, featuring (indeed, celebrating!) a musical kitchen-sink approach beyond even what I?/C! is willing to incorporate. There's (fake?) BBC-style documentary samples. Slap bass. Squiggly Yngwie guitar. Jazz. Electronic noise. Drum and bass. Black metal. Munchkin voices. Really, just all kinds of genre-parody ("9+ styles" boasts the sticker on the cover). Including goofy whiteboy rap music that sounds just like our pal Steven Schulz! Indeed, this whole project seems to have a lot in common with the virtuosic but silly aesthetic of such Steven Schultz releases as No One Will Ever Understand Our Genious (by Puny Humans) and I Forgot To Get A Rap Name. So that could be either a recommendation or a warning, depending on your tolerance for dorkiness.
This is so bewilderingly diverse that it could almost be a various artists comp, with all the songs supposedly somehow having something to do with trilobites (though even that's not entirely clear). And as with most comps, you'll probably find good tracks and bad, according to your taste (and theirs!). George Korein is joined in this madness by several guests from the East Coast indie-prog scene that I?/C? is a part of, including members of Behold The Arctopus, Kayo Dot, Dysrhythmia, and Stinking Lizaveta.
MPEG Stream: "Memoirs Of A Trilobite"
MPEG Stream: "Indescribable And Persistent"
MPEG Stream: "The Sound Of Repetition"

KORPERSCHWACHE Evil Walks (Crucial Blast) cd 13.98
The first appearance on the aQ list by these Texas based guitarnoise terrorists, was a recent collaboration with Irish doomdronedirge outfit To Blacken The Pages, but this is the first proper record of theirs we've managed to get enough of to list. And it's a doozy.
Previously a one man band, and previously more of an oozing blacknoise Skullflower psychguitar buzz drone dirge freakout-fit, the band has expanded to a duo (unless the new member is just the drum machine), either way, the sound has definitely shifted gears, less abstract, less noisy, and more industrial, with proper songs; a lurching, lumbering, downtuned chunk of miserable abject slo-mo heaviness. The programmed beats minimal and robotic, the guitars murky and crusty, the vocals a super reverbed and heavily effected demonic croak, the songs, creeping and crawling, haunting and harrowing, shades of the Swans, Godflesh of course, the label compare their sound to Loop crossed with Abruptum, and we can definitely here that in places.
The sound is way less caustic than in the past, and more psychedelic and hypnotic, "Ouroboros: First Lesson", for all its croaked vocals and grim guitar buzz, locks into a looped mesmer and gets downright psychedelic, like Spacemen 3 covered by some basement black metal band, it's pretty bad ass. And a bunch of the tracks follow a similar path, building to a lurching groove and then getting all spaced out hypnorock. Then there's tracks like "The City Of Lost Girls", that are downright pretty, the guitars smoldering, laced with piano, mournful and melancholy, drifty and droney and dreamlike. And even in the harsher jams, hidden amidst all that crunch and pound and howl are strange melodies, unlikely hooks, gorgeous textures, all woven into a dense industrial tinged, blackened psychedelia, that will most likely have lots of you scrambling for all those Korperschwache releases you missed.
Includes a link for a download to a companion record, featuring early/alternate versions and a handful of unreleased tracks.
MPEG Stream: "There Is A Certain Smell Attractive To Wolves"
MPEG Stream: "Ouroboros: First Lesson"
MPEG Stream: "The Rearing Elephant"

KORPSES KATATONIK Oeuvres Completes (Klanggalerie) cd 21.00
The Austrian post-industrial provocateur Michael DeWitt attained notoriety in the mid-'80s for his project Zero Kama whose sole album was sourced entirely from human bones and skulls, with plenty of smoke and mirror production techniques to arrive at a Crowleyian sound parallel to the likes of early Current 93, Coil, and Psychic TV. Beyond the one album as Zero Kama, DeWitt released another obscure recording in 1982 under the moniker Korpses Katatonik. This cassette - sometimes referred to as Sensitive Liberated Autistiks, sometimes as Subklinikal Leukotomy Aphrenia Spasmophilik Lyssophobo Asphyxia Sinister Lethal Anorex - delved into parallel concerns of societal pathologies and death-obsessed transgressions through very dark electronics. It's very much in step with the classic industrial productions of SPK (when is anybody going to reissue those records again?) and the pre-Brighter Death Now project Lille Roger, with blackened squalls of grim noise belched through slow-grinding rhythms and an ominous proclamation that "we're all fucked." Such doomspeak from Industrial Culture was commonplace, but DeWitt's Korpses Katatonik said it with just as much brutalist force and conviction as SPK, TG, and Cabaret Voltaire at their most zombified. All of the tracks from that cassette and a compilation track make up the entire body of work for Korpses Katatonik, which have been remastered and repackaged for this anthology. The template for much of what Wolf Eyes did later is found here. Terrifyingly great.
MPEG Stream: "Nekom"
MPEG Stream: "Kcock Transplant"
MPEG Stream: "Chronozon"

KORT, ALEXANDER Friend OR... (self-released) cd 9.98
Friend OR... compiles the incidental music Alexander Kort composed and performed for a three act play titled FOE which was presented by the University of California - Berkeley's department of theater, dance and performance studies back in 2003. Kort, who also performs with Bay Area groups such as Subtle and Themselves, loosely entwines multiple glacial string movements with the sounds of waves, sputtering rainfall and other mysterious effects and sources. The somber moan and creak of Kort's compositions on this cd bring to mind an antiquated ocean liner listing sleepily on a calm eve. Actually come to think of it this makes for a more spartan companion to Nurse With Wound's very nautical Salt Marie Celeste album. Hauntingly beautiful.
MPEG Stream: "The Dead Captain"
MPEG Stream: "Dream Of The Two Islands"

KORT, ALEXANDER / KITUNDU Eighteen July Two Thousand Four (self-released) 10" 9.98

KOSS Four Worlds Converge As One (Mule Electronic) cd 16.98
From Japan, the artist/producer known as Koss (real name: Kuniyuki Takahashi) has apparently been around for a while, involved in the electronic scene since back in the '80s, dabbling in everything from electro body music to dub to hardcore noise to chillout techno to deep house. This, however, is the first album of his we've heard. Well better late than never. Four Worlds Converge As One is lovely, lovely, calm, and lovely. It starts with the soothing, beatless ambient drift of "Water", the first of four tracks on the disc and at 29+ minutes the longest. Hissing, humming, with field recordings of obvious watery origin worked in, this track is like the sound of a white mist rising from the shore of a gently lapping lake, with a wind softly blowing. A relaxed, melodic drone piece. That could have been the whole disc right there and we'd be sold. But there's three more parts, each over a quarter of an hour in length, representing the other elements of fire, air, and earth...
Track two, "Fire / M Point (40N42-34N33 Mix)" is immediately more active than "Water", with pleasantly creaking noises, eventually joined by shuffling electronic beats, and glitchy clicks worked into the washes of more feedbacky drone. Following that, "Air / MW Point (137E35 Mix)" is back to the blissful shimmer of the first track, but with the addition of minimalist Reichian (Steve, not Wilhelm) pulsations. Looping, layered sounds from some classical stringed instrument. Utterly hypnotic of course. And then, Koss brings us down to "Earth / S Point", wrapping this disc up with a surprising mix of forest-at-night nature sounds and percolating, processed tribal percussion, with echo and effects. It gets denser and denser, but remains quite soothing, the sort of "exotica" you might expect from, say, one of Eye Yamataka's remixes... though perhaps a little "rainstick-y" for some. But the more "Pop Ambient", droney-synthy explorations that mostly fill this album are enough for us, so good, reminding us of Eno and Budd (Harold, not the Aussie grunge band) and Tangerine Dream and even composer John Luther Adams.
And by the way, the "converge into one" idea of the title has a special meaning - apparently Koss intends that if all four tracks/elements on this disc were to be played simultaneously (you could buy three extra copies of the cd... or make them yourself), a whole new song will emerge. Hmm...haven't tried it, we're happy with the four just by themselves so far. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Water"
MPEG Stream: "Fire / M Point (40N42-34N33 Mix)"
MPEG Stream: "Air / MW Point (137E35 Mix)"

KOSUGI, TAKEHISA Catch Wave (Showboat / Sky Station) cd 28.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Man, do we at ever AQ love that Japanese '70s group the Taj Mahal Travellers! Masters of organic drone, utilising bowed cymbals, violins, loudspeakers, tape loops and all sorts of unique source material. And we've been blessed of late with the reissue of lots of fairly difficult to find TMT stuff. This disc is Taj Mahal main man Takehisa Kosugi (an influential member of the Fluxus movement) on solo violin, and unlike the truly organic natural sound of most of the Taj Mahal Travellers music, this piece is heavily processed, with all manner of effects, turning his violin into a buzzing squealing beast, sounding like some sort of otherworldly sitar. Gorgeous Eastern melodies drift in and out while tonal ripples spread out and slowly dissipate. Wild runs peter off into swooshing ambience, and sparse squeaks and warm tones tumble into each other creating all sorts of harmolodics. Definitely reminiscent of Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Conrad Schnitzler and the like, but imbued with Kosugi's unique sense of melody and space. Totally essential.
RealAudio clip: "Mano-Dharma '74"

KOTCHE, GLENN Introducing (Locust Music) cd 14.98
Stepping out from his day job in Wilco, Kotche really stretches out on these four pieces, all performed on acoustic and electronic percussion with occasional cello. This actually sounds a lot like something we would expect from Celebrate Psi Phenomenon (the awesome NZ drone label) or Last Visible Dog (esoteric RI cd-r label). From clicking clattering insect percussion over melancholy drones, wispy and ephemeral, to throbbing noisescapes augmented by chimes and bells, to faux gamelan glitchscapes to dreamy burbly ambience. Maybe Jim O'Rourke got a little too much of the credit for Wilco's new found penchant for experimental sounds...
RealAudio clip: "Cheju"
RealAudio clip: "Wading Pool"

KOTRA Dissilient (Nexsound) cd 11.98

KOUGEZAN KOUKIJI The Live [11th] Final Hyakusenmansyuuraku (Horen) 2cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The day we first got this in stock, it was pouring rain -- appropriately enough, because playing this made it seem like it was raining in the store as well as outside, quite a lovely effect we thought. Truly, this is a stunningly beautiful concert/field recording, the culmination of a series of concerts held at (the very rainy) Koukiji temple in Japan. The concerts were organized by Yasushi Utsunomia -- whose claim to fame was as recording engineer for art rockers After Dinner. According to Utsunomia, his initial efforts were unsuccessful due in part to demanding and flaky performers (apparently all rock bands) and a crappy sound reinforcement system supplied by the temple. In the end, the first problem was solved by turning to traditional musicians and the second by constructing a sound reinforcement system worthy of such a space (a detailed diagram of the performance space and speaker locations is included on the back of the booklet's cover.) The performances heard here are on shakuhachi, ryuteki (both Japanese bamboo flutes), sitar and stone flute (played by the legendary shamanistic composer Akio Suzuki). All are accompanied by rain, from soft patter to heavy downpour. At times the rain is so loud it completely drowns out the soft playing of the instruments, essentially being an instrument itself -- and as a warning to those who would say otherwise, says Suzuki: "I'll tear out the ears of whoever says this is just rain." For its part, the electro-acoustic elements added via DSP and Utsunomia's custom built horn loaded speaker array are all but completely transparent for much of the concert. During Korei Deguchi's ryuteki performance is when the processing is most noticeable, with what sounds like the work of a harmonizer. Aside from that, the musicians' playing, the space, the rain and Utsunomia's equipment are seamlessly wedded and, if nothing else, you'll feel drenched by the time you finish listening. This numbered edition comes beautifully packaged with a nicely printed cover drawing (some thick rubbery ink that feels nice to pass ones fingers over) of a couple of cats performing for an audience of felines, and is hand-stamped on the inside. Also it includes a printed fold out with liner notes in Japanese and English. The whole thing -- package, idea, music -- is simply beautiful. Several of us here (Andee, Byram, Allan, at least) have already taken copies home...
MPEG Stream: AKIO SUZUKI "Stone Flute"
MPEG Stream: YASUHIRO MINAMIZAWA "Sitar"
MPEG Stream: KOUREI DEGUCHI "Ryuteki"

KOWALSKY, GREGG Battery Townsley (Senufo Edition) lp 25.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
For those who remember the escapades of Jewelled Antler, the various tunnels and concrete bunkers of Battery Townsley provided a musty ambience of crumbled mortar and mold spores to any number of that collective's psychedelic ragas. But the Battery's intended use was to house a couple of huge artillery cannons dug into the top of one of the higher peaks just to the north of San Francisco's famed Golden Gate Bridge, all in preparation for a Japanese invasion during World War 2. As this never came to pass, the vast network of bunkers throughout the Marin Headlands landed in the domain of the National Park Service, who had done a major renovation job on Battery Townsley, by resealing the massive steel doors and cleaning out decades worth of detritus - both manmade and natural. Those Jewelled Antler excursions had occurred well before the National Park Service's renovation, and the bulk of Battery Townsley remains under the watchful eye of the staff, who open it up weekly for docent led tours.
Many of the bunkers throughout the Headlands have attracted sound artists from across the globe, given the massive sustained reverb and interesting acoustics of the various bunkers. But nearly all of these recorded sessions needed to be held surreptitiously, given that the Park Service doesn't want to have to rescue somebody with a microphone who plummeted into a cistern in the heart of a mountain. But in 2010, the curators of the Soundwave Festival approached the Park Service about setting up a concert in Battery Townsley, and were pleasantly surprised that the Park Service was very keen on such a presentation. There, of course, were some challenges to overcome - the most daunting of which was the lack of electricity. But the Festival gathered a pretty kick-ass assemblage of artists making amazing sounds without having to plug into the grid, including Danny Paul Grody, Hora Flora, Jacob Felix Heule, Jim Haynes, and Gregg Kowalsky. Of course, Kowalsky went into the thick reverberant space with his arsenal of tape decks, which he's employed for his ever-changing Tape Chants performances.
On this super limited recording, Kowalsky presents a live recording of his performance in the bunker and a studio reinterpretation using the same material. The source tapes have the radiant glow of a church organ, beaming with luminous hues as the slippery tones bend in and out of dissonant ripples and downright heavy drones. While the studio recording is gorgeous, it's all the more impressive to hear this material as broadcast within a bunker thick reverberation, as the tones begin to growl and the tape deck speakers' crackle being pushed to their limits, giving the whole collage of swirl and drone a heaviness never heard in any of Kowalsky's previous recordings. It's more of a Surface Of The Earth recording of corroded amplifiers and slumped guitars, but it's all tape decks. Totally fucking great!
Unfortunately, this LP is limited to 250 copies of which we got the very last batch from the label.

KOWALSKY, GREGG Tape Chants (Kranky) cd 14.98
Finally, a second release from Mr. Kowalsky, with all his heavy electronic /cassette wizardry, he has been a long time favorite for us at aQ, and we couldn't be more impressed with Tape Chants. After spending several years working and reworking these aptly named tape and oscillator compositions, Gregg offers up his opus, a beautifully sculpted expanse of midnight meditations and thick, buzzing walls of analog radiance. Working with digital composition and software, and becoming frustrated with the seemingly unlimited possibilities of digital music-making, Gregg challenged himself to work with more organic, analog-rich source material. The result was a live performance that involved placing 6 to 10 cassette recorders around a space, and playing them simultaneously to create an experiment in live mixing and psychoacoustics. While Tape Chants is not meant to be a document of these live performances, it attempts to channel the mood and aesthetic of these live invocations. And take it from us, the result is an extremely deep and entrancing listen, beaming with melodic overtones and hypnotic pulsing, Tape Chants is like being at the center of a gong or inside a bell tower. Long tones ringing out through a low-lit cavern or cathedral, slow creeping layers of shruti box and mixer feedback thicken the mix to an overwhelming, otherworldly bliss. And unlike most minimalist composition, this record is super engaging, lots of subtle details and deliberate movements that keep you fully immersed. Not that dissimilar from recent releases on Root Strata or Miasma. If you couldn't tell by now, this is highly recommended and a must have!
MPEG Stream: "I-IV"
MPEG Stream: "V"

KOWALSKY, GREGG Tape Chants : Live In Chicago (self-released) cd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Super limited release from this long time aQ fave, continuing on in his recent Tape Chants direction, where, tired of working digitally, decided to work with tapes and old tape players, the results of which were displayed on the Tape Chants disc on Kranky reviewed back in May. These particular Tape Chants were recorded live, and were pressed up as a cd-r (in super swank screenprinted sleeves BTW) for his current US tour.
Like the cd proper, Kowalsky works magic with his tapes, on the first lengthy track, creating a symphony of bells and chimes and gongs, letting the overtones drift and overlap and bleed into one another until they begin to crumble and buzz, and on the second track, where similar sounding bells are set amidst a field of deep grinding rumbles and softly buzzing low end, the bell like tones bobbing as if on some soft black sea. Softly percussive, almost nautical sounding, whirring and hypnotic, meditative and ethereal.
Gorgeous stuff. Obviously grab one of these while you can, before we run out, and if you get the chance, don't hesitate to see him live conjure these sonic mysteries in the flesh!
MPEG Stream: "Chants I-IV For Tuned Percussion"
MPEG Stream: "Tape Meditation on Tuned Percussion"

KOWALSKY, GREGG Tape Chants A Million (Root Strata) cd-r 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Some of you may remember Kowalsky from his first solo record released on Kranky back toward the beginning of this year, a pleasant slab of smeared indistinct ambience, shimmery and soft focus, a delicate soundscape of abstract sound that was definitely perfect late night listen.
With his first release for Root Strata, Kowalsky continues in the same direction, this time utilizing a much more eclectic array of source material: tape cassettes, sine oscillators, contact mics, bells, bird callers and a computer. Recorded live on KFJC in May, this half hour epic is another gorgeous slab of abstract ambience, those disparate sounds smoothed into thick warm swells, billowy swirls of smeared melody, and huge stretches of blissy whir. This is another one of those records that perfectly captures that sound we can't ever get enough of, a testament to the power of the drone, completely mesmerizing and hypnotic, when the music finally stops, your ears and your head feel empty, and it's only a matter of moments before we can't help ourselves, press play again and fill them back up.
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!!!! We will not be able to get more. Packaged in gorgeous cardstock half sleeve, a printed paper insert, and a folded over QSL ham radio card from overseas holding the cd in place. Cool!
MPEG Stream: "Tape Chants A Million"

KOWALSKY, GREGG Tape Chants: Early Experiments (Arbor) cassette 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Oof. Already out of print from Arbor, but we've got as many of these as we could!
It makes perfect sense that a selection of the early experiments from Kowalsky's ongoing collection of Tape Chants would end up as a cassette release. More of a method of working than a complete body of work, the Tape Chants material involves a bunch of drones, tones, and clustered notes that are played back on an arsenal of handheld cassette decks in any given performance space. The spiralling web of crossed frequencies and compacted echo patterns always make for one hell of a good performance, and they made for a pretty damn good album as well, like the one Kowalsky released on Kranky in 2009. This tape is a collection (as the title suggests) of his earliest manifestations of his Tape Chants, selected by Darwinsbitch. For the most part, Kowalsky presents grey smears of pedal driven feedback tones and electrical sinewave drones that are caught in loop patterns and abraded with some occasional distortion (possibly an effect, possibly an artifact of overdriven 4-track compression). There's one extract on the first side that is more percussive in nature, with Kowalsky gently tapping out pseudo-Gamelan rhythms on various bells, gongs, and resonant metals. Limited to 125, and as we mentioned already out of print.

KOWALSKY, GREGG Tendrils In Vigne (Root Strata) lp 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Latest release from this Bay Area composer, electronic musician and dronologist Gregg Kowalsky. A one sided lp documenting part of his Master's Thesis, which entailed taking one of his electronic compositions, scoring it for a live ensemble and then conducting the performance.
Kowalsky enlisted the Contemporary Performance Ensemble, directed by Fred Frith, who also contributed violin. Recorded in 2005 at Mills college, the result was sublime. A gorgeous organic piece that references Feldman and Part and Melnyk as much as Kowalsky's previous works.
The strings are low and buzz and throb dramatically, the piano is minor key and delicate, fluttering in brief little flurries, streaks of high end run through the swirling moodiness, over the top voices soar in choral fragments, washes of cymbals sizzle, horns moan, all manner of instruments are smeared into a heaving organic whole, shakuhachi, vibraphone, flute, a sonic cloud constantly expanding, intensifying chordal whir, like some moody rock band with the bones pulled out, leaving just a gloriously amorphous sound shape, slithering and drifting, creeping and billowing, building and building, some sort of classic chorale stretched out into a shimmering dreamlike blur. On the surface, it's a dark drift, but beneath the surface, sounds are roiling and churning, a sonic sea of tension and emotion, subtly psychedelic, a gorgeous, organic, orchestral drone.
Packaged in a thick cardstock sleeve, with a Xeroxed yellow paste on cover.
LIMITED TO 300 COPIES!!

KOWALSKY, GREGG Through The Cardial Window (Kranky) cd 14.98
Having earned an MFA under the tutelage of Fred Frith at Mills College, Gregg Kowalsky landed his debut album on Kranky, a perfect home for his polite and pleasant swatches of ambient music. Kowalsky blurs all of his diverse source material (i.e bowed acoustic guitar, sounds he composed for the Mills Ensemble, and even samples from Isis!) into a twinkling mass of harmonically aligned tones. Furniture Music for the 21st Century.
MPEG Stream: "That In Allepo Twice"
MPEG Stream: "Coral Gables"

KRENG Grimoire (Miasmah) cd 16.98
Record number two from the mysterious Kreng, aka abstract soundscaper / sonic surrealist Pepijn Caudron, and even more than the first, Grimoire evokes some impossibly haunted otherworld, inhabiting a world not that far removed from the land of lost memories that the Caretaker calls home. But that land is wistful and melancholy, whereas the world of Grimoire is abjectly terrifying, not merely haunting or ominous, this is the soundtrack to something or someplace truly frightening, a blackened ambience of disembodied voices, of creaking clattery percussion, hushed shimmer, deep blackhole swells of rumbling low end, swooping backwards melodies, echo drenched throat singing, tinkling chimes, wheezing drifts of chordal thrum, plink plonk piano, moaning strings, but all of those elements hushed and subdued, a whispery slice of soundtracky minimalism. Bits of glitch and crackle wreath a lumbering rhythmic thud, mournful melodies drift through fields of bleary blur, barely-there beats surface and fragment, horns bleat way off in the distance, thick impossibly low bass tones reverberate like pulsing black clouds, each track is like some spectral soundscape, equal part swoonsome classical music, grim black ambience, and minimal abstraction, the various tracks bleeding into one another, slipping from jazzy clatter, to symphonic bombast, to dark rumbling, to lurching looped rhythmic skitter, but always seeming to settle into a near static bit of black drift, this songsuite a lost soundtrack to some dark depressive mystery, a lost noir, a characterless black and white epic, these are the sounds of empty streets, of derelict houses, of dark defeating the light, of a world cast in permanent darkness, impossibly beautiful, but a beauty blackened by loss and decay, a descent into madness, a physical descent into the crumbling hidden world that lurks just beneath ours, a gorgeous sonic representation of what awaits us beyond the dark, on the other side, in the next world, the world of shadows.
Super intense, and harrowingly gorgeous. Most definitely for fans of The Caretaker, as well as other haunting Miasmah releases like Elegi, FNS, Jacaszek, Gultskra Artikler and all the various purveyors of dark minimal drift, haunting cinematic dronemusic and spectral black ambience.
MPEG Stream: "Karcist"
MPEG Stream: "Le Bateleur"
MPEG Stream: "Opkropper"
MPEG Stream: "Wrak"

KRENG Grimoire (Miasmah) lp 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Record number two from the mysterious Kreng, aka abstract soundscaper / sonic surrealist Pepijn Caudron, and even more than the first, Grimoire evokes some impossibly haunted otherworld, inhabiting a world not that far removed from the land of lost memories that the Caretaker calls home. But that land is wistful and melancholy, whereas the world of Grimoire is abjectly terrifying, not merely haunting or ominous, this is the soundtrack to something or someplace truly frightening, a blackened ambience of disembodied voices, of creaking clattery percussion, hushed shimmer, deep blackhole swells of rumbling low end, swooping backwards melodies, echo drenched throat singing, tinkling chimes, wheezing drifts of chordal thrum, plink plonk piano, moaning strings, but all of those elements hushed and subdued, a whispery slice of soundtracky minimalism. Bits of glitch and crackle wreath a lumbering rhythmic thud, mournful melodies drift through fields of bleary blur, barely-there beats surface and fragment, horns bleat way off in the distance, thick impossibly low bass tones reverberate like pulsing black clouds, each track is like some spectral soundscape, equal part swoonsome classical music, grim black ambience, and minimal abstraction, the various tracks bleeding into one another, slipping from jazzy clatter, to symphonic bombast, to dark rumbling, to lurching looped rhythmic skitter, but always seeming to settle into a near static bit of black drift, this songsuite a lost soundtrack to some dark depressive mystery, a lost noir, a characterless black and white epic, these are the sounds of empty streets, of derelict houses, of dark defeating the light, of a world cast in permanent darkness, impossibly beautiful, but a beauty blackened by loss and decay, a descent into madness, a physical descent into the crumbling hidden world that lurks just beneath ours, a gorgeous sonic representation of what awaits us beyond the dark, on the other side, in the next world, the world of shadows.
Super intense, and harrowingly gorgeous. Most definitely for fans of The Caretaker, as well as other haunting Miasmah releases like Elegi, FNS, Jacaszek, Gultskra Artikler and all the various purveyors of dark minimal drift, haunting cinematic dronemusic and spectral black ambience.
MPEG Stream: "Karcist"
MPEG Stream: "Le Bateleur"
MPEG Stream: "Opkropper"
MPEG Stream: "Wrak"

KRENG L'Autopsie Pheneomenale De Dieu (Miasmah) lp 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Sombre and strange record of post-classical miniatures originally recorded to accompany various ballet and dance pieces. Sparse piano, Eastern-European strings, field recordings, eerie found sounds and electric-acoustic chamber drones with dark and haunting textures reference a kind of surrealist narrative that wouldn't be out of place in a film by Luis Bunuel. Perhaps not as somnolent as past Miasmah recordings from Elegi and Jacaszek, as the dynamics of the score can veer into some occasional, theatrical dramatics. Best not let it lull you into sleep, for fear of unsettling dreams or being abruptly jarred awake. Recommended nonetheless!
MPEG Stream: "Na De Sex"
MPEG Stream: "Meisje In Auto"
MPEG Stream: "Aspyxia"

KRENG L'Autopsie Phenomenale De Dieu (Miasmah) cd 15.98
Sombre and strange record of post-classical miniatures originally recorded to accompany various ballet and dance pieces. Sparse piano, Eastern-European strings, field recordings, eerie found sounds and electric-acoustic chamber drones with dark and haunting textures reference a kind of surrealist narrative that wouldn't be out of place in a film by Luis Bunuel. Perhaps not as somnolent as past Miasmah recordings from Elegi and Jacaszek, as the dynamics of the score can veer into some occasional, theatrical dramatics. Best not let it lull you into sleep, for fear of unsettling dreams or being abruptly jarred awake. Recommended nonetheless!
MPEG Stream: "Na De Sex"
MPEG Stream: "Meisje In Auto"
MPEG Stream: "Aspyxia"

KRISTIAN, DAVID Room Tone (Alien8 Recordings) cd 14.98
David Kristian spent a fair part of the winter of 1998/99 collecting various field recordings arourd Montreal (underground parking lots, freezers, tunnels, etc.) and multritracked the greyish very organic drones with subtle low-end minimal beats, not unlike Pan Sonic's minimalist techno layered sporadically with the drone work of Jonathan Coleclough.

KRISTIAN, SHALABI, ST-ONGE s/t (Alien8 Recordings) cd 14.98
Noted electronica minimalist David Kristian here collaborates with the Shalabi Effect's Alexander St-Onge and Sam Shalabi for this interesting improvised album of quiet acoustic drones and accompanying electronics. Thankfully not a laptop ensemble featuring Jim O'Rourke or Christian Fennesz, this trio resists the temptation to lapse into dense free jazz phrasings, and instead focuses on the subtleties that can take place between electronics and stringed instruments (in this case bass, guitar, and oud). The resulting album is a much quieter version of AMM or Taj Mahal Travellers.
RealAudio clip: "Dirt Well"
RealAudio clip: "The Heart Of The Mouse"

KRIWACZEK, ROHAN WITH TOBIAS JAMES The Art Of Funerary Violin (The Guild Of Funerary Violinists) cd-r 12.98

MPEG Stream: "From Funerarius For Micheal Wise Esquire - Orlando Addleston (1681)"
MPEG Stream: "The Sombre Coquetry Of Death Ð Hieronymous Gratchenfleiss (1810?)"
MPEG Stream: "The Dizzy Flight Of Death - Hieronymous Gratchenfleiss (1810?)"

KROKO Furia (Verdura) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Circle's Jussi Lehtisalo recommended this to us: another Finnish band that operates in the in-between realm of rock, improv, jazz, and prog. Kroko are an all-instrumental basso/perkussio/kitara trio featuring the guitarist from Bad Vugum recording artists Deep Turtle (Finland's answer to Mr. Bungle, y'know). The band's music possesses a variety of moods and textures, ranging from dense free-improv jazziness (not unlike AQ-faves the Nels Cline Trio) to more aggressive, heavier fare on a few tracks, with riffing a la the Melvins (or, more accurately, the Ruins, what with the complex twists these songs sometimes take). At one point things get so heavy and distorted it approaches Merzbow-style noise. But that's balanced by the many quieter, more delicate, atmospheric tracks. And then there's the others that sound like Gregg Ginn's Gone, gone Mahavishnu... Recorded live to digital, with some overdubs and edits. There's 18 tracks, and while a few come off merely as skronky, sometimes humorous live jams, most go far beyond that.
RealAudio clip: "Sol Ist"
RealAudio clip: "Agent Weird"
RealAudio clip: "Polanski After Ski"
RealAudio clip: "Liero"
RealAudio clip: "Setzur Au Naturelle"

KRUGER Looseness Through Redemption (Senor Hernandez / Roadburn) lp 21.00

KRUZWEG OST Iron Avantgarde (Napalm) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Austrian metallers Silenius (of Summoning) and Martin Schirenc (Hollenthon, ex-Pungent Stench) have crafted this disturbing and confusing collage of sampled sounds. If I knew more German we might have a better idea of their intent, but what we can tell you is that this combines snippets of fascist-era speechifying, ominous horror-movie keyboards, folky themes, WWII sound effects, militaristic drumbeats, electronic noise, mysterious dialogue, and brief industrial-dance interludes. It's a bit like being trapped in a bunker circa 1944 as the bombs fall, tuned into a shortwave radio that is somehow, at moments, picking up a Rammstein broadcast from the future. A very intriguing and creepy listen indeed.

KTL 2 (Editions Mego) cd 16.98
The return of KTL! Maybe our favorite of the many satellites circling the SUNNO))). One half of that dynamic doomdrone duo, Stephen O'Malley, hooked up with Austrian noisemaker Peter Rehberg (aka Pita) a year or two back, and the result was the godlike s/t debut, the soundtrack to a performance art piece (of which this also contains elements), which we can only assume was dark and creepy, considering the music on that disc was a black hole slab of expansive subterranean drones and damaged digital buzz. KTL managed to create an intense chunk of dark art, in the midst of a million bedroom drones, so while we played that disc to death, we secretly hoped it wouldn't be the last we'd hear from these two.Ê
Not a year later, and KTL are back, with another sprawling journey, trawling through the bottomless depths of some hellish underworld and drifting weightless through a starless black sky. A bleak, but occasionally jarring landscape of sonic mystery rife with plenty of drone and buzz.Ê
The opener is a bleak expanse of claustrophobic sound, the sound of waking up in pitch blackness, wet, cold and alone, wandering blindly, feeling your way, hands rubbed raw from sliding along rough stone, the tiniest sounds magnified into some lurking beast ready to pounce, gusts of warm wind rush past, as do strange slithery shapes underfoot, you can hear the wide open space towering overhead, but you can feel the walls closing in, suffocating. Gorgeously dark and bleak, ominous and so creepy. The perfect music for being buried alive, miles below the surface of the Earth. As the first track dissipates, a strange percussive thump gradually surfaces, a heartbeat maybe... a dense layered backdrop of shimmering low end and muted pulses undulates beneath the murky throb, very slowly building in intensity, as streaks of high end grit and buzzing glitch, and strange high pitched melodic fragments begin to materialize all around, like suddenly finding yourself inside a lightning storm, it's almost pretty, but still sharp and jagged. As the upper register peals intensify, they suddenly coalesce into some sort of deafening angelic chorus, a gorgeous layered textural wall of dreamlike skree, some demonic string section, surprisingly melodic beneath all the sonic barbs and white hot buzz. Hard to describe other than to say it's a bit like Nadja or Jesu, run through a bank of alien FX pedals and broadcast through a million tweeters. So intense and gloriously blown out.Ê
The next step in the journey involves visiting the "Abattoir" (much of this disc was in fact recorded in an actual French abattoir) , and it sounds just like you'd imagine. A bit like O'Malley's SUNNO))), with layer upon layer of constantly shifting coruscating guitars, a drone metal Niblock maybe, stretched out and hypnotic, the texture of the guitar constantly ever changing, going from smooth and washed out to rough and sharp, a bit like Spacemen 3 or Loop at it's most propulsive, a sort of churning distorted chordal whir, and a lot like SUNNO))) at its most static. But all throughout, the rough raw shimmer is disrupted by all manner of textural disturbances, bits of grit and muted glitch and subtle shards of fragmented melody.Ê
Finally, the record winds down with an extended coda, thick shards of glistening guitar suspended in gauzy clouds of electronic flutter and swirls of soft sonic snow. Eventually the sharp edges are worn away leaving a strangely haunting slightly degraded Basinski-esque drift that is smoothed even further out, into shimmery spacey synths and sweet chordal swells that drift away leaving nothing but static.
MPEG Stream: "Game"
MPEG Stream: "Theme"

KTL 2 (Thrill Jockey) 2lp 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now available on vinyl!! Super limited, ultra deluxe double lp, gatefold sleeve, 180 gram wax...
The return of KTL! Maybe our favorite of the many satellites circling the SUNNO))). One half of that dynamic doomdrone duo, Stephen O'Malley, hooked up with Austrian noisemaker Peter Rehberg (aka Pita) a year or two back, and the result was the godlike s/t debut, the soundtrack to a performance art piece (of which this also contains elements), which we can only assume was dark and creepy, considering the music on that disc was a black hole slab of expansive subterranean drones and damaged digital buzz. KTL managed to create an intense chunk of dark art, in the midst of a million bedroom drones, so while we played that disc to death, we secretly hoped it wouldn't be the last we'd hear from these two.Ê
Not a year later, and KTL are back, with another sprawling journey, trawling through the bottomless depths of some hellish underworld and drifting weightless through a starless black sky. A bleak, but occasionally jarring landscape of sonic mystery rife with plenty of drone and buzz.Ê
The opener is a bleak expanse of claustrophobic sound, the sound of waking up in pitch blackness, wet, cold and alone, wandering blindly, feeling your way, hands rubbed raw from sliding along rough stone, the tiniest sounds magnified into some lurking beast ready to pounce, gusts of warm wind rush past, as do strange slithery shapes underfoot, you can hear the wide open space towering overhead, but you can feel the walls closing in, suffocating. Gorgeously dark and bleak, ominous and so creepy. The perfect music for being buried alive, miles below the surface of the Earth. As the first track dissipates, a strange percussive thump gradually surfaces, a heartbeat maybe... a dense layered backdrop of shimmering low end and muted pulses undulates beneath the murky throb, very slowly building in intensity, as streaks of high end grit and buzzing glitch, and strange high pitched melodic fragments begin to materialize all around, like suddenly finding yourself inside a lightning storm, it's almost pretty, but still sharp and jagged. As the upper register peals intensify, they suddenly coalesce into some sort of deafening angelic chorus, a gorgeous layered textural wall of dreamlike skree, some demonic string section, surprisingly melodic beneath all the sonic barbs and white hot buzz. Hard to describe other than to say it's a bit like Nadja or Jesu, run through a bank of alien FX pedals and broadcast through a million tweeters. So intense and gloriously blown out.Ê
The next step in the journey involves visiting the "Abattoir" (much of this disc was in fact recorded in an actual French abattoir) , and it sounds just like you'd imagine. A bit like O'Malley's SUNNO))), with layer upon layer of constantly shifting coruscating guitars, a drone metal Niblock maybe, stretched out and hypnotic, the texture of the guitar constantly ever changing, going from smooth and washed out to rough and sharp, a bit like Spacemen 3 or Loop at it's most propulsive, a sort of churning distorted chordal whir, and a lot like SUNNO))) at its most static. But all throughout, the rough raw shimmer is disrupted by all manner of textural disturbances, bits of grit and muted glitch and subtle shards of fragmented melody.Ê
Finally, the record winds down with an extended coda, thick shards of glistening guitar suspended in gauzy clouds of electronic flutter and swirls of soft sonic snow. Eventually the sharp edges are worn away leaving a strangely haunting slightly degraded Basinski-esque drift that is smoothed even further out, into shimmery spacey synths and sweet chordal swells that drift away leaving nothing but static.
MPEG Stream: "Game"
MPEG Stream: "Theme"

KTL IV (Editions Mego) cd 17.98
Perfect for the dead of winter, it's another quietly creepy, digital dronedoom opus from this two-man stupor group, featuring Stephen O'Malley (SUNNO))), Khanate, etc.) and Peter Rehberg (Pita), this time with production assistance from Jim O'Rourke. If you've heard KTL's I, II, or III (which was vinyl-only) you have an idea of what to expect - and are probably already plotting to purchase this. This is their first studio album constructed entirely for their own dark purposes, as opposed to having been commissioned as a soundtrack for live theatrical performance or film, though it certainly still has mysterious, soundtrack-y qualities. The sort that usually causes us, in reviews of KTL (and other dronesters too) to paint word-pictures of what the music evokes in our mind's eye. Subterranean caverns, bottomless pits, fallen angelic choirs, airplanes buzzing over dark forests... but we won't bother this time, you should just listen to this and your own imagination should have no difficulty providing all sorts of esoteric imagery. It may be soothing, it may be scary. Probably scary, it's up to you though. We find a lot of this to be as sinister and grim as Dick Cheney was in his Dr. Strangelove wheelchair at Obama's inauguration!
These six tracks are full of seismic rumble, high end hiss, eerie abstract glitch, sweeping drones, ringing electronics... some more epic and/or active than others. Distorted industrial rhythms shudder through several cuts, notably the disc's longest piece, the 21+ minute "Paratrooper", which features doomic beats by the drummer from Japan's Boris (who also brings his gong for an appearance on the disc's final track). While that's KTL IV at its heaviest, most of this is more like the sound of SUNNO))) sighing and whispering... or, conversely, Pita busting out a guitar to play along to a half-melted Swans record he found in the ashes of a burned-down church.
MPEG Stream: "Paratrooper"
MPEG Stream: "Wicked Way"

KTL Live In Krems (Mego) lp 27.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Ahhhh, the black ambient onslaught continues. A vinyl based campaign to rain corrosive black drones on an adoring audience moves forward unabated, and we're right there in the front, face raised to the sky, letting the buzz and whir and rumble and roar rain down on us...
KTL is the duo of Stephen O'Malley, one half of the not-so dynamic duo SUNNO))), and Peter Rehberg, aka Pita. Their sound is a bit SUNNO))) like, with O'Malley unfurling sheets of abstract riffage, and Rehberg contributing various blasts of processed sounds and power electronics, the result is in fact quite beautiful, the three full lengths have helped solidify KTL as one of our favorite SUNN side projects, taking the churning brutality of that group, and stretching it out into something more abstract and expansive, still a dark sonic trawl, but the guitar is less downtuned and sludgy and more glimmering and effulgent, not to say it's not still doomy and dark, just more colored and less BLACK. And of course, there's so much more texture, with Rehberg delivering intense subsonics, smeared buzz, and all manner of blurred wonder, it's a pretty stellar combination.
So here we have a live recording of the duo, performing a few KTL classics, and one brand new track. Which is interesting as we just assumed that KTL was improvised, and while maybe there is an element of that in their music, you can definitely here bits and pieces that you'll recognize from the other recordings, and probably the more eagle eared among you will be able to pick out whole songs.
The first side opens up with a doomy swirl of washed out guitar, corrosive and keening, the riffs unfolding and overlapping. We don't really hear Rehberg until a few minutes in, when he offers up a thick, crumbling, superdistorted low end throb, that grinds ominously just below the sprawling guitarnoise, surfacing every once in a while to nearly blow your speakers. The sound builds to a glorious crescendo, sounding a bit like Sunroof! Or GHQ or one of those sort of ur-psych combos, but with a subtly abrasive digital component, that gives the sound a bit of an alien feel, the sound constantly thickening, with Rehberg's electronic machinations gradually overtaking the moaning guitars.
The flipside is even more blown out and psychedelic, O'Malley's guitars soaring ever skyward, roaring and keening, Rehberg wrapping those guitars in billowing sheets of grumbling digital glitter, smearing the churning riffage into haunting, nearly orchestral swells. So good.
Gorgeously packaged, deluxe gatefold, striking live images from the performance, also includes a massive poster of the show. Vinyl only for now. LIMITED TO 500 COPIES! Each one numbered. Not sure if there is a cd planned or not, still no cd of KTL 3, so you might want to grab one before they're gone.

KTL s/t (Editions Mego) cd 16.98
SUNNO)))-worshippers alert! 1/2 of that drone metal behemoth, our pal Stephen O'Malley (who has also piloted or participated in such units as Khanate, Burning Witch, Ginnungagap, Teeth Of The Lions Rule The Divine, Thorr's Hammer, Fungal Hex, Lotus Eaters, etc.) has travelled to Europe to collaborate with Austrian experimental digital noise artist Peter "Pita" Rehberg! They're calling themselves KTL because the music they made is to be the soundtrack to some sort of stage piece called Kindertotenlieder by performance artist Gisele Vienne and novelist Dennis Cooper ("Closer") due to debut at a festival in France next year. Judging from the music, not to mention the people involved, we imagine it's gonna be beautiful, but also somehow disturbing and dark... This cd certainly is.
It starts off with the 24 minute drone "Estranged", blissful and spooky piece that builds towards its end to noisier heights, threatening the storms to come on this album. And yes, the four parts of "Forest Floor" that take up the main, middle part of the disc are a harrowing journey indeed, into a buzzing, claustrophobic realm of dangerous digital sonics and heavy drone, like SUNNO)))'s lugubrious riffage mixed with the glitchy crunch of Pita -- which is what it is, of course! Not for the faint of heart. Part four, in particular, sounds like a doomed prop engine airplane rumbling over a dark forest landscape from some black metal album cover, at night...
Finally O'Malley and Rehberg wind things up with the quieter (but still creepy) 13 minutes of "Snow", a softly pulsing, detailed improv exploration of lowercase sounds... Very nice!
Let's hope KTL isn't just a one-off collaboration, we'd like to hear more from these two! Their mastery of minimalist ambient music, electronic glitchology and Earthy guitar sludge make a fine sipping brew.
A note for all you object fetishizing consumerist completist types, be forewarned that there will eventually also be a vinyl version of this on the Aurora Borealis label, a double LP limited to 500 copies... we can take preorders now...
MPEG Stream: "Estranged"
MPEG Stream: "Forest Floor 4"

KTL s/t (Aurora Borealis) 2lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now available on vinyl for a super limited time. Gorgeously elaborate packaging, deluxe gatefold sleeve, thick vinyl, includes a poster as well. Looks as amazing as it sounds. And it sounds like this:
SUNNO)))-worshippers alert! 1/2 of that drone metal behemoth, our pal Stephen O'Malley (who has also piloted or participated in such units as Khanate, Burning Witch, Ginnungagap, Teeth Of The Lions Rule The Divine, Thorr's Hammer, Fungal Hex, Lotus Eaters, etc.) has travelled to Europe to collaborate with Austrian experimental digital noise artist Peter "Pita" Rehberg! They're calling themselves KTL because the music they made is to be the soundtrack to some sort of stage piece called Kindertotenlieder by performance artist Gisele Vienne and novelist Dennis Cooper ("Closer") due to debut at a festival in France next year. Judging from the music, not to mention the people involved, we imagine it's gonna be beautiful, but also somehow disturbing and dark... This cd certainly is.
It starts off with the 24 minute drone "Estranged", blissful and spooky piece that builds towards its end to noisier heights, threatening the storms to come on this album. And yes, the four parts of "Forest Floor" that take up the main, middle part of the disc are a harrowing journey indeed, into a buzzing, claustrophobic realm of dangerous digital sonics and heavy drone, like SUNNO)))'s lugubrious riffage mixed with the glitchy crunch of Pita -- which is what it is, of course! Not for the faint of heart. Part four, in particular, sounds like a doomed prop engine airplane rumbling over a dark forest landscape from some black metal album cover, at night...
Finally O'Malley and Rehberg wind things up with the quieter (but still creepy) 13 minutes of "Snow", a softly pulsing, detailed improv exploration of lowercase sounds... Very nice!
Let's hope KTL isn't just a one-off collaboration, we'd like to hear more from these two! Their mastery of minimalist ambient music, electronic glitchology and Earthy guitar sludge make a fine sipping brew.
LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES. ON BLACK VINYL!!!
There was a version on white vinyl, but those were direct mailorder only from the label and are completely gone. And with these too, there's a good chance when they are gone they will be gone forever....
MPEG Stream: "Estranged"
MPEG Stream: "Forest Floor 4"

KTL V (Editions Mego) cd 16.98
As the title no doubt led you to believe, this is in fact the fifth release in the ongoing collaboration between Stephen O'Malley (SUNNO))), Khanate, etc.) and Peter Rehberg (Pita), and like IV before it, V was realized as a stand alone record, unlike the first three releases, which were all conceived and composed to accompany art installations. And again, like IV, the sound does not seem to be dramatically effected by this shift, although there does in fact seem to be a bit of a shift from IV to V, with V seeming, to our ears at least, to be a bit more academic, with an ear toward twentieth century classic and modern minimalism, further evidence which may be found in the two tracks here "Phill 1" and "Phill 2", which we presume are an homage to the master dronelord Phill Niblock, but of course done in their own inimitable style, with "Phill 1" opening up a thick gaseous dronescape, that is pocked with glitch and skitter, woven into the fabric of the tracks woozy undulations, and softly moaning choral shimmer. Where on past records much of the sound was barely there, and required close listening, "Phill 1" is much more immediately rewarding, lush and lustrous, thick and warm, and layered, the sort of minimalism that would probably still appeal to fans of O'Malley's SUNNO))) project. The track is definitely active, with plenty going on beneath the surface, and in the spaces surrounding the drone, be they thick slabs of blurred buzz, shards of computer glitch, and all manner of sonic detritus.
"Phill 2" finds O'Malley and Rehberg teaming up with the Prague Philharmonic, where they are joined by Johann Johannsson, who helps with the orchestration, the track transformed into something haunting and symphonic, yet still dark and droney, the sound even more rich, and somewhat cacophonous, a glorious noisy ur-drone, that definitely casts the orchestra as something much more chaotic and abstract that they are perhaps used to, the results are stunning.
In between these tracks, O'Malley and Rehberg do explore more minimal soundscapes, "Study A" features long tones, deep buzzes and sine wave like high end shimmers, stretched out into near static layered mesmer, allowing the two tones two subtly interact, and create all manner of overtones, gradually building in intensity, and at times sounding down right cinematic and psychedelic. "Tony" is another thick minimal dronescape, this one focused around a distorted stretch of slow shifting buzz, surrounded by warm melodic tones, and strange echo drenched percussion, the main drone ever shifting, creating a gorgeous slow motion melody, the background sounds lush and lustrous, maybe the prettiest thing we've heard from KTL yet. And finally, the record finishes off with the 20+ minute "Last Spring: A Prequel", which introduces text, a haunting spoken word, draped over a hissy shimmer, the breath urgent in the microphone, the vibe dark and claustrophobic, the music itself more like old KTL, ultra minimal, high end hiss, minimal static hum, bits of glitch laced throughout, the track all about the dramatically delivered vocals, which grow more and more agitated, more heavily effected, the music subtly following suit, like some strange abstract play, with some of the creepiest sound design ever, courtesy of KTL.
Housed in a super striking 6 panel digipak, with original artwork by Mark Fell. Meanwhile the vinyl comes in an equally colorful gatefold sleeve.
MPEG Stream: "Phill 1"
MPEG Stream: "Study A"

KTL V (Editions Mego) 2lp 32.00
As the title no doubt led you to believe, this is in fact the fifth release in the ongoing collaboration between Stephen O'Malley (SUNNO))), Khanate, etc.) and Peter Rehberg (Pita), and like IV before it, V was realized as a stand alone record, unlike the first three releases, which were all conceived and composed to accompany art installations. And again, like IV, the sound does not seem to be dramatically effected by this shift, although there does in fact seem to be a bit of a shift from IV to V, with V seeming, to our ears at least, to be a bit more academic, with an ear toward twentieth century classic and modern minimalism, further evidence which may be found in the two tracks here "Phill 1" and "Phill 2", which we presume are an homage to the master dronelord Phill Niblock, but of course done in their own inimitable style, with "Phill 1" opening up a thick gaseous dronescape, that is pocked with glitch and skitter, woven into the fabric of the tracks woozy undulations, and softly moaning choral shimmer. Where on past records much of the sound was barely there, and required close listening, "Phill 1" is much more immediately rewarding, lush and lustrous, thick and warm, and layered, the sort of minimalism that would probably still appeal to fans of O'Malley's SUNNO))) project. The track is definitely active, with plenty going on beneath the surface, and in the spaces surrounding the drone, be they thick slabs of blurred buzz, shards of computer glitch, and all manner of sonic detritus.
"Phill 2" finds O'Malley and Rehberg teaming up with the Prague Philharmonic, where they are joined by Johann Johannsson, who helps with the orchestration, the track transformed into something haunting and symphonic, yet still dark and droney, the sound even more rich, and somewhat cacophonous, a glorious noisy ur-drone, that definitely casts the orchestra as something much more chaotic and abstract that they are perhaps used to, the results are stunning.
In between these tracks, O'Malley and Rehberg do explore more minimal soundscapes, "Study A" features long tones, deep buzzes and sine wave like high end shimmers, stretched out into near static layered mesmer, allowing the two tones two subtly interact, and create all manner of overtones, gradually building in intensity, and at times sounding down right cinematic and psychedelic. "Tony" is another thick minimal dronescape, this one focused around a distorted stretch of slow shifting buzz, surrounded by warm melodic tones, and strange echo drenched percussion, the main drone ever shifting, creating a gorgeous slow motion melody, the background sounds lush and lustrous, maybe the prettiest thing we've heard from KTL yet. And finally, the record finishes off with the 20+ minute "Last Spring: A Prequel", which introduces text, a haunting spoken word, draped over a hissy shimmer, the breath urgent in the microphone, the vibe dark and claustrophobic, the music itself more like old KTL, ultra minimal, high end hiss, minimal static hum, bits of glitch laced throughout, the track all about the dramatically delivered vocals, which grow more and more agitated, more heavily effected, the music subtly following suit, like some strange abstract play, with some of the creepiest sound design ever, courtesy of KTL.
Housed in a super striking 6 panel digipak, with original artwork by Mark Fell. Meanwhile the vinyl comes in an equally colorful gatefold sleeve.
MPEG Stream: "Phill 1"
MPEG Stream: "Study A"

KUBIN, FELIX Bruder Luzifer (The Omni Recording Corporation) cd 17.98
Omni may be primarily a country reissue label, but every once in a while they'll come up with something distinctly NOT country and more often from way out of left field. Most recently it was the amazing Russkie Wig-Out compilation of demented surf, electro and exotica from Russia, and now comes this, a career retrospective of German outsider sci-fi electro pop visionary Felix Kubin, whose career has been an ongoing series of twisted sonic experiments, from lo-fi mad scientist sonic tinkering, to freaked out chaotic noise, to hypnotic krautrock grooves to super catchy sci-fi pop to twangy almost soundtracky Morricone-esque soundscapes and beyond.
Even after nearly three decades of recording, Kubin remains unknown to all but a select few of far-out music obsessives, which is perhaps the way it will remain, cuz this stuff is indeed pretty dang far out. But for all its weirdness and willful obscurity, it's also catchy, and crazy, and fun, and in places funny, the sort of thing, that if it were some 20 year old kid and it was a limited lp on Not Not Fun, or some self released cd-r folks would be losing their shit. So go ahead, freak out, this stuff is well deserving of that sort of worship, and it's long long overdue!
From the opening jam "Phonebashing", all skittery, electro new wave, warped and lo-fi, like some mash up of Kraftwerk and the Radiophonic Workshop and Herbie Hancock's "Rockit", to a killer WAY twisted version of "Lightning Strikes", originally written and performed by Lou Christie, but later covered by Klaus Nomi, which makes sense, since Kubin is a lot like Nomi in many ways, and musically sounds like Sparks crossed with The Residents, but more glitched out and electronic. Then there's "Schnitzler", which does in fact feature krautrock legend Conrad Schnitzler, a loopy, woozy bit of electro skitter, the refrain being simply "Schnitzler" and then "Conrad Schnitzler". The title track is a creepy bit of haunted house electronica, all creepy ambience, and super lo-fi programmed drum skitter, processed vox, and some cheesy, eighties drama soundtrack music woven in, again, twisted, but weirdly genius, and again, if this were some new hip underground band, blogs would be singing its praises.
The collection covers pretty much all of Kubin's far out sounds, from manic, stuttery, carnivalesque Devo style video game synth buzz freakouts, to swoonsome soundtracky slow jams, to lush cabaret pop, all deep dramatic vox and pizzicato strings, to manic Love Boat style soundtracks all chopped up and electrified and freaked out, to super lo-fi 8 bit electro crunch, to faux big band almost Lawrence Welk sounding easy listening, to shuffling warped jazzy weirdness, to full on Legend Of Zelda style Nintendo core, to moody groovy electro slow jams, and pretty much every warped and gloriously twisted sonic stop in between.
So good! Anyone into the current crop of lo-fi, electronic fractured pop experimentalists, this is will blow you away, and puts lots of that stuff to shame!
Features an extensive full color booklet, with liner notes, but the liner notes are quite cryptic, but very interesting, and fantastically written, appropriately mysterious for the music they accompany.
MPEG Stream: "Phonebashing"
MPEG Stream: "Lightning Strikes"
MPEG Stream: "Schnitzler"
MPEG Stream: "Bruder Luzifer"

KUBIN, FELIX TXRF (It's) cd 17.98
Lots of folks got their introduction to German outsider sci-fi electro pop visionary Felix Kubin via the Bruder Luzifer compilation we reviewed last year, a career spanning retrospective that offered up a handful of tracks that touched on nearly every aspect of Kubin's schizophrenic and ever-morphing soundworld, leaning heavily toward his twisted electro-pop / new wave popsmithery, but also giving us glimpses of warped lo-fi minimal electro-buzz, lush twang flecked soundscapes, freaked out chaotic noise and pretty much every stop in between. TXRF is something else entirely, a seriously high concept record, apparently based on a method of X-raying microchips to detect microscopic defects, these tracks, ostensibly some sort of sonic test for the X-ray system, and this record in effect, the sonic printout as it were, a document of the processes and their musical byproducts. Which is definitely believable, since on the one hand much of TXRF sounds weirdly clinical and academic, machinelike and robotic, the sort of thing you might hear on Raster Noton or some other label that traffics in such things, but Kubin, as we've discovered is a kind of a nut, and that definitely shows here, the sounds surprisingly playful, occasionally groovy, dizzyingly tripped out and most definitely psychedelic, shifting from a sort of stuttering 8-bit IDM to a woozy glitched out rhythmic abstract house music, to full on sci-fi mad scientist weirdness, all of those various sounds and elements somehow woven into a surprisingly cohesive whole, the record constantly transforming and morphing, the tracks impossibly varied, whether it's pulsing, pounding squelch and stutter, or skittery laser-beam, alien staticscape, playful Perrey And Kingsley style analog experimentation or haunting soundtracky psychedelic synthscapery (the closing track is a KILLER), it's all great, and yet another bafflingly brilliant piece of Kubin's unsolvable sonic puzzle, which of course, if you couldn't tell by now, means absolutely WAY recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Total No.2"
MPEG Stream: "Total No.4"
MPEG Stream: "Reflection No.5"
MPEG Stream: "X-Ray No.8"

KUBIN, FELIX TXRF (It's) 2lp 22.00
Lots of folks got their introduction to German outsider sci-fi electro pop visionary Felix Kubin via the Bruder Luzifer compilation we reviewed last year, a career spanning retrospective that offered up a handful of tracks that touched on nearly every aspect of Kubin's schizophrenic and ever-morphing soundworld, leaning heavily toward his twisted electro-pop / new wave popsmithery, but also giving us glimpses of warped lo-fi minimal electro-buzz, lush twang flecked soundscapes, freaked out chaotic noise and pretty much every stop in between. TXRF is something else entirely, a seriously high concept record, apparently based on a method of X-raying microchips to detect microscopic defects, these tracks, ostensibly some sort of sonic test for the X-ray system, and this record in effect, the sonic printout as it were, a document of the processes and their musical byproducts. Which is definitely believable, since on the one hand much of TXRF sounds weirdly clinical and academic, machinelike and robotic, the sort of thing you might hear on Raster Noton or some other label that traffics in such things, but Kubin, as we've discovered is a kind of a nut, and that definitely shows here, the sounds surprisingly playful, occasionally groovy, dizzyingly tripped out and most definitely psychedelic, shifting from a sort of stuttering 8-bit IDM to a woozy glitched out rhythmic abstract house music, to full on sci-fi mad scientist weirdness, all of those various sounds and elements somehow woven into a surprisingly cohesive whole, the record constantly transforming and morphing, the tracks impossibly varied, whether it's pulsing, pounding squelch and stutter, or skittery laser-beam, alien staticscape, playful Perrey And Kingsley style analog experimentation or haunting soundtracky psychedelic synthscapery (the closing track is a KILLER), it's all great, and yet another bafflingly brilliant piece of Kubin's unsolvable sonic puzzle, which of course, if you couldn't tell by now, means absolutely WAY recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Total No.2"
MPEG Stream: "Total No.4"
MPEG Stream: "Reflection No.5"
MPEG Stream: "X-Ray No.8"

KUBISCH / PLESSI Tempo Liquido (Ampersand) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Continuing to dig into the vaults of 'new music' composers, Ampersand offers another reissue from the collaborative team of Christina Kubisch and Fabrizio Plessi. Just as their previous outing "Two and Two" centered conceptually around the primal elements of earth, air, water, and fire, "Tempo Liquido" was a multimedia performance based upon primal archetypes, here the connection between time and water. During the original performances in the late '70s, Kubisch and Plessi bathed themselves in film loop projections of cascading waterfalls and time pieces, while they played elliptical patterns of interlocking percussion on steeldrums and carillon as well as scraping across an amplified piece of glass with a steel thimble. They complemented these repetitive elements with a backing tape of endless repetitions of simple computerized bleeping and sustained organ chords. Kubisch admits having "always been fascinated by the idea of musical compositions without a precise beginning or ending, pieces that could go on forever and ever, where you could enter and leave at your own pace. Tempo Liquido is a piece about the concept of time. Time reveals itself in the theme of water and in the form of the circle as a symbol for continuity and timelessness." A nice archival document.
RealAudio clip: "Tempo Liquido 1"

KUBISCH, CHRISTINA Armonica (Semishigure) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
In the late 18th Century, Benjamin Franklin invented the Glass Harmonica as a musical instrument with the idea of improving upon the parlour trick of rubbing the rim of a wine glass with a wet finger to produce a constant drone. Franklin heard a pristine beauty resulting from from this action but immediately recognized the limitations if one wanted to play more than one or two wine glasses at once. For his Glass Harmonica, Franklin cut off the stems of several dozen wine glasses and drilled holes directly in the center of the glasses. He then mounted these augmented glasses along a horizontal rotating spindle, so that the player of the Glass Harmonica could effectively be rubbing the rims of several glasses at once and create harmonies and chords out of those pure tones. The Glass Harmonica was quite a novelty instrument for plenty of composers of the day; but it fell out of favor with the discerning public (possibly because some of the players had actually fainted from the frequencies they were creating with the Glass Harmonica).
In recent years, there's been a resurgance of interest in the glass harmonica amongst avant-garde composers, including Simon Wickham-Smith, Manu Holterbach, and Christina. As one of Germany's most reknowned sound artists, Kubisch typically operates in the realm of installation with almost all of her previous recordings being documents of those installations; thus, Armonica is a rare documentation of Kubisch's compositional sensibility. In using the glass harmonica as the source material for this album, she constructs a beautiful polyphony of never-ending timbres, resulting in an exquisite piece of haunted minimalism on par with the likes of Phill Niblock, Andrew Chalk, and Eliane Radigue. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Armonica"

KUBISCH, CHRISTINA Diapason (Semishigure) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
For nearly 4 decades, the German sound artist Christina Kubisch has explored the dynamics of a restricted pallette from unconventional sound sources, including water jets, metronomes, marbles, and bells (her most widely used sound source). She situates these sounds within a number of poetic installations, which depend upon architechtural, environmental, and object-relational contexts to literally activate the sound. Some of her work including the recordings from the "Klangraumlichtzeit" monograph never translated very well outside of their original installations, but there have been examples of her sound work which transcend the borders of the installations. "Dreaming Of A Major Third" (1998) was one such piece, as a wonderful drone recording of churchbell tones whose sharp attacks had been curtailed into muffled swells. The album is so strong that the technological gimmickery of her solar panel interface to control those churchbells is almost a footnote. Similarly, "Diapason" is another successful composition outside of its original installation context, having been exclusively composed with medical tuning forks. Utilizing the intrinsically long acoustic decay of those forks to her advantage, Kubisch spartanly strikes these instruments in variety of delicate patterns that emerge, dissolve, and re-appear with the vast expanses of time and space. In the end, this album has many of the ephemeral and transient characteristics of late period Morton Feldman.
RealAudio clip: "Diapason excerpt 1"
RealAudio clip: "Diapason excerpt 2"

KUBISCH, CHRISTINA Twelve Signals (Semishigure) cd 18.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

KURENNIEMI, ERKKI Recording (Love Records) cd 14.98
This is an awesome document of early computer music from Finnish inventor/composer Erkki Kurenniemi, who is featured on the Arktinen Hysteria: Suomi-Avantgarden Esipuutarhureita compilation, one of this week's Records of the Week, which is a brief sonic overview of Finnish experimental/electronic/avant garde in the sixties. Kurenniemi's track on the comp is a sort of precursor to Pan Sonic, stiff robotic dance music made from blips and bleeps. This collection of his work from 1963-1973 shows multiple sides of Kurenniemi, the silly, playful side, like the comp track (which also appears here) and then a much darker, noiser side. Having spent time as an artist, a photographer, and a musician, Kurennemi was always an enthusiastic amateur, with most of his works remaining in a raw and unfinished state. Which in no way detracts from the power of these amazing pieces. In fact like lots of home-recorded/primitively recorded music, the quality of the recording is a huge part of the overall sound. A combination of computers, synthesizers and home made automated sound making devices, resulted in a broad range of sound, from grainy rough walls of sound to boinky primitive rhythm tracks to thick rumbling tones and ear piercing sine waves to dorky spastic freak outs to twinkly spacescapes. Really cool stuff.
MPEG Stream: "Sahkosoittimen Aania #1"
MPEG Stream: "On - Off"

KUUPUU Kulta Sulka (self-released) cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another leafy, spacey, dew laden, sun dappled folk flecked free rock missive from this Finnish female who has done time in both Avarus and Anaksimadndros, which should give you an idea of the sort of spaced out freeform spacefolk loveliness to expect here. Gently looped guitar distortion, swooping spacey FX, clattery percussion, bird calls, warbly machinelike whirs, drifting shimmery organs and sing songy vocals, haunting detuned guitars, creepy atonal melodies, all buried under dreamy swaths of fuzzy gauzy swirl. So nice. Fans of all things Finnish will want to act fast as we only have 20 or so.
Third and last edition, limited to 100, packaged in hand made, watercolored sleeves.
MPEG Stream: "Linnut"
MPEG Stream: "Jaa Maa"

KUUPUU Unilintu (Dekorder) lp 16.98
Yet another blurry, bleary eyed, sleepy and soft, dreamlike missive from the mysterious KuuPuu, another of the Finnish forest denizens who have captured our hearts.
Unilintu is the second of two vinyl only releases compiling the best tracks from long out of print cd-r's. The record begins with a burst of blown out electronic buzz and stuttering machinelike rhythms seemingly crafted from a skipping record, but don't be scared off, once you've waded through this brief blast, you'll find yourself in a dark and wondrous abstract forest folk wonderland. Soft and warm, whirring organs drone and drift over lilting sing song vocals, various lines all lazily intertwined,ultra lo-fi acoustic guitars wrapped in all sorts of natural ambience, the sounds of rain and thunder, and again those dreamy ghost like vocals. The whole record has that rainy day back porch vibe, or sometimes that late night dark forest campfire feel, both so intimate and personal.
Old pianos plinked and plonked in big echoey empty rooms, wheezing violins, atonal detuned guitars, warm washes of fuzzy ambience, occasionally interrupted by little chunks of noise drenched 4-track fuckery, but for the most part, Unilintu is one long sweet sonic dream. Definitely for fans of Islaja, Grouper, Fursaxa, Valet and the like.

KUUPUU Yokehra (Dekorder) lp 14.98
Another gorgeous dreamy slab of free floating Finnish forest folk. From Kuupuu who delivers the very dreamiest of the bunch. Sonic similarities abound to countrymen Avarus, Anaksimandros, Kemialliset Ystavat and the rest, but Kuupuu are dreamier and driftier, less tribal, less linked to this mortal plain, the music of Kuupuu is like some mysterious lullaby that drifts like the smell of burning leaves through the forest. Shimmery atmospheres of delicately plucked strings and music box melodies, detuned guitars and thick droney warble, lo-fi but strangely lush, a whirl of haze and murk, warm and soft and inviting, disembodied vocals, wordless, more like another instrument than a voice, another layer of sound. These are late night lullabies for forest folk and we just can't stop listening. So easy to drift off and float away.......

KUWAYAMA - KIJIMA 01.06.16 (Trente Oiseaux) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A slight departure from the silence and drones that often-inaudible composer Bernhard Gunter's Trente Oiseaux label is known for, this disc by Japanese cello and violin duo Kuwayama Kiyoharu and Kijima Rina is a live acoustic improv set. Not exactly jazz improv, though! More of an avant-garde modern classical chamber improv thing, but minus the actual "chamber", 'cause the real twist is that "01.06.16" isn't just live, it's what you might term a "field recording" -- they recorded it outdoors, beside a highway at midnight! So you get the sound of passing cars and trucks, adding a whooshing, rumbling texture to the proceedings. We're not sure if they're really listening to the traffic and interactively improvising with those sounds -- although it seems that way at least some of the time -- but the ambient (and very present) pulsation of the highway noise makes a nice setting for the creaking, scrabbling, droning interplay of their strings. This type of thing is this duo's modus operandi, as we've also heard Mr. Kuwayama's and Ms. Kijima's previous, self-titled disc on GG Records which featured them improvising similarily in a warehouse and on the construction site of an expressway. Although we're still a bit surprised to find this on Trente Oiseaux -- being the label that released Reynols' "Blank Tapes", we'd have expected them to want even more highway and less violin and cello on this release...
RealAudio clip: "01.06.16 f"

KUWAYAMA - KIJIMA 02.08.23 (Trente Oiseaux) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Here's the Japanese cello and violin duo of Kuwayama Kiyoharu & Kijima Rina's second release for Bernard Gunter's Trente Oiseaux label. Their creaking, mysterious improvisations are always set within a larger sound-environment. Their previous disc had them playing next to a highway at midnight, this one finds them in a warehouse on a pier, so rather than the buzz of traffic the ambient sounds are gently lapping, sloshing water in a large acoustic space, interwoven with their fog horn cello droning and deep string stroke scritch-scratch. Really nice and evocative, for fans of both modern free improv and field recordings -- it's maybe like violinist Malcolm Goldstein jamming with field recordist Toshiya Tsunoda. We're also somewhat reminded of works by Pauline Oliveros, Koji Asano, Philipp Wachsmann, and Akio Suzuki.
MPEG Stream: "02.08.31 e"