Rolling electro-acoustic/avant-garde/improv/quiet music thread

two of my favorite albums so far this year (in any genre) were actually two that were released last year, but that I'm just now hearing: Efzeg's Krom, and Polwechsel's Archives of the North. god I couldn't believe how good that Polwechsel disc sounded... just beautiful

Yes, the Polwechsel disc is beautiful, I've read about Krom but have not heard it yet, will be on thee lookout. Thanks.

i like all these names!

sorry. when i hear something quiet i will report back. i promise! milton will love you for starting this thread.

Well that was actually supposed to be spelled Dafeldecker in the first post there. He's also in Polwechsel, and records with Dean Roberts as well (TIP!). Has anyone heard last year's Wane with Kyle Bruckmann and Boris Hauf?

WHO???????????

i love the recent fennesz-sakamoto release. perfect for stormy summer nights. this thread should be good.

Yeah, this stuff is generally pretty underrepresented round here.

Let's start a turf war with Bagatellen!

(quietly though)

the fennesz-sakamoto collab is one my favorite albums from this year. it sounds so natural/effortless and refined.

i have also spent some time with the nicolai-sakamoto dvd which seems to be more of a completist thing. the raster noton visuals and sakamoto at the piano really breathe life into a laptop-style performance.

Has anyone heard last year's Wane with Kyle Bruckmann and Boris Hauf?

no, but Kyle's "Gasps and Fissures" is the good listening

http://www.onefinalnote.com/reviews/b/bruckmann-kyle/gasps-and-fissures.asp

I just found this really cool discography that gives me new names to look for.

http://people.unt.edu/aeh0018/womtechdisc.html

also, the basement at my work is the gift that keeps on giving. today it turned up Robert Ashley's "In Sara, Mencken..." as well as an LP by Lejaren Hiller, which I haven't listened to yet. Compositions for tape, pianos and tape, tape and percussion...

I'm for this thread, I've heard the Polwechsel but that's it.

Do you guys read Sound Project magazine? I like it, but I have only read the most recent issue. I will probably order some of the back issues, sometime.

an LP by Lejaren Hiller, which I haven't listened to yet. Compositions for tape, pianos and tape, tape and percussion...

-- ian, Tuesday, July 24, 2007 11:14 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

is that the one with An Avalanche? that is a stone cold classic, especially "Nightmare Music"

yes, it is! I'm listening to it now, actually, but I started with side two. I love the dude who prices the classical stuff here; $2.50 for the Hiller and $8 for the Ashley.

also, that's Sound ProjectOR magazine. I made a typo.

Any given issue of Sound Projector is a pretty large and comprehensive noise overview, and I recall they had a feature a while back on "very special nothing music" aka this thread.

also, the basement at my work is the gift that keeps on giving. today it turned up Robert Ashley's "In Sara, Mencken..." as well as an LP by Lejaren Hiller, which I haven't listened to yet. Compositions for tape, pianos and tape, tape and percussion...

-- ian, Tuesday, July 24, 2007 11:14 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

oh man i really need that bob ashley!

I haven't heard that Ashley, but the late 70's Lovely records - 'Automatic Writing', 'Yellow Man with Heart with Wings', and 'Private Parts (The Record)' - are all-time faves. If you're looking for minimal/quiet music, 'Automatic Writing' especially. Watch out for those deep bass beats that pop up throughout. You'll be convinced they're coming from somewhere else - some clown driving by blasting his car stereo, e.g. - but they're not. Total mind-fuck.

I would like this thread to be like the rolling teenpop thread, where I don't know nearly as much as the posters but can read it like a magazine and hear about good stuff!

"If you're looking for minimal/quiet music, 'Automatic Writing' especially."

it frightens me...

(for real. it gives me the heeby jeebys.)

i've got "automatic writing," one of my all-time faves.

ps. mentioned on the rlw thread, i upped some p16.d4 for tim ellison. email me if you want the linx.

Have any of you heard Lullatone?
Their album "plays pajama pop pour vous" is kind of electro-acoustic j-pop with shades of bossa nova.

to be taken seriously on this thread they would have to change their name to lulakakatuni deshweitzverkeim.

hahaha scott.

They are definitely not to be taken seriously.

it should be noted that "saudade" is my all-time favorite quiet Love & Rockets song. truly, it's beautiful!

The quietest thing I've recently bought is Manfred Werder's 2006/1. Sort of a half hour-long recording sort of along the lines of 4'33", recorded outdoors so it's practically a field recording. The wonderful thing about it is that on each listen, as your ears get accustomed to the various ambient sounds and their sequence, more and more of the musicians' efforts start to reveal themselves from within the noises of the city (it was recorded in a park somewhere in Japan I think) - some very quiet guitar, the odd sax tone, some stone percussion. There's some tambura in there to, but it's yet to show itself.

to be taken seriously on this thread they would have to change their name to lulakakatuni deshweitzverkeim.

One of my favorite noise records recently has been Ahlzagailzehguh's Black Destination. Pronounce that and you're golden.

speaking of, do y'all dudes like aufgehoben?

new wienerschnitzel out in august

13's my limit on schnitzengruben

I love the Fennesz/Sakomoto, just really pleasant and enveloping. I even want to say "relaxing" if that doesn't sound ridiculous. I can't quite work out whether it would have been, like, at all hard to do, though, or whether I should care about that.

http://www.dragcity.com/catalog/records/dex12.gif

Ambarchi's "In The Pendulum's Embrace" is really gorgeous.

not improv, but just got new alejandra & aeron 'billowy mass' (along w/some cool hand-drawn art!) -- haven't opened CD yet, but think these people are pretty slept on

vinyl-only loren connors album i bought is really pretty. and very quiet! limited edition, but probably not hard to find or get still:

http://www.mimaroglumusicsales.com/artists/loren+connors.html

what what

Anyone for ErstPop?

Ielasi & Nicola Ratti's "Bellows" is super pretty and melodic, sort of similar to the Fennesz & Sakamoto collab. Gudnadóttir, Nilsen and Stilluppsteypa "Second Childhood" also very good along similar lines.

The piece in Stylus about Lovely Records is absolutely beautiful.

Swod - Sekunden and Goldmund - The Heart of High Places are two of my favorite albums from this year. Giuseppe Ielasi has a new record out huh? Sweet. And if you want something like fennesz + sakamoto get alva noto + sakamoto :D

Don;t forget to pick up the insen dvd too

"Anyone for ErstPop?"

words really can't express how eager I am to get this Magic I.D. record out, but sadly it's still a bit delayed, likely January but still an outside shot at November. CD and LP both, some of the tracks (unmastered and MP3s) are here:

http://www.myspace.com/themagicID

the good news is that the second ErstPop disc will likely follow soon after, the second studio record from the Schnee duo (Stangl/Kurzmann).

Dan Warburton sonned in John Cage beef

new coh!!

ok, not so new, i just missed it until yesterday.

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/03/ciu/ec/d0/3900f96642a04898877d5110._AA240_.L.jpg
awesome packaging, as always on raster-noton

Might be a bit painful for some, but fans of Voice Crack and Maja Ratke should really check out Mats Gustafsson and Yoshimi's "Words on the Floor" for an amazing session of laptop/instruments/efx vs the human voice.

Might be a bit painful for some, but fans of Voice Crack and Maja Ratke should really check out Mats Gustafsson and Yoshimi's "Words on the Floor" for an amazing session of laptop/instruments/efx vs the human voice.

-- Jena, Sunday, 4 November 2007 20:25 (1 hour ago) Link

I second this because I was one of the 15 people in the crowd (even if you can't hear it) when it was recorded. As I have mentioned before... It's really a great album anyway.

^^^ !!!

that ihm thread is ridiculous. haven't looked at that site in a while, too bad if it's that bad now.

it's not, that DaveX guy disappeared pretty quickly, for one.

don't blame him!

it's not, that DaveX guy disappeared pretty quickly, for one.

I like how his request for information and elucidation was greeted with snide derision. Yeesh. I can't imagine why anyone would think the EAI scene is full of insular snobs...

mess with the sacred cow, you get the.. udders?

haha I read that thread a couple weeks ago, it was pretty brutal. My first experience with IHM. Are all the threads populated with such bitterness?

"I like how his request for information and elucidation was greeted with snide derision."

that wasn't the only thread he'd posted on, he'd kind of taken over the site in the previous week or so, all while contributing nothing.

"I can't imagine why anyone would think the EAI scene is full of insular snobs..."

people think this about pretty much any "scene" they're not a part of.

I mean, don't you think ILM seems like a bunch of insular snobs to non-participants?

on an informative note, there's a very promising new series that just started in NYC, two Mondays a month at the Old Office of the Knit (!), free admission. I'd highly recommend the 12/6 show, but all look potentially interesting at least:

http://www.rasbliutto.net/concerts/sigogglin.html

sorry, 12/10, not 12/6.

oh that Ambarchi thing is great

people think this about pretty much any "scene" they're not a part of.

I mean, don't you think ILM seems like a bunch of insular snobs to non-participants?

Um...well, no. As a non-participant it was in fact the lack of insularity/snobbery that made me wanna participate.

That series looks great, btw. I'm pissed that I missed Bullock's set.

Hey, check out www.andrasklang.com I stumbled across this label the other day, all their stuff is free, so you can't go wrong and they make nice little electroacoustic miniatures. The Bruce Springsteen cover that plays when you click is something of a red herring. I especially recommend Source Particles by Sean Patrick. I emailed them and they're lovely guys too!

I don't know how I ever missed this thread, sorry to see it kind of floundering.

Anyway, I'm not sure if this belongs here, but the new record by Ø (Mika Vainio from Supersilent)is pretty terrific. Maybe a little overlong, but better than his last and more satisfying for me than the last Supersilent, lots of his low buzzing locust-swarm thing

I wanted to pile on w/ the props for Pendulum's Embrace upthread, too. So amazing. Hard to articulate what makes it stand out among his (too) many other releases. This record and Svarte Greiner's Knive from a couple years back are so evocative of specific worlds compared to to the glut of similar stuff I've picked up via Boomkat.

I've been listening to a lot of quiet music recently.
Steve Roden "Speak No More About The Leaves"
Jason Khan "Sihl"
Tape & Minamo "Birds of a Feather"
I.S.O. "I.S.O." This release is one of my favorites. The sounds drift in and out, sometimes the surrounding sounds, birds, the wind overtake the music. Really beautiful music.
What's newer in electroacoustic music?

Also just got Taku Sugimoto & Kevin Drumm "Den" but I haven't listened to it yet. I wonder how they could work as a duo?

Den is a FUCKING gorgeous record. they work beautifully as a duo... i wish there were more recordings like that. it walks that perfect balance between a lot of slippery slopes without falling down any of them. and the whole thing is hard to place a finger on... i've heard it about maybe 30 or 50 times, and even though the last was a few years ago, i can't recall EXACTLY what it sounds like (!) -- i remember subdued tones in a meandering soupy kind of field, but nothing more specific than that. preserving its mystique after that many spins is quite an accomplishment i think.

and Jacob everything else you've mentioned i rate pretty highly as well... have been a bit out of this particular loop for a while, as i love this stuff while i'm doing visual things but lately have been working on dance(ish) music a lot... however there are some newer things for sure worthwhile and which will likely last. will see about some suggestions...

Also I want to get more Radu Malfatti, Commune Disc records, and Hibari records? I have one disc by WAvEN, and it's very good. About like something on Mille Plateaux but softer.

I.S.O. "I.S.O." This release is one of my favorites. The sounds drift in and out, sometimes the surrounding sounds, birds, the wind overtake the music. Really beautiful music.

is this the one with the grey cover? totally agree, love it to death.

Malfatti is the extreme quiet one no? i remember hearing a quartet with him and i believe Sugimoto and 2 other quality players, and it was literally a single 12 seconds tone at like the 27:33 mark, and the rest of the CD blank. and the second disc was similar.

conceptually challenging and rigorous and all, but i felt cheated out of my hard earned 26 euros or however much it was.

Efzeg have reformed after a seven-year hiatus, played a gig in Vienna last night.

So I don't know if this is the thread for avant-noise sort of coming from a free jazz direction, but this guy is a friend of a friend and I like his stuff a lot:

https://soundcloud.com/nick-millevoi

in particular the track with weasel walter slays

Millevoi/Ricart quartet tonight at Death By Audio, Weasel Walter, Elliot Sharp, may go

I'd go if I was in NY

Yeah, there's some good stuff on that Soundcloud. I like "Bruxer".

yeah I couldn't make it which is a bummer. Andrea Parkins with Greg Saunier too.

http://m.pitchfork.com/features/the-out-door/9521-overlooked-experimental-records-2014

My friend started this neat podcast. Here is one with Olivia Block

http://cast.now-is.org/now-is-olivia-block-6-august-2015/