Champion Version

Final 7″ in the static series and final 7″ on Fake Jazz

admin — Tue, 15 May 2012 07:57:48 +0000

Date: 15 May 2012

Detail: Well, this is it, the final instalment of the Team Built Remote static journey and also the final scheduled release on the Fake Jazz label imprint. We’ve been massively privileged to have been given the opportunity to put out this wonderful set of 7″s. The TBR have been busy in their studio recently piecing together some brand new material. Hopefully we’ll get to hear it soon. Thanks a lot and more soon.

Team Built Remote ‘Static 12′

admin — Tue, 15 May 2012 07:00:16 +0000

Duration: Variable (33rpm/45rpm/78rpm)

Catalogue: FJ201117

Format: Limited edition 7″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 15 May 2012

The penultimate 7″ of the Team Built Remote set

admin — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 08:50:23 +0000

Date: 15 April 2012

Detail: The eleventh part of the Team Built Remote set of 7″s is available to buy here now.

Team Built Remote ‘Static 11′

admin — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 07:00:02 +0000

Duration: Variable (33rpm/45rpm/78rpm)

Catalogue: FJ201116

Format: Limited edition 7″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 15 April 2012

SS9 – Gareth Davis ’34°03′N 118°15′W’

admin — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:39:54 +0000

Artist’s Description: Stasis. Movement. There is both a monotony and beauty to driving at night in Los Angeles. The flicker of lights across the valley create a quality of barely visible movement, something where detail is almost impossible to focus on, yet is also paramount to the landscape being what it is. These two short pieces explore movement through seemingly static means, starting with the basic compositional idea that to create a constant, unwavering sound on a reed instrument (in this case the bass clarinet) one must inversely produce a fast moving stream of air. As these sounds break down, they reveal an innate sense of movement, a sense of varying texture and undulation within the apparent constant.

Project Description: Superior Standards was an experiment set-up by Adam Barringer and Rutger Zuydervelt to distribute a collection of ten lathe cut transparent 7″ releases in an extremely restricted quantity of ten copies each. Particiating artists were Celer, Richard Chartier, Gareth Davis, Lawrence English, Fuck Fuck, Kenneth Kirschner, Machinefabriek, Minus Pilots, Bartholomäus Traubeck and Nate Wooley. Each subscription included all ten 7″s, artist postcards, stickers and cards, the password to a specifically tailored web page and download links to all the tracks. All subscriptions are now sold out.

Tracks: 1. Haroun 2. Kahani

Duration: 7:58

Catalogue: SS9

Format: Limited edition lathe cut transparent 7″

Edition: Ten copies limited to one copy per person/household

Released: Summer 2012

SS8 – Kenneth Kirschner ‘September 25, 2011′

admin — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:37:29 +0000

Artist’s Description: Forgetting is for me an essential part of composing, and I write a huge number of sketches that for one reason or another don’t get developed further – reasons that I myself often don’t remember clearly. In sifting through my hard drive for short pieces, I came across ‘September 25, 2011′; I don’t remember the circumstances under which I wrote it, why I didn’t develop it further, or really much about it at all – which made hearing it again all the more pleasant a surprise for me. For this record, I selected the original sketch as side A, then created a variation of it for the B side by systematically damaging the original into a decayed blur of its former self, so that the two sides of the record contain two perspectives on the same material, as if viewed from two different vantage points in time.

Tracks: 1. September 25, 2011 (Sketch) 2. September 25, 2011 (Variant)

Duration: 6:10

Catalogue: SS8

Format: Limited edition lathe cut transparent 7″

Edition: Ten copies limited to one copy per person/household

Released: Summer 2012

SS7 – Celer ‘Melancholy And Resistance’

admin — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:35:01 +0000

Artist’s Description: In late February of 2012 it was raining in Tokyo, the wind was sharp, and the days were gray and cold. There would be patches of sunlight opening into the afternoon, but soon it would be dark and the night would turn cold again. The inside lights would glow, and everything would become warm until we’d walk back to the train station late at night before the trains would stop running. I’d come back and for that short time before sleeping, there were some final attempts to be creative for the day. ‘Melancholy And Resistance’ was recorded in one evening, with a synthesizer and laptop. Maybe the duration lasts just as long as the orange pieces of sunlight for the days around when it was made, but more likely its heart came from those few hours we spent in the evening, talking and finding warmth in the glow of the lights at home.

Tracks: 1. Enterings 2. Matches

Duration: 8:28

Catalogue: SS7

Format: Limited edition lathe cut transparent 7″

Edition: Ten copies limited to one copy per person/household

Released: Summer 2012

SS6 – Lawrence English ‘A Dream Amidst The Nightmares’

admin — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:32:00 +0000

Artist’s Description: “Man is a genius when he is dreaming” – Akira Kurosawa.

Tracks: 1. A Dream 2. Amidst The Nightmares

Duration: 8:53

Catalogue: SS6

Format: Limited edition lathe cut transparent 7″

Edition: Ten copies limited to one copy per person/household

Released: Summer 2012

SS5 – Bartholomäus Traubeck ‘Ouroboros’

admin — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:29:26 +0000

Artist’s Description: A single note is played on a classical instrument. This signal is then fed into two separate feedback loops and would circulate itself continuously if left untouched. By adding effect units and equalizers to these feedback loops, the initial signal is not only underpinned but also altered progressively, strengthening the extent of the signal modification over time. When implementing this process, the revised sounds combine and distort the signal in such a way that its source is soon no longer recognisable. Ultimately though, the sound wave itself still consists of nothing other than this initially played single note in the form of its ever evolving echo within the two parallel loops.

Tracks: 1. Fading 2. Diffusion

Duration: 8:27

Catalogue: SS5

Format: Limited edition lathe cut transparent 7″

Edition: Ten copies limited to one copy per person/household

Released: Summer 2012

SS4 – Fuck Fuck ‘First Fuck/Last Fuck’

admin — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:25:54 +0000

Artist’s Description: Exploring the duality of the male/female principle as archetype: Fuck Fuck. When Natural instincts and tribal bonds manifest in spontaneous eruptions of voluminous sound over time: Fuck Fuck. Four men in a room express themselves in an unplanned, unrehearsed fashion, shut their mouths, turn up amps and Fuck Fuck the air around them. Fuck Fuck vibrations illuminate oft-unseen spectrums of light and higher frequencies of sound can be detected aurally: Fuck Fuck. The sounds obtained on these rare field recordings actually fuck themselves. Thus, more Fuck Fuck is propagated and sent Fuck Fucking into the future.

Tracks: 1. First Fuck 2. Last Fuck

Duration: 9:08

Catalogue: SS4

Format: Limited edition lathe cut transparent 7″

Edition: Ten copies limited to one copy per person/household

Released: Summer 2012

SS3 – Pinkcourtesyphone ‘Reflected Themes’

admin — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:20:21 +0000

Artist’s Description: These two pieces were created in 2012 from from two vinyl samples that I have been cherishing since 1997. They have run through my head since then. I would find myself humming them occasionally throughout the years. I originally used them in works that I intended to send to VVM in 1998 while working simultaneously on what would become ‘direct.incidental.consequential’ – but I never did. Pinkcourtesyphone is an alias I have used since 1997 but not done much formal work with. Pinkcourtesyphone is not very “Richard Chartier”. It is dark but not arch, with a slight hint of humor. Pinkcourtesyphone is amorphous, changing, and slipping in and out of consciousness. These afternoon and evening themes, in this case reflected or remixed forms, try to capture the essence of some nicely dressed 1960′s housewife wistfully peering out her window while reclining on some lovely couch or divan, with, of course, a slowly sipped cocktail and perhaps half of a Valium. Perhaps waiting for the phone to ring. Formed, coaxed and recorded by Pinkcourtesyphone – elegant and detached.

Tracks: 1. Afternoon Reflection 2. Evening Reflection

Duration: 9:30

Catalogue: SS3

Format: Limited edition lathe cut transparent 7″

Edition: Ten copies limited to one copy per person/household

Released: Summer 2012

SS2 – Nate Wooley ‘C Is… (For Kenneth Gaburo)’

admin — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:15:05 +0000

Artist’s Description: ‘C Is…’ is part of a series of trumpet and tape pieces that I’ve been doing for the past year that are exercises in concepts that I haven’t been able to escape. Starting with ‘An Hour of Continuous Music’ from Instrumentals volume 1, which dealt with the architectural weight of density versus silence at regular intervals found in some of Walter Marchetti’s work, and now followed up with an homage to Kenneth Gaburo and his underappreciated word piece ‘C Is…’ published by Frog Peak. Gaburo’s ‘C Is…’ is an exhaustion on a small scale of the perceptions of nomenclature in music. What is the C? An arbitrary symbol of pitch? A specific wavelength and frequency? In Gaburo’s piece this is the beginning of exploration, and by the end, I’m usually so confused that I just drift off into pleasantly jumbled nap state. In my ‘C Is…’ each side is involved in the idea of when does C stop being C. Side A deals with it implicitly while side B might be considered closer to a literary approach. Both pieces were made using the trumpet and amplifier as sound source and then constructed using the most remedial of tape techniques.

Tracks: 1. C Is… 2. C Is…

Duration: 7:58

Catalogue: SS2

Format: Limited edition lathe cut transparent 7″

Edition: Ten copies limited to one copy per person/household

Released: Summer 2012

SS1 – Machinefabriek ‘Stroomtoon Vervolg’

admin — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:02:55 +0000

Artist’s Description: ‘Stroomtoon Vervolg’ is a continuation of the album ‘Stroomtoon’, released on the French label Nuun. Like this album, the two tracks on this single are constructed using improvisations with an analogue oscillator and various effects pedals. The objective was to create something more exhilarating, spontaneous and lively than the regular ambient genre my music is often labelled as.

Tracks: 1. Stroomtoon Zes 2. Stroomtoon Zeven

Duration: 8:26

Catalogue: SS1

Format: Limited edition lathe cut transparent 7″

Edition: Ten copies limited to one copy per person/household

Released: Summer 2012

SS0 – Minus Pilots ‘Machine Processes’

admin — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 14:39:33 +0000

Artist’s Description: Our intention was to live record a sombre set of fragmented minimalist compositions using two old electric basses, six modified DM-2 delay pedals and mixing the output with some heavily treated drums produced by our friend Rutger Zuydervelt (a.k.a. Machinefabriek). For the ‘Machine Processes’ track, we settled on the floor of our studio with our basses and pedals, hit the record button and sparsely improvised multiple layers in the same key and scale. The audio was later mixed with Rutger’s sublime and unique sampled drum parts. With ‘And The Quiet Of The Land’ we wanted to achieve a haunting sound so concentrated on blending some bleak bass drones that were looped, live edited and then looped again. In theory, this process could continue indefinitely but being restricted by the time restraints imposed by the format we focused on finding a loop we liked before asking Rutger to add more of his gloomy fractured drums and electronics. The B side concludes with the stately static and broken decay of ‘Point Against Point’. These recordings are our first foray with drums, and incidentally, Rutger’s too. We really hope that you like them.

Tracks: 1. Machine Processes 2. And The Quiet In The Land 3. Point Against Point

Duration: 8:11

Catalogue: SS0

Format: Limited edition lathe cut transparent 7″

Edition: Ten copies limited to one copy per person/household

Released: Summer 2012

Our new Mass Transmission music store

admin — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 15:16:11 +0000

Date: 9 April 2012

Detail: To make life a little easier for ourselves we’ve rolled up our stores into one place. As well as a couple of others, our new Mass Transmission store will host the Champion Version, Fake Jazz and Eat, Sleep, Repeat shops.

RecordFlipper: The blog for new-vinyl speculators

admin — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:53:49 +0000

Date: 29 March 2012

Detail: Greg Bullock from RecordFlipper has kindly spent a bit of time writing some nice words about our Superior Standards 7″ concept. Click here to read on.

Superior Standards 7″ subscriptions now sold out

admin — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:43:40 +0000

Date: 29 March 2012

Detail: We’re really very sorry – all the Superior Standards subscriptions have now sold out. A lot quicker thank we thought. Thanks to all who picked them up.

Superior Standards 10×7″ experiment

admin — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 15:26:49 +0000

Date: 28 March 2012

Detail: Superior Standards is an experiment initiated by respected graphic designer Rutger Zuydervelt and label curator Adam Barringer. It has been set-up to distribute a collection of ten lathe cut transparent 7″ releases in an extremely restricted quantity of ten copies each. The instrumental music contributed by both established and emerging artists is brand new, progressive and exclusive to this gathering of releases. Particiating artists are:

Each subscription encompasses all ten 7″s, the password to the associated page that will be specifically tailored for you within the Members section, download links to all the tracks, packaging and worldwide insured shipping which will require a signature when delivered. Every release is restricted to a one copy per person/household policy and available on a first come, first served basis. No additional copies will be cut and no further releases are planned. Visit www.superiorstandards.com to find out more.

‘Static 10′ by Team Built Remote

admin — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 09:47:07 +0000

Date: 15 March 2011

Detail: We’re fast approaching the conclusion of this most interesting experiment. Here is ‘Static 10′ in the TBR set of 7″s. Click the releases page for information.

Team Built Remote ‘Static 10′

admin — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 07:00:01 +0000

Duration: Variable (33rpm/45rpm/78rpm)

Catalogue: FJ201115

Format: Limited edition 7″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 15 March 2012

Artists wonder

admin — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 11:25:22 +0000

Date: 29 February 2012

Detail: We figured it was about time we included an ‘Artists’ menu link on the website and, while we certainly understood before just how fortunate we’ve been to work with these brilliant people, we were doubly in awe when going back through and collating this list.

Peter Ablinger
Eric Chenaux
Cut Iowa Network
Gareth Davis
Dead Rat Orchestra
Taylor Deupree
Ian Hawgood
Machinefabriek
Kenneth Kirschner
Magnetize
Minus Pilots
Mugstar
Elliott Sharp
Alexander Schubert
Team Built Remote
Telekaster
The Telescopes
Whirling Hall Of Knives

Just a brilliant group of artists.

Three quarters through

admin — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 09:00:07 +0000

Date: 15 February 2012

Detail: ‘Static 09′ in the 7″ series by Team Built Remote. Click the releases page for information.

Team Built Remote ‘Static 09′

admin — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 07:00:24 +0000

Duration: Variable (33rpm/45rpm/78rpm)

Catalogue: FJ201114

Format: Limited edition 7″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 15 February 2012

The Team Built Remote static 7″ set is now here

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:14:41 +0000

Date: 2 February 2012

Detail: We’ve just gotten all of the Team Built Remote static series 7″s up into the releases and store sections. Limited copies of ‘Static 01′ to ‘Static 08′ available now.

The Fake Jazz imprint integrated

admin — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 13:56:06 +0000

Date: 28 January 2011

Detail: We’ve incorporated our Fake Jazz label releases onto the Champion Version website now. The label was originally started to:

“contrast the broad spectrum of music genres released on Champion Version. It was created as a derivative rather than a sub or sister label that was brutally extreme in direction with a strict and distinguished emphasis on embracing conceptualism and minimalism.”

To be honest, after consideration, the ideologies of the two labels weren’t really all that different after all so we figured it’d be easier for us to roll everything into one place.

Champion Version back catalogue and Panic Arrest vinyl

admin — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:11:18 +0000

Date: 27 January 2012

Detail: We’ve had a tidy up with a lot of things just recently and we found another handful of past Champion Version releases so click on the releases / store link to check out what we’ve got left over. We’ve also integrated the Panic Arrest catalogue and have some of those treats available for purchase too. Again the releases / store link is the place to go. Here’s a list of what we’ve got. We literally have one copy of some of these so be quick.

Transparent 10″ – Kenneth Kirschner ‘October 8, 2010 et al.’
2 x Transparent 10″s – Magnetize ‘MagnetizeProdukt(1/2)’ & ‘MagnetizeProdukt(2/2)’
Transparent 10″ – Gareth Davis & Ian Hawgood ‘Night Shots’
Transparent 7″ – Telekaster ‘Into Fields’
Transparent 7″ – Taylor Deupree ‘Journal’
Transparent 10″ – Team Built Remote ‘The Dead Space Frequencies’
Transparent 7″ – Gareth Davis & Elliott Sharp ‘Hair Bender’
Transparent 10″ – Dead Rat Orchestra ‘Matadero’
Transparent 7″ – Whirling Hall Of Knives ‘Giger Level’
7″ – Expo 70 ‘Tarot Reading’
7″ – Eric Chenaux ‘Warm Weather/Le Vieux Favori 4′
7″ – Machinefabriek ‘Slovensko’
CD – Cut Iowa Network ‘Projector Gunship Held {Ø,{Ø}}’
180g 12″ LP – Telekaster ‘The Silent Anagram’
2 x 180g 12″s – Cut Iowa Network ‘Projector Gunship Held {Ø}’
180g 12″ LP – Minus Pilots ‘Superior Proof Of Cinema’

Our new website

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:58:57 +0000

Date: 26 January 2012

Detail: New year, new website. While we really liked the old one, it wasn’t displaying on various browsers properly – namely Internet Explorer 8. That’s the problem with editing other peoples code! Anyway, this new one should work on Firefox, Safari, IE, etc., etc., etc. It’s a lot easier for us to update too. Even I can do it. Having said that if you do notice any bugs, errors or corrections we’d really appreciate it if you contacted us using feedback@championversion.com.

The Machinefabriek ‘Brokstukken’ 7″s are all sold

admin — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 13:42:35 +0000

Date: 22 January 2012

Detail: The ‘Brokstukken’ 7″ set by Machinefabriek is now sold out. Thanks to all who picked up copies. It’s amazing isn’t it.

‘Brokstukken’ 3×7″ set by Machinefabriek

admin — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 13:40:34 +0000

Date: 22 January 2012

Detail: Available to buy now we’ve got three lovely new transparent 7″s collectively titled ‘Brokstukken’ by Machinefabriek. Unheard treasures newly discovered within Rutger Zuydervelt’s secret vaults are contained. Click on the releases page to for more information.

Machinefabriek ‘Brokstukken’ (5 & 6)

admin — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 10:24:48 +0000

Description: Machinefabriek specially constructed the recordings on ‘Brokstukken’ using off-cuts, sections and samples of fragmented found sounds. The tracks included here develop very slowly and disintegrate intermittently, dropping back into unstructured bleeps and murmurs. The tension built using subtle deep textures and silence is woven masterfully across the three 7″s. ‘Brokstukken’ is an engaging excursion across the borders into lo-fi noise. Perfectly paced and wonderfully understated.

Tracks: 1. Brokstuk 5 2. Brokstuk 6

Duration: 8:49

Catalogue: CV201205

Format: Limited edition 7″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 22 January 2012

Machinefabriek ‘Brokstukken’ (3 & 4)

admin — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 10:22:42 +0000

Tracks: 1. Brokstuk 3 2. Brokstuk 4

Duration: 8:15

Catalogue: CV201204

Format: Limited edition 7″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 22 January 2012

Machinefabriek ‘Brokstukken’ (1 & 2)

admin — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 10:18:43 +0000

Tracks: 1. Brokstuk 1 2. Brokstuk 2

Duration: 8:28

Catalogue: CV201203

Format: Limited edition 7″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 22 January 2012

All of the Kenneth Kirschner 10″s are now sold out

admin — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:39:36 +0000

Date: 17 January 2012

Detail: All of the ‘October 8, 2010 et al.’ 10″s by Kenneth Kirschner have now sold out. They’ll be shipped out to all who got copies tomorrow. Thanks a lot and more soon.

Team Built Remote ‘Static 08′

admin — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 17:42:04 +0000

Duration: Variable (33rpm/45rpm/78rpm)

Catalogue: FJ201113

Format: Limited edition 7″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 15 January 2012

‘Static 08′ by the TBR

admin — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 16:17:39 +0000

Date: 15 January 2012

Detail: Two thirds of the way through of with ‘Static 08′ by Team Built Remote. You can read about it and buy via the releases page. And here is the timetable for the remaining instalments.

‘Static 09′ due 15 February 2012
‘Static 10′ due 15 March 2012
‘Static 11′ due 15 April 2012
‘Static 12′ due 15 May 2012

Kenneth Kirschner’s ‘October 8, 2010 et al.’ 10″

admin — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 13:38:35 +0000

Date: 15 January 2012

Detail: Next up we’ve got Kenneth Kirschner’s Champion Version debut ‘October 8, 2010 et al.’. Lovely piano magic from an experimental visionary. Artwork and all related information can be found on the releases page.

Kenneth Kirschner ‘October 8, 2010 et al.’

admin — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 10:14:33 +0000

Duration: 17:14

Catalogue: CV201202

Format: Limited edition 10″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 15 January 2012

Alexander Schubert 10″s all gone

admin — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:36:41 +0000

Date: 9 January 2012

Detail: All of Alexander Schubert’s 10″s have sold out. They’re really wonderful records.

‘Alexander Schubert Plays Sinebag’ 10″ by Alexander Schubert

admin — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 13:35:29 +0000

Date: 8 January 2012

Detail: We’ve got a quite magnificent 10″ titled ‘Alexander Schubert Plays Sinebag’ from Alexander Schubert up next. It’s a cinematic and all consuming masterpiece. Read about and buy it on the releases page.

Alexander Schubert ‘Alexander Schubert Plays Sinebag’

admin — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 10:09:14 +0000

Description: Sinebag is the somewhat pop-oriented side project of Alexander Schubert. Currently Schubert focuses mostly on composing contemporary multimedia works for ensemble, electronics and video. As a performer he improvises regularly in styles ranging from free jazz to noise-improv. At one point the harmonic Sinebag project would have been considered a very different genre from the aforementioned projects whereas today these styles represent different aspects of a unified approach to music. As the creation of these pieces took place over approximately three years, the pop elements were heavily influenced by the composition and improvisation that Alexander Schubert was focusing on during this time. For this reason the album is titled ‘Alexander Schubert Plays Sinebag’ as it is different both from his compositions and the previous Sinebag releases. That being said, there are still concepts continued from the old albums, most obvious are the folk guitar elements, the use of nature field-recordings and different forms of non-tonal noises. While the new works explore ideas in greater length and complexity, the underlining aesthetics are comparable. On the micro-level however, there are fundamental differences from the previous Sinebag works. The speed, density and aggressiveness, which evolve from calm origins, are the most remarkable differences. On the preceding albums ‘Près de la Lisière’ and ‘Milchwolken in Teein’ the collages had a more gentle feeling to them, which the current CD forgoes in preference of a fragmented approach rich in contrast. The two major pieces on this release are based on recordings of live-electronics improvisations using several acoustic instruments as source material. These multi-track recordings were then heavily edited and rearranged in a studio and superimposed with a variety of other sketches, written in a more song-based style. At this point, previously, independently, recorded material played by live musicians was interweaved into the work. The added use of simple midi-based instruments further obscures the perception of the various material’s origins. The result is an artificial hybrid created from live recordings, sampled material and synthesized sounds. Most of the identifiable melodic instruments are Midi realizations; the flickering acoustic loops are based on pre-recorded source material by Nora-Louise Müller (clarinet), Sven Kacirek (drums), Jonathan Shapiro (percussion) and Oliver Schwerdt (piano). The field recordings were recorded in Dalmatia, Croatia.

Tracks: 1. Semaphores 2. Preliminary 3. Vowels 4. All My Models 5. Slept 6. A Few Plateaus

Duration: 26:43

Catalogue: CV201201

Format: Limited edition 10″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 8 January 2012

Personnel: Alexander Schubert, Nora-Louise Müller, Sven Kacirek

Happy 2012

admin — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 19:27:39 +0000

Date: 23 December 2011

Detail: It’s been a very busy but great 2011. Thanks very much to everyone who has bought a record or contacted us this year. Have a peaceful and prosperous 2012.

Team Built Remote ‘Static 07′

admin — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:39:27 +0000

Duration: Variable (33rpm/45rpm/78rpm)

Catalogue: FJ201112

Format: Limited edition 7″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 15 December 2011

‘Static 07′ 7″ by Team Built Remote

admin — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:15:37 +0000

Date: 15 December 2011

Detail: We’ve just taken delivery of the ‘Static 07′ 7″s by Team Built Remote today. Click on the releases page to buy.

Team Built Remote ‘Static 06′

admin — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 17:34:09 +0000

Duration: Variable (33rpm/45rpm/78rpm)

Catalogue: FJ201111

Format: Limited edition 7″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 15 November 2011

Midway in the TBRs static experiment

admin — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 16:14:19 +0000

Date: 15 November 2011

Detail: ‘Static 06′, the midway point of Team Built Remote’s experiment, is out today. All the usual details can be viewed on the releases page.

‘Rip Riot’ 7″ has sold out

admin — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 22:42:38 +0000

Date: 13 November 2011

Detail: The ‘Rip Riot’ 7″ by Minus Pilots is now sold out. No further 7″s will be produced or sold but the band has made the eleventh cut of both tracks available for free download at www.ripriot.com. Thanks to everyone who bought a copy.

Minus Pilots one-off 7″

admin — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 22:39:51 +0000

Date: 13 November 2011

Detail: We’ve got a stupendously limited edition 7″ by Minus Pilots up next titled ‘Rip Riot’. There are only ten physical copies of this available and all of them contain the same basic core track structures but there are variations making each physical 7″ unique. Click on the releases page for more information.

Minus Pilots ‘Rip Riot’

admin — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 13:17:25 +0000

Description: Minus Pilots originally intended ‘Rip Riot’ to be a one-off 7″ release. Persuaded to reconsider the band continued to experiment with both tracks. So much so in fact that when test copies were produced and examined, new concepts where realised and then developed further back at their studio. There are ten ‘test’ 7″s in total with the same basic structures included but due to recurrent editing, mixing and reworking all the versions of ‘Rip Riot’ and ‘Maximum Roll’ featured on each copy sound a little different to the one preceding it. No further 7″s will be produced or sold but the band has made the eleventh cut of both tracks available for free download at www.ripriot.com. These eleventh versions have not been included on any of the ten physical records. So, ultimately, these are one-off 7″s after all. Lovely.

Tracks: 1. Rip Riot 2. Maximum Roll

Duration: 10:15

Catalogue: FJ201118

Format: Limited edition 7″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 13 November 2011

Magnetize 2×10″ titled ‘MagnetizeProdukt’

admin — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 13:32:23 +0000

Date: 6 November 2011

Detail: We’ve got a new set of two 10″s collectively titled ‘MagnetizeProdukt’ by dark architects Magnetize. Decaying loops and glacial synth experiments ensue. Click on the releases page for details.

Magnetize ‘MagnetizeProdukt(2/2)’

admin — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 10:02:11 +0000

Duration: 16:55

Catalogue: CV201116

Format: Limited edition 10″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 6 November 2011

Magnetize ‘MagnetizeProdukt(1/2)’

admin — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 09:58:57 +0000

Duration: 16:39

Catalogue: CV201115

Format: Limited edition 10″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 6 November 2011

‘Night Shots’ 10″ by Gareth Davis & Ian Hawgood sold out

admin — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 13:29:52 +0000

Date: 23 October 2011

Detail: The ‘Night Shots’ 10″ by Gareth Davis & Ian Hawgood has sold out already. That was very quick indeed. Thanks to all who bought a copy.

Gareth Davis & Ian Hawgood 10″

admin — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 13:26:11 +0000

Date: 23 October 2011

Detail: We’re back after a short autumn hibernation and our first job is to announce a new collaborative 10″ titled ‘Night Shots’ by Gareth Davis & Ian Hawgood. Like all of our releases these will be restricted to one copy per person/household and they won’t be repressed. Click on the release page for information, artwork and to purchase.

Gareth Davis & Ian Hawgood ‘Night Shots’

admin — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 09:53:49 +0000

Description: A couple of years ago Gareth Davis and Ian Hawgood were introduced to one another through their mutual friend Rutger Zuyderveldt aka Machinefabriek. Pretty early on the solemnly attuned duo discovered that they were both huge fans of reel-to-reel tape recording and decided to begin work together on a number of experiments that would eventually become the two tracks included on ‘Night Shots’. Gareth kicked off the process creating layers of luscious bass and contrabass clarinet, long takes of delicate textures and improvised melodic lines that were augmented by Ian with interspersed piano, wheezing guitar and tantalising vocals. Dark minimalism, experimental ambience and the seamless integration of some heavily treated field recordings were key objectives too and over a period of about six months they continually developed the pieces within the confines of their respective studios. Ian then played the results through onto new open reels, cutting, live editing and recording ‘Mora Rosa’ and ‘And So’ as they came out. A wonderful limited edition 10″. It’s a keeper.

Tracks: 1. Mora Rosa 2. And So

Duration: 24:00

Catalogue: CV201114

Format: Limited edition 10″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 23 October 2011

Personnel: Gareth Davis, Ian Hawgood

Team Built Remote ‘Static 05′

admin — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 17:32:50 +0000

Duration: Variable (33rpm/45rpm/78rpm)

Catalogue: FJ201110

Format: Limited edition 7″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 15 October 2011

Team Built Remote ‘Static 05′ available to buy now

admin — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 16:10:57 +0000

Date: 15 October 2011

Detail: ‘Static 05′ by Team Built Remote is out and available to buy today. Details and other information can be found on the releases page.

‘Into Fields’ 7″s by Telekaster are now all gone

admin — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 13:21:37 +0000

Date: 20 September 2011

Detail: We sold the final copies of Telekaster’s ‘Into Fields’ 7″ today. As always handling will be done by Department EH. Thanks very much indeed to all who picked up a copy.

Machinefabriek ‘Sol Sketches 17-21′

admin — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 23:06:17 +0000

Description: Machinefabriek composed ‘Sol Sketches’ for a documentary about Sol LeWitt, an American artist linked to various movements, including conceptual art and minimalism. Rutger Zuyderveldt has written the following description to tell us a bit about the turn of events that lead to this really rather beautiful set of four 10″s coming to fruition.

“It was May 2010 when film maker Chris Teerink asked me to make the soundtrack for his documentary about Sol LeWitt. I’ll be honest and say that I didn’t even know who Sol LeWitt was until I saw some of his art. I had seen his wall drawings before, but never knew the name of the artist. You’re never too old to learn. Chris and I agreed immediately that work should start on both the music and filming concurrently. I made these musical miniatures to see if they would fit with Chris’ vision before seeing any of the filmed material. Perhaps they would even inspire him during the filming process. Besides the work of Sol LeWitt, a very important inspiration for this music came from Morton Feldman’s late piano works. For me, these pieces connect well with the works of LeWitt. Sustained piano tones, repeated motifs, lots of silence with subtle electronic elements interspersed. That’s the direction I wanted to go. So I went to the public library, studied some books about LeWitt and started improvising on the piano. With the books opened out in front of me, I just pressed record and played whatever came to mind. These improvisations form the basic structures for the sketches contained on this set of 10″s. Some of these pieces might end up being used on the final film edit in some form or another while others may not be used at all. But as they are now, these short tracks seem to work well as standalone pieces and as an interesting insight to a work in progress.”

Enjoy.

Tracks: 17 18 19 20 21

Duration: 13:39

Catalogue: CV201113

Format: Limited edition 10″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 18 September 2011

Machinefabriek ‘Sol Sketches 12-18′

admin — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 23:04:14 +0000

Enjoy.

Tracks: 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Duration: 14:02

Catalogue: CV201112

Format: Limited edition 10″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 18 September 2011

Machinefabriek ‘Sol Sketches 6-11′

admin — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 23:00:53 +0000

Enjoy.

Tracks: 6 7 8 9 10 11

Duration: 13:35

Catalogue: CV201111

Format: Limited edition 10″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 18 September 2011

Machinefabriek ‘Sol Sketches 1-5′

admin — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 22:55:52 +0000

Enjoy.

Tracks: 1 2 3 4 5

Duration: 12:16

Catalogue: CV201110

Format: Limited edition 10″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 18 September 2011

Telekaster ‘Into Fields’

admin — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 22:51:13 +0000

Description: Telekaster’s long awaited vinyl follow-up to ‘The Silent Anagram’ finally arrives and sees an amazing development of sound. Matthias Grübel’s collaboration with film maker Stefan Bünnig gives some explanation to the more intimate and sublime new sound he’s put together. ‘Versions Of Home’ blends rich instrumental elements, treated guitars, manipulated piano and transformed electronics to create an incredibly deep, gentle and fragile tale of hazy loveliness. Oh yes. With the suspenseful ‘In Our Dreams We’re Always Running On Ice’ he builds on the ideas of the first track with organic detailing and a wonderfully attuned sense of arrangement, making the piece seem blissfully effortless. Exquisite.

Tracks: 1. Versions Of Home 2. In Our Dreams We’re Always Running On Ice

Duration: 10:35

Catalogue: CV201109

Format: Limited edition 7″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 18 September 2011

Personnel: Matthias Grübel, Stefan Bünnig

Machinefabriek’s ‘Sol Sketches’ series sold out

admin — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 13:19:54 +0000

Date: 18 September 2011

Detail: The ‘Sol Sketches’ set by Machinefabriek has now sold out. All copies will be packaged up and shipped out tomorrow. Enjoy.

‘Sol Sketches’ 4×10″ set by Machinefabriek

admin — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 13:17:48 +0000

Date: 18 September 2011

Detail: We round off this months set of releases with a truly amazing set of four 10″s titled ‘Sol Sketches’ by Machinefabriek. Click the releases page to take a look at artwork, read up on release details and to buy.

Telekaster 7″ ‘Into Fields’

admin — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 13:16:05 +0000

Date: 18 September 2011

Detail: Here we’ve got ‘Into Fields’ by Telekaster. We’re really very happy to be putting out this lovely quaint 7″ for everyone to hear. Overt minimalism at it’s best. Buy on the releases page.

Team Built Remote ‘Static 04′

admin — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 17:28:14 +0000

Duration: Variable (33rpm/45rpm/78rpm)

Catalogue: FJ201109

Format: Limited edition 7″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 15 September 2011

‘Static 04′ now available

admin — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 16:08:49 +0000

Date: 15 September 2011

Detail: We’ve now got ‘Static 04′ in Team Built Remote’s intriguing little excursion available. Click on the releases page now for details and to purchase.

Sold out: ‘Green Glow Bridge’ & ‘Red Glow Bridge’ 10″s

admin — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 13:14:15 +0000

Date: 5 September 2011

Detail: The ‘Green Glow Bridge’ and ‘Red Glow Bridge’ 10″ set by Whirling Hall Of Knives are now all sold out and in record time too. Thanks to all who picked them up.

Whirling Hall Of Knives ‘Red Glow Bridge’

admin — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 22:11:41 +0000

Description: Whirling Hall Of Knives turn out a network of deconstructed octave tones with real calm and absolute technical precision with their double 10″ odyssey, ‘Green Glow Bridge’ and ‘Red Glow Bridge’. This relaxed, quietly poised yet breathtaking nine track cut sees the band gravitating from effects driven arcs of fuzz towards perfectly sculpted low-end sophistication whilst always demonstrating their profound consideration for restraint. La Monte Young, one of the originators of drone, defined the genre in 2000 as “the sustained tone branch of minimalism”. When it comes to genre-defining releases, few sum up drone like the music contained on these masteful 10″s. Completely and utterly essential. Buy them fast.

Tracks: 1. Red Glow Bridge (Approach) 2. Toll 3. Red Glow Bridge (Cross) 4. FCXO Analgesia (Midst) 5. Die Before Dying

Duration: 21:37

Catalogue: CV201108

Format: Limited edition 10″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 4 September 2011

Whirling Hall Of Knives ‘Green Glow Bridge’

admin — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 22:08:50 +0000

Tracks: 1. Choked At The Edge Of A Dying City 2. Lungswarm 3. Green Glow Bridge 4. Flupirtone GGB

Duration: 23:00

Catalogue: CV201107

Format: Limited edition 10″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 4 September 2011

2×10″ set from Whirling Hall Of Knives

admin — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 13:10:04 +0000

Date: 4 September 2011

Detail: It’s our one year anniversary today and what better way to celebrate than with a spanking new release. And we’ve the perfect contrast to our recent focus on ambient minimalism too. An exceptional and mind melting set of 10″s titled ‘Green Glow Bridge’ and ‘Red Glow Bridge’ by drone conjurers Whirling Hall Of Knives. Psych, drone, psych, drone, psych, drone. Information and artwork details can be found on the releases page.

Team Built Remote ‘Static 03′

admin — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 17:25:28 +0000

Duration: Variable (33rpm/45rpm/78rpm)

Catalogue: FJ201108

Format: Limited edition 7″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 15 August 2011

Third installment of the TBR ‘Static series

admin — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 16:03:48 +0000

Date: 15 August 2011

Detail: ‘Static 03′ by Team Built Remote is released today. Buy it at the store now.

Postage costs increase

admin — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 13:05:34 +0000

Date: 1 August 2011

Detail: Unfortunately there have been a few problems with records going missing in the post just recently. Carelessness or light fingers? The cynics in us suspect the latter. Anyway, as such we’ve amended our postage policy. From now on you can choose to insure your records and will need to contact us using control@championversion.com prior to placing your order so that we can amend the postage costs associated. If you have any concerns about the postal services in your area we suggest choosing insurance. We’ll only be able to provide tracking numbers if you have chosen and paid for insurance. If you choose not to insure your order and it goes missing in the post we will not be able to replace the missing items or provide a refund. Please contact us if you’ve got any questions.

Minus Pilots ‘Zero’ custom plush toy

admin — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 20:27:04 +0000

Availability: £19.95

Description: Limited edition Minus Pilots ‘Zero’ custom plush toy, designed and hand-made by Parskid.

Catalogue: MP002

Edition: Limited to one per person/household

Released: 28 July 2011

Minus Pilots ‘The Polar Remote’

admin — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 19:52:30 +0000

Availability: £14.95

Description: It’s one of my favourite things - finding a piece of vinyl I’ve been searching for and buying it. I love sliding the record out of its sleeve, putting it on my turntable, hitting play and placing the needle carefully onto the grooves. Then I like to settle on my sofa with a drink and my headphones whilst checking out the artwork. I suppose it may seem a little melodramatic but this is how I love to listen to music - It’s my devoted time just to listen to music. The tracks I put together for this 12 inch are cuts, edits and other such unfinished works that I’ve recorded at various different times since the *Superior Proof Of Cinema* LP. They were all live recorded on my broken but much loved four-track using a battered ’64 Jazz Bass through a chain of modified analogue delay pedals, some looping stations and a few custom pedals I had made. None of these tracks ever wound up being included on an actual final release for one reason or another - generally because there was another more suitable track for a particular record or I’d simply moved onto something else. Anyway, I’m very pleased with how the final tracks have come about. I was originally going to look for a label for it, but after spending a lot of time listening to the tracks, ideas started formulating in my head about how I wanted this release to be presented and I quickly realised that I wanted 100% control over the music, the format and the artwork. My concept design was kindly put together for me by Department EH using Parskid’s usual high quality and supremely unique art. Working on this has been a real fun experience for me. I’d just like to sign-off by saying thanks to Parskid, Department EH and Andrew Barringer for their work on the art and to Rémy Martin for the inspiration throughout. Get ready for some lo-fi stargazing minimalism.

Tracks: 1. Sky Low Low 2. Lilac Angle 3. See The Stars Retired 4. In Set Through 5. High Speed Yo-Yo 6. In This November State 7. Beautiful Decay 8. A Grounding In Stars 9. Waiting To Exhale 10. Gun Cotton 11. Inventing The Stars 12. Low Speed Yo-Yo

Duration: 33:05

Catalogue: MP001

Format: Limited edition 12″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 28 July 2011

Team Built Remote ‘Static 02′

admin — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 17:19:30 +0000

Duration: Variable (33rpm/45rpm/78rpm)

Catalogue: FJ201107

Format: Limited edition 7″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 15 July 2011

TBR ‘Static 02′ 7″

admin — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 16:01:41 +0000

Date: 15 July 2011

Detail: The second part of Team Built Remote’s monthly 7″ series is released today. Click on the releases to pick up a copy of ‘Static 02′.

Back stock now all gone

admin — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 13:01:22 +0000

Date: 7 July 2011

Detail: The back catalogue is now 100% sold out. Thanks for the support and picking up some of these lovelies. Enjoy.

Limited back catalogue available

admin — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 12:58:42 +0000

Date: 5 July 2011

Detail: The photograph accompanying this update maybe a slight over exaggeration but we have had a bit of a clear out and have some very limited quantities of back stock available. If you’re interested in any of this, please contact us using our control@championversion.com email address confirming what you’d like and then we’ll total up the price and request payment through PayPal. This is all first come, first served so if someone gets in before you some items might be sold out by the time you contact us. Everything listed here is covered by our standard one copy per person/household rule.

Mugstar ‘Red Shift’ 7″ – 3 copies
Whirling Hall Of Knives ‘Giger Level’ 7″ – 2 copies
Machinefabriek ‘Toendra’ 7″ – 4 copies
Minus Pilots ‘I Draw Graphs 1/5′ 7″ – 1 copy
Minus Pilots ‘I Draw Graphs 2/5′ 7″ – 1 copy
Minus Pilots ‘I Draw Graphs 3/5′ 7″ – 1 copy
Minus Pilots ‘I Draw Graphs 4/5′ 7″ – 1 copy
Minus Pilots ‘I Draw Graphs 5/5′ 7″ – 1 copy
Dead Rat Orchestra ‘Matedaro’ 10″ – 4 copies
Gareth Davis & Elliott Sharp ‘Hair Bender’ 7″ – 2 copies
Cut Iowa Network ‘Towers Match These Patrols’ 7″ – 1 copy
The Telescopes ‘Landing Shadows’ 7″ – 2 copies
Team Built Remote ‘The Dead Space Frequencies’ 10″ – 2 copies
Machinefabriek ‘Bad Fortune’ 10″ – 2 copies
Taylor Deupree ‘Journal’ 7″ – 4 copies

Pre-order window stopped

admin — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 12:54:45 +0000

Date: 16 June 2011

Detail: Considering the delays on the previous batch of records we’ve decided not to continue with our pre-order option anymore. We’ll give everyone on the mailing list a heads-up of when records will be released, etc. and everything will still be restricted to our one copy per person/household policy. Keep them peeled.

Team Built Remote ‘Static 01′

admin — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 17:11:05 +0000

Duration: Variable (33rpm/45rpm/78rpm)

Catalogue: FJ201106

Format: Limited edition 7″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 15 June 2011

‘Static 01~12′ 7″ set by the Team Built Remote

admin — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 15:54:20 +0000

Date: 15 June 2011

Detail: ‘Static 01~12′, transmitted by Team Built Remote, will mark a twelve month correlation between minimalist experimentation and the progression of time. As with the music, the stripped down product design will evolve into a final identity. Artwork and information for ‘Static 01′ can be found on the releases page.

Sold out – Peter Ablinger & Gareth Davis ‘Parker Notch’ 7″

admin — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 22:24:33 +0000

Date: 11 June 2011

Detail: The ‘Parker Notch’ 7″ by Peter Ablinger and Gareth Davis is now sold out. Thanks to everyone who picked up a copy.

Peter Ablinger & Gareth Davis collaboration

admin — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 22:20:56 +0000

Date: 6 June 2011

Detail: Available to buy now is a brilliant collaborative 7″ titled ‘Parker Notch’ by the legendary Peter Ablinger and Gareth Davis. Click on the releases page for details.

Peter Ablinger & Gareth Davis ‘Parker Notch’

admin — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 13:15:07 +0000

Description: The concept behind this project was for Peter Ablinger and Gareth Davis to explore alternate takes on the use of jazz standards as their musical source material. This is not to suggest in any way that improvising on the themes is without interest or has become exhausted. Instead the duo look at ways of combining what may be seen as different musical backgrounds and seek less expected possibilities. Principle motifs in ‘Parker Notch’ are listening, noise, silence and the idiosyncrasies involved with performance. How often does ambient noise play a part in listening to music? And how often do we, as listeners, pay attention to this? The two sides of the record are polar opposites. The A side is a flood of information, a recording, noise and an additional instrument, whilst the B side has been stripped of everything with the exception of ambient noises left over from their source material. From Peter Ablinger.

“The instrumental part can be played by any (fast) instrument from f# (f# below middle c) to c3 (high soprano c), 4’25″. The instrumental part is a sort of automatic transcription from a record of Charlie Parker playing “Lester Leaps In”. The original record constitutes itself as one layer of the piece, but is treated by a “notch filter” that erases the area from 200-1100Hz, the fundamental pitches of Parker’s playing. The notch makes room for the instrumentalist’s “Karaoke”, which in fact is highly virtuosic – the tempo is M.M.347 – but even so, almost nothing of that can be really heard: Not the solo, nor the “accompanying” tune. Both are almost completely wrapped into a dominating static noise containing the totality of sounds from the original record, merged into a single monochrome noise colour.”

A wonderful conceptual piece of work.

Tracks: 1. Parker Notch 2. Weiss/Weisslich 13

Duration: 8:59

Catalogue: FJ201105

Format: Limited edition 7″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 6 June 2011

Personnel: Peter Ablinger, Gareth Davis

Minus Pilots ‘The Grasshopper Lies Heavy’ (4/4)

admin — Sun, 22 May 2011 13:13:22 +0000

Duration: 7:54

Catalogue: FJ201104

Format: Limited edition 7″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 9 May 2011

Minus Pilots ‘The Grasshopper Lies Heavy’ (3/4)

admin — Sun, 22 May 2011 13:09:02 +0000

Duration: 8:11

Catalogue: FJ201103

Format: Limited edition 7″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 9 May 2011

‘The Grasshopper Lies Heavy’ 7″ set is now sold out

admin — Sun, 15 May 2011 22:15:34 +0000

Date: 15 May 2011

Detail: ‘The Grasshopper Lies Heavy’ 7″ set by Minus Pilots sold out earlier today. Thanks to all who picked up copies. More real soon.

Sales update for ‘The Grasshopper Lies Heavy’ series

admin — Wed, 11 May 2011 22:11:11 +0000

Date: 11 May 2011

Detail: We’ve got a little under half ‘The Grasshopper Lies Heavy’ 7″ series left right now and expect that they’ll all be gone by the end of this week so be quick if you’d like a set. And please bare in mind our one copy per person/household restriction because we’ve reversed a few payments because of this. Thanks very much.

‘The Grasshopper Lies Heavy’ 4×7″ set by Minus Pilots

admin — Mon, 09 May 2011 22:07:43 +0000

Date: 9 May 2011

Detail: Our first records are a set four 7″s from Minus Pilots titled ‘The Grasshopper Lies Heavy’. You can click on the releases for information, artwork and to buy.

Minus Pilots ‘The Grasshopper Lies Heavy’ (2/4)

admin — Mon, 09 May 2011 13:05:57 +0000

Duration: 6:39

Catalogue: FJ201102

Format: Limited edition 7″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 9 May 2011

Minus Pilots ‘The Grasshopper Lies Heavy’ (1/4)

admin — Mon, 09 May 2011 13:03:26 +0000

Duration: 6:40

Catalogue: FJ201101

Format: Limited edition 7″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 9 May 2011

Fake Jazz

admin — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 22:04:15 +0000

Date: 28 April 2011

Detail: Contrasting the broad spectrum of music genres released on Champion Version, we recently started Fake Jazz, a derivative rather than a sub or sister label that’ll be brutally extreme in direction with a strict and distinguished emphasis on embracing conceptualist and minimalist movements.

Finally

admin — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 12:52:21 +0000

Date: 22 April 2011

Detail: We’re really sorry about the long wait but the latest batch of releases finally arrived here this morning. They’re currently being packaged up by Department EH and will be shipped out to everyone this coming Monday. More soon.

Pre-order closed for the TBR, Machinefabriek and Taylor Deupree releases

admin — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 12:48:41 +0000

Date: 30 January 2011

Detail: We’ve now closed the pre-order window for the Team Built Remote, Machinefabriek and Taylor Deupree records. They’ll be spinning on your turntables as soon as we’ve received them and sent them on. If you have any questions, etc. please get in contact using control@championversion.com. We’d love to hear from you. Thanks.

Catalogue: CV201103

Format: Limited edition 7″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 16 January 2011

Personnel: Stephen Lawrie, Bridget Hayden

Cut Iowa Network ‘Towers Match These Patrols’

admin — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 21:26:26 +0000

Tracks: 1. Towers Match These Patrols

Duration: 8:46

Catalogue: CV201102

Format: Limited edition 7″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 16 January 2011

Personnel: Tim Evans, Steve d’Enton, Adam Barringer

Gareth Davis & Elliott Sharp ‘Hair Bender’

admin — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 21:21:58 +0000

admin — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 11:57:07 +0000

Date: 15 December 2010

Detail: We’ve got just over a quarter of the ‘Matadero’ 10″s left right now so be quick because once they’re gone that’s it. Click on the releases page to get a copy.

Dead Rat Orchestra ‘Matadero’

admin — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 21:18:24 +0000

Description: We’re very happy to announce our first 10″ release, ‘Matadero’ by Dead Rat Orchestra. In 2007 the band were invited to participate in the Miradores Festival in Madrid. They spent a week long residency within the Matadero, the former municipal abattoir, a collection of grand and empty halls and spaces, some redeveloped, some not. All now reconstituted as city art and opera spaces. This record is culled from the performance they gave on 5 July 2007, responses to the space that they found themselves in, it’s physicality and it’s history, it’s resonances. Starting out with room-tone singing, a late-night Alvin Lucier inspired experiment, the room having fed back on itself again and again through re-recording, suggesting a melody, or melodies. Gradually the band broke from that, pressing on with driving harmonium chords and the clatter of a week’s worth of debris, pushing to break free, but always held. The room tone stays on, a light bell strikes constant. That’s the A side done. The band strung up huge nylon strings across the space, pulled them tight around themselves and found notes that worked for the room or spoke of other things. They contact miked them. Side B is a continuation of the A, cut as things drop away and others grow. The band started pulling on the long strings, bowing them, plucking them, twitching. Gradually this forms into a driving swirl of fiddle and long-strings played with clothes pegs, lush drones created from record players revolving against them and all underpinned by understated box-drum and thunderous bass grunts. It all breaks down. An orchestral psych-out.

Tracks: 1. Matadero

Duration: 18:36

Catalogue: CV201009

Format: Limited edition 10″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 12 December 2010

Personnel: Robin Alderton, Nathaniel Mann, Daniel Merrill

‘Matadero’ 10″ by the Dead Rat Orchestra

admin — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 11:51:28 +0000

Date: 12 December 2010

Detail: We’re ecstatic to confirm our first 10″ release is a quite marvellous record titled ‘Matadero’ by the equally marvellous Dead Rat Orchestra. As before it’s a first come first served deal so when they’re gone that’ll be it. Details, artwork and pre-order information can be found on the releases page.

‘I Draw Graphs’ sold out

admin — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 11:48:21 +0000

Date: 8 December 2010

Detail: And that’s it, the remaining copies of part two and five went this evening. All ‘I Draw Graphs’ 7″s will be sent out tomorrow.

Minus Pilots part three gone

admin — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 11:44:44 +0000

Date: 6 December 2010

Detail: We’ve sold out of part three too. Just a few copies of two and five left now.

‘I Draw Graphs’ part one and four are sold out already

Date: 24 November 2010

Detail: The Mugstar, Whirling Hall Of Knives and Machinefabriek 7″s arrived here earlier today. They’ve all been packaged and posted out to all who bought a copy. Thanks to everyone who got them. More lovely 7″s coming soon.

Machinefabriek’s ‘Toendra’ is sold out

admin — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 11:29:18 +0000

Date: 7 October 2010

Detail: And that’s it, Machinefabriek’s ‘Toendra’ is sold out. All pre-orders will be shipped out to everyone on the official release date.

The Mugstar ‘Red Shift’ 7″s are sold out

admin — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 11:27:38 +0000

Date: 6 October 2010

Detail: The Mugstar ‘Red Shift’ 7″s are all gone too. Just a few copies of ‘Toendra’ by Machinefabriek left over now.

‘Giger Level’ 7″ by Whirling Hall Of Knives is now sold out

admin — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 11:20:47 +0000

Date: 6 October 2010

Detail: We’re now completely sold out of the ‘Giger Level’ 7″ by Whirling Hall Of Knives. We’ve got extremely limited copies of Mugstar’s ‘Red Shift’ and Machinefabriek’s ‘Toendra’ 7″s remaining.

Machinefabriek ‘Toendra’

admin — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 23:59:28 +0000

Description: On this 7″ Machinefabriek produces two tracks of murky splendour. Both ‘Toendra’ and ‘Kreupelhout’ have been created using a series of improvised guitar recordings heavily modified to produce an unusual and dreamlike textured serenity. A peculiar undercurrent of twisted hum, ambient throb and whirring clicks help create impressive potent broken atmospheres, as if another force has taken hold of the sound. The ghost in the machine made audible. Wholly beautiful.

Tracks: 1. Toendra 2. Kreupelhout

Duration: 11:04

Catalogue: CV201003

Format: Limited edition 7″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 3 October 2010

Whirling Hall Of Knives ‘Giger Level’

admin — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 23:55:58 +0000

Tracks: 1. Giger Level 2. Mecha-entomology

Duration: 8:03

Catalogue: CV201002

Format: Limited edition 7″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 3 October 2010

Mugstar ‘Red Shift’

admin — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 22:49:09 +0000

Description: Mugstar are the sound of ten thousand suns exploding, pulsing with repetitive beauty, pounding like a supersonic mantra. And ‘Red Shift’ embodies classic Mugstar at the pinnacle of their colossal powers with a grating barrage of repetitive post-rock force as heavy cyclical guitar riffs, unrelenting drums, percolating organs and deep bass strokes rise ominously. Utterly brilliant. That immense opener is underpinned by ‘Blue Shift’, a whacked fuzz expertly stripped down to emphasize a seamless mix of cone-filtered organs, effects-laden guitar glitch, tight drums and an insistent bass line that pulls you into a six minute daze beautifully. It could go on for sixty and still be entirely engrossing. Headphones are an absolute must and mind altering substances recommended.

Tracks: 1. Red Shift 2. Blue Shift

Duration: 9:24

Catalogue: CV201001

Format: Limited edition 7″

Duration: Variable (33rpm/45rpm/78rpm)

Catalogue: ESR201005.01

Format: Limited edition 7″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 17 May 2010

Boomkat ▼ Expo Seventy is the recording handle of Justin Wright, a prolific drone/psyche improviser with some thirty or more releases to his name. Appearing on the very promising Eat.Sleep.Repeat label, he contributes two dramatically elemental sides. On the A-side ‘Tarot Reading’ taps into an ancient vein of howling feedback and primordial bass surges to provoke nightmares and unsettle inexperienced psychonauts. On the flip ‘Solar Drifting’ cuts the anchor cord and intrepidly pushes off into a starry forest of folk drone guitars and stray Moog signals like Fursaxa meets Earth in a log cabin on the flipside of the moon.

Norman 4/5 ▼ I had my tarot cards read once. They were quite kind to me but they also told me that one shining day, I would have to listen to ambient/drone tomfoolery… Well lookee here sir. Expo 70′s latest slice of vinyl is a blissed-out floaty affair. It wouldnt sound out of place on a film soundtrack. It’s well cosmic.The flipside has a blazing guitar solo that was in danger of taking me into space. Luckily I am carrying what you might call “holiday weight” so my bulk stopped me… Phew.

OMG Vinyl ▼ Kansas City’s own Expo 70 lets loose, low and slow on the 7″ vinyl format. If you can only handle your drone a few minutes at a time, this is for you. You can even play it at 33 or 45 rpm since it is a “variable speed” recording. This can be purchased for $7 at exposeventy.com but you might as well add every other piece of vinyl in the store to your order as well, because it is all amazing.

Cut Iowa Network ‘Projector Gunship Held {Ø,{Ø}}’

admin — Mon, 10 May 2010 17:21:53 +0000

Availability: £8.95

Description: ‘Projector Gunship Held {Ø,{Ø}}’ is the second release in the planned trilogy from Cut Iowa Network. Continuing with their expansive sound the trio build on the krautrock of the original, exploring vast new territories, this time taking in sprawling ambient dreamscapes reminiscent in places of Tangerine Dream and Can circa Flow Motion. Once again the sonic palette is relentlessly shifting, from the burbling ambient waveforms of ‘Halo Antennas’, through the blistered angular desert jazz rock of ‘Square Wave Through The Spectrum Ascent’ – reminiscent of a Sergio Leone western on an acid trip – to the Boards of Canada tinged ‘Horizon 78 Dimension Event’. The guitars, bass and tape loops continue to create mesmeric atmospheric backdrops for the percussive invention of Steve d’Enton, and, as we have come to expect, Cut Iowa Network delight with glorious warped ambient excursions linking tracks once again creating a journey that you can lose yourself in. A must for fans of the first installment they have raised the bar again.

Tracks: 1. Halo Antennas 2. Square Wave Through The Spectrum Ascent 3. Propulsion Systems Left Us For Dead 4. Champion Decade Explodes 5. Beneath Sound We Shiver 6. Horizon 78 Dimension Event 7. We Are Super Eight 8. Altitude Battle Scar (Arc Light Operations)

Duration: 59:29

Catalogue: CV201006.01

Format: Limited edition CD

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 10 May 2010

Personnel: Tim Evans, Steve d’Enton, Adam Barringer

Boomkat ▼ Projector Gunship Held {Ø,{Ø}} is the second release in a proposed trilogy from experimental rockers Cut Iowa Network, and shouldn’t be confused with the first release in this cycle, hazardously titled Projector Gunship Held {Ø}. There’s a strong grounding in krautrock, and the jazzier end of the post-rock genre exhibited on this album, perhaps drawing a few parallels to a band like Tortoise, albeit with a less orchestrated and electronically assisted finish. The complex drumming (courtesy of Steve D’Enton) really makes the record, bringing a lithe, versatile and authoritative rhythmic backbone to the album that allows guitarist Tim Evans and bassist Adam Barringer to explore more abstract textures by rifling through loops and effects-driven soundscapes.

Collective ▼ Not sure I’ve really heard anything like this before. I keep wanting to describe it as a (mostly) slowmotion instrumental krautrock album but that sounds kind of silly, but hopefully you get the idea from that. Drony, dreamy, repetitive minimalism with some nifty drumwork; really a nice sounding album. There are some welcome breaks from the jazzy drums too on a couple of lovely ambient numbers. There is a review of another album of theirs here on Collective that is not particularly positive but to me, this one is totally an album to get lost for an hour in or listen to on a long drive alone as the sun slowly sets. It sounds like it could be at least partly improvised, but with music this chill, who cares man. If by the beginning of the last track you’ve drifted into some kind of state of bliss, beware – it’s a noisy one, like some old unreleased Kyuss jam. That sore thumb aside, this is definitely worth a look.

Headphone Commute ▼ We begin our aural journey on a lighter side, with a three-piece UK band, Cut Iowa Network, with Tim Evans on the guitar, Adam Barringer on the bass, and Steve d’Enton on the drums. The trio collage expansive soundscapes, that are cut through with mid-tempo percussion, to create the second volume in their Projector Gunship Held trilogy. The first volume was released on Panic Arrest, while this follow-up comes out on a Panic Arrest. Both labels appear to be members of the Eat Sleep Repeat network. The group quotes Tarentel for the experimental instrumental influence, and Tangerine Dream for the “sprawling ambient dreamscapes”. At the core of the record is a definitive krautrock reference, with the drums making up the structure of the album, drenched in abstract textures of bass and effected guitar. The skilled percussion alone makes up a larger slice of the record, and in turn gives it an up-beat feel. And before I descend into the doom-drone-gloom territory, it’s worth mentioning another release from the folks at Eat Sleep Repeat, which is a 7? EP from Eric Chenaux with two folksy tracks, Warm Weather and Le Vieux Favori 4. Check out Chenaux’s previous releases on Constellation records. I’m looking forward to the final installment in the Projector Gunship Held series…

Lowcut 4/5 ▼ This is apparently the second record in a trilogy from Cut Iowa Network – and although I haven’t heard the first outing – I’m not sure I need to! Maybe this music should be characterized as neo-kraut because it fuses most elements of early Tangerine Dream, Faust and Can in their “Flow Motion” period. The drums are simple but syncopated with jazzy propulsions and the bass delivers rhythmic vibrations at the bottom of the sound. On top are layers and layers of sounds loops giving a trance like feeling and making you drift away onto the horizon of the soundscapes. My favorite track is “Altitude Battle Scar” as it is the most rock’ish with a driving distorted guitar buried behind a strong heavy bass line and pushing drums. The music would serve perfectly for a non-fictional film of interchanging landscapes, strange deepwater creatures or collapsing buildings – and in fact it’s quite a shame that no images comes along with the music. But hey, close your eyes and drift away on top of the waves of looped drones and musical textures. If you dig: Tortoise, Boredoms … and yes, Tangerine Dream, Faust and NEU!

Norman 4/5 ▼ This is the second part in a trilogy, the first of which came on vinyl and was a previous Norman records album Of The Week. I’m getting quite into this as the sun is beaming at me through the office window. I’m getting good vibes from the dreamy ambient soundscapes and jazzy drums, there’s certainly a lot happening here. I cant really argue with the press release that name checks Tangerine Dream, Can and Boards of Canada. I must admit I’m actually enjoying this more than the first album. Quality stuff.

Piccadilly Records album of the week

Terrascope ▼ “Projector Gunship Held” (Panic Arrest CV201006.01) is the second release in a trilogy from UK experimental trio Cut Iowa Network. With drums prominent, this fusion of avant-jazz, electronica, krautrock and ambient drone spans eight tracks and one hour of instrumentals with grand titles like “Square Wave Through The Spectrum Ascent”, “Propulsion System Left Us For Dead” and “Altitude Battle Scar (Arc Light Operations). Don’t expect to see them on MTV any time soon. The percussive nature of most of the tracks is balanced by drone bass and some spacey guitar and effects to produce a mostly pleasant if occasionally noodlesome workout, If this were a reggae style face-off it would be called something like “Canterbury Jazzers meet the Krautrockers Uptown” “Beneath Sound We Shiver” and “Altitude” are the most uptempo offerings, “Square Wave” nods heavily in a jazz direction, and “Horizon 78 Dimension Event” and “We Are Super Eight” are both very electronic.

Textura ▼ Projector Gunship Held {Ø,{Ø}}, the second instalment in Cut Iowa Network’s projected trilogy, won’t disappoint fans who cottoned to the first. The hour-long sequel serves up more of the group’s trademark blend of panoramic post-rock and experimental kosmische musik playmaking. Traces of Can, Tarantel, and Robert Fripp may surface, but Cut Iowa Network carefully cultivates its own unique sound in the recording’s eight tracks, some of them interludes (the guitar loops-based “Propulsion System Left Us for Dead,” “We Are Super Eight”) and others long-form epics (“Halo Antennas,” “Champion Decade Explodes”). The opener “Halo Antennas” spotlights all of the group’s core tendencies: the openness to improv-driven, live-sounding exploration; the confident looseness with which the trio digs into its material and shifts tempos; and the natural ease with which experimental treatments (effects, loops, and tapes) blend with acoustic instrument sounds. Stretching across fifteen minutes, the track unfolds as a largely heady plunge into psychedelic drone-ambient playing. All members contribute equally to the total sound, with Steve d’Enton’s ever-inventive drumming as prominently positioned at the front-line as Tim Evans’ guitars and Adam Barringer’s bass. Projector Gunship Held {Ø,{Ø}} picks up considerable momentum halfway through when “Champion Decade Explodes” neatly juxtaposes the energized thrust of d’Enton’s robust attack with the ambient atmospherics of Evans’ guitar playing (Barringer’s bass the glue holding the track together) and things keep on rolling thereafter when “Beneath Sound We Shiver” stokes controlled fury. “Altitude Battle Scar (Arc Light Operations)” takes the album out in a torrential blaze of distorted guitar fuzz and rambunctious drumming. On a more atmospheric tip, tremolo guitars shudder across blistered desert plains during “Square Wave Through the Spectrum Ascent,” plus there’s the Frippertronics-inflected “Horizon 78 Dimension Event.” So is Cut Iowa Network’s second chapter dramatically different from its first? Not really, though there’s nothing terribly objectionable about that; Projector Gunship Held {Ø,{Ø}} finds the group refining its style and capitalizing on the strengths of its predecessor.

The Sound Projector ▼ Cut Iowa Network are a trio of young men combining a rock-trio set up (guitar, bass and drums) with restrained electronic effects and tape loops, on a full-length release Projector Gunship Held {0,{0}} (Panic Arrest CV201006.01). While not a totally revelatory listen, gotta admit it is something of a pleasure for me to hear music being performed live by a real band without over-much reliance on computer programming. The trio sprawl and shudder like jelly snakes in a fairly diffuse way, occupying sonic space like an ever-expanding sponge, and stretching out their limbs to best advantage on the longer tracks. With titles that reference power sources like propulsion systems, explosions and antennae, the band are keen to persuade us they can soar like mighty jets into the stratosphere, and while they like to press a lot of Krautrock buttons they also remind me of Boredoms, especially on the final quasi-psychedelic track.

Uncut – Number 8 in the Uncut Playlist of 2010

Vital Weekly ▼ I played this one a lot in the few days. Although it did not impress me on first hearing, for some reason I continued to play it. And then it started to grow and grow. They don’t catch you be surprise but gradually hypnotize you. Cut Iowa Network is guitarist Tim Evans, drummer Steve d’Enton and bassist Adam Barringer. This UK band started in 2008, tapping from electronic, experimental, drone, krautrock and other sources. ‘Projector Gunship Held {Ø,{Ø}}’ is their second effort. It reminded me as well of old (Fripp, Eno, Neu, minimal music) as well of new music, especially post-rock. In each track, whether short or long, they arrange wide panoramic views of ambient rock. Most pieces have a prominent role for drums, laying down unspectacular repetitive structures and patterns. They are filled with looped sounds, resulting in harmonious atmospheres. Long extended melodic lines are woven into these carpets. Often I’m bored with post-rock, but the trance inducing instrumental music of Cut Iowa Network really works. Because post-rock is a kind of music that is not very dramatic, it uses other means to convince and communicate. In the case of this band this is done with success, because of the detailed soundspectrum and the captivating structures they succeed to built. It all happens under the surface. Well done.

Losing Today ▼ Ready for some mind morphing melodic collages then may we suggest you train your radars in the general direction of Cut Iowa Network. Released on Champion Version – the sister label of Eat, Sleep, Repeat – you know the label – mysterious though admittedly tasty looking and arty / collectible press release calling cards – who to date have engaged us most admirably by way of releases from MachineFabriek and Eric Cheneaux – and who have promised shortly some forthcoming taste bearing discs featuring Expo ’70 who should be no stranger to observers of these missives. Anyhow more of that nearer the time for now though to more pressing matters that aforementioned Cut Iowa Network release. Again as with the recently mentioned Spartak set via Low Point, ‘Projector Gunship Held’ is awash with the layer upon layering of harmonic textures, though whereas the former was rooted in math / post rock accents and a loosely spontaneous gauzing, Cut Iowa Network discipline themselves in the structuring of rigid time signatures whose rudimentary reference base is found in the motorik head spanking echelons of krautrock, the sounds – vibrant and propulsive push and pull as though fired by a galactic engine housing some hitherto dying sun. this 8 track behemoth – the second instalment of a planned trilogy finds the UK based trio securing and advancing with stealth their position as sonic alchemists drawing to themselves an ever growing fan base by virtue of releases for the much admired binnacle (‘junkyard transmissions’) and panic arrest. Make no mistake ‘Projector Gunship Held’ is a titanic odyssey – to be honest the best thing we’ve had on our turntable since the Crystal Sun’s ‘klandscape’ set from a few years back via 12 Apostles, on one hand expansive and dream like t’other a brutal star crossed overdrive, its nods to the krautrock generals of old are not lost (especially the dream weaving collages of a more sedate and abstract Tangerine Dream) yet repeat listens have on more than one occasion warranted us to compare the sounds seething up through the grooves as being akin to a less shit faced Heavy Winged being cajoled by a more laid back godspeed with impish souls tarentel cranking up the dials and the Grails applying some nifty retro recalibrations. Don’t be fooled – in fact what am I saying – do be drawn by the lulling sculptured atmospherics of the opening ‘halo antennas’ with its spacious dream weaving shimmer toned echoes and sprawling bliss driven lysergic afterglows or the playfully engaging and cloud parting ‘horizon 78 dimension event’ – a gorgeously seductive sea faring reprise which manages to all at once cross weave the floaty elements of Discordia criminally overlooked ‘la luna Discordia’ full length, the woozy retro signatures of Adam Franklin’s alter ego Toshack Highway’s self titled debut and Ronald Binge’s ‘sailing by’. then there’s the cosmic drone interlude ‘we are super eight’ and the sedately brooding calm of ‘propulsion system left us for dead’ – the latter freewheeling in the same snoozing contours of a post storm eclipsed Roy Montgomery. Matters become more pronounced on the monolithic ‘beneath sound we shiver’ – the hypnotic locked grooves casting a curious trance like sub nine minute space cruising sound-scape which by its close leaves you feeling as though your heads been scrambled on a spin setting with the hot wash dial having being ratcheted up for good measure. All said its left to the parting ‘altitude battle scar (arc light operations)’ to exact appropriate damage to your disc delivering device, in short a storm lashed skull splintering brew wherein our sonic tour guides twiddle the dials and rack up the engines to overload embarking on a voyage to the sun, a punishing and uncompromising heads down slab of grizzled galactic groove that veers just the right side of the oblivion overdrives often metered out by scouse space cadets Mugstar and which in terms of description we’ll happily settle for colossal. File under mind melting.

Eric Chenaux ‘Warm Weather/Le Vieux Favori 4′

admin — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:14:31 +0000

Availability: £9.95

Description: The idea with this record was to not have a side A or side B per se, not to have a front or back cover but just two sides, resisting the history of 7″s being that the B side is the more esoteric complement to the A side. ‘Warm Weather’ and ‘Le Vieux Favori 4′ stand alone without one being considered more important than the other. The acoustic lounge-tinged ‘Warm Weather’ trundles ahead with a warm feeling as multiple channels of nylon-string guitar twang scuttle along just before Eric’s shingly vocals come in adding another beautifully reflective layer to the mix. ‘Le Vieux Favori 4′ blends electric guitar, melodica and spinning speakers creating a classical cinematic sound that slowly draws you in while unravelling a soft yet unnerving tension throughout. Both tracks were recorded and mixed in January 2009 by Radwan Moumneh at the Hotel2Tango studio situated in Montreal before being sent off to Harris Newman for mastering. A quite sublime 7″.

Tracks: 1. Warm Weather 2. Le Vieux Favori 4

Duration: 10:20

Catalogue: ESR201001.01

Format: Limited edition 7″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 22 February 2010

Boomkat ▼ A wonderfully subtle piece of acoustic songwriting from regular Constellation artist, Eric Chenaux. On ‘Warm Weather’, Chenaux’s soft, husky vocal is a thing of extreme loveliness, finding accompaniment from gently, jazzy acoustic guitar phrasings. It’s definitely a cut above the general singer-songwriter standard, but when you hear the B-side it’s all the more impressive: ‘La Vieux Favori 4′ is a violin-led drone piece reminiscent of C. Spencer Yeh’s output, showing an admirable range of this man’s talents.

EARLabs 8.5/10 ▼ 2 sides on a 7″, 2 sides from a musician with a diverse range of styles. A warm and tender love song and a piece full of dissonant melodies. A second release from the prestigious label Eat, Sleep, Repeat. Again a two track 7″ releases is presented. After the first release by Machinefabriek the goal was set high. With that one in mind I started listening to Warm Weather/Le Vieux Favori 4 by Canadian musician Eric Chenaux who is closely related to Constellation Records. As we could expect from Chenaux the two pieces on the 7″ release are both from a complete different order. Warm Weather is a song in a traditional folk style. Comforting guitar sounds with soft vocals. I guess it is a love song, longing for the good times that used to be. There is a sad tone to this piece but that makes it a beauty. At first you might have to get used to the vocals of this singer. It sounds broken, down, soft, slightly falsetto (but don’t expect the bee gees). It is a lovely song. The other side of the 7″ brings us Le Vieux Favori 4 which is build up from dissonant electric guitar and melodica sounds. The music spins round your head trying to grab your attention, and it does. In the music you can hear references to folk music from the Middle Ages and begin Renaissance. Soft drones in the background as if a hurdy gurdy is being played, with other bowed instruments. The music is slightly in the same tonal setting, only in this case used for dissonance. It is an interesting piece that is hard to get into, but when you listen more careful you hear it has some great things in it. The 7″ by Eric Chenaux is again a lovely piece released on Eat, Sleep, Repeat and if they can keep this up they promise to become one label to keep an eye open for. Editorial: the release already got sold-out in pre-order from the label, though it will pop-up in some web-shops pretty soon.

Fluid Radio ▼ I have been really excited by the arrival of new label Eat, Sleep, Repeat: The Machinefabriek release sold out just on Pre-Orders alone so I suggest that you are wise and pre-order the new Eric Chenaux title before they are gone as well… It’s a tuff call to try and sum up this gorgeous little ep to be honest as we have two tracks that flow with so much beauty and yet at the same time are completely opposite in style. If you want to experience a quirky little folk type selection on one side and a Richard Skelton meets Nordic string arrangements on the other then I say grab this ep ‘quick time’! Highly highly highly recommended!

Losing Today ▼ Not strictly out for a month or so but all the same deserving of a heads up this release features two suites by the highly regarded Eric Chenaux, part of the much admired Constellation set Chenaux is something of a workaholic with a recording CV stretching back some two decades, having cut his teeth on the post rock underground with Phleg Camp – recent years have seen him expanding his sonic repertoire to incorporate lounge jazz and fried improv (think I’m right in saying that both nightjars and the reveries have been mentioned in some form or other in previous despatches), often compared with the late Derek Bailey in terms of his improvisation prowess, it’d be more true to true to say that Chenaux is a purist of the bruised ballad with the emphasis on melody being given centre of attention – his compositions creak with a strangely off set passion, spectral and seemingly threadbare they are endowed by an archaic alchemy that’s both lilting and haunting. We suggest you head without further delay to his my space page at www.myspace.com/ericchenaux and partake in the delight that is ‘rest your delights’ a kind of Palace Brothers meets Radiohead re-sculptured by Three Mile Pilot. Best described as heart hurting archaic spiritualist folk montages Chenaux offers up two distinctly polar portrayals of his artistry on this ultra limited seven inch outing, ‘Le Vieux Favori 4′ suffuses guitar and melodica in a most rewarding way, like some celebratory Celtic fanfare streaming through the fog bound wilderness, this mind expanding reverie weaves and woos with a strange detached fascination that should appeal in equal parts to fans of both Ivor Cutler and Flying Saucer Attack. Flip the disc for the near gemlike ‘Warm Weather’ – shyly romantic and frosted with a twinkling soft centre, the deftly fingered skeletal rustic fretwork is found beautifully woven upon a fragile and frail framework that’s blessed with a beguiled albeit bitterly sweet introspective glow to which you can do nothing but be arrested by in the company of.

Record Collector ▼ Here’s an impressive sophomore effort from the Eat, Sleep, Repeat imprint. First off the blocks, Warm Weather’s nylon-string balladry fuses delicate silken spun webs, enmeshing Chenaux’s wistful half-whispered musings within a snare of tenderly-woven melancholy. On the flip, Le Vieux Favori 4 ferments oscillating spirals of glutinous ooze from a blend of electric guitar and melodica. The resultant infection is filtered through the trembling strings of Alistair Galbraith’s violin before being bounced around the hallowed halls of Ira Cohen’s Thunderbalt Pagoda.

Textura ▼ Chenaux’s perhaps best known for his output on the Montreal-based Constellation label, 2006′s Dull Lights and 2008′s Sloppy Ground. Despite being creations of same artist, the two tracks on this seven-inch vinyl single (both recorded and mixed in January 2009 at the Hotel2Tango studio) are about as contrasting as could be imagined, and thereby offer a snapshot of the man’s many talents. The opener “Warm Weather” is a wistful and subtly romantic ballad that’s truly lovely. In this laid-back folk setting, Chenaux couples a hushed, fragile vocal filled with wry reminiscences (“We can dance to ballads out on your porch / People dance that way everyday / Someone once told me that’s how love is made / And I see warm weather rollin’ in”) with acoustic guitar finger-picking that gives the tune the feel of an old Mexican song. The acompanying instrumental, “Le Vieux Favori 4,” smudges electric guitar and melodica elements into what could pass for a decades-old exhumation of Celtic psychedelia, the off-kilter piece woozily wheezing in the light breeze as it dazedly intones semi-ecstatic melodies like a decrepit hurdy gurdy. Needless to say, it’s worlds removed from the opening song yet in some bizarre manner feels like a natural partner to it.

Vital Weekly ▼ Strictly speaking there is no A or B side to this record. Which of course seems to me the right thing to do. None of these two tracks is more important than the other. On ‘Warm Weather’, Chenaux plays a nylon guitar and sings. Multiple channels of guitar playing, although I don’t think more than two or three. I must admit I am not a connoisseur of this kind of singer song writing, but it seems to me damn close to Nick Drake, this piece. Intimate, up close, and very personal. On ‘Le Vieux Favori 4′ we have electric guitar, melodica and ‘spinning speakers creating a classical cinematic sound’ and no vocals. There is a nice drone layered element to this piece of music, with an odd rotating sound, like multiple violins (which I guess there aren’t any) shimmering away. An entirely different piece, but it has a similar not too outspoken quality to it. Nicely private music.

Machinefabriek ‘Slovensko’

admin — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:06:53 +0000

Availability: £9.95

Description: Machinefabriek is Dutchman Rutger Zuydervelt who spends his time creating music that’s epic and unwavering, restless and intense. The source material for ‘Slovensko’ was recorded during Rutger’s trip to Slovakia in September 2010. It was not his original intention to go away and make a record, but just as he’s used to taking his camera with him when visiting a foreign country, he has also gotten used to taking a small digital recorder. Throughout the period of his stay Rutger captured a variety of indigenous sounds, unusual samples and field recordings using them as the primary framework for the pieces included on this release. He then returned home and began the process of cutting, mixing, editing and remixing the field recordings to more abstracted pieces. The focus was firmly set on highlighting the most interesting elements and merging them together, using only the source material and his laptop to work with. The pieces included on ‘Slovensko’ lumber along slowly evolving into an intricately enthralling climax of sound that’ll leave you feeling drained and in a trance like state of mind. The results are minimal yet riveting, fragile yet gloriously brutal. Essential listening.

Tracks: 1. Slovensko Part 1 2. Slovensko Part 2

Duration: 14:02

Catalogue: ESR200912.01

Format: Limited edition 7″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 25 January 2010

Boomkat ▼ Very limited copies of Slovensko now available on vinyl… Arguably the most interesting of this week’s Machinefabriek releases is based upon field recordings gathered on an excursion to Slovenia. The sounds harvested from this trip were then heavily treated and assembled in an impressively musical fashion for this release. Think of this as auditory photography: Slovensko documents the soundscape of various locations and happenings within them, treating the outcome to draw out the sonic depth. You’ll hear the usual instances of wildlife and people coming and going, but arguably the less populated moments yield the most noteworthy results. When you hear strands of feedback sculpted from what sounds like creaking gates or massively amplified vibrations creating a potent scrapyard drone you feel Zuydervelt might be going about some of his most effective and experimental work to date.

EARLabs 8/10 ▼ Field recordings from Slovenia got a treatment by Dutch boy wonder of electronic music. Abstract, though organic sounding music. After quite some time yesterday I finally had the pleasure again of seeing Machinefabriek (Rutger Zuydervelt) live again. Live his music always seems to be based on his guitar and small objects he rubs and beats upon his guitar. A whole other story is the 7″ release Slovensko that he recorded for Eat, Sleep, Repeat which is based around field recordings taken during a trip through Slovakia in September 2009. Completely unlike his recordings from Israel which got released as Tapes of the day here he searched for unusual sounds, opposed to street recordings. Not only the source material is different, but also the way they are presented. With the recordings Rutger Zuydervelt; where on tapes of the day the sounds are presented as they are here things get cut up, mixed, processed and god knows what more Zuydervelt did to them. With this he tried to highlight the more peculiar sounds, which, I think, he succeeded well at. While the music contains this natural feeling, things also sound really abstract and rough. At one moment you can be hearing some birds twitter, while at others a gigantic loud noise is shredding your ears. Because of the computer magic used on the sounds things get much more interesting than with the clean recordings you got to hear on Tapes of the day. And because only the field recordings were used the outcome is also very different from Zuydervelts other work. For this one you don’t have to expect drone soundscapes or post-rock influenced ambient pieces. With this you can easily say we hear yet another side of the Machinefabriek, one we didn’t hear before. Slovensko isn’t really a release for the people who are into the more popular side of Zuydervelts music, but those who are willing to take a step deeper into the experimental side of electronic music can easily take this one as a good starting point. Hopefully Zuydervelt will go more in the direction of this kind of music. It’s a whole new world to explore.

Losing Today ▼ A few weeks ago we received a mysterious red and white calling card – upon it our address and contact details on one side and over on the flip an email address simply stated as www.depteh.com – I must admit to being all at once concerned, puzzled and curious. We typed in said address only to receive an error message. That’s strange we thought. A further clue was revealed by way of an email contact. Again only this time with a growing sense of concern, puzzlement and curiosity we despatched an enquiring email. And waited. A reply was eagerly received had we signed up inadvertently to some anti-establishment forum the kind usually tempered and propagated by the likes of Messrs Drummond and Orridge. Instead we were directed to a further web site. The puzzle was unfolding and the chase continued merrily. www.eatsleeprepeat.com/disinformation.html was the name of the linking web page, with graphics looking not unlike those utilised by those nice people over at both Expanding and Trensmat – Eat, Sleep, Repeat is a new label promising – well we’ll let them take that up in their own words – ‘Welcome to eatsleeprepeat.com, a new label created simply to serve the uncompromising expressions of alternative, drone, electronic, experimental jazz, krautrock, minimalist and post-rock movements. The site is a little bare at the moment while we sort out some things but plenty more disinformation will be added in the near future.’ The label promises future outings from Expo ’70, Black to Comm and Eric Chenaux – first up though for their debuting release a limited 7 inch from Dutch aural alchemist MachineFabriek or as he’s better known to the underground cognoscenti Rutger Zuydervelt. Clocking in at around 14 minutes in total this tastily tailored seven inch features two glimpses into Machinefabriek’s intricate sound craft. The base framework for ‘Slovensko’ (Parts 1 and 2) was inspired by field recordings collected on a digital recorder during a visit to Slovakia in September 2009. By way of some applied sonic manipulation via a laptop and some carefully cultured editing, cutting and pasting of the gathered sound files, Machinefabriek concocts a curiously sparsely soothing albeit desolate melodic landscape, a glitch drone collage blending and freewheeling between moments of earthiness and elements of tensely coiled foreboding, though as some wit once said the devil is in the detail, the detail here being the subterranean undercurrents continually ebbing and flowing, evolving, mutating to turn and twist and shape shift with a fluid fascination – references to 70 Gwen Party would not appear out of place though it’s the more spectral speaker spooking periods of unsettling disquiet found of the work of Muslim Gauze that may well strike a relevant chord. File under epically minimalist. Flip over for ‘Cast 2′ – a little more forthright in design than its predecessor and in some ways structured seemingly to reflect a reverse mirror image in so far as the impacting sun burst scalding noise quotient arrives face on from the start and then dissipates to a calming lull though happily that finds itself tempered by a degree of decidedly unhinged to be viewed with lights on from behind the sofa glassy globes of spine tingling eeriness. Goes without saying that you need this instantly in your life.

Norman Records ▼ Machinefabriek has a rather swish looking 7″ out on new label Eat, Sleep, Repeat. ‘Slovensko’ sounds like our man Rutger is walking across town during a trip to Slovakia with a recording device picking up all sorts of sounds around him, you can hear traffic, at one point it sounds like he’s passing a construction site, possibly some train sounds etc. It has a very urban/industrial field recording feel which I enjoy as a contrast to the more tropical/natural world sort of stuff. Once the sounds get some processing things get even more interesting, abstract and unidentifiable. The second side ‘Cast 2′ sounds great with a huge climax of noise before being reduced to more minimal and sparse unidentifiable sounds. Limited edition.

Phonica Records ▼ The saga of Machinefabriek is a long and arduous one. ‘Prolific’ is probably an understatement for the talented Dutch artist – he’s amassed a discography of somewhere around 100 releases. His latest outing on vinyl (most of them are on weirdly shaped CDs) is a ambient / drone collage of processed field-recordings from Slovenia – hence the title.

Tokafi ▼ It can thus convincingly be argued, that the most recent machinefabriek-pieces are, in fact, even more ambitious and even less commercial (if that words makes any sense here at all) than his earliest material. Delectably presented 7inch “Slovensko” was even built entirely from field recordings collected while on vacation. Akin to the work of late genre-master Luc Ferrari, these two side-spanning tracks can be understood as “musique anecdotique” – as collages assembled from a variety of different takes, which nonetheless constitute a new, seamless reality in the listener’s mind. At all times, the contrast between near-chaotic semblances and mindbogglingly proficient sonic artifacts is at the heart of this music: On the A-side, a near-chaotic multimorph of anything from peaceful beach scenes, heavily reverbed hammering and dark-ambient-strings flows into a sequence of pitched noises culled from painfully tightening metallic wires. The flipside is more dramatic, nervously jumping between starkly contrasting moods, before culminating in a finale of cloudy drones. The complete opposite of aural photography, this is very much music in the radio-play-tradition, with the audience being invited to make up their own plot. Even though nothing here is fundamentally revolutionary per se, “Slovensko” is rendered unique by the way in which pure field recordings and pitched material overlap and intersect. The world is sound – it may seem like a cliche on paper, but it never does on this delicious little treasure of a record.

Vital Weekly ▼ Despite a plethora of releases, Rutger Zuydervelt never ceases to surprise. Not always I must admit, as there is a distinct style of his own, but sometimes he does something out of the ordinary. ‘Slovensko’ is such a thing. In September 2009 he went on holiday to Slovakia, armed with his camera (he is a designer after all) and these days also with a digital recorder. He collected a bunch of field recordings which he, back home, edited into the two parts of ‘Slovensko’. No guitars this time here, but pure field recordings, edited, cut, mixed together into two lovely collages of sound. Motor sounds, dogs, voices, fences and metal gates and some more obscured sounds are put together in quite a cinematic manner. Not just a continuing ambient sound but a wonderful play of various sounds. This may very well be the first time that Zuydervelt worked so solely with field recordings. And with some fine result.

SOLD OUT – Rocketnumbernine ‘You Reflect Me’

admin — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:12:27 +0000

Description: ‘You Reflect Me’ marks the first recorded stage of Ben and Tom Page’s musical journey together as Rocketnumbernine. With scintillating rhythm and percussion, the album combines exhausting analogue synthesizers with remnants of fuzz and overdrive, masses of feeding back effects processors and a meditative wall of static culminating in a record that sounds only like itself delving below into the unconscious. It captures the duo’s improvised sonic adventures, with each brother responding and reacting to the music of the other. Their journeys range from melancholic, almost ambient soundscapes, through to the heaviest and most relentless epics of noise and release. A successful attempt at creating a mysterious musical world for the listener, You Reflect Me beautifully reveals the band’s profound desire to combine their experimental, electronic and jazz influences from the roots and mirrors all of the emotional intensity that brotherhood can bring sounding refreshingly contemporary and gloriously extreme. Highly recommended.

Tracks: 1. Cretin 2. The Bow And The Arrow 3. Doodlebug 4. Rene (Fogive Me) 5. Pages 6. You Reflect Me 7. Short One 8. Burn Up

Duration: 42:04

Catalogue: PAN004

Format: Limited edition CD

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household Released: 19 June 2009

Released: 19 June 2009

Personnel: Ben Page, Tom Page

The Silent Ballet 8/10 ▼ Take a basketful of biscuits made of the grains of jazz and feed them to a flock of rabid printing presses. Grab a bunch of empty oil drums, a vintage synth and a high-hat, wait for it to rain and use them to summon a glacier-sized caterpillar, ensuring your tribe’s salvation. Ok, we can’t really do that, but those are some of the things Rocketnumbernine sound like they’re doing. From start to finish, ‘You Reflect Me’ is a most refreshing listen, generating gobs of momentum while permutating in tide pools of experimentalism. Rocketnumbernine don’t really sound like jazz, nor do they sound entirely electronic, but clearly these are the two worlds brothers Tom and Ben Page draw from here. They’ve stretched those influences out into something that is at once much more abstract and so very raw. Imagine Sun Ra swallowed a Tortoise, and within his belly the animal removed its own shell to drum kraut-beats on while electrified juices slowly digested its brain. Then the occasional breath. The plethora of percussion contained throughout is very loose, giving the feeling that the players used whatever they could get their hands on. The term “drumkit” for these guys includes every garage in the neighborhood. The sound of the sizzling cymbals is delicious and immediate, a defining feature throughout the album. Even the analogue synthesizers are used to add percussive sounds to the fray, making ‘You Reflect Me’ the perfect album to wash dishes to. If that growing pile of pots and pans just won’t do themselves, put this album on and let the haphazard metal-on-metal strikes of a banal chore seamlessly integrate into Rocketnumbernine’s sonic patina. Something must be said about the compositions on this record, because they are quite good. Rocketnumbernine live sets are all improvised, but it’s not all bang this, hit that, press this button. The Page brothers have been jamming in this vein for over eight years, having played in a few bands including Rothko. Their experience shows on a track like “Doodlebug” where they stretch things out into a slow-burning riser, the warm ambient grind and kraut-jam sounding something like Autechre being possessed by Can. There is patience and a level of maturity that translates into many engaging sonic environments, as ‘You Reflect Me’ really runs the gamut on ideas. “Rene (Please Forgive Me)” is totally different as no beat is to be found, and instead we have a nocturnal peek at a secret pond where all of the animals are made out of metal. Iron bullfrogs do a mating call, occasional golden owls and nightingales chime in and slink back into the darkness, all while a mermaid whimsically plonks on her glockenspiel. You go places with this music. Headphones give the impression that Rocketnumbernine are playing inside a room in the back of your skull. The music sounds very close, with the room noise keeping things intimate and raw. Even the tape hiss is played with at times, lifting veils in the process. Many of the songs feel very warm, even though there isn’t a load of melody to speak of. The drummer is a supreme talent, giving all the science a strong foundation. If you like experimental music and you like good drumming, I don’t think you’re going to find too many records that satisfy like this one. It brings to mind the richness of last year’s succulent debut from Comatone & Foley, albeit less android in feeling, and if these two records are any indication, the outlook for more greatness inside the electro-drummer duo scene is looking pretty plump with possibilities.

Foxy Digitalis 7/10 ▼ This is the first recorded document of the brothers Page, Ben and Tom, and shows much promise and potential. This isn’t to say that the music isn’t wholly satisfying it itsel; it is. With shades of Sun Ra’s “Atlantis” peeking in at times, I find the driving but subdued Rasheed Ali-influenced drums the central element which maintains the force of the recording. But to minimize it to such a one-sided influence would be unfair. Frankly, there are hints of Miles, Coltrane…even John McLaughlin throughout Ben Page’s use of electronics. However, to simply refer to this as some sort of derivative jazz document is underwhelming. The title track, “‘You Reflect Me’” explores latter-day similarities between early electronic industrial when paired with more conventional jazz idioms. Those “conventional” idioms arise from the expert drumming, but shouldn’t be mistaken for mere mimicry. The fluidity and economy are to be commended-and the electronics introduce new drone sensibilities to a music which has been in dire need of a shot of beatific honey…dripping, sliding, sometimes stinging, but nearly always injecting their free-flowing groove with just enough howl, just the right amount of natural imagery to keep the brain engaged and wondering what will happen next. “‘You Reflect Me’” is quite a promising inauguration.

Norman Records ▼ Philthy just slung a CD at my face and said ‘Oi you! Factor this into your days work innit!!’ before cackling like an evil retarded child & jumping out of the window a la several episodes of Father Ted. It’s by Rocketnumbernine who get points deducted for stapling ALL the syllables into one big search engine stuffing/ career sabotaging modge. I kind of missed ‘You Reflect Me’s track uno because I was thinking about jam. And rabbits. But track two is fucking jazz man, it be free & funky, rhythmic & groovy yah. The production is well boss and I feel like i’m in some spacious cellar off my head on ‘erbal ciggies & vibes man. That hard, blunted echo-ey drum sound is served even better on ‘Doodlebug’ by the addition of some monged vintage synth action and a thrumming low-end drone that makes me giggle involuntarily. They also like to piss around with mad sounds & a child’s xylophone which is totally OK with me. It makes for a nice interval before the onslaught of more ace sounding tribal drums and tape hiss concealing a malevolent force beneath. You can totally tell they proper love old analogue equipment & recording techniques, there’s some cracking atmospherics on this album. There’s some paralells to be drawn with these guys and Manchester’s A Middle Sex who are soooo worth checking out too! Just don’t call them Nu-tribal whatever you do, it’s just jammin’ man….Good stuff!

The 405 ▼ When a band is described as being experimental, it sometimes means that they have forgotten to pack the tunes, so you can imagine my trepidation when first listening to this CD. The duo consists of the brothers Ben and Tom Page, who between them play synthesisers, electronics, drums and percussion. I believe they have more players on stage for life shows, where they perform in front of the visuals of Justin Badhand, and are making themselves a good name for their live shows. Stripped of a visual counterpoint, the music is not as I feared. It is highly rhythmic, and although unlikely to appeal much to people who think Ronan Keating is a musical adventurer, there is much to like and admire here. From the opener Cretin with its insidious throbbing keyboard sounds, to Doodlebug, which at times sound like a private conversation between a drum kit and a Mobile Phone, to the xylophone sounds that decorate Rene (Forgive me) or the seeming drum duet of Pages, there is something for people who like their Jazz to be brooding, or their brooding music to be Jazz.

Textura ▼ ‘You Reflect Me’ delivers pretty much what you’d expect from an improvised set by a synth-and-electronics player and drummer: forty-two minutes of heavy gunslinging with brothers Ben and Tom Page crafting mood-shifting soundscapes that breathe uncompromising experimental fire. Though the duo ranges across the stylistic field, with a few quieter moments (e.g., “Rene (Forgive Me),” a meandering moodscape for glockenspiel, bells, and electronics) emerging amidst the noisier, it’s in the more aggressive zone where you’ll find the siblings most commonly habitating. That they took the Rocketnumbernine name from a Sun Ra song offers some hint of the space-tripping vibe they project in the material, and we’re talking live drums here, folks, so the music broils with oft-uncontained energy. “The Bow and the Arrow” has moments that roar with as much energy as a warm-up studio session musicians undertake while waiting for Miles to show. A tom-toms emphasis gives “Pages” a tribal effect, while “Burn Up” writhes before moving into a bass-driven, neo-dub episode. The two longer tracks, “Doodlebug” and “‘You Reflect Me’”, allow the group to stretch out, with the former using the opportunity to grumble and growl combustibly while the howling latter stokes the album’s most raucous fire. Being improvised, ‘You Reflect Me’ includes some small degree of noodling as the Pages try to figure out where the music’s taking them, and electronics are used more to build texture than as a lead soloing instrument, with the brothers typically barreling along in tandem.

Telekaster ‘The Silent Anagram’

admin — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:04:04 +0000

Availability: £10.95

Description: ‘The Silent Anagram’ is a beautifully architected record that clicks and whirs into life building intelligently on itself into a vast and expansive work fizzing with ambience. There is a constant interplay of sound and a clever juxtaposition of more caustic eclectic noise with crystalline moments of pinpoint melody. Emotionally intense, the landscape of the music and their structures draw on your memory brushing the innocence of childhood with the gravity of adulthood. It’s a delicate mix of broken piano chords and effervescent guitars that combine to create achingly beautiful crushing warmth. Quite simply it has a ghostly melodic grandeur that involves you in every second and leaves you wanting to press play again and again; a classic record.

Tracks: 1. A Shift In Shapes 2. We Are All Balloons 3. Pyramids 4. A World Full Of Ordinary Things 5. All That Is Solid Melts Into Noise 6. Where Diving Bells Are Ringing 7. Your Fireworks Brighten My Sky 8. No Moving Parts Contained

Duration: 36:57

Catalogue: PAN003

Format: Limited edition 180g 12″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 19 June 2009

Norman Records ▼ The heat, the motherfucking heat.. It’s like a giant sweaty crotch covered with indie posters from the 90s in here. ‘The Silent Anagram’ is the first review thing my dehydrated brain has to come to terms with this week – it’s by Telekaster and released on the fine Panic Arrest label (holders of two previous Album of the Week Gold Plated Statuettes from their nascent catalogue). Immediately (and probably lazily) this record strikes me as kind of a middle ground between the minimal Minus Pilots album and the more varied, layered sound of the Cut Iowa Network LP (minus the drums), it definitely fits right in with the feel of the label thus far so if you enjoyed those previous releases you’ll be in safe hands here. To add a little more comparative colour I’ll add that there are shades of Constellation-style post-rock, early Colleen, the twinklier moments of bands like Fridge and many an organic-sounding bedroom ambient electronica project from the past few years. All done to a super classy standard!

Groove Magazine ▼ ‘The Silent Anagram’, the debut album by Telekaster: circling loopbuildings, slowly finding their direction and creating a subtly shimmering sound. Melodies and chords come and go. Simply beautiful.

Textura ▼ After issuing two albums on Sub Rosa as Phon°noir, Berlin-based musician Matthias Grübel introduces a debut collection under the Telekaster name, which he recorded solo except for contributions to a couple of tracks from Mandelbrot Set guitarist Keung, violinist Sabine Hanstein, and arranger Mikhail Karikis. Grübel shapes ‘The Silent Anagram’s material into eight meditations which are beatless but not static; an organic, instrument-driven flow animates each densely-layered piece, but the flow never feels tied to or constrained by a specific time signature. He builds the tracks into dense arrangements where acoustic and electronic sounds intermingle, and where at times a single instrument or sound briefly extricates itself from the whole before just as quickly disappearing back into it. With the four tracks on each side presented in a continuous, suite-like manner, the album’s material is best experienced in the vinyl format. The aptly-titled “A Shift in Shapes” brings the A-side to life with a percussive phalanx of rattles, clicks, and whirrs that’s promptly augmented by a repeating piano figure. The materials draw together to form a wheezing and rumbling mass, with the creak of a violin motif added as sonic spice. A gamelan cloud of bell tones and chimes then threads itself through “We Are All Balloons,” after which a blanket of fuzz and piano chords initiates the see-sawing meditation “Pyramids,” setting the stage for shimmering flourishes and the melancholy sigh of Hanstein’s violin part. While that piece is dirge-like in character, “A World Full of Ordinary Things” feels more uplifting, with electric guitar melodies and strums penetrating the haze and bringing with them a hint of exuberance. Side B opens with “All That is Solid Melts Into Noise,” a ponderous and spacey meditation distinguished by glissandi string effects and the expansive sweep of an orchestral arrangement by Karikis (whose ecstatic voice is also heard), followed by “Where Diving Bells Are Ringing,” a tranquil meditation with a heavy guitar emphasis, and “No Moving Parts Contained,” which closes the album in a daze of mallet percussion tinklings, violin sawing, and electric guitar figures. One of the tracks is titled “Your Fireworks Brighten My Sky” and it’s an apt sentiment that one could apply to the album as a whole when Telekaster’s settings so often blossom into immense, reverberant swirls of electro-acoustic design.

The Silent Ballet ▼ This is one of the more difficult reviews I’ve had to write, and definitely the most I’ve had to listen to an album to form any sort of opinion on it. Even still, after innumerable listens, something about ‘The Silent Anagram’ still eludes me: it is ambient music that somehow sits on the fence between astoundingly simple and overly complex, and I can’t quite pick out where it’s leaning. Take the opener, “A Shift in Shapes”, for instance. Tape hiss and other (un?)intentional recording artifacts envelope a simple piano riff that, swimming in delay, ping-pongs between the left and right speaker; at the same time, subtle violin lines vie for attention with electronic buzzes and clips. But when repeated over the five-and-a-half minute runtime, the complexity gives way to dreamy ambience: the broken music box follow-up, “We Are All Balloons”, cements the album as highly complicated in micro-sense, but as a whole, the parts coalesce into a barely-there dreamscape. Like most ambient albums, however, fully appreciating ‘The Silent Anagram’ relies just as much on your current setting (physically and emotionally) as it does on the one the sounds are trying to create. This is not music for the morning commute, unless you happen to join the rat race in a half-speed submarine; this is music for empty highways at dawn, for empty bedrooms at midnight. So however masterful the music contained herein, its appeal is inherently limited – this is definitely “mood music.” What Telekaster does differently, and this is how ‘The Silent Anagram’ is pushed above “most ambient albums,” is composition. While there are numerous ambient musicians content to lean onto their synthesizers, run a few loops and call it a day, the pieces here are all distinct. The foreboding piano chords that introduce “Pyramids” transition gently and yet noticeably into the springy synth-work of “A World Full of Ordinary Things”; they are clearly separate tracks, as are all eight on the album, but while many ambient albums require checking the stereo display to notice a new track, Telekaster gracefully introduces new ideas while keeping the feel established throughout the record. A truly shining example of what being an ambient album should mean: similarity, not sameness. Reusing feelings, not ideas. In this sense, ‘The Silent Anagram’ is entirely successful. When given the proper conditions, Telekaster has crafted music to bring you there, to whatever hazy, reverb-laden place that is; just grab a decent pair of headphones, turn down the lights, and take the trip.

Vital Weekly ▼ The debut album by Matthias Grübel, who plays ‘various instruments, sounds and manipulation’, with the help of some others on violin, electric guitar, voice and ‘orchestra arrangements and other recordings’. Grübel has released before under the guise of Phon Noir on Sub Rosa, but for some reason changed to Telekaster. Its not easy to describe the album. Its all highly atmospheric music, that’s for sure. Not just in a drone sense of the word, because melodies play an important role here. The various instruments seem to me mainly guitars and a piano (perhaps a midi one), with an extensive use of sound effects to create a rich, thick sound, that is orchestral in ‘All That Is Solid Melts Into Noise’, drifting into a more introspective tune of ‘Where Diving Bells Are Ringing’. Post rock is perhaps a term to fits this, but its all without drums and its definitely not static. This music is in constant flux, always on the move. A great record actually. Very melodic, without becoming a pop record. More modern classical, I’d say. A very pleasant and varied album. Highlight of the week. (FdW)

Beat Magazine ▼ Mit The Silent Anagram hat Matthias Grübels Projekt Telekaster eines der Überraschungsalben des Jahres gelandet. Tief und wie ein unwirkliches, stummes Theaterstück entfaltet sich die Platte.

Lichter ▼ The Silent Anagram ist ein Gebilde aus Klangräumen, das beruhigender in seiner Unruhe kaum sein könnte. ‚All is sound’. Und so verliert sich auch die Stille im Klang und lässt das, was zwischen Kopf und Herz ist, im Gleichklang aus dem Takt schlagen. Es ist Nacht. Ich greife meine Kopfhörer, lege die Platte vorsichtig auf den Plattenspieler, warte bis die Nadel sich senkt und höre. Der erste Raum öffnet sich. Es fängt an zu Klackern, zu Rasseln. Ein Klavier schleicht sich dazu und beginnt ein niemals enden wollendes Intervall. Immer wieder finden sich dazu neue Klänge, Geräusche. Eine Melodica spielt eine scheinbare Melodie, die doch keine ist. Rauschen, Klappern, es regnet, drückende Störgeräusche, Instrumente. Sie spielen, stehen nebeneinander und bilden darin ein verlässliches Gefüge, das in seiner Monotonie beruhigend klingt (A Shift Full Of Shapes). Dann plötzlich der nächste Raum. Noch im Nachhall des vorigen wird es sphärischer, dröhnender. Dann Klangspiele. Tief und voll wie Kirchenglocken, hoch und metallisch hallend wie kleine Glöckchen. Es klingelt ruhig aber scheinbar willkürlich aus allen Richtungen. Doch auch hier findet sich ein Gerüst, das verhindert ins Haltlose zu fallen und das mit der Zeit unterschiedliche Assoziationen und Erinnerungen wachrufen kann (We Are All Balloons). Im dritten Raum (Pyramids) ist es ruhiger. Er steht für sich, umgrenzt von den anderen. Wieder ein Klavier. Ein neues ewiges Intervall. Der Fall ist tiefer, die Geräusche dazu wieder rauschig und elektronisch, aber angepasster. Warm und wohlig. Entspannung. Zurücklehnen. Und wirken lassen. Das Klavier pendelt wie eine Lebensader ruhig vor und zurück. Immer weiter, wie tiefe Atemzüge. Ich sitze da, schließe die Augen und werde aufgesogen. Das Rauschen und Flirren nimmt zu und übertönt fast das Klavier, aber es findet zurück zur einfachen Melodie einer Geige. Der Raum ist erfüllt und es gelingt nur schwer in den nächsten einzutauchen. In diesen werde ich hineingeworfen. Tauche wieder auf und höre den Lebensklang vom Klavier zuvor auf elektronischen Saiten. Es hat sich umgekehrt. Klingt fordernder. Dann gebrochene Gitarrenakkorde, wieder keine wirkliche Melodie. Aber auch hier das Gefühl bleiben zu wollen. Doch der Raum zieht sich plötzlich in sich zusammen und verschwindet (A World Full Of Ordinary Things). Die Nadel hebt sich und ich sitze da und höre die Stille. Sie rauscht. Auf der zweiten Seite tauchen neue Räume auf. Sie kommen mir bekannt vor und sind doch neu. Stille Anagramme. Manches verdichtet sich noch mehr, anderes löst sich. Es wird orchestral und kurz hallt eine Stimme fern zwischen all dem Klang, wie ein Klagelied. (All That Is Solid Melts Into Noise). Dann wieder Knistern und Flirren. Ein Raum mit schönen Klängen und Störgeräuschen die an entfernte Presslufthammer erinnern (Where Driving Bells Are Ringing). Dann, nach einem Dröhnen im Kopf, wieder das ambientartige elektronisch Schwebende. (Your Fireworks Brighten My Sky). Zum Schluss der letzte Raum. Man betritt ihn nach einem sanften Übergang und wird dann durch diesen Klang überrascht. Etwas das so vertraut klingt und doch nicht einordbar ist. Ein bisschen wie knirschende Frösche an einem Sommerabend. Aber eben auch nicht wirklich. Es ist anders und mehr. Afrikanische Insekten sind es in Wirklichkeit. Ein unglaublicher Klang. In dem Raum wirkt alles schneller und lebendiger als vorher. Wie ein Aufbruch und ein Finale. Die Ruhe darin geht trotzdem nicht verloren. Klangspiele, die Frösche, gezupfte Saiten, Klingeln, die ewigen Wiederholungen. Nach vier Minuten reduziert sich langsam alles und zurück bleibt die Konzentration auf dieses Geräusch, bis sich die Nadel erneut hebt (No Moving Parts Contained). Die Stille rauscht immer noch. Aber sie ist sehr bewusst. Eine unruhig beruhigende Platte. Sie bewegt sich zwischen geerdet warm und elektronisch kühl, ist schön und beschleichend, rauschig störend, melodiös ohne Melodie, tonal und atonal. „Monotony is intensity” – die Intensität der Monotonie. Je genauer man hinhört, desto mehr wird es. Je weiter man sich entfernt, desto einheitlicher wirkt es. Und manchmal ist es auch umgekehrt. Immer wieder neue Geräusche, neue Klänge. Sie bilden Räume ohne feste Wände und letztlich immer auch Gefühl. Denn es gibt keinen Text, keine konkreten Melodien an denen man sich festhalten kann. Es gibt nur das, was die Musik mit einem macht. Es ist Musik für die Nacht, denn die Dunkelheit schluckt alles was ablenken könnte. Und so kann zwischen dem Störenden und Rauschenden in der Musik das gefunden werden, was sich durch alle Klangräume durchzieht. Etwas universell Lebendiges und gleichzeitig Verwurzeltes. Ein Klang für sich alleine. Teilbar, aber allein vielleicht doch am schönsten. Telekaster ist ein Projekt von Matthias Grübel. Als phon°noir hat er bereits zwei Platten veröffentlicht, arbeitet an verschiedenen Theaterprojekten mit und geht mit seinem neuen Soloprojekt Telekaster einen weiteren eigenwilligen Weg. Unterstützt wird er dabei von dem Videokünstler Stefan Bünnig, der auch bei Liveauftritten die Musik visuell untermalt. Das Album The Silent Anagram ist ausschließlich als Vinyl auf dem britischen Label Panic Arrest erschienen. Das naheliegendste und vielleicht auch schönste Anagramm von silent ist übrigens listen. So listen. Silently.

Indieophile ▼ The Silent Anagram features broken piano chords, swirling ambience and warm guitars. A hug made of music. Quiet, contemplative and somewhat impressionistic.”

Tokafi ▼ It is anything but easy to write something about Matthias Grübel’s Telekaster-project while his debut “The Silent Anagram” is running in the background. Not because it’s too loud, hectic, aggressive or disturbing. Quite on the contrary, its tender sounds, blissed-out moods and slow-motion shifts of textures and colours are so utterly dreamy and consoling that the warmth and peace it radiates will make you forget all about whatever it is you’re doing and make you want to immerse yourself in this world of melancholia and metaphors for the rest of the day – nay, week. For Grübel, releasing “The Silent Anagram” has not only been a two-year task but also an important change of direction after several years of publishing under the phon°noir.moniker. Almost in sync with his friend and colleague Rene Margraff aka Pillowdiver, he burned all bridges and started anew from scratch, discarding vocals and pop structures, turning towards floating structures and discovering the Guitar as his main sound source instead. Supported by a few fruitful collaborations, his quest has been more than successful: The new Telekaster style, somewhere between clicks & crackle and intricately layered electronic sweetness, has turned out instantly recognisable and offers plenty of potential for future explorations. Asked about when one can expect these future explorations, Grübel can only hope for a more speedy process this time. But even if things do take longer than expected, that only means there’s more time to drown in the soft waves of “The Silent Anagram”.

Mouvement ▼ Petit bijou de musique baladeuse, en prise directe avec l’imaginaire, The Silent Anagram, premier album de Telekaster, nouveau projet du Berlinois Matthias Grübel, est sorti en juillet (au format LP) chez Panic Arrest. Examen circonstancié de l’objet à l’occasion de deux concerts en France, le 13 octobre à Paris et le 14 octobre à Limoges. Telekaster est le nouveau projet du jeune musicien berlinois Matthias Grübel, qui s’est précédemment fait connaître sous le nom de Phon°Noir (deux albums portant cette signature, et déployant une folktronica délicatement ouvragée en une série de pop-songs portées par une voix tout aussi mélancolique, ont paru chez Quatermass, sous-division de Sub Rosa). Avec Telekaster, Matthias Grübel entend clairement se positionner en paysagiste sonore et explorer la part la plus atmosphérique (et donc instrumentale) de sa musique. Comme il est de règle avec ce que l’on nomme l’ambient, cette musique tend à se fondre dans un contexte d’écoute plus large, partant du principe que tout son constitue potentiellement de la musique et que notre environnement offre un réservoir inépuisable de sons. Si, par son appréhension très subtile de la matière sonore, Telekaster se rattache à l’ambient et à la musique concrète, il s’attache en parallèle à garder le contact avec la pop par le biais de graciles fils mélodiques. Nappes éthérées de synthés et entrelacs de guitares, cristallines ou bourdonnantes, forment le fonds sonore des huit morceaux, tous instrumentaux, que contient The Silent Anagram – la batterie étant, quant à elle, tout à fait absente. L’album, dont seule une écoute au casque peut restituer tous les reliefs et les détails, témoigne d’une extrême finesse de composition et d’un appréciable souci d’élégance. Cette élégance toute en nuances se perçoit également sur la splendide pochette du disque et se retrouve encore sur le site Internet de Telekaster, d’une conception très originale (et très minimale). S’inscrivant dans le sillage d’esthètes sonores tels que Labradford, Sylvain Chauveau ou Fennesz, Telekaster effectue avec The Silent Anagram une remarquable entrée en piste et donne terriblement envie d’écouter la suite.

Storia Della Musica ▼ Telekaster è Matthias Grübel che con chitarra ed elettronica disegna come un architetto paesaggi distesi e sognanti di una città utopica immersa nelle nuvole. L’anagramma silente del pensiero di Telekaster è spiegato dai suoni, sentimenti rccolti in un album di fotografie sonore delicato ed intimista, glitch music dove la chitarra dilatata dagli effetti spunta in mezzo all’elettronica. Si parte con A Shift In Shapes umbratile e segnata da un piano ostinato che si ripete tra i campioni mandati in loop e poi manipolati, il pezzo si muove tra piccoli cambiamenti che si dilatano e si sfilacciano dentro un silenzioso finale che sfuma nella successiva We Are All Balloons dove ci sono tante campanelle a segnare la strada, un pezzo poetico che richiama Lau Nau e certo avant folk finnico. Pyramids ci riporta in territori più mitteleuropei con piano e violino lenti e scuri, la scelta dei suoni che fanno da sfondo all’ipnotica ripetizione delle note di piano e poi di violino non riesce a coinvolgere ed è poco ispirata, il pezzo fatica a colpire. A World of Ordinary Things si muove in territori ambient dove corde dilatate dipingono nebbiosi paesaggi sonori. All That Is Solid Melts Into Noise è la traccia meno convincente del lotto, irrisolta nella direzione da prendere e nella scelta dei campioni, veramente fuori fuoco con l’atmosfera del brano, accordi di chitarra dilatati e lenti ed elettronica veloce e piena. Si ritorna all’ambient con Where Diving Bells Are Ringing loop di chitarra e tastiere a disegnare l’attesa di qualcosa che potrebbe essere introdotto dalle voci di sottofondo che arrivano nel finale, mentre in sottofondo turbina una spirale di rumore. L’andamento dei suoni è circolare ed ipnotico, fino ai mari di drones e delay da dove poi emergono delle voci. Your Fireworks Brighten My Sky inizia noise e poi si dilata sempre più verso uno shoegazing elettronico. Cluster di suoni che si incastrano e si fondono in un muro delicato. Si chiude con No Moving Parts Contained carillon scricchiolante di commiato che riassume la dolcezza di un album che potrebbe essere un difficile anagramma per un orecchio distratto. E’ un album dall’andamento discontinuo, a pezzi molto belli ed intensi si intermezzano alcuni pezzi fuori fuoco. Vale assolutamente la pena scoprilo e lasciarsi trasportare nelle vette raggiunte dai brani migliori e farsi una propria playlist dell’album. Sarebbe un sei e mezzo, ma si merita un sette sulla fiducia.

Cut Iowa Network ‘Projector Gunship Held {Ø}’

admin — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Availability: £13.95

Description: ‘Projector Gunship Held {Ø}’ is the first release in an expansive trilogy that combines earth shattering drums with guitars, bass and effects to produce a sprawling series of instrumental atmospheres. The album arcs through different interpretations of drone-rock from the heavily blissed out haze of ‘The Sun Was Gone But Our Faces Shone’ through the shimering loops and sonics of ‘Super Futures Axis Neo Tokyo’ to the destructive dirge of ‘Kill Command (Arc Light Operations)’ taking in kraut-rock, drone, electronica and avant-garde influences on the way to produce a jaw dropping cinematic explosion of sound. Simply awesome.

Tracks: 1. The Sun Was Gone But Our Faces Shone 2. The Signals From Your Radar Are Closing In On Me 3. Blacking Out Through Chinese Walls 4. Super Futures Axis Neo Tokyo 5. Kill Command (Arc Light Operations)

Duration: 66:10

Catalogue: PAN002

Format: Limited edition 2 x 180g 12″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 2 March 2009

Personnel: Tim Evans, Steve d’Enton, Adam Barringer

Norman Records album of the week ▼ Now for a treat…who loved that Minus Pilots LP? Well…the label Panic Arrest have their second experimental odyssey available through us. It’s by Cut Iowa Network and this double 180gm treat has been christened ‘Projector Gunship Held’. Beginning its climb with gracefully melancholic bowed strings and cheeky smatterings of free percussion, taking in some juddering electronic pulses and spellbinding atmospherics, this is a fine exercise in drama & intention. Then the drum kit kicks into action, slowly rolling syncopated beats and a lulling Tortoise style bassline, all imbued with this widescreen aura of space & time. The second track takes the hypnotic krautrock flavour further, a sharp, funky beat and strange one-note chimes & echo-ey whirrs, pulsing away, feeding your head, whilst the bass frequencies hover & lurk around like ominous waves of subconscious sound. Truly brilliant stuff. Track 3 is like a continuation of the theme into slightly harder, wilder pastures, a little bit more improvised & slightly psychedelic. The second disc opens with ‘Super Futures Axis Neo Tokyo’, Beginning with drifting atmospherics & looped sound, it builds into another tight, percussive workout, definetely in debt to old masters Can but sounding incredibly taut & minty fresh. There is something very warm yet clinically executed about this record, glowing with an organic feel yet very precise and metronomic. As is usual with my reviews, i’ll leave the final track to your perusal! I’ve been bored silly with post rock of late but this opus combines the best of mid-late 90′s Chicago instrumental rock with exciting & modern drone/experimental textures whilst flexing its Herculean Krautrock backbone. All finely mastered by Harris Newman, a member of that Godspeed clan! Bloody marvellous, in deluxe packaging. This is without a doubt shaping up to be a very special label!

Tokafi ▼ What is it about Krautrock? What invisible force makes musicians pick up their instruments to try and follow in the footsteps of bands which were obviously deeply rooted in era-specific philosphies and sometimes hardly knew what they were doing? One thing’s for sure: Even though love, peace and politics are no longer part of the program, artistic parallels between the golden yesteryears of the German music scene and recent developments in the most diverse corners of the experimental community are certainly becoming more and more obvious with each day. From Drone and Doom to Stoner Rock and improvised Soundscapes, the combined shadows of bands like Can, early Tangerine Dream, Ashra, Faust and Neu! are looming large. While a backwards-oriented copycat mentality appears to be the norm amidst the stagflating pool of retro-worshippers, a select group of artists have used the inspiration from long ago to come up with highly personal statements. One of them are Cut Iowa Network. Starting with the title of their current full-length “Projector Gunship Held 1″, the freewheeling pace of their release schedule (these more than sixty minutes of music arrive a mere two months after their “Junkyard Transmissions” debut) and the format it has been released on (Double Vinyl) to its inclusion into an ambitious tryptich, everything about this album points in the direction of the 70s. There’s a maximum of two epic tracks per side, with most pieces consisting of hazy grooves slowly peeling themselves off woozy trance-textures and then drifting gracefully along the horizon, ultimately dissolving into the distant darkness with a silent implosion. An unobtrusive minimalism dominates the development of the music, with intermittantly appearing tones or inverse melodic fields, undulating melancholically before finally fading out, acting as druggy Leitmotifs. One of the appealing aspects about Cut Iowa Network is how openly they’re allowing their audience to perceive and appreciate the individual contributions by their respective members: Tim Evans is responsible for the dense atmospherics of the group, using repetitive Rhodes melodies, psychedelic Guitar lines, surreal tape loops and displaced sound effects to build up a tight web of outwardly unconnected but, as closer inspection and full immersion reveal, seminally interrelated elements, while Adam Barringer’s Bass provides an organic rhythmical metronome as well as a warm, peaceful and almost textural low-end vibration. It is Drummer Steve d’Enton, however, who consitutes the gravitational heart of the band. It is as if his partners were playing both with and against him: d’Enton’s ultra-reduced, postrocking Jazz-propulsion constitutes a concrete lens through which his trio-partners’ cosmic allusions are spectrally broken into humanly visible colours. Space, it emerges, is not a barren vacuume for Cut Iowa Network, but a starry-eyed wonderland: Had Douglas Adams lived longer, he would surely have included this band in the next volume of his “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”.

Musique Machine 4/5 ▼ On two 180 grams slabs of vinyl, in a limited edition of 250, comes the first part of a trilogy. The bandname doesn’t give away much about the sound of this British threepiece. With the album’s title your thoughts tend to go in the direction of something sci-fi. Not entirely off the mark, as the rhythm-oriented kraut-rock does have ties with the outer space obsessions of long ago, especially in the seventies and perhaps the Star Wars ideas from Reaganite times. That said, it’s not necessarily all that fixed. Although tapping from the more repetitive aspects of Kraut-rock the sound can’t be described as being ‘retro’. Most pieces build on a single rhythm, with only very minor other events to dress it up. Even though this may seem a bit uninteresting in text or even on first listen, after a couple of spins pieces grow on you. The subtle drones and loops that are often underneath the steady drums set an interesting mood in which you it’s easy drift away in as a listener. Within the pieces there’s little activity, sometimes shifting or building up so slow you’d hardly notice. Between the several sides (except for side two all sides hold one piece of music) there’s quite a bit of variation. The Sun Was Gone But Our Faces Shone is slow and moody, while the flipside with The Signals Of Your Radar Are Closing In On Me has a beat that reminds of Clyde Stubblefield’s infamous Funky Drummer made famous by James Brown. Blacking Out Your Chinese Walls has a shifting layer of a backwards guitar, looping against the 3/4 rhythm. These polyrhythmic shifts are also found in the driving Super Futures Axis Neo Tokyo. The final side/track is Kill Commmand (Arc Light Operations) which is also the most aggressive track, both in playing as well as the distorted sounds. Generally you could compare it to Circle, but with less testosterone, aiming for a more cinematic sound. This being the start of a trilogy, ‘Projector Gunship Held {Ø}’ makes you curious to hear where this is going to lead to, but for now there’s an interesting start.

Textura ▼ Panic Arrest follows its superb Minus Pilots release, ‘Superior Proof Of Cinema’, with a solid double-album set by Cut Iowa Network, a forward-thinking trio comprised of Tim Evans (guitars, effects, loops and tapes), Adam Barringer (basses, low-end frequencies and loops), and Steve d’Enton (drums and percussion). Recorded in late 2008 and the first chapter in a planned trilogy, ‘Projector Gunship Held {Ø}’ spreads sixty-six minutes of freewheeling “instrumental drone-rock” across four 180g-vinyl sides. Cut Iowa Network plays in a live and loose jam-like style that’s anything but off-putting, though the trio does have a tendency to fixate on a particular riff a little too long (see side two). Side one’s “The Sun Was Gone But Our Faces Shone” initiates the journey sleepily with opening minutes dedicated to hazy guitar textures and cymbal shimmer. The mood is languorous as razor-sharp guitar lines drift across subtle percussive punctuations. At the seven-minute mark, the full drum kit kicks in, rousing the music from slumber and setting it on its way. With Barringer’s bass joining in soon after, the music slowly gathers steam, becoming a dusty trudge before fading. The tempo picks up on side two with “The Signals From Your Radar Are Closing In On Me” leaping from the gate with a stabbing guitar motif repeating over a punchy drum pulse, and “Blacking Out Through Chinese Walls” perpetuating that steady increase in intensity. Repeating figures in “Super Futures Axis Neo Tokyo” boost the third side’s psychedelic character, as does the krautrock-like attack stoked by the band. Midway through, a brief breakdown paves the way for some dive-bombing guitar lines (a subtle nod to No Pussyfooting perhaps?) before the band starts up again, even more aggressively this time, before decompressing in haze at track’s end. The band’s experimental side moves to the forefront during side four’s culminating “Kill Command (Arc Light Operations)” where strangulated swells roar and churn noisily overtop throbbing and occasionally eruptive rhythms (d’Enton’s spirited playing the focal point in this case). Though the vinyl format obviously splits it into four sides, ‘Projector Gunship Held {Ø}’ needs to be heard in its entirety for the music’s progression and incremental build to be appreciated.

Bearded ▼ This three-piece produce ambient electronica as strangely intriguing as their name, mixing Boards of Canada, Krautrock, prog and drone. The tracks are long, each in excess of ten minutes, and feature expanses of sounds built up from languid loops, chittering electronic landscapes and simple guitar and drum patterns. Not much happens but it often happens rather beautifully – like walking across a Scottish moor haunted by Krautrock spectres. The danger, of course, is if basic ideas aren’t interesting enough you get mediocre noodling, and CIN do fall into that trap with the irritating guitar twangs of ‘The Signals From Your Radar Are Closing In On Me’. Thankfully, the percussive contributions are top-notch on the three great tracks that highlight this record. ‘Super Futures Axis Neo Tokyo’ is a masterful 15 minutes bookended by the distant chirps and calls of a remote moor, ‘The sun Was gone But Our Faces Shone’ deploys a mix of soulful accordion-like drones offset by nervy little chirrups that ebb and flow like the tides, and ‘Blacking Out Through Chinese Walls’ is beautiful mid-tempo electronica with beautiful drums skitters.

The Silent Ballet 8.5/10 ▼ Leaving this world might be easy for some, and too difficult for others. Physically, for most it would require the dreams of a sci-fi writer come true (if you’re an astronaut, please take me!). Mentally, though, it’s just a matter of consuming the right amount of the right substance at the right time. “But what about music, what about books, or videogames?” you say. Well, you just need to look up or open your eyes to realize you’re still here with the rest of us, breathing the fractal routine of everyday existence. Escaping from it is certainly a common practice which we possibly will never master, but a special kind of relief comes from those moments when, out of control, we leave this world. You’re in an indeterminate time in the future. A megalopolis surrounds you, its angular, titanic shapes constantly reminding you of gothic architecture; where people of old knelt in awe to worship a god beyond any understanding, people of now walk by and smile, knowing that it is they who are worthy of worship after building the world out of matter insignificant. A weirdly organic-looking rocket stands before you, and a steel person bids you enter. As you sit down inside, you notice the countless buttons, the thousands of parts and their process of assembly, other passengers who speak words you know – everything reveals itself as mechanical, a system constructed upon repetition, particular drones reflecting the nature of the universe in which events are but sparks flying in the infinite void of time. The rocket takes off, and soon enough you feel your machine rip apart the atmosphere, hammer the skies like a siege ram; you look out the window and find yourself “Blacking Out Through Chinese Walls” – the one wall you can look at from the earth while in the heavens, has been broken. Your thoughts come up in the same, constant electronic hums as the rocket fills your ears with the deceivingly free-style drumming of its engines in a seemingly endless jam that mimics the rigorous, expansive insistence of the outer-space landscape. The stars fill you with relative peace, but you know this time and place is one of suffering and destruction, much like any other – except that now, there’s a mathematical precision to the flow of the apocalypse. The “Kill Command (Arc Light Operations)” bursts through the rocket’s vintage speakers. A looping morse-code message makes its intermittent, analog content clear until noisy static takes over and repeats itself in contrast to the drumming, creating an uneasy polyrhythm over the ambient-like hum of space itself, an open bassline: the command has been issued. The rocket slightly changes course and as you look out and see the gray cover of Earth you first breached through, you notice the millions of tiny explosions, the beautiful mini-novas calmly erasing everything and everyone you ever knew. After ten minutes of unyielding annihilation, all that remains is the electronic manipulation of a dead radio transmission as it slowly turns into an echo adrift and at peace in the vast realm of darkness. You wake up, and find yourself in another megalopolis. The rocket has landed and is now empty – you walk out and see the “Super Futures Axis Neo Tokyo”: you can still hear the hum of space within you, now added to the spectral electronic voice of a fascist city born from order, from the coincidence of enhanced temporal projections droning on and on. A tribal quality drives this psychedelic explosion of metallic colors and a sky painted in ochre tones: monotony turned into a ritual, mindless machines live and die in the name of the city; this moaning, roaring manifestation of the pinnacle of progress consumes its inhabitants as they throw their arms up, roll their eyes back, and offer their lives in worship. Their souls, just like the radio transmission, slowly creep down into the sewage, the heart of all cities, and turn into electronic blips that echo away into an abyss that rivals even the one beyond the skies. As you walk through the colossal structures, you hear a signal that is similar to a frog’s croak – an electronically simulated noise that recalls times so ancient there were still other living things around. Someone is looking for you. “The Signals From Your Radar Are Closing In On Me”, you think. This threat from a mysterious hunter beats incisively like a hip-hop piece in which urban desolation is an object of kitsch and de-centered parody: the loose, spacey bass drawing the support of the piece turns the feeling into ambience, revealing this terrible parade as something which is always there, and which is deep enough as to ‘reward’ every level of attention put to it. As you run and jump and teleport out of the radar’s range, the final explosion occurs – fire and speed turn the world into a swirling mass of force and steel; within seconds turned into decades turned into centuries, “The Sun Was Gone But Our Faces Shone”. Only burnt ruins remain; an alien, desert electronic sound fills the air with slowness a la Earth. Passing through the tranquil wasteland, it brings to our (now ghostly) attention the spurts of vegetation delicately crushing the aluminum decay in gentle drumbeats: an organic, naturalistic feminine revenge upon the skyward, masculine altars of technology, a return to the horizontal, a return to the world before it was recreated by our presence. Our trip out of this world ends with the progressive disappearance of sounds, and the relief of escape will probably soon turn into something that will put you on your nerves. Why? Because just like most science fiction, to weave a vision of the future is in the end a reflection upon life in the here and now. Make out of it what you will, but this musical escape is not fruitless, and even though at times it can seem too long for its own good, too uneventful for its own development (krautrock electronics and ambience make for a bit of a difficult pair), it will be rewarding if you keep your imagination constantly in tune and at work – an escape that asks of you to not escape, in a sense. In any case, get in that rocket and have a good journey through this first part of a trilogy about the future, transmitted directly from the Cut Iowa Network. Travel safely!

Minus Pilots ‘Superior Proof Of Cinema’

admin — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:34:28 +0000

Availability: £10.95

Description: ‘Superior Proof Of Cinema’ blends masses of delayed/looped electric bass, degraded electronics, and ageing cassette tape recorders into a sensitive yet menacing whole. The album has a full span of emotion, perfectly paced with subtle and deep textures offering an engaging journey across the borders into minimalist, drone and fragmented static.

Tracks: 1. Twin Screens Fail 2. Cluster & Arc 3. These Frontiers Can Kill 4. Dusk Carries Control 5. This Distance Was Never Close 6. V Sun Might

Duration: 45:15

Catalogue: PAN001

Format: Limited edition 180g 12″

Edition: Limited to one copy per person/household

Released: 24 November 2008

Norman Records album of the week ▼ I think the record that’s taken me most this week is the outstanding LP by Minus Pilots on the Panic Arrest label. This is a new UK label which seems to have some good stuff on the horizon. They just release albums on 180 gram vinyl so I’m taken from the off. The sleeve did it for me ‘n all what with it’s weird little forest monsters which aren’t a million miles away from the art in Princess Mononoke (top film!). The music itself it just bass guitar, tape recorders and some electronics. I’m totally moved by this record It’s absolutely gorgeous!! Think some of the lighter moments of Rothko crossed with William Basinski and the earlier more weird Loren Mazzacane Connors. There’s loads of vinyl crackles all over the record which give it that warmth. It’s just a whole album chocka full of warm meandering atmospherics. Just listening to it then I got stuck in some sort of weird trance and forgot what I was doing. Man, this record takes you somewhere else and spits you out as an exhausted mess in a different dimension. Stick with it though as it’s not a particular obvious on first listen but I’ve been obsessively playing this all week and can’t leave it alone. ‘Superior Proof Of Cinema’ is LP only and is completely fucking sexy!

Smallfish ▼ I’m really chuffed to have grabbed some copies of this debut release from Panic Arrest. I like the label for 2 reasons. One, it’s a good label, naturally. And two, it’s a vinyl only label and that shows a good degree of faith in the generally uncaring world of music. ‘Superior Proof Of Cinema’ is a delicious piece of work that showcases the sound of organic electronic music in fine, fine style. Simply using guitars and effects Minus Pilots have conjured up a low-key, magical sounding set of works that will gently woo you with their melodic, melancholy feel. There’s a power here, although not in the traditional in-your-face kind of way. It’s more the subtlety that does it to you and you’ll find yourself turning the record over again and again and each listen will bring you another micro-facet of this very emotive, very beautiful album. You may well have guessed that I’m somewhat enamoured with it. I am. And I’m sure you will be too. Wonderful.

Textura ▼ Minus Pilots inaugurates the England-based imprint Panic Arrest with a strong, forty-five-minute album of evocative electro-acoustic sound sculpting. The group (personnel details aren’t provided) constructs ‘Superior Proof Of Cinema’s trance-inducing moodscapes using electric basses, looping devices, decrepit cassette tape recorders, and various analogue, vintage, digital, and custom effects pedals. Though there are pauses between the six identified tracks, each side of the 180 gram vinyl slab feels like a singular piece of meditative, bass guitar-based drift. Minus Pilots’ restrained and sensitive style draws the listener into its web, leaving one to contentedly surrender to the music’s steady and ponderous flow. Though the static-laden and bass guitar-heavy material strays little from its preferred mood of reverie, ‘Superior Proof Of Cinema’ avoids sounding one-dimensional but instead satisfyingly uniform. Mention also must be made of the fabulous gatefold and the cover artwork created by Seattle artist Parskid. Incidentally, Panic Arrest’s resident mastering engineer is Harris Newman whose credits include releases by Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Do Make Say Think, Silver Mt. Zion, Fly Pan Am, and other Constellation-associated acts. In keeping with its affection for the tactile pleasures that come from experiencing music using the turntable-based medium, Panic Arrest was established to release limited vinyl editions of alternative, experimental, minimalist, and drone recordings. Long may it run.

Musique Machine 4/5 ▼ When I put the needle into the groove I wondered what happened the lp. There was an amount of static that made you wonder if this album was second hand instead of being a brandnew limited edition release of the equally brandnew Panic Arrest imprint. On first listen I must say it came off as rather random guitar noodlings through an echopedal, to put it a bit crude. On repeated listenings I’m happy to admit this was much too crude and I changed my mind. Not that these aren’t (bass) guitarnoodlings echoing on forever to weave a mellow texture, but it’s far from boring if you allow yourself to be sucked into the soundworld of the anonymous Brits operating under the name Minus Pilots. It’s moody, mellow and ultimatly very pleasing on the ear. Strings are melancholically plucked to get lost in a labyrinth of corroded electronics and ageing cassette tape recorders. The static I mentioned in the intro crackles you into a nice nostalgic haze while the echoes ponder into space. Panic Arrest releases 180 grams vinyl in small, limited pressings exclusively, so don’t wait too long. Minus Pilots are the first to deliver an artifact that’s just fun to get. Fuck downloading! I’m not a vinyl buff, but this just is so much more fun to spend money on than on a bunch of impersonal bits and bytes called mp3′s. There’s the pretty artwork by Parskid, but also the manufacturing of this gatefold is just gorgeous. People into the music of Caretaker and William Basinski are advised to check this out, as they might like what’s on offer in the crackly grooves of ‘Superior Proof Of Cinema’.

Tokafi ▼ Just when you’d resigned yourself to the sad but seemingly inescapable fact that even contemporary experimental music needs to make a momentuous first impression or risk being berried on the impenetrable fields of musical history’s vast and ever-growing graveyard, an album like ‘Superior Proof Of Cinema’ comes along and offers an enticing alternative. Essentially using nothing but effect-laden electric Bass and old tape recorders for instrumentation, it is hard to imagine a record trying harder to fall below the perceptional radar of most listeners than this one. And yet, after the needle has returned to its starting position, you’re glowing from the inside, feeling warm, cozy and sensuous and ready to flip the disc and give it a second spin. It would, on the other hand, be wrong to conclude that Minus Pilots’ first official full-length were one of these typical albums which initially leave you cold only to then sneak up on you when you least epect it and gradually grow on you over time. Instead, American visual artist Parskid’s artwork, which makes full use of the cover’s heavy cardboard Gatefold dimensions, instantly grabs you the very moment you unwrap it from its protective plastic foil: An air of mystery and romance pervades a dark, nocturnal forrest inhabited by red-caped mouthless homunculi, referencing the band’s goal of creating music “designed for listening through headphones while gazing at the stars”. The 180g Vinyl, meanwhile, seems to represent more than just a high-quality format to protect the integrity of the fragile sounds carved upon it. Rather, while playing, it increasingly takes on the appearance of a rotating disc-world, the turntable’s needle inquisitively scanning its surface for beauty. If ‘Superior Proof Of Cinema’ indeed fails to immediately stun its audience, then it is mainly because of its radical minimalism. All six pieces display an obsesive fascination for feeding organically resonating, comforting Bass sounds through a delay unit. In terms of composition, there are no secrets to unravel: Pieces either represent improvisations over a continuous loop, rhythmical variations of barely two or three note short melodic motives, melodic variations of a gently shifting rhythmical pattern or freely floating soundscapes feeling their way forward from tone to tone. Each theme invariably creates a silent slipstream of echoes and as tracks progress, these reverberations start interacting with each other and forming scintillating harmonic fields. Attention can therefore always either be focussed on the original source material, on the undulating sheets of sound following in their wake or on both at the same time, allowing for various, highly divergent experiences of one and the same piece. One could of course claim that this technique is simplistic and, stretched over the course of three quarters of an hour, formulaic. Admittedly, anyone working in the field of Ambient and Sound Art will have played around and messed about with delay at one point or the other, as this particular effect allows for rich and rewarding textures with a minum of technological expertise, overlapping frequencies reinforcing or subdueing each other to create breathing atmospheres almost without external input. Still, the challenge of creating enticing and non-cliched music remains as hard as ever. As Minus Pilots prove on this occasion, it is not just about playing the right notes, but about which to leave out as well. Ythere’s a sense of whispered excitement preceeding each semblance and a sense of great expectation and curiosity on how it will influence the overall sonic image, resulting in pacified pieces filled with a natural sense of tension and release. To take the right decisions in such a stripped-down environment, you have to start thinking in echoes. Your mind needs to become an ocean, sending waves of aural images towards your hands to set the strings of your instrument in motion and listeners into a world of pure fluctuation. As you first accept and then adapt to the fact that everything softly repeats itself before dying down completely, the music wins you over because of its unfaltering reliance on a spartanic pool of methods. It is this extreme nakedness, this absolute will to never deviate from a single mood, which makes “‘Superior Proof Of Cinema’” such an insistent experience. This, too, is another remarkable fact about the album: Just when you’d resigned yourself to the sad but seemingly inescapable fact that even contemporary experimental music needs to draw from as many influences as possible to prove how eclectic and open-minded its creators really are, the alluring monochromatic depth of this record offers an enticing alternative.

Collective ▼ Minus Pilot’s first full length, ‘Superior Proof Of Cinema’, consists of blissful ambient soundscapes littered with guitar sounds that clang effortlessly in the fore. The record’s crackly production complements the ethereal world that the artwork so wonderfully depicts. The album’s opener, ‘Twin Screens Fail’, throbs until the guitars become submerged in a blanket of warm, hypnotic drones. The record ends in a similar fashion, with the guitars wavering gently until they become wholly enmeshed in the ambient fuzz. Although not quite as poignant as William Basinski or as entrancing as Tim Hecker, Minus Pilots have proved their ability to captivate. Definitely one to watch.

Temporary Fault ▼ Quietly spellbinding cascades of superimposed arpeggios whose harmonic auras tend to a natural stratification accompany us with lulling delicateness, diffusing their old-fashioned perfume across the room (and making my wife fall asleep in the meantime). The melancholic remembrances typical of a unenthusiastic Sunday afternoon come out little by little, the caressing simplicity of the music perfect for a few minutes of intense reflection about what the upcoming week is going to bring. It’s all here, the tracks succeeding similarly one after another, the infinite repeats immersed in a blur of low fidelity. And we love it as it is. Great stuff.