:)

second hard drive crash in the way for this year, see you soon...

CEZAR - 4 x (#) (Isolationism Records, 2010)

01 - #0244 (#)
02 - #0245 (##)
03 - #0246 (###)
04 - #0247 (####)

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CEZAR - 3 x (*) (Isolationism Records, 2010)

01 - #0241 (.)
02 - #0242 (..)
03 - #0243 (...)

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Guanxi - Graveyard Shift (Resting Bell, 2010)

1 Violin
2 Sea Cucumber
3 Coral Lanterns
4 Sword Lily
5 Lavender Hugs

The Guanxi pseudonym is orchestraed towards ‘a sui generi sound’ through research, investigation and with a hunger to explore a constructed visual and non-subjective disposition.

“Graveyard Shift” contains 5 pieces of complex and playful sounds from guitar, piano, bells, strings, flute, vocals, field recordings and electronics. Some of the pieces have a noisy and harsh character of a musical sketches, others operate with droning elements and a more calm ambience. And some combine both things. If you want to find a category for this, forget it.

For me the most precise analogy would be the sound world of a modern metropolis. You can hear layer over layer of multiple elements which are structured and arranged into a current impression. But it is constantly changing and moving. With every listen you get a different layer of “Graveyard Shift”. One time it seems to be a loud and unorganised cluster of tones, the next time you hear a reduced and humming melody, hidden under other elements before.
Be curious and adventurous, you will be surprised.
Resting Bell

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Conductive Alliance - Water Glyphs (self release, 2010)

Water Glyphs" is the sophomore EP from Chicago's Conductive Alliance. The albums intricate sound collages and experimental pop arrangements expand on the minimalist improvised approach heard within the band's earlier incarnation. Their broadened musical palette incorporates spiraling tape loops, fizzing electronics, ethnic percussion, cello and musical saw.

Tracking was split between Steve Albini's Electrical Audio Studios and Shape Shoppe. The EP was engineered and mixed by Griffin Rodriguez, who has worked previously with Icy Demons, Beirut, Man Man, and Akron/ Family. Recording to tape, the band captured the cavernous drum sound and instrumental warmth of Electrical Audio and Shape Shoppe.

Conductive Alliance will be touring extensively this summer and fall to promote the new release.
Conductive Alliance

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Alozeau - Unreconstructed (Chiennoir Netlabel, 2010)

01 - DERROTA - Mientras quede uno vivo (Unnoised Mix)
02 - NEGRO - Craeyero 3 (In Strings Mix)
03 - TRAUMMASCHINE - Música para su deleite (Smoking Mix)
04 - ZENER - Talbot Horizon (And Beyond Mix)
05 - PEQUEÑA FIERA - Whistle (Shoegazing Mix)
06 - PONY RANCH - Liar (Lost Chords Mix)
07 - MÚSICA ROTA - Fragmento (Unbroken Mix)
08 - SHAKE - Rain (Step in Puddles Mix)
09 - UKE - Mesa de tenis (Fidelio Mix)

"Unreconstructed" es una recopilación de remezclas realizadas por Alozeau a temas de Derrota, Negro, Traummaschine, Zener, Pequeña fiera, Pony Ranch, Música rota, Shake y UKE.

"Unreconstructed" is a compilation of remixes made by Alozeau using tracks from Derrota, Negro, Traummaschine, Zener, Pequeña fiera, Pony Ranch, Música rota, Shake y UKE.

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Kiyoharu Kuwayama / Urabe Masayoshi - From The Abolition Port (Intransitive Recordings, 2010)

A gripping, devastatingly patient, and emotionally raw improvisation for cello, saxophone, and metal chains recorded live at Kuwayama Kiyoharu‘s cavernous warehouse space in Nagoya, Japan in March 2002. Rather than an event-driven, linear performance, From the Abolition Port is a single structure, with the ghostly presence of the space acting as either a third performer, or perhaps as the composer. The music is violent in its sparseness; sharp instrumental outbursts push with great effort against a backdrop of blackness as dense and heavy as the sun. From the Abolition Port suggests a private ritual, or a seance… or perhaps absurd theater, with unseen players circumnavigating a pitch-dark industrial space, sending out desperate distress signals and futilely listening for a response.

Alto sax player Masayoshi Urabe is known for his solo performances, but has worked alongside fellow psych/noise travellers Kosoukuya, Junko, Hiroshi Hasegawa (Astro, CCCC), Kan Mikami, and Chie Mukai. Kiyoharu Kuwayama played cello in the duo Kuwayama-Kijima, but his primary project is the Catastrophe Point series, which he records under the name Lethe.

(note: this album was recorded on October 2, 2003, not October 3, 2002 as is printed in the insert)
Intransitive Recordings

you can also read an interview from Kiyoharu Kuwayama with Seth Nehil in Umbrella Action

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Roel Meelkop - 9 (Holes In The Head) (Trente Oiseaux, 1996)

1 From How On
2 Espace Formé
3 Beweget, Bewogen USW.
4 Voor Judi
5 (Pittoresk)
6 Vergeten
7 Loch Im Kopf
8 Espace Fermé
9 Left What Where

Roel Meelkop's collection of electronic pieces follows very much in the Trente Oiseaux label tradition: very quiet pieces that avoid most kinds of traditional development, contenting themselves to present a few choice, sparse sounds. Most of the pieces here follow the same pattern of a quiet, drone-like background over which a series of sharply drawn events are scattered. The backgrounds vary significantly from piece to piece, and in appropriate listening environments, such as on headphones, present a tremendous amount of detail. On "(Pittoresk)," for example, the background is a barely controlled machine-like pulse, and on "Left What Where" it sounds like wind blowing slowly across a microphone. On a few pieces, such as "Bewegt, Bewogen Usw" and "Vergeten," the background becomes the piece, becoming accumulated in layers and slabs of sound. In a sparse environment like Meelkop's, the events become a focus of great attention. "(Pittoresk)" starts with small, electronic twinges that continue to reverberate until they combine with the pulsing background and explore into a single burst of feedback, the loudest point on the disc. Feedback also plays a significant role in "Espace Fermé," one of the most complex pieces here, where Meelkop produces a breathtaking sequence of low hums, rattles, and pops, making the listener think that the speakers have blown. A few pieces, such as "Voor Judi" and "Loch Im Kopf," have events that sound instrumental in origin, such as percussion or cello. Meelkop has been active in the European avant-garde scene since the mid-'80s, alone and in the groups Goem and THU20. This is his first solo release, although his Intransitive release, 6 (Mailcop Rules), presents a retrospective of earlier work.
Caleb Deupree, All Music Guide

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MaCu with God Pussy - About Sun Light (Isolationism Records, 2010)

01 About Sun Light Pt.1
02 About Sun Light Pt.2

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"Pellicula" by Philippe Petit & Friends

Lexithimie - I Wish Someone Was Waiting For Me Somewhere (Rural Colours, 2010)

1 Bumblebee at Sakhaline
2 Milkclock of childhood
3 On their shoulders held the sky

Lexithimie is Alexis Béchu, originally from France and now based in London. Alexis uses Laptop and digital tape recorder to process his music and is well known for his releases on Resting Bell, Rope Swing Cities, Hibernate, SRA and October Man. I wish someone was waiting for me somewhere is 3 delightful tracks of pure audio bliss, minimal tone variations and brief pulses.
Rural Colours

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Guilty Ghosts - Enigma Variations (self release, 2010)

1 Mists & Tides 03:14
2 Renée 03:44
3 Kodachrome (Demo) 02:53
4 The Canal 04:11
5 Top Prize Fighter 05:50

Guilty Ghosts is the solo project of Tristan O'Donnell who lives and records in his hometown of Brooklyn, NY.
His music fuses somber washes of drone guitar with minimalist drum programming, creating a unique style of lo-fi instrumental bedroom pop.
Guilty Ghosts' songs are the kind fit for rainy days, everlasting evenings, and melancholy moments in solitude.

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petit rappel / little reminder: a new Lethe on Invisible Birds

Je profite de la sortie du nouveau Vital Weekly pour rappeler à tout le monde que le nouveau double CD de Lethe est toujours disponible sur Invisible Birds, voici ce qu'en dit Frans De Waard / I take out the new Vital Weekly issue to remind everyone that the new double CD by Lethe is still available on Invisible Birds, here is what Frans De Waard says

Kuwayama Kiyoharu is the man behind Lethe. Under his own name he works within the field of improvised music, playing cello and electronics, in a duo called Kuwayama-Kijima and as Lethe he creates music that deals with large spaces with lots of natural reverberation, such as abandoned warehouses, shinto temples, mausoleums and factories. These works are called 'Catastrophe Point' and on this double CD we find two of them. One (from 2004) was recorded at Arsenic in Lausanne, Switzerland and the other at an ex-power station in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2006. Inside such spaces, Kuwayama goes about to record the empty space, picking up large reverberations with the tiniest of sound information. Found metal is being scraped, hit and dragged across the floor. Now that may seem like a 'heavy' thing, but if you listen to these pieces, there is a great sense of 'emptiness' in these recordings. It stays far away, like being removed far away from the microphone(s). I suspect he picks up his
'action' with various microphones and then mixes these together when it comes to releasing such works. Its hard to say (and no doubt not really necessary) what this is, this music of Lethe. Ambient? Perhaps, but not as we commonly know it. Experimental? Surely. Action music, performance art? No doubt that's true as well. You could wonder why two discs. There are some interesting differences between both works. The Scotland work is very sparse: an empty space, a few sounds (in all three tracks). The Switzerland piece has some sort of drone/alarm/buzz going on, with lots of more activity. Towards the end of the first part, the space around is removed and we have a very clear picture of all sorts of acoustic activity going on. In the second part a 'clear' piano pops up. Maybe we have to keep the time frame in mind: in 2004 Lethe was perhaps more focussed on 'music' in a big space, whereas in 2006 he was more interested in the space itself. I am not entirely sure. Of the two 'Catastrophe
#7' would count as the more musical one, whereas 'Catastrophe #8' would count as a piece of sound art. For either drone lovers, improvised music fans and art goers, there is something for everyone in this quite unique sound world of Lethe.
Vital Weekly

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Apocalyptic Frequency Experience - Destiny Forsaken (self release, 2010)

01 Destiny Forsaken
02 La Senda Del Coahuilteca Sobre Cactus Electrico
03 Un Paso En El Vacio
04 Destiny Forsaken part 2
05 Accumulated Hatred
06 The Last Days Of The Suicide Kid
07 MANTRA

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Small Cruel Party - Three Simple Eyes Of The Insect Ancestor (Apraxia, 1992)

A Crowd Of Small Things 19:28
B Tank Ecstasy Between Floors 23:36

seeems to be sold out

link deleted as Kaon is planning to reissue it

Re-up

Small Cruel Party - Before The Dream (Drone Records, 1995: here

Wehwalt - Approche De L'Ineffable (Isolatonism Records, 2010)

01 D'un pas haletant
02 Camouflage liquide
03 Détermination nerveuse
04 Un éjaculat strident
05 Voix ciconcentrique
06 L'oculaire absent
07 L'ineffable révélé

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and for one more from Wehwalt go on the excellent Nostalgie de la Boue

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Stephen Vitiello - 17:48 At Texas Gallery (Texas Gallery, 2001)

1 Gallery Mix 8:08
2 Light Reading(s) 10:06

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Model Citizen - The Duke Of Lancaster (Audio Gourmet, 2010)

1 I 07:51
2 II 05:24

Model Citizen is the ambient/minimalist solo project of Adam Williams, based in Gwespyr, North Wales.

Adam records everything himself at home, using a variety of instruments such as guitar, keys, circuit bent toys, field recordings and a computer.

Here for this fifteen minute EP entitled 'The Duke Of Lancaster', Adam sculpts his sound-sources into two beautiful and eerie drone soundscapes designed to pay homage to this former passenger ship.

The Duke Of Lancaster began service in 1956. In its heyday, the Duke was a busy passenger steam-ship and traveled between Britain, Belgium, the Scottish Islands, and as far as Denmark, Norway and Spain.

After a spell as a car ferry, the Duke was moored in Llanerch-Y-Mor, North Wales and was briefly employed as a fun ship. Once this ended, the Duke of Lancaster was left alone and is now slowly rusting, unused in a dry dock.
Audio Gourmet

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Claudio Curciotti - Nepalese: Sounds From Nepal (Impulsive Habitat, 2010)

01 Night watchman
02 Prayer flags
03 Tibetan hit (03:21)
04 Losar sound (02:47)
05 5 A.M. pray number 2 (01:54)
06 On the road 2 (01:08)
07 Street parade (02:00)
08 Monks privée (01:49)
09 Clock quartetto (01:07)
10 Bucolico instant noodles (01:28)
11 Tamang's Losar (08:36)
12 Strike sight seen (01:23)
13 Field Nepal (01:06)
14 Tamang's Losar Band (02:57)
15 Wedding scratch (01:19)
16 5 A.M. pray number 3 (01:18)
17 5 A.M. pray number 1 (02:40)
18 Ping pong and bells (00:50)
19 Unknown (01:11)
20 Main Stage (01:27)
21 Horn Bay (00:41)
22 The valley 2 (04:04)
23 Dori! (01:03)

"Field abuse" is a project from Italian sound artist Claudio Curciotti and photographer Eleonora Trani where they document visually and sonically the loudness of the contemporary world in relation with religion, ethnic music and traditional cultures. 'Nepalese: Sounds from Nepal' is a selection from the many many recordings Claudio captured during his trip to Nepal that greatly display the beautiful sonorities of this young country with an ancient cultural legacy and spiritual and religious tradition.

The recordings are complemented with a series of photographs by Claudio and Eleonora that provide visual cues to the beautiful sounds captured here.

Phonographic works like 'Nepalese: Sounds from Nepal' are always an amazing experience that literally recreates a journey through many places with different sonorities as it establishes a relation in real time between the listener and a passed moment in time that will never repeat itself.

This is the first publication of this kind by IH, where sound acquires a meaning beyond a mere imaginary, as it serves a window between our lives and the lives of other people and the sounds that define their everyday life.
Impulsive Habitat

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Exit In Grey - Twilight Waters (Abgurd, 2007)

1 Currents 8:58
2 Gidra 10:40
3 Water Akt 9:28
4 Neptune 14:22

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Bengalfuel - Durban (Isolationism Records, 2010)

01 Davige
02 Galleria
03 Dead Lights
04 Hold On
05 Not Letting Goshen
06 Jackalbone Long
07 October 15, 2049
08 Revelent
09 Saffron Swampy
10 This
11 Grease Creep
12 Veronica Grogan
13 Wight
14 Yo Dizosion

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Spheruleus - Decompose (Audio Gourmet, 2010)

1 Coroding 10:06
2 Deform 10:33
3 Decay 06:50
4 Disintegrate 08:39
5 Rots To Nothing? 02:41
6 Recycling 09:10
7 Reshaping Fragments 07:30
8 Respawn As Another Entity 07:52

'Decompose' was originally conceived as an album project when I got thinking the about method in which I create ambient music. Typically, I would perform or 'compose' a melody on an instrument and record this take when I was happy with it. Then, the next step is to record another harmonically compatible layer with a different instrument. This will continue with up to four or so compositions and then I would begin to 'decompose' them into an abstract ambient/drone soundscape.

As I began to gather the tracks for 'Decompose' my attention turned to the track titles and that's when the concept of the album began to branch out to reference and portray the seemingly endless cycle of the world around us. When an organism ceases, it decomposes and becomes part of something else - it will rot into the soil and the disintegrating fragments will eventually take form as something else. This is not just the case with living organisms; it is also the case with everyday house hold objects, buildings and seemingly everything. The world will naturally recycle - very little disappears completely.

With the album concept in mind, throughout the recording process I would constantly refer to the album cover image, kindly provided by French artist Eric Lacombe (Monstror) for inspiration. I'd like to thank Eric for allowing me to use his work for this album and also, for the artwork on my albums 'Frozen Quarters' and 'Tales From The Labyrinth".
If you'd like to find out more about Monstror's work or simply look at his other stunning pieces of art then visit monstror.blogspot.com
Audio Gourmet

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Eleh - Homage To The Sine Wave (Taiga Record, 2009)

1 Together We Are One 21:40
2 Beneath The Silver Sun 21:19

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Eleh - Homage To The Square Wave (Taiga Records, 2008)

A Black 20:10
B Blue & White 21:05

Anyone familiar with the mysterious Important Records artist Eleh is in for buzz with the 'Homage To The Square Wave' Ltd numbered LP on US label Taiga. Eleh's previous work has been a tribute to early minimalists while here he/she/ they? pay homage to the pure sound its self and the beauty that lies within pure physics, the waveform and the very essence of sound. It's a deeply hypnotic listen with the power of the repetition. The waveforms are tweaked slightly with minute details emerging. The waveform on 'Black' oscillates giving off what could be a percussion hit. Crank it up for maximum pleasure. 'Blue and White' is like what I imagine those sonic weapons that make people crap their pants soundslike.
Norman Records

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Hands To - Scrine (Music Harsh Reality, 1988)

A1 Whag
A2 Milpic
A3 Sethube
A4 Tind
A5 Thraal
A6 Plathers
A7 Firad
B1 Sinc
B2 Scrine
B3 Mastic
B4 Biasis 2

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Yannick Dauby - Nous, Les Défunts (Silence Radio, 2008)

1 Nous, Les Défunts

Septième mois du calendrier lunaire. Après l'ouverture des portes, nous revenons, affamés, dans leur cité. Leurs récitations démultiplient les nourritures spirituelles qui nous sont consacrées. Leurs divinations, leurs véhicules, leurs avenues. Vagabonds dans les orages de l'après-midi. Une procession nous guide jusqu'à la rivière. Leur offrandes, leurs cymbales. Pendant ce temps, les cigales à peine sorties de terre chantent aussi, à leur mort, célébrant la fin d'un cycle de vie. Leur métamorphoses, leur chœurs. Nous nous réconcilierons et calmerons nos plaintes invisibles. Bientôt, un moine bouchera ses oreilles, sourd à nos suppliques, il nous enfermera à nouveau dans le Royaume Inférieur.
[Enregistrements effectués à Taiwan, principalement durant l'été 2008, et notamment dans et autour du temple de Longshan à Taipei]

Seventh month of the lunar calendar. After the opening of the Gates, we come back, hungry, in their city. Their chanting for us multply the spiritual foods. Their fortune-telling, their vehicles, their avenues. Vagrants in the afternoon storms. A procession guides us to the river. Their offerings, their cymbals. Meanwhile, cicadas just borned out of the earth, are chanting too, celebrating their death, the end of a cycle of life. Their metamorphosis, their choruses. We will reconcile, we will calm down our voices. Soon, a priest will block his ears, becoming deaf to our laments, he will trap us again in the Underground Realm.
[Field recordings from Taiwan, Summer 2008, notably in and around Longshan Temple in Taipei]

Commande de Silence-Radio à l'occasion du programme "Soundscape Forever".
Thanks to Yuki, Wild Bird Society Taipei, Wan-Shuen, Irvic and the people of Longshan Temple.
Yannick Dauby

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Ambient Fabric - Awakening (self release, 2010)

1 ITEM 1 03:52
2 ITEM 2 07:58
3ITEM 3 02:49
4 ITEM 4 04:03
5 ITEM 5 04:03
6 Bonus ITEM 2:16

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CEZAR - M. R.I. (Isolationism Records, 2010)

01 #0143
02 #0144
03 #0145
04 #0146
05 #0147
06 #0148
07 #0149
08 #0150

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Visoposiv - Vlask (isolationism Records, 2010)

1 Vlask

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Alexandro Kibanovsky, Susanne MaCu & Ricardo Alrucini - VII (Electro Rucini, 2010)

1 - I
2 - II
3 - III
4 - IV
5 - V
6 - VI
7 - VII

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Chubby Wolf - Ornitheology (Digitalis, 2010)

1 On Burnt, Gauzed Wings
2 Phantasmagoria Of Nothingness (Prey To Our Emotions)

A great review on 5:4 blog


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