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2LP
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MTS 003LP
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2015 reissue; originally released in 2006. Canadian Berlin resident Aidan Baker first became known as half of the prolific Nadja duo with Leah Buckareff, ceaselessly exploring different aspects of ambient, noise, and drone music. Baker is also well known for his solo work and collaborations with such prestigious artists as Tim Hecker, Thisquietarmy, and Noveller. This is the first vinyl edition of one of Baker's key works, 2006's The Sea Swells a Bit..., containing three long ambient pieces that are sure to rob listeners of their senses. This edition also includes a live version of the title-track as a bonus. The new artwork by Francis Meslet (Urbex) intensifies in a most admirable manner the depth of this dizzying music.
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2CD
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GZH 061CD
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Aidan Baker is a prolific multi-instrumentalist, classically trained in flute, but best known for his work as a guitarist, which falls within the ambient and experimental genres but draws on influences from shoegaze, post-rock, contemporary classical, and jazz. Since his debut in 2000, Baker has released numerous recorded works -- solo, with his duo Nadja, and with various other group projects on such labels as Alien8 Recordings, Important Records, and Drone Records, and has collaborated in studio and live with such artists as Tim Hecker, Carla Bozulich, Jessica Bailiff, Noveller, OvO, members of The Jesus Lizard, and members of Swans. Baker has toured extensively around the world, and has appeared at such festivals as Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville, South by Southwest, Incubate, Unsound Festival, and MUTEK. Originally from Toronto, Canada, Baker currently resides in Berlin, Germany. Half Lives is his Gizeh Records follow-up to his acclaimed 2013 album Already Drowning (GZH 043CD). While that album was built around the guest vocals of female singers -- including Carla Bozulich, Jessica Bailiff, and Geneviève Castrée (Ô Paon) -- Half Lives comprises two separate but interconnected albums, and Baker's loose concept was that they would bridge the more abstract/experimental and song-oriented natures of his work. Both albums were recorded in August 2014 in Berlin and are the product of initial extended improvisations that were then arranged into coherent pieces -- "constructed" rather than "composed." In these senses, parallels can be made with artists such as Bark Psychosis, Low, and The For Carnation, for whom experimentation with texture and timbre has never been a reason to abandon the song form. Where the two discs of Half Lives differ is in their sonic palettes. Mountains Sweat Clouds is based on the electric guitar whereas As I Walked On Dead Earth features primarily acoustic guitar. However, any sense that this might provide an easy separator is quickly erased by Baker's supreme skills at arranging and layering his material, featuring extensive use of organ, synths, percussion, field recordings, and vocals. His curiously dispassionate yet emotional vocal is actually one of the strongest elements of the albums; conceived once the music was complete, it provides the thread along which the pieces flow. Taken together, the two albums that make up Half Lives are further evidence of Baker's expressive, shapeshifting sound.
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CD
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IMPREC 410CD
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Aidan Baker's (Nadja) Triptychs takes inspiration from Erik Satie's compositions Gymnopédies and his notion of "furniture music," which many consider a precursor to contemporary ambient music. Each "triptych" is based around a simple, slow-moving melodic line, which repeats three times with the addition of a harmonic line upon each repetition, culminating in a three part harmony. Various musicians from different ensembles and musical backgrounds -- Peter Broderick, Julia Kent, Leah Buckareff (of Nadja), Aki Yakamoto (of Vampillia), and Baker himself -- were invited to record their interpretations of these compositions.
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CD
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GZH 043CD
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Already Drowning, a song-cycle inspired by various myths and folktales about female water spirits, marks something of a departure for Aidan Baker. While still retaining his trademark sense of ambience and texture, the tracks on this album are much more structured and song-oriented, embracing a minimalist post-rock, slowcore style and featuring a different guest vocalist on each track. Guest vocalists include: Clara Engel, Jessica Bailiff, Valérie Niederoest and Maude Oswald (of Toboggan), Joanna Kupnicka, Geneviève Castrée (aka Ô Paon), Liz Hysen, and Carla Bozulich (of Evangelista, The Geraldine Fibbers). All words and music written by Aidan Baker (guitars, bass, flute, drums, trombone, piano, and field recordings), vocal melodies and interpretations/translations by respective singers. Additional musicians: Leah Buckareff (of Nadja -- accordion), Laura C. Bates (violin), Nick Storring (of Picastro -- cello), Carl Pace (of Beta Cloud -- trumpet), and Laura Rodie (alto and soprano saxophones).
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LP
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GZH 043LP
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LP version. Already Drowning, a song-cycle inspired by various myths and folktales about female water spirits, marks something of a departure for Aidan Baker. While still retaining his trademark sense of ambience and texture, the tracks on this album are much more structured and song-oriented, embracing a minimalist post-rock, slowcore style and featuring a different guest vocalist on each track. Guest vocalists include: Clara Engel, Jessica Bailiff, Valérie Niederoest and Maude Oswald (of Toboggan), Joanna Kupnicka, Geneviève Castrée (aka Ô Paon), Liz Hysen, and Carla Bozulich (of Evangelista, The Geraldine Fibbers). All words and music written by Aidan Baker (guitars, bass, flute, drums, trombone, piano, and field recordings), vocal melodies and interpretations/translations by respective singers. Additional musicians: Leah Buckareff (of Nadja -- accordion), Laura C. Bates (violin), Nick Storring (of Picastro -- cello), Carl Pace (of Beta Cloud -- trumpet), and Laura Rodie (alto and soprano saxophones). Includes download code.
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CD
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PRIMA 002CD
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This Toronto native has been recording and releasing music for over a decade, amassing a staggering catalog as a solo artist, in numerous collaborations with musicians such as Tim Hecker, Thisquietarmy, Z'EV and Jakob Thiesen, as well as a member of the groups Nadja, ARC, Whisper Room, Mnemosyne, and Infinite Light Ltd. Recorded in the winter of 2010 at Commonweath Studios in Toronto, Still Life is a departure from the sound Aidan Baker is most known for, as it features no guitar, no distortion, and no drone. Still Life is an album with Baker performing only on piano, drums, and upright bass, charting the un-navigated waters somewhere between Bohren and Blue Note.
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CD
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ALIEN 087CD
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"While Alien8 Recordings has had the pleasure of releasing three full-length albums by Aidan Baker's ambient doom project Nadja, as well as his collaborative effort Fantasma Parastasie with Tim Hecker, this marks our first solo release with the artist. Although we consider Liminoid/Lifeforms to be a solo effort, there are in fact no less than eight guest musicians helping out on the recording. These include Canadian noise legend Knurl (a.k.a. Alan Bloor) who has been released three times on Alien8 Recordings prior to this recording, as well as members of Arc, Picastro, Forest City Lovers and Whisper Room. 'Liminoid' is a composition for large ensemble exploring sonic immersion in drones and textures, rhythms and pulsations. Incorporating composed and improvised segments, the piece uses elongation of sound and layered polyph- ony in an attempt to create a liminal and/or numinous state. This recording of 'Liminoid' is from its premier at The Music Gallery's X-Avant Festival in Toronto, October 25, 2008. The piece features a powerful vocal performance with every member sharing the vocal duties. The lyrics have been adapted from 5th-8th century Coptic Christian texts and inspired by the book Ancient Christian Magic by Marvin W. Meyer & Richard Smith. The ensemble members for this performance were: Aidan Baker (guitar/ voice), Clara Engel (guitar/voice), Nick Storring (cello/voice), Jakob Thiesen (drums/voice), Richard Baker (drums/voice), Tillman Lewis (cello/voice), Laura Bates (violin/voice) and Jonathan Demers (guitar/voice). 'Lifeforms' is a composition for strings, prepared/effected guitar, and amplified metal works. Likewise incorporating written and improvised material, the piece was originally commissioned and performed by The Penderecki Quartet in 2003. This recording was made in August 2008 at Commonwealth Studios in Toronto. The performers were: Aidan Baker (guitar), Nick Storring (cello), Mika Posen (violin) and Alan Bloor (metal works). This recording has been both skillfully mixed from multiple recordings and mastered by James Plotkin."
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2LP
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E=MC 017LP
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On blue-colored vinyl. "A work of blissful delight. Aidan Baker provides four sides of enchantment in this long-in-the-making 2LP set. Gathering Blue provides new original material plus a stunning cover of the Joy Division track '24 Hours' as well as an extended work-out of the amazing remix of 'The Cicada Sings Our Love Song' by Building Castles Out Of Matchsticks, which was originally released in 2005 on the ultra-limited and long-deleted Arcolepsy Records CD Remixes. This really is Aidan Baker at his very best and a record that is sure to charm. Comes in a gatefold sleeve, numbered card insert and pressed on heavy 180g virgin vinyl."
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2CD
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IMPREC 214CD
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"Aidan Baker's I Wish Too, To Be Absorbed is a 2-disc compilation of tracks from various out-of-print, limited edition releases spanning the last 10 years of Baker's output, ranging from his very first release to material that was featured on the soundtrack to a book of his poetry. Toronto based composer Aidan Baker works under his own name, under the name Nadja along with bassist Leah Buckareff and also with the trio ARC. Hailing from the Great White North, Baker incorporates guitar, drums, bass, voice and tape loops into his myriad work hauling down a long iceberg of frigid doom, bliss and sound collage. He has also composed work for the The Penderecki String Quartet & The Uxbridge Chamber Choir and he is also a published poet. The first disc in the set features shorter, perhaps more accessible tunes with a wide range of instrumentation and songs ranging from minimal drone to delicate post-rock to ambient trip-hop. The second disc features longer, more drone/experimental-oriented pieces, primarly using the guitar (with the odd tapeloops and vocals) as the primary sound source. Adventures in ambience. Sonic immersion. Introspective dronescapes."
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