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viewing 1 To 6 of 6 items
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LP
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KTX 006LP
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Mechanical Marvels: Clockwork Dreams is Alex Menzies', aka techno head Alex Smoke, follow up to 2015's Order & Disorder LP (KTX 003LP) release for Kathexis, both original soundtracks to BBC4 documentaries. The film Mechanical Marvels: Clockwork Dreams explores the amazing and untold story of automata - extraordinary clockwork machines designed hundreds of years ago to mimic and recreate life. Much of the instrumentation used for Menzies' carefully constructed score was also of the type actually incorporated into automatons, including bells, chimes and wind organs. Percussive patterns scattered throughout the cues are samples of machines moving, gears grinding, halting, some of them automatons themselves. As with Order & Disorder strings and choir are also spread throughout these evocative cues bridging a link from 18th century instrumentation and machines and providing an emotional connection to these long-forgotten marriages of art and engineering that are actually the ancestors of many of our most-loved modern technologies, from recorded music to the cinema and much of the digital world. With Mechanical Marvels: Clockwork Dreams, Menzies' talents as a composer really shine through; each piece revealing a level of technical sophistication and an inventive use of instruments both new and old to hauntingly beautiful results. Edition of 300.
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LP
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KTX 004LP
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Bristol, England-based sound artist and producer Sophia Loizou presents Singulacra, the follow-up to her 2014 debut, Chrysalis, which is itself a staggering exploration of the conflict between nature and technology and the space between natural and synthetic sounds. With Singulacra, Loizou builds on the framework of Chrysalis for her most ambitious offering to date. Ghostly remnants of hardcore and early jungle percolate throughout while fragments of radio transmissions seep in and out through tape-based processes and spectral processing, leaving the listener in a hauntingly beautiful landscape filled with both solidity and disintegration. Bringing back the times of pirate radio, almost like lost transmissions from beyond the grave, this work provides a sense of intimacy and familiarity during the contemporary full-speed acceleration toward unknown futures. Exploring its audiences' anxieties surrounding technological utopias while retaining an emphasis on nurturing human value when facing inhuman forces, Singulacra engages with the potential loss of human essence amid technological progress toward artificial intelligence. Limited edition of 300. Initial copies on transparent vinyl. Includes download code.
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CD
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KTX 005CD
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The Boston-based ensemble Ehnahre has been pioneering an effort to rethink and redefine what metal and extreme music can be since their debut release in 2008, to a reception equal parts acclaim and condemnation for their sins against the tradition. Douve pushes things even further into the muddy perimeter, incorporating elements of contemporary classical music, serialism, free improvisation, aleatory, free meter, noise, and other experimental techniques. An 18-part cycle based on poet Yves Bonnefoy's "Theatre" from his 1953 book Du mouvement et de l'immobilité de Douve (On the Motion and Immobility of Douve), the album is a window into the distressed mind of a man as he observes the death and decay of his metaphorical beloved, the "watcher of the cold secret." Employing a dizzying variety of timbres, instruments, moods, and stylistic homages, Douve ranges from the delicate shimmer of piano overtones to full-bore metal howl, its emotional intensity only overcome by the density of its harmonies. Sometimes beautiful, frequently disgusting, Douve is not only an aural narrative, but also a display of the group's radical evolution. It is sure to shock the uninitiated, challenge the extreme music veteran, and cement Ehnahre's status as the most forward-thinking metal band on the planet. "Nothing remains except a fire in death's kingdom." On this album Ryan McGuire (bass, voice) and Ricardo Donoso (drums, percussion, electronics) return, along with with new members Richard Chowenhill (guitar) and Jared Redmond (piano), and are joined by vocalist Ken Ueno, who appears on several tracks. Artwork contributed by Matt Saunders.
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KTX 002LP
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Birds of Prey is an ever-evolving process of chaos, immediacy, and necessity. Like an organism emerging from the sea to walk on land for the first time, there is no grand plan, and no going back. The story of the group's friendship in many ways mirrors their method. They were brought together by a shared fascination with the sublime potential of electricity to generate something unknown, and a mutual trust that a path would reveal itself as they move forward through the dark. Originally conceived and composed live in Brooklyn, Birds of Prey is a collaboration of live electronics by Grant Aaron, Eric Holmes, and Camille Altay. This is the third release on Ricardo Donoso's Kathexis label. Limited to 300 copies; initial copies on white vinyl. Includes download code.
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KTX 003LP
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Alex Menzies, more commonly known as Alex Smoke, began his techno career in the early 2000s, with years of international performances and DJ sets culminating in a string of heady 12"s for the inimitable R&S label in 2013 and '14. Menzies's techno prowess has always carried with it a keen sense of compositional rigor, with harmonic outlining pads and strings adding emotional depth and weight. A classically trained cellist, Menzies has shifted his attention back to composition, cello, and the piano, collaborating on abstract installation work with visual master Florence To. The second release on Ricardo Donoso's label Kathexis and the first in a two-part series of BBC documentary soundtrack work, Order & Disorder sees Menzies using a sound palette of mostly orchestral instrumentation, including, voice, cello, and prepared piano, as well as electronic sources like the ondes Martenot. Each different cue of electronic and acoustic hybrid miniatures develops throughout the album, each piece carrying with it a profound depth and gravity that is unique and unrivaled in its beauty. For a high-level physics documentary focusing on entropy and information, presented in a strikingly engaging manner, Menzies's score provides a serene take on the slippery concept of energy. Angelic harmony runs in parallel with more unpredictable elements like prepared piano, tape hiss, percussive clicks, and smothered field recordings, truly encapsulating the documentary's themes and our relationship to the world around us -- chaotic, beautiful, but most of all full of wonder and awe. Limited to 300 copies; initial copies on mint-colored vinyl.
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LP
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KTX 001LP
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According to ancient mythology, the woodland nymph Echo was fascinated by the handsome Narcissus, and wished to lure him into marriage. Unable to say anything on her own, her voice could only repeat the last words said, and this act was not enough for the arrogant Narcissus. Heartbroken, Echo fled deep into the forest, her body turning to mountain stone. Her soul is often considered to be the faint reverberation of the wind, still calling out for her lost love. A Song for Echo's central character embarks on a spiritual journey through earth and water, attempting to discover herself and her relationship to the elements before nightfall. Ricardo Donoso's score really heightens the interplay between the attraction and repulsion of the doomed lovers and makes for an all-consuming, disorienting immersion. Rhythmic cadences collapse in on themselves for moments of striking isolation. Subtle melodic flourishes and field recordings are doused in digital textures and dark ominous drones. At once light and playful, the musical suite moves through time slowly, cautiously and in a downward trajectory. It's fitting that the inaugural release on Kathexis mark such a transitional stage in Donoso's discography. From the geometric, inspired post-rave moments of his Digitalis trilogy to the oppressive depths of the Scuba Death project, A Song for Echo shows the composer blurring the lines between what was once compartmentalized and segregated into something clearly becoming a unified whole. An essential piece of the Donoso puzzle and a small glimpse into what's on the horizon. Limited to 300 copies.
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