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CAT 015LP
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LP version. Rite of Passage is a continuation of and opposition to the last album made by Mirt, Heading South. Like its predecessor, it is a kind of modern soundtrack for some non-existent trash movie. The title is taken from an episode of Miami Vice. Some voices are taken from old zombie movies. It sounds like a joke, but right now there is a significant change going on in Mirt's music and it really is a kind of rite of passage for him. There aren't that many rich, multilayered textures, there is less of a chaotic background, but more hypnotic, repetitive sequences. His music has become more minimalistic and dark, and rhythms once hidden are now distinguishable. However, you can still feel the strange, cinematic atmosphere of Mirt's previous recordings. Each track was made in just one take using modular synth, without any further mixing or overdubbing. Tomek Mirt: musician, graphic artist and designer. Works solo and in collaborations. He is part of XAOC Devices, a small boutique company developing modular synths. Mirt has released nine solo albums (for MonotypeRec, Nefryt, Foxglove/Digitalis, Backwards and Cat|Sun).
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MONO 103CD
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Wildly surreal experimental hip-hop group Curse Ov Dialect return with the socially conscious, zonked-out Twisted Strangers, their first album since 2009's Crisis Tales (STAUB 096CD/LP). Renowned for their non-conformist costumery and political ethos, the enigmatic Australian group has garnered a strong worldwide cult following. Twisted Strangers sees them continue further down their own unique musical path, reveling in the openness of their eclectic sample concoctions paired with hard but twisted beats. The conventions of hip-hop are used as a foundation to build a unique voice that broaches no comparisons.
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MONO 094CD
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Luca Sigurtà has been composing electronic music since the early 2000s; Warm Glow is a great step forward in his compelling and very personal musical journey. On Warm Glow, Sigurtà's emotional electronic noise is mixed with slow-paced rhythms and delicate flows of analog synth. It's an original sort of trip-hop-noise-ambient, marked by remarkably melancholic melodies and beautiful digital and analog sounds. With a passion for silence and noise, Sigurtà has previously released on Fratto9 Under The Sky Records, Creative Sources, Afe, Dokuro, Lisca, Tulip, Karl Schmidt Verlag, and more. In addition to his solo project, he's part of Luminance Ratio and was part of Harshcore. On stage he uses tapes, analog sources, and electronic stuff of any sort. Recorded and produced by Gianmaria Aprile at Argolab, Gorla Maggiore, Italy. Mastered by James Plotkin.
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MONO 023LP
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Double LP version. Wildly surreal experimental hip-hop group Curse Ov Dialect return with the socially conscious, zonked-out Twisted Strangers, their first album since 2009's Crisis Tales (STAUB 096CD/LP). Renowned for their non-conformist costumery and political ethos, the enigmatic Australian group has garnered a strong worldwide cult following. Twisted Strangers sees them continue further down their own unique musical path, reveling in the openness of their eclectic sample concoctions paired with hard but twisted beats. The conventions of hip-hop are used as a foundation to build a unique voice that broaches no comparisons.
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MONO 091CD
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The two staples of Polish electronica are on it again. Mirt and TER, after solo releases are back together with their next offering. Culled from hours of "live-in-the-studio" improvisation, these 45 minutes stand out among the contemporaneous albums with a one-of-a-kind mix of post-ambient electronica having as diverse roots as techno, minimal music, krautrock electronica, and Afro-beat. Based on sounds created with modular synthesizers with a dash of Prophet 12, Mirt and TER venture on a journey into thick textures obscuring lace melodies. Instead of typical four-on-the-floor rhythms they draw inspirations from African music and translate them into rich yet subtle digital structure. Subtlety is in fact the key word here. Instead of immediacy of many present-day acts they prefer their music to unravel in a leisurely manner. Each of the five tracks here has a different focus. "Bacchus Theme" is a rhythmic-oriented, almost tribal five-minute piece, whereas "Disaster Reworked" is a floating composition carrying dense drone structures. The centerpiece seems to be "Wooden Object" closing in at 14 minutes, where Mirt and TER seem to play with their toys, but at the same time not losing focus on creating a cohesive piece of work. You can say the same thing about the whole album: it's varied, each fragment stands on its own, but at the same time all five of them create one coherent record. CD version comes in a four-page digipak.
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LP
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MONO 025LP
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LP version. Clear vinyl; Edition of 300. The two staples of Polish electronica are on it again. Mirt and TER, after solo releases are back together with their next offering. Culled from hours of "live-in-the-studio" improvisation, these 45 minutes stand out among the contemporaneous albums with a one-of-a-kind mix of post-ambient electronica having as diverse roots as techno, minimal music, krautrock electronica, and Afro-beat. Based on sounds created with modular synthesizers with a dash of Prophet 12, Mirt and TER venture on a journey into thick textures obscuring lace melodies. Instead of typical four-on-the-floor rhythms they draw inspirations from African music and translate them into rich yet subtle digital structure. Subtlety is in fact the key word here. Instead of immediacy of many present-day acts they prefer their music to unravel in a leisurely manner. Each of the five tracks here has a different focus. "Bacchus Theme" is a rhythmic-oriented, almost tribal five-minute piece, whereas "Disaster Reworked" is a floating composition carrying dense drone structures. The centerpiece seems to be "Wooden Object" closing in at 14 minutes, where Mirt and TER seem to play with their toys, but at the same time not losing focus on creating a cohesive piece of work. You can say the same thing about the whole album: it's varied, each fragment stands on its own, but at the same time all five of them create one coherent record.
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2CD
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MONO 104CD
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Arriving like the mysterious fully formed monoliths in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey is Hand That Heals/Hand That Bites Warsaw, Poland-based artist Aleksandra Grünholz aka We Will Fail. Despite the fact this isn't her debut (that was 2014's Verstorung (MONO 074CD)), this double-barreled shotgun of an album rings with the boldest sense of arrival one could possibly imagine. With a unique sound that is neither electronic, noise, nor experimental but a unique off-cut of the three assembled into a style all her own, Grünholz's sound runs parallel to artists like Scott Walker, Autechre, Pharmakon, Daphne Oram, Pan Sonic, Grouper, Laurel Halo, Demdike Stare, Vessel, and beyond. Both dark and anxious, the seven Hand That Bites tracks are deeply rhythmic, pulsing, energetic, and brimming with the intensity of an artist who has clearly arrived at an important place. As Grünholz notes, "This part is ruder, more brutal, stronger, but at the same time more basic. The pulse, the harshness and the anxiety were really important to me. I know that some sounds are even dull. I left some parts dirty, raw. I wanted to show the strength that can seduce and mesmerize at the same time." The rhythms here have some associations with techno and club music, but for the artist this is music for listening rather than dancing. Like the work of Emptyset and other sonic explorers, techno elements embedded are merely part of the construction -- a sound reaching beyond any kind of norm. The companion eight tracks, an alternative version of the same story according to Grünholz, make up the Hand That Heals segment of the album. These tracks are lighter in touch, focused on atmosphere and experiments yet equally compelling and unique.
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2LP
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MONO 022LP
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Double LP version. Deluxe gatefold sleeve; Includes printed Inner sleeves. Arriving like the mysterious fully formed monoliths in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey is Hand That Heals/Hand That Bites Warsaw, Poland-based artist Aleksandra Grünholz aka We Will Fail. Despite the fact this isn't her debut (that was 2014's Verstorung (MONO 074CD)), this double-barreled shotgun of an album rings with the boldest sense of arrival one could possibly imagine. With a unique sound that is neither electronic, noise, nor experimental but a unique off-cut of the three assembled into a style all her own, Grünholz's sound runs parallel to artists like Scott Walker, Autechre, Pharmakon, Daphne Oram, Pan Sonic, Grouper, Laurel Halo, Demdike Stare, Vessel, and beyond. Both dark and anxious, the seven Hand That Bites tracks are deeply rhythmic, pulsing, energetic, and brimming with the intensity of an artist who has clearly arrived at an important place. As Grünholz notes, "This part is ruder, more brutal, stronger, but at the same time more basic. The pulse, the harshness and the anxiety were really important to me. I know that some sounds are even dull. I left some parts dirty, raw. I wanted to show the strength that can seduce and mesmerize at the same time." The rhythms here have some associations with techno and club music, but for the artist this is music for listening rather than dancing. Like the work of Emptyset and other sonic explorers, techno elements embedded are merely part of the construction -- a sound reaching beyond any kind of norm. The companion eight tracks, an alternative version of the same story according to Grünholz, make up the Hand That Heals segment of the album. These tracks are lighter in touch, focused on atmosphere and experiments yet equally compelling and unique.
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LP+CD
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MONO 018LP
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2016 release. The newest record produced by the group of three -- Ghédalia Tazartès, Pawel Romanczuk, and Andrzej Zaleski -- is the result of only a few meet-ups and a shared passion for music that shapes their perspective. The long play was recorded at the Rogalów Analogowy studio in the eastern part of Poland. It's worth noting that the space and surrounding countryside did not influence the sound itself as the record drifts away from the traditions of chamber music. The musicians, together as well as separately, avoid any mainstream influences. Thus, the acoustic record is peaceful, spiritual, and presents a wide variety of notions and emotions. The diversified vocal articulation and tone of Tazartès intertwines well with Zaleski's percussive play and Romanczuk's multi-instrumental skills. The rhythmic pulsation is constantly taking new directions, eventually turning into noise at some point. The voice, somehow dramatic, traps the listeners and sends them on a journey through non-existent quasi-stories. An elusive romantic magician personified by a carp-headed cat. French cult artist Ghédalia Tazartès is an uncompromising character who defies categorization. He recorded alone a dozen of albums, calling his way of working "Impromuz" for lack of a better term. Before the years 2000s, his public appearances remained exceptional events. Romanczuk is a founder of the Polish artistic group Male Instrumenty with whom he recorded ten albums. He composed several film soundtracks and collaborated with significant theater houses. His music collaboration with Andrzej Zaleski and Ghedalia Tazartes started back in 2014; however, he was familiar with their music for quite a time. Andrzej Zaleski -- musician, filmmaker, and curator -- has collaborated with: Ghédalia Tazartès, Aspec(t), Joe Giardullo, Eugene Chadbourne, Charles Hayward, John Hegre, Tatsuya Yoshida, Pavel Fajt, Sylvie Courvoisier, Vinz Vonlanthen, Male Instrumenty, Johannes Bergmark, and many others. He also played in bands like: Multicide, Mitch and Mitch, and 3 Metry, Za Siódma Góra. LP includes CD; CD includes the bonus track "Wolves And Birds Part 2". Edition of 300.
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MONO 026LP
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Brought together in 2005 for a performance at San Francisco's venerable The Luggage Store Gallery, Anla Courtis and Thomas Dimuzio are introduced through the raw power of amplified music. Brothers in arms the duo remained in contact and in time began a recording project from afar. With a nod to classic cassette culture the distant combo exchanged source recordings with each artist concretely preparing a long-form work. The two tracks contained herein are a result of this collaboration. Green transparent vinyl; Edition of 300.
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LP
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MONO 021LP
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Limited restock. Kevin Drumm is a Chicago-based experimental artist and one of the most important musicians in the electroacoustic noise scene. During his career he has worked with great improvisers such as Mats Gustafsson, producer Jim O'Rourke and saxophonist Ken Vandermark. Kevin Drumm's Imperial Distortion (HOS 134LP) and Sheer Hellish Miasmah (EMEGO 053LP) are must-hear albums of contemporary avant-garde. The Back Room is a vinyl reissue of a previously self-released album. Two years ago, Drumm prepared by himself 100 copies of a CD-R full of intensive noise. The whole conception from the beginning sounded like something recorded not for a CD but for an LP. There are two parts: one consists of three very short, high-pitched pieces. Another part is built with two long compositions where you can hear and even feel many shades of analog electronic noise, with all of its brutal beauty.
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CD
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MONO 087CD
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The West Lighthouse Is Not So Far is the fourth album by French band Astrïd. The compositions, each titled after a lighthouse, create ambient soundscapes, filled with sparkling details and ornaments, which fluidly move into disturbing moments when strong basslines meet repetitive percussion. The band shows how thin the border is between harmless calm and storms of heavy guitar waves. Recorded and mixed by Cyril Secq at Goulephar Studio in the countryside of Nantes, France, between March 2013 and January 2014. Composed and performed by Cyril Secq, Vanina Andréani, Guillaume Wickel, and Yvan Ros.
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MONO 089CD
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Dokuro is the artistic maelstrom formed by the duo of Agnes Szelag and The Norman Conquest. As an improvisational duo their love for song-form and noise unveils itself during their intense live performances. As they delve into layers of sound they commit themselves to the compositional surprises each one presents, reacting, and in turn creating unexpected transitions that unfold into the next exploration. These intersections and song-like clusters, along with their abstract and textural videos, create a space for listeners to dream. The two met while working toward their Master's degrees in Electronic Music and Recording Media at Mills College in Oakland, CA; they started playing music and making art together in 2006. The Wire described their 2008 debut, The Black Room, as "discreetly sculpted ... extremist fare that blasts away the earwax without leaving you feeling pointlessly bludgeoned." In creating their second album, AVALON, the duo moves in a more transcendental and reverential direction while continuing their penchant for electronics, synthesizers, voices, cello, and noise. The mood of AVALON is at times dark and pensive, yet at other times uplifts the listener into a delicate trance. AVALON was recorded live in various venues in Europe in the spring of 2012.
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MONO 017LP
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John, Betty and Stella is a collaboration between Krojc and Fischerle, two musicians who feel best wandering around stylistic eclecticism. The record is a radio drama based on vintage audio material for learning English. Krojc and Fischerle cut out textbook roleplaying activities from the source material on old vinyl and processed and adapted the clips. The result is a funny and surreal collage of dialogues, sound effects, and music resembling a series of skits. The recordings are saturated with a tension that imbues even a casual conversation about the nutritional values of porridge with the ambience of a thriller and keeps the listener in a Hitchcockian suspense. "Mateusz Wysocki (Fischerle), who runs the Pawlacz Perski label, is also an author of children's books ... Jakub Pokorski (Krojc) is well-versed in literature-inspired music. Each brings their individual skills to bear on this recording, which comes across as found theatre. The tracks seem benign on the surface, but with an undercurrent of danger; behind the stately wolf's smile lies a row of crooked teeth." --A Closer Listen
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MONO 092CD
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If one turns on the tap then the sound of the water changes with the temperature. Warm water sounds darker. Warm days sound different from cold ones. Moist air sounds different from dry air. In August 2013, it was unusually humid and hot in Berlin. High up under the roof in the studio in Kreuzberg it was a little hotter still. Nicholas Bussmann and Werner Dafeldecker have known each other for a long time, and they have made music together on numerous occasions. Maybe it was these special circumstances that made precisely this music possible. It was simply too hot for too much -- thus the music emerged as if from the hands of a gardener who only grants his plants the necessary support, sufficient water, or a wire around which they can entwine themselves. Like climbing plants, the sounds ascend, opening their blossoms, winding their way around obstacles, sprouting their pods and dropping their fruit. Nicholas Bussmann: sampler, electronics; Werner Dafeldecker: function generator, electronics.
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MONO 085CD
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Dave Phillips and Hiroshi Hasegawa met in 1997 at an event at Tokyo's Antiknock venue featuring Incapacitants, Masonna, C.C.C.C., and Schimpfluch Gruppe. Geographical distance allowed for few connections in the years following, but when they happened, they were always profound. In 2012 the Swiss LUFF festival initiated a Japanese edition of their festival, and asked for Swiss-Japanese collaborations. Naturally, Phillips and Hasegawa reconnected, first at a studio in Kōenji, then as a live collaboration at the LUFF event in Tokyo. The resulting recordings were analyzed and processed and enhanced with additional material, and the result is Insect Apocalypse. Dave Phillips: field recordings; Hiroshi Hasegawa: filters/effects. Recorded on April 26, 2012, at Afterbeat Studio, Tokyo, and on April 29, 2012, at LUFF Japan festival, SuperDeluxe, Tokyo. Additional material recorded by Hiroshi Hasegawa in July 2013 in Tokyo. Additional material recorded by Dave Phillips between 2001 and 2011 in the jungles of Vietnam, Ecuador, Thailand, and Indonesia. Edited by Dave Phillips, December 2013 - February 2014, in Zürich.
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MONO 081CD
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Transmit is Tony Buck of The Necks (drums, percussion, guitar, voice), Magda Mayas (organ, clavinet, piano), Brendan Dougherty (drums, percussion), and James Welburn (electric bass). It's unpredictable and psychedelic wandering around rhythm complemented with deep and essential live instrumentation. Expanding upon the template set up by the first Transmit release, Project Transmit (STAUB 093CD/LP, 2008), Radiation extends the instrumental palette and approach to sonority and song form while retaining the power and drive of the band's initial sound. Mayas's additional psychedelic organ and keyboard sounds merge with the basic lineup of guitar, bass, and drums to fuel insistent grooves and stretch the songs into trance-like and ritualistic dimensions. Textures, instrumental combinations, and approaches more often associated with electroacoustic improvisation and free music are utilized within more conventional song forms. Long, ambient soundscapes that morph seamlessly into or out of song structures or riffs and melodies from more familiar places push this music into exciting new territory. The album even features a multi-layered, noise-hymn cover of the '80s classic "Drive" by The Cars. Buck and Dougherty contribute a strong double-drums bedrock on which the building blocks of the bass and guitar of Welburn and Buck set the scene for the swirling, dense, and hallucinogenic sonic worlds the band creates. At times dark and heavy, at others meditative and kaleidoscopic, the music nevertheless has an almost pop sensibility at its heart that makes even the most adventurous and challenging aspects of the record deeply moving and accessible.
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MONO 020LP
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We Will Fail is a project focused on the pleasure of wandering. Field recordings, tape samples, synthesizers and electronic drum kits are mixed together to find some peculiar quality, referring to techno aesthetics. A person responsible for this project is Aleksandra Grunholz -- a graphic designer, an amateur musician, and an audio performance artist. After releasing Verstörung, We Will Fail presents Verstörung 2.0, the album continuation. During some very intensive months after releasing her debut album, Aleksandra Grunholz found time to work on some new compositions that are more drowned in intensive rhythms. Some tracks from the first album also have changed a little bit. That's why the vinyl album Verstörung 2.0 is somehow similar to earlier works by We Will Fail, and on the other hand, offer new tunes and marvelous new cover art.
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MONO 082CD
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All of the pieces from this release wouldn't have been created without Ornette Coleman. Both Frisch and Wehowsky found many inspiring moments in music played by the father of free jazz. Their own work is full of glitches and noisy ornaments. In some parts one can find rhythmic structures, reminiscent of disco for spoilt laptops, other compositions show the beauty in the contrasts between silence and prolonged, dark and wiry bass phrases. Johannes Frisch has worked since the late 1970s as a performer, composer and improviser of contemporary music, between experimental rock, free jazz and other open-minded styles. On his main instrument, the double bass, he presents an individualistic, expressive language. He has played with a lot of musicians of the international scene of free improvisation and all experimental fields -- among others , Lol Coxhill, Maggie Nicols, Johannes Bauer, Le Quan Ninh, Paul Hubweber, Michael Vorfeld, Misha Feigin, etc. Ralf Wehowsky founded the group P.D. (in 1981 renamed P16.D4) and the label Wahrnehmungen (in 1982 renamed Selektion) in 1980. P16.D4 were one of the most influential groups of experimental industrial music. For their live appearances they were equally at home, at punk and no wave festivals and at the Holy Grail festivals of academic avant-garde, like the Ferientage Neuer Musik or Darmstadt. Since the early '90s, Wehowsky has worked under his own name. His quiet, highly complex style of composition, based on artifacts of instrumental and electronic lateral noises, evolved out of his collaboration with Bernhard Gunter and was influential for numerous artists in the fields of electronic and improvised music. The new millennium showed a new approach in his integration of improvised music and composition.
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MONO 072CD
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Air/Field/Feedback is a new production from Emiter performed live using microphones, analog and digital carriers, mixer and field recordings. Combining composition, a mix of audio material of different quality and improvisation, Emiter searches for the synthesis of analog/digital sound and organic connections in the sound itself. An air transmitter becomes a starting point for music. A lot happens in the air -- practically every moment something flies through. It is the channel of emission, clutter, audio violence and silence. A field border breaks our expectations, routines, and musical convenience into pieces. Feedback is a physical/auditory experience. Marcin Dymiter aka Emiter is a musician and improviser. Emiter moves within electronics, and improvised music. He experiments with sound, transforming the sounds present in our everyday life. He uses and combines different qualities -- lo-fi/hi-fi or sounds commonly seen as interference. He creates sound installations, radio plays, soundtracks for films, performances and public spaces. He plays for dumb films. He conducts audio trainings and promotes field recording. He works with visual artists and dancers, such as: Anna Baumgart, Joanna Rajkowska, Anna Witkowska, Ludomir Franczak, Risa Takita, poet Marcin Swietlicki and writer Daniel Odija, with whom he creates literary-musical form North Lines and the "Listen With Your Ear" project -- a cycle of live radio plays. He plays in such projects as: Niski Szum and EmiterFranczak Audio Video Performance.
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MONO 079CD
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Florina Speth, born in 1983 in the mountains near Salzburg, started playing the cello and piano at the age of 6 and began studying music at the University Mozarteum Salzburg when she was just 11. She won several prizes playing solo and string quartet ensembles, and was part of orchestras like Bayerisches Landesjugend Orchester and Salzburger Junge Philarmonie all over Europe. Besides classical music she has always keenly been interested in contemporary music and was part of performing ensembles in lots of world premieres. Since that, she has been obsessed with creating music electronically and started Schloss Mirabell. She plays in different constellations with musicians such as Nicholas Bussmann, Dasha Rush, Niels Böttcher and Maximilian Stadler. Orchestras here are replaced by unknown sound characters that listen to each other, exchange, react, adopt dynamic shifts and act freely -- in parts, the conducting composer cannot control it. In her compositions, these sound characters step into fine-grained dialogues between her cello, bleeping spheres of electronic hummingbirds and multi-time codes. These scenarios take place in pitch-black carpets of dead butterflies falling, simmering shapes of polyoscillations against luminance or in vacuums of icy dust. The sound creates patience for unspeakable things that glamorize time -- namely music. Her album Ghosthour Diaries is a musical narrative of those unspeakable perspectives on things. As all pieces were composed after midnight during the "ghost hours," it is an intimate view of the states before sleep.
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MONO 078CD
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"We enjoy the interplay of our two musical positions tremendously. I really feel this has to do with a 'story-telling' or an 'intuition for the narrative' that we both have. And I mean it even in the most general, abstract sense" -- says David Moss. Together with Hannes Strobl, they've found rhythmic and even philosophic connection that made the duo work, as a natural extension of their earlier project, created with Hanno Leichtmann's band Denseland. "When Hannes told me he had developed a number of solo bass pieces and song-frameworks that might be interesting for my voice, we easily and fruitfully created this album," explains David. At the Beach -- Music for Voice and Electric Bass is a story told in music. It starts with the specific sound of the electric bass, an instrument played mostly in pop, rock or jazz, but rarely found in contemporary, experimental music. Strobl created a special way of playing the electric bass and combines his two instruments -- one of them an electric upright bass -- with various electronic devices. Each piece on this album brings together particular advanced playing techniques and preparations with particular electronic setups. Together, the pieces make the impression of being a single cohesive work with an intimate quality, sometimes moving forward with a steady drive, sometimes rotating around themselves. In some places, the music is very physical and microscopic, one can hear how the strings are scraped or how the vocal sounds start. In other places it keeps the secret of its genesis, playing with the possibilities of psychoacoustics. David Moss brings the sounds, texts, stories, narratives and 'mystery geschichten' out of his mind in a stream of consciousness. He uses points within the rhythmic patterns to connect to or to jump from, to dive off to new words or new sounds. The connection words and sounds have to meaning, switches on and off. "When Hannes developed those bass-based pieces and played them for me, I started singing immediately. The first take was always as if we were playing live together, so I did not listen to the piece before I jumped into his 'worlds' with my voice," says David Moss. After their live act, the artists sometimes do other takes of vocals, either completely different approaches, or in order to amplify the idea of the first take. At the end, the perfect version of the vocal, the one which fit the mood, atmosphere and energy of composition was the one chosen.
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MONO 080CD
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Derek Piotr is a Poland-born sound artist currently based in New England, whose work focuses mainly on the voice. He has been an intern to Meredith Monk, collaborated with AGF and Richard Chartier, and had works featured on ResonanceFM. His second record, Airing, was nominated by the Jury for the Prix Ars Electronica Prize 2012. Tempatempat could be seen as Piotr's "gamelan album"; after records focused on the sound of bells (Airing, 2012) and Eastern tonality (Raj, 2013), this focus was the next logical step. Unlike Raj, where straightforward rhythms aimed to express simple, primal energy, Tempatempat sees Piotr construct deeply layered and largely complex song-based tracks, the majority of which veer close to pop territory. Piotr sings in English on the majority of tracks, an extreme departure from his primarily wordless back-catalog. Tracks "Bhadrakali" and "Yogyakarta" were sung entirely in Indonesian during an experience Piotr had being possessed by a Sufi. The English translation of these tracks was discovered only months after they were recorded, with the aid of a translator. Tracks "Rift." "Encloses" and "Conifers" are constructed entirely from Piotr's voice. A remix of "Encloses" produced by pioneering sound artist Steve Roden appears as a bonus track. Polish composer Szymon Kaliski and accomplished multimedia artist Bartholomäus Traubeck both contributed to "Slow March," Traubeck providing sections of his successful YEARS project for the intro and outro, and Kaliski processing Piotr's original piano and voice into fluttering drones. Many of the gamelan samples on this album were provided courtesy of Elisa Hough. Kent Williams provided engineering assistance on a handful of tracks, and Antony Ryan of acclaimed duo ISAN mastered the record.
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MONO 064CD
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"Though Zbigniew Karkowski and I started working together not long after our first meeting in France in 1998, this disk marks our first release. The majority of our activities together had always been focused on live performances or the generating of materials for different works we were each producing individually. When working together, we usually did not speak about specific pieces of music or about what we were going to work on. We did however speak about different ways sounds could be organized, referencing techniques other composers use. The techniques of Xenakis were used as a reference point frequently, as did many ideas and exploitations of concepts by Luc Ferrari's, the microsonic and code of Curtis Roads and also many contemporary works from a multitude of electronic/noise artists. On the day of the recording in Singapore, we took a long (by Singapore standards) train ride from the city to the woodlands on the Malaysian border. During the journey, we had a conversation about the work I did for Éliane Radigue as her music assistant in the late 1990s. What we both were interested in is how her works progressed through the exploration of slowly moving textures whose constant transformation eludes perception. Radigue's work can create elusive edges that are always in a state of flux, blurring the lines between movement and stillness, forcing the listener to shift into different ways of listening. Shifting from active to passive listening modes, the frequencies wash over your ears and when you switched back from one mode to another, you would be in a different place. All throughout the recording we kept stopping each other from changing the patch, Zbig said at one point with a laugh 'let it Radigue.' On a more technical level the audio sources were created solely using a Buchla 200e. The majority of the sounds from the patch centered around the 266e Source of Uncertainty module, which played a major part in guiding the evolution of the textures with its fluctuating voltages. The time and care we took to build the patch into a performance system was an important factor determining the outcome with the deconstruction of the patch an equally influential factor. The work unfolded by randomly removing both audio and voltage control cables, reducing the system to even more "primitive" structures and interactions of sound. The recent death of Zbigniew Karkowski has been difficult for myself and all close to him. As a collaborator and close friend, I will deeply miss our time working together, performing, traveling, and the ever unfolding hijinks that always ensued when we did, and most of all the difficulties they could often cause." --Brian O'Reilly
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MONO 066CD
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"Lots of wonderful things exist only because a weird accident occurred at some point. And that led to the appearance of beautiful animals, plants, kind figures," says Wojtek Kucharczyk. All these accidents at work made him create the "Best Fail Compilation" album. Why? Because the failed may often be the fabulous. He had not planned putting out anything new and yet he didn't stop recording music. He made up Bank Account -- a bandcamp playlist that grows larger and larger week by week. Realizing a complete form speaks louder, he prepared an extract of his virtual Bank Account, and enriched it -- and this is how his latest album was created. Best Fail Compilation is some sort of peculiar and dirty energy, multi-layered electronic music full of turning points, oddities and haunted sounds. It's a perfect soundtrack for those willing to dig through civilization's garbage in search of sound gems. "My intention was to break away from The Complainer legacy or to come full circle -- in other words, to go back to some previous ideas, but to develop them in a different, more mature and technically better way," the artist claims. Thanks to his effort, a failure has never sounded so successful. Wojtek Kucharczyk is a musician, designer, community artist, founder of unclassifiable music label Mik Musik, co-founder of Mołr Drammaz, The Complainer & The Complainers, Retro*Sex*Galaxy, Pathman, and HWDJazz. He has made several dozen albums, exhibitions and plenty of unconventional, startling projects. His exhibitions have been presented in many different and exotic parts of the world such as Moscow, Minsk, Tel Aviv, Paris, London, New York, Miami and Mexico. He lives in Skoczów, Poland.
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