Shelter Press is happy to announce the release of Perceptual Geography, Thomas Ankersmit’s latest record. The music was created as a loosely structured piece for live performance in 2018-2019, commissioned by CTM in Berlin and Sonic Acts in Amsterdam, and premiered there on the GRM Acousmonium. The music is inspired by - and dedicated to - the pioneering research of American composer and installation artist Maryanne Amacher (1938-2009), and created entirely on the Serge Modular analog synthesizer.

Ankersmit and Amacher first met in New York in 2000, and kept in touch over the following years. Her concerts and installations left a deep impression on him. Amacher, being close to the Tcherepnin family, also first introduced Ankersmit to the Serge synthesizer, developed by Serge Tcherepnin in the 1970s.

In the piece, Ankersmit explores different “modes” of listening: not just which sounds are heard and when, but also how and where sounds are experienced (in the room, in the body, inside the head, far away, nearby). So-called otoacoustic emissions (sounds emanating from inside the head, generated by the ears themselves) play a prominent role. When turned up loud, the material moves beyond the loudspeakers and starts to trigger additional tones inside the listener’s head; tones that are not present in the recorded music. Cupping the ears with the hands and slight movements of the head also help to bring these tones to life. Maryanne Amacher was the first artist to systematically explore the musical use of these phenomena, often referring to them as “ear tones”.

The title is a reference to Amacher’s essay “Psychoacoustic Phenomena in Musical Composition: Some Features of a Perceptual Geography”, and despite the all-electronic instrumentation, a dramatic sense of landscape and environment often emerges. There are sparks of fire, howling wind, distant thunder, a swarm of bats disappearing into the distance. Ghostly, floating tones are contrasted with highly dynamic sounds darting around the listener, and large, heavy waves rolling in slowly. “Ear tone” stimuli weave in and out of these textures, emerging from them. Once or twice, the music seems to completely freeze in time, but a slight movement of the listener’s head reveals changes.

For each live performance, Ankersmit tunes his instrument to the resonant characteristics of the performance space, so that the sounds activate the structure, traveling through the architecture and setting it in motion.

The record is accompanied by an extensive conversation between Ankersmit and Serge Tcherepnin, creator of the Serge Modular and friend and collaborator of Amacher.

This is a digital-only release (CD and download) because the “ear tone” material can’t be adequately transferred to vinyl.

Please play loud and use speakers, not headphones. 
credits
releases March 19, 2021

Music: Thomas Ankersmit
Mastering: Kassian Troyer
Design: Bartolomé Sanson
Interview editing: Michelle Arrouas

THOMAS ANKERSMIT 'Perceptual Geography' (EXCERPT) (SP130)

From the album Andrew Pekler & Giuseppe Ielasi "Palimpsests" out on Shelter Press om October 22, 2021. Preorder: https://shelterpress.bandcamp.com/album/palimpsests

Bandcamp

Andrew Pekler & Giuseppe Ielasi - Simferopol

This is a mixed down composite version of Browser Music 4.

The individual parts and instructions for playing them are as follows:

Open each link below in its own web browser tab or window and press play on each. The four parts are meant to play at the same time but don’t have to start together. You can stop / re-start individual parts and change their respective volumes as you wish. Like the components of a mobile sculpture, each part can be considered on its own or in any combination.

Part One:
youtu.be/4fE2awB7_d0

Part Two:
youtu.be/kT9ZastGvqE

Part Three:
youtu.be/Hzd_ydrGCqE

Part Four:
youtu.be/EpPkit3i8Vg


This is music without development, where nothing much happens (or rather: the happening is evenly distributed throughout). This is also quiet music – perfect for playing in the background on your web browser while you are doing something else on your computer. You can even listen to other music / watch other videos / make Zoom calls, etc. while playing Browser Music in the background.

Browser Music 4

Pre-orders available here- https://alienjams.bandcamp.com/album/rkss-cutoff-ep

Artwork- Maxi Springer 
Graphic Design- Joe Gilmore
Mastering- Rupert Clervaux

Special thanks to the Carvery

rkss- Wave

One-take synth improvisation, taken from 'All In The Same Room'.
Buy tape + digital at nicemusiclabel.bandcamp.com/album/020-all-in-the-same-room

All In The Same Room

Grapefruit

half stepper

Pre-order available now via ImportantRecords.com 

ELEH’s Home Age 2 is packaged in a thick, letterpress printed Arigato Pak by Stumptown Printers in Portland, Oregon.  Each package contains an individual piece of art (linocut/screenprint/watercolor) from the artist.  This is a one time CD edition of 480 copies.

ELEH’s Home Age series was composed and recorded over a period of 5 years and it reflects a search for color, form, connection and growth. The handmade artwork contained in each package was created during the same period of time the music was composed and is an integral part of the meaning of Home Age.

For this release Eleh plays modular & analog synthesizers, piano, organ, bass and symphonic chimes. 

Although Home Age is a 2 part set, Eleh’s upcoming Living Space CD/LP for Touch is very much the conclusion of this era of Eleh.

ELEH - Home Age 2 - Album Mix - Pre-Orders Available Now

Taken from Kallista Kult's self-titled debut release. Out August 26, 2019 on A Colourful Storm.

Pre-order vinyl and digital: https://acolourfulstorm.bandcamp.com/album/kallista-kult

Kallista Kult

Kallista Kult - The Earth Did A Line

CE-19

yolabmi "Spirit's Whereabouts"

October 2019

https://soundcloud.com/yolabmi

yolabmi - Spirit's Whereabouts

Nika Son
To Eeyore
LP (E249)

“Esel Und Gespenst”

Cat listening to music
(Chris Marker)

Nika Son is a Hamburg-based artist, owl, 
and veteran Golden Pudeler.

Mastered by Yves De Mey

Co-published with Stellage [stellage.store]

To Eeyore

Nika Son (E249; 2020)

From the album 'Intimate Immensity'
Out on Hands In The Dark on 26th March 2021 (LP)
www.handsinthedarkrecords.bandcamp.com

TOMAGA - Intimate Immensity

London based Record Label and NTS Radio Show founded by @chloefrieda
 
Contact- alienjamz@gmail.com

rkss- Wave

Alien Jams

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