In 2003, Laura and Mark met for the first time at a performance by Steve Roden. All three collaborated four years later when Roden performed on their Ctrl+Alt+Repeat series, leading to a recording session in his painting studio and culminating in a track featured on Mem1’s +1 album (Interval Recordings, 2009). In 2012, Roden visited the Cetilias in their new home town of Providence, RI, where the three performed together and recorded additional material. A Floating Wave of Air is comprised of the recordings made on these two occasions, and is available as a letterpress-printed, hand-numbered edition of 200.

Steve Roden + Mem1 {A Floating Wave of Air}

In 1952, John Cage wrote a piece called “Imaginary Landscape No. 5” for “any 42 phonograph records.” The piece consists of a graphical score and a series of instructions by which one may make a recorded work, including simple procedures such as the changing of records, silencing or allowing their playback, and making adjustments to levels from “soft” (1) to “loud” (8). The result of a series of chance operations made using the I Ching as a guide, the piece is at times frenetic, with as many as eight records playing within the span of a couple of seconds, and at other times sparse, with one or no records whatsoever playing.

The piece was made for a solo dance performance by Jean Erdman entitled “Portrait of a Lady,” and Cage‘s realization exclusively used jazz records, partly because he felt that the performance “had a character that suggested popular music” and partly to “come to terms” with jazz. Rather than trying (and failing) to repeat history by approximating Cage‘s realization of “Imaginary Landscape No. 5” using jazz records from the 1950s, “A Simple Procedure” features 42 uncompromising new works made specifically for this project by a broad spectrum of acclaimed performers and composers of experimental music and cut onto 7" records via a Presto 6N lathe recorder from the 1940s. The resulting records, transcribed using an antiquated technology whose makers could certainly never have foreseen such a (mis)use, speak honestly to the nature of their translation into the physical world, lying buried under layers of static in a way that harkens towards impossible histories or unlikely uses of time travel.

Estuary Ltd. is making each of these 42 recordings available in single editions on a first-come / first-serve basis (single copies were also made for each of the artists as well as the label‘s archives). All copies feature letterpress printed, die cut and hand numbered sleeves, as well as a realization of “Imaginary Landscape No. 5” on the B side, made by Mark Cetilia using custom software and the A sides of the 42 records themselves. The complete set of recordings, including “analog” and “digital” realizations of the piece (realized using the lathe cut records and digital files, accordingly), are also being made available as 2 CD set, in an edition of 200 copies featuring letterpress printed, die cut and hand numbered sleeves.

Noted composer Alvin Lucier once said “I don‘t think of technology as technology. I think of it as a landscape... and I‘m just responding to the landscape of my time.” Sixty-plus years after “Imaginary Landscape No. 5” was written, the musical landscape is indeed very different, in great part due to Cage‘s contributions. “A Simple Procedure” is a celebration of that legacy, and a re-imagining of the piece through the lens of contemporary musical practice.

“Imaginary Landscape No. 5”  © 1961 Henmar Press Inc.
Sole selling agents C.F. Peters Corporation.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

All other works © + ℗ 2015 courtesy of
contributing artists. All rights reserved.

Special thanks to Tyler Bisson at Audio Geography.

Various Artists {A Simple Procedure}

Estuary Ltd. is proud to present Stone North, internationally-renowned sound artist Ed Osborn’s first full-length album since 1989. For this album, Osborn — whose work is included in the permanent collection of SFMOMA and has been presented at ZKM (Karlsruhe, DE), Mass MoCA (North Adams, MA), the Sonic Arts Research Centre (Belfast, NI) and the singuhr-hörgalerie (Berlin, DE) — has culled together a collection of recordings made over twenty years of artistic practice. The works presented here include live recordings made using modified electric guitar, bowed “electric skis” and real-time processing. These recordings feature an idiosyncratic sound palette attained through extended technique and physical feedback with custom instruments, culminating in works that encourage deep and detailed listening. Stone North is the product of careful interaction with chaotic systems by a true master of his craft, resulting in a unique collection of recorded works that are both challenging and exhilarating. Mastered by Keith Souza and Seth Manchester at Machines with Magnets, Stone North is available in a in a letterpress printed / hand numbered edition of 300 carefully crafted releases featuring photography by the artist taken during a residency in the arctic circle.

In Memoriam Elisha Blakeman & Tabitha Babbitt (1992)
Elisha D’Alembert Blakeman and Tabitha Babbitt were members of the Shaker communities in New Lebanon, New York, and Harvard Massachusetts, respectively. Blakeman invented, among other things, a single-stringed tabletop instrument called the “piano violin,” which he patented in 1871. He used the instrument to proselytize and draw people in to the Shaker community. However, he ran into resistance in this activity from the elders in his community, who discouraged him from continuing. After much deliberation, Blakeman opted for life in the wide world with his instrument over the prospect of life in the peaceful community of New Lebanon without it. Babbitt, an equally creative soul, made her contribution to the industrial revolution with the invention of the circular saw in 1810. In this piece, a pair of electric skis (monochords built from skis) are laid flat and bowed using another pair of skis. In Memoriam Elisha Blakeman & Tabitha Babbit was performed live in the studio by Ed Osborn and Brenda Hutchinson on electric skis.

Guitar Mechanical (1989-92)
In Guitar Mechanical, the function of a guitar pickup is doubled by making it the element that excites the strings as well as the device that transduces their vibrations. The pickups used here are encased in smooth, cylindrical metal containers so that they can serve as slides as well. The guitar is laid flat and played from above by holding one pickup in each hand. Complete stereo separation between the pickups is maintained throughout the piece. In other words, it is a piece in which pickups are picked up.

Stone North (2009)
Stone North is a piece for live electronics and tabletop guitar in which tones generated from the guitar using an EBow and slide are processed and delayed to build a shifting bed of sound that slowly evolves over time. Close attention is paid to the texture and contours of these sounds, so that a distinct audio microworld is moved through in each section of the piece. By using extended techniques on the guitar in combination with the sound processing, a personal and idiosyncratic sound palette is produced, one that encourages deep and detailed listening. The piece was recorded in one take of a live performance, with no editing and only minimal volume adjustments made to the recording.

Ed Osborn {Stone North}

Have you ever cupped a frog in your hands and marveled at its aliveness or melted into a quietude so dense with possibility, perhaps just before sleep, that each small sound entered you like a welcome weight? Unless you are a child or a poet, it may have been a while since you experienced the world so openly. Be grateful for shamans like Laura Cetilia who stand ready to remind us of what it is to be fully alive. In Used, Broken & Unwanted, named after a pawn shop sign she once saw, Cetilia uses real-time sounds, namely cello, autoharp, voice and electronics, to wake us up to the pulse of the universe.

This is not music for the impatient. Or maybe it is exactly the long, deep breath we impatient hurriers and doers don't know we need until we exhale in relief. Cetilia, a classically trained cellist, is uninterested in smothering us with romantic sonority, although she could do that too if she wanted to. Instead, we get sounds like that of a zipper being pulled, of mysterious insects rubbing their wings together, of metallic pings, of between-stations radio static and in one startling moment, of something that sounds like a car accident. We also hear fluttering flags, rippling water, sudden surges of swelling strings and her gorgeous, ethereal voice, which she declines to attach to something as obvious as words. In true shaman fashion, she follows sound where it takes her. The results are not pretty, predictable or comfortable, any more than a frog in your cupped hands is. But they are beautiful and true. Like poems, her improvised pieces shock you into the present moment. Sit down in a quiet space and listen from beginning to end. You will feel more human for it.

Used, Broken & Unwanted is available in a in a letterpress printed / hand numbered edition of 200 carefully crafted releases.

Laura Cetilia {Used, Broken & Unwanted}

Irradiance is comprised of material that was originally generated for an immersive installation/performance space with ten channels of sound spreading a moody delusion involving planetary/solar magnetic lines of force, antique hot air filling rooms through the patterns of decorative iron grates, late evening decrepit pump organ sessions, and real-time-processed scraps of percussion. Layers of synthesized, acoustic, and hand-held surreptitiously acquired sounds made their way in and out of the analog and digital domains, transforming, dissolving, and recombining until falling into their appropriate plateaus, constellations and configurations: through-composed solar rattling and reveries of rivers of subterranean solar magnetism.

Irradiance is available in a in a letterpress printed / hand numbered edition of 200 carefully crafted releases.

Blevin Blectum {Irradiance}

Estuary Ltd. is proud to present Stone North, internationally-renowned sound artist Ed Osborn’s first full-length album since 1989. For this album, Osborn — whose work is included in the permanent collection of SFMOMA and has been presented at ZKM (Karlsruhe, DE), Mass MoCA (North Adams, MA), the Sonic Arts Research Centre (Belfast, NI) and the singuhr-hörgalerie (Berlin, DE) — has culled together a collection of recordings made over twenty years of artistic practice. The works presented here include live recordings made using modified electric guitar, bowed “electric skis” and real-time processing. These recordings feature an idiosyncratic sound palette attained through extended technique and physical feedback with custom instruments, culminating in works that encourage deep and detailed listening. Stone North is the product of careful interaction with chaotic systems by a true master of his craft, resulting in a unique collection of recorded works that are both challenging and exhilarating. Mastered by Keith Souza and Seth Manchester at Machines with Magnets, Stone North is available in a in a letterpress printed / hand numbered edition of 300 carefully crafted releases featuring photography by the artist taken during a residency in the arctic circle.

In Memoriam Elisha Blakeman & Tabitha Babbitt (1992)
Elisha D’Alembert Blakeman and Tabitha Babbitt were members of the Shaker communities in New Lebanon, New York, and Harvard Massachusetts, respectively. Blakeman invented, among other things, a single-stringed tabletop instrument called the “piano violin,” which he patented in 1871. He used the instrument to proselytize and draw people in to the Shaker community. However, he ran into resistance in this activity from the elders in his community, who discouraged him from continuing. After much deliberation, Blakeman opted for life in the wide world with his instrument over the prospect of life in the peaceful community of New Lebanon without it. Babbitt, an equally creative soul, made her contribution to the industrial revolution with the invention of the circular saw in 1810. In this piece, a pair of electric skis (monochords built from skis) are laid flat and bowed using another pair of skis. In Memoriam Elisha Blakeman & Tabitha Babbit was performed live in the studio by Ed Osborn and Brenda Hutchinson on electric skis.

Guitar Mechanical (1989-92)
In Guitar Mechanical, the function of a guitar pickup is doubled by making it the element that excites the strings as well as the device that transduces their vibrations. The pickups used here are encased in smooth, cylindrical metal containers so that they can serve as slides as well. The guitar is laid flat and played from above by holding one pickup in each hand. Complete stereo separation between the pickups is maintained throughout the piece. In other words, it is a piece in which pickups are picked up.

Stone North (2009)
Stone North is a piece for live electronics and tabletop guitar in which tones generated from the guitar using an EBow and slide are processed and delayed to build a shifting bed of sound that slowly evolves over time. Close attention is paid to the texture and contours of these sounds, so that a distinct audio microworld is moved through in each section of the piece. By using extended techniques on the guitar in combination with the sound processing, a personal and idiosyncratic sound palette is produced, one that encourages deep and detailed listening. The piece was recorded in one take of a live performance, with no editing and only minimal volume adjustments made to the recording.

Stone North (Excerpt)

Guitar Mechanical (Excerpt)

In Memoriam Elisha Blakeman & Tabitha Babbitt (Excerpt)

Endless Bliss (Excerpt)

Thrum   Pin (Excerpt)

Used, Broken & Unwanted

Plucked From Obscurity (Excerpt)

Palpitations (Excerpt)

Presages Of Woe (Excerpt)

Incinerating Zeros (Excerpt)

Warm Machines (Excerpt)

Enfolded Embers (Excerpt)

Entombed Zeros

In 2003, Laura and Mark met for the first time at a performance by Steve Roden. All three collaborated four years later when Roden performed on their Ctrl+Alt+Repeat series, leading to a recording session in his painting studio and culminating in a track featured on Mem1’s +1 album (Interval Recordings, 2009). In 2012, Roden visited the Cetilias in their new home town of Providence, RI, where the three performed together and recorded additional material.

A Floating Wave of Air is comprised of the recordings made on these two occasions, and is available as a letterpress-printed, hand-numbered edition of 200.

The Uncertainties Of Movement VI (Excerpt)

The Uncertainties Of Movement V (Excerpt)

The Uncertainties Of Movement IV (Excerpt)

The Uncertainties Of Movement III (Excerpt)

The Uncertainties Of Movement II

The Uncertainties Of Movement I (Excerpt)

In 1952, John Cage wrote a piece called “Imaginary Landscape No. 5” for “any 42 phonograph records.” The piece consists of a graphical score and a series of instructions by which one may make a recorded work, including simple procedures such as the changing of records, silencing or allowing their playback, and making adjustments to levels from “soft” (1) to “loud” (8). The result of a series of chance operations made using the I Ching as a guide, the piece is at times frenetic, with as many as eight records playing within the span of a couple of seconds, and at other times sparse, with one or no records whatsoever playing.

The piece was made for a solo dance performance by Jean Erdman entitled “Portrait of a Lady,” and Cage‘s realization exclusively used jazz records, partly because he felt that the performance “had a character that suggested popular music” and partly to “come to terms” with jazz. Rather than trying (and failing) to repeat history by approximating Cage‘s realization of “Imaginary Landscape No. 5” using jazz records from the 1950s, “A Simple Procedure” features 42 uncompromising new works made specifically for this project by a broad spectrum of acclaimed performers and composers of experimental music and cut onto 7" records via a Presto 6N lathe recorder from the 1940s. The resulting records, transcribed using an antiquated technology whose makers could certainly never have foreseen such a (mis)use, speak honestly to the nature of their translation into the physical world, lying buried under layers of static in a way that harkens towards impossible histories or unlikely uses of time travel.

Estuary Ltd. is making each of these 42 recordings available in single editions on a first-come / first-serve basis (single copies were also made for each of the artists as well as the label‘s archives). All copies feature letterpress printed, die cut and hand numbered sleeves, as well as a realization of “Imaginary Landscape No. 5” on the B side, made by Mark Cetilia using custom software and the A sides of the 42 records themselves. The complete set of recordings, including “analog” and “digital” realizations of the piece (realized using the lathe cut records and digital files, accordingly), are also being made available as 2 CD set, in an edition of 200 copies featuring letterpress printed, die cut and hand numbered sleeves.

Noted composer Alvin Lucier once said “I don‘t think of technology as technology. I think of it as a landscape... and I‘m just responding to the landscape of my time.” Sixty-plus years after “Imaginary Landscape No. 5” was written, the musical landscape is indeed very different, in great part due to Cage‘s contributions. “A Simple Procedure” is a celebration of that legacy, and a re-imagining of the piece through the lens of contemporary musical practice.

“Imaginary Landscape No. 5”  © 1961 Henmar Press Inc.
Sole selling agents C.F. Peters Corporation.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

All other works © + ℗ 2015 courtesy of
contributing artists. All rights reserved.

Special thanks to Tyler Bisson at Audio Geography.

Christine Ödlund - Kvarken - Excerpt

Daniel Menche - Vashon Ice - Excerpt

Robert Donne & Stephen Vitiello - Withguitar2 - Excerpt

Rrose - Feedback Study No. 333 - Excerpt

Ido Govrin - French Beach - Excerpt

Amnon Wolman - Untitled (For M&L) - Excerpt

Andrea Pensado - Másaya - Excerpt

Ken Ueno - Fullimmobilizationinacuirasse - Excerpt

Gilles Aubry - What's In The Sky - Excerpt

Blevin Blectum & Ed Osborn - Limivorous - Excerpt

Estuary Ltd. is a label devoted to presenting work by performers and composers of new and experimental music. It is a place where fiercely unique music can exist, safe from the vast ocean of mediocrity and complacency that surrounds us. It is a refuge for true experimentalists, featuring individuals committed to their practice who are at ease with betweenness. Our focus is on genre-defying art, with a directive to offer a multifaceted array of visions and aesthetics. Estuary is a reservoir rich with ideas, nourished by the diversity of practice within the fields of contemporary music and sound art.

Estuary Ltd.

Pinned to spotlight

Popular tracks