Taken from the album 'Piano Muisc 1-7' released as LP, CD and digital.


Editions Mego is proud to welcome Powell to its roster with a bizarre and strangely emotive new LP of synthetic computer works entitled Piano Music 1-7.

Via his own Diagonal Records imprint, his work on XL Recordings and, most recently, the opening of audio/film platform A Folder [afolder.studio], Powell has firm footing in the contemporary electronic landscape. During a wry and obstinate musical life he has twisted myriad synthetic forms into shapes that explore and expand upon the districts of post-punk, techno, noise + computer music, and in the the last year alone he has released four albums of hi-def abstractions, each inspired by a formalisation of music proposed by Iannis Xenakis. 

As an extension of this intense period of work/research/play with stochastic functions [using probabilities to compose music], various processes emerged that Powell then began to apply to more traditional musical events. Where ordinarily in his work the probabilities and relationships are used to define parameters such as wave-shape, folding, FM, filter modes etc., he now began to use them to create musical formations and visual scores that could be played back using any software/MIDI instrument [one of these can be seen on the rear cover of the LP release]. While mapping out this cartography of relations, he used a basic Grand Steinway sampler as a placeholder instrument; the longer the process went on, though, the more he began to embrace the acoustic properties of the synthetic piano and make it the bedrock for this new constellation of work. 

Piano Music 1-7, subtitled ‘Music for Synthetic Piano and Assorted Electronics’, consists of seven different synthetic islands strung together into a single composition. All were composed using the aforementioned processes that allowed Powell to play a piano, even if he never learned to do so with his hands. After all, ’In writing electronic music,’ Robin Mackay once wrote, ‘you also have to direct the invention of new tools.’

At times the piano skips gleefully over shadowing synthesis, whilst at others the synthetic sheets swarm and envelope the keys. The interplay between the two create a fantastical alternate reality, a cosmic machine in which time is eroded, shrunk and expanded, like a wax upon which operations and relations are inscribed or engraved. Many of the pieces express a playfulness or optimism verging on vitalism, as bundles of piano notes dance and interpolate with a never-repeating range of electronic gestures. The feel is of a brightly coloured flower-bed in various stage of bloom. This interplay of the [artifical] acoustic and the electronic builds on the pioneering processes developed by David Behrman in works such as Leapday Night, and Piano Music 1-7 could also be posited as a modern take on Conlon Nancarrow’s investigations for player piano. Similarly, the razor-sharp sonic properties and unfolding of non-human events recall the computer works of Xenakis and the surgical precision of Mego mainstay Florian Hecker.

Recorded in late 2020, these new Powell works propose not just a bold and bright vision of electronic music but serve also as a map with which, for 35 minutes at least, we can navigate our way out of the current milieu. As the artist himself remarks in the sleeve-notes, ‘. . . What emerged from this fog or soup [for me] were ideas and processes that felt affirmative and life giving — sensations I had always hoped to convey in my music. Perhaps the optimism or positivity I felt at these musical events unfolding, these clusters and knots tumbling in different directions across time, can also be felt by you.’

Music for Synthetic Piano and Assorted Electronics

Composed and recorded by Powell, 2020
Mixed by Powell and Tobin Jones at The Park Studios, London
Mastered by Russell Haswell

Art direction by Guy Featherstone
Photography by John Cronin

Powell 'Piano Music #1' (EMEGO 301)

Convalescence

Sans Nuances - Alleviate IV

Solar Winds

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

MARIA W HORN, Epistasis, LP

Release date - Oct 25th 2019 
Catalogue nr. - HG1904
Format - Vinyl/digital

https://hallowground.bandcamp.com

Tracklist:
A1) Interlocked Cycles I 	(10:45)
A2) Epistasis 			(09:31)
B1) Konvektion 			(13:16)
B2) Interlocked Cycles II 	(09:46)

Credits:
All music composed, recorded and mixed by Maria W Horn
Linnea Hällqvist - violin
Knapp Brita Pettersson - violin
Maria Jonsson - viola
Natalia Goldmann - cello
Johanna Niederbacher - cello
Mats Erlandsson - electric guitar
David Granström - electric guitar
Johannes Landgren - organ 
Fredrik Lundqvist - organ

Mastering by Lawrence English
Design by Ruth Stofer

Promotion by Dense Promotion, ed@dense.de 
Distribution by Cargo Records and a-Musik
Released by Hallow Ground

///
Following the success of her 2018 solo debut album »Kontrapoetik,« the Swedish composer Maria W Horn returns with »Epistasis,« her most ambitious record to date. The title track, »Konvektion« and the two parts of »Interlocked Cycles« see the XKatedral co-founder explore radical approaches to composition that combine avantgarde methods with electronic means. While »Kontrapoetik« highlighted Horn’s strength as a conceptual and political artist, »Epistasis« is to be understood as an advanced statement by a forward-thinking composer who throughout four pieces channels her influences, ranging from black metal to minimal music, through state-of-the-art technology. 
Originally composed as an audiovisual piece for synchronised multichannel sound and lights and premiered in 2018 at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, »Interlocked Cycles« is a series of pieces exploring a gradual increase in tempo and density using various instruments. It was written to be performed by a computer-controlled upright Disklavier piano while the electronic part was generated within the Supercollider framework using phase modulation synthesis. Navigating between acoustic and electronic sounds, the two parts of »Interlocked Cycles« create a frame for the album by respectively serving as an introduction and coda to Horn’s musical exploration of the notions of authenticity and artificiality.
The nine and a half minute long title track was composed for an eight-voice double string quartet and draws on evolving progressions in F minor that were inspired by the sound and harmonic structures of early nineties doom and black metal music. During the performance of »Epistasis,« which was commissioned by Konstmusiksystrar and premiered by Malvakvartetten at Konserthuset in Stockholm 2018, four parts are played by the string quartet and four parts are played back electronically. Using various amplification techniques, the spectral characteristics of the string instruments are enhanced and distorted and were later on complemented by feedbacking electric guitar overdubs while mixing the piece. The result are densely layered drones that are most unsettling when they are the quietest and reveal their anthemic qualities in their most forceful moments.
The structure of »Konvektion« however takes its cues from a very different field of the musical world. The composition progresses in a way that was inspired by Arvo Pärt’s »Tintinnabuli« technique, where step-by-step diatonic movement interplays with triads to form a complex harmonic function that is still rooted in tonality. Based around four-note chords articulated as dyads and performed by two organists on the same instrument, the duration of each dyad is measured by the individual breaths of the two performers while pitches are predetermined in the score of the piece. The alternating breathing cycles of the performers slowly move the piece forward at a glacial pace. Simultaneously, an electronic part composed of interference tones creating high and low frequency beating patterns gradually unfolds, making »Konvektion« an exercise in minimalism that combines the subtle gravity of Phill Niblock’s work with the visceral theatrality of Anna von Hausswolff’s organ pieces.

-

Epistasis

MARIA W HORN - Epistasis (HG1904)

Limited compilation disco 12" - https://12thisle.bandcamp.com/album/v-a-inkosi

Out worldwide early October. Distribution by Rubadub

A1. Nikolaienko - April Echo
A2. Grim Lusk - The Man Is Out
A3. Cru Servers - Henge Salt Phrasal 
B1. Robert Bergman - Dream About You (Almost Every Night)
B2. Luar Domatrix - Koppa D

V/A - Inkosi (ISLE007.5)

From the upcoming album "Pavel Milyakov & Bendik Giske" out March 26th on Smalltown Supersound / Le Jazz Non .

Pavel Milyakov & Bendik Giske - Untitled 2

ORDER
Suction Shop: suction.shop
Suction Shop Europe: suction-eu.shop
Bandcamp: suctionrecords.bandcamp.com

Our Ice Machine sublabel is thrilled to present a new, deluxe reissue of “Pow Wow”, the debut 1982 solo LP from Cabaret Voltaire’s Stephen Mallinder. Now expanded to a double-LP, and also released on CD/digital, it’s a definitive reissue which now includes Mallinder’s early solo discography in its entirety. This collection of mutant dub/funk/postpunk sounds just as fresh and contemporary in 2020 as it did in 1982 (note Autechre’s inclusion of standout cut “Del Sol” in a mix earlier this year), and highlights Mallinder’s crucial contributions to Cabaret Voltaire.

Some words from Mr.Mallinder on the scene and era from which “Pow Wow” was born: “It was an interesting, and inspiring, time. The primal caterwaul of punk was dying and lots of really significant things were emerging from the fires. Much looser vibes were in the air and there was a much more exploratory feel. Punk had championed a visceral, anti-intellectual approach but in truth the real characters brought so much more to the table, and what began to happen - from people like The Pop Group to Throbbing Gristle, and emerging scenes from No New York to Factory Records - is we began to embrace the art of it all. There was acknowledgement of the importance of books, films, graphic art, and experimentation with all those mediums. We were just as interested in turning over rocks to see what lay beneath, as throwing them. There was a sense of new magik emerging.”

“Pow Wow” was commissioned by the Fetish Records label, and recorded at the Cabs’ Western Works studio, where Mallinder would spend his days recording with Cabaret Voltaire, and continue on alone into night recording his debut solo material. “I slept very little in those days,” he adds, continuing: “It was done on 8 track and very multi-tracked, so lots of recording, then bouncing, and overdubbing, to get the integrated feel of the tracks. I became very adept at pressing record then jumping onto equipment to play it - it was actually a very 'live' record in that sense. I've always seen rhythm at the core of what I do so I loved the layering of counter rhythms. The sequence/arpeggiator parts were all drum machine triggers that were played live. It was about creating a distinct groove so arrangements came from weaving in and out of those linear grooves. It was fun to play everything from drums, guitars, keys, trumpet, percussion, tapes… and record and produce it all. Prince got it from me!”

Surprisingly, Mallinder’s first solo LP would also prove to be his last - that is, until last year’s critically-acclaimed solo return “Um Dada”, on Dais.

This new edition of “Pow Wow” contains 14 songs, and is housed in a recreation of the original, iconic Neville Brody jacket, painstakingly recreated using scans of Brody’s original artwork elements. The 2LP vinyl edition (with the direct-order-exclusive BABY-BLUE-VINYL edition limited to 300 copies) is in a reverse board, thick-spine jacket, and adds a 12”x24” folded poster/insert, featuring unused elements from Brody’s original designs, sketches, and instructions for the LP. The CD edition comes in a reverse board, 6-panel digipack.

Tracklisting:

1 - Cool Down (edit)
2 - The Devil In Me
3 - 0-58
4 - Pow-Wow
5 - Three Piece Swing
6 - 1-20
7 - 1-37
8 - In Smoke
9 - 1-59
10 - Length Of Time
11 - Going Out
12 - Del Sol
13 - Temperature Drop
14 - Cool Down

2-11 from the Pow-Wow LP on Fetish Records, 1982.
13-14 from the Temperature Drop / Cool Down 12” on Fetish Records, 1981.
12 from the Fetish Records compilation The Last Testament, 1983.
1 edit from the Pow-Wow Plus LP on Fetish Records (Japanese pressing), 1984.

Stephen Mallinder - "Cool Down (Edit)" (iMach004)

Taken from the album On Feather and Wire released as Vinyl and Digital.

Rivet 'Mag Mich' (EMEGO 293)

Just before 2020 comes to an end, Berlin-based artist @leozylberberg graces this crazy (!) year  with an oddball of a track: “Sheshells” is a total earworm and at the same time a bit off, maybe. It’s chill, it’s haunted, and it might be the most appropriate end to 2020 one can imagine. “Despite its imperfections, it feels like some sort of antidote to something,” as the Australian artist puts it herself.

Sheshells is published as a digital single. It features an artwork from Paris-based graphic designer and art director Olga Prader’s Ftantasy series. The track is Präsens Editionen’s fourth audio release in 2020, following music by Remo Helfenstein, @samuelreinhard , and @damexlove , that is ranging from gospel and dark ambient-informed lullabies to proper sad-boy-reggaeton-heat.

Zylberberg is a mainstay at @sameheads , Berlin’s most infamous pub / fashion store / club / art space / what not. In 2017, she came to attention with a split tape realized with the wonderful Belia Winnewisser. Earlier this year, the Australian artist published Greatestings on @noisekoelln , a label that came back to life just for this highly limited 10” after a four-year period of inactivity. Zylberberg is part of Balance Crew alongside partner in crime @dane-close .

Sheshells

Buy the Track

L.Zylberberg - Sheshells (PE-022)

off-key cover of I`m so tired* by Fugazi

``out here, I can barely breathe,
surrounded by jealousy and greed.
I can`t be reached, only had one call,
trapped underneath, separate from you all.

this time i lost my return,
in spite of what i learned.
I hid my tracks, spit out all my air,
slipped into cracks, stripped of all my cares.

I`m so tired. sheep are counting me.
no more struggle, no more energy,
no more patient, you can write that down.
it`s all too crazy. I won`t stick around.``

*with slight lyrics adjustments, because of dyslexia, speech impediment and because why not;


**I was too tired to rerecord so just added another layer that was done with both the volca and vocoder set in slightly different pitches, hence it`s extremely off-key, but kinda fun in a way somehow imh0

my nye mantra (recording of a live performance for my cat from my couch)

HALLOW GROUND 
is a platform for Music and Art that leads to Visions.

It was established in Lucerne/Switzerland by a group of individualists, idealists and first of all artists. We act as publishers, hosts and performers.

www.hallowground.com

MARIA W HORN - Epistasis (HG1904)

Hallow Ground

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