Synth Playlist

Cassette available from Imprec.com 

Vertical is Caterina Barbieri's debut album, composed for vocals and Buchla 200 modular synthesizer.

Vertical takes a meditative approach to primary waveforms and the polyrhythm of harmonics, stretching the boundaries between drone, minimalism and techno in multichannel systems. This minimalistic focus arises from the polyrhythmic and stratigraphic potential of voltage-controlled sequencers.

Synthesis, drone and immersive listening are three fundamental conditions to enhance an advanced auditory art, not based on extrinsic links, but solely built on the experience of the spectrum, able to develop our very limited ability of perceiving the vertical domain of music, involving us in a holistic way. Caterina Barbieri is a composer and performer of electro-acoustic music. Mostly interested in modular synthesis, three-dimensional spatialisation and psychoacoustic aural sculpture, her music arises from a meditative approach to primary waveforms and the polyrhythm of harmonics..

She received her degree in classical guitar and electro-acoustic music at the Conservatory of Bologna, Italy (plus an exchange program at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, Sweden) with a thesis about time, space and spectrum in vertical music. She's currently pursuing a bachelors in Literature and she's active as audiovisual artist, acousmatic composer and guitarist. Her work has been commissioned and performed in festivals and experimental music venues

Vertical

Caterina Barbieri - Undular - from Vertical - Pre-Order Now

"The Days Long" from Duane Pitre's new solo album "Omniscient Voices" - Out Nov 19th, 2021 on IMPREC.

Pre-order available via Imprec.com

Duane Pitre returns to Imprec with Omniscient Voices, an articulate, intense and emotionally resonant set of five pieces for justly tuned piano and electronics.

Omniscient Voices is a uniquely distinct work that follows Pitre's trilogy of releases which culminated with 2015’s Bayou Electric and included the critically acclaimed Feel Free (2012) and Bridges (2013) albums. Where those albums were rooted in long form pieces, Omniscient Voices is a collection of shorter pieces, offering more harmonic variety than previous works, with a unique sound and feel that is still unmistakably the work of Duane Pitre.

In 2019, after a five year period where Pitre did not focus on outward facing music, but instead on his own personal practice, a small idea in the form of a question came to him: would the combination of his latest computer- and electronic-based experiments, used in conjunction with justly tuned piano, produce interesting results; simply put, would it “work”? Concurrently, Pitre was studying a handful of Morton Feldman scores for their focus on tonal clusters, reading a book on Arvo Pärt’s life and work, and contemplating the pulse-based rhythms of Steve Reich and Phillip Glass.

In 2020, with no intention of making a new album, the composer tried to answer this question. The results would spawn five pieces that would become Omniscient Voices. On this new work, Pitre finds himself giving equal priority to both piano and electronics, utilizing his Max/MSP-based generative network to real-time convert precomposed piano motifs, into data, which is then used to communicate with two polyphonic, microtonal hardware synthesizers whose patches Pitre authored; this process generates the electronic component of the album. Pitre also utilizes controlled improvisation to interact with the piano-reactive electronics in a spontaneous and inspired manner, going back and forth between these two pianistic approaches. In all, this approach creates a “musical feedback loop” of sorts.

Despite Omniscient Voices being the culmination of 15 years of hard work and inspiration, this beautiful album somehow materialized in a natural, intuitive and effortless way (like any artist's best work.)

Mastered and cut by Golden and pressed at RTI for maximum fidelity.

Artist's statement:
“When making the pieces that would become Omniscient Voices, I often viewed the piano as human action, a single note becoming a single gesture that has the potential to change the electronic environment, the electronics becoming the environment surrounding that human in the natural world, who then has the power to change their actions based on their surroundings. All actions have consequences. The interconnectedness of everything. Single actions making waves of change.”

RIYL: Arvo Pärt, Morton Feldman, Steve Reich, Phillip Glass

Duane Pitre - The Days Long - from Omniscient Voices - Pre-Order Available

Pre-order now available directly from Imprec.com

Tony Rolando's debut release Old Cool Echoes is the kind of tape you flip over and play again and again. His second release, an LP for Important titled Breakin' Is A Memory, will be available in early 2022. A CD titled Shared System will follow.

Imagine if you wished away your surroundings and found yourself in a synthetic landscape where the simplest three color pattern animated an entire horizon. If you could suppress your memory enough to experience the new beauty of it, but not so much that you lost the pieces of yourself that make life worth living, this could be your soundtrack.

For more than a decade, Tony Rolando has composed electricity into musical instruments at Make Noise. When he collaborated with Alessandro Cortini in 2019 to create the Strega instrument, the experience rekindled Tony's love of composing and recording music. On "Old Cool Echoes," Tony follows mutating patterns and slow timbral gradients, allowing them to suggest composition as much as he does, occasionally exploring digital media catacombs and dabbling in the microtonal, all with minimal percussion interruption.


Written and Recorded: December 2020 @ Goldenechos Studios
Mixed: April 2021 @ Goldenechos Studios
Mastered: Joshua Eustis
Cover Art: John Brien
All music © suicide sound songs

Tony Rolando - Sunset Pink At Sunrise - from Old Cool Echoes tape

Tape available via IMPREC.com

Lost amongst the overhyped hustle of the holidays is this quiet, intense and deeply personal new collection from Lambda Sond. Available on digital compact disc and analog cassette tape. 

Waglands 1921 exists in a vacuum somewhere between Pauline Oliveros, spiritual jazz, analog drone & heavy new age. Unlike the first two Lambda Sond cassettes on the Cassauna label, (2011’s Chronological Compression & 2014’s Chronological Compression II) this work is characterized by unrepeated melodies, unforgettably understated harmonies, timeless drones and feelings made musical. 

This poetic music contains vignettes of emotion, memory and melancholy that are as uplifting, hopeful and grounding as a deep breath. Waglands 1921 exists at the verge of inspiration where hesitation is withheld and truths are articulated once but felt forever.

Waglands 1921 is Lambda Sond’s first recording for IMPREC and their self titled album will be available in 2022.

Lambda Sond - Waglands 1921 - Tape - PRE-ORDER AVAILABLE

order now from imprec.com 

composed and mixed by Alexandre Bazin

« Percussion-Resonance » :

This new record of both minimal and experimental electronic music is a Piece that is separated into several movements for the purpose of stronger narrative and aesthetic coherence.
The album explores the concept of percussion / resonance through the spectrum of electronic frequencies and densities with a plunge into the sound.« Percussion-Resonance » makes use of a new alphabet, a simple vocabulary in order to create innovative and personal music, with a clear and emotional subject. Structured architectural sequences give way to the experimental. Different climaxes punctuate the work in order to keep grabbing the listener’s attention. The record title tackle the theme of musique concrète developed by French composer Pierre Schaeffer as well a nod to Bernard Parmegiani’s De Natura Sonorum. Music for Buchla Music Easel, EMS Synthi, Eurorack Mutable Instruments, resonances sound textures.

Alexandre Bazin :

Is a member of the Groupe de Recherches Musicales better known as the GRM, for which he writes documentaries about music for Radio France. He is passionate about experimental music and more specifically the electronic music created by Bernard Parmegiani, Iannis Xenakis, Pan Sonic, Fennesz, Alva Noto and Ryoji Ikeda. His music is distributed by Important Records / Cassauna, Umor Rex Records and played at the Moogfest festival in the USA.

Alexandre Bazin 2 PERCUSSION - RESONANCE II - Cassette Tape

Tony Rolando's debut "Breakin' Is A Memory" could be your soundtrack. This worldbuilding album of electronic music leaves room for the listener to make big personal connections through subtly complex music resembling a sonic mobile which, as it spins, reveals new forms and colors.  

 This is a collection of very human music with a deceptive simplicity and relaxed intensity. The listener gets the feeling that only the instrument designer could play with such flexible expression, unencumbered by the electronic element. These is cleverly assembled music that you want to flip over and play again, like Rolando's recent cassette on Imprec's Cassauna label.

As with all Imprec vinyl releases, great care has been taken to ensure that this is a high quality pressing with low noise floor and loads of sonic detail.   

On "Breakin' is a Memory" Tony Rolando invites the listener on tiny adventures questing insignificant treasures. Minimal percussion only suggests rhythm, allowing your mind to wander the crystalline lattices Tony weaves from handfuls of simple arpeggios. Soft analog bass frequencies make your travels more comfortable and the Strega instrument, a recurring recognizable character, is there to lead when you are too lost. The pace of "Breakin' is a Memory" oscillates from restless roadway motion to meditative exploration. The record closes with a celebratory decimation of the graphic memories of these tiny adventures. Play it again to rekindle them.

For more than a decade, Tony Rolando has composed electricity into musical instruments at Make Noise. When he collaborated with Alessandro Cortini in 2019 to create the Strega instrument, the experience rekindled Tony's love of composing and recording music. In 2021 he released "Old Cool Echoes" with IMPORTANT Records/ Cassauna. A third release of music composed entirely for the Shared System instrument he designed will follow later this year. 


RIYL: Early OPN, Alessandro Cortini, Caterina Barbieri, Tangerine Dream

Tony Rolando - Running Toward An Edge from Breakin' Is A Memory - LP - Available Now

Three 80's reissue cassettes from J D Emmanuel available now via Imprec.com

Since the late 70's J D Emmanuel has been making minimal, meditative electronic "new age" music inspired by his extensive background in spiritual/metaphysical studies and the classical minimalism of Reich/Glass/Riley et. al. 

Emmanuel's work was rediscovered in the 2000's bringing his compositions to a new audience.

Wizards, Rain Forest Music, Ancient Minimal Meditations

J D Emmanuel Mix - 80's Private Press New Age - Tapes Available Now

available via IMPREC.com
release date: 12.9.22

Tony Rolando "Shared System" - tape - available: 12.9.22

2018 repress now available. 

Excerpts from the powerful new double LP from Caterina Barbieri comprised of compositions for analog synthesizer. Highly recommended to fans of Alessandro Cortini & Eleh. 

"Patterns Of Consciousness finds Caterina Barbieri at her best, elegantly moving between melodically pleasant yet twisted sequences and comforting, reassuring sonic spaces. Every piece, while given a singular identity, is part of the bigger picture: a work of art that will push you, pull you, and then eventually leave you with your back against the wall once you get to the last track. " Alessandro Cortini (Nine Inch Nails)

Patterns Of Consciousness

Caterina Barbieri - Patterns Of Consciousness - Album excerpts - 2LP April1 2017

Caterina Barbieri - This Causes Consciousness To Fracture - from Patterns Of Consciousness LP

Pre-orders available now via Imprec.com

Home Age is the first proper Eleh full length since 2012's Homage To The Pointed Waveforms. Packaged in a deluxe gold on black heavy duty letterpress jacket made by Studio On Fire in Minneapolis. Edition of 500. Also available simultaneously is a new split LP between Eleh & Christina Kubisch.

These three new pieces seek to expose the inherent musicality of pure electrical currents via high resolution Serge STS synthesizers. Like early Eleh work, Home Age is inward looking and deliberate but also slowly emotional and revealing as if peering blurry eyed through a window. Melody, harmony and counterpoint are suggested but not revealed.

Home Age

Eleh - Home Age - Album Mix - Available Nov. 17, 2017

"One of electronic music's most interesting new voices." FACT

"Born Again In The Voltage" is an astonishing collection of electro-acoustic pieces for Buchla 200 system, cello and voice composed and produced by Caterina Barbieri at Elektronmusikstudion (SE) between 2014 and 2015.

Virtual Fundament

Caterina Barbieri - How To Decode An Illusion - LP Available Aug 10, 2018

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

The final Shasta Cults release of the season comes your way this November on Important Records vinyl and digital.  This audiophile release was manufactured at RTI and cut by John Golden. The package looks as good as it sounds with artwork by IMPREC and is presented in limited edition clear and standard black vinyl editions.

Shasta Cults is the musical project of Canadian electronics technician Richard Smith.  For almost two decades, Smith was the official Buchla & Associates go-to repair person for studios, collectors, and musicians around the world, having worked with artists like Aphex Twin, Suzanne Ciani, Mort Subotnick and institutions like NYU, The Library of Congress and Mills College in Oakland, Ca.

Shasta Cults - Incline - from self titled LP

This split release between ELEH and NYZ (David Burraston) is packaged in a heavy duty sleeve printed on both sides of the packaging and utilizing metallic inks. This is a first edition of 500 copies and a brand new full length from NYZ is being released at the same time via Important Records.

ELEH: This side is possibly the artist's most complicated electronic composition. It navigates myriad timbral, tuning and temporal processes while winding itself to completion. It was composed/constructed over a period of months in early 2019.

NYZ: Two crunchy microtonal drone meditations in mono, using techniques of digital FM and hybrid analogue/digital modular synthesis. FM60P::fbk1#03 is from a number of sessions recorded on my very battered SY99 recorded from 2013 to 2014. As the name suggests, this particular session revolved around using feedback in the FM algorithm. EML DRNPi was recorded as part of the 2015 Plum Island Sessions where I had a host of synths on loan from John Brien at Important Records. For this recording I used the EML ElectroComp 101 and my own 4 voice digital microtonal oscillator running a Lambdoma Matrix to make a hybrid analogue/digital system.

ELEH _FNKHSR_ from ELEH/NYZ Split LP - PRE-ORDER NOW AVAILABLE

Pre-orders available now via imprec.com 
ELEH's Harmonic Twins is a slow moving monophony tuned to the overtone vocalizations generated by a particularly beautiful sound sculpture made by Harry Bertoia.

These two pieces are inspired by early music, choral masses, motets, the cathedral reverberations of sacred geometry and deep bass. Harmonic Twins was originally debuted by ELEH at Unsound, Krakow in 2017. 

An optimal listening environment is recommended in order to experience the low frequencies of Harmonic Twins.

ELEH "Twins" From Harmonic Twins LP

Pre-Order via Imprec.com or eleh.bandcamp.com 
Will ship for a July 3 release date
Each tape purchase comes with a digital download

Recorded 2015 - 2019
Mixed March - May 2020

Three introspective compositions full of contemplative, emotional ambiguity and time stopping focus. Side B contains the full program backwards.

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.

ELEH - VIII - From Home Age III Cassette - Pre-Order Available

Pre-order availabe now via Imprec.com
Cassette edition of 100 via Cassauna/Imprec

ALEXANDRE BAZIN​ is a member of the ​Groupe de Recherches Musicales​, better known as the GRM, for which he writes documentaries about music for the radio. He is passionate about experimental music and more specifically acousmatic music created by members of the GRM, such as Bernard Parmegiani, Francois Bayle and Guy Reibel. Due to his background as a classical and jazz pianist, Alexandre Bazin is also passionate about instrumental music by the likes of Steve Reich, Erik Satie, Brian Eno ... This album attempts to synthesize these two worlds that are so dear to the composer, either in symbiosis or in opposition to one another with simple and loose melodies as its main theme. The use of analog synthesizers and acoustic sounds are at the heart of the composer's creative process. His music has already been heard thanks to Umor Rex Records in Mexico and the Moogfest festival in the USA.

OCEANS :

"Oceans" ​was written for Marimba, Piano and Buchla Music Easel, in 4 movements around the theme of the Ocean. Simple and loose melodies, played on piano and Buchla. They rotate around the marimba which evokes breathing and the rhythm of the swell. Suspended melodies reminiscent of Generative music although in this case they are an improvisation around a simple motif. Through its title and movements, this work evokes a reflection around climate change and our relationship to Oceans: water, breathing, the repetition of movement, but also its immensity which reminds us of our limits. The piece was performed by Alexandre Bazin on Piano, Buchla Music Easel and Marimba as well as Gabriel Benlolo on Marimba, a member of the Radio France Philharmonic orchestra.

Alexandre Bazin  -  Underwater (Part 4) From Oceans/Dream - Land - Cassette

Ned Lagin's Seastones is a pioneering electronic composition interweaving metaphors from nature, science, art and music and the origins of music. Reflecting the technology, science, modern art, new ecological awareness and optimism of the times and culture, Seastones embodies the history of electronic music by taking full advantage of tape music, analog synthesizers and computer technology to create pieces that are dynamic, rich and deep.

Originally released by the Grateful Dead's Round Records in 1975, Seastones' reputation as a gem of electronic music was further enhanced by the celebrity of the musicians who contributed to the source material. Seastones musicians include Ned Lagin (processed piano, clavichord, organ, prepared piano, electric piano, synthesizers), Jerry Garcia (processed electric guitar, pedal steel guitar, voice), Phil Lesh (processed electric bass), David Crosby processed electric guitar and vocals), Grace Slick and David Freiberg (processed vocals), and Mickey Hart and Spencer Dryden (percussion).

This new LP presents two crafted Seastones sets (Sets 4 and 5, 18 tracks) drawn from the entire Seastones composition and contains gorgeous extended processed vocals by Garcia, Crosby, Slick and Freiberg, and beautiful abstract instrumental passages by Lagin and all.

Ned Lagin - Seastones - Seastones 03 - LP available Nov. 3, 2020

Alina Kalancea's Impedance is available on CD and audiophile-quality double vinyl cut by Golden Mastering and pressed at RTI. Both CD and 2LP are packaged in a deluxe, heavy duty tip-on gatefold sleeves printed by Stoughton. 

Highly recommended to fans of Eleh,  Caterina Barbieri, Shasta Cults, Jessica Ekomane, Eliane Radigue and Alessandro Cortini. 

Impedance, an entirely instrumental album spanning 4 sides, contains powerful rhythmic sequences, heart beating frequencies and hypnotic loops that are paradoxically encapsulated in carefully crafted compositions which are full of secret passages and hidden doors. Kalancea's work creates ungraspable sonic experiences, which take us over, immersing us in powerful and mind altering soundscapes. 

There's no quick payoff on Impedance. This is the sound of new, patient electronic music full of depth and substance. 

Alina Kalancea is a Romanian sound artist and composer based in Modena, Italy. She has studied sound design and synthesis with Enrico Cosimi and collaborated with producer Alex Gamez, and artists Julia Kent and Raven Bush.