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)

To Whoever Shall Inherit the Earth

Tranquility

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

snf04 : giuseppe ielasi "even when they speak of space" out dec.15th 2017.

music for whistling, microphone and digital degradation. 
recorded in november 2016 and august 2017. 
to be played at low volume.

www.senufoeditions.com

snf04 : giuseppe ielasi "even when they speak of space" part 1

Re-mastered and issued by Incidental Music on vinyl for the first time ever. Ambienti Coassiali's Vol. 1 is a missing link in the world of 1980's Italian electronic music. A parallel project of Capricorni Pneumatici, Vol. 1 was conceived in and around Milan in the late '80s and released only on an incredibly limited cassette. Recorded solely with a Yamaha DX7 and two track Revox A77 tape machine, Vol. 1 is composed of 6 "rooms" (stanze), each their own world of meditative & ethereal FM synthesis. 
Vol. 1 also features collaborative contributions by Riccardo Sinigaglia.

Ambienti Coassiali - Room 5

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

Accident du Travail. We fell in love with their album on Trilogy Tapes and after a coincidental (or not) meeting in Brussels, our 29th release and first ever live album slowly took shape. Recorded in the mythical London Cafe OTO in 2016, the outfit of Julie Normal and Olivier Demeaux explores a beautiful path of arrhythmic music, subaquatic sounds and celestial zones.

[vlek29] - Accident du Travail - live at Cafe OTO
Julie Normal_ondes Martenot + Olivier Demeaux_harmonium & machines.
Cafe OTO, Londres, 2016
enregistrement. Adam Matschulat 
mastering. Fred Alstadt 
artwork. Takahiro Kurashima
remerciements. Will Bankhead , Abby Thomas , Jean-Charles , Hugo Sanchez,  Hiro Abe
distribution. Crevette

Out September 27th.
Pre-order: https://vlekrecords.bandcamp.com/album/vlek29-accident-du-travail-live-at-cafe-oto

Accident du Travail - Ouverture All'Inglese (taken from the upcoming [vlek29]: live at Cafe OTO)

https://madalynmerkey.bandcamp.com/album/oranges

🍊🍊 New Music 🍊🍊

Pitched Material

Holoid

_ph011 Jordan Christoff - Плаващ

From the split release with Hideki Umezawa "Two Views of Amami Ōshima". 
Full length album: https://andrewpekler.bandcamp.com/album/two-views-of-amami-shima
Limited edition LP via Edições CN: https://edicoescn.bandcamp.com/album/two-views-of-amami-oshima

Amami Remote Extension (Excerpt)

' .. son-ambient sculptures or creeping gas leaks, seeping out of speakers and into the atmosphere. '

_ph011 Jordan Christoff - Плаващ

Phinery

Recent comments

Frond

guandola

scav

Related tracks