FRAGMENT#9 features Ursula K. Le Guin and Todd Barton, The Orb, Selva del Mar, Groupshow, Elchiem Errifra, Tod Dockstader 

FRAGMENTS is conceived by Michele Ferrari in collaboration with Villa Lontana as a thirty minutes(circa) exploration into modern and traditional sounds with an emphasis on field recordings, electromagnetism, radio and shortwave transmissions. Through a monthly stream, channeled by Villa Lontana Records, the series shares a selection of vinyl, digital and recorded material from our archive exposing sound-based practices and music rituals along with tracks of historical and contemporary musicians. FRAGMENTS is an audio project inspired by all human and nature expressions and oriented towards a new adaptation of the present times.

FRAGMENT #9

Recorded in 1976 by Andreas Rodousakis on double-bass and the composer himself on the mixing desk of Radio Sweden Studio in Stockholm, En Pyri presents a previously unreleased version of Stephanos Vassiliadis's composition for tape and double-bass written in the memory of Jani Christou. En Pyri was composed three years after a multi-fatal car crash that caused the untimely deaths of Anastasia Vassiliadi (first wife of Stephanos Vassiliadis), Jani Christou (acclaimed composer, close friend and collaborator of Stephanos Vassiliadis) and of Christous’s wife Theresia Christou Choremi. The title En Pyri, translating as In Fire, comes from the First Epistle of the Corinthians “..for the day will disclose it, because it is revealed in fire..”, referring to that what remains after death, or in the composer’s words: “man’s song-creation is the only thing that can withstand and overcome destruction”.
The fire is clearly pictured during a particularly long climax starting midway to the end of the piece. The dramatic aspect of this spectrally dense section is even stronger during live shows, with the performer centre-stage fiercely playing double-bass, but failing to be heard over the full-range audio of the 8-track tape. This staged element of En Pyri is inevitably lost with the reproduction of this recording, but the audio alone carries a heavy load. Sounds as if written out of total need and almost physical necessity to deal with death and loss. At the end of the composition, while the performer is still onstage, a quiet tone is “revealed” and held for a few minutes signifying that what remains; that what is “revealed in fire”.
In most performances of En Pyri, Vassiliadis was on the mixing desk. According to statements of his close friends and collaborators, he would gradually increase the level of the 8-track tape to the point he could physically feel the sound on his body. Needless to say, playback of this track in maximum volume is highly recommended.

EN PYRI / BACCHAE

EN PYRI

Stephanos Vassiliadis - En Pyri

Bacchae was written for a production of Euripide’s tragedy The Bacchae directed [and choreographed] by the distinguished choreographer Zouzou Nikoloudi. This particular play was part of the University of California Intercampus Cultural Exchange Program and was never performed in Greece. From the 25th of September to the 3rd of October 1974, it was staged seven times in different campuses of the University of California (Santa
Barbara, Irvine, San Diego, Riverside, Davis, Santa Cruz, Berkeley) . These seven shows were to become the only occasions this composition was presented to the public.
Bacchae seems to be Vassiliadi’s first attempt in bringing together his background in electroacoustic music with the music he grew up to. He beautifully achieves this by juxtaposing modular synthesizer tones with samples of greek traditional music from his collection of archival recordings. These two elements ebb and flow throughout the composition, at times becoming indistinguishable from each other. The manner in which Vassiliadis mixes acoustic and synth drones together resembles electronic music of following decades. Developed gradually over a duration of 23 minutes of uninterrupted and texturally thick audio, Bacchae is a kind of proto-ambient, folk-drone electroacoustic piece, luckily rediscovered in the archipelago of recorded music.

BACCHAE

Stephanos Vassiliadis - Bacchae

Holotype Editions was founded as a means of bringing out music by some of the most unique and peculiar artists of the last decades. What could be more fitting for the imprint’s seventh release, than the duo of cult artist Ghédalia Tazartès and multi-instrumentalist, composer and singer Maya Dunietz.
Recorded live at Cafe Oto, in December 2013, Schulevy Maker documents the duo’s first live appearance. An amalgam of bizarre samples, concrete sounds, live piano and bells, juxtaposed with the otherworldly voices of Dunietz and Tazartès. At times light and humorous, at others dark and ritualistic, Schulevy Maker can hardly be labeled or tagged. The album title refers to Shoemaker-Levy 9, a disrupted comet that collided with Jupiter in July 1994. Tazartès and Dunietz freely reassembled the syllables of the comet’s name, coming up with this obscure title.
A truly life-affirming record, by two artists defying categorization, Schulevy Maker comes in a limited edition of 300 copies, pressed on black vinyl with a beautiful cover designed by We Are Still Bold and Beautiful.
http://www.mayadunietz.com 
http://julietippex.com/roster/ghedalia-tazartes/
Recorded live at Cafe Oto, London - December 2nd, 2013 by James Dunn Mixed by Daniel Meir
Mastered by Nikos Lavdas at Kiwi, Athens, 2017
Design by We Are Still Bold and Beautiful
Special thanks to:
Ilan Volkov, Stephen O'Malley, Hamish Dunbar, John Chantler, Noam Inbar

SCHULEVY MAKER

Ghedalia Tazartes + Maya Dunietz - Schulevy Maker (excerpts)

The next release is coming up in 2018 and features a very unknown band from Amsterdam. After searching for their whereabouts for a couple of years I managed to finally get contact. Thankfully the remaining artists of the band I have met have given approval and gave me the master tapes to get them remastered.

Deadline Paranoia - Shri(Ongehoord 2018)

Remastered from the original analog master tapes. First in the series of LP Boxets that documents the birth of Roland Kayn cybernetic music

Matrix (excerpt) - taken from Roland Kayn "Simultan" 3LP Box, Die Schachtel

Gwenifer Raymond tops off her astounding debut year with an Americana UK 'Best Instrumentalist' Nomination, a 'Best of 2018' nod from MOJO, and a rousing endorsement from ... Iggy Pop !

Her new seasonal single, The Three Deaths of Red Spectre, is out via every digital service, worldwide.

This song was originally born of this live scoring piece I did for a early 20th century silent film called ‘Red Spectre’, so it wasn’t from the outset designed as a Christmas song, but it does feel like a winter song to me. The opening is cold and spiky; it puts me in mind of dark nights and city light reflections on wet tarmac. Then it has these sort of changing seasons in the song, like windy rain and calm sweeping over in sequence. Then back to the start; with the lights all over again.

This time of year is my favourite, when it gets dark early and bitter cold outside; you need to have a hostile environment in the first place to have something to wrap up snug and cosy against. That’s kind of the whole point of a winter festival right? It’s essence is in the contrast.

-------------------------------------

Praise for Gwenifer Raymond's debut LP 'You Never Were Much of a Dancer'...

"A profound talent" - Guardian (5 stars)
"Stunningly confident...in full possession of its art" - UNCUT (8/10)
"An immersive debut" - Observer (4 stars)

CD/LP & vinyl 7" available at tompkinssquare.com

The Three Deaths Of Red Spectre by Gwenifer Raymond

Track 8 from the CD "Just Before Dawn" (AG10); pianist: Luca Miti; composer: Anna Guidi

Just Before Dawn

era tanto tempo che non mi succedeva

Luca Miti - "era tanto tempo che non mi succedeva" (Anna Guidi) (from "Just Before Dawn" AG10)

Soundohm is an international mailorder offering a large spectrum of Electronic and Avantgarde music of all types, out of print items, new editions and reissues

Matrix (excerpt) - taken from Roland Kayn "Simultan" 3LP Box, Die Schachtel

SOUNDOHM