Field Recordings from the Cook County Water Table

After the Internationals

Otto Luenig & Vladmir Ussachevsky
Tape Recorder Music
7CACKLP

One of the very earliest and most important examples of electronic tape music to be pressed on to vinyl (alongside the Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française musique concrète compilations in France and Jim Fassett’s comedic Strange To Your Ears novelty record) this privately pressed 1955 LP was released on a one-off label owned by businessman Gene Bruck to document a custom made performance at the New York Museum Of Modern Art back in 1952.  This facsimile edition of this important LP archives remastered versions of the first recorded unison of Otto Luening and Vladimir Ussachevsky and a partnership that founded the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center at Columbia University in 1959, which would later count Ilhan Mimaroglu, Wendy Carlos, Dariush Dolat Shahi and Alice Shields as its graduates.

The October 28th 1952 performance showcased the debut of the seminal Fantasy In Space based on resampled flute recordings which were manipulated on magnetic tape to create an otherworldly melodic composition, stylistically begging comparison with the early recording of Kraftwerk (made some twenty years later) and bringing a palatable and tuneful alternative to the stark avant garde experiments of their French counterparts.  The mechanical construction of the track was even "performed" on prime time American television to celebrate this groundbreaking approach to modern music.  Alongside four other tracks the full programme comprises further experiments with manipulated recordings of bells and woodwind instruments subjected to mechanical "augmentation, diminution and retrograding" to create pieces that "cannot be played with conventional instruments."  In the following years labels like Folkways and Desto would also plunder this important session as a milestone in electronic music.

For the purpose of this release Cacophonic have also included the seldom heard 14 minute track A Poem In Cycles And Bells For Tape Recorder And Orchestra which was recorded using the same techniques with the Royal Danish Radio Orchestra in 1956 and released via the Composers Recordings Inc. label founded by Otto himself in 1954 (employing Vladimir in an advisory capacity) and operated for forty-nine years - releasing records by Harry Partch, Alwin Nikolais, John Cage and Alice Shields.  Also included on this edition is an expansion of the rare 10" original artwork by legendary graphic designer Ronald Clyne, an early example of his work made before he became in-house designer for Folkways Records rivaling the likes of Blue Note's Reid Miles for some of America’s most iconic record sleeves.

Otto Luenig & Vladmir Ussachevsky - Sonic Contours

Masahiko Sato - Andy Warhol (Electric ver)

A rare remix by Stones Throw's Vex Ruffin of Anika's debut single, 'Yang Yang'.

Taken from Anika's self titled debut album, which was released on Invada UK and Stones Throw US in late 2010.

The track is a cover version of Yoko Ono's 'Yang Yang'.

All Rights Reserved 2011 Anika and Beak&gt;

YANG YANG (Vex Ruffin remix) MP3

BUY VINYL: http://www.darkentriesrecords.com/store/vinyl/deux-filles-silence-wisdom-double-happiness-2xlp/

The short, mysterious career of the female French duo Deux Filles is bookended by tragedy. Gemini Forque and Claudine Coule met as teenagers at a holiday pilgrimage to Lourdes, during which Coule's mother died of an incurable lung disease and Forque's mother was killed and her father paralyzed in an auto accident. The two teens bonded over their shared grief and worked through their bereavement with music. However, after recording two critically acclaimed albums and playing throughout Europe and North America, Forque and Coule disappeared without a trace in North Africa in 1984 during a trip to visit Algiers. The short and terribly unhappy lives of Forque and Coule are at the root of the small but fervent cult following the mysterious duo have gained since their disappearance, not least because the placid, largely instrumental music on the duo's albums betrays no hint of the sorrow that framed their personal lives.

This would be a terribly sad story if a word of it were true. In reality, Deux Filles were Simon Fisher Turner, former child star/teen idol and future soundtrack composer, and his mate Colin Lloyd Tucker. Turner and Tucker left an early incarnation of The The in 1981 to pursue another musical direction. Turner claims that the idea of Deux Filles came to him in a dream, and he and Tucker strictly maintained the fiction throughout the duo's career. Not only did they pose in drag for the album covers, the duo once even played live without the audience realizing that the tragic French girls on-stage were actually a pair of blokes from south London. Deux Filles released two albums through Turner and Tucker's Papier Mache label, 1982's “Silence & Wisdom” and 1983's “Double Happiness”. Both albums are included here and  blend watery piano, occasionally ghostly vocals, sheets of synthesizers, heavily processed guitars and the barest minimum of percussion. Drifting and wistful, they’re a pair of lost ambient gems from a time when the genre had yet to mature, an excellent example of post-Eno, pre-Orb ambient music.

All songs have been remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The vinyl comes housed in gatefold sleeve with original front covers of both albums, and a centerfold of archive images and the original liner notes.  Each LP includes a sticker of the Lino cuts by Adrian Gill that was included with the original pressing. “Like an early French film soundtrack with melodramatic overtones, the sound is jagged and disjointed but never harsh. Lilting guitars and ample use of echo smack of Vini Reilly, relying on the hypnotic qualities of the sound rather than abrasive noise" (Sounds, 03/1983)

01 Our English Friends

I fell in love with Coil’s music as a teenager in the 1980s. In the 1990s I put Coil’s “Nasa Arab” on a compilation I released called “Out There” and not long after that they remixed Chris & Cosey for a C&C remix compilation I released called “Twist”. 

In 2008, Domino Records invited Optimo to put together a compilation of music for them to release. I wanted to include Coil’s “A Cold Cell” and after approaching Peter Christopherson for permission to release it he suggested doing an exclusive remix for the compilation. How could I say no? The remix was titled “A Cold Cell In Bangkok”. It was glorious and many Coil fans as well as people who had previously never heard of them fell in love with it after hearing it on the “Sleepwalk” compilation. Over the years I have received many requests to make this available on vinyl. As Peter Christopherson and Jhonn Balance are no longer with us I felt I was unable to release it without their blessing, but after long consideration have decided to make it available. 100% off all profits made from this release will be donated to the Thai Children’s Trust. 

In the last years of his life, Peter Christoperson had made Thailand his home and fallen in love with the country and its people so I feel he would have approved of this use of funds generated by his music. “A Cold Cell In Bangkok” will be released on a single sided 12” single with a silk screened image on the other side lovingly designed by Lindsay Todd, the remarkable and acclaimed Scottish artist and runner of the Firecracker, Sacred Summits, Shevchenko and Unthank record labels. This record is dedicated to the memories of Jhonn Balance and Peter Christopherson whose music has brought so much joy and light into my life." JD Twitch, May 2017

Released on vinyl (and digital) on September 15th 2017. Distributed by Kompakt.

Optimo Music 038 - Coil - A Cold Cell In Bangkok 12" (clip)

Harmonia - Dino

Aaaah, so simple pure happy <3
One of my favorite tunes in the whole game, now on SC in its original form. 
Hope it doesn't get flagged for copyright or something :C

Update: So, ironically, the OTHER track I tried to upload, wherein I *didn't* think it necessary to wish out loud that it not be flagged, ended up getting flagged for copyright. Go figure.

Paavoharju - Musta katu

Tamer Abdo Mohamed