Dense Promotion News

Aufgenommen wurde Allrohs (aka ANNE ROLFS) erste reguläre full length CD HAG DEC von ihrem Fan und Förderer STEVE ALBINI im Dezember 2008 in dessen Chicagoer Electrical Audio Studio. Im Frühjahr desselben Jahres, zeitgleich mit der Veröffentlichung ihres Erstlingswerks, der EP NYM, war Allroh mit Albinis Band Shellac auf Europatournee.

Auf HAG DEC, wie auch auf ihren Konzerten spielt Allroh alles solo. Sie benutzt keinerlei Effektgeräte, auf den 14 Stücken findet sich kein Overdub.

Anne Rolfs ist in Rostock aufgewachsen und hat bereits als Kind angefangen Gitarrenunterricht zu nehmen. Sie studierte Klassik- und Jazzgitarre und hatte auch Kontakt zur Free Jazz Szene der DDR (u.a. Peter Brötzmann).

Nach dem Mauerfall zog sie nach Berlin und gründete Anfang der 90er das Trio Wuhling. Die erste Wuhling Single war gleichzeitig die erste Veröffentlichung des Kitty Yo Labels. Wuhling brachte zwei vielbeachtete Alben heraus: Extra 6 (1996, Touch & Go), ebenfalls aufgenommen von Steve Albini und Spacebeige (1997, City Slang). 1998 löste sich die Band auf.

Vom 12.-28. September und im März 2010 ist Allroh auf Deutschland Tournee zusammen mit dem Brooklyner Hardcore Improv-Jazz Duo TALIBAM!

In the fall of 2007, around Apse’s 8th year as a band, MICHAEL GUNDLACH and founding member BOBBY relocated to the quiet shores of outer Cape Cod, Massachusetts and began living in virtual isolation. A few months into the move and for various reasons the 2 brooklyn based members of the band were no longer in the picture, leaving only Bobby, Michael and their faithful touring bass player / contributing member JOHN MORDECAL, living 4 hours away.

Together Bobby and Michael found multi-instrumentalist JED ARMOUR who joined the band and introduced them to drummer BRANDON COLLINS. Both of them highly talented musicians and long time residents of the cape, the addition of these two members greatly impacted the creative capabilities of the band as well as Bobby and Michael’s understanding of – and integration into the year ‘round life in the band’s new home.

After rigorous preparation with the new members rehearsing for an already-booked 6 week European tour that saw them performing at ATP Vs. Pitchfork and several other noteworthy dates across Europe the band returned to Cape Cod and began writing a new album. In August of 2008 during the early stages of the writing process, All Tomorrow’s Parties reissued the band’s 2006 Spirit to warm critical reception. Labeled as a post-rock record by some, a genre-splicing giant to others, Spin Magazine’s Kenny Herzog likely put it best: “Spirit is the deathnail for the labored beast that is “post-rock,” revealing the much more alluring potential that always lurked around its sinister corners.”

Since making Spirit – originally completed in 2006 and after releasing a number of smaller albums both before and after the ATP reissue, the band found itself ready to take on its next major endeavor. Just as a director might make respective films – changing subject matter, approach and format for each – the band was inspired to explore new means of composition, songwriting and production. Its range of members were influenced from a diverse array of art and music, life experience, fiction – and were unanimously uninfluenced by their surroundings – as there were little social distractions or creative camaraderies to be had.

The bulk of this writing process then took place between the fall of 2008 and the spring of 2009. Forging the album through long days and nights in the quiet beauty of the winter months on outer Cape Cod. The record that’s come out of it, entitled Climb Up is undoubtedly a reflection of the very process that made it – tying into the creative methods as well as the story of the lives of the band’s members as they crafted the album.

Climb Up was recorded entirely by the band in their homes. The bulk of the arrangements and mixing were authored by Bobby Jed and Michael. Drawing from a mixture of existing demos that were turned into working songs as well as full-band improvised live recordings that Bobby cut up and formed into song structures, overdubbing effects and vocals on top of them – the band ultimately chose and honed in on a final cut of 12 tracks, culled from a larger body of work.

The ever-changing obtuse creative strategies of Bobby and Michael, paired with the adept musical knowledge and performance abilities of Jed and Brandon – and the diverse inspirations of all members combined to create an album that bares a fantastic dialogue between imagination and songcraft. Climb Up is wildly unique, versatile, and inarguably the bravest yet most accessible work by the band.

The record is a major departure from the band’s most notable predecessor, Spirit – which was completed 4 years prior. Where Spirit explored a dark world of reverberant guitars, ambient passages, and minimal, haunting vocals, Climb Up proves a bold step out of that darkness. The intricacies of this new world are depicted as if staggering from the world of Spirit into a very different, more illuminated place.

Not to mention its packed with more grooves, a greater use of electronics, a range of instruments both modern and classical and – notably – a much stronger emphasis on voices and melodies.

Climb Up is dense, innovative, cinematic. Apse draw from a colourful palette of different genres, techniques, instruments and approaches – and with that have made what is likely to be one of the most curious, and probably largely unexpected albums of the year. Listen, and be immersed.

All titles written by Bruce Gilbert
Mastered @ Haswell Studio, Suffolk

Design by David Coppenhall
Images: front: Bruce Gilbert, inner: David Coppenhall

Editions Mego is very pleased to announce the release of a new album by Bruce Gilbert, whose career stretches back to late 1960’s British avant garde art & music scenes, and has since played an important and influential role with his involvement in various rock based formations, work for choreographic projects and art installations.

Oblivio Agitatum is Gilbert’s first album length release since Ordier (realised 1996 and released in 2004), essentially making this his first album of the 21st century. A startling and mesmerizing work which recalls some of his mid 1980’s works such as This Way and Shivering Man. An ever shifting set of agitated and obscure tones creating a sense of confusion while still being highly structured and concentrated.

A stunning return.

The first release from Andy Moor and Colin MacLean since they disbanded Dog Faced Hermans 13 years ago. A collection of ‘live’ recordings of improvisiations over a period of three years in collabortion with several dancers that took place in Amsterdam at OT 301. Andy’s unmistakable guitar blended with live sampling and electronics from Colin, creating a dark filmic atmosphere.

“Since the early years of video art, works have been made which do not actually produce a standard TV signal waveform and therefore cannot be directly recorded. Some are based primarily upon magnetic distortion of the normal TV scan pattern, others utilise a Cathode Ray Tube as if it were an oscilloscope screen.”

Gert-Jan Prins and Bas van Koolwijk’s Synchronator project continues a lineage of experimentation originally embarked upon by the likes of Nam June Paik and the Vasulka’s. Both artists teamed up after a shared need to transcend the technical limitations of the video signal and through a shared aesthetic. Accessing the inner working of their audiovisual equipment, they crosswire sound and image to produce a glitchy synaesthetic montage – sometimes with tantalizing hints at representation as seen in the online video.

Synchronator is dysfunctional roboid ghost in the machine, choreographing an interference dervish to a montage of extreme noise textures.

The duo is about to release as well a commercial version of the “Synchronator” box, a small piece of electronic gear, with audio inputs, and video-output, translating audio signals straight into PAL or NTSC videosignals. Original recordings were produced with the SYNCHRONATOR device for PAL video. The release has been made possible thanks to our individual support from Fonds BKVB and Nederlands Fonds voor de Podiumkunsten.

Prins has created an electronic system with circuits from radio, TV and transmitter techniques, which produces feedback sounds and TV signals. Prins does regularly solo concerts, many collaborations and is a member of MIMEO.

The video of Van Koolwijk can be seen as an aggressive attack on the illusion of video itself. Through a rigourous and formalistic approach, Van Koolwijk exposes the face of the machine which lives behind the often-placating veil of the televised image.

‘Š unlike trees or their roots, the rhizome connects any point to any other point, and its traits are not necessarily linked to traits of the same nature; it brings into play very different regimes of signs, and even non-sign states. The rhizome is reducible neither to the one not the multiple. It is not the One that becomes Two or even directly three, four, fiveŠ’ [Deleuze & Guattari (1980): A Thousand Plateaus]

+1, Interval Recordings’ second release by Los Angeles-based electro-acoustic duo Mem1 (MARK & LAURA CETILIA), introduces listeners to a series of collaborations between the duo and nine guest artists as listed here. Whether the collaborations took place in an old cabin by the lake, on a hot and hazy day in a painter’s studio, or floating through the infinite void of virtual space, the resulting works act as transportive vessels. Removing us from our surroundings, they deliver us to a place that cannot exist in our daily lives, a transformative space in which impossible realities collide and time ceases to exist. Comprised of lush tapestries, fuzzy dissonances, echoed rhythms and waves of electronic wash, +1 is electro-acoustic chamber music for the twenty-first century.

01 + Jan Jelinek

02 + Ido Govrin

03 + Area C

04 + RS-232

05 + Frank Bretschneider

06 + Kadet Kuhne

07 + Jen Boyd

08 + Jeremy Drake

09 + Steve Roden

Interval Recordings was found in 2004 in Israel, named after the famous mathematical and conceptual notion of the interval; a space between objects, time between two events or a difference in pitch between tones.

Interval Recordings is a label interested in the gap between objects, the idea of silence, the love for the uncharted terrains that comes before and after the notes. Searching that area which is the limbo: somewhere between the death and the living.

Interval Recordings aims to be an outlet to current digital and instrumental music which will not focus on a specific stream of music, but will put the emphasis on a unique approach to sound and production. Moreover, the label promotes international experimental art by several annual events primarily the ‘Laptopia’ festival.

The aesthetic idea behind Interval Recordings, as the name indicates, is to bridge the gap over different polarities existing, both in music and mind, a concept which lead towards coherent sonic spectrum and an interesting cultural environment.

Curators: Ido Govrin and Liora Belford

Artwork by Jon Wozencroft

This is Mika Vainio’s 4th solo album for Touch, after ONKO [Touch # TO:34, 1997], KAJO [Touch # TO:43, 2000] and IN THE LAND OF THE BLIND, ONE-EYED IS KING [Touch # TO:54, 2003]. He is, of course, part of Pan Sonic with Ilpo Väisänen, and also records solo as Ø.

1. ROMA A.D. 2727
2. SILENCÉS TRAVERSES DES MONDES ET DES ANGES

3. BURY A HORSE’S HEAD
4. IN A FROSTED LAKE
5. SWEDENBORGIA
6. A MEASUREMENT OF EXCESS ANTENNA TEMPERATURE AT 4080 ML/S

7. THE BREATHER

April 2007, nakaban, the first film creator from noble records released the animation DVD, poca luce, poco lontatno. Today, we are happy to announce a new animation piece by the gifted artist, his first piece after approximately two years entitled, Der Meteor or “comet” in German.

Known mainly for his paintings, nakaban is an artist also with a successful career as a picture book artist and illustrator. nakaban started exploring the world of film as an extension of his painting career and completed poca luce, poco lontatno after approximately four years of editing work. While making poca luce, poco lontatno, nakaban also started the creation of another animation piece which he self produced in 2004 (entered in the worldtronics media arts festival in Berlin in 2007.) The fundamental elements of this story were preserved and remade completely over a two year term to create Der Meteor.

Like the original version, the music of Der Meteor is produced by Takeo Toyama, known for his solo work (whose several album jackets have been created by Nakaban) and also for guest appearances with artists such as Sakerock and Ego-Wrappin’. Based on classic and contemporary music, Toyama’s music weaves a beautiful ensemble through a combination of acoustic instruments such as the piano, marimba, organ, and cello. The sometimes earthy and warm sounds which at other times transform into beautiful minimal succeed in highlighting the Nakaban world, making it stronger and ever more attractive.

The story takes place in an imaginary medieval mixed modern world where the vegetation is a lush green, nature is abundant and the celestial body evolves a bit faster than here on planet Earth. It is a story of a boy in blue, who follows an endless journey in pursuit of a comet. The several hundred background pictures newly created for this remake introduce an intriguing combination of colors and a unique texture as if the pictures are covered by a thin veil. It has the beauty of tranquil light and the terror of dark shadows that suggest the coming of the end. The surrealistic and beautiful sceneries that go back and forth between dream and reality under this starry night are a perfect reflection of nakaban’s delicate aesthetics. Welcome to the mysterious journey of the comet and the light and dark.

« Il est paraît-il des structures tendres où gisent des clartés » Marie Uguay

Olivier Girouard composes music as one writes poetry, being attuned to the world and highlighting the beauty. He has collaborated with artists from different disciplines including dance, sound art, video and visual art. Olivier joined the collective Ekumen in 2008, through which he presents his own work as well as promoting and producing contemporary music events. He is launching his first album, La nuit nous déconstruit par c¦ur, a collection of pieces created for dance.

Beside Olivier

Choreographer Kate Hilliard created a work in honour of a friend lost too soon to cancer. With simplicity, she embodied intimacy and compassion. Olivier’s response was inspired by the poetry and journal of Marie Uguay, a Québécois poet who died of cancer at 26. The music reveals an extreme sensitivity to reality in the wake of impending death.

Titles and quotes from the book Poèmes by Marie Uguay, Les Éditions du Boréal

Roshi ft. Pars Radio is the band created around the beautiful voice, original songs and individual interpretations of Iranian Folk material of ROSHI NASEHI. The band features the electronic soundscapes/beats of GRAHAM DIDS (Gagarin, Nico, Pere Ubu etc etc) together with classical Cello contributions from RACHEL THRELFALL and experimental Cello from RICHARD THOMAS (Now, The Hola).

Born in Wales to Iranian parents, Roshi Nasehi is a singer-writer who presents her own evocative songs alongside sometimes quite radical interpretations of some of the Iranian songs she was brought up listening to. Her songs reflect her origins, influences and experiences in a personal and unique way accompanied by unusual instrumental arrangements – they are reflective, melodic and quirky – her voice airy and tender but possessed of an inner power. When she interprets Iranian song it is in a personal style bringing a contemporary twist combined with an authentic understanding of context and language.

The debut Roshi feat Pars Radio EP And Stars was first released in July 2008 by Geo Records on 10″ vinyl and CD then re-released in Jan 2009 following widespread acclaim across Europe including experimental EP of the month in Mixmag who described it as “stunningly beautiful Welsh-Iranian electronica torch songs” and a “stone cold classic EP”. This was amongst numerous other glowing reviews from Vital Weekly, Ox Magazine, The Wire, Tokafi, Tsugi Magazine, Camden New Journal and many more. The tracks also received significant airplay around Europe and beyond, including numerous playings on RTE (Ireland), Norddeutscher Rundfunk (Germany), Garden Of Earthly delights (UK) and Sideways Through Sound (Australia) and were put on a number of compilations by Midwich records, Orchestra Pit recordings and others.

Roshi, with her band, or alone at the keyboard is a regular and welcome live performer especially in London, developing a loyal following and in October 2008 Roshi and Pars Radio completed a mini tour which culminated in a very special performance at the Xposed Club in Cheltenham. Hot on the heels of this she was invited with Graham in November 2008 to perform on a live edition of Radio 3 programme The Verb, presented live from the Radio Theatre at Broadcasting House in by poet Ian McMillan. She was also one of 10 artists chosen to contribute to ‘Ten’ a very special Trace recordings compilation that will come out in Autumn 2009.

The Sky and The Caspian Sea is her first album release with Pars Radio. It has a beautiful nostalgic feel throughout reinforced by a unique soundworld of live instruments and evocative samples including her own father’s violin playing. Featuring three Iranian songs and eight of her own the album is a blend of melody, emotion, intense creativity and a vast range of subtle influences all framing Roshi’s astonishing and engaging voice to form an incredibly modern but ultimately timeless album.

Recorded in Suffolk, Co. Durham, St. Lucia & Jamaica 2007-2009.
Edited, compiled and mastered @ Haswell Studio, Suffolk

WARNING: Extreme Dynamic Levels. Listeners experience may change during playback!

“wild track: Sound recorded during production without picture.”
(SOUND-ON FILM. VINCENT LoBRUTTO. Praeger, 1994. p.287)

Russell Haswell returns with a complete departure from his real-time computer generated improvisations (‘Live Salvage’ & ‘Second Live Salvage’).

WILD TRACKS is a collection of ‘deliberate recordings’ made with other multi media / film projects in mind. These recordings do not contain any overdubs or compression, and document a wide variety of audio experiences. Taking you to a blowhole in Jamaica, inside an ant colony and to the entrance of wasp nest in Suffolk, on a helicopter ride in St. Lucia, two waterfalls in County Durham, as well as the sound of freshly fallen snow, flies being electrocuted and contributions from various military tactical airlift planes, air defence fighters and attack helicopters.

The recordings on WILD TRACKS were realised using a variety of techniques including using hydrophones to record falling snow, recording gamekeepers many fields away with a parabolic dish, as well as binaural, ‘near-field’ & ‘direct’.

At Editions Mego, we understand this to be the first commercially released audio CD to be packaged in a KIDZBOX containing a full colour A2 poster with photographs and detailed recording notes.

Unlike any other release this season!

This anthology features 48 artists from within the Chinese area of influence. It is designed

as a journey through what is currently happening underground, under extremely diverse forms. It also looks at the recent past and the key role of pioneers like Wang Fan, Dajuin Yao, and also Hong Kong-based Li Chin Sung aka Dickson Dee who, for almost two decades, has been spreading the word about Experimental music in Mainland China. This album was curated by Dickson Dee on Guy Marc Hinant’s invitation. It includes an enlightening presentation on the short yet intense advent and history of the Chinese noise explosion, co-written by Zbigniew Karkowski and Yan Jun.

The Sound of the Underground

An Overview of Experimental and Non-Academic Music in China

13/08 FR La Plage Festival @ Glaz’Art (w/ Oneida & Final Fantasy)

14/08 DE Rees-Haldern, Haldern Pop Festival

19/09 BE Hasselt, Kunstencentrum Belgie

09/10 NL Amsterdam @ Melkweg (w/ Health)

10/10 NL Gronigen @ Vera

11/10 DK Aarhus @ Voxhall

12/10 DK Copenhagen @ Loppen

13/10 DE Berlin @ Festsaal Kreuzberg

14/10 DE Leipzig @ Connie Island (w/ Health)

15/10 DE Hamburg @ Molotow (w/ Health)

16/10 BE Brussels @ Botanique, The Rotonde

17/10 CH Dudigen @ Bad Bonn

19/10 IT Rome @ Circolo degli Artisti

20/10 IT Torino @ Spazio 211

21/10 FR Lyon @ Grrrnd Zero

22/10 FR Lille @ Ground Zero Festival @ L’Aeronef (w/ Peaches)

23/10 FR Paris @ Nouveau Casino

24/10 LUX Luxembourg @ Exit07

08.10. DE Berlin Schokoladen

09.10. DK Arhus Ljud @ Musikcafeen

10.10. DK Copenhagen Lades

12.10. PL Krakow Klub Re

13.10. CZ Prague Klub 007

14.10. AT Vienna Fluc

15.10. AT Linz Kapu

16.10. AT Innsbruck PMK

17.10. CH Martigny Les Caves Du Manoir w/ The Drones

18.10. CH Bern Reitschule-Dachstock w/ The Drones

20.10. IT Trieste Tetris

21.10. IT Padova Unwound (NEW!)

22.10. IT Rome Init

23.10. IT Cesena Officina 49

24.10. IT Alba Cinema Vekkio

25.10. FR Lyon Grrrnd Zero (NEW!)

29.10. FR Dijon Festival Novosonic

30.10. FR Nantes Festival S.O.Y.

Thanks for reading & best wishes

Dense Promotion

http://www.dense.de

http://www.myspace.com/densepr