SUB ROSA info / 141 / SRV461 Spectra Machina / A Sound Anthology of Occult Phenomena

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SUB ROSA INFO #141

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Spectra Ex Machina/A Sound Anthology

of Occult Phenomena

1920-2017  Vol.1 

LP SRV461

black vinyl + 20 page booklet

The Anthology Spectra Ex Machina brings together

rare documents pertaining to so-called occult

phenomena, most of them taken from little-known

archives. In the course of three volumes, this series

traces an audio history of parapsychology through

the exploration of spiritualism and haunted houses

(vol. 1); musician mediums (vol. 2); experiences

of extrasensory perceptions (clairvoyance,

psychokinesis, etc.) and electronic voice

phenomena (vol. 3).

The documents gathered here are, by their extravagance

and far-fetched aspects, more than the mere objects of

belief one would be tempted to reduce them to. They are

vestiges of aberrant phenomena, fossils of an unknown

civilization buried in the depths of the unconscious that

are revived, in a way, when we listen to them. They can

be understood as "works," in the full artistic sense of the

word, and constitute a kind of "cabinet of sound curiosities"

that is worthy of aesthetic interest. Sometimes imbued

with a disconcerting dramatic intensity, these documents

bear the features of an authentic time machine, placing

the listener in the position of a witness of the time

immersed in the dim darkness of the experimental hall.

And it is at that precise moment that the aesthetic power

of these archives takes precedence over their probative

value. Their somewhat old-fashioned charm, maintained

by the surface noise of magnetic tapes and old wax disks,

gets stronger with each listen.

'Have a gramophone in every grave...'

James Joyce, Ulysses (1922)

Track Listing LP

side 1

Spiritual Séances and Medium Trances

01 Arthur Conan Doyle on Spiritualism [London, England, May 14, 1930]
02 Gladys Osborne Leonard and the spirit of "Feda," in the presence of

    Reverend W.S. Irving and T. Besterman [London, England, November 17, 1932]

03 Rudi Schneider's Trance [London, England, 1933]

04 Harry Houdini's "final séance" [Hollywood, USA, October 31, 1936]

05 Ivy Carter Beaumont aka "Rosemary": "The Speech of Ancient Egypt,

      Eighteenth Dynasty" [England, July 14, 1938]

06 Einer Nielsen and the "spectral voices" of "Astrid" and "Bischof Liljeblad"   

    [Copenhagen, Denmark, c. 1950] 1'16

07 Leslie Flint and the "voice" of Oscar Wilde of Reverend W.S. Irving

     and T. Besterman [London, England, August 20, 1962]

08 A spiritism séance broadcast on the radio [Paris. France. 1976]

side 2

Haunting Spirits and Haunted Places

09 The Rosenheim case [Germany, December 1967]

10 The Th. case of Reverend W.S. Irving and T. Besterman

     [Switzerland, April 16, 1967]

11 The S. case [Germany, 1968]

12 The P. case [Germany, December 1971]

13 Knocking phenomena [Germany, 1974]

14 Émile Tizané about "little hauntings" [Paris, France, 1976]

15 Voice produced by Janet Hodgson during a trance

    [Enfield, England, January-February 1978]

16 Dominique and the "talking wall" [La Machine, France, 1973]

17 Anneliese Michel's Exorcism Ritual by Father Arnold Renz

    [Klingenberg, Germany, 1976]

18 Denys Renaudin's investigation of a haunting case [Paris, France, 1979]

19 Jack Sutton and the "haunted airfield" [Norfolk, England, c. 1980]

20 "Paranormal" explosion [London, England, 1995]

 

Listen

https://www.subrosa.net/en/catalogue/soundworks/spectra-ex-machinaa-sound-anthology-of-occult-phenomena.html

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STILL HOT >

ERIC THIELEMANS + BILLY HART

Talking about the Weather

LP / BOOK SRV476 limited edition LP + 50 page BOOK

Talking about the Weather

Teacher and student. Past and present. 2 drummers. 2 men.

2 fathers. Friends. A conversation. A dialogue of the drums.

Following up on a drum/percussion duo Eric Thielemans and

Billy Hart did in the Summer of 2016 at the Jazz Middelheim festival, these two drummers decided to dedicate time to continue and

deepen their versatile dialogues on and around the drums.

Time to talk drum shop & Drum the Talk!

Publication Info

The publication comes packaged as a single LP sleeve with 7.5 mm spine

and a 50 pages book inside.

LP (180 gr) + Book (aprox. 50 pages, binded with pictures by Monica Jane Frisell

and transcriptions of the talks). Weight: approx 500 gr.

Listen

https://www.subrosa.net/en/catalogue/soundworks/eric-thielemans-and-billy-hart.html

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CHRISTIAN WOLFF

Preludes, Variations, Studies and Incidental Music

performed by Philip Thomas

2CD SR480

Digipack + 16 page Booklet

These two discs reveal Wolff as a composer fully

exploring, in different ways, the continuum between

music which is highly fragmented, embracing extended silences [composed or indeterminate], to that which is

more progressive and seemingly driven, albeit taking

in disarming and unconventional routes.

As a body of repertoire, these works are remarkable for

their freshness of musical thought and energy (John Cage considered Wolff to be the most 'musical' of the

experimental composers).

Listen

https://www.subrosa.net/en/catalogue/unclassical/christian-wolff---preludes-variations-studies-and-incidental-music.html

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BILL LASWELL

featuring

COIL / TRILOK GURTU /  TETSU INOUE /  LORI CARSON

City of Light

LP SRV114

- 500 copies limited 'indian green' color vinyl

City Of Light was recorded in Banaras, India,

and mixedin Greenpoint, NY. It is about Banaras,

a city older than history, tradition, and legends.

It is Shiva's land, founded at the dawn of creation.

It is India's oldest and most fabled city. The Hindus

call it Kashi, the luminous... The City of Light.

Music composed by

Bill Laswell + Coil, Trilok Gurtu, Tetsu Inoue,

and features texts and vocals from Lori Carson

and an historical introduction by Hakim Bay.

Listen

https://www.subrosa.net/en/catalogue/soundworks/bill-laswell-city-of-light.html

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Yannick Franck presents

Mt GEMINI Just Like A River

LP SRV481 Marbled vinyl

Yannick Franck (Orphan Swords, RAUM) presents

his new project: Mt Gemini.

A deconstruction of Ska, Rocksteady and Skinhead

Reggae from the 50s, 60s and 70s.

Rather a passionate deconstruction of a genre than

compositions or remixes per se, this incantatory

tribute favors abstraction using loops, distortion,

compression, variations of speed and height, and

effects (delay, reverb, chorus). Recorded in

different states of altered consciousness,

MT Gemini is built of spontaneous and unexpected

combinations. It is an attempt to generate inner

spaces where the borders between reverie and

reality blur. An hallucinatory shock, a journey

made of distant echoes, an atmosphere imbued

with joy and nostalgia.

'Remarkable' (The Wire).

Listen

https://www.subrosa.net/en/catalogue/soundworks/mt-gemini.html

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AN ANTHOLOGY OF GREEK EXPERIMENTAL

ELECTRONIC MUSIC   1966-2016

2CD SR471 DIGIPACK + 20 PAGE BOOKLET

2LP SRV471 + 2 INSERTS

This anthology aspires to map the heterogenous

landscape of Greek Experimental Electronic Music

in all its contextual, sociopolitical, geographical

and aesthetic disparity. With a single exception,

it zeroes in on post-80s music. It comprises works

of very different kinds by composers of all sorts

of backgrounds that, still, can be thought of, as

both 'Greeks' and 'Experimentalists'.

Experimental Electronic Music is generally expected to be

highly variegated, especially when examined in a breadth

of several decades, and with respect to all sorts of artistic,

academic, subcultural and other influences. What is not so

obvious, however, is that the very notion of Greekness, as

well as its contextual and historical offshoots, are highly

diversified, too. This anthology is an attempt to map the

various kinds of Experimental musics that have been

produced by Greeks over the last few decades. More, it is

also an attempt to delineate different understandings of

what 'Greek' or 'Experimental' may stand for, by means

of zeroing in on the numerous, often overlapping, realities

and micro-scenes that are associated with the former.

LISTEN >

https://www.subrosa.net/en/catalogue/anthologies/an-anthology-of-greek-experimental-electronic-music-1966-2016.html

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The Noise Of Art

Blixa Bargeld, Luciano Chessa, Fred Möpert,

Opening Performance Orchestra

Works for Intonarumori (premiere recordings)

CD  SR477  digipack +16 page booklet SOLD OUT

2LP SRV477  limited edition deluxe gatefold + emboss + 4 page booklet

This album contains seven compositions,

created by the Opening Performance Orchestra,

Blixa Bargeld, Luciano Chessa and Fred Möpert.

All the pieces relate to the theme of Futurism and

employ intonarumori, instruments invented and

used more than a century ago by the Italian

Futurists in their noise compositions.

"In antiquity, life was nothing but silence." 

"Today noise reigns supreme over human sensibility."   

The Art of Noises, pertained to the entire 20th century.

Published in 1913, in response to Francesco Balilla

Pratella's Manifesto of Futurist Musicians, Russolo's

text encompassed the fundamental ideas for the new

music of the modern age. Radical ideas required

original compositional approaches, as well as new

types of instruments - hence the Futurists opted

for the intonarumori. The two quotations prompted

us to give thought to creating compositions in which

we would return to the early 20th century, when

noises as means of musical expression emerged for

the very first time. The typical instruments used by

our ensemble, the Opening Performance Orchestra,

are laptops, by means of which we conceive our

fraction music, which can be briefly characterised

by the slogan no melody no rhythm no harmony.

Constructing three intonarumori, writing our own

pieces for these instruments and performing works

by other contemporary composers - Blixa Bargeld,

Luciano Chessa and Fred Möpert, represented for

us getting into close contact with the beginnings

of the musical avant-garde, as well as returning

to the historical roots of the music that had served

as the basis of noise in art.

track listing 2LP / CD

side 1

01 Opening Performance Orchestra + Blixa Bargeld: The Noise of Art (2017)  11'30

02 Opening Performance Orchestra: Trio n°3 (2017)  5'30

side 2

03 Luciano Chessa: Prilis hluena samota (2017) 8'10

04 Opening Performance Orchestra: Trio n°2 (2017)  12'00

side 3

05 Fred Möpert: Neue Horizonte (2017) 6'30

06 Blixa Bargeld: The Mantovani Machine, pt3 (2013)  14'30

side 4

07 Opening Performance Orchestra: Futurist Soirée (2016) 20'00

LISTEN >

https://www.subrosa.net/en/catalogue/soundworks/works-for-intonarumori-premiere-recordings.html

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BACK IN STOCK >

JEAN C. ROCHE

BIRDS OF VENEZUELA

introduction by DAVID TOOP

LP SR411 black vinyl

Among many of his amazing records I came across

Jean C. Roché's Birds of Venezuela, beautifully

produced LPs of birdsong. I began to plan a trip to Amazonas,

to record the unearthly song of potoos and Yanomami shamanism. (David Toop)

Originally released in 1973

LISTEN

https://www.subrosa.net/en/catalogue/soundworks/jean-c-roche-birds-of-venezuela.html

APICHATPONG WEERASETHAKUL

METAPHORS / Selected Soundworks from the Cinema of Apichatpong Weerasethakul

The Miracles of One Thing

CD / 2LP black vinyl + insert SR448

Apichatpong Weerasethakul is recognised

as one of the most original voices in contemporary

cinema today. His seven feature films, short films

and installations have won him widespread

international recognition and numerous awards,

includingthe Cannes Palme d'Or in 2010 with

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.

Compilation album 'Metaphors' contains

14 soundworks carefully selected from his

past cinema and other visual works since 2003, which includes Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Syndromes and a Century, Fever Room and more.

https://www.subrosa.net/en/catalogue/soundworks/apichatpong-weerasethakul.html

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LAST RELEASES >

MAURICE LOUCA

Elephantine

LP SRV474  last copies orange vinyl + insert

On Elephantine, his new album released exclusively on

Sub Rosa as vinyl LP, Cairo-based Maurice Louca guides

a 12-piece ensemble through a 38-minute masterwork

that might best be described as panoramic. Elements of

free improvisation, Sun Ra's cosmic jazz, gorgeous Arabic

melody, trancelike African and Yemeni music and

minimalism meet in his wholly unique compositional

vision. Louca also makes vital contributions on guitar

and piano, and inspires stirring performances from

a global lineup.

RIYL: Sun City Girls, 70s Miles Davis, Don Cherry,

Alice Coltrane, Tortoise

https://www.subrosa.net/en/catalogue/soundworks/maurice-louca.html

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DAVID TOOP / PAUL BURWELL

Suttle Sculpture

LP SUBLOGOS03  Black vinyl

Never released before recordings from Logos

Foundation live sessions in Brussels, on May 7, 1977.

Studying esoteric organology, bioacoustics,

environmental sound, raw musics and anthropology,

Toop and Burwell were both fascinated by

phenomena like diffraction, propulsion, resonance,

projection, masking and heterodyning, and by

shamanism, the symbolically grounded agency of

shamanic drums, animal-becoming and noisy

costume, the shaman's capacity to enliven quotidian

space with the commotion of discarnate audible

entities from the spirit world. This recording is one

of the very few that conveys anything of what they

were about. 

LISTEN

https://www.subrosa.net/en/catalogue/sublogos/david-toop--paul-burwell.html

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OTTO SIDHARTA

Indonesian Electronic Music 1979-1992

LP SRV452 black vinyl

2CD SR452 black vinyl LAST COPIES

Fascinating and unreleased before music by

Otto Sidharta, pionneer of Indonesian electronic music.

Electronic compositions that integrated natural

sounds and urban sounds to this extent were

extremely rare at the time, which gives them

a unique form of intensity.

Released in our Early Electronic series

LISTEN

https://www.subrosa.net/en/catalogue/early-electronic-music/otto-sidharta.htm

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GILLES GOBERT

Chamber Electronic Music

CD SR466

trans, hybrid, crossbred, mongrel, whoreson, mixed,

unclean, intricated, blended, interracial, bastard,

harmonized, bouillabaisse, pandemonium, disorder,

bewilderment, muddled, disarrayed, tangled, distraction,

shambled, discorded, abashed, fuzzy, foggy, plaything,

rejoicing, orgasmic, thoughlessness, salad, undisciplined,

inordinate, coded, slanged, talk, privacy, nearness,

disobedient, unruly, confidante, imperfect, tainted, red.

a subtle mix of electronic composition

and contemporary touches.

LISTEN

https://www.subrosa.net/en/catalogue/unclassical/chamber-electronic-music.html

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ACEZANTEZ

LP SRV450 LP

Rich textural pieces constructed from an unnotatable,

intricate interplay of percussive squeals, scrapes and

rattles, parched and pitchless woodwinds, and

dislocated keyboards On the evidence here,

Acezantez founded by the versatile Croatian composer

and instrumentalist Dubravko Detoni merit wider

recognition. Contemporary Croatian Masterpiece !

Originally released in 1977.

LISTEN

https://www.subrosa.net/en/catalogue/soundworks/acezantez.html

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BOOK OF AIR VVOLK

Se (in) de bos

CD SR444

LP SRV444 black vinyl + printed innersleeve

'Se (in) de bos' -  a slow paced 60 minute piece

performed by the 18 musicians 'vvolk' orchestra

composed by Stijn Cools.

'While getting deeper in the sound of vvolk, the

perception of time fades. It is astonishing how

improvised music can create such a timeless,

and calming experience for the listener.

Reference names:

Ryuichi Sakamoto ambient works, Biosphere

LISTEN

https://www.subrosa.net/en/catalogue/soundworks/book-of-air-vvolk-se-in-de-bos.html

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PSEUDOCODE

Next One's Called

LP SRV458 Dark Green vinyl

This could be seen as the missing link

between Slaughter in Tiny Place and Europa -

third and final LP report.

All tracks are unreleased.

Recorded and mixed between 1980 and 1981.

LISTEN

https://www.subrosa.net/en/catalogue/captagon-years/captagon-years-12--pseudocode.html

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BILL LASWELL / NJ BULLEN

Bass Terror

LP SRV459 Red vinyl

This recording is the dark side of Bill Laswell at the peak

of his art in 1995. He goes into a black trance. The piece

is not from a collaboration, it was designed alone, in his
studio in Brooklyn. Bass Terror Tetragrammaton is 

also to be linked to an alchemical process.
Nocturnal Crawl is a totally hypnotic piece, the first that

Nik Bullen designed outside of Napalm Death and Scorn.

The two pieces answer each other strangely, like two

sides of the same hidden anxiety.

The concept of this series was the confrontation of

electric guitars as the tutelary instrument, but here

and this time only, it came out of bassists confronting

each other. Never released before as LP vinyl.

Available here as a 400 copies limited red vinyl.

LISTEN

https://www.subrosa.net/en/catalogue/soundworks/bill-laswell--nicholas-james-bullen-bass-terror-lp.html

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UNIVERS ZERO

Ceux du Dehors

LP SRV403 Clear/red vinyl + insert

Third album (1981) by the Belgian band Univers Zero.

The title alludes to the short story of the same name

by H. P. Lovecraft; the players read the story in studio,

then proceeded to record the piece. A key release

for the band.

Ceux du Dehors sometimes suggests a darker and more complex version of the motorik minimalism of classical music contemporaries Philip Glass and Steve Reich.

LISTEN

https://www.subrosa.net/en/catalogue/soundworks/univers-zero---ceux-du-dehors.html

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OISEAUX-TEMPÊTE

TARAB

CD  SR455  /  8 page digipack

2LP SRV455 / 4 page insert / download  LAST COPIES

limited edition red/white vinyl + download voucher

TARAB (in literary arabic - euphoria, secular exaltation, ecstasy), their sixth release on Sub Rosa, is the result

of live recordings captured during the AL-'AN! tour .

It is in symbiosis, in the fever and visceral experimentation of the

concert, that the musicians of OISEAUX-TEMPÊTE seek rapture.

Arranged in a semicircle, they invoke the elements and attempt the

catharsis, inviting the spectator to spiral with them, entwined in the

sonic explosions, finding beauty and peace in the spaces of improvisation

and elaboration. Marrying free-rock, organic electronics, traditional

instruments and unbridled electricity, TARAB, far beyond the vibrant

testimony, is a generous invitation to experience, to meditate and

to share.

LISTEN

https://www.subrosa.net/en/catalogue/soundworks/oiseaux-tempete--tarab.html

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PHIL MAGGI

Animalwrath

CD SR453

Phil Maggi is a composer, a vocalist and a film maker

from Belgium. Known as the lead singer of heavy-rock combo Ultraphallus, Phil Maggi develops an extensive

body of work as a solo musician for several years.

This new album Animalwrath is a combination of

his different forms of music, from ambient-drone, electro-acoustic, sampling and field recordings to free-jazz.

Phil Maggi has invited a few generous collaborators

(Oren Bloedow, Maja Jantar, Radwan Ghazi Moumneh,

Tom Malmendier, Gabriel Séverin and Ludovic Medery)

on these eight tracks inspired by Henry Corbin's

writings, Nico, Scott Walker and Traditional music.

LISTEN

https://www.subrosa.net/en/catalogue/soundworks/phil-maggi.html

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HASTINGS OF MALAWI

Visceral Underskinnings

LP  SRV449  Yellow vinyl

35 years after the release of their critically acclaimed

album Vibrant Stapler Obscures Characteristic Growth

the British dadaist group Hastings of Malawi have released

a new album - an epic sound poem entitled Visceral

Underskinnings. It is a 40 minute film without light that

reflects on the human condition, on modern society, on the

nature of telephony and electricity and an attempt to make

sense of the world in which we live that provides no answers.

It is a sound collage of diverse elements including the voices

of George Washington Johnson ('the whistling coon' 1846-1914)

and Dr Hastings Banda - the first president of Malawi.

It includes randomly generated computer music, voice

synthesis, recordings of cold war number stations, American

military sound weaponry and recordings of the some of the

many sound sculptures produced by Hastings of Malawi over

the last 30 years.

Hastings of Malawi produce sounds that sit in that grey area

where sound art and music meet but they reject both labels

and cannot be comfortably placed in either camp. This is not

an easy album to listen to but persevere and you may or

may not be able to decipher its meaning.

LISTEN

https://www.subrosa.net/en/catalogue/soundworks/hastings-of-malawi--visceral-underskinnings.html

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MUSIC FROM YEMEN ARABIA

Sanaani, Laheji, Adeni and Samar

Recorded by Ragnar Johnson and Jessica Mayer

2CD SR448  digipack + 12 page booklet

2LP SRV448 + color insert

These songs originate from the city of Sanaa,

the sheikdom of Lahej and the port of Aden.

Samar is the delicious, luxury time when people

gather for relaxation, refreshment and music.

This record contains oudh playing, percussion

and singing from Yemen. The three Kawkabani

brothers sing traditional poems and play oudh (lute),

double drums, tambourine and, occasionally,

the kanoun (zither). They were recorded in Sanaa

in 1973. The oudh player Hassan al Zabeede and

his double drum playing brother sing songs in

the Lahej style and were recorded in Taez in 1973.

LISTEN

https://www.subrosa.net/en/catalogue/unclassical/sylvain-chauveau--chant-1450-renaissance-ensemble.html

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www.subrosa.net

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