Split Tape 9/10: AARON LUMLEY / THE KNOT

21/08/2012

Buy Aaron Lumley / The Knot tape now!

C40 // edition of 50 // pro-duped  // DL code included // hand-assembled window sleeves

Side 9: Avant improv bassist Aaron Lumley has been making waves lately with his harrowing long-player Wilderness.  Of which Foxy Digitalis said “…searching for new methods to escape the limitations of technique, the human body, and the physical science of acoustics. By accomplishing this without straying beyond the boundaries of man and implement, he’s shown mastery of a vigorous beast, a task not for the faint of heart. Furthermore, the album is as appetizing for casual listeners as it is for serious improv mavens – a gravity-defying feat that is as rare as it is welcome!

We posit this improvised session goes one further, both visceral and teeming with expression in the traditions of Dave Holland and François Rabbath. Recorded by Matthew Dunn in Toronto who, in Lumley’s words, “brought the fuzz and grime to the fore.”

And we have to agree. In the middle ages, people were burned at the stake for playing music like this—he’s clearly possessed by some kind of demon.

Side 10: We’re pleased to present the debut release for The Knot, the duo of cellists Tilman Lewis and Nick Storring. With allegiance to both form and freedom, they embark on sonic explorations that draw on various folk traditions and experimental musics. The pair love to bend the instrument’s lyricism, drawing not so much on extended techniques as on an array of audacious contra-techniques: preparations/ apparati (practice mutes, hair-clips, clamps, wine corks, mallets, egg beaters, plectrums etc.). They still, however, permit the cello’s natural beauty to have its place.

Their large palette of sonorities is channeled and combined into single unified textures, and everything from improvised heterophony, to stark contrast.

Intertwining beauty and discord meeting somewhere between the gravel pit and the northern lights.


Aaron Lumley / The Knot split tape preview

02/08/2012

The first cassette of our SPLIT TAPES SERIES 2 is set to be released on 2012/08/21. 20 minute sides; pro-duped; hand assembled outer sleeves. Edition of 50. We don’t have pre-orders set up but if you want to reserve a copy, you should email arachnidiscs@hotmail.com to get put on a list.

Side 9 is avant improv bassist Aaron Lumley who’s been making waves lately with his harrowing long-player Wilderness.  Of which Foxy Digitalis said “…searching for new methods to escape the limitations of technique, the human body, and the physical science of acoustics. By accomplishing this without straying beyond the boundaries of man and implement, he’s shown mastery of a vigorous beast, a task not for the faint of heart. Furthermore, the album is as appetizing for casual listeners as it is for serious improv mavens – a gravity-defying feat that is as rare as it is welcome!” We posit this improvised session goes one further, both visceral and teeming with expression in the traditions of Dave Holland and François Rabbath.

Side 10 is the debut release for The Knot, a cello duo made up of composer/improviser Nick Storring and avant virtuoso Tilman Lewis. Intertwining beauty and discord meeting somewhere between the gravel pit and the northern lights.

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Espvall/Jakobsons/Szelag: Improvisations for Strings and Electronics

14/02/2012


Track #2: Fissure

CD. 5 tracks / 43:13 mins. Multi-layered handmade transparent outer-sleeve, lino-block printed envelope. Limited edition of 100.

BUY NOW! North America: $10 CAD + $2 CAD shipping

BUY NOW! Rest of World: $10 CAD $4 CAD shipping

On the aptly titled Improvisations for Strings and Electronics, Marielle Jakobsons and Agnes Szelag (Myrmyr) team up with cellist Helena Espvall (of Espers) on a series of, you guessed it, improvisations for strings and electronics. Recorded in Oakland, CA, Jakobsons and Szelag created graphic scores for the occasion.

A little while ago Agnes asked me which bands I’d compare this album to. I couldn’t think of a single one. Not even the more classically oriented works of someone like Godspeed! You Black Emperor really come close.

What did immediately leap to mind were the string quartets of contemporary composers Gloria Coates, Morton FeldmanPer Nørgård, and Henryk Górecki. As well, some of the more challenging, discordant and visceral works of Arvo Pärt bear a similarity to the sinuous, winding melodies and stunning tonal landscape created here.

Ethereal and rapturous beauty tempered with sinister, creeping danger looming ominously in the shadows.

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BABEL : Limbus / Morpheum

26/12/2010

Separate physical versions available here: http://arachnidiscs.wordpress.com/music


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