Split Tape 9/10: AARON LUMLEY / THE KNOT

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

SOLD OUT!

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.

TWO NEW BABEL ALBUMS: GLOCKENGEISTER and ALPHABETA

BABEL // GLOCKENGEISTER

79 mins // Pro-duped CD-R // Full colour 6-panel wallet // Edition of 50.

Sixteen beautiful, serene and often unsettling pieces for electronically manipulated glockenspiel, bells, mixing bowls,drums, wood block and ornamental gongs. Resonant tones weave and drift through ambient, limnal spaces.

“There’s a real feeling of exploration … it’s a very soft, spiritual atmosphere that should be your next soundtrack for falling asleep into lucid dreaming.” ~ Offerings / Hippie Cult

BABEL // ALPHABETA 

56 mins // Pro-duped CD-R // Full colour 6-panel wallet // Edition of 50.

A conceptual work where the pieces are composed from notes corresponding to the letters in their titles. Ranging from white noise freak-outs to measured, melodic themes, the 17-part suite covers the history of modern compostion from the 20th century minimalists such as Cage or Reich through Miles Davis’ jazz-fusion to maximalist post-rockers like Godspeed! and Tortoise.

SPECIAL LIMITED TIME COMBO DEAL:

Both albums for $16 (CAD, shipping included). Click HERE.

Aaron Lumley / The Knot split tape preview

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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