This is the only work by Kino Glaz, released on ADN (Auf Dem Nil), a label founded in the early 80's, at the beginning as a fanzine and tape-label, and immediately characterized by its experimental 'nature'. Its vinyl catalog is still remembered for the works by Doubling Riders, Riccardo Sinigaglia, Christina Kubisch, La 1919 and Kino Glaz, italian experimental neofolk pioneers, formed by ex Tomografia Assiale Computerizzata (T.A.C.) members Simon Balestrazzi and Gregorio Bardini-who also collaborated with Thelema-, plus Paola Sartori and Patrizia Mattioli.
The sound of this album can be summarized in the term 'Neofolk', though the content offers significant insights into Gothic inspiration and neoclassical expression. A record of undoubted stylistic and 'historical' value, this is an album that should be counted among the most important releases of that period. An LP not easy to enjoy, dedicated to those who want to know the path of a sound that is still immune to negative contaminations and disintegrations caused by easy listening, that matter that transforms and dissolves in musical obviousness what was born not to be. [SOURCE: SHERWOOD]
Label:
Auf Dem Nil – DMM 008 R
Format:
Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo
Country:
Italy
Released:
1988
Style:
Modern Classical, Neofolk, Experimental, Neo-Medieval Folk, Avant-Folk
California-based Joanna Brouk composed slow, sparse works intended for meditation and reflection, utilizing acoustic instruments, vintage synthesizers, field recordings, and the human voice. Her music was inspired by classical minimalism, but it was embraced by the burgeoning new age movement during the 1980s. Born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1949, Brouk moved to Berkeley, California in 1970 to study literature. Inspired by the cadences of poetry and the human voice, as well as the rhythms and soundings of nature, she began creating music. She spent numerous hours experimenting with synthesizers at the Center for Contemporary Music at Mills College in Oakland, and studied under the tutelage of avant-garde legends Robert Ashley and Terry Riley. After graduating, she went into radio production, and composed music for documentaries and other programs. She entered Mills' graduate program for electronic music in 1980, and created a work titled "Holy Saturday Mass", performed at the Oakland Cathedral of Saint Francis de Sales, as her thesis. Brouk's classmate Maggi Payne contributed flute, and the compositions appeared on Brouk's 1981 debut 'Healing Music', the first of five cassettes she released on her own Hummingbird Productions throughout the '80s. The tapes were a success with listeners of KPFA (where Brouk became program director) as well as therapists and hospitals. 'Sounds of the Sea', also released in 1981, was Brouk's most fully realized recording, bringing together nature sounds as well as hypnotic vocals and manipulated electronic and acoustic instruments. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
Inhibidos Quizás? formed in mid-1983 in Valencia, under the musical influences of artists such as U2, R.E.M., Orange Juice, Magazine, The Cult or Bob Dylan. Inhibidos Quizás? practised a soft pop-rock, and their first formation was composed by Federico Segarra (guitars), Fran García (rhythm guitar and harmonica), Vicente González (vocals), Javi Soler (bass) and Gonzalo Mantarás (drums). Soon after their formation, they participated in october of 1983 in the 1st Pop-Rock Contest Valencia 83, first event of this kind offered in the city. The quintet turned out to be the winners of the contest and taking a special mention as best lyricists among the fourteen bands that reached the final stage. After two years, Inhibidos Quizás? entered the studio to record their first album at the end of 1985, 'El Precio Del Dolor', a MiniAlbum that includes six tracks recorded by Alfonso Olcina. [SOURCE: GRUPOS NACIONALES NUEVA OLA 80]
Haunted House is Loren Mazzacane Connors (guitar), Andrew Burnes (guitar), Suzanne Langille (vocals), and Neel Murgai (percussion). Although two of the three tracks on 'Up in Flames' have been penned by Langille (the other is a version of Lonnie Johnson's "Blue Ghost Blues"), this band mostly bears the mark of indie rock guitar legend Loren Mazzacane Connors. Up to 11 minutes into the first track, the album is solo Connors. But at that point, the other instruments join in for a build-up that reaches its climax when Langille's fragile vocals come in over 14 minutes into the song. The slow, simple, and hazy guitar style of Loren Mazzacane Connors and the crescendo-climax-release structure takes 'Up in Flames' into Godspeed You Black Emperor! territory. The second piece suffers from bad sound quality (awful background noise) and the listener can hear people talking throughout (these are live recordings). "Blue Ghost Blues" offers a change of pace as both guitarists let loose in this one, playing noisy blues solos. The piece rocks a lot toward the end, a welcomed change that doesn't affect the stylistic cohesion of the album. Sound problems set aside, 'Up in Flames' is a nice record of ethereal rock music in the vein of Godspeed You Black Emperor! and The Boxhead Ensemble. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
Label:
Erstwhile Records – erstwhile 002
Format:
CD, Album
Country:
US
Released:
1999
Style:
Post Rock, Avantgarde, Experimental, Free Improvisation, Avant-Folk
Tracklist:
1 Been So Long 23:02
2 Only When You Sleep 10:27
3 Blue Ghost Blues 23:09
Notes:
Track 1 recorded at The Cooler in NYC on February 22, 1999.
Tracks 2 and 3 recorded at The Cooler in NYC on May 8, 1999.
Gordon Mumma (born 30 March 1935, in Framingham, Massachusetts) studied piano and horn in Chicago and Detroit, and began his career as an active horn player in symphonic and chamber music. From 1953 to 1966 he lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he co-founded with Robert Ashley the Cooperative Studio for Electronic Music and the now-historic ONCE Festivals of Contemporary Music. From 1966 to 1974 he was, with John Cage and David Tudor, one of the three composer-musicians with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, for which he composed four commissioned works. From 1966 he also performed with the Sonic Arts Union, whose members included Robert Ashley, David Behrman, and Alvin Lucier. He has also collaborated with diverse artists such as Tandy Beal, Anthony Braxton, William Brooks, Chris Brown, Marcel Duchamp, Fred Frith, Toshi Ichiyanagi,Jasper Johns, Jann McCauley, Pauline Oliveros, Yvonne Rainer, Tom Robbins, Frederic Rzewski, Stephen Smoliar, Stan Van Der Beek, William Winant, and Christian Wolff.
Mumma has made concert tours and recordings in North and South America, Japan and Europe. His writings on the contemporary performance arts and technology are published in several languages. His best-known engineering design was for an electronic music live-performance system at EXPO-70 (Osaka, Japan) in collaboration with David Tudor.
Mumma has been on the faculties of the University of Illinois, the Ferienkurse für Neue Musik (Darmstadt, Germany), and the Cursos Latinoamericanos de Música Contemporánea (Buenos Aires, Montevideo, and Santiago, R.D.). From 1975 to 1994 he was Professor of Music at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a visiting Professor at the University of California, San Diego, in 1985 and 1987. At Mills College in Oakland, California, he was the Darius Milhaud Professor in 1981, Distinguished Visiting Composer in 1989, and the Jean Macduff Vaux Composer-in-Residence in 1999.
Mumma’s musical compositions include works for acoustical instruments (mostly solo piano, and chamber music), as well as for electronic and computer resources. His commissions include works for Radio Bremen (Germany), the Biennale di Venezia, the New York State Arts Council, Oberlin College, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Oregon Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players.
In 2000 he received the biennial John Cage Award from the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts.
Mumma's composing and performing in the 21st Century have continued primarily with solo instrumental and chamber music. Some of his recent solo music has employed electronic elements, including music for the 2006 Gaudeamus Festival in Holland. In 2008 he was featured composer at the University of New Mexico Albuquerque and the College of Santa Fe. He resides in both British Columbia and California. [SOURCE: BRAINWASHED]
Label:
Lovely Music, Ltd. – VR 1091
Format:
Vinyl, LP
Country:
US
Released:
1979
Style:
Noise, Experimental, Musique Concrète, Electroacoustic, Sound Collage
Tracklist:
A1 The Dresden Interleaf 13 February 1945 12:20
A2 Music From The Venezia Space Theatre 12:10
B Megaton For Wm. Burroughs 23:30
Notes:
Composed at the Cooperative Studio for Electronic Music (Ann Arbor, Michigan) - A1: 1965, A2: 1964, B: 1963.
Remixed at The Center for Contemporary Music, Mills College (Oakland, California).
"Music from the Venezia Space Theatre" uses parts of André Boucourechliev's "Texte II".
Chris Fraser was member of Unrest Work & Play, a British short-lived art rock obscurity, formed by Andy Wake (drums, percussion, bass, voices) and Chris (guitars, voices). They released two EPs ('Andy & Chris' in 1982 upon Art Hole Records, and 'Sound Every Day' in 1983 upon Political Underground Records) and only one full-length album, 'Informs', via Recommended Records, one of the authority labels of RIO founded by Chris Cutler and Mick Hobbs. In 1989 Chris Fraser published his solo work 'Archaeology', after Unrest Work & Play disbanded. [SOURCE: PROG ARCHIVES]
The Enemy (also known as Fruitland Famine Band from 1974 to 1978) were an american punk-rock band formed in Seattle in 1978 and disbanded in 1982. Members were Suzi Grant (vocals), George Gleason (guitar, vocals), Peter Barnes (drums), Michael "Wonderful" Clarke (bass), Paul Hood (bass, vocals) and Damon Titus (guitar, bass, vocals). Michael Clarke played in the early Vancouver punk rock and new wave scene with The Rest, The Generators, and [e?]. Around 1980 he moved to Seattle and joined The Enemy. They released only two singles of catchy sing-along choruses of female fronted punk: 'I Need An Enemy' in 1978 and 'Bang Bang You're Dead B/W Trendy Violence' (1979).
Der Junge Hund was an experimental rock and free jazz band formed in Eindhoven, Netherlands, by Rens Zanderz (guitar, synthesizer, vocals), Ger Van De Beuken (guitar, and also Z'EV collaborator in the 'The Invisible Man / The Old Sweat' album), Horst Rickels (saxophone, also in Maciunas Ensemble) and Rik Van Iersel (drums, later in Beukorkest).
Der Junge Hund relased two albums, ‘Ridders’ (1981) and ‘Alte Und Idioten Werden Niecht Viel Gefragt’ (1982) and several tapes. They also recorded as Simulated Wood from 1983 to 1985, releasing the live tape ‘Simultaan’.
Label:
Kremlin – KR 009
Format:
Vinyl, LP, Album
Country:
Netherlands
Released:
1982
Style:
Art Rock, Avantgarde, Free Jazz, Experimental
Tracklist:
A1 Ghâlla Ghâlla
A2 Das Heilpedagogische Instituut Macht Bekannt Das Die Drei Italiëner Nach Hause Wollen
Solo project of American sound artist Scott Konzelmann who has been active since 1987. He has created a number of installations, some rare live performances, and released his records through a number of labels. Noise that makes you feel like you're being pushed through the gears of an unoiled machine. Mechanical, punishing, and endlessly engaging timbres. [SOURCE: RATE YOUR MUSIC]
Blue Murder was a Dutch new wave band from Amsterdam, from 1982 until 1987.
The band was founded by the brothers Maarten and Rogier van der Ploeg, after their former band Soviet Sex fell apart. [SOURCE: DISCOGS]
