Elevator Bath

Bailey, Thomas Bey William

La Production Interdite

Elevator Bath

Thomas Bey William Bailey is a researcher and author of several books (e.g. "To Hear The World With New Eyes," "Micro Bionic") as well as a dedicated sound artist: ​I​n whatever medium he chooses, he focuses upon the extremes of information in order to determine both their liberating potential and their hidden dangers. Over a period of time that has seen him collaborating with the sonic arts communities of Japan, Central Europe and several distinct regions of the United States, he has developed an unorthodox style not beholden to any single popular or ‘avant garde’ genre: his embrace of the whole sonic spectrum has, in recent years, resulted in a high-intensity form that cohesively joins bracing noise and sidereal ephemera to seductive silences.   TBWB’s debut for Elevator Bath, "La Production Interdite," carries on a tradition of albums themed around under-reported ‘threshold’ states of consciousness. Following on the heels of the previous year’s "A Desperate Expediency" - an ‘enhanced interrogation’-themed album on Brazil’s Seminal Records - "La Production Interdite" takes its inspiration from the phenomenon of autoscopy, i.e. the visualization of doppelgängers or phantom doubles. Split into a purely instrumental half-hour side and a vocally-enhanced side in which TBWB narrates accounts of autoscopic events, this new album oscillates between moments of narcotic consolation and moments of sharp poignancy in an attempt to present the many different emotive 'faces' of autoscopic phenomena. A full complement of analog and digital tools, including the famous Buchla modular system at Stockholm’s EMS studios,...

Haynes, Jim

Flammable Materials From Foreign Lands

Elevator Bath

***Mostly composed, recorded, and sketched during an Estonian residency at MoKS for a program that was hosted by Simon Whetham and John Grzinich called Active Crossover, the goal of which was to bring together artists whose work pertained to environmental recordings. With the Estonian landscape pocked with abandoned buildings of considerable size and decay, and no electricity, JIM HAYNES relied on shortwave to capture any electro-magnetic disruptions. The radio reception was eerie and unsettled, producing a crackling, droning noise unlike what one hears in the United States. The A-side reflects an aestheticized paranoia through bursts of static, pulsed noise, and atonal sinews of sustained frequency. The B-side is more introspective, cutting up an Estonian radio broadcast into phonemes, disjointed phrases, and cryptic speech. What few words that can be recognized from the Estonian pertain to the forces of globalization. Clear vinyl. Edition of 300.

Akita, Masami

Wattle

Elevator Bath

***Wattle is a new, two-part composition featuring MASAMI AKITA's traditional soup of unidentifiable metallic clanging, crushing feedback, jagged white noise, and various effects. It does not disappoint. There are no drums, no guitars, no vocals; just scorching electronic mayhem of the highest quality. The colorful images here are based on photographs shot and subtly manipulated by Masami Akita, who sends the following message: "Turkey is beautiful animal and do not eat them." Agreed. Masami Akita is, of course, the artist behind the seminal, vegan, straight edge, noise project, MERZBOW. He lives in Tokyo.

Recchion, Tom

Oaxaca Dawn / Bamboo

Elevator Bath

***"Oaxaca Dawn" and "Bamboo" are two raw, unadulterated, and unpretentious snapshots of specific moments in time and space: the early morning cracking of dawn in Oaxaca, Mexico and a windy afternoon in a Hana bamboo forest on Maui, Hawaii. Individually these audio documents are gorgeously simple, matter-of-fact presentations of travels. Together they are a recollection of their natural beauty, impossible to adequately render by any other means. This beautiful LP features site-specific recordings and photographs by TOM RECCHION, a sound and visual artist/composer/potter/art director and graphic designer. He is the co-founder of the legendary LOS ANGELES FREE MUSIC SOCIETY (LAFMS) and has been an active, integral participant in the arts for more than forty years. Recchion lives in Pasadena, California.  "I was struck by the cacophony of sounds at the dawn of light in the 'suburb' of Oaxaca where I was staying. It woke me everyday of my week long stay. It was like a barnyard turned up to 11. I brought a DAT machine and two Audio Technica microphones for the purpose of making field recordings on the trip. I woke up before the sun came up and set up the equipment in the dark. The first sound on the record is the moment the sun came over the horizon. The bamboo forests on Maui were seared into my memory from my first time in Hawaii. On my second trip, armed with a first edition Edirol digital recorder, I hung out in the forest for a couple of...

Sheffield, Colin Andrew & James Eck Rippie

Complete Variations

Elevator Bath

"Complete Variations" is a selection of works from the duo of Colin Andrew Sheffield (samples, processing) and James Eck Rippie (turntables, guitar). The six pieces comprising this album were recorded "live" with no additional production and were wholly improvised. Each of the album's pieces utilizes sounds from a single instrument as its sole source material. Here, the duo's examinations of the viola, guitar, organ, harp, and flute result in six unique components of a unified whole: a textured ambience that is rich and subtle, simple and complex.  Three of these tracks were originally released by Elevator Bath in 2001 as a vinyl LP entitled "Variations." The other three tracks which have been added to this edition were recorded shortly after the original material but had not been made available previously.

Recchion, Tom

Proscenium

Elevator Bath

"Proscenium" is a subtle and remarkably controlled collection of atmospheres. The air of mystery, deliberate pacing, the deep tones and unidentified sounds of Recchion's 2006 album "Sweetly Doing Nothing" have been explored even further here. It's a logical development but the results are unexpected and strikingly original, sounding wholly unfamiliar and yet like no one's but Tom Recchion's.  "Proscenium"'s six pieces mostly began life as music for filmmaker/puppeteer Janie Geiser's play "Invisible Glass," an adaptation of Poe's "William Wilson." The play's intricate beauty and the story's moody confusion have been perfectly mirrored and expanded on by Recchion who used that inspiration as a leaping off point for Proscenium's rich and surprising compositions. "It was an attempt to create a sound world for the viewer that started as they entered the theater and drenched them until they left in an ongoing series of atmospheres."  Tom Recchion has been a sound and visual artist/composer/art director and graphic designer in California since the 1970s. He is the co-creator of the legendary Los Angeles Free Music Society (LAFMS) and has collaborated with David Toop, Christian Marclay, Oren Ambarchi, Keiji Haino, and Max Eastley, among many others. Though Proscenium is only his sixth album as a solo artist, Recchion has had many recordings released by labels such as Birdman, Touch, PSF, RRR, Idea, Staubgold, and the Cortical Foundation. He has also written for The Wire magazine. Tom Recchion lives in California.

Reed, Rick

The Way Things Go

Elevator Bath

Welcome to an atmospheric realm of blurred synth drones, textural shortwave radio, and vivid sine waves. Welcome to the highly individual sonic world of Rick Reed. For more than 25 years now Reed has been toiling away, composing, performing, and fine-tuning his craft of very personal and powerful electronic tonalities. And his expertise is plainly evident. His is incredibly engaging music with an almost physical presence. Reed's level of mastery is virtually unparalleled - it seems that no one else can combine these elements with quite the same finesse, with the same ear for arrangement, or with the same sense of purpose.  If Rick Reed's is not yet a household name it is likely due to his relatively slim body of work. "The Way Things Go," then, is an attempt at resolving this issue, for here are 83 worthy minutes of top-shelf electronic tonalities. "The Way Things Go" covers a span of nearly ten years of work, and yet the material flows very naturally from one piece to the next. Yes, the evolution of technique is on display here, but Reed found his voice some years ago and his stylistic development has therefore been suitably subtle and deliberate. This is the work of a composer who is extraordinarily familiar with the sounds at his disposal and whose editorial skills are equally honed.  Massimo Ricci, inspired by one of the pieces in this set ("Hidden Voices"), has noted:  "I can't stress enough the importance of composers like Reed,...

Shoemaker, Matt

Soundtrack For Dislocation

Elevator Bath

Matt Shoemaker's first full-length album for Elevator Bath is "Soundtrack for Dislocation," an entirely self-contained account of a fantastically abstract and intensely personal vision.  As with much of Shoemaker's work, this is an album permeated with a very potent sense of unease. And despite the fact that the use of field recordings is very minimal here, there is a no less organically tangible quality which only contributes to the feeling of disquietude.  For those unfamiliar with Matt Shoemaker's work, "Soundtrack for Dislocation" is absolutely the ideal place to start as it is arguably the most fully-realized project in his catalog. All the necessary elements are present: The enigmatic cover and interior images, the cryptic track titles, and of course the recordings themselves - densely packed and elaborately evolved aberrancies. Shoemaker seems to have provided more than enough clues to the puzzles he offers in his works but, like the most effective tales, these subtle indications cannot quite account for all that happens. The rest is up to the astute listener who accepts this very inscrutability as the reward.  Matt Shoemaker's music has been released by such labels as Trente Oiseaux, The Helen Scarsdale Agency, Mystery Sea, and Ferns Recordings. He resides in the northwest of the United States.  "Soundtrack for Dislocation" was originally released as a compact disc by Elevator Bath in 2010.

Shoemaker, Matt

Isolated Agent / Stranding Behavior

Elevator Bath

Much of Shoemaker's recorded output prominently features the use of field recordings (see his "Tropical Amnesia One" CD), but in this case he has eschewed such grounded measures and has instead sculpted a two-part puzzle which seemingly exists on some other plane(t). Layer upon evolving layer of sonic phenomena is still the methodological trademark, but the content is almost entirely electronic, lending a great deal of vivid color to a description of blackest space. The two works presented here are powerfully mysterious, unsettling examples of Matt Shoemaker's prowess as a composer of details, of moods and tenses.  The improbably relevant artwork for this release consists of two collages utilizing Shoemaker's own hand-dyed paper. The images, as well as their meanings, are essentially abstract and yet remarkably familiar. The "Isolated Agent" scuttles in a circular motion, forever locked in an endless search for the unknown element. The constant retreat, the "Stranding Behavior" inevitably resulting in/from confusion.  "You realize what you are implying? That we owe our human condition here to the intervention of insects."  Matt Shoemaker's music has been released by such labels as Trente Oiseaux, The Helen Scarsdale Agency, and Ferns Recordings. He resides in Seattle.  These tracks were originally released by Elevator Bath as a limited edition picture disc LP.

Pacione, Adam

Dobranoc

Elevator Bath

There are artists that look into the subconscious aspects of perception through plain coincidences generated by even simpler sonic architectures, achieving results that are unequivocally inimitable. Without a doubt, Adam Pacione can proudly stand among them. Dobranoc (Polish for “good night” – thanks, Adam!) comes on a limited edition picture disc – the vinyl is adorned with the artist’s experimental photographs – and constitutes an amazing illustration of his sound art, destined to generate extensive stretches of what I love calling “silence of the mind”.  The record contains two long segments, one per side, called “Dobranoc” and “Always”. Basically, not many differences subsist in their temperament, the impression of extremely gradual movement toward an inestimable stasis definitely felt throughout both pieces. Pacione utilized field recordings, guitars, shortwave radio, analog keyboards and Moog filters to craft the music, yet you’re not going to identify any of these instruments, as unremitting as your probing might be. What’s detected is only a massive accumulation of murksome clouds with very few openings, from which pale lights transpire amidst superimpositions of acutely poignant monochromatic harmonies. Frequencies that could induce someone to think of a concealed choir, quasi-frozen loops activating a sense of acquiescence to occurrences that can’t be possibly be controlled by our strength of character.  The spellbinding quality of these forward-inching masses makes sure that thoughts are left aside, and that any kind of overheated reaction is all but discarded. As the hiss, the unspoken throbbing and the private fluctuation set in...

Haynes, Jim

Eraldus / Eravaldus

Elevator Bath

"Eraldus" and "Eravaldus" are both shadowy concoctions built from agitated objects and amplified spaces (a lighthouse, some high-tension wires driven by wind, a very large pile of sand, etc.). These are subtly manipulated field recordings, rusted to perfection and fine-tuned into scraping and humming machinations.  The artwork comes from two corroded photographs, one of which was created especially for this release. Haynes has worked with this process for almost 15 years and, here, the resulting images are as beautiful and mysterious as the audio is nuanced and evocative.  In addition to his solo work, Jim Haynes has participated in a number of fruitful collaborations over the years with Loren Chasse (as Coelacanth), Keith Evans, Steven Stapleton/Nurse With Wound, and irr. app. (ext.)/M.S. Waldron. His recordings have been released by such labels as The Helen Scarsdale Agency, Editions Mego, Hooker Vision, Intransitive, and others. He currently resides in San Francisco.  These tracks were originally released by Elevator Bath as a limited edition picture disc LP.

Reed, Rick

Dreamz / Blue Polz

Elevator Bath

Rick Reed's fascinating, highly evolved world is represented well by these two new pieces, each of which offers up the kind of droning intensity and unsettling beauty that this veteran noisemaker has come to be known for. Reed's work is very obviously that of an experienced craftsman - one whose sound is a reverent nod to early electronic music underscored by an enduring sensibility for atmosphere and ethereality.  "Dreamz" began life as the soundtrack for a live visual display by filmmaker Ken Jacobs, which was performed live by Jacobs and Reed at the 2007 New York Film Festival. "Blue Polz" was also inspired by the work of a filmmaker (originally conceived as a kind of alternate soundtrack to a piece by Fred Worden). All of the music was created using an EMS Synthi A, plus 2 sine wave generators and a shortwave radio.  The artwork comes from two original paintings. Reed has been active in the visual arts for more than 20 years; his work is utterly abstract, beautifully enigmatic. These images are the perfect accompaniment to Reed’s otherworldly audio counterparts.  These tracks were originally released by Elevator Bath as a limited edition picture disc LP.

Pacione, Adam

Sisyphus

Elevator Bath

Original CD released in 2005 by Elevator Bath in an edition of 329 copies.  Recorded in & around Nightmare Castle, Texas 2002-2005. Those waiting on the next Stars of the Lid record can rest easy now as here is another diamond of the Texas hinterlands, shining low and weary through the endless fenced-in wild yards and upturned bedroom windows of another druggy afternoon community.   Stars come out early when this dry womb surrounds, when Texan hills and houses become miniature ziggurats under heat-lamp, and faces adopt the timelessness of cut Roman masks without hesitation. The music reflects the gauzy thickness of the air, the feeling of conscious breath, of thorough body suspension, but rock-garden clean, sacred sterile, and nearly monolithic in the clarity of each second’s noise. Guitar becomes keyboard becomes air-conditioned wall becomes air itself.  Howling, chiming, cyclical drone patterns can consume the space while simultaneously occupying some central issuance-point, some quiet locus in the room like a melodious pulpit obscured as a shoe or a sideways piece of trash, riddled in glyphic writing and piping away with pieces of the world’s happiest death knell, maybe the sound Sisyphus likes when he’s doing normal stuff, cooking, mowing the wild lawn or just laid-out between the bed and the burning window.  Pacione makes primordial ambient drone sound simply made, a comfortable place though inseparable from the ur-primitive impulse that keeps me slouching back for clues into what is transforming this everydayness to pure light, to slow-motion heat. Sisyphus is...

Reed, Rick

Dark Skies At Noon

Elevator Bath

Rick Reed is a self-taught composer/improviser who has been working in the Austin underground music scene for the past 30+ years. "Dark Skies at Noon" is his definitive statement. Over the years, Reed’s sound has taken on a life of its own – that of a magnificent monster capable of both ferocious intensity and lulling tranquility, yet perfectly controlled under Reed's masterful care.  "Dark Skies at Noon"'s title track was utilized by legendary filmmaker Ken Jacobs as soundtrack to some of his recent works. And it is an apt accompaniment to Jacobs' surreal, otherworldly images (the Jacobs/Reed collaboration is ongoing). The second piece in this collection is a live recording (made by Tom Carter of Charalambides) featuring ex-AMM guitarist Keith Rowe in a stunning duet. The album's closing piece is pure Rick Reed, demonstrating his wholly unique sound and compositional style in an ear-bending, yet always restrained blur of sine waves, field recordings, short-wave radio, and Moog synthesizer.  Reed has defined his sound while performing solo and with various groups including Frequency Curtain and the Abrasion Ensemble. Since the mid 90s, Reed has released several LPs and CDs on labels such as Ecstatic Peace, Beta-lactam Ring, Pale Disc Japan and Elevator Bath.  "This is one of those discs that I fall in love with after a few minutes. Rick Reed is a self-taught composer based in Austin Texas who uses sinewave generators, field recordings, shortwaves and Moog to build crawling soundscapes in which every event is masterfully...