Fabrica

First, David

Same Animal, Different Cages Vol. 4: Sitar Music Of North Brooklyn

Fabrica

Sitar Music of North Brooklyn, the fourth volume in American composer David First’s “Same Animal, Different Cages” series, is perhaps one of his strongest musical statements since he radically re-invented how to approach the acoustic guitar in volume one. While First’s sitar improvisations are engrossing and pleasurable to hear, easy listening they are not. This is First challenging himself and challenging you, the listener, to grapple with his unorthodox and experimental approach to this Hindustani instrument. Popularized in the West by Ravi Shankar and its incorporation into western rock and pop music by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, the sitar can still be heard in some jazz, new age and psychedelic music. However, it is rarely featured in modern experimental music, where composers rely heavily on synthesizers and classical western instruments.  As he has demonstrated with this series, First’s exploratory improvisations are less about finding a melodic groove, locking into it and expanding on it, and more about bravely taking on the challenge of delving head-first into the unknown, purposefully avoiding the familiar, and thus creating something unexpected. It’s musical experimentation in its purest form. On this occasion First is joined on a few pieces by a percussionist, which adds a more rhythmic structure to the performances. While those pieces begin to resemble or remind the listener of Indian raga, they largely avoid classical Indian raga structure, a far more honest approach than attempting to co-opt, appropriate or jump on the classical Hindustani music bandwagon. Much like he...

First, David

Same Animal, Different Cages Vol.3: Civil War Songs (for Solo Harmonica)

Fabrica

In the third volume of the Same Animal, Different Cages series, American composer David First does a 180 from the purely sound-for-sound’s sake explorations of the first two volumes and gives eleven emotional outpourings performed exclusively on solo harmonica. Despite this minimalist single-instrument approach, First makes each of these songs sound fully realized; anything more would simply be crowding the sonic space.  First has produced perhaps one of the first folk-music responses to the era of Trump and right-wing populism. But it’s more than that as well. The synth-like otherworldly sounds First coaxes out of his instrument are a revelation—he has done nothing less than reinvent the harmonica. Organic, soulful, melancholy and uplifting, Civil War Songs is protest music made for these times. In the face of this horrifying administration and the racist and fascist goons it has allowed out of the woodwork, First offers up a wordless experimental album that celebrates solidarity, friendship, community and principled resistance. Rather than providing an escape, these hymns wake one out of that paralyzing feeling of despair, delivering renewed focus and the capability to fight on.

Ecstatic Music Band

Approaching The Infinite

Fabrica

"Approaching the Infinite" is a blistering 40-minute drone performance by the Ecstatic Music Band. The use of high volumes and long durations creates an immersive sound-field where complex harmonies begin to emerge.  The Ecstatic Music Band is a collective of over 10 members. The group performs on both amplified acoustic instruments and electric instruments with tuning systems derived directly from the overtone series. Their compositional-improvisations produce dense and dynamic fields of harmonic interference and reinforcement, while searching for a deep consonance amid the flux of microtonal variations, beating tones, difference tones, and psychoacoustic phenomena.  Ecstatic Music Band members John Krausbauer, Ezra Buchla, and Agnes Szelag perform on "Approaching The Infinite", their first recording for Fabrica.  Limited edition CD of 100.  For fans of: Terry Riley, Ellen Fullman, Skullflower, Jean-Claude Eloy, Burning Star Core, Velvet Underground’s Legendary Guitar Amp Tapes.

Courtis, Alan

Los Galpones

Fabrica

Los Galpones is the latest solo full-length release conjured by the prolific Buenos Aires-based composer Alan Courtis (aka Anla Courtis). He has straddled the international noise underground and the academic-centered modern composition scenes since the early 1990s. As a solo artist, with the Argentine experimental group Reynols, and in collaborations with Pauline Oliveros, Makoto Kawabata (Acid Mothers Temple), Lasse Marhaug, Aaron Moore (Volcano the Bear), Okkyung Lee, and Daniel Menche among others, Courtis has amassed an impressive discography. This latest album contains four dark and grimacing industrial-tinged drone pieces. Employing the electric guitar, the violin, springs and other found objects, Courtis’s soundscape is at times oppressive and dense — perhaps a reflection on the post-industrial urban landscape of his native Buenos Aires. This album should be played loud.

First, David

(vol. 2) Same Animal, Different Cages: Solomonos For Analog Synthesizer

Fabrica

On this second installment in the Same Animal, Different Cages series of tonal investigations, David First dons his no-madder-than-you scientist’s lab coat and proceeds to fire up and overheat his newest subject, a Korg MS-20. The resulting six tracks are characterized by rapid-fire analog oscillations, relentlessly and exuberantly pitched up and down to suit their performer’s curiosity. Solomonos for Analog Synthesizer is synth-based experimental music rooted in actual experimentation. Once again, First delivers two sides of vinyl that are equally hypnotic, intriguing and challenging.

Luciernaga

Sleeping / Wandering

Fabrica

Luciernaga is the experimental ambient music project of Chilean-Brazilian by way of Brooklyn artist Joao Da Silva. A former hardcore punk front man, guitar player, and zine editor who took an active role in Santiago, Chile's hardcore-punk scene during the early '90s (there's even a full-length documentary about it!). Joao turned to "droning guitar electronics that can vacillate significantly between dark terrors and bright, shimmering expanses of sound" (Brainwashed.com) after moving to NYC in 2008. He has since released a series of limited edition cassettes and CD-R's on various labels in the U.S. and abroad. Luciernaga’s music was recently featured in “Circle In The Rock” a short-film directed by Ellis Bahl and starring Brandon Sexton III.   "Sleeping/Wandering" is Luciernaga’s vinyl debut. This limited edition 7"EP contains extended and alternate versions of the tracks "Sleeping Green-Eyed Girl," from the recent "To The Centre..." limited edition cassette released by UK label Invisible City and "Wandering June," from the self-released and now sold out "Tile II" limited edition cassette.  The alternate version of “Sleeping Green-Eyed Girl” showcases Da Silva’s penchant for constructing beautifully expansive work from a core of shimmering drones and occasionally dissonant passages. Gorgeous music stretches out above a hypnotic loop as he carefully layers delicate, crystalline feedback-like sounds atop. The result is a song that glistens away in a beautiful slumber befitting its dream-like title. On the flip side’s extended “Wandering June,, Da Silva again builds from a foundation of gentle, but not necessarily delicate loops of sound,...

Turman, Robert & Aaron Dilloway

Blizzard

Fabrica

Recorded in the midst of an actual extreme winter weather event, Blizzard conjures the early synthesizer experiments of Popol Vuh and Tangerine Dream combined with the gritty reel-to-reel tape manipulations long employed by both Aaron Dilloway (Hanson Records / ex-Wolf Eyes) and Robert Turman (founding member of the pioneering industrial outfit NON and a celebrated solo artist in his own right).  As the story goes, Blizzard was recorded in January 2009 during an Ohio snowstorm which hit on the very day that Dilloway was preparing for a move to Michigan. Alone, his wife and child already settling into the new place, and stranded in a cold and empty house, he was welcomed into Turman’s home. They decided to make the best of the occasion and hunkered down for a few days of late-night recording. Crawling synth drones and looped effects keep things bleak throughout. The wind gusts outside are strangely regular. Snow scratches at the windows more rhythmically than seems natural. Are those woodwinds or animal calls? Are the streetlights obscured by blown branches, or are they slowly strobing? Suddenly a normal house in a common Midwestern blizzard feels like a house stalked by a sentient storm, bearing down for a final freeze. Throw another log on the fire and make yourself comfortable for the last time.  Blizzard was originally released on CD by Hanson Records in 2009. This first-time vinyl edition is limited to 500 copies.

First, David

(vol. 1) Same Animal, Different Cages: Études For Acoustic Guitar

Fabrica

Fabrica Records announces the first volume in the Same Animal, Different Cages series by American composer and improviser David First. On Études for Acoustic Guitar, First twists and bends notes from his steel-string acoustic guitar, an instrument traditionally associated with American folk, country and blues music. And in fact, those genres are central to First’s explorations here, constituting portions of a palette that also encompasses jazz and Indian classical music. In this series of stylistic hybrids, an expansive tonality is propelled with rhythmic authority. The effect is similar to that of tape manipulation, or to the challenges posed to the inner ear by Phil Niblock’s shifting dissonances. It’s almost as if the room itself speeds up and slows down as First performs in it, anchoring himself in three humble dimensions and letting time do what it will. The Same Animal, Different Cages series serves as the latest chapter in the oeuvre of a musician whose defining quality is arguably his curiosity. First asks the right questions, and there are no wrong answers. Subsequent volumes in the series will include similar explorations on analog modular synthesizer, harmonica, sitar, computer, voice and electric guitar.

Public Speaking

Blanton Ravine

Fabrica

Public Speaking is the solo moniker of Brooklyn experimental musician Jason Anthony Harris. Utilizing found objects, radio, tape recorder, synthesizer and effect pedals, he constructs percussive, textural music for his deep, soulful vocals to croon over. Somewhere between Brian Eno and Tune-Yards, or Tortoise and James Blake, Harris’s music explores pop music as organized sound. The Deli Magazine wrote: “This is soul music functioning as 21st century meditation… [This] is what happens when an artist personally realizes the sound of his environment, and puts it to use.” His first full-length, Blanton Ravine is a lush collection of songs and sounds drawing on avant-rock, IDM, ambient, noise, and R&B.

Rambutan

Inverted Summer

Fabrica

Inverted Summer” is the full-length vinyl LP debut of Eric Hardiman's (Century Plants/Burnt Hills) solo project. As Rambutan, Hardiman has released a steady stream of quality material on a variety of underground labels since 2007. Subtly bridging realms of noise, dub, psych, drone, minimalism, and musique concrete, Rambutan brings listeners into a unique sonic headspace that finds common ground between bliss and dread.  Utilizing various electronics, synthesizers, tapes, guitar, and bass, Inverted Summer is a sprawling, wide-angle piece of work, yielding deep zones of textural soundscaping that can soothe and unsettle in equal measure. Inverted Summer captures Rambutan's thick, dubby atmospherics in all their glory, revealing Hardiman to be a sound artist whose improvisational techniques are as formidable as his sense of structure and development. These are alien soundtracks for the recombinant generation, just waiting for you to disappear into them.  Mastered by James Plotkin, and cut by Golden Mastering.

Tobacconists

A Secret Place

Fabrica

The Tobacconists are Scott Foust (Idea Fire Company / Swill Radio) and Frans de Waard (Kapotte Muziek / Korm Plastics). In 2005, Frans joined Idea Fire Company on their European tour (as documented on the Vital—Live In Europe CD). Four years later, Scott F. returned to Europe to screen his feature film Here's To Love and reconnected with Frans to form The Tobacconists.  An intensive week of rehearsals yielded six new pieces of music, followed by a European tour and a proper studio recording. These new pieces became A Secret Place. The work differs from their first LP by its inclusion of bass guitar, rhythms, and synthesizers. Scott Foust calls himself a "one man Dome (Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis' post-Wire project) promotion army" and admirer of Gilbert & Lewis' recorded output of the 1980s, but he's not alone: both Mike and Frans are massive fans too, so they decided this new record should have some of those signature Dome bass lines and general playfulness. Released in collaboration with Portugal's A Giant Fern.

Unicorn

Playing With Light

Fabrica

Issued a decade ago as a CD on Housepig, Unicorn's beautiful and sinister album Playing With Light is re-introduced to listeners as a rearranged and remastered LP. Unicorn is WT Nelson, known previously as party to ’90s avant-hardcore outfit Man is the Bastard and its spawn, the prolific Bastard Noise. Playing With Light features three tracks originally prepared to accompany short films by Stephanie Miller, and, interspersed with standalone compositions, work cohesively to limn a world where the alien oscilloscapes of Bastard Noise merge with earthy synths and electric mandocello.  The album opens with a transfixing music box motif that wouldn't be out of place ushering in the opening credits of a vintage thriller. In "Spots," the ten-minute centerpiece track, a mostly unaccompanied synth melody uses syncopation to create the impression of stumbling through darkness. "Clay & Fire" threatens to burst into full-bore power electronics territory but doesn't; the narration we hear is not a transgressive confession but instead a factory worker's discovery of pottery as a respite from his labor. From there the record offers an electronic crescendo before resolving in the almost-comforting "Far Away; Close To You," which trails off in Morse code blips clearly transmitted but only possibly received.  Playing With Light is unique in Nelson's discography and is entirely deserving of this vinyl reincarnation. "Rhodes, Electric Mandocello, Various Trogotronic Electronic / Electro Acoustics Prototypes & Field Recordings." Mastered by Timothy Stollenwerk (Grouper, Mississippi Records, Sublime Frequencies).

Luciernaga

Collected Works 2008-2013

Fabrica

Luciernaga is the experimental ambient/noise project of Fabrica founder and co-owner Joao Da Silva. Luciernaga's music has been described as more surreal than ethereal, dark and somber. Luciernaga tends to bypass melody in favor of complex layers of sounds and textures created through processed field recordings, treated acoustic/electric guitar, buddha machine, tibetan signing bowl, shruti box, mbira and voice.

Aeronaut

Your Space Transmissions Listening Kit

Fabrica

“Billed as the "sonic and visual documentation of the journey of a lone astronaut into deep space, as imagined by a seven year old boy," there certainly is a lot of outer space imagery on Steve Fors' second release under the Aeronaut moniker. Conceptual trappings aside, this album is a strong piece of ambient noise that stands completely on its own as a slab of majestic tones and lush, beautiful textures. That is not to say that the conceptual nature of the album is irrelevant: the packaging, which resembles an early 1980s kids’ science book, drives this point home with its bright colors and minimal graphics. Even more so with the inclusion of old red/blue 3d glasses, which themselves feature some rather They Live subliminal messages on them, albeit seemingly unrelated to the album. All four 15 minute pieces do an exemplary job of constructing the narrative on their own, as well. "Preflight/Launch" is a bit overt at first, with its use of fuzzy mission control transmissions and requisite radio static, but built upon a slowly increasing bed of guitar feedback acting as a propulsive rocket engine. Eventually the noisiness retreats to allow the buried, soft tones to become the focus: a light, weightless near melody. "My First Space Walk" also begins with one of the other overt concessions to the conceptual storyline: a pulsing, radar beacon like tone. Past this it is a dramatic synth string-like melody that is just a bit wobbly and out of tune, like a...

Turman, Robert

Beyond Painting

Fabrica

Robert Turman began making sound experiments in the early ’70s employing reel-to-reel tape, cassette decks, ARP synth, drum sequencers, multiple string and percussion instruments, and whatever else he could scavenge. In the late ’70s he co-founded NON (along with Boyd Rice), but left shortly after the release of the Mode of Infection / Knife Ladder 7" to focus on composing and releasing his own music on homemade limited edition (and now extremely rare) cassette tapes. Robert has collaborated with art rockers FZ13, post-apocalyptic industrialists Z.O. Voider, and more recently Aaron Dilloway (Wolf Eyes, Nevari Butchers), Neon Depth and Jandek.  Beyond Painting, with its 72 minutes of haunting lo-fi ambience, is probably one of Robert's most accomplished recordings. Layers of meditative synth loops, guitar, and eastern-tinged melodies, all beautifully delayed, bring to mind blistering desert landscapes, high-tension Cold-War-era spy action sequences, and dark cavernous sounds. Originally recorded in 1990, these tracks did not see the light of day until 2010 when they were self released on a limited run of 100 professionally printed and duplicated CD-Rs. Mastered by Timothy Stollenwerk (Mississippi Records, Sublime Frequencies, Grouper, Wooden Shjips, Yellow Swans) at Stereophonic Mastering.

Aeronaut

Coronal Mass

Fabrica

"Aeronaut, who is Steve Fors (and half of the combo The Golden Sores) has been working at his sparse, complex approach to sound art for quite a few years now, but it all comes together beautifully on Coronal Mass, his first full physical release, presented beautifully in a hand-made box painted by the artist himself. On each of the two 18 minute compositions, Fors allows himself to stretch out and fill every moment of those durations, but in a constantly shifting and evolving sort of way. The A side initially crackles with digital static offset by rising and falling melodic calls, blending melody with chaos. Soon all transitions to the blissful, soft tones, intertwined with one another. While by no means descending into awful new age territory, there is a peaceful warmth throughout, and even once a bit of distorted electronic guitar enters the mix, the delicate balance is not upset. The guitar eventually envelops the entire piece in gauzy, yet sharp haze that embraces both dissonance and beauty. The second piece stays even further away from the harsher passages, opting instead for a bleaker, more dour mix. Bowed tones and shifting passages of melody conjure up a distinct darkness that is moody, but not at all uncomfortable. Again, the more understated moments are buried in a passage of soaring, lush guitar squall before pushing the piece into a climax of glorious noise. All too often works like this fall into rote repetition and time-filling genre clichés, but that never...

Insect Factory / Luciernaga

Split

Fabrica

Insect Factory

Melodies From A Dead Radio

Fabrica

Washington DC’s Jeff Barsky offers up his first full-length vinyl release, with an incredibly full and rich sounding platter that delivers on every level. Barsky has been a key figure in the DC experimental / DIY scene for the last few years, and is also a member of kraut-influenced DC combo the Plums.  In his solo guise as Insect Factory, Barsky traverses the worlds of guitar improvisation and subtle sound manipulation. He’s put out a number of CD-Rs, a self-released CD, and a split 7" with New Zealand drone master RST. Yet despite the impressive back catalog, this LP on Brooklyn’s Fabrica is Barsky’s first major bid for exposure. And if the world were a more just place, every home would have a copy proudly displayed.  What separates Insect Factory from other projects in the ambient and quieter realms of guitar improvisation are the remarkable displays of patience and impeccable timing. Each of the four pieces on this record (two epic tracks, and two shorter bookends) is compelling on its own, yet the sequencing and combined impact is devastatingly beautiful. Barsky balances light and dark, tension and resolution in his pieces, but never in obvious ways. Instead, his music surrounds and envelops in a gauzy, cloudy warmth while still retaining an interest in shaking things up. The record’s title is apt, too—Barsky’s music alludes to static transmissions, garbled communication via invisible airwaves, alien landscapes, and dying technologies, while still retaining an interest in melody and traditional beauty. The...

Culver

Gateshead Graves

Fabrica

In the crowded field of guitar droneworks, UK musician Lee Stokoe could be said to be hidden in plain sight. For two decades, his solo project Culver and in-house tape label Matching Head have produced a consistent stream of releases without approaching anything near household-name status. This is due in part to a workmanlike, low-profile approach to recording and releasing music, despite time served in the mighty Skullflower. And then there's the music itself: unpolished, unsettling, a history of textures divorced from any linear notions of progress.  Prolific as Culver has been, Gateshead Graves marks only the third instance of Lee filling 24 inches of grooved real estate on his own (after the obscure Route of Aesthetic lathe-cut and the oddly elusive Dead Winter Blood LP). It features two side-long tracks that put the listener first in the hold of a ship bound nowhere good and then in an aircraft headed in roughly the same direction. Volume and isolation recommended for an appropriately immersive experience.  Mastered by Timothy Stollenwerk at Stereophonic Mastering (Grouper, Sublime Frequencies, Mississippi Records).