The ninth edition of the audio cassette magazine Tellus is titled Music With Memory. The odd title may be alluding to two things; music from computers as in using RAM or music derived from the personal memories of the composer. Both theories can be implied from the seven innovative tracks on this ninth edition of the audio magazine. Overall, this is one of the more consistently excellent of the Tellus series. Nicolas Collins’ “Devil Music” is a fascinating collage that appears to be made from brief fragments of popular music and radio broadcasts. “Stall” by John Driscoll is a drone piece of electronic sounds that is best relished on a good set of headphones. Brenda Hutchinson is known for her electronic manipulation of human voices. The interlude from “Voices of Reason” is a prime example of her hypnotic compositions.

The last four tracks are my favorites. “Parodicals” by Ron Kivila is a clever excursion mindful of the early Moog experiments while his “Cannon Y for C.N.” is both a tribute to Conlon Nancarrow and a affectionate nod to Nancarrow’s player piano pieces. Finally there is the weirdness of Paul de Marinis. His “Yellow Yankee” is a rich and complicated mix of computer keyboard and altered voice but the gem of the album is “Eenie Meenie Chilli Beenie”. If I was in advertising I would call this a children song for freaked out children which explains why I’m not in advertising. this is another issue of Tellus that will fascinate and entertain.

The album is in 160kbps MP3. If you like this collection, check out all the other Tellus issues on Ubuweb. Thanks to Continuo for the cover art and his detailed notes on this series and other out of print delights from the cassette era.

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Joseph Nechvatel is a digital artist who creates computer-assisted paintings that are often formulated from specially designed computer viruses. You can view a number of his visual works on his web site. He also occasionally delves into the audio realm using a similar process. Ubuweb, with the permission of the artist, has two of his audio works freely available; Viral SymphOny and Murmuring tOngue Of Ovidwhich is described as the “second movement” of the viral symphony.

Viral SymphOny like “Ovid” is derived from the custom-made viruses that he uses to create his paintings. Mathew Underwood and Andrew Deutsch reworked and reprocessed these viruses to create these sound sculptures. Murmuring tOngue Of Ovid is derived from source materials of a 1985 reading of Ovid’s poem Metamorphosis by Jane Smith. Frankly, the entire process eludes my understanding so I am left with simply hearing the final results which is a haunting and mesmerizing collection of sounds weaving in and out of themselves. How much is random and how much is controlled is uncertain but the works do have a distinctly structured sound to it. These are audio compositions that lend themselves to attentive listening in a quiet environment so you can relish all the subtleties and nuances.

The two pieces are available in 160kbps MP3. If you enjoy the music, support the artist by buying the CD with an extra 50 minutes of audio and field recordings at CDeMusic.

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Here is another issue of the audiocassette magazine Tellus, number 15 to be exact. The theme is on Improvisation and features many of the lead innovators of the avant-garde jazz and new music scene of the 80s.

Tellus’ survey of the improvisatory arts was recorded at The Stephanie and Irving Stone Festival of Improvisers in New York City on November 8, 9, and 10, 1985. The participants included John Zorn, Fred Frith, Lindsay Cooper, Carol Emmanuel, Bill Frisell and others. The first track, a duet between guitarist Chris Cochrane and Anthony Coleman on electric organ, typifies the fascinating controlled chaos that I like in the avant-garde and especially in avant-garde jazz. Henry Cow members Cooper and Frith are always creative and can be heard to good effect on tracks 3 and 5. Guitarist Frisell and Trombonist Jim Staley gives my favorite performance of the set on track 6. Finally the album ends with a bit of an all-star session the includes Zorn, Frith, Cooper, and Ikue Mori. Overall this is an interesting album of intelligent, if sometimes challenging, improvisation.

The album is available in 192kbps from Ubuweb.

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Tellus was a bimonthly audiocassette “magazine” devoted to promoting new and experimental music. It was published from 1983 to 1992 and featured many of the most innovative artists in music, spoken word, and performance arts. Ubuweb has almost all 27 issues available as free downloads. Much of this music has rarely been heard while some tracks have been accepted as seminal works in this post-modern era. I will be featuring many of these albums through the year and I will start with the first two issues of this important “publication”.

Tellus 1, as with the second issue, spotlights artists and musicians from the New York area. For an album that promotes the avant-garde, the music is surprisingly diverse. It starts with a funky soul-jazz number by no-wave guitarist Jody Harris. However it isn’t too long before Sonic Youth shows their more extreme side on the live “Scream” while contemporaries Live Skull and Rat-at-Rat-R play a more typical version of Noise Rock. Brenda Hutchinson contributes a classic work of vocal manipulation in “Wordplay”. Joseph Nechvatal represents the state-of-the arts in the 80s electronic music scene with “Ego Masher” and Rhys Chatham, a regular contributor to this series, plays minimalist guitar music on “Guitar Trio” which is reminiscent of the work of Glenn Branca who can also be heard on this track. The other works are quite interesting if not always successful.

Tellus 2 continues this look at the music scene in New York of the 1980s. The Scene is Now’s “Bugged Out, Wigged Out” may be your only chance to hear avant-garde jug band music. Tony Papa’s “Water Works” is a clever and amusing mixture of moisture and melody. Spoken word is well represented by Mitch Corber’s “Budge, Budge, Budge The Budget” and Cardboard Air band’s “Little Rabbit”. Other favorites include David Garlans “No More Misty Night”, the hip hopish “2-4-7-9-11″ by John Fekner, and Dr. Telecom’s electro-funk “Phone is My Clone”. The rest of the tracks range from entertaining to incomphrensible.

The albums are available in separate tracks at 192 MP3. If you like these two issues of Tellus, make sure you check out the rest.

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Tellus 1
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The oddly titled 833-45 is a musical project from the prolific sound artist K.M. Krebs, whose works under his own name had previously been reviewed here. The music of 833-45 is a amalgamation of industrial drones, radio signals, and electronic noises that may perplex some but fascinate others. Tunguska is more of a post-modern industrial sound sculpture than a musical composition. The title is taken from the 1908 explosion in Russia, probably caused by a small comet or large meteor, and the recording has a similar post-apocalyptic desolation in its sound. I find it strangely calming. Whether you find it calming or disturbing, it is definitely worth a listen.

The album is available in 320kbps MP3 or FLAC format. If you enjoy the music, you can find out more about this project from Krebs’ 833-45 blog.

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If you are looking for peaceful music for relaxation and meditation, Worrg’s free online album Oone is definitely not the one you will want. The leader of Merde Sur La Mer keeps his unfortunately brief (15 minutes) solo effort on the abrasive and manic side. Bordering on the avant garde, it still manages to remain quite accessible with snappy melodies sidestepping the heavily percussive madness. Think of an industrial Zappa or John Zorn on a rock and roll kick. This is a frantic but immensely enjoyable bit of insanity.

The EP is available from Terminal Station in 320kbps MP3.

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The upright acoustic bass is the most steadfast of instruments, It has a consistent sound while it is plucked away in a jazz combo or bowed reverently in an orchestra. If the electric bass is a rowdy teenager the upright would be good old wise and reliable Grandpa.

But there is always a black sheep in the family and this one comes from the strange electronically altered contrabass of Vincent Guerin. The album Free Juke Box by Guerin’s project Schizoid Bass is full of bizarre and unclassifiable sounds coming from this Frankenstein monster of an instrument. Ranging from dark ambient to funky industrial and between, it never alienates the listeners but lulls them into these bizarre soundscapes. I’m never sure how much of these sounds are from the bass only and what is electronically added but that is part of the pleasure. To know where sound comes from is boring. To hear these combination of sounds and wonder where and how they originated is both the mystery and the joy.

The album is freely available from Dog-Eared Records in 192kbps MP3.

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British composer and improviser Martin Archer presents an 80 minute performance from Krakow courtesy of the AudioTong net label. Armed with electronics, a barrage of sound loops and a sopranino saxophone, he explores every aspect of the avant-garde with ease and imagination. While utilizing drones, samples, and the usual array of tricks, this is no minimalist chill-out. Archer challenges the listener but is able to keep us interested through his wit, creativity and complexity. He starts with a looped statement, “All wars are lost” that seems to be not so much a political statement as a personal one. By the time he is finished, he has transversed industrial sounds, avant garde jazz, Celtic music, and much more. I especially enjoy his ability on the sopranino sax which makes me wonder if he have been influenced at all by the late great British saxophonist Elton Dean. This is an album that is best listened to in its entirely but if you want a track that brings the artist’s talents together, try “CC Loop”. This is a performance that never sits still and will endlessly fascinate.

The album is available in 192kbps Mp3. If you enjoy the music support the artist by buying his CDs

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Group 180 was an Hungarian modern classical chamber group. Two of their albums were released in 1980 and 1985 in vinyl LP and are not only out of print but, as far as I can tell, never released on CD. Again Ubuweb comes through by making these two albums available on-line. This is excellent modern music well worth the listen.

The first self-titled album has five works. The first three are clearly in the minimalist tradition. Tibor Szemzo’s “Water-Wonder” starts out with a single repeated note on a single instrument like a water drop. A flute enters and the piece slowly builds up momentum. What Steve Reich’s “Music for Pieces of Wood” lacks in tonality makes up in rhythm. Laszlo Melis’s “Etude for Three Mirrors” may be minimalist but the interplay between piano and woodwinds is quite intense. The last two works are by Fredric Rzewski and they are my favorite of the set. “Coming Together” and “Attica” not only shows the composer’s brilliancy in composition but represent his socio-political influences.

Group 180 II is from 1985 and exhibits the same good taste in modern compositional works. There are two pieces by Steven Reich, “Piano Phase” and “Octet”. Compositions by András Soós and Bela Farago make up the rest of the album. It should be note that, with the exception of Rzewski and Reich, the composers are all members of Group 180. It is again a well played set and one that fans of modern music will treasure.

Unfortunately the albums are available in only 80kbps MP3. There are also quite a few scratches and snaps from these vinyl recordings. Still, I find the sound quite acceptable and urge you check these out in light of their historical significance, their rarity, and the quality of performance.

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Karlheinz Essl’s free online album SNDT®X is one of the more exciting releases in the electronic/electro-acoustic field that I’ve heard in a long time. Surprisingly easy to listen to yet avant-garde, it is a primer on experimental electronic music complete with drones, found sounds, sampling and much more. The title alludes to the cinematic texture of this sound art. Most of these tracks were created to accompany a film, performance, or art piece.

The opening track, “Father Earth” is a pulsing mix of guitar and electronics reminding me of a subway or train station. I am also reminded of Glenn Branca’s minimalist walls of guitars at some points. The 13 minute “Action Rituale” combines computers and religious chants into an intensely spiritual experience. As mentioned before, some works such as “Carl Mayer Scenar(t)ist” and “Balkonszene” are soundtracks meant for films or art performances. While most of these pieces are droning or minimalist, “PENDENTE” stands out for its melodic beauty. “Sonnez la Clochil” is based on the sound of a bell while “Decontructing Mozart” does exactly that, pulling apart the composer’s music into a post-modern nightmare. The tracks go on, each one giving new insighst to the state of organized sound. This is an excellent example of the experimental and avant-garde and much more accessible than the novice might think at first listen. Give it a few tries. It will grow on you.

The album is available as either separate track or album zip in 128kbps MP3.

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Electronic composer Jonathan Zorn has a collection of his works from 2003 to 2007 titled All Talk on Ubuweb available as a free download. The five tracks all involve speech and its manipulation through electronic means. In a way, these pieces are descendants of Alvin Lucier’s I am Sitting in a Room. The vocals in Zorn’s works are restructured to the point that the voice is barely recognizable. These eerie soundscapes can be fascinating, disturbing, or both. This is challenging listening but worth the time and effort.

The album is available as separate tracks in 160kbps MP3.

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German composer Aribert Reimann’s Requiem is a odd but moving work. The orchestra in this work contains no violins. Violas, cellos and double-basses are prominent adding a dark dimension to this already brooding work. Requiems are usually liturgical and even when serious and foreboding, generally spiritually uplifting. This requiem is downright depressing. However that doesn’t distract from the fact that Reimann has written a powerful composition. Reimann is one of the few modern composers that writes almost exclusively for the large orchestra and is also known for his chorales and operas. Listen to the exquisite arrangement and the interactions between the solo vocalists as you listen to this long but involving work.

This particular performance of Reimann’s requiem was recorded in 1983 by the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Berlin with solo vocals from Julia Varady, Helga Dernesch, and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, who sang the title role in Reimann’s opera Lear, his most famous work.

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Le Ggril is that most cumbersome of all musical monsters, the avant-garde big band. The nature of the big jazz band is to allow improvisation over tightly structured arrangements. The big band is practically the opposite of avant-garde jazz which often respect freedom of sound over tonality, structure, or even rhythm.

Le Ggril is centered in Quebec, Canada and walks a tightrope between the improvised and the structured. The band’s arsenal of imaginative players borrow as much from post-classical as from free jazz. Their personnel is changeable but the unusual assortment of saxes, clarinet, accordions, violins, guitar and percussion seems to be the norm. The free self titled album has four tracks. Tracks 1,2 ,4 are directed by alto saxophonist Jean Derome with “Fire + Bebelle” most closely related to jazz. Tracks 2 and 4 are quieter and makes good use of long tones and well placed silence. Derome’s direction and playing is center toward exploring sounds and environment more so than totally free improvisation.

The same can be said for track 3 which is an extended 11 minute work featuring the improvisatory trio of Les Poules. Alto saxist Joane Hétu, percussionist Diane Labrosse, and samplist Danielle P. Roger tends to prefer long drones with free improvisation as accent. They mix well with the larger ensemble creating a well thought out atmospheric work.

The album is available from the excellent Insubordinations netlabel in 320kbps MP3.

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There seems to be a renewed interest in the music of Dmitre Shostakovich these days. The great Russian composer’s popularity has been up and down in the past years and now it is in another upswing. For those who have not yet experience the music of Shostakovich, this previously reviewed piano quintet is a good place to start.

Brasswork Agency is a DJ and sampling artist living and working in Los Angeles but raised in Chicago. He has taken short samples of Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 as played by legendary cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and turned them into his own remixed tribute of the composer. This album is also a salute to Rostropovich who passed away last year at the age of 80. Brasswork Agency’s work has four parts, each corresponding to the four movements of the concerto. The first track starts with a recognizable sample but soon turns into the sampler’s own creation, a sort of minimalist techno beat marvel. Whether or not you know the concerto, this is a very interesting example of the remixing arts. In my opinion, the fourth and final track holds the most interest. It is a calming track that tends to preserve most of the beauty of the fourth movement it is based on. Both classical music enthusiasts and electronic music fans should find something here to respect.

The album is available in 192kbps MP3 from the Auxprocess netlabel.

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Born in 1952, Wolfgang Rihm is one of the more important post-war German composer and remains a popular avant garde figure in music. However his earlier music is most associated to the earlier Expressionist movement with strong influences by such giants as Schoenberg and Mahler.

Jacob Lenz is an early opera, his second, and is written for chamber orchestra, voices, and chorus. It is based on the life of 18th century author Jacob Lenz who was a contemporary of Goethe and a writer of the Sturm and Drang period. Lenz suffered a nervous breakdown in 1777 and this stage of his life is the focus of the opera. The sound of this work is at the least, tumultuous. It is a composition that is as disturbing as it is beautiful. The voice of Lenz is sung by baritone Richard Salter. More information and extensive liner notes in German and English are available from the download page for the FLAC files.

The work is available in FLAC and MP3 files. The MP3 files are in the bitrate of 192kbps. FLAC files have a superior sound but be aware that they are huge and your music software may not be able to play them.

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I love demented rock music and it doesn’t get much more demented than The Zverstvo. Loud, abrasive and deliciously funny, the vocalist of this Russian avant-rock ensemble screams its lyrics over the top of pounding drums, guitar, and a saxophonist that I am sure is on the run from the jazz police. All that screaming doesn’t disguise the fact that these twelve brief songs are smartly arranged affairs equally borrowing from rock, jazz, and more than a little art theater. My guess is you will either run from the first track or listen to the whole crazy album several times in a row. I’m on the third listen.

You can either download the album in MP3 or Ogg Vorbis for The Internet Archive (with the slightly different title of Can’t Eat This Record) or from the band’s website in MP3 format by the link below.

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While most of Bob Ostertag’s music is already freely available under a common creative license, his 2007 release marks a new milestone. wOOt is his first recording to go directly to free internet download rather than initially on a CD . The distinction is fitting as the composer created this 50 minute work by using only samples from 18 computer video games including Legend of Zelda, Myst, and World of Warcraft. The fragments are cut, pasted, looped, mashed, overlapped…pretty much everything is done to them that is possible except to bake them at 350 degrees in the oven. The piece starts with a single theme which evolves into a virtual fugue of video game sounds. From that point the work changes constantly making it an aural roller coaster ride. Ostertag’s best works, such as Sooner or Later or All The Rage have strong personal and socio-political themes. wOOt appears to have no purpose but to dazzle you with what can be done with a few primitive sound samples. While not the best of Ostertag’s creations, it is still a very witty and entertaining 50 minutes of music.

The album is available in 160kbps MP3. If you enjoy the music, support the artist by buying his CDs.

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The liner notes by Bob Ostertag for his 1991 composition All The Rage begins like this…

All the Rage was developed from a recording I made of a riot in San Francisco in October 1991, which followed California Governor Pete Wilson’s veto of a bill designed to protect gays and lesbians from discrimination.

This work is only 16 minutes long but it may be the most intense 16 minutes you will find in music. The samples, which include spoken word, shouting, whistles, and breaking glass, are selected, looped and manipulated to shape a structured composition while the Kronos Quartet plays often rough and jagged lines, often in unison to the narration and sounds, creating an angry but powerful work of art. Like Ostertag’s best works (see Sooner or Later) it is both a socio-political statement and a personal statement.

The album is available in 192kbps MP3. As reported before, Mr. Ostertag has made practically his entire output available free under a creative commons license. Make sure you also check out his other albums as I think Ostertag is one of the most original American composers actively working. And of course, if you enjoy the music support the artist by purchasing the CDs in higher quality sound.

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One of the most interesting music sites on the internet is The Avant Garde Project (AGP). The project is an attempt to make available important recordings of post-classical and avant garde works that are no longer in print and would surely be lost to most ears. The site managers take great care to make sure there are no in-print recordings of these compositions available else where. Given the esoteric nature of most of these recordings, this may be one of the few chances you will have to hear these pieces. The composers range from the well-known to the obscure but all are unarguably innovators of modern music.

The AGP archive can be rather unwieldy if you are a beginner to this music so the web managers have provided two Editor’s Choice Samplers to get you started. These are the editor’s favorites and they are hard to disagree with.

Sampler 1 is instrumental music that is live and electronically manipulated. Robert Erickson’s “Night Music” is very beautiful, very melodic, and a excellent place to start for those who think avant-garde music is always dissonant. “Monochrome Sea” is a many colored work by the Japanese percussionist Yasukazu Amemiya. “In Motu Proprio” by Dieter Schnebel features two woodwinds that interacts with long tones and single lines in amazing ways. Finally, Morton Subotnick’s “Descent into Air” is part of The Double Life of Amphibians which is so far my favorite work on the archives.

Sampler 2 is electro-acoustic. For most, this might be seen as the more adventurous album. “ANIMUS III” by Jacob Druckman uses electronics and clarinet. Bernard Parmegiani’s “Ponomatopees II” uses vocal sounds and pop vocals as its source material. It’s an riveting piece. “Musique Douze”, by the Swedish composer Ragnar Grippe is another arresting piece that holds your attention. John Cage’s “Variation II” explores any inch of the piano using microphones and phonograph cartridges to amplify the sound. Finally, Josef Anton Reid’s “Glas-Spiele” is composed for original instruments made of glass.

The AGP offers these tracks in both FLAC and MP3 files. FLAC files have the higher quality sound but they are very large and your music software may not be able to play them. If you enjoy the music, check out the other offerings on the web site. Hopefully you will want to continue to explore the works of these great modern composers.

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Kenny G Meets John Zorn has to be the most mind-boggling album title of all time. No, this is not THE Kenny G or even THE John Zorn but poet Kenneth Goldsmith (who DJs at radio station WFMU under the moniker Kenny G) and electronic composer Jonathan Zorn. However the album does have something to do with the famous easy listening pop saxophonist.

Due to Mr. Goldsmith’s dubious choice of names, he tends to get a lot of e-mail meant for the other Kenny G. You can read a few of them here. Goldsmith and Zorn collaborated to create this piece of, for lack of a better term, performance art. Goldsmith’s dead pan recitation of these letters and Zorn’s odd and sometimes overbearing glitches and beeps cast a surreal shadow throughout. I’m not sure I like this album as much as just get a giggle out of it. The strange humor, the unique idea, and that great album title is enough to give it a thumbs up.

The album is available as separate tracks in 192kbps MP3.

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Contemporary Chinese Experimental Music offers some truly unique sounds,. This Ubuweb compilation features ten avant garde compositions from 1997 to 2007 by Chinese composers. Unfortunately there are no liner notes for either the works or the artist. This is a mixed blessing. I would liked to have known about the composers, their compositions and how these pieces were created. especially Dajuin Yao’s oscillating wonder of an opening track. But it also forces me to open my ears and discover the music cold.

There is some very interesting listening here. I already mentioned Yao’s “Satisfaction of Oscillation” that sweeps you along with its twists and turns. I’m not sure why but I find Xu Chang’s electronic burps between moments of silence quite amusing. My award for funniest track goes Feng Hao’s brief intestinal delight “Pleasure”. I find Ronez’s “Fan #2″ pleasantly disturbing while Hitlike’s radio samplings is a bit too derivative of John Cage’s compositions for radio. The other tracks vary in quality but all will open your mind to new territories for modern music.

All tracks are available in 192kbps MP3.

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Berlin artist Shamani presents this one tracked, 23 minute Presentation using piano, drums, and miscellaneous devices in what can be described as an improvisatory adventure. Shamani leaves no note unexplored and does so with panache. Cecil Taylor influenced keyboard mixes with noise and toys as the artist goes from the melodic to the chaotic with equal ease. It a good improvisatory journey for those into avant garde jazz, experimental, and free form music.

The album is available in a single track of 256kbps MP3 from the eDogm netlabel.

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The music on December Improvisations is not so much improvisation as total musical reconstructions. Guitarist Christian Graf and laptop computer artist D’incise creates icy cold sound structures that are both alien and irresistable. John Cage influences, industrial sounds, and a fascination with avant-garde jazz all come together in this five part improvised session. This is a challenging album but those who want a different listening experience will be glad to have listened to it.

The album is available in 256kbps or VBR MP3 and Ogg Vorbis.

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Recently I featured six albums by Columbian sound artist David Velez a.k.a. Lezrod. David contacted me to let me know that volume 2 of Data Transfer has been released. Like Vol. 1, it is a collection of collaborations with several other musicians specializing in electronic music. It has a distinct international flavor, featuring artists from Spain, Argentina, Australia, Japan and many other countries. Again, this is high quality experimental and avant-garde electronic music of a minimalist nature.

The album is from the Eko netlabel and is available in VBR MP3 (about 260kbps).

Update: As mentioned by Joe of Earlabs in the comments, the EKO netlabel is no longer around. However, Earlabs still has an album zip of this fine album available that you can access from the download link below.

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D’incise is another one of those sound artists that seem to be all over the internet. The Swiss artist has a number of internet albums available through several netlabels. His tools are familiar; field recordings, digital manipulations, and a variety of electronic effects. However he always seem to be experimenting. He has a signature sound but no one album is like the other one.

Insectes, Attente et Pixels is somewheres between IDM and experimental. There’s always the hint of a beat and sometimes a disclosure of manic energy. It is dark, odd, and very listenable. The album is available from the Zymogen netlabel in 256kbps MP3.

Erratiques Eraflures is very much avant-garde and almost void of beat. There is a strong use of field recordings of an urban nature and hence an industrial feeling. While it is not as listenable as Insectes it is still a fascinating, if challenging listen. The album is available from Mirakelmusik in MP3 or Ogg Vorbis format.

His newest album is Capharnaum from the eDogm netlabel and is the most interesting of the three I’ve featured. There a lot of variety from industrial musique concrete (”Plaisir Capharanaum”) to ambient (”anonyme”) to post-classical noise (”Sitcom ou le Passage au Noir Impromptu”). This is a surprising album that kept my attention. It is available in VBR MP3 (about 258kbps).

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Capharnaüm
Insectes, Attente et Pixels
Erratiques Eraflures