Main Catalog

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

	LUSSIER, RENE: Le Prix du Bonheur Code:RIICD7236 Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
It's been long since Rene's last record, and now he's back with another twist to his biography, this time a CD of songs, sung, played and - as ever - brilliantly arranged by himself, with additional bass, drums and occasional violin (except on one track where Lars Hollmer and a lap steel player also jump in). This CD covers a lot of ground, often in a short space of time, without making a fuss about it. Hawaiian influences, some Albert Marcoeur (inevitably), the whole French Chanson tradition and some rock eruptions, with a universe of guitar playing attached. In general quite a late night listen, but with disruptive edges. Nice texts by Paule Marier. Pretty unclassifiable. Me, I like it.
	LUSSIER, RENE: Le Tresor de la Langue 3CD set Code:TRICD7265 Price: £22.33 Quantity in Basket: none
First - the original release, a work of luminous excellence and one of the truly great records of the last 40 years in which Rene instrumentally shadows and orchestrates all manner of speech - quotidian, documentary, banal, significant, political - in the most breathtaking manner, hopping genres or escaping them altogether, and using considerably extended musical resources, though much of the vocabulary is unashamedly rock inflected. It's a record no collection should be without. Then there is an hour and three-quarters of extra, closely related and stunningly good material consisting of a film short soundtrack, La Mort de Concorde, and over 90 minutes culled from concert performances of the groups assembled to perform Tresor material. But these are not, for the most part, live versions of the recorded pieces, but new pieces, of great variety and featuring some extraordinary playing. You can consider CD3 as a new, brilliant entirely self-sufficient work, scarily brilliant. Musicians include Rene himself, Bob Ostertag, Jean Derome, Pierre Tanguay, Alain Trudel, Jean Francois Martel, Tom Walsh, Fred Frith and Richard Desjardins. This is really as good as it gets. A great release.
	LUSSIER, RENE: Quatorze Improvisations a la Guitare Electrique Code:AM075CD Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
Solo Improvisations. Recorded simultaneously by 8 different microphones in different locations. An interesting method- although there is no editing, overdubbing or equalisation, there is radical mixing of the different sound sources (like filming one event from 8 positions- so that the point of view -of audition - is always changing. Then Rene employs very extended techniques. He is a virtuoso after all, with an aesthetic uniquely his own. Prodigious. Good taken in sections.
	LUSSIER, RENE: Tombola Rasa Code:nnn(LussierTombola) Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
Pointillistic and fine grained compositions, partially abstract, performed by Rene on guitars and footboards and other contributors, mostly playing wind instruments and piano.
	LUSSIER, RENE: Tresor de la Langue Code:AM015CD Price: £12.50 Quantity in Basket: none
A work of extraordinary accomplishment and vision. Years in the making (all feature transcripts, instrumentations and orchestrations of the human voice), sometimes breathtaking in its effect and technique. Won the French language radio Prize, not surprisingly.
	LUSSIER, RENE: Trois Histoires Code:AM041CD Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
Three classic pieces out of the 'Tresor' mould - where speech and music and treated sound and performances tell a complex but gripping story. This is radio art, but beyond radio art, mapping new ground cleared by the extraordinary 'Tresor' - one of the masterworks of recording. And sings the songs of the unsung, of craftsmen, ingenues and immigrants. Great work.
	LYTTON, PAUL , JOHN STEPHENS, FRANK PERRY, EDDIE PREVOST, TREVOR TAYLOR: Improvising Percussionist Code:FMRCD81-0501 Price: £13.51 Quantity in Basket: none
Recorded in the early 70's this is an excellent snapshot of the styles and approaches of 5 influential and very different improvising percussionists who were working in London at the time. Especially remarkable is Lytton, whose early use of amplification is highly evolved. Eddie Prevost is subtle and the most rhythmic, Frank Perry dwells on every sound from his massed collection of materials (mostly metallophones). Trevor Taylor also with extended kit and amplification is already more in the sound sphere than the percussive, and John Stephens is - John Stephens. I wish there were more information and documentation - there are not even pictures of the equipment used. Still, a useful and historic document.
	La 1919: Jouer. Spielen. To Play Code:MASOCD90063 Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
Italian trio specialising in tuneful and rythmic improvisations, here with two guests Charles Hayward on studio recordings and Chris Cutler on live recordings.
	Live bei Dacapo Code:liveBeiDacapo Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
	MÖGEL: Mögel 1978-1983 Code:MassCD-111 Price: £14.50 Quantity in Basket: none
Henry Cow did a few concerts in Sweden in its last days with local friends - The Samlas, Mögel and Kräldjursanstalten. Mögel were part of that sudden release of energy and imagination that followed punk and their music was pared down, quirky, unpretentious and cobweb free; as women, they still had an edge (this was when the Slits and the Raincoats were newsworthy evidence of a new attitude to electric music) and their straightforward approach to playing - not moody, not competitive, not glamorous, studious or defensive - was like the sun breaking through clouds. This record has the same freshness.
	M, ERIK: Frame (7cm) Code:MKCD026 Price: £8.23 Quantity in Basket: none
Interesting, cannibalistic, 19 minute piece comprising materials taken from MKCD's 003-025.
	M. GIRA: Drainland Code:SR86 Price: £15.33 Quantity in Basket: none
	MACHE, FRANCOIS BERNARD: Marae, Aera, Khnoum, Le Printemps du Serpent Code:4788038 Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
Percussion pieces of real originality. The first is the most satisfying - for amplified percussion and tapes, it orchestrates environmental sounds, integrating the percussion with the sounds themselves, a singular and imaginative work; the second explores mainly metallic timbres and juxtapositions (gongs, gamelan, bells, vibraphone &c, and tympani), as well as multiple and independent tempi; the third for 5 percussionists and sampler (more percussion samples) is more conventional and has more to do with rhythm; the last, a collaboration between Les Percussions de Strasbourg and the Ju Percussion Group from Taiwan, returns to the notion of transposing natural sound (of springtime and autumn this time) but without the original tape being heard. Rain drops individually scored. These are excellent pieces that use percussion in broad and unusual way, and it's beautifully recorded.
	MACHINE AND THE SYNERGETIC NUTS: Leap Second Neutral Code:RUNE210 Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
Second release from this very awake group. I recommended their last, which had strong - and convincing - affinities with classic era Soft Machine - not imitative, just infused with a spirit, an approach, a sound... Here the mood is more extended, more jazz-rock tinted, with an energetic edge and additive rhythms. They are still completely on top of their material, their playing and the studio. The music has a live, driving feel and a powerful, gripping sound. It's much more mainstream than their debut: faster and slicker; but it will still impress anyone who likes what is now called prog, and there are fine stretches even for the harder to please. I preferred the first because it was rawer, more startling. This is more impressive, but much more like jazz.
	MACHINE FOR MAKING SENSE: Consciousness Code:SPLIT7 Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
	MACHINE FOR MAKING SENSE: Dissect The Body Code:SPLIT6 Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
	MACHINE FOR MAKING SENSE: Talk is cheap Code:SPLIT4 Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
A long standing and fascinating improvising group with a unique earprint - 2 seconds of listening and you know who it is. The machine is Stevie Wishart (Hurdy Gurdy), Jin Denley (winds), Amanda Stewart and Chris Mann (texts/voices) and Rick Rue (tape manipulations). The use of voices is particularly unusual - a far from anything you might expect. Interesting.
	MACHINEFABRIK: RUIS (7cm) Code:machineFabrikRuis Price: £8.81 Quantity in Basket: none
Dutch. Carefully crafted pieces that aim directly for the sensorium, Lots of low frequencies, thunder and floating noise. Well judged morsels.
	MACHINEFABRIK: Vancouver (7cm) Code:machieFabrikVancouver Price: £8.81 Quantity in Basket: none
Slow, rich electronic sounds, distance and drama. Restrained.
	MACIUNAS ENSEMBLE with the KANARY GRAND BAND: Live with the Birds Code:ACD129615 Price: £16.45 Quantity in Basket: none
The ensemble (4 of them) performs on an aluminium strip suspended from a rubber band (for subtle pitch shifting). As with Stockausen's Mikrophonie 1 this single source is bowed, scraped, beaten, tapped, stroked and so on. The Kanary Grand band comprises some 40 birds of various breeds who, sing along. N sum, varieties of interesting gong like drones with realtime fully interactive birds. A must. 3-way gatefold digipack, 12pp booklet with thoughtful essay. Limited art edition of 1000 copies.
	MACIUNAS ENSEMBLE: Number made Audible Code:ACD039211 Price: £16.45 Quantity in Basket: none
11 pieces that investigate instruments and recording techniques. Scored variously for groups of duochords (2 string monochords played with motorised rubber bands, hurdy-gurdy style), aluminium monochords, played with felt hammers, guitars with tails (all explained in the excellent booklet with pictures and background on all the instruments and techniques), cellos - using extended techniques, spring strings, bottles (blown) and musical bows. Mostly species of drone, but careful, thoughtful, considered. 3-fold digipack and informative, illustrated booklet. Limited art edition of 1000.
	MACLEAN, STEVE: Bridges (dbl) Code:ReRSM2/3 Price: £12.50 Quantity in Basket: none
These recordings collect together works spanning two decades of composition and experimentation that balance traditional musical resources (the band, compositional skills, instrumental techniques, acoustic and amplified instruments) and the new technologies (computers, software, processing). The first CD showcases polyrhythmic, careful compositions (like those on his last ReR CD, Opposite of War), which still no-one has tried to emulate. The second is more meditative, abstract and electronic, moving from Kora through electric and acoustic guitars - with and without radical effects processing - to piano and virtual orchestra, putting various softwares through their paces.
	MACLEAN, STEVE: EXPRESSIONS on Piano Code:ReRSM4 Price: £12.50 Quantity in Basket: none
Steve's fourth CD for us is a remarkable set of pieces for mediated acoustic piano that operates in the shadowy territory between what is playable and what is programmable; between narrative simplicity and performative complexity; between hopeful intentionality and flawless execution. Unusually, Steve has put our ear right inside the piano, sans artificial reverberations and blurring tools and, over the course of the CD, various musical dialects are explored and extended - from the plausible through the exquisite to the impossible. MacLean also mines a subtle complexity that offers more on each audition and, occasionally, an extreme (of Nancarrowistic speed or sound amplified through gongs). The process remains impenetrable, so what remains is the listening. In Steve's long and varied musical career he has consistently explored new compositional techniques and new technologies (he teaches at Berklee in Boston) and this is no exception; a unique take on the acoustic piano.
	MACLEAN, STEVE: Frog Bug Guitar Computer Code:ReRSM3 Price: £12.50 Quantity in Basket: none
Steve is back with a truly original and unusual CD; very different from his other work - featuring, as the title proclaims, frogs and insects - recorded in the field - and guitar -, all subtly and intelligently processed (which is where the computer comes in); not to alter the sounds so much as to lock them together into complex rhythm and pitch relationships. The result sounds somehow 'natural' but yet spookily integrated. Then MacLean treats each track, or episode, differently, coming at them from different angles, sometimes even letting the computer add 'its own' percussive parts to the mix. This work, while bearing the hallmarks of complexity and chaos, has a deep underlying order that never quite gives itself up to the analytical side of the brain. A quiet landmark in the fusion of soundscape, performance and computer mediation that breaks new ground in the pursuit of open but organised form.
	MACLEAN, STEVE: Radial Circuit Code:Mobius0233 Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
Fascinating compositions at once minimal and rich - simple lineup produces subtly complicated results- Keyboards, Bass, Guitar and Drums. Some ZNR, some Conlon Nancarrow - really out of the general run of musics. A composer to get to know.
	MAESTRO TRYTONY: Enoptronia Code:MOZGCD02 Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
	MAGGIO, ROBERT: Riddles Code:CD870 Price: £12.50 Quantity in Basket: none
Pieces for Piano, piano and flute, piano, clarinet and and violin, 2 flutes.
	MAGICAL POWER MACO: No Goverment After Revolution Code:BELLE97390 Price: £18.80 Quantity in Basket: none
	MAGMA DVD: Myths & Legends Vol 1 Code:magmaDVDMyths1 Price: £18.51 Quantity in Basket: none
The first of a series of 4 DVDs that document the legendary 4 week occupation of 'Le Triton' in Paris, during which the entire history of Magma's music was presented by both the current band and members of the old. Vol 1, part 1 contains early pieces, with a single keyboard and the redoubtable Klaus Blasqiz singing - a pleasure to see him again - with new and elaborate brass arrangements. The second half moves into more familiar territory with Theusz Hamtaahk. It's clear what a leap this is. Contents: Malaria Staoh, Iss Lansei Doia, Aurae, Kobaia, Theusz Hamtaahk part 1, Sowiloi and Kmxb12. 125 minutes. All regions
	MAGMA DVD: Myths & Legends Vol 3 Code:MagmaMythsVol3 Price: £17.63 Quantity in Basket: none
	MAGMA: 1001 Centigrades Code:REX6 Price: £15.33 Quantity in Basket: none
A classic.
	MAGMA: Attahk Code:REX13 Price: £15.33 Quantity in Basket: none
	MAGMA: BBC 1974 Code:AKT13 Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
Two pieces- Theusz Hamtaahk and Kontarkosz (58 minutes total) from the early Jannik Top stretch of the band, with I believe their best and most under-rated guitarist, Claude Olmos- Mr. Minimal. Again a surprise; TH appears in a very stripped back, even lyrical form, with the structure clearly revealed and exquisitely performed. Tempi pulled right back. The most hypnotic version I have heard yet of this piece. K follows in a similar mood. Fascinating.
	MAGMA: Bobino Concert 1981 (dbl) Code:AKT5 Price: £24.09 Quantity in Basket: none
A live concert performance, studio quality recording. This is the post-classic Magma, for me, with more pyrotechnics and jazz-funk, and less Stravinsky and Coltrane-lyricism than the earlier works. There are still stunning moments and some quintessential Vander stretches that Magma afficianados will treasure. As well as a lot of otherwise unavailable pieces.
	MAGMA: Bourges, 1979 (dbl) Code:AKT15-2 Price: £22.03 Quantity in Basket: none
Unheard at time of printing. They say '.....extreme tension and risks taken collectively, AKT 15 holds a special place in the band's history, documenting for the first time ever this particular period', they say. Unheard at time of printing.
	MAGMA: COMPLETE CYCLE (Volumes 1-4, DVD) Code:magmaCycleOffer Price: £64.63 Quantity in Basket: none
All four CYCLE DVD (Volumes 1-4) at a special price.
	MAGMA: Concert 1976 - Opera De Reims (triple CD) Code:AKT9 Price: £21.74 Quantity in Basket: none
Same band as Magma Live (except 2nd piano now Patrick Gauthier). CD 1 contains an ok version of J.Top's 'De Futura' for the first time (I wonder what happened to mass band version from Nancy a year earlier) and an improvisation followed by a drum solo. CD 2 has further versions of Kontarkosz and Theusz Hamtaahk (I think you'll continue to listen to the ones on Live and Retrospektiw I, II) which were previously released {bootlegged?} on 'Kiss 11' and CD 3 has yet another Mekanik (the 7Tth ?) and again, it's different and excellent - and clear, especially Vander's part- a study version (+long noisy solo). Special mention for the prodigious Bernard Paganotti.
	MAGMA: Concert, Bruxelles 1971 (double cd) Code:AKT8 Price: £24.09 Quantity in Basket: none
The 1001 Centigrades group with an extraordinary programme where even the Soft Machine and Chicago roots show through now and then. For the time this is an extraordinarily important document of the extent of experiment and adventure possible - and tested - in rock. And for fans of Magma it's indispensable as a lens on their development and influences. Also, here is the first public performance of a proto-version of Mekanik, very different. Altogether welcome.
	MAGMA: Emehntehtt-Re Code:magmaEmehntehtt Price: £18.50 Quantity in Basket: none
A new composition, written apparently in the 70's and never recorded, although Magma fans will recognise the large chunks of it which have appeared over the years - alone or within other pieces, binding it thematically to the earlier records. Performance and recording are exemplary, as ever, perhaps a little smooth (especially the bass) - or it could be my high frequencies are attenuating. Overall, there is less individuality in the new band, which builds a tighter, more unified sound behind the voices; only the drums stand out with some expressive mobility. It comes in a fourfold digipack with a 20pp book containing mainly the Kobiian text (for singing along?) and with a 55 minute 'making of' DVD, which shows the instrumentalists (not the singers) doing overdubs and discussing interpretation with Christian, familiar to musicians but probably interesting to listeners; there is some of the tedium and some of the mechanics and some of the paradox of trying to make a living whole from dead fragments.
	MAGMA: Floe Essi, Ektah Code:SRAA26 Price: £5.29 Quantity in Basket: none
One 3 and one 6 minute song. The first is a little like Hatfield/Jazzrock, but more incandescent, the second is intense, somewhere between Tristan and Isolde and Retrovision. Recorded in 1998, but back to eighties strength.