Three early compositions (1968-1970) by Steve Reich, one of the most prolific exponents of minimal music, in stunning interpretations by the critically acclaimed Ensemble Avantgarde. Available on vinyl (180gr, gatefold sleeve incl. download code) for the first time ever! This is the 2nd collaboration between the critically acclaimed ensemble Zeitkratzer and the great pioneer of noise / industrial William Bennett aka Whitehouse. Music with crystal clear, even neurosurgical precision – pure acoustic power!
Steve Reich / Ensemble Avantgarde – Four Organs / Phase Patterns / Pendulum Music
Steve Reich (born 1936) is undoubtedly one of the key figures in 20th century contemporary music and along with Terry Riley or Philip Glass one of the founding fathers of so-called minimal music. With classics like “Music For 18 Musicians”, “Drumming” or “Different Trains” the American composer proved himself one of “a handful of living composers who can legitimately claim to have altered the direction of musical history” (The Guardian).
The four pieces on this collection date back to the time before his famous master pieces (1967-1970): “Four Organs” and “Phase Patterns” build on short, repeated patterns that gradually go in and out of phase with each other, creating “a shimmering matrix of sound that is both hypnotic and fascinating in detail” (Allmusic.com) and anticipate Reich’s later trademark sound. “Pendulum Music” is a process piece where only a few starting parameters are given: four microphones are suspended within an array of amplifiers and speakers, then set in motion – the shifts in feedback as they move in space create the music, the results differ with each new performance (as can be experienced listening to the 2 versions here). Reich’s early works are presented on this LP in stunning interpretations by Leipzig based Ensemble Avantgarde whose dedicated, inspired renditions of essential masterpieces of modernism (documented on CDs on reputated labels such as Wergo or Hat Hut Records) won them the Ernst von Siemens Foundation Prize and the Schneider-Schott Prize of Mainz.
Format: LP (180gr, gatefold sleeve, download code, 750 items)
Whitehouse Performed Live by Zeitkratzer
William Bennett, the musical mastermind behind Whitehouse and Cut Hands, has already worked with Zeitkratzer at several occasions. 4 years after their first CD (Whitehouse, zeitkratzer records) the critically acclaimed ensemble and the highly influential noise pioneer release their second album.
Recorded live at the festival Musique Action in Nancy / France, the new recording goes even further: while the deep bass frequencies – produced by the huge orchestra drum, at some points as well by the beaten bass strings of the piano or by subtones of the horns – made vibrate not only the floor of the venue while on the other hand high piping sounds, amplified violin harmonics, bitten clarinet tones attack the listener.
A music with crystal clear or even neurosurgical precision. And one can hear voices all over – distorted from being spoken through a trombone, a French horn, phantom voices in the density of the sounds, etc. No electronic effects are used – it’s pure acoustic power!
Format: LP (180gr, gatefold sleeve, download code, 500 items)
Both releases are shipping out on or around 05 December 2014
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