Karlheinz Stockhausen passed away on December 5th at the ripe age of 79 years old. Stockhausen was a pioneering experimental composer who annotated electronic music, encouraged chaos in his compositions, and made music from math. In a loving statement made by his publisher Stockhausen-Verlag:

IN FRIENDSHIP and gratitude for everything that he has given to us personally and to humanity through his love and his music, we bid FAREWELL to Karlheinz Stockhausen, who lived to bring celestial music to humans, and human music to the celestial beings, so that Man may listen to GOD and GOD may hear His children.

On December 5th he ascended with JOY through HEAVEN’S DOOR, in order to continue to compose in PARADISE with COSMIC PULSES in eternal HARMONY, as he had always hoped to do: You, who summon me to Heaven, Eva, Mikael and Maria, let me eternally compose music for Heaven’s Father-Mother, GOD creator of Cosmic Music.

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Autechre have a new album called Quaristice that will be released on March 3rd 2008. The experimental electronica duo haven’t updated their own website since the release of Untitled in 2005, but Warp Records revealed that Autechre will release their 9th album in ‘08. Autechre has scheduled one live show for March 10th in Poland and it seems likely that many more dates will be announced in support of the new album.
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Yet another update to the Jesu, Sunn O))) and now Wolves In The Throne Room Tour! That’s right, Wolves In The Throne Room will be joining the heavyweights of experimental metal for half of their tour as well as playing numerous shows with Ludicra this Fall. The only down side is that Wolves will no longer be playing the shows with Asunder that were accidentally announced last week. But playing with Jesu more than makes up for it, I think! ([More →])

Machine Girl (End.User and Line 47) once was half of a limited edition split with 3 tracks from End.User himself on the flip side. The record was released in 2003 and quickly sold out. But, for those who are looking to plump up their breakcore/noise/electronica collection, Sonic Terror has just provided a fresh opportunity to own this gem. Meanwhile, if you can be in the SF area on September 6th, you can catch End.User, Exillon, Fluorescent Grey and more electric Circuitry live and loud! ([More →])

Black Metal Updates Abound! Boris will again tour the US, but not with Sunn O))) this time. The tour begins in Chicago on September 30th, and features the japanese metal outfit playing collaborative sets with Michio Kurihara! They will play material off their most recent release, Rainbow plus many surprises! ([More →])

Environmental campaigns seem to go hand-in-hand with music events. Live Earth is a fine example. Many bands are using their tours as platforms for environmental education and recycling programs, like Linkin Park, Cheryl Crow and the Beastie Boys. But nothing sings about environmental doom and destruction like a carefully chosen documentary soundtrack. Finally, someone has matched planetary doom with the perfect soundtrack of doom metal and dark ambient electronica! I feel I have finally found a single category of music to describe many of my favorite bands - a class of music that I haven’t been able to summarize with a single name until today - Music For Environmental Doom! It’s perfect! What other category could so perfectly link Khanate with Gas, Brian Eno with Arve Henriksen, and Mogwai with Sigur Ros or Lamb? I’d love to own a soundtrack with this music, especially if it were on gatefold double vinyl! ([More →])

Some of the hottest musicians in the US’s electronica/ mash-up/ breakcore/ jungle scenes are being reunited this weekend in Boston. Bouncement 2 brings together DJ/rupture, DJ Flack and Wayne And Wax! It’s quite a homecoming for many of these fellas, and well-deserving of a party - Flack is returning from tour down unda, Wayne and Wax recently returned to Bean town after living in Chicago for a bit, and DJ/ rupture started his musical career as a youth in Mass. Unfortunately, noticeably absent from the lineup is long-time Boston resident and Beat Researcher, DJ C who recently moved to Chicago. Nonetheless, this party is going to blow the roof off of the Great Scott! If you are in the area, you can’t afford to miss this much music history being made for a mere $5. ([More →])

Konono No. 1 shot to international stardom like a comet once Bjork revealed their eccentric sounds on Volta. Well, I guess the fame of touring with Bjork didn’t go to their heads because they kept themselves busy recording a new album of their own! FLY describes their experimental music this way:

Playing on scrap metal percussion and spiky metal thumb pianos, they pound out exuberant and rhythmic beats that are distorted through amplifiers made from old car parts. They have taken the traditional music of Congolese Bazombi tribe and electrified it, creating a sound that is both futuristic and primeval.

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Anybody here love remixes? How about a whole album of remixes of Bjork’s “Innocence”? ([More →])

Last week I mentioned that Ninja Tune and Big Dada would present an event curated by Mary Anne Hobbs in London on the 7th of July. I received more info about this event, so I want to share them with folks who will be in the London area that week.

Ms. Hobbs states that her desire for the lineup she has chosen is, “To bring together dark exotic underground textures of sound from the UK and internationally..”

You Don’t Know Lineup

Downstairs
Mary Anne 9:00 -10:30
dj’ing all the experimental sounds in her record crate
Ben Sharpa & Konfab 10:30-11:30
South Africa’s hottest hip hop duo. formerly known as SA’s best underground hip hop act, they’ll have to drop the underground tag now that they have received so much attention and radio play. They were recently added to the mega-huge Glastonbury music festival.
Oris Jay 11:30 -12:30
ever-extending the limits of grime and dark garage sounds
The Bug 12: 30 - 1:30
best live dancehall mashup madness you can get! if you don’t already know about The Bug, check out his music$pace page, and Ninja Tune which recently signed him onto the ninja squadron… On this particular evening, The Bug will be assisted by Ricky Ranking (Roots Manuva) and Ras B pon di mics.
Virus Syndicate 1:30 - 2:30
extra-London grime and dubstep, great stuff, original ragga influenced dubstep styley
Vex’d 2:30-4:00
Vex’d will be unveiling some new tracks from their upcoming album on Planet Mu.

Upstairs
DJ Red 6
The Sandals Of Justics

This event will be the last YDK at The Big Chill House in London. Ninja Tune/Big Dada/Counter Records will be busy with other projects over the summer months, and then will relaunch the monthly club night in October in a new venue.

LINKS

Ninja Tune
YDK music$pace
Mary Anne Hobbs on BBC Radio1

Oh that’s it. If I don’t build, buy, or otherwise acquire a teleportation device soon I’ll go mad! It started with the Roadburn Festival, then the upcoming Dour Festival, and now this - the lineup for the All Tomorrow’s Parties curated by Portishead… ([More →])

Hurray!!! Finally, EAR, Experimental Audio Research, is touring!! Not too many chances to catch his far out experimentalism, only a handful of US dates spanning April, and only 2 in London, but better than nothing which is all we have heard from EAR lately!
EAR was created by an experimental electronic scientist, Peter Kember, aka Sonic Boom, who may be more well known for his participation in surf guitar rock band, Spaceman 3, and psychedelic spaced out guitar rock band, Spectrum. There seems to be no limit to the scope and direction of the experimentations. he is notorious for his use of mulitple speak and spells as instruments and found sound recordings. i own an album which consists of nothing but recordings and simulations of daily noises, starting with the time of dinosaurs, and progressing to the modern experience. For further and deeper descriptions of this project, please read the bio on Sonic Boom’s website.

It gets better, the April 15th London performance will have EAR opening for Cluster! The April 30th London performance will also present a performance by Bert Jansch! Cluster, formed in the 70’s, is one of Germany’s pioneer experimental electronica bands. Cluster has collaborated with experimental krautrock band, Neu! and Brian Eno. These days, Cluster play mostly ambient electronic krautrock, and as far as i know, they have not toured since 1997. Bert Jansch is the founding member of Pentangle and won the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001 for his work in folk music. The Scotsman has worked with Neil Young, Johnny Marr, and Jimmy Page, among others.

According to Sonic Boom’s website, here are the dates and places :

1 APRIL 2007, NYC, NY

E.A.R., REBEL NYC
2 APRIL 2007, PHILADELPHIA, PA

E.A.R., JOHNNY BRENDA’S
3 APRIL 2007, CLEVELAND, OH

E.A.R., BEACHLAND TAVERN
4 APRIL 2007, CHICAGO, IL

E.A.R., LAKESHORE THEATRE
5 APRIL 2007, AUSTIN, TX

E.A.R., EMO’S
8 APRIL 2007, SAN FRANCISCO, CA

E.A.R., HEMLOCK TAVERN
9 APRIL 2007, HOLLYWOOD, CA

E.A.R., SAFARI SAM’S
10 APRIL 2007, SACRAMENTO, CA

E.A.R., BLUE LAMP
12 APRIL 2007, NYC, NY

SPACELINES DJ SET, TRIBECA GRAND
15 APRIL 2007, LONDON, UK

E.A.R. SUPPORTING CLUSTER, CAMDEN UNDERWORLD
30 APRIL 2007, LONDON, UK

E.A.R., ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL. as part of St.Etienne’s launch of the refurbished room. Bert Jansch also playing.

Spectrum is also planning to tour the Pacific Rim in the late summer and fall of this year. Spectrum will release an EP and LP before the year is over.

According to :: Equation Records :: who is releasing Nadja’s Bodycage this month

Nadja is ::

* Aidan Baker :: guitars/vocals/drum programming
* Leah Buckareff :: bass/vocals

Originally formed in 2003 as an Aidan Baker solo project, the now-duo creates ambient-drone-metal, combining ambient electronics & fragmentary vocals with snail-crawl, epic riffs & dirge-like percussion.

You can listen to an excerpt from each song on Bodycage on this :: Equation Records :: page.
You can purchase the double vinyl from :: Equation - Order ::

:: Shows ::

Mon Mar 26 at The Metal Club, 1305 Dundas W. w/ Giant Squid & Grayceon, 8pm, $10
Wed Apr 4 at Poor Pilgrim The Press Club, 850 Dundas St. W., w/ Picastro, 9pm, pwyc
Sat Apr 14 Casa del Popolo in Montreal, more details tba
Sat May 19 at Buzz On Your Lips Festival at Recyclart in Brussels, Belgium
Wed June 27 Suoni per il Popolo Festival in Montreal, more details tba

Alien8 Recordings released Nadja’s EP Touched this month. You can listen to the whole album as a stream on the :: Touched by Nadja :: page and you can buy the cd from their store. The cd even includes a free digital copy of Touched!

Alien8 Recordings also released Truth Becomes Death in October 2005. You can listen to this whole album as a stream on the :: Truth Becomes Death :: page. It is also available as a cd which comes with the free digital copy.

Foreshadow in Poland will be releasing Nadja’s Base Fluid full length cd in May 2007. Until then, you can dl the free internet single plus an unreleased exclusive called “Numb” from :: nadja : basefluid :: on Foreshadow as well as preorder the cd.

Aidan Baker also has a net release on :: Noiseusse :: The album, Scouring Thin Bones is a collaboration of Aidan and Straiph. You can dl the album for free because NoiseUsse is licensed under Creative Commons. Lots of good music on that site specializing in glitch/noise/experimental/electronica/found sounds.