Kiva (1975-1991)

Two Poems of the Absurd & Two Poems on the Absurd (tape collage by John Silber of KIVA performances) (Track 2): Keith Humble, DX7, voice, electronics, Jean-Charles Francois, percussion, voice, electronics, John Silber, trombone, violin, voice, electronics, Mary Oliver, violin Eric Lyon, computer vocoder manipulations of John Silber’s sounds.

The research/performance group KIVA was created in 1975 by the American trombonist John Silber and the French percussionist Jean-Charles François as part of a research project at the Center for Music Experiment at the University of California San Diego. During the period of its existence (1975-91) various members (often graduate students from UCSD) joined the two permanent musicians, John Silber and Jean-Charles François, to contribute to the group’s artistic production. Two personalities had an important impact on the development of the KIVA aesthetical posture: the Korean dancer Hi-ah Park between 1978 and 1985, and the Australian pianist and composer Keith Humble between 1984 and 1991.

The important contribution of the KIVA project to the artistic field can be defined as an emancipation of the classical performer from the role of interpreter of written music to one that involved being fully an actor of artistic creation through the direct production of sounds on instruments and related objects. This has been often characterized in the musical world as “improvisation”. But the group would not adhere to the overtones associated with this word, implying spontaneous behavior or social interactions without specified aesthetical content. For KIVA the refusal to use any notation on paper was the occasion to access the complex and chaotic nature of sound objects. Through an everyday work in progress, the group was able to elaborate an original language constituted directly from working on sound matter. KIVA described itself as an experimental group dedicated to notationless music, mixed media, extended instrumental techniques.

The group KIVA has always refused to publish its work through recordings. Every working session of KIVA was recorded on audio format, but this only constituted a tool for the reflection of its members. The real artistic object was always considered to be the contextual circumstances of a given performance, the reenactment, always different, of the working out of already elaborated sound materials. In this sense no particular instant can be regarded as constituting a work object of the KIVA experience. But the context today has changed, since two of the main important members have died (Keith Humble and John Silber), the other protagonists are getting old, and so are the few who have been fortunate to listen to KIVA’s performances. The publication of a CD of selected performances of KIVA today makes sense, in that it documents an important historical moment and provides the artistic community with sonic references of this ephemeral type of work.

CD 1: 11 April 1991 (Track 1): Keith Humble, piano, Jean-Charles Francois, percussion, John Silber, trombone, violin, Mary Oliver, violin, viola

11 April 1991 (Track 2): Keith Humble, piano, Jean-Charles Francois, percussion, John Silber, trombone, violin

CD 2: June 1985 (Track 1): Keith Humble, DX7, electronics, Jean-Charles Francois, percussion, electronics, John Silber, trombone, violin, electronics

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César Bolaños . Peruvian Electroacoustic and Experimental Music (1964-1970)

César Bolaños is one of the leading artists of the Latin American avant-garde of the mid 20th century. Born in Lima, Peru in 1931, he was part of an astonishing generation of Peruvian composers: Edgar Valcárcel, Olga Pozzi-Escot, Alejandro Núñez Allauca, Leopoldo La Rosa, Enrique Pinilla and Celso Garrido-Lecca, among others. After studying piano at the National Conservatory in Lima, and following classes with the Belgian composer Andrés Sas (who after leaving Europe settles in Peru), he would join the group “Renovación” (together with Valcárcel, Pozzi-Escot, Pulgar Vidal and Sas); with them Bolaños began a series of presentations and edited a music magazine. He had already composed brief pieces for piano and music for a chamber orchestra. At that time Bolaños is interested in the work of Stravinsky, Bartók and Schoenberg. But he’s still far from the sound radicalism that he would reach in the future. In 1957 he traveled to New York City to study composition at the Manhattan School of Music and electronics at RCA. He met the Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera, who offered him a scholarship to study at the Latin-American Center of High Musical Studies (CLAEM) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. On his arrival in 1963, Bolaños became involved in the design and development of the electronic music laboratory of the CLAEM. There he composed his first electronic piece and the first work generated in the above laboratory: “Intensity and Height” (1964), inspired by a poem of César Vallejo. Bolaños also composed “Interpolations” (1966) for electric guitar and magnetic tape, “Spaces I” (1966), “II” (1967), “III” (1968) for magnetic tape, the experimental audio-visual cantata “Alpha-Omega” (1967), instrumental and mixed pieces like “Flexum” (1969), “I-10-AIFG/Rbt-1″ (1968), and, with a commission from Radio Bremen (Germany), “Nacahuasu” (1970), inspired by the Che Guevara diaries. Bolaños also experimented with computers, and composed two pieces with the mathematician Mauricio Milchberg. “Sialoecibi” (1970): ESEPCO I (computer sound-expressive structure)* for piano and a recitator-mime-actor (a work that satirizes the organization language initials from the 1950′s) and “Song without words”, ESEPCO II (1970) “Homage to the unpronounced words” for piano (2 performers) and tape. For the composition of these pieces Bolaños and Milchberg introduce into the computer parameters to have the machine generate a composition from the information obtained by the composer’s production.

These recordings bring together for the first time a definitive edition of his work on CD

CD 1: Intensidad y Altu¬ra (1964); Interpolaciones (1966) for electric guitar and tape; Flexum (1969) for woodwind instruments, strings, percussion and tape; Divertimento I (1966) for clarinet, flute, bass clarinet, trumpet, clave, piano, double bass and percussion; Divertimento III (1967) for clarinet, flute, bass clarinet, piano, and percussion instruments; I 10 AIFG/Rbt-1 (1968) for 3 performers, horn, trombone, electric guitar, 2 percussionists, 2 projectionists and 9 projectors of slides synchronized by automatic system, and tape

CD 2: Sialoecibi, ESEPCO I (1970) for piano and a recitator-mime-actor; Canción sin Palabras, ESEPCO II (1970) for piano (2 performers) and tape; Ñacahuasu (1970) for a small orchestra of 21 instrumentalists and a recitator

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Kenneth Gaburo : Lingua II: Maledetto / Antiphony VIII

Kenneth Gaburo : Lingua II: Maledetto / Antiphony VIII

The work and thought of the American composer Kenneth Gaburo (1926-1993) exhibited many striking changes during his lifetime. In fact, while the world of commercial endeavor still insists that artists develop a recognizable personal “style,” Gaburo’s life-work can be seen as one of continual change and exploration, rather than one of codification and promotion. Some of these changes are beautifully illustrated by the two works on this CD, Maledetto, for seven speaking voices, from 1967-68, and Antiphony VIII (Revolution), for percussionist and electronic tape, from 1982-3. Both are intricate and powerful works, both take their inspiration from “non-musical” materials, and both require virtuosity of a most uncommon order. However, beyond that, the two works could not be more different.

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Pogus Productions features releases of Electronic, Electro-Acoustic, and Experimental music. Uncompromising, non-commercial, and definitely not for everyone (unfortunately), these releases are geared towards discerning listeners.

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Simon Wickham-Smith : Love & Lamentation

Simon Wickham-Smith : Love & Lamentation

P-21048-2

Simon Wickham-Smith was born on the south coast of England in February 1968 and graduated from Kings College, London in 1990 with a degree in English Literature. Whilst at university, he met Richard Youngs and from that meeting developed a friendship which has produced more recordings than he cares to remember. As a solo performer, he has played in Australia, Belgium, Finland, France, Holland, Lithuania, the UK and the US and his work has been released on labels in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and the US. Not satisfied with making music, he has also been a Buddhist monk in the Tibetan tradition, and is also a translator and scholar of Mongolian and Tibetan literature.

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Pogus Productions features releases of Electronic, Electro-Acoustic, and Experimental music. Uncompromising, non-commercial, and definitely not for everyone (unfortunately), these releases are geared towards discerning listeners.

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Al Margolis/If,Bwana : An Innocent, Abroad

Al Margolis/If,Bwana : An Innocent, Abroad

pogus 21046

The new Al Margolis/If, Bwana cd is comprised of Issue, for electronics and multi-tracked voice, and An Innocent, Abroad, a 40 plus minute work for electronics, vocals, and flutes. An Innocent, Abroad can be best described as a Sonic Oratorio: an assemblage, a construction of an event that never happened or will happen. A live installation for radio, perhaps.

There is no “meaning” to the text. All parts were drawn or are inter-related to the original vocal track, recorded by Lisa Barnard, which is no longer present. The text/voice part has been multi-tracked and now represents five “separate entities”. The electronic parts have been extracted and processed from the original vocal track. The five flute parts were performed by Jane Rigler and Jacqueline Martelle, and was be improvised by them. They recorded to the separate voice tracks. None of the performers heard the entire piece that they worked on.

Lisa Barnard is a vocalist and performance artist. Most noted work is her interpretations of her dreams into original performances for Deep Listening Institute’s annual Dream Festivals. Jacqueline Martelle is a flutist and arts administrator, living in New York City since 1996. She performs new music and has recorded on the Mode and Centaur record labels. Jane Rigler, flutist, composer, educator and producer is an active featured performer in contemporary music festivals throughout the U.S. and Europe as a soloist as well as within chamber ensembles

Al Margolis was one of the prime movers in the cassette underground scene of the 1980s (between 1984 and 1991 his Sound Of Pig label released over 300 cassettes of music by the likes of Merzbow, Costes, Amy Denio, John Hudak and Jim O’Rourke) and is the minence grise behind twenty-three years of music under the name If, Bwana. He is the man behind the Pogus label, as well as label manager for Deep Listening, XI Records, and Mutable Music.

What has been said about his work:

“It’s as if one of Eliane Radigue’s pristine works had been left out in the garden to accumulate a layer of sonic moss and dirt.” (Dan Warburton)

“The resulting texture sounds more like a Horatiu Radulescu piece performed by Morphogenesis.” (DW)

“a kind of scary cross between the lunatic fringe of English esoteric explorers (Nurse With Wound, pre-menstrual Current 93) and late 60s AMM.” (DW)

The cd cover, Vixen de Milo, is a 20 year ongoing work by Dan & Detta Andreana.

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Annea Lockwood : Thousand Year Dreaming/floating world

Annea Lockwood : Thousand Year Dreaming/floating world

21045-2 CD

Performers on Thousand Year Dreaming: Art Baron, conch shell, trombone, didjeridu; Libby Van Cleve, oboe, English horn; Jon Gibson, didjeridu; Annea Lockwood, voice; J.D. Parran, clarinet, contrabass clarinet; Michael Pugliese, tam-tam, clapping sticks; N. Scott Robinson, conch shell, frame drums, pod rattle, tam-tam; John Snyder, didjeridu, waterphone; Charles Wood, tam-tam, stones; Peter Zummo, trombone, didjeridu

Thousand Year Dreaming (1990) was commissioned by Essential Music and was written with the musicians on this recording, their particular strengths and inclinations, very much in mind. It grew out of an improvisatory piece, Nautilus, which Art Baron, Scott Robinson and Lockwood realised in 1989. They found that the sound of conch shell trumpets, didjeridu and frame drums really flowered in the resonant spaces they were using for the piece. Lockwood started imagining the sonorities possible with four didjeridus, gongs, conches and trombones and frame drums, all shaped by the penetrating and sensuous edge of oboes and clarinets.

Four sections emerged to which she gave the subtitles: breathing and dreaming; the Chi stirs; floating in mid-air; in full bloom. While most of the work is fully scored, it contains two improvisations: a duet for John Snyder (didjeridu) and Scott Robinson (frame drum), and a section for all four didjeridus. In performance, at this point the four players wander amongst the audience, exploring the spaces acoustics, playing into a listeners shoulder here, a foot there – sonic massage.

When close to completing the piece Lockwood realised that its underlying, generative idea was the gradual awakening and release of sonic energy, energy which I think of as coiled and latent, in breathing and dreaming, but with an embedded power which will nourish when summoned.

floating world (1999) is an immersion in place and transience. The composer invited friends who work with environmental sounds themselves, and who have a strong sense of place, to make recordings for her in places of personal, spiritual significance to them, so it is a collaborative work. From their field recordings (edited but not processed), and other sounds Lockwood wove the slowly shifting texture forming floating world.

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Felix werder : Electronic Music

Felix werder

Electronic Music

label: Pogus Productions

ref: Pogus P21044-2

players: Felix Werder (synth), Keith Humble (synth), Peter Mumme (synth), John Seal (perc), Jochen Schubert (guitar), Dennis Henning (piano)

A series of compositions for live-electronics where the subtle atmospheres and careful handling of sound space stem from an imaginative use of resources together with a minimal if experimental aesthetics. Deeply immersed in the discovery of the possibilities offered by new mediums, the most striking aspect is their interplay, which points to the fact that, at the time, live electro-acoustic and electronics coexisted and to the fascinating period when contemporary music shared an interest and welcomed the experimental, blending electronic and instrumental materials within a open framework.

Una serie de compositions para electrnica en directo en la que la sutiles atmsferas y el cuidadoso manejo del espacio sonoro surgen de un uso imaginativo de los recursos en combinacin con una esttica minimal aunque experimental. Adentrado en el descubrimiento de las posibilidades ofrecidas por los nuevos medios, el aspecto ms sorprendente es el interplaym que apunta al hecho de que, en aquel entonces, la msica electroacstica en directo y la electrnica coexistan y al fascinante periodo cuando la contempornea comparta un inters y toleraba lo experimental, fundiendo materiales electrnicos e instrumentales dentro de estructuras abiertas.

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Dimitri Voudoris : NPFAI.1/Palmos/NPFAI.3/praxis

Dimitri Voudoris

NPFAI.1/Palmos/NPFAI.3/praxis

label: Pogus Productions

ref: Pogus P21043-2

players: DimitriVoudoris

The works of this composer deal with concerns on the use of technology in composition, aural perception and various cultural issues underlying the musical. Displaying a strong scientific approach- often reminiscent of the observation through the microscope-, the works embody a continuation of contemporary concerns such as acoustic instrument processing ?as developed in concrete and electroacoustic music- as well as complex concepts dealing with the portrayal in music of cultural concerns.

Las obras de este compositor tartan aspectos relativos al uso de la tecnologa en la composicin, la percepcin auditiva y diversos aspectos culturales que subyacen a lo musical. Con un planteamiento marcadamente cientfico ?que recuerda la observacin al microscopio-, las obras encarnan una continuacin de intereses contemporaneos como el procesado de instrumentos acsticos ?segn se desarrollan en la msica concreta y electroacstica- as como del tratamiento de cuestiones culturales a travs de la msica.

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Nick Davidovsky : Tube Mouth Bow String

Nick Davidovsky

Tube Mouth Bow String

label: Pogus Productions

ref: Pogus P21042-2

players: Nick Davidovsky (electric guitar, tabletop guitar, homebrew software), Sirius String Quartet (Gregor Huebner and Meg Okura ?Violin, Ron Lawrence ?viola, Dave Eggar ?cello)

A series of compositions for string quartet (+ electric guitar) explore the interaction between performer and score by allowing various degrees of permutation. Other pieces present a more experimental nature, featuring an emphasis on process, (either through the interaction with software programs or by physically filtering and modulating the acoustic materials) which responds to a deep concern with the composing-performing continuum. The pieces present a horizontal character reminiscent of oriental music (use of overtones) and experimental minimalism. Their slow unfolding responds to the inner logic of the compositional-interpretative process.

Una serie de composiciones para cuarteto de cuerda (+ guitarra elctrica) exploran la interaccin entre intrprete y partitura permitiendo diversos grados de permutacin. Otras piezas presentan un carcter ms experimental, incluyendo un nfasis en el proceso, (ya sea mediante la interaccin con programas de software o el filtrado fsico y la modulacin de materiales acsticas) lo que responde a una profunda inquietud respecto a la importancia del continuo composicin-ejecucin. Las piezas presentan un carcter horizontal que recuerda la msica oriental (uso de armnicos) y obras del minimalismo experimental. Su desarrollo lento responde a una lgica interna del proceso de composicin-ejecucin.

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Various : Montreal Sound Matter

Various

Montreal Sound Matter

label: Pogus Productions

ref: Pogus 21041-2

year: 2006

players: Works by Francisco Lpez / Louis Dufort / Steve Heimbecker / Hlne Prvost / Mathieu Lvesque / a_dontigny / Chantal Dumas / Tomas Phillips

Taking field recording as a departure point, the eight sound artist featured proceed to create radically different works, featuring differing linguistic approaches ?articulatory concerns, deconxtualization of meaning, unlikely collage reconstructions, microscopic observation of sound fabrics- although emerging from a common urban source.

Con grabaciones de campo como punto de partida, los ocho artistas sonoros crean obras radicalmente distintas, de planteamiento lingstico diferente ?elementos de articulacin, descontextualizacin del significado, reconstruccin improbable de colages, tejidos sonoros al microscopio- aunque surgidos de un entorno urbano comn.

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Anla Courtis : Tape Works

Anla Courtis

Tape Works

label: Pogus Productions

ref: Pogus P21040-2

year: 2006

players: Anla Courtis

Collection of tape works resulting from a striking aesthetics, ignoring resource limitations in favour original ideas, presenting a wide range of concerns, from more ?serious electroacoustic music? to experimental collages of found materials and various noise displaying coherence in the face hardship.

Coleccin de obras para cinta resultado de una esttica sorprendente, que ignora la limitacin de recursos decantndose por ideas originales, ofreciendo una amlia paleta de intereses, desde ?msica electroacstica seria? hasta colages experimentales de materiales encontrados y diversos ruidos que rezuman coherencia ante lo difcil.

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Crawling with tarts : Ochre Land, Blue blue skies

Crawling with tarts

Ochre Land, Blue blue skies/The Decadent Opera (Rococo)

label: Pogus Productions

ref: Pogus P21039-2

year:2006

players: Michel Gendreau/Suzanne Dycus

Concrete stance featuring various sources and densities: from quotidian noise to electric main?s buzzing. Doll?s house miniature preciosism. Paradoxical constrast between ?natural? and man-made contexts. Interesting reflection on the boundaries of listening musical attitudes and performance.

Planteamiento concreto con diversas fuentes y densidades, desde el ruido cotidiano hasta zunbidos de la red elctrica. Preciosismo de casa de muecas. Contraste paradjico entre contextos ?naturales? y creados. Reflexiones sobre las fronteras entre planteamientos de escucha musical e interpretacin.

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Pogus Productions features releases of Electronic, Electro-Acoustic, and Experimental music. Uncompromising, non-commercial, and definitely not for everyone (unfortunately), these releases are geared towards discerning listeners.

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Grabowski, the Beautiful Schizophonic, Rippie, Raposo : Prod

Grabowski, the Beautiful Schizophonic, Rippie, Raposo

Product

label: Cronica Electronica

ref: Cronica 023-2005

year:2005

players: Pawel Grabowski, The Beautiful Schizophonic, James Eck Rippie, Paulo Raposo

Electronic ladscapes in the tradition of contermporary music. Close relation between technical resources and aesthetics. A single form continues to spin again and again, proposing variations within permanent boundaries.

Paisajes electrnicos afines a la contempornea. Relacin cercana entre los recursos tcnicos y la esttica. Un forma nica sigue girando una y otra vez, proponiendo variaciones dentro de fronteras constantes.

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Various : DIY Canons

Various

DIY Canons

label: Pogus Productions

ref: Pogus 21036-2

year:2005

players: Various

A Do-it-Yourself canon project, after a series by Larry Polansky, where various composers were invited to experiment with this form: the result features concrete samples, electronics, straight-forward chamber instruments or toys. The impression of variation is thoroughly enhaced by the common axis around which the pieces revolve.

Proyecto de canon-bricolaje, inspirado en una serie de Larry Polanski, en el que diversos compositores fueron invitados a experimentar con esta forma: el resultado incluye fragmentos concretos, electrnica, instrumentacin camerstica o juguetes. La sensacin de variacin aumenta por el eje comn en torno al que giran las piezas.

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Band/Le Myers : Two Ships

Band/Le Myers

Two Ships

label: Pogus Productions

ref: P21035-2

year:2005

players: Ellen Band, David Lee Myers

Purely synthetic noise meets acoustic abstraction through an improvised duo where outlooks and materials create various canvases. Teeming with microscopic life the music alternatively visits more spacious areas, air opening up the harmonics, and the organicity of interaction makes us wonder about the electronic/acoustic dichotomy.

Ruido sinttico puro y abstraccin acstica a travs de un do improvisado donde la mirada y los materiales trazan diversos lienzos. Llena de vida microscpica la msica tambin visita zonas ms espaciosas, donde el aire abre los armnicos, y el carcter orgnico de la interaccin nos hace cuestionar la dicotoma entre electrnica/acstica.

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Erbe/Mann/Polansky/ Repetto/Wolff : Trios

Erbe/Mann/Polansky/ Repetto/Wolff

Trios

label: Pogus productions

ref: Pogus P21031-2

year: 1998

players: Tom Erbe, Chris Mann, Larry Polansky, Douglas Repetto,

Christian Wolff.

The process of recording, processing and editing becomes part of

music making. Various levels run simultaneously: speech, acoustic or

electric instruments, electronics, real time sound processing,

recording and back playing of materials. This double articulation

puts forward a feedback model: using its own output as an input, the

concerns don?t seem to deal so much with actual content as with the

operative system used

El proceso de grabacin, procesado y edicin es parte de la creacin

musical, coexistiendo diversos niveles: el habla, instrumentos

electrnicos o acsticos, procesado, grabacin y reproduccin de

materiales en tiempo real. Esta doble articulacin propone un modelo

de retroalimentacin: al utilizar sus propios resultados como fuente,

su inters no parece provenir tanto del propio contenido como del

sistema operativo empleado.

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